A Turkish opposition lawmaker has filed a parliamentary inquiry into the deaths of two conscript soldiers during basic training in southern Turkey at the weekend, citing allegations of negligence, insufficient medical care and possible misconduct by military personnel.
The soldiers, identified as 29-year-old Semih Erdoğan and Hayrullah Halit Karaman, were performing their compulsory military service at the İskenderun Naval Recruit Training Regiment in Hatay province when they fell ill on July 25. According to the initial autopsy reports, both men died from “multi-organ failure due to a dehydration-induced electrolyte imbalance.”
Özgür Ceylan, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), submitted a written inquiry to Defense Minister Yaşar Güler regarding the deaths of the two soldiers in İskenderun.
The inquiry criticized the government’s handling of the incident in strong terms, saying “You have turned the Turkish Armed Forces into Karbala. Shame on you.” The phrase refers to the historic 7th-century event in which the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, and his followers died of thirst, an enduring symbol of institutional cruelty in the Muslim world.
Ceylan’s inquiry was backed by other CHP members of the parliamentary National Defense Committee, including Uğur Bayraktutan, Seyit Torun, Tahsin Becan, Aşkın Genç, Metin İlhan and Eylem Ertuğrul.
In his inquiry, Ceylan questioned whether the soldiers had been left exposed to extreme heat as a form of punishment, whether the entire unit had been forced to remain outdoors due to alleged desertions and whether the base lacked a physician, leaving initial medical care to a nurse and an ambulance driver. He also asked whether a noncommissioned officer had destroyed a health exemption report and kicked away another soldier’s water bottle.
The Defense Ministry previously said seven soldiers were hospitalized with high fever and that Karaman and Erdoğan died of multiple organ failure due to severe dehydration. Five of the hospitalized soldiers were later discharged. The ministry added that an administrative investigation had been launched.
The incident has sparked calls for accountability from opposition parties. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) accused the authorities of negligence and demanded the formation of a parliamentary commission to investigate the deaths. CHP leader Özgür Özel said the deaths reflect “systemic mismanagement,” arguing that “Turkey has become a country of preventable deaths,” and warned against further erosion of trust in the Turkish Armed Forces.
Referring to a separate incident earlier in July in which 12 Turkish soldiers died of methane gas exposure in a cave in northern Iraq, Özel called for full transparency and accountability for both tragedies.
Medical findings dispute heatstroke narrative
The official explanation has come under scrutiny after journalist İsmail Saymaz reported conflicting medical findings on pro-opposition news outlet HalkTV’s website. Citing staff at İskenderun State Hospital, Saymaz said the soldiers arrived unconscious, with severe bleeding from the mouth and nose, elevated cardiac enzyme levels and depleted clotting factors, symptoms inconsistent with heatstroke.
“Troponin levels were in the 2000s, indicating heart muscle damage,” one hospital employee told the outlet. “The clotting factor was 80, normal is 1. This shows massive internal bleeding and multi-organ failure. Dehydration alone cannot explain this.”
Medical personnel suggested the possibility of toxic exposure, although toxicology reports have so far found no identifiable poisons. Experts noted, however, that such findings do not rule out exposure, citing factors like testing delays, metabolic breakdown of substances or undetectable toxins.
The conscripts’ roommates reportedly told the Cumhuriyet newspaper that they had been drilling for days in intense heat in preparation for a scheduled oath-taking ceremony. Following news of the deaths, some recruits chose to sleep in the infirmary out of fear for their health.
Dehydration, especially in extreme conditions, can lead to confusion, elevated heart rate and eventually organ failure if left untreated. The incident has raised broader concerns about military training standards in Turkey’s summer heat, particularly in southern provinces like Hatay, where temperatures often exceed 40°C (104°F).