DIYARBAKIR, Turkey
A 10-year-old child was injured Tuesday after he was hit on the head by an object during a clash with police in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir.
The incident happened after a group of people attacked police with stones and petrol bombs following a local election rally held by the Peace and Democracy Party.
"Ten-year-old Mehmet Ezer was injured after an object hit his head; there is nothing certain for now on whether the object was a tear gas canister, a stone, or something else," Diyarbakir Governor Cahit Kirac told Anadolu Agency.
He added that the doctors said the object was not an inflammable one and a detailed investigation was underway.
Leyla Zana, an independent MP from Diyarbakir, said "I spoke with Mehmet, he was conscious and he was able to remember everything." She then called the incident an "attack on politics" and a "provocation."
Mehmet Ezer was also visited, in the Dicle University hospital, by Gulten Kisanak, deputy chairman of the Peace and Democracy Party and its mayoral candidate for the Diyarbakir, who said the child’s injuries included skull fractures and claimed the object he had been hit by was a tear gas canister.
Meanwhile, Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala announced on Wednesday that an investigation was underway and he had sent investigators to Diyarbakir.
"But we are not acting on rumors; whatever really happened will come to light," Ala said.
Mehmet's father, Nazmi Ezer, said he did not know whether his son threw stones or other objects at the police during the clash following the rally, but added "he is a child anyway, it does not matter if he threw stones or not."
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