A Kurdish youth was killed by Turkish soldiers in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority province of Hakkari (Colemerg) in the early morning on Saturday, Mezopotamya News Agency reported.

21-year-old Tahsin Yalçın and his two friends were returning home from their visit to Iraqi Kurdistan at around 3 AM local time when soldiers opened fire at the group. Yalçın who received a chest wound died in the incident.

The fatal incident occurred in Hakkari’s Derecik (Rubarok) district that is situated on the Turkish-Iraqi border.

The remains of Yalçın were brought by his family to the town of Derecik to be taken to a hospital in neighbouring Yüksekova (Gever) for autopsy.

Four fatal incidents in the last three years

On 30 November 2020, 16-year-old Özcan Erbaş was killed in a similar incident when he and his two friends were having a picnic near the village of Yeşilova (Birox) in Derecik, and soldiers opened fire on the group. A secrecy order was issued by authorities during the investigation.

Earlier, on 1 August 2019, a group from the village of Çemekurk in Derecik, engaged in cross border trade, were fired upon by soldiers who killed 14-year old Vedat Ekinci and critically wounded another villager in the incident. A secrecy order was also issued in the investigation.

On 2 May 2019, soldiers opened fire and killed 46-year-old Sertip Şen who had taken his sheep herd for grazing in the district of Yüksekova. The criminal investigation concluded that it was a sergeant named M.T. who killed Şen. The sergeant was released on probation by the court.