Mizgin Adım/JINHA

ŞIRNEX – On the first day of Eid al-Adha, Ayşe and Besna Yorga set out, as is traditional on Eid, for the graveyard where their loved one is buried. But this time, it was to join a vigil to stop the grave from being bombarded by the Turkish state.

In the largely Kurdish province of Şırnak, in Turkey, graveyards of fallen guerrillas are under threat as the Turkish state escalates conflict in the region. The state has bombed guerrilla graveyards on multiple occasions over the last two months of conflict. Now local people have begun “human shield” vigils—maintaining a civilian presence to prevent military clashes—to protect the graves. One HDP representative, Aycan İrmez, was arrested in a crackdown on a human shield vigil on Mt. Judi, despite her Parliamentary immunity from arrest.

Another guerrilla graveyard, located in the Besta area, is named after fallen guerrilla Rojhat Bluzeri (given name Lezgin Yorga), who is buried alongside other guerrillas there. As clashes continued in the area on Thursday, Lezgin Yorga’s mother Ayşe Yorga and his widow Besna Yorga set out for the graveyard.

“I’m going to turn my body into a shield so that my child’s grave is not destroyed,” said 70-year-old Ayşe. Ayşe not only lost Lezgin in the war, but also lost another son, Şehmuz, to an extrajudicial execution ordered by the state. “As if it’s not enough that the state killed our children, now they’re bombing their bones.” She said that civilians were ready to put their lives on the line to protect the graves.

“We don’t want to have to gather yet again to protect the earth where these bones lie,” said Besna, Lezgin Yorga’s widow. She noted that in the nearby town of Cizre, which the state blockaded for nine days earlier this month, state security forces shot at those who tried to take the wounded to the hospital or bury the dead.

“The dead lay on the ground for days. Then when we do bury our dead, they come and destroy the graveyards. Are these people even human?” asked Besna. “When they attack the graveyards, it’s an attack on our souls. We don’t accept this. It’s either the graveyards or us.”

(pk/gc/fk/cm)