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Amnesty International has accused Turkey of using excessive force in handling street protests in support of Kurds fighting ISIL Takfiris in the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani.
In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty said Turkish security forces used excessive force in protests which erupted in Turkey’s southeast last year, leaving 40 people dead.
The report, compiled based on surveys in the Turkish cities of Diyarbakır, Gaziantep and Siirt in October 2014 and in Cizre, Diyarbakır and Siirt in February 2015, noted that Turkish police officers used firearms in unnecessary circumstances.
The report by the body is also critical of “a lack of effective investigations into deaths and injuries that occurred” during the demonstrations.
Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s researcher on Turkey, said on Tuesday that the report, which was prepared after interviews with the victims of the violence, their family members, lawyers, and activists, aimed to prevent the recurrence of the incidents.
“The circumstances that led to the use of firearms in many cases still remains unclear almost a year after the Kobani protests due to the authorities’ failure to effectively investigate the cases of alleged abusive police use of force,” Gardner said, adding, “However, there is strong evidence that police used excessive or unnecessary force”.
Many Kurds in Turkey were furious at the government’s lack of support for the Kurds fighting for Kobani against the ISIL Takfiri terrorists, who carry out heinous atrocities in the lands where they hold sway.
“There is an urgent need for the policing operations to be investigated in terms of their ability to protect individuals, and for lessons to be learnt, planning undertaken and then applied in the event of further violent clashes occurring in the future,” Gardner said.
ISIL terrorists were driven out of the town by Kurdish forces back in January after about 100 days of fighting.
IA/KA/HMV