The Turkish state, known for its non-recognition and violations of laws of war, human and religious values, has been attacking the graves of freedom fighters and guerrillas in various places of Kurdistan for years.

In the recent months, attacks of the Turkish police and soldiers on graveyards have increased drastically.

The graves of PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and YPS (Civilian Defense Units) members in the Yeniköy Cemetery in Diyarbakır’s Bağlar district were vandalized once again. The vandals used marble paste and damaged the names and photographs on the gravestones. Relatives visiting graves noticed the vandalism and some families attempted to clean the marble paste themselves.

Some graves in the cemetery were damaged several times in the past by police officers and some gravestones were removed.

The most recent tally of attacks on cemeteries in Northern Kurdistan is as follows:

February 16, 2017

Batman Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Batman Municipality with the appointed trustee sent notices to families and demanded 23 bodies buried in the İkiztepe Cemetery have the headstones removed, including Aycan Kaya and Peace Mother Meryem Bulut who lost their lives in the October 10 Ankara Massacre. After the notice, the gravestones were torn out by the state.

February 21, 2017

Graves in the Yeni Mahalle Cemetery in Van were damaged with dozens of police units and armored vehicles. The police entered the cemetery with the graves of HPG, YJA-Star, YPG and YPJ members who lost their lives on various dates and damaged the graves. They also removed and burned the yellow and red scarves draped on the graves. Graffitis of “T.C.” (Turkish Republic) were seen on many graves.

April 7, 2017

In the Karabulut (Sürek) village of the Akpazar (Perî) town in Dersim’s Mazgirt district, under Tunceli Governor and trustee Osman Kaymak’s orders, graves of HPG members Sancar Buluç (Seyid Rıza) and Baran Çetinkaya (Brusk Dersim) were damaged on April 7.

April 28, 2017

The cemetery in the Orman neighborhood in Hakkari’s Yüksekova district was damaged by special operations police. They wrote “Carrions” on the gravestones.

June 5, 2017

In the Kato region of Şırnak’s Beytüşşebap district, graves of PKK members were damaged in an operation launched on April 18 with a large number of soldiers and village guards. The walls of Martyr Kurtay Feraşîn Martyrs’ Cemetery in Meydan Kolya Plains were demolished with diggers. The gravesones were damaged and the small hut built for visitors was completely destroyed.

The surroundings of the cemetery had been bombed in an airstrike on November 14, 2015.

June 12, 2017

The grave of Kurdish female politician Sakine Cansız, who was murdered in Paris on January 9, 2013 along with Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez, was damaged. The mausoleum was in the Dersim Asri Cemetery 2 km from the city center and a 3-meter-tall wall was adorned with Sakine’s photograph, stars and dove wings.

In the attack on the mausoleum, the dove wings and stars were damaged. When the attackers failed to remove the wings made out of pine wood, they broke part of the wings and the star symbol with a blunt object.

August 10

The graves of martyred YPG/YPJ fighters in the Yeni Cemetery which lies on Ceylanpınar-Viranşehir road in Urfa city were desecrated and the gravestones were broken.

Most recently, the grave of arrested HDP Deputy Co-chair Aysel Tuğluk’s mother Hatun Tuğluk was attacked by a fascist group and the body had to be removed from the cemetery, to be buried again in Dersim.