News   /   Turkey

Turks demand anti-Daesh fighter body return home from Syria

Turkish police gather behind water cannon trucks on October 9, 2015 in Ankara during clashes with "protesters demonstrating against the Turkish authorities’ refusal-of-entry of the body of Aziz Guler, who died fighting Daesh terrorists in Syria on September 21, 2015. (AFP)

Protesters in Turkey have rallied in the capital Ankara against Turkish authorities who do not allow the entry of an anti-Daesh fighter’s body from Syria.

Demonstrators first gathered at the Middle East Technical University on Friday and then began their march towards the Presidential Palace to express their anger at Turkish authorities who have prevented the return of Aziz Guler’s body from the war-torn Arab country.

The 27-year-old commander of the United Freedom Forces (BOG) in the Syrian Kurdistan region (Rojava) was killed on September 21 during a battle with the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. He was fighting alongside the Kurdish fighters of People's Protection Units (YPG) in the region.

The demonstration turned violent when riot police used water cannons against protesters to block the rally and disperse the crowd.

Right after the parliamentary elections on June 7, the Turkish prime ministry verbally warned the governors of the border towns against allowing anybody to be taken back from Rojava.

Guler is among tens of others whose corpses remained in Syria. Some were buried in temporary cemeteries called logistic cemeteries, whereas others have been kept in the morgues of Syrian hospitals.

His family has been struggling to bring his body back for burial in Turkey, but the efforts have gone nowhere so far.

Turkey’s neighbor Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since 2011, which has left some 250,000 people dead and millions of others wounded or displaced.


Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Press TV News Roku