JINHA

AMED – Turkish state security forces have killed a 12-year-old child named Berat Güzel as clashes continue in the largely Kurdish town of Bismil.

For the past three days, Turkish state forces have implemented de facto martial law in the town of Bismil, located in Diyarbakır province. In that time, at least four residents have been killed, half of them children. The first casualty in Bismil was 8-year-old Elif Şimşek, killed when a bomb fell on her home.

This morning, police shot down 12-year-old Berat Güzel as he played in a park in the Fırat neighborhood. A crowd of hundreds quickly gathered at the park. As civilians attempted to retrieve the young boy’s body, police opened fire on them, wounding one. 50-year-old Democratic Regions Party (DBP) district director Burhan Karakoç was run over by a tank and hospitalized.

Eyewitnesses reported that after police shot Berat, they placed a gun alongside his body and took a photograph. The moment strongly recalled the 2004 death of 12-year-old Uğur Kaymaz in the town of Kızıltepe. Police laid a weapon alongside Uğur after riddling him with 13 bullets. The police were later acquitted of the killing.

Police have shut down the two roads leading to the town from nearby Çınar and Batman, but have not legally declared a curfew—although they have used mosque loudspeakers to tell residents that there is a curfew in effect. Bismil residents have responded to Berat’s death by forming self-defense units and retreating into their neighborhoods.

Berat’s uncle Abdullah Güzel traveled to the nearby city of Diyarbakır, where Berat’s body was taken for an autopsy. He said that his nephew had gone to the park with his friends.

“Right after breakfast, he went out to the park,” said Abdullah, who said that clashes broke out as the children were playing. Police shot Berat. “He was just 12 years old; who could he hurt? Are they going to call this child a ‘terrorist’ too?” He said that the family would continue calling for peace, even after losing Berat to state violence.

(ekip/fk/cm)