The bodies of two guerrillas of the Kurdistan People's Liberation Army (Artesa Rizgarîya Gelê Kurdîstan, ARGK), Lezgin Yigit (Musa) and Emin Demir (Korkmaz), who died in a clash in 1990 in the village of Aruş (Ortakoy) in the Uludere district of Sırnak, have been found in the garden of the military post in Ortakoy after an excavation was ordered by the Uludere Public Prosecutor’s office after a request from the families. It has been observed that the guerrillas' arms and legs were tied and that a rope was also tied around their necks.  

The bodies of Lezgin Yigit (Musa) and Emin Demir (Korkmaz), who died in a clash on 17 July 1990 in the village of Ortakoy in Uludere district, were taken by the soldiers and village guards from the battle field and were interred in the garden of the military post in Ortakoy. Years later, the families and members of MEYA-DER filed a request to the Uludere Public Prosecutor’s Office for an excavation in the garden of the military post.

As their request was approved by the prosecutor’s office, yesterday the garden of the military post, which has long been empty, was excavated in the presence of the families.
The bodies of Yigit and Demir were found buried near the wall of the garden. There were ropes tied around their necks as well as around their arms and legs.

Having received the bodies of their children, the families took them to Uludere Hospital for official procedures and then to the Amed (Diyarbakir) Forensic Institute for post mortems. While the bodies were being taken to Diyarbakir people gathered along the road and chanted “Sehid namirin” (Martyrs are immortal).

Turkey learned of the presence of mass graves in 1989, when a Kurdish journalist, Günay Aslan, had revealed their existence. Kasaplar Deresi (Butcher's Creek), an army trash heap in the province of Siirt, was where the first mass grave was discovered. Nine people were exhumed by the authorities there, and the names of at least 73 others buried in this mass grave came to light. The guerrillas who lost their life in clashes or people abducted by the security forces were thrown there, sometimes from garbage vehicles. More than 100 bodies were recovered from this mass grave over the past 20 years.

The Human Rights Association (İHD) claims to have been informed of the existence of hundreds of mass graves in Bitlis province alone, an arid populated mainly by Kurds. Testimonies from villagers and PKK members have brought to the discovery of the exact locations of mass graves. Many are located in the cities of Bitlis, Siirt, Hakkari, Şirnak, Diyarbakır, Batman and Bingöl. Extrajudicial killings; summary executions; burned bodies, bodies mutilated or crushed by tanks; severed heads; fighters and villagers thrown from helicopters; signs of torture; and evidence of chemical weapons are listed among the crimes committed before the mass burying.

IHD reports that mass graves are located in Newala Qasaba, Eruh town centre, Twan, Şawiran, Çevirimtepe (Girdika), Ergüven (Baluka), Kikan, Yeşilkonak (Kadîya), Kurtalan, Harat, Ekmekçiler (Binêve), Gözpýnar, Yelkesen (Basixrê) and Bozatlı (Basnê) village countryside in Siirt, Hizan, Arsan River (Newala Warê Hiro), Kokarsu (Arpêt), Bindaki mountain, the countryside of Tatvan, Çakalsöğüt (Xaştax), between Hora Şêxan and Hora Kurmanca, Cengiz Village, Pihok, Duav Pasture, Güroymak, Mutki and Dikilitaş zone in Bitlis. There are also 19 graveyards in different locations in Diyarbakır, 9 in Van, 8 in Batman, 6 in Hakkari, 5 in Bingöl, 4 in Şırnak, 4 in Mardin and 1 each in Elazığ, Ağrı, Iğdır and Gaziantep.