ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish border guards shot dead a 14-year-old boy in the Turkish province of Hakkari on Thursday. Officials said the victim was part of a group of people crossing Turkey’s shared border with the Iraqi Kurdistan Region illegally.
The death of the boy, named by local media as Vedat Ekinci, has caused outrage on social media, with several users comparing the incident to a 2011 Turkish bombing which killed 34 smugglers in neighboring Sirnak province.
News of the shooting was first published by pro-Kurdish media outlets in Turkey, which claimed Ekinci was shot from a Turkish helicopter.
Hakkari governor’s office confirmed the death of “a citizen” in the Derecik district in a statement on Friday.
It said the incident took place in an area used by a “terror organization” against Turkish state – referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“A number of people were trying to enter northern Iraq [Kurdistan Region] illegally on August 1, 2019 but they were given Stop Warning by our border units,” it said.
“[They] did not follow the Stop Warning and [instead] headed to northern Iraq but [Turkish forces] fired warning bullets as per engagement rules.”
One person was taken to Dericik Sahra Hospital but later succumbed to their injuries, the statement added, without disclosing the victim’s identity.
The mountainous area sees regular clashes between the PKK and the Turkish Army, but has also become a popular smuggling route. Cigarettes, drugs, and other contraband cross the border in this fashion.
The PKK-affiliated ANF news agency said the “villagers” were returning to Turkey from the Kurdistan Region when they were targeted by Turkish helicopters at around 3 p.m. local time on Thursday.
Kurdish social media users compared Ekinci’s death to the December 2011 killing of 34 Kurds in neighboring Sirnak – known as Roboski Massacre – when Turkish jets mistook a group of smugglers for PKK fighters.
One of these people was the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Garo Paylan, who tweeted: “Roboski continues.”
The HDP also condemned the killing of Ekinci, calling on authorities to provide answers.
“The killing of 14-year-old Vedat Ekinci is the second Roboski massacre. We call on the authorities to immediately issue a statement. The murderers of children will not go unpunished,” it said in a tweet on Friday.
The government and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) are yet to comment on the incident.
