Interior Ministry: Two staff suspended over dragging of dead body in Şırnak

ANKARA

The Turkish Interior Ministry has announced that it has “suspended two personnel” over the notorious dragging of an alleged outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant’s dead body through the streets of Şırnak in southeast Turkey in the beginning of October.

“Concerning the investigation that has been conducted on the dragging of a terrorist corpse on the ground in Şırnak last week, two personnel considered to have been involved in the incident have been suspended by inspectors,” the Interior Ministry said in a brief written statement released on Oct. 12, without further elaborating.

The dead body belonged to Hacı Birlik, brother-in-law of Leyla Birlik, the Şırnak deputy of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Hacı Lokman Birlik is said to have been killed during clashes between police and members of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of the PKK, in downtown Şırnak.

On Oct. 4, the Interior Ministry announced that it had launched an investigation into possible human rights abuses after the image was posted online earlier that day. The photograph spread widely on social media and was shared by HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş.

Violence between Turkish security forces and PKK militants reignited this summer, shattering a fragile peace process following a two-and-a-half-year de facto non-conflict period.