Turkish soldiers entered the Mollatopuz village in Van’s Özalp district and made an announcement telling the villagers to come out of their homes. Then the soldiers fired smoke bombs into villager Ismail Candemir’s home to later conduct a search, but the bombs caused a fire.

Reports say villagers and the village chief warned the Gendarmerie commander to not harm the house, but the commander said, “I won’t leave before I burn this house down.” Soldiers threatened villagers, then fired smoke bombs and flashbangs into the house. The soldiers later conducted extensive searches but left the village with nobody in custody.

GOVERNOR: “INDIVIDUAL ACCIDENT”

HDP Van MP Adem Geveri spoke about the incident and said they met with the Van Governor Murat Zorluoğlu, who told them it was an anti-terror operation and that they believed it was an individual accident. The governor said they would “compensate the citizen”, and told the MP “not to worry”.

Geveri said the following on the information the villagers gave him: “The soldiers surrounded the village at noon. They take the villagers out of the houses, telling them there was a lead and they will conduct searches. Then they shot smoke bombs into villager Ismail Candemir’s house. Half the house is burnt, the furniture is unusable. The village chief warned the soldiers not to shoot the bombs, and told them to allow him to enter and remove whoever is inside, but the soldiers didn’t listen. Of course, as it was a false lead, nobody came out of the house when it caught fire. We will visit the village tomorrow to inspect the situation in person.”

OPERATION CONTINUES IN THE VILLAGE

Geveri said the village was still surrounded and that they were not allowed into the village, as “the operations continued”. Tomorrow they are to visit and inspect the village with a committee.