New Excavation in Silopi: Bones, Hair and Clothing Found

Yesterday and today (12 March), wells at the roadside between Silopi and Cizre, in southeastern Turkey, have been opened. Yesterday, the first of the wells, next to a former restaurant, “Sinan”, which had been cemented closed, was opened.

More finds

The investigators found pieces of bone, hair, fur, gloves and a hat. Today, excavations are continuing.

Nuşirevan Elçi, head of the Bar Association in the province of Şırnak, of which Silopi is a district, has criticised the investigators for not digging deeply in the wells.

On 9 March, excavations at the Turkish Pipeline Corporation BOTAŞ’s site, used by soldiers, had revealed bones and flannel. Elçi had told bianet that the bones looked like ribs.

All finds are to be sent for forensic examination.

Burials have long been known about

Several people confirmed on different occasions that members of JİTEM, the clandestine gendarmerie anti-terrorist unit, buried bodies in those areas during the second half of 1990s.    

Former PKK informant and JİTEM member Abdülkadir Aygan told the following in an interview with Neşe Düzel in Taraf daily:

"Bodies were thrown into closed wells. There're wells in evacuated villages. Facilities near the road also dug their own wells. Now these wells are in ruins. I heard that dead bodies were thrown into these wells. For example, I was told that a team working for the Cizre Gendarmerie commander threw seven bodies in there. I talked to one among them but he didn't provide any details."

The Şırnak Bar Association had filed a complaint to the prosecution upon gathering testimonials from victims' relatives.

They're demanding a DNA analysis on the found remains and as missing persons are identified, trials against those responsible from the murders. Another demand is to merge this investigation with the ongoing Ergenekon case.(TK/AGÜ/AG)