In the village of Şapatan in Şemdinli district of Hakkari, Turkish Special Operations police continue to persecute civilians.

Footage taken by a local resident shows masked special operations police officers stopping the village minibus, which carries people between the city centre and villages, under the name of General Information Collection (GBT) control. The soldiers attempt to conduct a body search before GBT, and threaten and insult those who reject it. The Turkish soldiers then threaten the people who refuse to get out of the vehicle with “death threats” and open fire several times, saying, “We will shoot you, we will kill you”.

The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Hakkari MP Öznur Bartın shared the footage of the incident on her social media account and reacted to what happened with the following words: “This recording is only a short recording of the persecution there. The very  same village, the very same place has been on the agenda many times, but the persecution has not ended. Because the climate of fear sought to be created there has become the foundation of the government. As seen in these images, the women, youth and people of Şemdinli did not and will not submit to any imposition, tyranny and oppression!”