HDP: Is a Kurdish refugee’s life worth 4 lira?

2015-04-16 16:17:55

ANKARA (DİHA) - A Turkish court has decided to drop charges against a Turkish soldier who shot dead 28-year-old Saada Darwich from Rojava on the border.

HDP (Peoples' Democratic Party) Şırnak MP Faysal Sarıyıldız has raised the issue in the Turkish Parliament, asking Interior Minister Sebahattin Öztürk why the soldiers responsible were not even charged with causing death through negligence. In the court judgment the NCO who opened fire was ordered to pay the cost of the two bullets, 4 lira (approximately £1), that led to the death of the young woman.

'He was not even held responsible for causing death through negligence’

Saada Darwich died while attempting to cross the border near the hamlet of Şabaniye near the village of Kuştepe in the Cizre district of Şırnak province on 18 May 2014. She was with her husband and two children aged 6 and 7 when soldiers from the Uğurköy military post opened fire.

The state prosecutor carried out the investigation decided that the NCO, Ş.B., who opened fire, could not be held responsible even for the offence of ‘causing death through negligence’. The 4 Turkish lira cost of the bullets fired was paid by the NCO on account of the ‘treasury deficit’.

'Systematic policy of killing’   

Sarıyıldız commented on the scandalous decision, condemning the wording of the court judgment, in which the court concurred with the prosecutor’s interpretation: “there was a high probability that the person died as a result of a bullet that ricocheted off a stone.” Sarıyıldız said there was a systematic policy of killing Kurds from Rojava on the border.

'How many people from Rojava have you killed in last 2 years?'

HDP MP Sarıyıldız asked Interior Minister Öztürk the following questions: "Why were shots fired at Saada Darwich and her children when they were known to be refugees fleeing from the attacks of gangs and they raised their hands in the air? Isn’t the protection of refugees enshrined in international agreements? Why was the soldier responsible not held responsible for causing the death of Saada Darwich through negligence? Are the lives of Kurdish refugees in Turkey only worth 4 TL? In the last two years how many people have been killed or wounded on the Rojava border?"

(nt)