Prosecutor orders removal of posters with names of massacre victims

At the behest of the Van Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, posters with the names of members of the Dedeoğulları family affixed to two HDP buildings in the province have been removed by the police. The authority considers the memorial posters, which refer to the racist murder of the Kurdish family in Konya, to constitute “inciting the population to hatred and enmity.”

Yaşar, Ipek, Serap, Serpil, Sibel, Metin and Barış Dedeoğulları had been shot dead in their home in Konya on July 30 by Turkish racist Mehmet Altun. Before fleeing the scene, he poured gasoline in five rooms and set fire to the apartment building. He is now in custody. Ten other people are also in prison in connection with the murder of the family, originally from Kars, including Mehmet Altun’s parents, wife and sister. Altun’s sister Ayşe Keleş was briefly detained after a lynching attempt on the Dedeoğulları family on May 12. It is now known that the massacre was planned in a WhatsApp group.