Investigation launched into police torture of 14-year-old Kurdish boy

The Diyarbakir Prosecutor General's Office announced that an investigation has been opened against four police officers who tortured and threatened to kill a 14-year-old Kurdish boy after news of the incident sparked public outrage.

In a statement, the Chief Public Prosecutor's office said, "Our office has opened a criminal investigation in connection with the incident that allegedly occurred in our Lice district and was circulated on social media. The investigation is being conducted meticulously."

The boy, identified as Y.D., was stopped by the police for no apparent reason while he was on his way home with a friend, and he was beaten and tortured in a remote area. The officers forced him to call himself a Turk and insult Kurds, and when he refused, they beat him with gun butts. Then they tied him up and left him in a swamp on the riverbank. The child was discovered by a villager during the night and taken to a hospital. Due to the injuries sustained during the torture, he is in danger of losing one of his eyes.

Police also threatened Yilmaz Dikan, the boy's father who was caring for his son at the hospital, saying, "You want white Toros, don't you?"

The white Toros, a Renault station wagon, was used in covert operations by state agencies to abduct and disappear Kurdish political activists in the 1990s.