Kurdish tourist family target of fascist attack in southern Turkey
A Kurdish tourist family from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been the target of a fascist attack in Turkey's southern province of Mersin, leading to the injury of two people. The perpetrators were seen making a hand salute used by supporters of the far-right group Grey Wolves, or known as “Bozkurtlar.”
Duvar English
A Kurdish family visiting Turkey's southern province of Mersin from Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, has been the target of a fascist attack.
Two people from the family have been injured, including the father of the family who has severe injuries and his 12-year-old son.
The attack occurred on May 13 at around 4 p.m. local time in the Bozyazı district, Mezopotamya news agency reported. The family was driving their car on the highway as the incident happened, and they had a license plate from Erbil.
After attacking the family with stones and batons, the three assailants have fled the scene.
Authorities have said that an investigation was launched into the incident, but there is yet no information if the racist group has been detained or not.
An eyewitness named Cihan Kutluk said that the Kurdish man had fainted after being hit on his head. Kutluk said the fascist group had made the gesture of the Grey Wolves, which is a far-right organization and movement affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The family has been exposed to severe insults by the fascist group before being attacked, according to Kutluk.
“The person whose name I later found out to be Mehmet Fatih Oflaz got a huge stone in his hand and hit the head and face of the driver of the white car [belonging to the Kurdish family] four times. The person lost his balance and collapsed on the barries next to the road. They later tried to throw him down from the cliff, and the man fainted in the last blow,” Kutluk said.
The eyewitness said that although the Kurdish man had been already unconscious and blood was coming all over his body, perpetrators continued to hit him.
Kutluk said that one of the attackers had threatened the people at the scene of the incident with killing them, should they give testimony with regard to the incident.
Kutluk later took the severely injured man in his car and drove to the hospital. He later submitted video footage showing the license plate of the perpetrators and the severely injured man to the gendarmerie.
In 2019, a group of tourists from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq had been also attacked by fascists in Turkey's Black Sea province of Trabzon. The gendarmerie had at the time detained the Kurdish tourists and released them a day later.