Serhat Aykul was a People’s Defence Forces (HPG) fighter who was killed in an air attack that was carried out by an Armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SİHA) of the Turkish armed forces on 22 August 2020. As reported by Mesopotamia News Agency, he was killed in the foothills of the Amanos Mountains in the Hassa district of Hatay in Turkey.
His family could not properly identify Serhat’s body due to the nature of the attack, but they sent a blood sample of the body to the Adana Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) for DNA testing. After four months, with the DNA results confirmed, the family went to the ATK for the funeral.
However, the body of Serhat Aykul was delivered to his family four months later in a body bag. The mosque did not provide a coffin and the municipality did not provide vehicles for the family. The family requested a coffin and funeral vehicle from Adana Metropolitan Municipality and Seyhan Municipality to take the body to Mardin (Merdin), but the family’s request was rejected. The family also went to the mosques and requested a coffin for him, but again, this was rejected. Unable to obtain a coffin and funeral vehicle, the family had to take the body of Serhat Aykul in a body bag.
Whilst waiting to collect the body of Serhat Aykul, the family was kept in front of the morgue for a long time due to the incorrect writing of the protocol number in Serhat’s death report. Following the procedures that had to be taken, the family returned to Mardin by placing Serhat’s body inside the body bag in the trunk of the vehicle they travelled in. The family stated that they would bury their son in Mardin’s cemetery where Sultan Şeyhmus’ Tomb is located.
