Human rights organizations have denounced abuses perpetrated by the police in particular against alleged looters in the area most affected by the earthquakes that shook southern Turkey on Monday.
«There are many shocking images of police and civilians beating and mistreating those who had allegedly looted the ruins after the earthquake,» Human Rights Watch (HRW) Turkey delegate Emma Sinclair-Webb said on Twitter.
In particular, she recalled that the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Justice have the duty to arrest the alleged thieves, but also those who assault other people.
The Diyarbakir Bar Association has denounced an increase in cases of police assaults to «worrying» levels and called for legal action.
The newspaper ‘Birgün’ has collected the testimony of two men from Hatay who claim to have been beaten by security forces after being mistaken for looters. They claim they were only looking for medicine for their families.
The news portal Diken reported that five volunteers were mistreated in Adiyaman, which could not be independently verified.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
