Kurdish politician Mehmet Zeki Çelebi succumbed to his injuries in the Sulaymaniyah city of southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq) on May 15. The restaurant owner, who was originally from North Kurdistan, was most likely assassinated by the Turkish intelligence service MIT with targeted shots. His body arrived in the city of Van early Friday morning.

The body of Mehmet Zeki Çelebi was brought to Van early in the morning. Before his funeral ceremony, Turkish security forces blockaded all the entrances to the Selimbey Cemetery, his burial place, as of the evening hours on Thursday (May 26).

The hearse was stopped by police at the entrance to the city and taken to the cemetery with only 15 members of his family.

Numerous people, including administrators of Van provincial and district organizations of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Regions Party (DBP), HDP deputies Murat Sarısaç, Muazzez Orhan, Mehmet Sıdık Taş, and representatives of the civil society organizations in the city were also set to attend the funeral, but were blocked by Turkish security forces.

PERSECUTION OF DEAD KURDS

HDP deputy Murat Sarısaç reacted harshly to the police, saying, “Burial is a most natural right. Which religion prevents funerals? You are already committing a crime legally, now you are committing a crime in religious terms. You kill the Kurds, and then you persecute their dead bodies. We will never accept this persecution; we will protest the police blockade in a mass demonstration. You do not allow the funeral because you are a partner in the murder. There is no such practice even in the most fascist country in the world. You are persecuting the Kurdish people here.”

BANDITRY

Speaking after, HDP Deputy Muazzez Orhan said, "This is nothing more than banditry. What kind of security do you provide here? If SADAT, JİTEM, MIT did not commit this murder, then you would allow us to attend the funeral. The police blockade shows that you killed him. You are committing a crime. Do you have no human feelings or no conscience at all?”

“You can't even tell the reason for the ban here. This is unconstitutional. Whoever killed him imposes the ban on the funeral,” HDP deputy Mehmet Sıdık Taş said.

After discussions with the authorities, people still tried to get to the cemetery. The police locked the gates of the cemetery and attacked the mourners. Police used water cannons and batons against the crowd and detained some, while the mourners responded to the attacks with the slogan "Şehid namirin" (Martyrs are immortal).

‘THEY ARE ATTACKING THE FUNERAL INSTEAD OF FINDING THE MURDERERS’

After the burial under police blockade, Çelebi's relatives joined the crowd. Çelebi's older brother Fevzi Çelebi stated, "My brother had been living in exile for 13 years. We wanted to bring his body to the land where he was born, but they didn't even allow us to bury his body. If this is not persecution, what is it? Policemen came over me and said, 'Don't open your mouth'. This is nothing but cruelty, and we do not accept it. The state should abandon this mentality. The state is attacking the funeral instead of finding the murderers. As his family, we are against this lawlessness. Thank you very much to everyone who came to the funeral. Mehmet Zeki Çelebi is not only a martyr to his family, but also a martyr of all Kurds and Kurdistan.”