ŞIRNAK - The body of restaurant owner Mehmet Zeki Çelebi, who was killed last week by suspected MIT assassins in the southern Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, has been sent off to his hometown of Van.

 

The body of Mehmet Zeki Çelebi was taken from Sulaymaniyah to Northern Kurdistan on Monday. The funeral of the political refugee is to take place in his native town of Van, relatives announced.

 

Mehmet Zeki Çelebi left his homeland twelve years ago due to persecution by the state and has since lived as a refugee in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq). Last Tuesday, while leaving his restaurant "Deniz" on Bextiyari Street in Sulaymaniyah, he was shot and seriously injured by two unknown persons on a motorcycle. A day later, he succumbed to his gunshot wounds in hospital.

 

For the farewell of Mehmet Zeki Çelebi, a large crowd gathered on Bextiyari Street. In a convoy, the body was escorted by family members, civil society activists, and political and artistic figures to the "Ahmad Haji Ali" mosque, where a requiem washing was performed. Before the imam said the farewell prayer, speeches were held.

 

The body of Kurdish politician Zeki Çelebi, who lost his life in an armed attack in the city of Sulaymaniyah in the Federated Kurdistan Region, has later arrived in the Silopi district of Şırnak. Çelebi, who settled in the Federated Kurdistan Region due to the lawsuits brought against him 12 years ago, was subjected to an armed attack on May 18. Çelebi's body will be sent off in his hometown, Van, to be buried after the ceremony.

 

Çelebi's body arrived in Silopi through the Habur Border Gate. The funeral, accompanied by Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Van MP Muazzez Orhan and Diyarbakir MP Imam Taşçıer, was greeted here by Şırnak Deputy Hasan Özgüneş and the party's Şırnak provincial and district administrators. After customs procedures, Çelebi's body was taken to Silopi State Hospital.

 

After the autopsy procedures, Çelebi's body is expected to be taken to Van.