UN mildly scolds Turkey for murdering Kurdish civilians with white flag (Video might be distressing to some)

The United Nations’ top human rights official urged Turkey on Monday to investigate a report that the army shot unarmed civilians in the mainly Kurdish southeast, and expressed alarm at a crackdown on journalists and critics of the country’s government.

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said Turkish authorities should open an independent investigation of the shooting in the southeastern town of Cizre.

The events were captured by what Mr. al-Hussein called an “extremely shocking” film by a Turkish journalist, which appears to show a group of people, some holding white flags, being shot at while they pushed a cart carrying bodies in view of an armored vehicle.

Two people were said to have been killed and nine others wounded in the episode about10 days ago. The wounded included the journalist who had filmed the shooting, Refik Tekin. The local prosecutor’s office has issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Tekin, alleging that he is a member of a unnamed terrorist organization.

The government has severely limited journalists’ coverage of the southeast and has arrested some who have covered clashes between the government and Kurdish militants.

Mr. al-Hussein acknowledged the “major difficulties” that Turkey faces in the southeastern part of the country, where security forces are engaged in operations against Kurdish militants. But he also drew attention to deteriorating human rights in the area and emphasized that “if state operatives commit human rights violations, they must be prosecuted.”