282 bodies were exhumed from Garzan Cemetery on December 19, 2017 while Garzan Cemetery located in Oleka Jor village of Bitlis, without informing the families of the dead. The bodies were first taken to İstanbul Forensic Medicine Institude (ATK) and later they were buried under a sidewalk in Kilyos Cemetery located in İstanbul. While 22 bodies were delivered to their families following the DNA match, 260 bodies are still waiting to be delivered to their families under a sidewalk in Kilyos Cemetery.

 

Stating that it is a shame to bury people under a sidewalk, Non Governmental Organization (NGO) representatives said that shame will continue as long as the bodies are buried there.

 

'TURKEY HAVE COMMITTED A CRIME'

 

Human Rights Association (İHD) Istanbul Branch President Gülseren Yoleri, who stated that the peace process was terminated and many cases of humans' rights violations occured after that, said that burying the bodies under s sidewalk without the knowladge of their families is a hostile behavior. Stating that the attacks against cemeteries is the ultimate violation of rights, Yoleri said: "Turkey have violated both its own laws and the international laws doing this, and therefore committed a crime."

 

REMINDER OF ZILAN AND DERSIM MASSACRES

 

Stating that the Kurds are being described as 'separatist, terrorists and bandits' since the establishment of the republic, Anatolia Association of Solidarity with the Families Who Lost Their Relatives (ANYAKAY-DER) Co-Chair Şehmuz Işık said that's why the Kurds have been subjected to numerous massacres. Recalling that tens of thousands of people who were killed in Dersim and Zilan massacres have been buried in mass graves, Işık said these incidents are not independent from eachother. Drawing attention to the fact that attacks against the dead of the Kurds is not a new thing, Işık said: "We can give countless examples such as those whose ears and heads have been cut, or the bodies being left at the conflict zone to rot, or them being buried in pits without religious ceremonies."

 

'THEY WERE BURIED WITHIN THE KNOWLADGE OF THE GOVERNMENT'

 

Emphasizing that the bodies were buried under these sidewalks withing the knowladge of the government, Işık said: "Following the termination of the peace period, Garzan Cemetery was destroyed and the bodies there were moved without the knowladge of the families and buried under a sidewalk in Kilyos. This situation is not acceptable in any way. It is a crime both in terms of human rights and universal law. We will follow the issue in order to punish this crime and deliver the bodies to their families."

 

Stating that the burial of these bodies under a sidewalk is a disgrace, Işık stated that all political parties and non governmental organizations should stand up to this persecution.

 

MA / Erdoğan Alayumat