A civilian vehicle used by the police hit 4-year-old boy Umut Ö. in the Aşağı neighborhood in İdil district of Şırnak province on Sunday. Pro-Kurdish Fırat news agency reported that Umut Ö. is currently in the intensive care unit in an induced coma.
According to the report, Umut Ö. was ran over by the police vehicle and was taken to the district public hospital first, later to be transferred to the Cizre Public Hospital. By the evening, he was transferred to a private hospital in Batman.
The family spoke about their child’s situation and said that Umut was playing in front of their home when a civilian police vehicle ran him over, causing a serious head injury. Umut is being treated in the intensive care unit with swelling in the frontal cortex and liquid in his lungs. He has been put in an induced coma.
A speeding armored vehicle hit a child playing in the street near in Sur neighborhood of Cizre district of Şırnak province in Turkey late November. It was reported that 8 years old Ruken Cansırı was seriously wounded when she was hit by the armored vehicle.
Turkey’s Human Rights Association (İHD) has reported on October 2017 that 23 people have lost their lives after being hit by armoured vehicles used by Turkish security forces in Kurdish populated part of the country in the last 14 months.
In a written statement by İHD’s İzmir Branch, the association has expressed its concerns that the number of such incidents may increase due to the impunity regarding these crimes. “The right to life is sacred and it is a right that should be protected,” said the statement and added that “The right to life cannot be suspended for any reason, the people responsible for these incidents should be brought before the justice. There is no statute of limitation in these crimes.”
According to the report of Mezopotamya Agency, the armoured vehicle incidents are as follows:
Mustafa Duman: Killed in Van at the age of 17 on August 30, 2016.
Naciye Özdemir: Killed in Dersim at the age of 71 on September 6, 2016
Aydın Tümen, Serhat Buldan, Rahmi Sefalı, Nejdet İşözü: Killed in Yüksekova, Hakkari in October 8, 2016.
Hakan Sarak: Killed in October 24, 2016 at the age of 5.
Berfin Dilek: Killed in Dargeçit, Mardin at the age of 7 on February 9, 2017.
Kerem Aslan: Killed on the Siirt-Batman road at the age of 34 on March 4, 2017.
Okan İnce, Bahadır Beyazlıoğlu and a person who could not be identified: Killed on March 21, 2017.
Hatun Elhuman: Killed at the age of 55 on April 27, 2017.
Sami Uçan: Killed on April 28, 2017.
Furkan Yıldırım (6), Mehmet Yıldırım (7): Killed in Şırnak on May, 4, 2017.
Pakize Hazar: Killed Lice, Diyarbakır at the age of 70 on June 14, 2017.
Mahmut Öner (74), Mevlüt Dağtaş (64), Abdülhamit Dağtaş (63), Fikri Demirbaş (53), Zeynep Demirbaş: Killed in Lice, Diyarbakır in June 2017.
Remzi Menteşe a child who could not be identified: Killed on the Diyarbakır-Bingöl road on June 19, 2017.
Sürmi İnce: Killed in Yüksekova, Hakkari at the age of 55 on July 18, 2017.
Taha Kılıç: Killed in Van at the age of 4 on July 24, 2017.
Raşid Oso: Killed in Okmeydanı, İstanbul in at the age of 7 in August, 2017.
Gülten Yaraşlı: Killed Hizan-Tatvan road in Van at the age of 55 on October 19, 2017.
Felek Batur: Killed in Çal, Siirt at the age of 6 on October 19, 2017.
