Nine-year-old Yusuf Yücel succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday. He had been hit in the head by a bullet and seriously injured in the kitchen of his grandfather's house in Ceylanpınar district of Urfa bordering Syria on May 7. The shot had been fired from the Turkish occupied zone in northern Syria. According to Turkish security forces, Yücel had been hit by a ricochet. After first aid, he was taken to a special clinic in Urfa, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Threats against the family

The governor and AKP mayor of Ceylanpınar visited the family and threatened, "Do not make yourselves a means of propaganda against our state and do not talk to anyone about the issue." According to a person close to the family, the relatives cannot talk about it for this reason.

Serêkaniyê occupied since 2019

The Kurdish-majority town of Serêkaniyê (ar. Ras al-Ain) in northern Syria has been occupied since October 2019 by Turkey and the proxy invasion corps SNA ("Syrian National Army"), established by the government in Ankara and composed of jihadist militias. Until the invasion, the region was self-governing according to the canton principle of Rojava. In addition, Serêkaniyê was considered a refuge for numerous internally displaced persons from other parts of Syria. Today, the place is a safe haven for Islamists in the pay of the Turkish state, who are guilty of serious war crimes.

Divided city

Today's Serêkaniyê is - in the geographical context - only a part of the old city. During the First World War, the area was the site of an Ottoman concentration camp for the genocide of Armenians as "Rasüleyn". After the war, Serêkaniyê was divided. The southern part of the city became part of the League of Nations Mandate for Syria and Lebanon and thus Ras al-Ain, while the northern part became today's Ceylanpınar.