ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Turkish court on Thursday slapped two suspects with aggravated jail sentences in relation to the killing of five members of two families from the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok city while visiting Turkey’s southeastern Mardin province for medical treatment.
A heavy penalty court in the Kurdish city of Mardin held its eighth trial in the case of five members of both Duhok families who were shot dead on a highway in the province on January 19, 2023.
The court sentenced suspects Abdullah Kaplan and Faris Akseven to 15 years of imprisonment five times each for several charges, including intentional murder and violence against women, according to a Rudaw reporter near the court.
The court postponed its ruling on other suspects involved in the case.
The incident has been condemned by tens of Turkish NGOs, unions, associations and officials.
The families of the victims protested the ruling, demanding death sentences.
Both families have insisted that they did not have any political or social issues with anyone, expressing their surprise to fall to such a tragic incident.
A Kurdish family from Erbil was attacked in Mersin province in May 2021 while holidaying in Turkey. The family claimed that they were assaulted by nationalist Turks for their ethnic identity. No one was jailed over the incident.
