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TURKISH MILITARY COVERS UP MASS GRAVE OF POSSIBLE GENOCIDE VICTIMS
Asbarez
11/3/2006
MARDIN, Turkey--Turkish gendarmerie has instructed local villagers
of a southeastern region to keep silence about a recently discovered
a mass grave, discovered on October 17, that might contain remains
of Armenian Genocide victims in mass burial site that might contain
skeletons of massacred Armenians.
According to Ulkede Ozgur Gundem, a Kurdish newspaper published in
Turkish, villagers from Xirabebaba (Kuru) were digging a grave for
one of their relatives when they came across to a cave full of skulls
and bones of reportedly 40 people.
The Xirabebaba residents assumed they had uncovered a mass grave of
300 Armenian villagers massacred during the Genocide of 1915. They
informed Akarsu Gendarmerie headquarters, the local military unit,
about the discovered remains. Turkish army officers, according
to Ulkede Ozgur Gundem, instructed the villagers to block the cave
entrance and make no mention of the remains buried in it. The officers
said an investigation would take place.
The newspaper reported on the developments and the Turkish military's
attempt to hide the news. In an October 22 article, titled Found
by Villagers: Covered up by the Military, the newspaper wrote that
soldiers from Akarsu gendarmerie headquarters came to the site,
covered the cave entrance and took photographs. Journalists, who had
arrived to obtain more information, were denied access to the cave.
Although there had been prior instances of finding mass burial sites
believed to be from the Armenian Genocide, this was the first incident
when a Turkish daily newspaper reported the discovery.
As the mass burial made news, local gendarmerie made another visit
to the villagers. The latter were pressed to report the name of
the person who leaked the mass burial discovery to the press. The
officers told the villagers that the news reported by Roj TV, an
international Kurdish satellite television, and Ulkede ozgur Gundem
were all lies. The villagers were warned not to show anyone directions
to the cave.
The victims of the mass grave, according to Sodertorn University
History Professor David Gaunt, are most likely the 150 Armenian and
120 Syrian males, heads of their families, from the nearby town of Dara
(now Oguz) killed on June 14, 1915.
The Armenian and Syrian residents were marched out of the town,
and only one person was known to have escaped to tell of what had
happened, Prof. Gaunt said. According to the Syrian survivor, his
marching neighbors were murdered and their bodies were placed in a
well. The mass burial in this cave suggests that the two groups could
have been killed in separate places, and that the Armenians were put
into this cave, while the Syrians were put in a well, concluded Prof.
Gaunt, whose book, Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian
Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I, is due out this
month.
Asbarez
11/3/2006
MARDIN, Turkey--Turkish gendarmerie has instructed local villagers
of a southeastern region to keep silence about a recently discovered
a mass grave, discovered on October 17, that might contain remains
of Armenian Genocide victims in mass burial site that might contain
skeletons of massacred Armenians.
According to Ulkede Ozgur Gundem, a Kurdish newspaper published in
Turkish, villagers from Xirabebaba (Kuru) were digging a grave for
one of their relatives when they came across to a cave full of skulls
and bones of reportedly 40 people.
The Xirabebaba residents assumed they had uncovered a mass grave of
300 Armenian villagers massacred during the Genocide of 1915. They
informed Akarsu Gendarmerie headquarters, the local military unit,
about the discovered remains. Turkish army officers, according
to Ulkede Ozgur Gundem, instructed the villagers to block the cave
entrance and make no mention of the remains buried in it. The officers
said an investigation would take place.
The newspaper reported on the developments and the Turkish military's
attempt to hide the news. In an October 22 article, titled Found
by Villagers: Covered up by the Military, the newspaper wrote that
soldiers from Akarsu gendarmerie headquarters came to the site,
covered the cave entrance and took photographs. Journalists, who had
arrived to obtain more information, were denied access to the cave.
Although there had been prior instances of finding mass burial sites
believed to be from the Armenian Genocide, this was the first incident
when a Turkish daily newspaper reported the discovery.
As the mass burial made news, local gendarmerie made another visit
to the villagers. The latter were pressed to report the name of
the person who leaked the mass burial discovery to the press. The
officers told the villagers that the news reported by Roj TV, an
international Kurdish satellite television, and Ulkede ozgur Gundem
were all lies. The villagers were warned not to show anyone directions
to the cave.
The victims of the mass grave, according to Sodertorn University
History Professor David Gaunt, are most likely the 150 Armenian and
120 Syrian males, heads of their families, from the nearby town of Dara
(now Oguz) killed on June 14, 1915.
The Armenian and Syrian residents were marched out of the town,
and only one person was known to have escaped to tell of what had
happened, Prof. Gaunt said. According to the Syrian survivor, his
marching neighbors were murdered and their bodies were placed in a
well. The mass burial in this cave suggests that the two groups could
have been killed in separate places, and that the Armenians were put
into this cave, while the Syrians were put in a well, concluded Prof.
Gaunt, whose book, Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian
Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I, is due out this
month.