Turkey: Court upholds life sentence for terrorist

By Kemal Karadag

ANKARA (AA) – A top Turkish court on Thursday upheld two aggravated life sentences for a terrorist who killed a regional governor in 2016.

The Penal Department No. 16 of the Supreme Court also sentenced Serif Mesutoglu to 28 years in prison for killing Mardin's District Governor Muhammet Fatih Safiturk.

Safiturk succumbed to his wounds on Nov. 11, 2016 at a hospital following a bomb attack by PKK terrorists on his office a day earlier in the southeastern city of Derik -- approximately 41 kilometers (25 miles) west of the provincial capital.

Mesutoglu was accused of disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state, intent to kill a person serving office, and stocking explosives.

The martyrdom of Safiturk served PKK's vile plot of separating some territories from the state administration, the court ruled.

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 over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar