Outlawed PKK executes two civilians claiming ISIS affiliation


Following the vicious suicide bombing attack that killed 32 people and injured many others in Turkey southeastern district of Suruç, the outlawed PKK terrorist organization murdered two civilians in retaliatory attacks on Wednesday, claiming that they are members of the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) terrorist group.Along with the murder of two police officers in the Şanlıurfa province on Wednesday, which assumed responsibility by the PKK, the number of people killed in extrajudicial executions with alleged links to ISIS reached four. In the first attack, Mürsel Gül, 45, was killed by the PKK's youth branch YDG/H members on his way home in Istanbul's Gaziosmanpaşa district. Gül was shot by four times and died at the scene. Security authorities launched an investigation on the attack, although initial statements said that no organizational links between Gül and ISIS were found. It was also reported that a telephone dealer in the same neighborhood was earlier attacked by the YDG/H with the same allegation, without inflicting injuries or casualties. However, Gül praised the suicide bombing in Suruç via social media, in addition to tweets supporting ISIS.The second attack came in the Seyhan district of the southern city of Adana, in which Ethem Türkben, 30, was murdered in his home by gunmen wearing snow masks. Heavily wounded in the attack, Türkben passed away at the hospital. Türkben was a member of the Kalem Foundation, a-pro Muslim Brotherhood organization, and the Free Cause Party (Hür Dava Partisi - HÜDAPAR), a political party active in Turkey's southeastern provinces and has been in a bloody feud with the PKK since the early 1990's and most recently in the Kobani protests of October 6-7, 2014 in which 40 people were killed. However, no initial links between Türkben and ISIS can be found.The PKK has long been involved in extrajudicial executions and practices, especially in eastern and southeastern Turkey, as well as some neighborhoods in western cities. Their methods include setting up barricades for ID checks, forcing local people for financial contribution, attacking people because of their facial hair or clothes.