 Four heavy digging vehicles are being used for the excavations in the Mutki district in the province of Bitlis. DHA photo |
More human bones were unearthed Thursday in ongoing excavations in the Mutki district of Bitlis province.
The excavations started Jan. 5 when the skeletons of 12 people were unearthed from an area used as a dumping yard for a gendarmerie station, but the dig was then put on hold because of the risk of a methane gas explosion. The skeletons are believed to be of people who were on their way to join the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, when they were allegedly executed by Turkish soldiers.
The excavations were sparked by information provided by relatives of the missing people, who stated they had known of the locations since the 1990s but were afraid to speak out. On Wednesday afternoon, new bones started to emerge from the soil at a location where the search party expected to find the remains of eight more people. Four heavy digging vehicles are being used for the excavations while the bones are being sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute for identification.
The Human Rights Association, or İHD, is helping the relatives of the missing to organize their efforts. Speaking Jan. 7 to the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review, İHD Bitlis branch head Hasan Ceylan said dozens more mass graves existed in Bitlis alone, adding that there were hundreds more throughout Southeast Anatolia.
The excavations started Jan. 5 when the skeletons of 12 people were unearthed from an area used as a dumping yard for a gendarmerie station, but the dig was then put on hold because of the risk of a methane gas explosion. The skeletons are believed to be of people who were on their way to join the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, when they were allegedly executed by Turkish soldiers.
The excavations were sparked by information provided by relatives of the missing people, who stated they had known of the locations since the 1990s but were afraid to speak out. On Wednesday afternoon, new bones started to emerge from the soil at a location where the search party expected to find the remains of eight more people. Four heavy digging vehicles are being used for the excavations while the bones are being sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute for identification.
The Human Rights Association, or İHD, is helping the relatives of the missing to organize their efforts. Speaking Jan. 7 to the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review, İHD Bitlis branch head Hasan Ceylan said dozens more mass graves existed in Bitlis alone, adding that there were hundreds more throughout Southeast Anatolia.
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