A video emerged on Friday, reportedly showing a Turkish soldier, who recently lost his life in northern Iraq, accusing his commanders in the event of his possible death.
The Turkish Ministry of National Defence had previously announced on 11 July that the soldier, identified as Erdem Kavlak, was severely injured as a result of a “weapon accident” during cross-border operations against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and died after being hospitalised.
“I’ve been here for three days, and this is our fourth day. We’ve been left without water. If anything happens to me or my fellow soldiers, the battalion and company commanders are to blame,” Kavlak says in the video he reportedly shared on social media before his death. The soldier also requests that the video be delivered to the Turkish Ministry of Defence if he dies.
As the funeral of the contracted soldier took place on Wednesday, Turkish officials have yet to provide a statement regarding the surfaced video.
Turkey’s cross-border operations against the PKK have been ongoing for years and there have been several reports of suspicious deaths of soldiers in these operations.
