Man shot and arrested after trying to remove flag in Istanbul commits suicide

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

The 28-year-old man was found suspended on a clothesline rope in his cell in the high-security prison facility of Metris.

The man who was shot and arrested by the police after trying to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in Istanbul’s Gaziosmanpaşa district committed suicide in his prison cell on July 9.

The 28-year-old man, identified only as A.U., was found suspended on a clothesline rope in the high-security prison facility of Metris, where he was sent after being arrested on June 28.

A.U. was alone in the cell. His body has been sent for an autopsy.

A.U. was shot in the leg by police while climbing up a mast in front of a private hospital in Istanbul, in an attempt to remove the Turkish flag. Officers said he refused to back down despite being warned and having tear gas shot at him. The man reportedly swung a knife and shouted “Freedom to the Kurds” while on the mast.

The incident took place three weeks after a demonstrator in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır was photographed removing a flag from a mast inside an army base, leading to outrage among parts of Turkish society. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other political leaders criticized the soldiers for not intervening while the Turkish flag was being taken down.