A police operation involving multiple house raids in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority Mardin (Mêrdîn) on Tuesday left one woman dead and several individuals detained amid contradictions between an official account of the events provided by the Turkish interior ministry and eyewitness reports from locals at the scene.
The ministry said that the operation in the city’s Nusaybin (Nisêbîn) district was undertaken in response to a report of “suspicious activity”. Officers were faced with an armed attack when approaching the residence in question to verify the identity of a woman inside, at which point special operations units were called to the scene, the ministry stated.
The ministry also claimed that the woman killed by the Turkish police was a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
However, the ministry’s official version of events was met with heavy scepticism by local residents, on-the-ground reports from Jin News revealed.
Eyewitnesses told the news agency that contrary to the ministry’s account there had been no armed clash at the residence and that special operations police had surrounded the area, positioned on rooftops with long rifles, prior to reported explosive sounds during the raid.
An arrest was made amidst rising concern in the local community over the events, as a citizen expressed discontent to police officers and was detained for two hours. Footage captured on the detainee’s mobile phone in the area during the raid was deleted by the authorities.
Five of those arrested during the large-scale police operation were released yesterday evening, regional news outlet Mezopotamya Agency reported, while one remains in custody.
Meanwhile the identity of both the woman killed and a person reportedly injured during the operation remains undisclosed.
