JINHA

ŞIRNEX – Turkish state forces killed Taybet İnan in the town of Silopi and left her body in the street for seven days. Now, the state has disappeared Taybet’s body to an unknown location. Taybet’s daughters Meryem and Azime spoke to JINHA, calling the Turkish state’s treatment of dead bodies “savagery.”

In the town of Silopi, in Şırnak province, state forces have been implementing practices of martial law for months. On December 20, 2015, police and soldiers launched an attack on a Silopi neighborhood. A woman named Taybet İnan was wounded by a bullet to the head. Taybet died in the street, where for seven days police prevented anyone from retrieving her dead body by opening fire on civilians.

Citizens were finally able to retrieve Taybet’s body by entering the street under white flags. Taybet’s body was transported by ambulance to the Şırnak State Hospital, where the state did not give permission for her family to retrieve her body for 13 days. Now, the Turkish state has kidnapped Taybet’s body, taking it to an unknown location.

“We came to get the body. But they didn’t give it to us, and they gave ridiculous things as an excuse,” said Meryem İnan, Taybet’s daughter. Taybet’s children have also lost their uncle in the state’s attacks. “Why are you inflicting this savagery on us a second time?” asked Meryem.

The family managed to get the bodies into coffins and hearses, showing identity demonstrating that they were Taybet’s family, but police refused permission, saying, “an order has come down.” Later, when their police chief arrived, he said there was no such order. After the family was denied permission to take the bodies, the bodies disappeared from the morgue.

“It’s not clear who or what anyone is here. There’s no law, no state,” said Meryem.

Taybet’s other daughter, Azime, said that there was no reason for the state’s policies in Kurdistan other than that they were Kurds. Azime criticized the sate’s policy of implementing war, then claiming to provide economic programs in the area.

“We don’t want anything the state has,” said Azime. “Is that aid they give going to bring my mother back?”

(aı-dk/fk/cm)