3 killed as Turkey hostage drama ends in deadly shoot-out

A senior Turkish prosecutor and his two hostage-takers were killed when security forces launched an operation to free the official in a bloody end to a six-hour standoff in Istanbul. Two radical leftist militants had earlier Tuesday taken the Istanbul prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz hostage in his office, putting a gun to his head and threatening to kill him if their demands were not met. Their demands related to the investigation Kiraz was leading into the killing of teenager Berkin Elvan, who died in March last year after spending 269 days in a coma from injuries inflicted by police in anti-government protests in the summer of 2013.

When he (Mehmet Selim Kiraz) arrived he had gunshot wounds both to his head and his chest. His breathing and heart had stopped.

Turkish doctors in a statement regarding the death of Turkish prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz

The chief prosecutor was investigating the death of Berkin Elvan - a teenager who died in March 2014 from injuries inflicted by the police. He spent 269 days in a coma after being hit by a gas canister fired during anti-government protests, and his treatment by officers caused outrage nationwide. The hostage-taking was claimed by the radical Marxist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C), which has been behind a string of attacks over the last years.

As a nation we see this attack not only an attack against our prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, but also an attack against the Turkish judiciary, Turkish democracy and all the citizens in Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

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