Cameraman shot in Cizre: We were battered and dragged on the ground

IMC TV cameraman Refik Tekin was shot by police while covering yesterday's developments in Şırnak's Cizre district where police fired on dozens of civilians carrying casualties from Cudi neighborhood.

IMC TV cameraman Refik Tekin was shot by police while covering yesterday's developments in Şırnak's Cizre district where police fired on dozens of civilians carrying casualties from Cudi neighborhood.

The gunfire by police left 10 people injured, two of whom -Cizre Municipal Council member Abdülhamit Poçal and Selman Erdoğan- died in the evening.

IMC TV cameraman Refik Tekin was also shot by police, which left him injured in the right foot. He was later sent to Mardin State Hospital and taken under treatment there.

Tekin spoke to ANF and told the followings as to how yesterday's aggression in Cizre took place; “I was shooting from among the people as they went to Cudi neighborhood to retrieve casualties from street. After getting slain and wounded civilians, people started to move on Nusaybin Street where armored vehicles suddenly started to fire on them. Everyone tried to escape and take shelter somewhere. I was trying to do the same when I realized that I had been shot, and then I fell to the ground. I crawled for a while and managed to get into a shop where there were several other injured. The aggression was still going on by then.”

Tekin said HDP MP Faysal Sarıyıldız and Cizre co-mayor Kadir Konur came near them after a while, telling; "They later called for medical aid, upon which an ambulance and health team affiliated to the municipality came to the scene. The police teams in the area battered me and all the other injured as they dragged us on the ground and continuously kicked at us while carrying us into the ambulance. They even assaulted and insulted the health team. They left me alone after I said I was from press but continued to beat the other injured. Some of them may have died there. I do not know."

Tekin strongly responded to the report by Turkish AA news agency which portrayed him as one of the 10 terrorists shot and wounded by security forces. Tekin said; "It is very simple in this country to link everyone to terrorism; so much so that academics and intellectuals are being labelled terrorists for demanding peace, and journalists for doing their job. It is so sad to see such an accusation by a press agency. Everyone is being labelled terrorist now."

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