Remains of guerrilla Ezda Avesta delivered to her mother after 6 years

On 17 September 2016, guerrilla Ezda Avesta (Siti Karatay) from Agri in northern Kurdistan fell a martyr in Şemdinli. The YJA Star fighter’s remains have now been handed over to Aynur Karatay, the mother of Ezda, after a six-year delay. The Şemdinli prosecutor summoned Karatay to Şemdinli after a DNA test found a match there. The woman traveled from there to Van and finally to Doğubeyazıt in Agri province. The guerrilla is to be buried there.

“Can a person accept this injustice?”

Aynur Karatay spent six years searching for her daughter’s body. Most recently, she submitted a blood sample to the public prosecutor’s office in Şemdinli three months ago. Karatay told Mezopotamya News Agency: “After six years, instead of my daughter’s body, they gave me some bones. If that’s not wrong, then what is? Can a person accept such a thing? But even if it’s just a few bones, I’m satisfied. What they did to us couldn’t hurt me because I’m proud of my daughter. I offer my condolences to all my people.”

Another son died in battle and her husband in prison

The Karatay family is scarred by war and oppression by the Turkish state. On 17 March 2017, Aynur Karatay lost her son, HPG fighter Firaz Zagros (Emrah Karatay), in clashes near Agirî. Her husband, Burhan Karatay, died as a political prisoner after four years in Giresun prison. The former city councilor of Doğubeyazıt suffered from several illnesses. All applications demanding his release were rejected despite various medical certificates.

Attempts to demoralize and humiliate relatives through abuse and disrespectful treatment of those killed in action are part of the Turkish government’s special war repertoire. On 10 April 2020, the bones of her son, who died in Dersim in 2017, were delivered to his mother, Halise Aksoy, by post.