HDP: Armored vehicles are the symbols of massacre in Kurdistan

The co-spokespersons of the HDP Children’s Commission, Nuray Türkmen and Hüseyin Kaçmaz, as well as members of institutions such as KESK, Eğitim Sen, and İHD, held a press conference in Parliament regarding the father of Efe Tektekin, who was murdered by an armored vehicle on September 11, being found the primary negligent party by court.

‘ALL ARMORED VEHICLE INCIDENTS HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN KURDISTAN’

Speaking here, Hüseyin Kaçmaz said the following:

“As the HDP Children’s Commission, we have gathered to make a statement, particularly regarding the children murdered by armored vehicles in Kurdistan. The representatives of KESK, Egitim Sen, and the İHD Children’s Rights Commission are also among us.

According to the information reflected in the press, there are many incidents with armored vehicles called ‘accidents’. Almost all of them, except for one, have taken place in Kurdish territory. I want to share a list prepared by our Co-spokesperson for the Children’s Commission, Nuray Türkmen. Each line you see in this list is a list of children who lost their lives or were injured after such an “accident”. Unfortunately, these lists are not limited to this, and armored vehicle injuries and deaths continue unabated.

‘56 PEOPLE WERE MURDERED, 24 OF WHOM WERE CHILDREN’

This list only included cases in Kurdistan between 2008 and 2022. There were 94 cases in total, and 56 individuals, 24 of them were children, died as a result. Again, 141 people were injured, with at least 22 of them being children. The fact that these incidents occur so frequently and in the same geographic area indicates an obvious scenario. It also demonstrates how the Kurdish question in Turkey is linked through war policies.

‘IMPUNITY POLICIES AT WORK’

Apart from murders by armored vehicles, Kurdish children are dying as a result of the government’s insistence on war and deadlock policies. As it is well known, 5-year-old Efe Tektekin died in a armored vehicle crash in Diyarbakir in 2019. Three years after the incident, a new finding was revealed, and Efe Tektekin’s father was judged to be at fault in the report. The same method was used in several other similar cases, one of which was a 16-ton panzer crashing and destroying the house wall of Muhammed and Furkan while they were sleeping in their beds. Years later, once the people settled down, a new report was acquired, and the police officer driving the vehicle without a driver’s license was fined and the case was postponed.

All of this demonstrates one thing: the government that persists on the deadlock policies on the Kurdish question, also uses an impunity policy in all of these incidents. It continues to protect the officers who committed these breaches of human rights. Where else in this country are people killed, injured, and condemned to lifelong disability so frequently by armored vehicles? Even the fact that this crisis is occurring in such a small area illustrates these harsh realities as a result of the deadlock on the Kurdish question and reliance on conflict strategies.

The reports that attribute defects to armored vehicles, which claim that they have “blind spots,” and “invisible spots,” and marginalize disabled people, are actually confessions in disguise. These reports show how the policies of impunity are in use. When the regulation, also known as the ‘Internal Security Package’, was introduced in 2015, we stated that it was the result of the policy of impunity and that this would create a police-state and cause new deaths. Unfortunately, this list proved us that we were right.

‘THE MASSACRE SYMBOLS OF THIS ERA’

The white Toros cars were once a symbol of the massacres in the collective Kurdish memory. Today, armored vehicles have taken their places. Even now, while reviewing the list, many of our citizens have lost their lives and limbs as a result of mines laid not only all along the border but also inside of it. They do not lose their lives only because of armoured vehicles but also due to the insistence on war and conflict policies which cause children to be killed, injured, exposed to violence, and children witness several house raids with guns pointing at them, all of which traumatize them.

I’d like to speak about Ceylan Önkol, who died as a result of an explosion caused by an object she discovered while grazing her sheep in the Lice district of Amed. What happened to that file on this incident which occurred 13 years ago? So far, no one has been convicted. Following this incident in 2014, the file was prescribed. The opposition isn’t putting enough emphasis on the matter. They have remained silent about a child’s murder, and the government has not accepted responsibility until now. If the government wants to take responsibility, the cause of the problem is clear: the Kurdish question. The key to avoiding similar incidents is to resolve the Kurdish question through dialogue and negotiation.

These incidents are just accidents, but also the government’s choice and policy. An effective investigation is consciously prevented. We are the victims of these problems, and our people are aware of them. The list we show, as well as the geography it points to, is the problem’s center and name.

Kurdistan should be cleansed of these death machines. As someone who lives in that area, I can say with certainty that, despite so many deaths, not a single mile has been retraced. As the HDP, we have demanded that these death machines be removed from our region. Similar calls were made by non-governmental organizations as well. We once again demand that the authorities prohibit the use of armored vehicles in the cities. We once again urge the government to abandon its policy of impunity.”