A mass grave was discovered in Xîzan, in North Kurdistan, in 2011. Instead of carrying out forensic investigations, all that happens is that the city administration dumps garbage and building rubble over the bones of those murdered.
A mass grave discovered in 2011 in Xîzan (tr. Hizan) in the province of Bedlîs (Bitlis) in North Kurdistan on a landfill, has become a garbage and rubble dump. A local resident, who wished to remain anonymous due to possible state reprisals, reports that people tried to protect the mass grave with their own resources, but the city administration of the Islamist AKP parent party Saadet has now dumped garbage and rubble on the grave site again.
In the 1990s, thousands “disappeared” in the torture chambers of the Turkish Secret Service JITEM. Their bones often turn up in garbage dumps, in acid wells or during construction work on military bases. One of these places is the garbage dump at Xîzan. A local resident said: “Xîzan is one of the places where state terror was most experienced in the 1990s. The villagers were constantly pressured to become village guards. When they refused, their villages were raided by soldiers. People were either arrested and tortured or murdered by ‘unknown perpetrators’. One of the villages that was particularly affected was the village of Shen (Aladana). Because of this torture and endless oppression, many young people from this village went to the mountains at that time. One of these young people was Ruban (Tufan Aydın).”
The citizen said: “As far as I know, Aydın and seven other guerrillas were buried in the Xîzan landfill in 1994. It is a landfill full of bones of murdered people. At that time, those who had lost their lives in the fighting in Bedlîs Motkî were also buried there. In 2011, a human skull was pulled out of the ground there. This skull was taken for examination but nothing came back.”
“Anyone who protests will be arrested”
The villager reported that the Xîzan municipality was repeatedly informed that there was a mass grave there. The population also repeatedly cleared and maintained the place. But all of this was ignored, said the citizen, adding: “We have warned them so many times, but the city administration doesn't listen to us. In the last two weeks, both the garbage from the municipality of Xîzan and the excavated material from the expansion of the military base were dumped on the mass grave.”
People were very disturbed by this situation, but those who protested against it were arrested. The last arrest took place last week.
The mass grave should be opened and investigated”
The resident concluded by saying: “This action is unacceptable. There is no respect here for either the dead or the living. No religion or belief allows something like that. They bury both people in a mass grave and then throw trash on them instead of investigating. What beliefs and what human values does this fit in with? We don't accept that; We want this to stop immediately and for the mass grave there to be opened and examined.”
