Twenty-one family members of a young Syrian man who was shot to death by a police officer in the southern Turkish province of Adana last week will be granted Turkish citizenship as well as jobs, according to Turkish media reports.
A police officer shot 17-year-old Syrian refugee Ali El Hamdani after the young man allegedly failed to comply with a police order to halt.
Residents of Turkey under 20 years of age are currently prohibited from leaving their homes as part of ongoing restrictions on movement to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
An official statement released by the Adana Governor’s Office said he was “accidentally shot by warning fire” after he continued to run despite calls to stop.
The bullet hit close to Hamdani’s heart. Video footage circulating on social media showed an emergency medical team performing cardiac massage on a young man, claimed to be Hamdani, before putting him in an ambulance.
According to the records of a phone conversation between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Hamdani’s father, Erdoğan promised to grant Turkish citizenship to the man, his two wives and 18 children as well as jobs.
Erdoğan told the father that he hoped Hamdani would be deemed a “martyr.”
In return the young man’s father said he was proud of Erdoğan and his government and expects them to ensure that justice is served in the killing of his son.
The police officer who killed Hamdani has been arrested.
There are around 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.