Chief Prosecutor’s Office in the capital Ankara launched an investigation into killing of three Turkish citizens in an Israeli airstrike while they were attempting to cross into that country from Lebanon. The office said in a statement that autopsies on the bodies were still underway in the provinces they resided in Türkiye, and once the work was completed, autopsy reports would be sent to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office to proceed with the investigation.
The three men went missing last month. Days later, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement denouncing the killing of the trio.
"It has been learned that the three Turkish citizens, with whom contact had been lost while attempting to cross illegally from Lebanon to Israel, lost their lives as a result of an Israeli airstrike in the region," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Jan. 30. The ministry would not give the exact location of the strike or name the citizens.
"We condemn in the strongest terms this unlawful attack that resulted in the death of our citizens," the ministry said, urging Israel to "immediately end its aggressive policies that disregard human life and escalate tensions in our region."
The Israeli military did not immediately offer comment on the killings. Israeli forces occupy territory inside Lebanon along some parts of the border after fighting a war with Hezbollah, which ended in a cease-fire last year. A fragile cease-fire has been in place since Nov. 27, ending a period of mutual shelling between Israel and Hezbollah that began on Oct. 8, 2023, and escalated into a full-scale conflict on Sept. 23 last year. Lebanese media have reported over 830 Israeli breaches since the deal came into force. Israel was to complete its army's withdrawal from Lebanon by Jan. 26 under the cease-fire deal, but it refused and the deadline was extended to Feb. 18, according to the White House. At least 26 people have been killed and 221 injured by Israeli gunfire since Jan. 26, as residents attempt to return to villages in southern Lebanon.
Turkish media has identified the missing Turks as Sezer Özdemir, Hüseyin Kaya and Çınar Alp Baydenk and reported that their families alerted Turkish authorities that men went missing on the Lebanese border on Jan. 11. Media outlets have also reported that men had used fake IDs in the past to work in Israel before they were deported. They were trying to enter Israel again when they disappeared. Reports in Israeli media have said that three people were killed in a drone attack by Israeli forces targeting a group of illegal migrants on Jan. 11 near Shebaa Farms, a strip of land on the Lebanese-Syrian border which is occupied by Israel. Ayhan Özdemir, brother of Sezer Özdemir, told Türkiye’s Ihlas News Agency (IHA) last month that his brother’s last text message to his family was the sighting of a drone flying above the group. Özdemir said he had another brother in Israel and he confirmed their brother’s death after migrant smugglers guiding the group alerted him.
