It has emerged that police officers who executed Rojhat Özdel tried to take an eye witness to the prosecutor to make a statement on their behalf. Police also confiscated the hard discs from security cameras in the area where then incident took place.

Following the execution by police of 18-year-old Rojhat Özdel in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari province on Saturday, it has emerged that the police are trying to cover up the execution by persuading people to commit perjury. A person living in the cul-de-sac where Özdel was executed has described how the incident took place and how police tried to persuade him to make a false statement.

According to the DİHA news agency, the person, who for reasons of security did not what his name quoted or his picture taken, said: "there were two children on the street. Immediately behind them were two armoured vehicles belonging to the special forces. A tall, masked police officer got down from the vehicle, crouched down and fired 7 or 8 shots.”

The eye witness added that the police had given no warning, saying he was only 5 metres away. "Then another officer shouted at the one who had opened fire, saying: ‘why did you fire?’ He replied, saying: ‘I fired in the air, and when he didn’t stop I shot him’. They asked him as he lay wounded, ‘who was that with you, was it your brother?’ Then the ambulance arrived and they took him to hospital. He lay there with his eyes open but he couldn’t speak. The incident didn’t even last a minute. First he fired at one, who ran away. Then the one who hid was shot.”

They tried to get him to commit perjury

The eye witness said that after Özdel had been taken to hospital the police came to his house and proposed he commit perjury. The police said: "Get in the armoured car and we’ll take you to the prosecutor. It will only take 20 minutes. You can say that they opened fire on us and, when they didn’t stop despite our giving a warning, we shot him.” The eye witness said that when he refused to do as the police wished, they spent a long time at the scene making an examination, after which they left.

They confiscated the security camera

The police also went to a nearby building where the Yüksekova Municipality Support House is situated, and took the hard disc from a security camera on the wall of the building. According to administrators of the building the camera had not worked for some time.

Footage confirms execution

Footage taken on a mobile phone which was broadcast on a local news site shows many police vehicles going to the spot where Özdel was shot. Special forces police are seen in front of two houses where the incident occurred. The ambulance personnel are seen going to Özdel without a stretcher and, after waiting for a while, return to collect a stretcher. Questions have been raised as to why the ambulance staff did not take the stretcher initially and why they were seen to be in no hurry. This has led to claims that the health workers may have been obstructed by the police.