Attack at Village Engagement in Southeast Turkey Kills 44

The Bilge village in the Mazıdağı district of the southeastern province of Mardin was the site of a massacre at an engagement celebration yesterday night (4 May).

Four armed masked people attacked people at the engagement home in the night of 4 May. They had automatic guns and hand grenades.

Bride and groom dead

Of the 44 people who died, 16 were women and 6 children. Six more people were wounded.

The village of Bilge has a population of 300, and, so the Radikal newspaper, its men are employed as village militia, supporting the Turkish Armed Forces in the fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Following the attack, security forces blocked access to the village, only allowing ambulances to pass.

Among those who were killed were the bride and groom, the groom’s parents and a little sister, the bride’s father, and 20 more people from the bride’s extended family. The village imam was also killed.

Two girls who survived the massacre were questioned with the support of psychologists. They said that the armed men forced the women and children to gather in a room and then shot at them many times. They survived by hiding under the bodies of others.

Eight people being questioned

According to the Radikal newspaper, eight people have been arrested by the gendarmerie.

Mardin Deputy Governor Ahmet Ferhat Özen said that the event was not connected to “terrorism” (i.e. the PKK)

Minister of the Interior Beşir Atalay announced that he would be going to the area together with Minister of Agriculture and Village Affairs Mehmet Mehti Eker, Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin and Mardin MPs.

Mazıdağı district governor (kaymakam) Aytaç Akgül also said that the massacre was not related to terrorism, and that the investigation would be looking at different leads.

Later, Atalay stated that some of those arrested carried the same surname as those killed.

(AG)

* This article made use of www.radikal.com.tr