A child has died and another was injured in Karlıova, Diyarbakır (Amed), on Sunday after accidentally triggering an explosive device while grazing livestock. The incident brings to light the persistent risk of unexploded ordnance in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority regions.
The victims, brothers Ömer and Hamza Koç, found the device beside a stream in Taşlıçay village. The explosion killed Ömer immediately, while Hamza was rushed to Dicle University Hospital for urgent care. Following the incident, local authorities, including the district governor of Hani, Abdullah Yüksel, conducted an on-site investigation.
This tragic event is not isolated. In 2020, a similar incident occurred in the same village, resulting in the death of another child. Such repeated tragedies underscore the lethal legacy of the decades-long conflict between Turkish forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has left the landscape scattered with dangerous remnants.
The protracted conflict between the PKK and the Turkish Armed Forces has severely impacted children in Turkey’s Kurdish regions. Over the years, the violence has led to significant civilian casualties and displacement, with children being disproportionately affected. According to an Action of Armed Violence 2020 report, between 2011 and 2018, Turkey experienced 5,031 deaths and injuries from explosive violence, 66% of which were civilian deaths, and 92% of which were attributed to improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
In a now symbolic incident, Ceylan Önkol, a 12-year-old Kurdish girl from the Lice district of Diyarbakır, tragically lost her life on 28 September 2009, while tending to her family’s livestock. She was killed by an explosive device, believed to be a mortar shell, which detonated near her as she was grazing animals. Her death ignited significant outrage and underscored the dire consequences of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict on civilians, particularly children. Investigations into her death were marred by delays and controversy, notably regarding the initial response and handling by local authorities, which fuelled accusations of negligence and prompted widespread calls for justice from human rights organisations and the Kurdish community.
In a landmark decision, Diyarbakır Administrative Court No.2 ruled that the Turkish Interior Ministry was 90% at fault for Ceylan’s death and ordered it to pay 283,000 Turkish lira in material and moral indemnity to the Önkol family. This verdict followed a protracted legal battle spearheaded by the Diyarbakır Branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD). Although the court reduced the moral indemnity from 150,000 TL to 100,000 TL, it highlighted the government’s significant responsibility in the incident, based on an expert report indicating the shell exploded after Ceylan struck it with an object. Despite ongoing challenges in the judicial process, including initial rejections of the family’s objections to a confidentiality order and a 2017 European Court of Human Rights ruling that found no violation, the case underscores persistent efforts to seek justice for civilian casualties in conflict zones.
