The family of 17-year-old E.K., who was injured when an armored vehicle struck her in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari, said that police had approached people known as “tribal elders” in an effort to get them to withdraw their complaint. Deaths and injuries caused by armored vehicles continue to pose a risk to children in the region.
E.K., 17, who was injured on July 24 when an armored vehicle struck him in the Güngör neighborhood of Hakkari’s Yüksekova district, is receiving treatment at Yüksekova State Hospital. Examinations found two fractures in E.K.’s right leg, and she is expected to undergo surgery. The course of his condition remains uncertain for now.
While the investigation into the incident continues, the family has not been given any official notification as to whether any judicial or administrative proceedings have been initiated against the police officers who were driving the vehicle.
“When I heard my daughter’s scream, the vehicle had already thrown her to the ground”
In a statement to Mezopotamya News Agency (MA), E.K.’s mother, Vesile Kına, described how, as she was walking with her daughter, the armored vehicle came speeding toward them at an intersection. Kına said that while she was able to step up onto the pavement, her daughter could not get away, describing the moment with the words: “The road was narrow, but even so the vehicle was coming very fast.”
Kına pointed out that armored vehicles are frequently driven at high speed in the neighborhood, and stressed that this was a safety problem concerning not only her own family but the entire neighborhood.
Family: We were asked to withdraw the complaint
Vesile Kına claimed that after the incident, police approached them and asked them to withdraw the complaint. She said that she had been told “we will do everything we can,” but she would not give up her demand for justice. Kına stated that they wanted the camera footage to be examined and the incident to be brought to light in all its aspects:
“Let the camera footage be examined, let the incident be uncovered in all its aspects. I will defend my daughter’s rights and I will not withdraw my complaint.”
E.K.’s father, Lokman Kına, meanwhile, claimed that the police officers who hit his daughter were trying to have the complaint withdrawn through people known as “tribal elders” who are influential in the region. Recalling that his daughter had previously undergone surgery on her arm twice and that her mother has MS, Kına called for an effective investigation into those responsible: “It happened to us today; tomorrow it could happen to another family.”
A situation that has persisted in the region for years
According to the Diyarbakır Bar Association’s report titled “Violations of Children’s Rights Stemming from Armored Vehicles, Mines and Conflict/War Remnants,” covering the 2011-2021 period, 22 children lost their lives and 27 children were injured in accidents caused by armored vehicles over that ten-year span. The report listed Şırnak, Diyarbakır, Hakkari and Mardin as the provinces where armored-vehicle-related injuries were most concentrated. Hakkari, where E.K. was injured, is also on this list.
The annual rights-violations reports of the Human Rights Association (İHD) also show that this situation remains current. Deaths and injuries caused by armored vehicles continue to be recorded as an ongoing risk to children in the region.
Source: Mezopotamya Agency
