On 31 August 2017, a drone bombed four villagers who went on picnic in Tale (Ogul) village of Hakkari, killing Mehmet Temel (35) and wounding İsmail Aydın (43), İbrahim Sak (54) and Musa Tarhan (56). The first official statement about the incident came from the Minister of Interior, Mr Süleyman Soylu, who said that an operation was carried out in the countryside of Tale village and four organization members [PKK] were killed by an armed drone. He also gave the names of killed organization members. Later, the governor of Hakkari issued a statement, claiming that four PKK members were killed and four “collaborators” were wounded, one of whom subsequently died at the hospital. However, local sources said that both of these statements were incorrect; that the wounded were civilians, and the site were the incident occurred was neither an active operation area nor declared as a security zone.
A delegation consisting of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies interviewed local sources, eyewitnesses, and authorities, reviewed the situation, and wrote a report based on on-the-ground observations and verified information. According to HDP deputies, the site of incident is neither within a security zone, nor has it been declared as an operation zone. It is an area 20 km away from the village with constant civilian presence, where villagers have vineyards and orchards, a place that is also used as a picnic area. The dead and the wounded were civilians who live in this village or in Hakkari city center; who work there and have families and children; and that everybody in the area knows them. The governorship declared them to be “collaborators” and the police took them into custody even though they were wounded. The governorship also took unlawful measures, and prevented the wounded from talking to their families, relatives, and even the lawyers. The police attacked the relatives of the wounded in front of the hospital, using tear gas, water cannon, and rubber bullets. The hospital refused to treat the wounded and give them medical reports documenting their injuries. The wounded villagers and their families’ attempts to file complaints were prevented by threats of arrest by the police.
The following facts revealing the truth did oblige the Interior Minister to make a new statement: The only corpse at the hospital is that of Mehmet Temel; there are contradictions between the statements made by the Ministry and the Governorship; identities of the dead and the wounded are different from the names given by the Minister. In his new statement the Minister said that they had spotted organization members with drones, and armed drones attacked them and that “sometimes mistakes may happen.”
Using armed drones to bomb an area where there are civilians and inflicting casualties are in violation of the Geneva Convention, which has been ratified by Turkey. Civilians have been killed and wounded; a war crime has been committed. Detention of the victims and preventing them from talking to anyone, even to their lawyers, is an attempt to cover up the crime. It is not possible to explain this incident as a “mistake.” Moreover, summary execution of anyone instead of capturing and bringing him/her to the court contradicts several fundamental principles of the national and international law as well as the Constitution.
The Minister of Interior and the governor of Hakkari must be discharged; the government should carry out an efficient investigation and release the information to the public. We will persistently follow up the developments concerning this event both in political and legal terms.
Hişyar Özsoy
Peoples’ Democratic Party Vice Co-Chair Responsible for Foreign Relations
MP for Bingöl
5 September 2017