Atakan Mahir, a commander of the People’s Defense Forces (HPG), fell a martyr in Dersim countryside on August 11. The body of the HPG commander has been identified by his family at the Forensic Medicine Institute in Malatya province.

Turkish state forces are not allowing the family to get and bury their son’s body, reportedly saying “we will bury it ourselves”.

In the meantime, local sources told ANF that state forces have deployed village guards (local groups armed by the state to fight against the Kurdish people) in the village of Aktil, in Elbistan district of Maraş, the hometown of the HPG commander.

Entry points of Malatya and Elbistan have also been blocked by the state forces as Atakan Mahir’s body is still kept at Malatya Forensic Medicine Institute.