A group of tourists from the Federal Kurdistan Region were attacked in Uzungöl in Trabzon’s Çaykara district.

There were women and children in the group of 50 tourists. Some of the tourists were attacked as they were taking photographs for wearing a scarf that said “Kurdistan” on it.

The lynching attempt was recorded by a passerby, and the person who took the footage can be heard cursing at the tourists as well. After minutes of kicks and punches, gendarmerie units removed the people who had been attacked.

The Trabzon Governorate issued a statement on the matter and said the 9 Kurdish tourists who were attacked were detained.

The Governorate said, “9 persons from Iraq have been detained and legal investigations have been launched by the Çaykara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.” None of the attackers were detained.

A CULTURE OF RACIST LYNCHING

There had been another racist incident in Sakarya one day before. IHD Co-president Eren Keskin announced that a Kurdish man doing his compulsory military service in the Sakarya 7th Commando Command had survived a lynching attempt.

The culture of racist lynching in Turkey frequently targets Kurds. People have been attacked for singing in Kurdish, speaking in Kurdish or merely being known as Kurdish. There have been deaths.

Trabzon and Sakarya are frequently come up in news of racist attacks. On December 16, 2018, Kadir Sakci had lost his life in a racist attack in Sakarya and his son Burhan Sakci had been severely injured.

The Amedspor football team had also faced a lynching attempt as they traveled to Sakarya for a game.