JINHA

AMED - Families have held a vigil for 65 days to retrieve their children's dead bodies from Sur where has been under the state's siege despite "ban" was lifted. The families have difficulty to identify the bodies which were taken to hospital because the bodies are unrecognizable. The families said, "That's savagery not humanity", they will continue to hold the vigil until they retrieve their children's dead bodies.

As the siege has continued in the Sur district of Diyarbakır for 118 days, for 65 days, the families have continued to hold a vigil in Tigris Euphrates Cultural Center to retrieve the dead bodies of their children who were killed in the town by state forces. The families said that they went to hospital to identify the dead bodies which had retrieved from Sur, however, they couldn't identify them because the bodies were unrecognizable. The families said their children's dead bodies are not among the bodies in hospital. The families of Turgay Girçek, who was killed on January 16, and Ramazan Öğüt, who was killed on December 30, said they will continue to hold the vigil until they take their children's bodies.

Makbule Girçek stated that they haven't taken the body of Turgay Girçek who was killed in Sur after the clashes had been ended. "They killed my son on January 16, since then we have continued a sit down strike, however, we haven't got any result yet. My husband saw the photographs of the people those who were killed in Sur. He couldn't identify them because their faces were unrecognizable. We don't know if one of them is our son. Maybe his body is among the debris. The ban was lifted but the siege has continued in the town. We want to retrieve our son's body; a corridor must be opened right away.

"Turgay was killed in neighborhood where he was born. We look every dead body which is retrieved from Sur to see if it is our son… However, they cannot identify any of them. I cannot stay at home. I come here as if my son waits for me here. Don't let them to torture our children's bodies. They have remained there for three months. You killed them, at least give their dead bodies to us. We will sit here until they give us our children's bodies." said Makbule.

Remziye Solak, one of the releatives of Ramazan Öğüt, said the bodies of children had been retrieved from the town, but they haven't given them to their families. "We have come to hold the vigil since Ramazan was killed four months ago. That's savagery not humanity. The people lost their children and their homes. The bodies which were taken to hospital are unrecognizable. The children are killed then their dead bodies are brought to hospital but they don't give them to their families. They say, "the siege was lifted" but they don't allow us to enter there. We will continue to hold the vigil until we take back our children's bodies."

(ea-ny/mg/gd)