İSTANBUL - Hanifi Can, who was able to recover the body of his brother Serhat Can, who was buried on the pavement in Kilyos Cemetery, with a two-year struggle, called on families to apply for the bodies that have not yet been released.

 

Xerzan Cemetery, located in Oleka Jor village of Bedlis center, was destroyed by construction equipment between December 8-17, 2017, and 282 bodies belonging to HPG members were removed without the knowledge of their families. It was revealed that the bodies, whose whereabouts were unknown for a long time, were taken to the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK), with a statement made by the Bitlis Governorate on January 2, 2018. It was learned that the bodies held in ATK were later buried in a plastic box on the pavement of Kilyos Cemetery in Istanbul. Thereupon, families made many applications to receive their bodies. The body of HPG member Nizamettin Gökalan, who lost his life in the conflict that broke out in the Xerzan Region in 1999 as a result of persistent attempts, was handed over to his family on December 14. In the last 5 years, only 23 bodys were released to the families, while the other families are still waiting.

 

Hanifi Can, who was able to get the body of her brother Serhat Can (Serhat Doctor) in Kilyos Cemetery in 2019 after a two-year struggle, called on families who still cannot get their bodies to protect their children.

 

BODIES ARE BURIED IN THE CEMETERY OF THE NAMELESS

 

Expressing that her brother participated in the "human shield" actions carried out in 2005 to stop the conflicts in many parts of Kurdistan, Hanifi Can said that he joined the PKK because the actions did not yield any results. Stating that his brother lost his life in a conflict in 2012, Can said that the body was buried in the cemetery of the orphans in Malatya at that time.

 

Stating that between 2013 and 2015, state officials made an application to take the body from Malatya and bury it in the Xerzan Cemetery during the dialogue process with PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, his elder brother Can explained the process as follows: “We were told that we had to give a blood sample for DNA. Despite doing everything we were told, another problem was constantly presented to us. Despite the DNA test, our application was rejected, said that there was a blood match, but the father and mother must have been present. My father was ill at that time, but because there was no other solution, my father had to donate blood.”

 

CALL TO THE FAMILY

 

Stating that there are still bodies that have not been released to the families in the past 5 years, his elder brother Can made the following call to the families: “How much worse can the oppression and unlawful practices of the state in this process be from now on. A piece of himself is already gone. Anyone who senses or anticipates their child is there should apply. Unless they make an application, they can neither get their bodies nor remove that doubt in them.”