İSTANBUL - The beating of peddler Serdar Turgut who sells meatballs for a living reflected to the cameras. A group of police and neighborhood watchmen have beaten Turgut in Hacıahmet Park in Beyoğlu, İstanbul around 21.30 last night. The surveilence camera of a supermarket shows that a police trying to lay Turgut on the ground while another kicked his face over and over again. The police officer who kicked Turgut, later grabbed Turgut's hair and started punching him in the face.

 

Explaining what he had been through, Turgut said two police officers in plain clothes came and asked for his I.D, then started to search his meatball car. Turgut says that the police got angry when they couldn't find anything. Turgut asked the police what they were looking for and the police told him that they were looking for drugs. Turgut said: "Following the plain clothed police officers, municipal police came. They took my food car. They insulted me when I objected. The people in the neighborhood reacted to the police and they started to beat me. They said 'Everything is our business in this neighborhood.'

 

When he tried to move away from the scene, Turgut said two police officers followed him and started hitting him bith batons from behind. Turgut said he fell on the ground as a result of the attack and one police officer started to kick him while another held him down. Turgut said: "The footage shows what happened clearly. One tied my hands behind my back and one was punching and kicking my face. When the people sitting at the park reacted, the police shouted that he is the prosecutor and the judge in that neighborhood.

 

 

Stating that he was later handcuffed behind the back and taken to the police car, Turgut said those who tried to record the police violence were also attacked. Turgut said the police confiscated their phones and deleted the footage.

 

Stating that the torture he suffered was reflected in the hospital reports, Turgut stated that with his reports he applied to the Human Rights Association (İHD) Istanbul Branch andhe will file a criminal complaint.

 

MA / Mehmet Aslan