A Tiktok user who calls himself “Expert Commando” filmed Kurdish villagers forced to lie face down on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs, and posted the video with the caption, “Revenge”.
Several soldiers are seen standing over the villagers in the video as the villagers struggle to keep their heads up in the uneven terrain. The person recording the video is heard calling them “godless” and muttering threats under his breath.
The incident happened in Lice (Lîce) district in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır (Amed) in early June, but was only shared online on Wednesday 12 July. Mezopotamya Agency spoke with the victims after the post was shared widely.
“They said we were responsible for the clashes,” local shepherd Hanifi Yalavuz told Mezopotamya. “They forced us onto the ground and kicked our heads.”
The men in the video were four shepherds from a nearby village.
“We were out with the animals at night. [Armed] clashes broke out at 03:20, and when they subsided they caught us. They accused us of shooting at them. Then they forced us onto the ground and handcuffed us. They tortured and insulted us. They kicked us in the head,” Yalavuz said.
The shepherds were allowed to return home hours later, after making statements at a military outpost. The next day, they were called back in. “They said they were sorry in the name of the soldiers, that they didn’t know what had happened. They said the torture and insults would be punished.”
The TikTok user in question shares many videos from training and operations, seemingly from the same gendarmerie outpost.
