Hope of Mourning After 14 Years

Remains of 14 people have been unearthed in Tunceli. Yıldız, who was on hunger strike in order to get the authorities to start an investigation, hopes to properly bury his brother who was killed in 1997.

Tunceli

Hüsnü Yıldız ended a 65-day-long hunger strike as the public prosecutor's office commenced an investigation into the human remains found in Çemişgezek, Dersim.

He had urged the authorities to investigate the claims that there is a mass grave at the site, where 19 people had been buried following an armed conflict in 1997. Yıldız's brother, Ali Yıldız was among the dead.

The mass grave was found on February 3^rd. Nonetheless, the authorities failed to launch an investigation into the incident. It's claimed that remains of two Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKPC) guerillas and 17 pro Kurdish PKK guerillas are buried at the scene.

Only on August 10 the prosecutor's office decided to look into the claims and excavations started on last Friday before stopping after two days. Remains of 14 people have been uncovered.

Now the DNA samples taken from Hüsnü Yıldız will be matched with the remains found on the site, in order to identify the dead. (NV/EÜ)