SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Erbil governor Omed Khoshnaw on Friday condemned an attack by a group of Turks against a Kurdish family in Mersin province, saying such acts are not acceptable.
Gazete Karinca reported that the Kurdish family who are residents of the Kurdistan Region capital, Erbil was subjected to a “racist attack” in Bozyazi district in Mersin.
Two members of the family including a father and son were injured in the attack. Gazete Karinca said the father suffered a “severe injury”, after they were attacked with tones.
The Erbil governor said he had spoken by phone with the family who was brutally attacked and beaten by some Turkish people between Mersin and Adana cities.
“I ensured them that I would be on line with the official parties to detain perpetrators and bring them to justice,” the governor said in a statement.
“You [the family] are our people and relatives. We won’t accept such acts against our people wherever they are. We condemn it in the strongest terms,” he added.
The governor called on the Turkish authorities to “immediately open a case on the incident and find out the reason of this inhuman attack against the family through laws, and bring the criminals to justice”.
Footage circulated on social media showing a man who has blood on his face is lying on the road while a woman sitting next to him is screaming and crying.
A witness in the area said the four Turks beat the man and his 12-13 year-old boy with stones.
“They tried to throw the man off the mountain,” the witness told a media outlet.
It is not the first time that Turks attack the Kurdistan Region’s people who travel to Turkey for tourist purpose. In 2019, a group of tourists from the Kurdistan Region carrying a Kurdistan flag scarf was attacked by locals in the city of Trabzon as they were trying to take pictures.
