Skulls pile up as Deputy PM calls it ‘facing’

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey is gradually turning into an open society, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay said yesterday in reference to the discovery of a number of human skulls and bones in the vicinity of a former gendarmerie building in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. Meanwhile the number of the found skulls rose to nine.

“The stance of the AKP [Justice and Development Party] government on such matters has always been clear. We have always pursued the matter if a mistake has been committed somewhere. Turkey is gradually turning into an open society. The state today is openly facing mistakes that may have occurred in the past,” Atalay said. Officials presided over by the specially authorized Diyarbakır Chief Prosecutor’s Office discovered more human skulls and sets of bones yesterday in an area formerly occupied by a gendarmerie command building, bringing the total number to nine.