Famous human rights activist murdered in Turkey

Famous Turkish lawyer and human rights activist Tahir Elçi was murdered in his homeland on Saturday.

This is reported by the Human Rights Watch.

“Assassination of Tahir Elçi, one of Turkey’s most prominent human rights lawyers and defenders, is a huge loss for the human rights community and all those who seek rule of law, democracy and justice,” reads the statement of the organization.

Elçi was shot in the head with a single bullet on a street in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır, where he worked and lived. A police officer was also killed nearby.

Elçi had worked since the early 1990s as a human rights lawyer, first in the southeast in Cizre, his home town, and later in Diyarbakır, the largest city in region. 

He worked extensively to represent families of victims of egregious human rights violations by the security forces, including enforced disappearances and unlawful killings by suspected government agents.