After local people went to the 'Xerzan' cemetery in Bitlis on hearing that Turkish soldiers had blockaded it, the troops withdrew. The ‘Xerzan Cemetery’, where the bodies of PKK and HPG guerrillas who lost their lives at different times were laid to rest, is 20 km away from Bitlis.  

After incidents broke out at the guerrilla cemetery in Lice recently,  soldiers came to the Xerzan cemetery with many armoured vehicles, whereupon the people started to hold a vigil in the cemetery.

This morning police, troops and village guards went to the cemetery intending to demolish it. On hearing about the military activity, local people, including DBP municipal mayors, went to the cemetery in the village of Olek, and the Turkish forces, who were acting on the instructions of the Bitlis Governor to demolish the cemetery, and a four story academy, withdrew.