DİYARBAKIR - The Diyarbakır '78s Initiative commemorated revolutionaries Ferhat Kurtay, Eşref Anyık, Mahmut Zengin and Necmi Öner, who set their bodies on fire against torture in Diyarbakir No. 5 Prison on 18 May 1982.

 

Reminding that the Kurdish people have declared the month of May as "the month of martyrs", the '78s Initiative said: " We pay tribute to the martyrs of the revolution in the month of May. Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, Haki Karer, Halil Çavgun fell martyrs on 18 May. Four other revolutionaries are in the people's memory, Ferhat Kurtay, Necmi Öner, Mahmut Zengin and Eşref Anyık who set their bodies on fire in Amed prison on 18 May 1982.

 

48 years ago Revolutionary Youth Movement and the People's Liberation Army of Turkey founders Deniz Gezmiş, Hüseyin İnan and Yusuf Aslan were executed on 6 May 1972."

 

On 18 May 1982 Mahmut Zengin, Eşref Anyik, Ferhat Kurtay and Necmi Öner covered themselves in newspaper that had been soaked with paint , and, whilst holding hands burned themselves to death.

 

This action was designed to be similar to the action of Mazlum Doğan who set his cell on fire in Diyarbakir on Newroz (21st March) the same year.

 

The aim of these actions was to draw attention to the torture of prisoners in Diyarbakir and the inhumane conditions they were forced to endure.