Protest in Amed against delivery of guerrilla remains by post

A protest demonstration was held in Amed (tr. Diyarbakir) against the state’s handling of the body of HPG fighter Mahsum Aslan, who died in Dersim in 2018. The remains have been sent by post from the Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to the Police Station in Ergani district, the residence of his family.

The Martyrs’ Families Solidarity Association (MEBYA-DER) wanted to make a statement to denounce this inhumane action in front of the Human Rights Memorial in Koşuyolu Park in Amed. The action was supported by representatives of the political parties DBP and HDP, the women’s movement TJA and prisoners’ aid organizations.

The crowd was encircled by police in front of the monument, and public expression was prohibited. As a result, those present expressed their protest through a silent sit-in.

Burial in night and fog

Mahsum Aslan, whose nom de guerre was Firaz Paramaz, was martyred in a Turkish air strike in the province of Dersim on June 2, 2018. Only a few weeks later, his family living in Ergani district of Amed was ordered by the responsible authorities to provide a DNA sample. The authorities took a full three years to conduct a comparison. It was not until July that the parents of the fallen fighter were informed that the results of the DNA analysis were available. They then went to the public prosecutor’s office to receive the remains of Mahsum Aslan. There, however, it was said that the authorities would take care of the handover themselves.

On August 2, the Aslan family finally received a telephone call from the Turkish police authority in Ergani asking them to collect their son’s remains. At the police station in the district, Mahsum Aslan’s parents found that their son’s bones had been handed over in a box by the Erzincan prosecutor’s office via postal delivery. The relatives were prohibited from informing the public about the burial. The burial in the village of Yayvantepe therefore had to be carried out in in the darkness of night.

Not the first “Body in the Box”

The Turkish authorities’ handling of Mahsum Aslan’s remains brings back memories of the case of Agit Ipek. His body was also delivered to the family in a box sent by mail. The fighter’s mother was only allowed to receive the bones in exchange for a payment of 45 lira. Charges against the responsible judicial authority remained inconsequential as authorities claimed that the act of the responsible public prosecutor’s office did not constitute a criminal offense.

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