Hacı Lokman Birlik, brother-in-law of pro-Kurdish, left wing HDP deputy Leyla Birlik, was killed during a clash with Turkish police earlier this week and was allegedly dragged behind a police vehicle. The Ministry of Interior Affairs has announced it has launched an investigation into the matter, BGN News reports. 

According to media reports, a clash broke out between Turkish security forces and the Revolutionary Patriotic Youth Movement (YDG-H) – the youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – in the Dicle neighborhood of Şırnak earlier this week. Hacı Lokman Birlik, brother-in-law to HDP deputy Leyla Birlik, was killed during the clash.

The photograph of Hacı Lokman Birlik’s body tied to the back of a police vehicle and dragged through the streets of Şırnak has been shared by thousands of social media users, who have condemned the photograph as a disgrace.

A video that emerged on Sunday showed a special operations police officer putting his gun on the head of a journalist after the latter wanted to record a police raid on the municipal building in Silvan which has been under a curfew for three days, Today’s Zaman reports.

The video showed police threatening journalists in front of the Silvan Municipality after reporters from Özgür Gün TV wanted to take images from the raid. One of the policeman put his gun on Özgür Gün TV cameraman Murat Demir although he had said he shut down his camera.

Police detained Demir as well as Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reporter Sedat Yüce after seizing their cameras.