Officer arrested for Kurdish boy’s shooting death in Cizre; cover-up alleged

Excerpt

A Turkish special forces officer has been arrested for the January 15 death of a 12-year-old Kurdish boy during demonstrations in the town of Cizre in southeastern Turkey, the Dogan News Agency (DHA) reported.

It said the police officer, identified only by the initials M.N.G., was arrested in Ankara for the shooting death of Nihat Kazanhan, who local witnesses have said was killed as police teams were traveling through predominantly-Kurdish Cizre during unrest in the town.

The suspect was arrested after another police officer, who had been detained for the shooting, confessed that his colleague M.N.G. had done the shooting and testified to a cover-up.

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Highlights

• Thirty-five people died in early October after Kurds rioted in several southeastern cities over what they perceived as the government's refusal to help Syrian Kurds fighting Islamic State (ISIS) in the besieged town of Kobane, across the border in Syria.

• Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after the shooting that Kazanhan had not been killed by the police. “Those who claim that he was killed by a police bullet are provocateurs,” Davutoglu had said.

Sources