Turkey: 6 years pass over Oct. 6-8 incidents

By Sema Kaplan

DIYARBAKIR (AA) - Six years have passed since Oct. 6-8 incidents in which two police officers were martyred and 35 people killed across Turkey due to violent acts of supporters of the YPG/PKK terrorist organization.

With the call of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on Oct. 6, 2014, on a pretext of the Daesh/ISIS terror group’s attack in the northern Syrian city of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), the supporters of the YPG/PKK terror group conducted massive incidents of violence in 35 provinces, 96 districts, and 131 settlements on Oct. 6-9.

Two police officers were martyred and 35 people were killed, while 435 civilians and 326 police officers were injured following unauthorized demonstrations.

Public buildings and vehicles, civilian residences, workplaces, and vehicles were damaged during demonstrations.

Some 894 suspects were taken into custody and 386 of them were arrested.

The cost of violent acts totaled over 300 million Turkish liras ($38.5 million).

Destroyed schools and public buildings were repaired with government support and put into service in a short time.

The government also provided an allowance of approximately 50 million Turkish liras ($6.4 million) to shopkeepers whose shops were damaged during the incident.

- Arrest warrants for Kobani investigation

Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, then-HDP co-chairs, were arrested in the following period as part of the investigation.

Arrest warrants for 82 suspects, including former HDP deputies, were also issued on Sept. 25.

A total of 17 out of 20 suspects, previously taken into custody, were sent to the prison.

- Yasin Boru case

During one of the unauthorized demonstrations, 16-year-old Yasin Boru and his three friends, who were distributing sacrificial meat to people in need on Eid al-Adha, were lynched by supporters of the terrorist organization.

The Court gave 16 out of 41 suspects five aggravated life imprisonment sentences each, while two others were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for their involvement in the murder of four people.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

- Writing by Faruk Zorlu in Ankara