Relocation of guerrilla bodies taken to the ECtHR
The case concerning the mortal remains that were removed from Garzan Cemetery and reburied under a pavement in Kilyos Cemetery has been taken to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The Istanbul Branch of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) has taken the case concerning the demolition of the Garzan Cemetery in the Oleka Jor (Yukarı Ölek) village of Bitlis province and the reburial of nearly 265 bodies under a pavement in Kilyos Cemetery in Istanbul to the European Court of Human Right (ECtHR).
According to JINNEWS, the families previously filed a criminal complaint with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office through their lawyers on charges of "insulting the memory of the dead" and "torture and persecution", but the prosecutor's office did not give permission to launch an investigation. The application made to the Turkish Constitutional Court (AYM) yielded no results, either.
After the AYM's refusal, the ÖHD lawyers have taken the case to the ECtHR on behalf of the families following the exhaustion of domestic remedies. The lawyers cited Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which provides “a right to respect for one's private and family life, his home and his correspondence”. The lawyers also accused Turkish authorities of not conducting an effective investigation.
Background
In December 2017, the Turkish state ordered the destruction of the Garzan Cemetery of Martyrs in the province of Bitlis in North Kurdistan. The cemetery is located near the village of Oleka Jor (Upper Ölek), where hundreds of members of the Kurdish guerrilla organisations HPG and YJA-Star and the YPG and YPJ were buried. Their bodies were exhumed after the destruction of the cemetery on the order of the Istanbul public prosecutor's office and taken to the local forensic department. They were then buried in the Jewish cemetery of Kilyos not far from the seaside resort of the same name at the European entrance to the Bosporus. The remains of Kurdish fighters were buried in a section for “the nameless”.
Until now, it was assumed that the bodies of 267 fallen fighters buried in Garzan were exhumed by Turkish security forces and taken to Istanbul. According to research by the Mezopotamya news agency (MA), the bodies turned out to be the remains of 282 people. Only 21 bodies were subsequently handed over to relatives. The bodies of 261 dead are still buried in Kilyos. However, not in regular graves, but packed in plastic boxes and stacked on top of each other under a pavement.
