As Turkey Bids Farewell To Martyrs Killed In Mardin Attack, One More Killed

Funeral ceremonies were held on Friday for four police officers killed in Mardin province on Thursday when explosives planted by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists were detonated as they passed by, with one more policeman killed in another PKK attack staged in Tunceli province on Friday.

Terrorists opened fire on a police station in Turkey's eastern province of Tunceli on Friday morning. A clash erupted in the downtown area of Tunceli amid hundreds of civilians after the police responded to the fire. A police officer, Murat Savaş Kale (30), died while another was injured in the fighting. The media reports say that two civilians were also injured, while two PKK terrorists died in the clash.

İbrahim Halil Aksoy, Mehmet Hüseyin Balta, Ahmet Akalın and Mehmet Akif Hatunoğlu, who were killed when the terrorists staged a bomb attack against their vehicle in the Dargeçit district of the southeastern province of Mardin on Thursday morning, were laid to rest after the funeral held on Friday.

A funeral ceremony was held for 45-year-old Aksoy in the Alanya district of Antalya on Friday morning with the participation of hundreds of locals. Aksoy's body was transported from Mardin to Alanya on Thursday night.

The funeral was held at the Emine Özmüftüoğlu Mosque in Alanya and was attended by Antalya Governor Muammer Türker, garrison commander Brig. Gen. Mustafa Kaya and Alanya District Governor Hasan Tanrıseven. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, interim Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Interior Minister Selami Altınok sent wreaths to the funeral.

Relative of martyr accuses state of failing to protect its security forces

Slain policeman Hatunoğlu's body was brought from Mardin to his father's house in the Sarıçam district of Adana on Friday. A relative of the police officer slammed the lack of measures taken to protect security personnel against possible terrorist attacks.

Reminding that the police officers were killed while travelling inside a Shortland armored police vehicle, Hatunoğlu's brother in-law criticized Erdoğan's ultra-luxury presidential palace in Ankara by saying: “The security personnel are being transferred for duties in vehicles like ‘tin boxes.' Don't you have money? You [the state] have money for anything else… You [Erdoğan] construct a $1 billion palace. A palace… Don't you have any helicopters [to deploy security personnel]? I cannot understand this. They [security personnel] are performing their duties by taking their courage in their hands!”

Other relatives of Hatunoğlu also expressed criticism against the authorities during the funeral. The slain policeman's sister, Hatice Hatunoğlu, stated that a relative of a martyr was recently arrested on charges of insulting Erdoğan in Erzurum province and called on authorities to arrest her, too. She said: “I am making a call to the prime minister: Arrest me.”

Another female relative of Hatunoğlu pointed to Erdoğan and said: “Tayyip must send his son to military service and to the arms of terrorists. Only poor people die; no rich people die.”

Hatunoğlu was buried in the Buruk Cemetery where a small funeral ceremony was held on Friday afternoon.

Security forces found a letter on Hatunoğlu at the scene of the attack on Thursday. In it, Hatunoğlu says if he is killed, he does not want Erdoğan, Davutoğlu, any ministers, deputies or governors to attend his funeral as the state officials turned a blind eye to PKK terrorist acts during the settlement process launched in 2012 to end Turkey's long-standing Kurdish problem.

Despite Hatunoğlu's request, Adana Governor Mustafa Büyük and lawmakers Seyfettin Yılmaz, Zülfikar İnönü Tümer, Talip Küçükcan and Fatmagül Demet Sarı and Adana Police Chief Cengiz Zeybek attended his funeral.

Akalın's funeral was held in the Doğanhisar district of Konya province with the participation of 5,000 locals on Friday.

Soldier injured in mine attack by PKK

A soldier was injured on Friday morning after a mine that was planted by members of the terrorist PKK exploded in the Başkale district of Van province. The incident took place while soldiers were searching for mines in an area close to Turkey's border with Iran. The mine was detonated by remote control.

The injured soldier was taken to Yüzüncü Yıl University Medical Faculty Hospital in Van, and an operation has been launched in the area to find the perpetrators.

A bridge was exploded by PKK terrorists on the Hakkari-Çukurca highway on Thursday night. According to media reports, the Çemkan Bridge collapsed completely due to the explosion.

More than 70 members of the security forces have been killed since the PKK attacks began in late July. The media says more than 900 PKK militants have been killed in that period in southeast Turkey and Iraq, where the terrorist PKK has bases.

Ağrı, Tendürek Mountains declared ‘Special Security Zones' for third time

The Tendürek Mountains and Ağrı were declared “Special Security Zones” -- a new name for the infamous Emergency Rule Region (OHAL) of the 1990s -- by the authorities for the third time since late July. According to a written statement released by the Ağrı Governor's Office, access for civilians to those two locations was forbidden until Sept. 19 due to the increasing terrorist acts in those areas.

The two areas were first declared Special Security Zones on Aug. 2 for 15 days and then on Aug. 19 again for 15 days and for a third time on Friday for the next 15 days.

The governor's office stated that it took this decision to declare two locations as Special Security Zones in order to protect civilians against any possible terrorist acts by the PKK, which is highly active in those two areas.

The OHAL period lasted for 15 years in southeast Turkey during the 1980s and 1990s, when Turkish security forces implemented tough measures to fight against the PKK in the region. The period was also marked by human rights violations of the Kurdish population in the area, leading to the period being considered a dark era of recent Turkish history. Thousands of individuals were abducted or fell victim to unsolved murders for political reasons.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)