JINHA

AGIRÎ – DİHA news agency has shared footage from the events on Mt. Tendürek over the weekend showing local civilians helping soldiers. "We'll give you a lesson in humanity," one of the locals remarks in the video, as the civilians aid a wounded soldier while Turkish soldiers are seen to be focused on gathering their equipment.

On April 11 in eastern Ağrı Province, Turkish soldiers opened fire on civilians who had gone to the scene of a Turkish military operation apparently intended to generate clashes between the Turkish army and local guerrillas stationed in a rural area near the town of Diyadin. Civilians intended to put themselves between the warring sides to stop clashes from intensifying, but Turkish soldiers killed a local Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) activist, Cezmi Budak, along with one guerrilla. Army fire also wounded another local civilian activist, Cenap İlboğa.

A video shot by civilians that day shows the group of locals heading to the scene of the clash to evacuate the wounded soldiers.

"Come on; let's lift this soldier together. He didn't do anything wrong," says one civilian, to which a soldier responds, "there's nothing for us to do here.

“If you had let us come early in the morning, if civilians had come here, this wouldn’t have happened,” says one of the civilians helping the soldiers, referring to the event earlier that morning when soldiers prevented the group (who were heading to a local village for a planned tree planting event) from continuing on the road on the slopes of Mt. Tendürek.

A soldier replies: “You might think we are to blame, but we are here as part of our duty. Go tell it to whoever did this.”

On Monday April 13th, Turkey’s Armed Forces (TSK) posted a "thank you message" on their website, addressed to the people who helped the soldiers injured in the conflict in Ağrı on April 11th. The message stated that the intervention of the public was “worthy of admiration” and “showed the great devotion and love our citizens feel for Turkey’s soldiers.”

Local representatives say their intention was to prevent any loss of human life.

(nt/cm)