In Van, two civilians were reportedly captured and tortured by soldiers while trying to illegally cross the border between Turkey and Iran, reports the Mezopotamya News Agency (MA). According to the report, the incident took place last Friday in the Saray district, and the victims are Gani Kaya and Celalettin Yalçın. They are currently at police headquarters in Van. An MA reporter was able to speak with one of the two men there.

According to the report, Gani Kaya said that he and Yalçın had tried to cross the border to work in Eastern Kurdistan. He said they did not present themselves at the official border crossing because they did not have a valid passport. Soldiers from the Rasim Çömez Infantry Command noticed the attempted border crossing and apprehended the two men. Kaya described what followed, saying: "The ordeal started without warning. The soldiers, whose names later turned out to be A.U. N., N.G. and B. K., first hit my head with their rifle butts and repeatedly kicked me with their boots. I was bleeding from the head and I got swelling on my back. Later, they gave me more rifle butt blows as well as kicks, injuring my ribs. After the soldiers beat me up, they took turns torturing my friend Yalçın. I had been pushed face down on the ground in the meantime. One soldier, whom I could not recognize, hit me in the back with a heavy stone. The pain at the spot still did not subside. After that, they dragged me off the ground and punched me in the face. My lip burst open and blood ran down my face in other places as well."

Kaya further reported being forcibly stripped to his underpants by the soldiers. Yalçın also suffered a similar fate. The two men were then forced to get into a stream and wash off their bloody faces, he said. ‘If you don't wash off the blood, we won't let you out of the cold water,’ they were told. "After that, we went to a tower where the staff who beat us were housed. On the way there, they also beat us. After we reached the tower, these soldiers suggested that we say to the gendarmerie (military police) that we had slipped off the mountain, fallen down or rolled over and that is why we were in this condition," Kaya said.

After being handed over to the gendarmerie, where Gani Kaya and Celalettin Yalçın were officially taken into custody, the two were taken to the state hospital in Özalp district. Their stay at the hospital lasted a whole day, after which they were transferred to police headquarters. There, Kaya and Yalçın were reported for allegedly "resisting state authority" by the soldiers who had mistreated them. "Allegedly, we had resisted arrest. I did not physically tackle the people who beat me in any way. How was I supposed to fight fully equipped soldiers in the condition I was in? I didn't even have a pocket knife with me. The fact that they had a certificate of alleged 'violence' issued only came to my attention because I was treated in the same hospital. I did not return their attack, but I do not waive a complaint." The complaint has already been filed, according to MA.