Mele Yusuf Andan who has worked as an undertaker for 28 years said: “Bodies of 3 people who lost their lives in Lice were given to their families 76 days later. I saw the bodies, their heads were gone. Two years ago, I stitched a body in 40 pieces together inside the coffin, and I buried it with my own hands.”

Some HPG members’ bodies are left out on the operation grounds. The bodies which have been picked up are not given to the families for months for “DNA tests”. Families who are able to receive the bodies are faced with the trustees appointed to the municipalities in the region not providing them with hearses (a public service in Turkey) or mourning places (according to local traditions). Sometimes the imams under the Religious Affairs Directorate refuse to carry out the religious duties.

Yusuf Andan, a Democratic Islamic Congress (DİK) member who has been burying bodies and holding funerals for 28 years, protests the practices.

BODIES DISMEMBERED

Speaking to Mezopotamya News Agency, Andan said he spent 28 years in cemeteries burying bodies and attending the mourning ceremonies for the deceased, and added: “Bodies of three people who lost their lives in Lice were given to their families 76 days later. I saw the bodies, their heads were gone. Two years ago, I stitched a body in 40 pieces together inside the coffin, and I buried it with my own hands. There is no such immorality anywhere in the world. These practices have no place with human beings. If there were any morals, the bodies wouldn’t be treated this way. In the end, we will all go down with this ship. Nobody should think that they can get away. So, nobody’s deceased body should be disrespected.”

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS BODIES

Andan mentioned the obstacles in the way of the burial of bodies given to their families and continued: “I personally witness what is being done to the bodies. I am calling on the police and the army: Come, let’s bury the bodies together, don’t stand watch over us with guns. The police and the soldiers are responsible for the washing, shrouding and the burial of the bodies. If they don’t do this, they will be damaging themselves. They don’t do these, but they record us on camera. A person has lost their lives, whatever their identity may be, death is the last stop. We have a responsibility towards bodies.”

Andan said the trustees shutting down mourning houses and preventing the mourning tents set up by the people themselves are political decrees and added: “Mourning is sacred. But today, the sacred nature of the mourning is destroyed. There are no laws or order left. These practices are not seen anywhere else in the world. These can’t be just a case of following orders. But in the face of all these, we must come together and support each other, defend our deceased.”