Mardin massacre

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Location of the village of Bilge in southeastern Turkey

The Mardin massacre ( Mardin Katliamı in Turkish ) describes a bloody reckoning within the Kurdish family Çelebi, which occurred on May 4th, 2009 . In the village of Bilge in southeast Turkey , masked men stormed a wedding, killing 44 people, including six children and 16 women. Another 17 people were seriously injured. The trigger for the bloodbath was the extramarital relationship of the main perpetrator's wife with his cousin. The Reuters news agency described the massacre as one of the most devastating acts of revenge in the history of Turkey .

course

The masked perpetrators stormed at 8:40 p.m. local time from different directions with hand grenades and automatic firearms on the village square, where the wedding was celebrated with around 200 guests. They threw hand grenades and shot at the wedding guests. Some victims were pushed into a room and killed there. One girl survived the carnage in the room unscathed after the bodies of those who had been shot fell on her. The massacre lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. The surviving girl called the Jandarma guards in the village of Sultanköy, 7 kilometers away , at 21:00 local time , who then arrived at the scene and took some of the injured to the Mardin State Hospital (Turkish: Mardin Devlet Hastanesi ). When the Jandarma arrived at Mardin State Hospital, ambulances were sent to the scene and arrived at 11:00 p.m. local time to treat the rest of the injured.

Perpetrator

The perpetrators and victims were members of the same family, the main perpetrator was a village guard who got the hand grenades and firearms from the state and was supposed to use them against PKK fighters.

aftermath

The Bilge massacre caused great outrage in Turkey and across Europe. A few days after the bloodbath, the Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs Beşir Atalay , Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin and the Minister of Agriculture and Village Affairs Mehmet Mehdi Eker traveled to Bilge to find out about the situation and to talk to the family members of the murdered. Osman Çelebi, a family member of the victims and perpetrators, told Beşir Atalay two days after the event:

“Sayın Bakanım, aramızda bir sorun yoktu. Dünden beri herkes bu konunun peşinde. Ama buradaki herkes biliyor ki aramızda en ufak bir husumet, dargınlık yok. Bunlar öz ablamın çocukları. Onların amacı bizi tamamen silmek ve olayı terör örgütüne mal etmekti. Ama Allah bırakmadı. Yeğenim olay yerinden kaçmayı başardı. Ayrıca başka yaralılar da var, onlar konuşunca her şey açığa çıktı. "

“Minister, we had no problems among ourselves. Everyone has been after this event since yesterday. But as everyone here knows, there is no animosity or annoyance between us. They (perpetrators) were my sister's children. Their goal was to wipe out our clan completely and to blame the terrorist organization (PKK) for this event. But God did not allow it. My niece managed to get off the scene unscathed. There are also other injured people who testified about the massacre, so everything came to light. "

- Osman Çelebi, relatives of the victims and perpetrators

On April 26, 2010, the six main defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment for each fatality with no prospect of pardon, and one defendant minor was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each fatality. An appeal against the judgment was announced. The main defendant, Süleyman Çelebi, committed suicide in prison in January 2011.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ At least 44 dead in the wedding massacre in Die Welt , May 5, 2009
  2. ^ Massacre in the Name of Honor in Die Zeit , May 6, 2009
  3. ↑ Family rivals kill 44 over bride feud in Turkey in Reuters , May 5, 2009. (English)
  4. ↑ a b c d e giltan Kışanak (former DTP deputy) : letter of inquiry into the massacre to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (PDF; 92 kB) , May 8, 2009 (Turkish)
  5. ↑ Massacre at an engagement party: 44 people shot in DerWesten , May 6, 2009
  6. ↑ Sabah newspaper, November 20, 2012
  7. ↑ Massacre at a wedding: 44 dead in CNN Türk, May 6, 2009. (Turkish)
  8. ↑ 'The murderers were my sister's children ...' in Radikal , May 6, 2009. (Turkish)
  9. ^ Wedding massacre in Turkey: Verdict: Life sentences for 44-fold murder in Hamburger Abendblatt , April 26, 2010.
  10. ↑ Bilge Köyü katliamınının hükümlüsü cezaevinde olü bulundu , message from the Radikal from January 5, 2011