Families back out on exhumation

DIYARBAKIR - Hürriyet Daily News

Families have decided to withdraw their demand that a grave be opened and the bones of their loved ones be exhumed, in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. The families reached this decision in order to respect the memory of the deceased and because exhuming would contradict to human honor, after they learned that bones of eight people were mixed up in a bag and buried all together.

Eight people were detained by soldiers from the Bolu Mountain Commando Brigade in Diyarbakır’s Lice district in 1994, and have not been heard of since. In 2003, a mass grave was discovered in the Bağcılar village of Diyarbakır’s Kulp district, and the bones from that mass grave were sent to the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute for examination.

After blood samples were taken from relatives, in 2009, the institute matched the bones of five victims’ DNA, identifying them as Ali Bulut, Emre Bulut, Ramazan Bulut, Hasan Orhan and Mehmet Orhan. The other three victims were unidentified. A small memorial mausoleum could be built at the cemetery featuring the names of the five victims, it has been reported.