Only 10 out of 115 Cizre basement victims identified

Families of people massacred in the basements of savagery in Cizre were able to identify only 10 out of the 115 bodies that had recently been taken to Silopi, Antep, Urfa, and Mardin.

Families of people massacred in the basements of savagery in Cizre were able to identify only 10 out of the 115 bodies that had recently been taken to Silopi, Antep, Urfa, and Mardin.

Family members were able to identify only 10 out of the 115 bodies that had burnt and massacred during the artillery fires of state forces in the Sur and Cudi neighborhoods of Şırnak’s Cizre district. Family members gave DNA samples in order to identify the bodies that had previously been transferred to Şırnak, Mardin, Urfa, and Antep.

From among the 28 bodies that had been transferred to Urfa, the bodies of Sultan Irmak, Fehmi Dinç and Mesut Arsin were identified by their families. 6 of the remaining bodies are kept in Balıklıgöl State Hospital whereas 13 are in Mehmet Akif İnan Training and Research Hospital and 6 are in Siverek District State Hospital.

Only 4 of the 20 bodies that had been transferred to Antep were identified and the remaining 16 bodies are burnt and unrecognizable. DNA test results will determine the identities of these 16 bodies in Antep.

Only 2 of the 50 bodies that had been transferred to the Institution of Forensic Medicine in Silopi were identified and the remaining 48 bodies are burnt and unrecognizable. Families of Abdulselam Turgut and Murat Kazıcı identified the bodies of their children, and DNA test results will determine the identities of the remaining bodies.

Among the 17 bodies transferred to Mardin, the bodies of Ekrem Sevilgen (17), Serdar Özbek (32) and Mehmet Benzer (19) had previously been identified in Mardin State Hospital. After finger print tests, the bodies of Tajdin Merse (22) and Mehmet Dalmış (31) were also identified and taken to Cizre. DNA tests on the remaining 12 bodies continue.

Members of 68 families have given blood samples so far in order to determine the identities of their children. State forces had killed another 84 civilians before the massacre of 115 people in Cizre during the two months-long siege, bringing the death toll up to 199. 3 months old Miray and two other babies yet to be born were among the people massacred in Cizre, where state forces continue their blockade in order to spoil the existing evidence on the massacres.