Attack on the right to mourn: Thousands of graves vandalised

 

Dilan Babat

 

NEWS CENTRE - Attacks on the cemeteries of the Kurdish people are not only physical destruction, but also an ideological project to erase social memory. Thousands of graves have been vandalised in the last 10 years, bodies were not given to families, bones were buried under the pavement. The usurpation of the right to mourn is deepened by these systematic attacks targeting the dead.

 

The right of every human being to be honoured on their last journey is a universal human value. However, one of the most brutal aspects of Turkey's policies against the Kurdish people is manifested in an understanding that does not allow even the dead to rest in peace. Interventions at funerals, attacks on cemeteries and the usurpation of the right to mourn turn into not only an individual but also a social wound. These practices target the human dignity not only of the deceased but also of those left behind. Every intervention at the funeral is a cry echoing in the tears of mothers, a stain of shame engraved in the memory of a people... Far from relieving their pain, the attacks on cemeteries are intended to take away even the Kurdish people's right to mourn. Doesn't this injustice to the dead of a people raise a question that shocks the conscience?

 

Ideological project of erasing the memory of the people

 

The intolerance of even a mother shedding a tear at the grave of her child, the refusal to hand over the bodies to the families or the presentation of the bodies dismembered and mutilated, not only inflict deep wounds on the conscience, but these wounds also create traces of a collective identity and social peace that are difficult to heal. The attacks on the cemeteries of the Kurdish people have become a symbol of a mentality that does not even respect the dead. The destruction of cemeteries, the breaking of tombstones and even the prevention of funeral ceremonies is not just physical violence; it is an ideological project to erase the memory of a people. Each attack deepens the question ‘Why?’. What law, what morality and what conscience can explain interfering with a person's final resting place?

 

We have compiled the attacks against the funerals of the Kurdish people since 2015.

 

 Thousands of graves vandalised 

 

In London, the Mesopotamia Observatory of Justice (Mesopotamia Observatory of Justice) prepared a report on attacks on graves in Kurdistan. According to the report, 122 attacks were carried out on Kurdish cemeteries between 17 September 2015 and 4 April 2020, and at least 4,255 graves were destroyed. In the report, 900 graves in Şirnex were completely destroyed and 1,457 graves were destroyed, 143 graves in Amed were completely destroyed, 200 graves in Êlih were destroyed and 369 graves were destroyed, 150 graves in Dêrsim were destroyed and 3 were destroyed, 150 graves in Wan were completely destroyed and 3 were destroyed, It was reported that 200 graves were destroyed in Sêrt, 232 graves were destroyed in Mêrdîn, 9 graves were destroyed and 3 graves were vandalised in Riha, 267 graves were completely destroyed in Bêdlis, 54 graves were destroyed in Colemêrg, 27 graves were destroyed and 8 graves were vandalised in Mûş, 80 graves were destroyed in Çewlik.  

 

2015

 

* On 17 October, ‘Martyr Cuma and Martyr Binefş cemetery’ in Cudi Mountain region in Şırnax countryside was destroyed by soldiers.

 

* On 18 October, ‘Suna Çiçek and Doctor Baran Martyrdom’ near Dêrsim Alacık village, where the bodies of PKK members and the bones of those killed in 38 Dêrsim Massacre were found, was bombed from the air. Cemevi in the cemetery was razed to the ground.

 

* On 18 October, soldiers attacked the cemetery in Sîsê neighbourhood of Lîce district of Amed and destroyed 50 of 218 graves.

 

* On 22 October, the graves in the ‘Mawa Martyrdom’ located in the triangle of Sêrt, Mêrdîn and Êlih were destroyed with diggers.

 

* On 4 November, the cemetery in Pirejman neighbourhood of Piran (Dicle) district of Amed's Piran (Dicle) district and the mosque and guest house in it were demolished by soldiers.

 

* On 12 November, Martyr Kurtay Feraşîn Cemetery in Meydan Kolya plateau in Beşabap district of Şirnex was bombed and destroyed.

 

* On 22 November, Martyr Harun Cemetery in Lîce district of Amed was bombed by warplanes. While the mosque, recreation hall, library and fountain in the cemetery were destroyed, 78 of 140 graves of PKK guerrillas were destroyed.

 

* The bodies of Mesut Seviktek and İsa Oran were left on the street for 28 days in Sûr district of Amed, which was under blockade.  

 

*The body of 10-year-old Cemile Çağırga was kept in a refrigerator for 11 days during the blockade in Cizîr district of Şirnex.

 

*In Silopiya district of Şirnex, Taybet İnan's body was kept on the street for 7 days.

 

* Ekin Wan's body was tortured in Gimgim district of Mûş.

 

2016

 

* The graves of guerrillas buried in Yeniköy Asri Cemetery in Rezan district of Amed on 1 May were vandalised by the police.

