The bodies of several guerrilla fighters who died at various times in the fight against the Turkish army will continue to be held at the Forensic Medicine in Malatya province. It is not always easy for families to identify their relatives. Many of the lifeless bodies have been blatantly desecrated, others torn to pieces, the families report.

The corpses of unidentified persons are buried by the Turkish authorities in the cemetery of the Nameless. Some families complain that their relatives were buried here, even though they could identify the body. The forensic medicine explains in such cases that the identification cannot be confirmed because DNA test is no longer possible due to advanced decay.

Only seven out of 30 corpses in identifiable condition

Also A.A. had to identify his brother's body in the Forensic Medicine who had died in early August in an air raid by the Turkish army. What he saw in forensics is described by A.A. with the following words: "We arrived there and saw 30 bodies lying on the ground. Among them were three women. A total of seven bodies were separated from the others. Four of them were just handed over to the families, three were still there. We had to look at all 30 corpses because they were all in the same room. I looked at them. Apart from the seven you could no longer recognize the victims. Three were missing the head. What also struck me was that all the corpses had their right wrist broken. The right hand dropped off the forearm. It seemed as if the right hand had deliberately been broken, as if to say, 'The hand that shoots at the Turks gets broken'. I assume the bodies were desecrated.”

A.A. also explains that he too could not identify his brother and therefore submitted a DNA test. He did not know whether his brother's body is being kept at the forensics or has been already buried.