Kurdish workers have been violently assaulted in Muğla’s Seydikemer district by a group of around 20 individuals, allegedly for reasons of ethnic prejudice. The attack occurred when a dispute arose over a right of way on 28 June, leaving several individuals injured.
Abdulhalim Yavuz, one of the victims, recounted the harrowing experience: “They attacked us because we are Kurdish. They want us to leave here just because of our ethnicity.” The altercation began when the group demanded that his nephew, Resul Yavuz, who was leaving work, give way on the road. “My nephew said he couldn’t move further over as the road was on the edge of a cliff. During the argument, one person started making threats and called others on the phone. Shortly after this, around 15 more people arrived, including the neighbourhood muhtar*,” Abdulhalim Yavuz stated.
A little later Abdulhalim and a brother returned to the scene of the argument, only to find their nephew severely injured and covered in blood. “They were standing there with knives, machetes and clubs. When we asked why they were doing this, they attacked us too,” Yavuz added, saying that the attackers made it clear they were hostile towards them for being Kurdish. “Throughout the argument, they kept saying they didn’t want us there, and hurled insults and abuse at us.”
The victims were then taken by force to a nearby riverside, where the beatings continued. After the assault had been going on about 15 to 20 minutes, gendarmes and medical teams arrived. Yavuz criticised their initial response, saying, “They were very casual about it. They took us to the hospital, where we received treatment for our injuries. But when we asked the hospital for a medical report, they said it would be given to the gendarmes, not to us.”
Yavuz and his family have lodged a formal complaint in relation to the traumatic incident. They are seeking justice for the assault and calling for measures to protect Kurdish workers from such discriminatory violence in the future.
* A muhtar is an elected local official who serves as the head of a village or a neighborhood within a town or city.