“Being Kurdish is Enough to Be Attacked”

The treatment of Yüksel Tekin, a Kurdish student who was assaulted with a knife yesterday and injured by a group of ultranationalist students, is underway. 

Students protesting the incident on Maraş Sütçü İmam University campus faced violence both from ultranationalist students and police. 

A student was also wounded due to a stone. 

A student who kept his name confidential for security reasons told bianet that the attacks reasoned mainly from the fact that they were Kurdish and they had no security on campus as well as in the city.  

“Yüksel Tekin has been attacked for the forth time. He had previously filed a complaint to the prosecutor’s office as well as the police and university president’s office. We are being attacked just because we are Kurdish. If you are Kurdish and you are defending your Kurdishness a bit, this is enough. There is no political organization here anyways.”

“No life guarantee”

According to the student, the incident took place as student initiating a march outside Tekin’s faculty was confronted by a group of ultranationalists [ülkücü]. 

Police intervened the groups in the early hour of the morning. 

The student claimed that the police didn’t intervene the ultranationalist group, claiming that “they were applauding as the police tanks sprayed water”. 

He also added that the university approached to the them, saying that the police would intervene again if they didn’t disperse.  

“The aim of the police is get us out of campus. We hardly secure ourselves on campus. There is no security in the city. This is where they are pushing us,” he said. (BK/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.