Eighteen Kurds wounded in attempted lynching

by Fréderike Geerdink

In the north-west of Turkey at least a hundred people tried to lynch a Kurdish family. Eighteen people were wounded,, according to reports in Turkish media on Tuesday. The incident occurred in the province of Sakarya, east of Istanbul. The Kurdish family had come from south-eastern Diyarbakir to earn money in the hazelnut harvesting season. According to reports a small group attacked the Kurds, and claimed ‘these Kurds try to kill us’.

It’s not clear whether the attempted lynching was connected  with increasing tensions between Kurds and Turks after the bombing in the southern city of Gaziantep last week. Nine civilians were killed in that blast. The investigation into who is responsible for the attack is ongoing, but many people are accusing the violent Kurdish movement, the PKK. Lynchings of minority groups are not unusual in Turkey. Apart from Kurds, gays, transsexuals, alevis and Armenians also often become victims.

Read this related article, published in a monthly magazine in the Netherlands, about hate crimes in Turkey.