An investigation into Turkish police officer Serdar Gök’s alleged misuse of police dogs for torturing Kurdish activists has revealed that a police dog had been shot and killed under his command during a previous house raid.
The information surfaced during two separate ongoing trails against Gök for allegedly using police dogs to assault Kurdish activists Menice and Şeyhmus Yılmaz, and later, Free Women’s Movement (TJA) activist Rojbin Sevil Çetin, both incidents dating to 2020.
The new evidence suggesting Gök’s misuse and neglect of police dogs arises from a house raid in the Kayapınar (Peyas) district of Diyarbakır (Amed) in 2018. Police were falsely tipped off, during a feud between two neighbouring families, that one possessed firearms intended for delivery to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). When the team of police, led by Gök, attempted to enter the property of the falsely accused family, the terrified residents fired at the door, seriously wounding a police dog that later died under-going treatment.
The first dog-assisted torture case, in October 2020, involved Gök reportedly unleashing a dog on the Yılmaz couple in their own home, during a police operation to apprehend a Muhammed Emin Cura. Menice Yılmaz stated that a dog had attacked them in front of their children.
In the second incident, 26 days later, Gök allegedly used a dog to assault Free Women’s Movement (TJA) member Sevil Rojbin Çetin. This case is ongoing at the Diyarbakır 9th Criminal Court.
At a press briefing, Kurdish politician Meral Danış Beştaş addressed the alleged assault against Çetin, who was reportedly subjected to three and a half hours of violence in her home, including dog-assisted torture. Beştaş disclosed that Çetin was arrested under heavy police presence, whilst being intimidated by neighbours.
Beştaş described how police had used two dogs to torture Çetin, with the canines severely biting her legs, leaving documented injuries. The officers had organised and watched this attack, she added.
The two incidents have been extensively covered by the Kurdish press in Turkey, in which they have been described as cases of “torture by dog”.
The Diyarbakır Provincial Police Disciplinary Board conducted an administrative investigation against Gök, concluding with no disciplinary action due to the charges ‘not being substantiated’.