 

2017

 

 *The gravestones of 23 people, including Peace Mother Meryem Bulut and Aycan Kaya, who lost their lives in the 10 October Ankara massacre, were dismantled after the notification sent to their families.

 

*In Van, dozens of police and armoured vehicles vandalised the graves in ‘Yeni Mahalle Cemetery’ of İpekyolu district. The police entered the cemetery where the graves of HPG, YJA-Star, YPG, YPJ fighters who lost their lives on different dates are located and vandalised the graves and burned the yellow and red coloured scarves. It was seen that ‘T.C’ was written on many of the graves.

 

*The graves of HPG members Sancar Buluç (Seyid Rıza) and Baran Çetinkaya (Brusk Dêrsim) were vandalised in Perî (Akpazar), Sürek (Karabulut) villages of Mazgirt district of Dêrsim by soldiers on the instruction of Tunceli Governor and trustee Osman Kaymak.

*The cemetery in Orman neighbourhood of Gever district of Colemêrg was vandalised by special operations police. ‘Leş’ was written on the gravestones.

 

*Cemeteries of PKK members were destroyed during the operation launched on 18 April with the participation of many soldiers and village guards in Kato region of Beşabap district of Şırnax. The walls of ‘Martyr Kurtay Feraşîn Martyrdom’ in Meydan Kolya Plateau were demolished with diggers. The gravestones of the cemetery were destroyed and the structure built for visitors was completely demolished.

 

*The mausoleum of Sakine Cansız, a Kurdish woman politician who was murdered in Paris on 9 January 2013 together with Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez, was destroyed. The mausoleum, located in Dêrsim Asri Cemetery, 2 kilometres from the city centre, had a 3-metre high wall with Sakine's photograph and the wings of stars and doves.  

 

* On 14 September, the body of Hatun Tuğluk, the mother of Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk, was taken out of its place and buried in Dêrsim after being attacked by a racist group.

 

* On 19 December, all the bodies buried in Garzan Cemetery in Upper Ölek (Oleka Jor) neighbourhood of Bêdlis were removed and the cemetery was razed to the ground. The bones were buried in boxes on Kilyos pavement in Istanbul.

 

* On 6 June 2018, the gravestone of HPG guerrilla Tuncay Mihyaz in Ermişler village of Susuzlar district of Kars was vandalised by Turkish soldiers.

 

2019

 

* On 29 March, the cemetery in Kazancı neighbourhood of Bismil district of Amed was vandalised by soldiers.

 

* On 30 September, the grave of Mahmut Alınbay, who was buried in Piran (Dicle) district of Amed, was vandalised by soldiers.

 

2020

 

* On 4 April, the cemetery in Yarbaşı village of İdil district of Şirnex province was vandalised by soldiers. The gravestones of PKK members in the cemetery were smashed with sledgehammers by the soldiers.

 

* On 17 April, tombstones of HPG members were broken in Milazgir and villages in the centre of Mûş.

 

* On 24 April, Amed's Farqîn (Silvan) District Gendarmerie Command called the families of guerrillas who lost their lives during the clashes and demanded that the stones in the graves where their relatives were buried be broken and the letters X, W, Q in the Kurdish alphabet be removed.

 

* On 25 May, the cemetery in Güneşli village of Êlih Heskîf (Hasankeyf) district was vandalised and flags were hung on the trees in the cemetery.

 

* On 8 June in Amed, the grave of Hafız Akdemir, a reporter for Özgür Gündem newspaper who was murdered in 1992, was vandalised.

 

* On 12 June, the cemetery in Esenler neighbourhood of Lice district of Amed was vandalised.

 

*The body of Agit İpek, who was killed in a clash in Dêrsim on 10 April, was sent to his family by cargo.

 

 2021

 

* On 1 June, the grave of Tahir Elçi, former President of Diyarbakır Bar Association, who was murdered in 2015 in Sur, was vandalised in Yeniköy Cemetery.

 

* On 25 July in Afrin, gang groups affiliated to Turkey destroyed the cemetery in Şêxorze village. It was reported that the gangs also removed the gravestones, sold them and used them in the gardens of houses.

 

* On the same date in Afrin, Turkey opened the graves of YPG-YPJ fighters and made news as ‘we found a mass grave’.

 

* On 13 November, the grave of Kurdish artist Ahmet Kaya in Paris, the capital of France, was vandalised.

 

2023

 

* Guerrilla graves in Koçkıran City Cemetery of Ağrı Doğubeyazıt district were vandalised.

 

2024

 

*On 19 December, journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin were killed by Turkish drones in Northern and Eastern Syria.

 

Symbol of the struggle for honour

 

But despite all this pain, the Kurdish people continue to defend their right to mourn. Every body that cannot be buried turns into a monument of resistance in the hearts. Each tombstone symbolises a people's struggle for honour. And every mother, by protecting the memory of her child, becomes the defender of human dignity.

 

Tomorrow:  Mourning in the collective memory: Forgetting or remembering?