JINHA

AMED –The DBP (Democratic Regions Party) made a statement in Diyarbakır today providing new information on the murder of three Kurdish women politicians in the town of Silopi. DBP co-chair Emine said that the massacres once perpetrated by the military junta were now carried out by the AKP government.

The co-chairs of the DBP (Democratic Regions Party), Emine Ayna and Kamuran Yüksek, held a press conference in Diyarbakır today regarding the killing of three Kurdish women politicians in the town of Silopi, Şırnak province. The three women—Sêvê Demir, a member of the DBP’s assembly; KJA women’s rights activist Fatma Uyar; and Silopi People’s Assembly co-chair Pakize Nayır—were killed on Monday night in Silopi, which has been under round-the-clock curfew for 24 days.

Kamuran began by noting that the party had repeatedly announced in the past that there were massacres of civilians ongoing in Silopi and elsewhere, but the state claimed that no civilians had been killed. He said that the party would now present exactly how the Turkish state knowingly planned and perpetrated the killing of civilians.

“Who were these people? I want to introduce you to our friends who were killed in the place where the Prime Minister said that ‘there are no civilians,’” said Kamuran. “Sêvê Demir has taken part in civilian projects in the legal Kurdish political movement for 20 years. If there’s another explanation regarding this, the government needs to present it. A member of the assembly of a party formed according to the constitution was killed.” He said that Fatma Uyar was a longtime women’s rights activist in the areaand Pakize Nayır, a promising young political representative.

Kamuran shared new information on the killings. He said the three women were staying in the Şehit Harun neighborhood in Silopi, where they were working on party activities. He explained that they left the Şehit Harun neighborhood as police and soldiers made announcements calling for the neighborhood to be evacuated. As the clashes spread, they attempted to pass through the only exit from the area through a creek bed. As they passed through the creek bed, soldiers and police raked the group of eight with bullets.

“A wounded person in the group called our party’s Silopi co-chair at 19:35 and said they had been raked with bullets and wounded,” said Kamuran.The party then began an effort to stop the attacks and retrieve the wounded, Kamuran reported. However, local state officials had turned off their telephones. The DBPfinally reached the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Undersecretariat of the Public at 21:30. Officials contacted the DBP and rejected their requests, claiming there were no civilians wounded in the area. Around 1:00, a municipal ambulance managed to reach the area and found the three women’s bodies.

“Our friends were in a condition in which they couldn’t even be identified, their faces could not be recognized. What did you do?” said Kamuran. “This means that when you reached these people, they were wounded and you tortured and killed them.” Kamuran called the killing “a form of vileness unknown in history.” He stressed that if the government could in any wayprovide information contradicting this account, they should do so.

“International organizations, civil society organizations, how much longer will you stay silent? If you have the measures, universal law needs to come into action today for the Kurds,” said Kamuran.

DBP co-chair Emine Ayna stressed that the events took place on Monday night, but the party was denied access to the women’s bodies for hours.

“Despite us as a political party meeting with the government, we could not access their bodies. The hospital morgue had been locked by special operations police,” said Emine.

Emine announced that the party will share decisions regarding the burial of the bodies after meeting with the families.

(be-ny/mg/cm)