Turkey has found itself in a soup after naked images of a female Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) member killed during a gun battle were allegedly shared by the Turkish Special Forces. The Turkish government has ordered a probe into the scandal that threatens to further anger the oppressed Kurds in the country.
Turkish media reported that Kevser Elturk, aka "Ekin Van", was a "PKK terrorist" killed by a special operations team on 10 August in a rural area of the Varto district - Gimgim. According to Save Kobane, a pro-Kurdish group: "The photo of the fallen guerrilla (without any censor bar) was initially shared by the Turkish security forces who took the picture, circulating within Turkish nationalistic networks who have been celebrating the picture with pride."
The images, which since have been widely shared on social media, have raised much public anger against the NATO ally. The pro-Kurdish groups also alleged that Ekin Van was tortured and killed, after she was captured on 10 August in "full uniform."
If the charges against the Turkish army are proved, then it would mean that the NATO member could be held responsible for breaching the Geneva Convention.
The office of Mus governor, in an official statement, said that it has launched an "administrative and criminal investigation" against those who shared the images, Todays Zaman reported.
The incident also triggered widespread condemnation. Idris Baluken, parliamentary group chairman of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), a left-wing and pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey, said on Twitter that the people who "stripped the dead body of a female terrorist were no different from the Islamic State (Isis) terrorists".
