IMC staff yesterday was wounded by police while covering events in the Cizre district of Sirnak, where the police opened fire on dozens of civilians. As a result of shooting 10 people were wounded. IMC cameraman Refik Tekin was among those shot by state forces as bullets hit his right leg. Later he was sent to Mardin State Hospital and remained there for treatment.
“I was among those people who went to the neighborhood Cudi, to pick up the wounded from the street. Then I was shot. After we took the dead and wounded civilians, people began to move towards Nusaybin Street, where armored vehicles suddenly opened fire on them. Everyone tried to run away and hide somewhere. I tried to do the same, when I realized that I was shot and fell to the ground. I crawled for a while, and managed to hide in the store, where several other wounded have taken refuge. The aggression continued”, – said TV staff.
Tekin said that after some time they were approached by the (HDP) MP Faysal Sarıyıldız and co-chairman of Cizre Kadir Konur.
“The police beat me and other wounded while being dragging us along the ground, and we were constantly being kicked up until we got to the “Ambulance” car. They have even attacked and insulted a team of doctors. They left me alone when I said I was from the press, but still mocked other wounded. Some of them may have died there. I don’t know”, – said Tekin.
Tekin strongly reacted to the report of one of the Turkish news agencies, which depicted him as one of 10 terrorists who were shot and wounded by the country’s security forces.
“In this country it’s too easy to be reckoned to terrorism; so easy, that scholars and intellectuals are stigmatized as terrorists, who are asking for peace, and journalists for what are doing their job. Very sad to see such a charge by the media. Everyone is now ranked as a terrorist”, – he concluded.