Graves built over the mass grave 

2023-09-11 10:35:43


	 

	SEMSÛR - In Sergolan, new graves were built in the area where the bodies of 9 PKK members who lost their lives in the conflicts between 1995-1996 were buried collectively.

	 

	11 people, said to be PKK members, lost their lives in the conflicts that took place between 1995 and 1996 on Kûz (Kuz) Mountain, located in Çalxan (Yarbaşı) village of Sêmsûr's Sergolan (Gölbaşı) district. Those who lost their lives were buried collectively in the cemetery in the village by the soldiers. The bodies of only 2 of those who lost their lives in the following years were identified by their families and taken to their hometowns. The mass grave containing 9 bodies was covered with briquettes and stones with the efforts of the villagers. Over the past 27 years, the area where the graves were located was destroyed and new graves were built in the area where the graves are today, but the fate of the bones of the bodies is unknown.

	 

	Halil Karaçalı, one of the village residents who lived in the village at the time the bodies were buried and knew the location of the mass grave, emigrated from the village in the early 2000s due to economic difficulties. Karaçalı, who lived away from the village for 23 years, witnessed new graves being built in the area where the grave was located when he returned to his village. Stating that those who lost their lives in the conflicts between 1995 and 1996 were buried in a mass grave by the soldiers, Karaçalı said: “They were throwing them into the wells they opened with a ladle. None of their graves were known, they were throwing them on top of each other."

	 

	CEMETERY ON THE GRAVES

	 

	Stating that as the villagers they surrounded the graves with briquettes, Karaçalı said: “There were 9 bodies in the area where the new graves were built. They built it on these graves, but did they ever come across their bones during the excavations? I could not determine the location because the briquettes they had placed around the mass grave were not in place, in the cemetery, there may be 9 bodies under this place."

	 

	THE FATE OF THE MASS GRAVE IS UNKNOWN

	 

	Stating that those who built the new news were also unaware of the mass grave, Karaçalı said: “There is no plan and project for the grave. We have tried to protect it only with briquettes for years. I want to call on all authorized institutions, especially human rights organizations, and demand that the fate of the mass grave be revealed.

	 

	MA / Ceylan Şahinli