Turkish special forces brutalizing Kurdish workers, leaked video shows
A video has emerged on social media websites allegedly showing Turkish Special Forces brutalizing a group of handcuffed workers in the southeastern province of Hakkari.
In the unverified video, apparently from a police body camera, armed Turkish forces can be seen walking around at a group of people lying with their faces on the ground and their hands handcuffed behind their backs while one officer can be heard shouting in Turkish, Today's Zaman reported on Saturday.
"You will see the power of the Turkish Republic," the officer is heard yelling at the beginning of the video, further claiming that he knows who they are and that traitors will be dealt with. "What did this state do to you? You will see the strength of the Turk."
Neither the location of the footage nor the identity of the handcuffed suspects was clear, but the the website of the Turkish daily said the alleged officer’s rhetoric is similar to that of "nationalists" addressing Kurdish "separatists".
However, according to the pro-Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) news agency, DİHA, the video was shot on Wednesday in Hakkari's predominantly Kurdish district Yüksekova, where the Special Forces raided a private construction site and detained 52 people on unclear charges.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s office announced that an investigation has been launched into the matter.
"Our Prime Minister instructed the Interior Ministry to conduct the necessary review after the footage showing our citizens put on the ground in the scope of anti-terror operations has come into circulation on social media," said the statement.
Turkey recently launched airstrikes against purported PKK positions in Iraq and ISIL in Syria after a deadly bomb attack attributed to ISIL Takfiris left 32 people dead in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruç across the border from the northern Syrian town of Kobani.
A shaky ceasefire that had stood since 2013 was declared as null by PKK following the Turkish airstrikes against the group, narrowing chances of the two sides reaching a deal in the near future.
The PKK had been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.
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