Devastated families tell brutal murder of their sons by PKK supporters

The relatives of three young people found dead in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır after protests erupted last week in support of the outlawed PKK, have described how their sons' remains were mutilated by their attackers.

The remains of Yasin Börü, 16, Hakan Gökgöz, 26, and Hüseyin Dakak, 19 -- who were killed on the second day of Eid al-Adha as they distributed food aid to Syrian refugees along with a friend, Yusuf Er, 18,-- were found after they were attacked by PKK supporters who claimed their victims supported the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), police officials said.

The parents of Yasin told The Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that they could hardly recognize their son's body as it had been so badly butchered.

Yasin's mother Hatice said she could only identify her son from a mole on his foot and by the shirt he was wearing.

She said: "A group tried to sandwich the four of them in a street but they fled and took shelter in an apartment.

"However, people in the flat informed the attackers, saying 'the pro-ISIS people' were there, and the homeowner opened the door to the attackers."

Yusuf is believed to have escaped around this time.

Hatice went on: "The three said they were not pro-ISIS, but could not convince the group.

"The assailants shot the three friends and then threw them from the third floor but, not content with that, they then burned, beat and slashed the bodies."

Yasin's father Fikri Börü said: "Even a wolf would not chop a sheep like that.

"The attackers were using Kobani as a pretext -- their real aim was to create chaos in Turkey. They wanted to turn Turkey into another Kobani."

Huseyin Dakak, the father of 19-year-old Hüseyin, said his son was targeted because of his Islamic clothing.

He said: "There were about 50 knife wounds in his back. They had attempted to burn his body and they drove over it in a car.

"Eyewitnesses said that, while the mutilation was ongoing, some bystanders were shouting, 'Burn them!' from their balconies."
"People who say things like that, do they not have any children?" Dakak asked.

Before the protests erupted Thursday and Friday last week, the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, had called upon their supporters to take to the streets in support of Kobani, which was besieged by ISIS militants.

The violence left 34 people dead across Turkey -- 12 of them in Diyarbakır. Most of the casualties were caused in clashes between supporters of the outlawed PKK, and the supporters of the Free Cause Party, or Hüda-Par, which is alleged to maintain ties with the former religiously fanatic Kurdish Hezbollah terrorist organization, a claim denied by Hüda-Par.

Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-chair of the HDP, said he was behind the call but said he never called for violence.

Mehtap Gokgöz, the mother of Hakan, who left a two-year-old child and a pregnant wife behind him, said: "I will sue Selahattin Demirtaş. Their problem was not with ISIS, but us."

"Hakan's teeth were broken and his body was riddled with holes. I could only recognize him from his beard."

Explaining that her son was distributing meat to people fleeing ISIS attacks in Kobani and to Ezidis fleeing from Iraq, she said: "The PKK, HDP and DBP (pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party) do not like such service ... they attacked them, accusing them of being pro-ISIS."

The Syrian-Kurdish border town of Kobani, which is under the control of armed units from the PKK-offshoot Democratic Union Party (PYD), was surrounded by ISIS in March.

The militants launched a full-scale attack on it last month.

Pro-Kurdish protesters claim the Turkish government had done nothing to halt the advance of the ISIS in Kobani, also known as known Ayn al-Arab, just across the Turkish border.

Turkish officials have said they have already aided nearly 200,000 people fleeing Kobani and have called for a UN safe haven in Syria for refugees.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as by the U.S. and the EU.