Humanity in a bag- -Amed Dicle
Humanity in a bag- -Amed Dicle
Few days ago in the town of Cizre there was a funeral at Asri Cemetery.
Three graves dug side by side. Hundreds of people waiting. It's silent. In the front row there are women in black and young people who grew up as orphans.
3 bags waiting to be buried in graves..
In front of each grave, a man is waiting, with a bag in the lap..
The bags had contained the bones of their brothers and sisters.
The bags had different names on.
Beþir Baskak, Sait Þen and Abdullah Güler ...
Religious obligations were fulfilled, speeches made and Fatihas (pray) read. Then, the bags of bones were buried in the ground. After the funeral, everyone went home quietly.
Young people who lost their fathers as children and lived a life as orphan , buried the bones of their fathers. They remained alone with their suffering.
This unusual funeral, at the territory of Kurdistan, is almost normal for most of the people here.
***
Hirareþ village of Sirnak. Date : 1993, summer.
State security forces raided the village with frightening weapons. The whole village gathered in the square yard of the school. They experienced all kind of inhuman treatment, insult and humiliation for two days.
At the end of the second day, in front of the eyes of all the people of the village, Besir Baskak, Sait Sen, Abdullah Güler and Ahmet Guler were detained and dragged to the village. The villagers knew they would not come back home again because at the same period, the country's other Kurdish cities and villages, had similar experiences and similar pains.
When the State 'security' forces took away Besir Baskak, Sait Sen, Abdullah and Ahmed Güler, their brothers, sisters, friends and neighbours witnessed it. They are still the only witnesses to this pain, as well as the owner of the pain.
At the school yard where the incident took place, the little children back in those days, holding on to their mother's skirt tightly and watching their father's death. 19 years later, the children saw their father's bones in a bag.
Today, their father returned in a bag.
***
The 'security' forces on the day;-
Firstly they took Besir Baskak, Sait Sen, Abdullah And Ahmet Güler's to the police station. There, they went through a long query and torture.
Then, they put them in a hole near Yaðýzoymak Battalion, and threw grenades on them.
Besir, Abdullah and Said perished/died there. Ahmet survived by hiding himself under the corpses of his friends.
After two hours Ahmet managed to reach Ziving village. He was injured. Ahmet explained the people in the village about what they had been through.
Ahmet lived with the fear of being killed.
No one could even be held accountable for the death, families couldn't get the bodies of their beloved ones. They were scattered in every direction. Villages were evacuated.
** *
19 years later..
Last January, the Association of Families for Human Rights launched a legal process to open the mass grave. Under the supervision of the prosecutor and the Human Rights Association, and with Ahmet Guler as a witness, the place was excavated close to Yaðýzoymak Battalion.
In the grave, the bones of 5 people were found.
The sent the bones to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Istanbul. After the DNA results showed that the bones belonged to Abdullah Güler, Sait Sen and Besir Baskak.
Bodies of two people is currently being held in Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute for DNA tests.
Who knows who they are, when they were taken, and where they were taken to. Only God and they who tortured them to death knows.
Who knows where their relatives are looking for them.
Besir Baskak's brother Abdullah Baskak said : " When we opened the grave, we could see his clean clothes. I was not surprised. Because they were innocent"
Hayrettin Sen which is nephew of Sait Sen was only a child when his uncle was killed. Now he is a grown up. 19 years later, his uncles bones shows up from a mass grave. All he is left with is his uncle’s bones in a bag. Now buried in the ground again but with a proper funeral.
Hayrettin Sen, :" Government knows who did this but they don't punish them. Humanity cannot accept this brutality."
Is it the truth of cruelty of humanity that we don't accept?
***
Just a week ago in Sirnak, the bones of the people who were kidnapped and murdered by the state 19 years ago were handed over in a bag to their relatives. They buried their relatives with a ceremony.
Thousands of families who still are searching for their relatives said: "I wish we could find the bones of our children" after watching the funeral on television.
The same day, the prime minister held a speech on Television, claiming that: "We have solved the Kurdish question".
