Retired village guard Enver Babat has been remanded in custody in connection with the assassination of Kurdish politician Ahmet Gün from the Peoples’ Democracy and Equality (DEM) Party. The 60-year-old retired village guard was arrested earlier for his alleged involvement in the fatal attack that took place on 11 December in Şırnak (Şirnex), a Kurdish-majority province in southeast Turkey.
After the incident the prosecution launched an investigation which quickly led to Babat being arrested. He now faces a charge of intentional homicide in connection with the attack, which also resulted in injuries to Gün’s son, Abdurrahim. Although Babat has been remanded in custody, three other suspects implicated in the case, Ömer Yarar and two other members of the Babat family, remain at large.
The arrest has shed light on the broader context of the village guard system in Kurdish-majority areas of the country. The village guards, a state-backed militia, have long been a source of tension and controversy within these communities. Locals have expressed concerns about the dangers posed by the arming of the village guards, linking the policy to incidents of violence and suicide.
This assassination is perceived by many within the Kurdish community not as just an isolated incident, but as part of a pattern of politically motivated violence. Abdullah Yaman, co-chair of the Uludere (Qileban) branch of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), views the attack as a “political message” rather than the dispute between families it is purported to be, underlining the charged atmosphere in the region.
