Turkey: Funeral of slain Gendarme officer held in Amasya

A funeral ceremony was held in northern Amasya province on Tuesday for the Gendarme commander, Major Arslan Kulaksiz, who was recently assassinated in eastern Mus province .

Armed attackers had opened fire on Kulaksiz, commander of Gendarme Garrison in Mus province’s Malazgirt town, while he was travelling with his wife and child in his car on Monday.

At the funeral ceremony, his wife Sibel Kulaksiz hugged her husband's coffin and said: "He is our martyr. We remain standing".

His 21-year-old son Dursun Kulaksiz wore his father's hat at the ceremony.

Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie Forces General Abdullah Atay, Parliament Deputy Speaker Naci Bostanci as well as many officials and relatives of Kulaksiz attended the funeral.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu sent wreaths to the funeral ceremony.

Another funeral service was also held for the officer in Mus province’s Malazgirt town on Tuesday before the ceremony in Amasya.

An operation is underway to nab the people behind Kulaksiz’s murder.

Following the July 20 suicide bombing in Turkey’s Suruc town that killed 32 activists, tensions have risen between the Turkish state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK is listed by Turkey, the U.S. and EU as a terrorist organization.

Turkish security forces have detained 1,050 suspects across 34 Turkish provinces since the nationwide "anti-terrorist operations" in the country began early July 24, the Turkish Prime Minister’s Office of Public Diplomacy said in a statement Monday.

Most of the suspects allegedly belong to Daesh, PKK and the far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).