Pro-Kurdish media outlets have claimed that a militant from the ranks of the outlawed armed Peoples’ Defence Forces (HPG), which is an offspring of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was captured alive, tortured and executed extrajudicially by Turkish security forces.
According to the claims Turkish soldiers killed Cuma İmen after he was captured just because he refused to repeat what soldiers want him to say during a video shooting. A 33-second video obtained by pro-PKK Fırat news agency (ANF) shows that a PKK militant captured alive by Turkish soldiers.
The militant, Cuma İmen, on the video, was allegedly executed moments after. It was reported that militant İmen was captured alive by Turkish soldiers on July 24, 2017 in Beytüşşebbap district of Şırnak province. It was claimed he was executed on the same day.
It was seen in a 33-second video that two Turkish soldiers keep İmen. A Turkish commander orders him to say that Turkish soldiers treated him well. İmen refuses to do so and says “They beat me whole day… they beat me…” After İmen insists that he was beaten, the Turkish commander gives the order to stop filming.
HPG has released a statement and claimed that he was captured alive then executed by Turkish soldiers. HPG has claimed that Turkish soldiers murdered him because “he refused to play a role according to the scenario written by Turkish soldiers”.
It was also reported that Cuma İmen’s family has appealed to the Turkey’s Human Rights Association (İHD) in Batman province, claiming that they haven’t been given any information since the incident on July 24, 2016 and demanded the body of their son.
Mother Saliha İmen said to a pro-Kurdish news outlet that she watched the footage where her son is seen alive at the hands of the soldiers and continued: “They had my son alive. Two soldiers were holding him by the arms. They were trying to make him say he repents, but he didn’t agree. They tortured him. They tortured and murdered a man they captured alive. My son was killed because he didn’t say what they wanted him to. A prisoner can’t be executed, this goes against all laws and all faiths. They should have put him in prison. They have no right to execute such atrocity.”
Father Süleyman İmen stated that his son has been in the HPG for 4,5 years. İmen stressed that a captured militant cannot be killed, and continued that “They could arrest him, put him in prison, he would serve whatever sentence he would be given. I will never accept what they did even if worlds collide. I will pursue. Their torture can’t fit in any law, any order, any faith, anything.”
Stating that they haven’t been given any information on the incident, Father İmen continued to say that “They didn’t give us the body either. I want my son’s body. At least if he has a grave, I would have a place to go and pray. My children and grandchildren came here from İzmir and Mardin. They are asking about the body. There is no body, what am I to tell my children? Did they hide it? Did they throw it away? I do not know.”
There has been no statement or explanation from Turkish authorities about the claims yet.
Turkish authorities had conducted direct talks with the jailed PKK chief Abdullah Öcalan for several years until a truce in effect collapsed in the summer of 2015. Since then, there have been heavy clashes between the PKK and Turkish security forces.
More than 40,000 people, including 5,500 security force members, have been killed in four decades of fighting between the Turkish state and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.
https://youtu.be/iPhMYobcrBw
