Shepherd executed by Turkish special forces in Ardahan

In the Northern Kurdish province of Ardahan on the border with Georgia, a shepherd has been shot from close range by a special unit of the Turkish security forces.

Ayşe Acar Başaran, MP and member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Legal Commission, stated that  38-year-old shepherd Ismail Karakuş was shot from close range by a special unit of Turkish security forces in Göle district of Ardahan province. The extrajudicial execution was perpetrated near the Kurdish village of Sinot (Samandoken). The region is undergoing a military operation participated by soldiers, special police forces and village guards.

According to a statement by the Turkish provincial governor, Karakuş is said to have been shot after approaching a Cobra vehicle and not following a stop order.

HDP deputy from Batman, Ayşe Acar Başaran, announced that the shots on Karakuş had been fired at close range. Both a shepherd assistant and various villagers report as witnesses to the incident that Karakuş has been murdered by soldiers, special police units and village guards up close.

Başaran commented on the incident: "Shepherd Ismail Karakuş, born in 1980, was killed by close-range gunfire by soldiers, special police units and village guards. An assistant of the shepherd and villagers attest to this. As if that was not enough, when the people gathered to find out what had happened, the special forces attacked them with rubber bullets and tear gas."

The HDP MP sharply criticized the government: "It is not the job of a government to take away the people's peace and force them to work and live in violence in an unsafe environment. It is not their job to make things worse. We appeal once more to the government: give people peace. Immediately initiate investigations into those responsible for the death of Ismail Karakuş, ensure that they are dismissed from the service. And do not try to cheat the population with the false official statements that a terrorist has been killed."