Turkey’s treatment of a Kurdish fighter killed in combat and her funeral has been an “atrocity”, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Peoples and Faiths Commission Spokeswoman Sabahat İnal Acar told Mezopotamya Agency.
Free Women’s Units (YJA-Star) guerrilla Gurbet Kaymaz lost her life in July in the southeastern Bitlis (Bedlîs) province. Only 10 members of Kaymaz’s family were allowed to attend her funeral, which was held in her hometown in the neighbouring Siirt (Sêrt) province in a cemetery surrounded by riot police. The family was unable to complete some of the funeral rites as the police threatened imams and did not allow one to be present.
“This treatment of bodies and funerals is the end of humanity, and constitutes an atrocity,” Acar said.
Many members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), under which the YJA-Star is organised, have faced worse treatment after their deaths. Since the resurgence of the conflict between Turkey and the PKK in 2015, hundreds of guerrillas have been buried in common graves, their families never notified of the passing or burial and unable to perform religious duties.
Families of guerrillas submit DNA samples to authorities to be tested against retrieved bodies. Tests are often delayed by years, and when families are able to identify their loved ones, the bodies are delivered in violation of human dignity, in plastic boxes delivered via post on occasion.
Kevser Eltürk was killed in clashes in August 2015, and soldiers stripped her naked and put her up for display to passersby. They also posted photos of Eltürk’s naked body on social media. None of them faced consequences afterwards.
Shortly after, in October 2015, Hacı Lokman Birlik was killed in clashes. His dead body was tied to an armoured police vehicle and dragged through the streets of his hometown of Şırnak (Şirnêx). There is speculation on whether Birlik was still alive when he was tied to the vehicle.
Over the years, many graveyards and cemeteries established by PKK members have been bombed and destroyed. Individual graves in regular cemeteries have also been targeted.
Between 2015 and 2020, at least 18 graveyards were completely destroyed by Turkish security forces, with more than 1,600 individual graves torn down and more than 2,900 damaged, according to a report by the Mesopotamia Observatory for Justice (MOJUST).
“There is a group of people who enjoy seeing Kurds in pain,” Acar said. “This government plays up its attacks on bodies to appease its fascist base.”
