08-12-2009
Diyarbakir - Muharrem Erbey, Attorney at Law and Vice President of the Human Rights Association in Turkey (IHD) and President of Diyarbakir branch of the HRA, condemned the death of the Kurdish student Aydım Erdem (23) who was shot by the police in Diyarbakir on Sunday and called for concrete gov’t measures.
According to the conclusion of an autopsy report, Aydın Erdem’s body was hit by one bullet and the bullet created lethal wounds. The Human Rights Association has issued many statements concerning the use of disproportionate force by security forces. According to their data, in the last three years 135 civilians have been killed and 114 have been wounded after being fired on by soldiers, police officers or village guards.
The IHD says the security forces’ targeting of and firing on demonstrations, as happened on 6 December near the AKP building in the Batıkent neighborhood of Diyarbakır, is an unacceptable event for democracies. According to the human rights organization the state has introduced an harsh approach to social demonstrations and protests, sentencing children between 10 and 25 years in prison and the increase of death of children.
“The Kurdish issue hasn’t been resolved with two hundred years of bloodshed, tears, and politics of refusal and denial. Concrete steps must be taken and the process of reaching a democratic solution must be accelerated,” the statement read. “We say enough is enough. We don’t want to dig new graves”.
The IHD appeals to politicians, academics, NGOs, journalists and ‘all people of conscience’; come and first of all let’s stop the flow of blood. It also asks the authorities to launch an inquiry about the security forces responsible for the death of Aydın Erdem and the arrest of the perpetrator.
The Turkish daily Hürriyet reported that two young people died at opposite ends of the country during the protests against the alleged mistreatment of the mistreatment PKK-leader Abdullah Ocalan. One girl Serap Eser (17) died in an alleged attack by PKK supporters on Monday and Aydın Erdem, a 23-year-old university student was shot by security forces on Sunday (Photo: Kurdishinstitute.be).
© Rudaw
