Family demands justice for 14-year-old boy killed by police in Cizre

The parents of a 14-year-old boy who was allegedly shot dead by police last week in the southeastern district of Cizre have vowed to pursue justice "in this world and the next," demanding that their son's killers be prosecuted.

"My son was working for 20 Turkish Liras [a day] for spending money. He never hurt anyone. As he was trying to earn his bread, he was shot in the heart and killed. I will pursue the killers in both worlds," Abdullah Kurt, the father of Ümit Kurt, who was shot and killed on Jan. 6, told Radikal on Jan. 14, the same day another boy, Nihat Kazanhan, was shot dead by police in apparently similar circumstances in Cizre.

"I want the perpetrators to be found," the father said.

Abdullah Kurt challenged claimsthat police were not responsible for his son's death. "When my son was shot, there was nobody on the street except an armored personnel carrier. If they didn't shoot him, who did?" he said.

The father, who had just returned from Antalya that day, said his son had already succumbed to his injuries by the time they arrived at the hospital after being informed about the attack.

"I saw my son's face at the morgue, and I talked to the eyewitnesses," he said. "My son was assisting a shoe-shiner on the street on which the incident occurred. He was earning 20 liras a day. When the street was quiet, Ümit told his boss that he was going to the washroom and headed out onto the road from a construction area. As soon as he stepped onto the road, he was shot in the heart."

Abdullah Kurt said authorities refused to speak to him at the hospital, while also noting that the boy's clothes had "gone missing" while there.

"I spoke to the prosecutor after the incident, telling him that the murderer of my...