Kral FM radio host Ali Şentürk, known as “Afrikalı Ali,” called on security forces to kill anybody who criticizes Turkey’s operation in the Kurdish-controlled Afrin region of Syria, Cumhuriyet reported.
“I am calling on the police. They should show no mercy. The government has already given them the authority. They [police] should leave mercy aside against those who take to the streets [to protest the Afrin operation]. I even say: They should kill whoever takes to the streets. They should shoot them in the head even if they’re a member of Parliament, a businessman or a journalist,” Şentürk said during a radio program.
Barış Yarkadaş, a deputy for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), on Tuesday tweeted that he had informed the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) about Şentürk’s statement.
Turkey on Saturday launched a military operation in the Afrin region of Syria, which is controlled by the Kurdish-Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD).
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday had warned Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) not to take to the streets to protest the operation in Afrin: “You are being closely followed. If you try to take to the streets, know that our security forces will be at your neck.”
“If anyone is in the streets upon calls [from the HDP], they will pay dearly for it. This is a national fight, and whoever opposes us will be crushed.” Erdoğan added.
Turkish police have detained 42 people including four journalists and HDP politicians as part of investigations into critics of Turkey’s military operation in Afrin.