Baki Akdemir

Three police chiefs were suspended June 12 in connection to an incident where a Turkish flag was removed from inside of a military post during protests in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır earlier this week.

Diyarbakır Governor Mustafa Cahit Kıraç told Anadolu Agency there was an ongoing, extensive investigation into the incident.

The removal of a Turkish flag at an Air Force base in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır is indication of a de facto occupation by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has said, calling on the chief of general staff to resign over his responsibility for such a failure.

Soldiers that opened fire during clashes in Lice, resulting in the death of two demonstrators, have been identified by prosecutors, the head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association said June 9.

The weapons of the soldiers were also seized as part of the investigation, Tahir Elçi said.