The only thing that was solved was giving the families the bones of their children.
Three graves dug side by side. Hundreds of people waiting. It's silent. In the front row there are women in black and young people who grew up as orphans.
3 bags waiting to be buried in graves..
In front of each grave, a man is waiting, with a bag in the lap..
The bags had contained the bones of their brothers and sisters.
The bags had different names on.
Beþir Baskak, Sait Þen and Abdullah Güler ...
Religious obligations were fulfilled, speeches made and Fatihas (pray) read. Then, the bags of bones were buried in the ground. After the funeral, everyone went home quietly.
Young people who lost their fathers as children and lived a life as orphan , buried the bones of their fathers. They remained alone with their suffering.
This unusual funeral, at the territory of Kurdistan, is almost normal for most of the people here.
***
Hirareþ village of Sirnak. Date : 1993, summer.
State security forces raided the village with frightening weapons. The whole village gathered in the square yard of the school. They experienced all kind of inhuman treatment, insult and humiliation for two days.
At the end of the second day, in front of the eyes of all the people of the village, Besir Baskak, Sait Sen, Abdullah Güler and Ahmet Guler were detained and dragged to the village. The villagers knew they would not come back home again because at the same period, the country's other Kurdish cities and villages, had similar experiences and similar pains.
When the State 'security' forces took away Besir Baskak, Sait Sen, Abdullah and Ahmed Güler, their brothers, sisters, friends and neighbours witnessed it. They are still the only witnesses to this pain, as well as the owner of the pain.
At the school yard where the incident took place, the little children back in those days, holding on to their mother's skirt tightly and watching their father's death. 19 years later, the children saw their father's bones in a bag.
Today, their father returned in a bag.
***
The 'security' forces on the day;-
Firstly they took Besir Baskak, Sait Sen, Abdullah And Ahmet Güler's to the police station. There, they went through a long query and torture.
Then, they put them in a hole near Yaðýzoymak Battalion, and threw grenades on them.
Besir, Abdullah and Said perished/died there. Ahmet survived by hiding himself under the corpses of his friends.
After two hours Ahmet managed to reach Ziving village. He was injured. Ahmet explained the people in the village about what they had been through.
Ahmet lived with the fear of being killed.
No one could even be held accountable for the death, families couldn't get the bodies of their beloved ones. They were scattered in every direction. Villages were evacuated.
** *
19 years later..
Last January, the Association of Families for Human Rights launched a legal process to open the mass grave. Under the supervision of the prosecutor and the Human Rights Association, and with Ahmet Guler as a witness, the place was excavated close to Yaðýzoymak Battalion.
In the grave, the bones of 5 people were found.
The sent the bones to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Istanbul. After the DNA results showed that the bones belonged to Abdullah Güler, Sait Sen and Besir Baskak.
Bodies of two people is currently being held in Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute for DNA tests.
Who knows who they are, when they were taken, and where they were taken to. Only God and they who tortured them to death knows.
Who knows where their relatives are looking for them.
Besir Baskak's brother Abdullah Baskak said : " When we opened the grave, we could see his clean clothes. I was not surprised. Because they were innocent"
Hayrettin Sen which is nephew of Sait Sen was only a child when his uncle was killed. Now he is a grown up. 19 years later, his uncles bones shows up from a mass grave. All he is left with is his uncle’s bones in a bag. Now buried in the ground again but with a proper funeral.
Hayrettin Sen, :" Government knows who did this but they don't punish them. Humanity cannot accept this brutality."
Is it the truth of cruelty of humanity that we don't accept?
***
Just a week ago in Sirnak, the bones of the people who were kidnapped and murdered by the state 19 years ago were handed over in a bag to their relatives. They buried their relatives with a ceremony.
Thousands of families who still are searching for their relatives said: "I wish we could find the bones of our children" after watching the funeral on television.
The same day, the prime minister held a speech on Television, claiming that: "We have solved the Kurdish question".
The only thing that was solved was giving the families the bones of their children.
