HAKKARİ - Drawing attention that violence has become an arbitrary practice, Young people exposed to military violence in Rûbarok said: "If the villagers had not caught up with us, the soldiers would have killed us there."
Serhat, Mahmut Serkan Taş, Ercan Özmen and S.Taş, who were grazing cattle in the Navberojan region of Colemêrg's Rûbarok (Derecik) district, were battered by soldiers on July 25. The 4 people who were battered were saved from being lynched by the upbringing of the villagers. Then, 4 people who were taken into custody were brought to the prosecutor's office on the grounds of "violating the passport law". The youths, whose statements were taken, were released on the condition of judicial control at the Semdinli Criminal Judgeship of Peace on Duty.
THE HANDS OF VILLAGERS WERE TIED
Young people who graze their animals in the region and were subjected to military violence, told about their experiences. Serhat Taş (18), one of the battered young shepherds, stated that on the day of the incident, he and his 3 friends and relatives took their cattle from the grazing area to the irrigation area and returned to the irrigation area, and said that they were stopped by the soldiers in the village when they returned. Stating that the soldiers attacked them at that moment, Taş said: “The soldiers tied our hands and climbed on our backs and kicked us for minutes. Whatever torture they did. We were 4 people, 20 people, they were all shooting at once, we didn't know what to do. We were just shouting because we couldn't do anything. Since we were close to the village, the villagers immediately heard our shouts and all the villagers came to the area where we were beaten.”
'WE THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO KILL US'
Noting that there are constant beatings and tortures in the region, Taş said: “When the villagers came to the area where we were battered, the soldiers stopped beating us. Fearing that we would be killed with our hands tied, we escaped from the hands of the soldiers, one by one, towards the village. Almost everyone in the village is tortured by the soldiers and they do not speak up. They are hopeless because it is the state, it is the soldier. Nobody complains about the soldiers with the logic that whatever we say and do is in vain. That's why soldiers also got used to torture. We were beaten so much that we thought they were going to kill us. As we fled towards the village, they randomly opened fire under our feet and around. At that moment, I think the bullet grazed my back. When I received the report of the assault, the soldiers said that I had fallen and hit my back with a stone, even though I insisted that I was hit by a bullet; however, I never fell. They were trying to dissuade me from my complaint and these statements. We barely got rid of them. If it wasn't for the villagers, they would definitely have killed us there."
'THE ONLY PLACE THAT IS NOT FORBIDDEN IS THE INSIDE OF THE VILLAGE'
Noting that the soldiers said that villagers intervened because they went to the border, Taş said: "They say you went to the border, but everywhere is banned, how do we go to the border line? The only place that is not forbidden is inside of the village. When we go to the highlands of the village, the soldiers attack directly. Because of these practices, we are imprisoned in our village. We want all the soldiers who beat us and cause such incidents to be punished. Now we want to lead a comfortable life in our village. Torture is the only name for this ill-treatment we have experienced for years because of the soldiers, and we do not want such things to happen again. We now want to live freely in our village.”
'WE ARE COMPLAINING FROM SOLDIERS'
Özmen, who wants the soldiers who beat them to be punished, said: “We complain to the end of the soldiers who beat us. If those soldiers are not punished, the same things will happen again. Sometimes they can even kill us. Let's talk about this issue before anyone dies. We don't want deaths and such incidents to happen anymore."
MA / Mazlum Engindeniz