Following the demolition of the Garzan Cemetery in Bitlis and the abduction of 267 bodies to the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute, a cemetery in Muş has been torn down with construction equipment.

The Ismail Ronahi Cemetery in the Kolan village in the Varto district of Muş, with graves of 27 PKK members, had been damaged along with the Cemevi inside in a bombing in 2015 and has now been completely demolished by soldiers with construction equipment on January 11. Soldiers surrounded the Kolan village on the night of January 10 and started the demolition by early morning. There is no information on whether the 27 bodies are still in their graves or they have been moved.

“WE DIDN’T SEE THE BODIES BEING REMOVED”

A villager who spoke on the condition of anonymity: “On the night of January 10, we observed a very intense military activity in the village. They cut off all roads to the village. By early morning, we saw two diggers and two trucks next to the cemetery and one ambulance further away. In two days, they demolished the whole cemetery. They even carried the debris away, completely wiping out any trace of the cemetery. We don’t know if bodies were taken out of the cemetery, but we didn’t see any bodies being carried with the ambulance. And in any case the ambulance was far away from the cemetery. We don’t know if the bodies were unearthed or taken away, because it’s not possible for us to get to the site. The cemetery had been built in 2014.”