Mardin mourns, world eyes 'village guards'
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Göksel Bozkurt - Fulya Özerkan
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 07, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - The benefits of village guards in the fight against the PKK are vigorously debated as speculations mount over the motivation behind killing 44 people at an engagement ceremony in Southeast Turkey on Monday. The stiff convictions are apparent in the views of supporters and opponents
Carnage during an engagement ceremony in southeastern Anatolia has ignited debate over Turkey’s village guard system, part of a controversial militia force that patrols the rocky hillsides in the region and is paid by the state.
According to unconfirmed reports, the assailants who claimed the lives of 44 people including three pregnant women in Bilge village, near the city of Mardin, were part of this system.
Village guards have aided the government forces and fought the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, since 1984 and have long been criticized for their alleged links with illegal activities in the region. According to official data from the Interior Ministry, the number of village guards is around 58,000, all of whom are men with a lower standard of pay and benefits than the police.
The state’s relationship with village guards is a source of debate. On one side, its defenders note the terror problem while on the other side opponents point to the group's alleged involvement in illegal activities. Deputies from the region speaking with the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review yesterday said the village guards must be disbanded because the armament of a militia by the state can never be accepted, while security analysts said the system was necessary in the fight against the PKK.
Opposition parties carried the debate to Parliament. The Republican People's Party, or CHP, and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP, demanded that a parliamentary commission be established to investigate the killings. Parliament is also expected to send a commission to Mardin to investigate the incidents.
"The region is in need of an all-out peace initiative," said ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Diyarbakır deputy Kudbettin Arzu. "The problem is not only a matter of village guards. The region is going through an enormous trauma including mysterious crimes and village raids by the terrorist organization. All of them should be taken up as a whole, and we must generate solutions."
The Interior Ministry said it was evaluating the situation. "The fact that some village guards were part of the attack did upset us as well. The weapons used in the attacks belonged to the village guards. We are also evaluating this," Interior Minister Beşir Atalay told reporters yesterday.
According to initial reports, there was a dispute between the attackers' family and the family of the groom. Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said the families were also engaged in a feud over fishing farms near the village. CHP's Adıyaman deputy Şevket Köse, who went to the Bilge village on a fact-finding mission by his party, said: "The incident is said to have broken out over a girl, but I think a land dispute over fishing farms could be a reason, along with the feudal structure in the region and the village guard system."
He stressed that the political will must question itself. "The village guard system must be lifted gradually. The state is providing ignorant, untrained people with arms. This issue must be discussed in Parliament, otherwise such incidents will not be limited to Mardin," he said.
The motivation behind the assault cannot be wholly attributed to the village guard system, according to security analysts. They said sociological characteristics of the region, including the presence of sheikhs, religious orders coupled with the feudal system, a practice widely seen in pre-industrial societies, opened the way for such brutal massacres. "The village guard system is a must as long as the PKK continues to operate in the region," said Nihat Ali Özcan, security expert with Ankara-based think tank the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey. The DTP's Selahattin Demirtaş described the village guards as a system mandated to kill. "The only reason for this carnage is the fact that village guards are programmed to kill," Demirtaş said.
Who are the village guards?
The recruitment of locals in Southeast Turkey as a paramilitary force to support the military in its operations against the PKK, officially began in the mid ’80s. The aim of the force is to provide on-the-ground intelligence in local languages and dialects. In the 1990s, village guards and their families settled in many of the villages evacuated by the military for security reasons. An Interior Ministry report in 1996 showed that one in three were involved in criminal activity. The current number of village guards stands at about 65,000, down from a high of 90,000.
According to unconfirmed reports, the assailants who claimed the lives of 44 people including three pregnant women in Bilge village, near the city of Mardin, were part of this system.
Village guards have aided the government forces and fought the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, since 1984 and have long been criticized for their alleged links with illegal activities in the region. According to official data from the Interior Ministry, the number of village guards is around 58,000, all of whom are men with a lower standard of pay and benefits than the police.
The state’s relationship with village guards is a source of debate. On one side, its defenders note the terror problem while on the other side opponents point to the group's alleged involvement in illegal activities. Deputies from the region speaking with the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review yesterday said the village guards must be disbanded because the armament of a militia by the state can never be accepted, while security analysts said the system was necessary in the fight against the PKK.
Opposition parties carried the debate to Parliament. The Republican People's Party, or CHP, and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP, demanded that a parliamentary commission be established to investigate the killings. Parliament is also expected to send a commission to Mardin to investigate the incidents.
"The region is in need of an all-out peace initiative," said ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Diyarbakır deputy Kudbettin Arzu. "The problem is not only a matter of village guards. The region is going through an enormous trauma including mysterious crimes and village raids by the terrorist organization. All of them should be taken up as a whole, and we must generate solutions."
The Interior Ministry said it was evaluating the situation. "The fact that some village guards were part of the attack did upset us as well. The weapons used in the attacks belonged to the village guards. We are also evaluating this," Interior Minister Beşir Atalay told reporters yesterday.
According to initial reports, there was a dispute between the attackers' family and the family of the groom. Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said the families were also engaged in a feud over fishing farms near the village. CHP's Adıyaman deputy Şevket Köse, who went to the Bilge village on a fact-finding mission by his party, said: "The incident is said to have broken out over a girl, but I think a land dispute over fishing farms could be a reason, along with the feudal structure in the region and the village guard system."
He stressed that the political will must question itself. "The village guard system must be lifted gradually. The state is providing ignorant, untrained people with arms. This issue must be discussed in Parliament, otherwise such incidents will not be limited to Mardin," he said.
The motivation behind the assault cannot be wholly attributed to the village guard system, according to security analysts. They said sociological characteristics of the region, including the presence of sheikhs, religious orders coupled with the feudal system, a practice widely seen in pre-industrial societies, opened the way for such brutal massacres. "The village guard system is a must as long as the PKK continues to operate in the region," said Nihat Ali Özcan, security expert with Ankara-based think tank the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey. The DTP's Selahattin Demirtaş described the village guards as a system mandated to kill. "The only reason for this carnage is the fact that village guards are programmed to kill," Demirtaş said.
Who are the village guards?
The recruitment of locals in Southeast Turkey as a paramilitary force to support the military in its operations against the PKK, officially began in the mid ’80s. The aim of the force is to provide on-the-ground intelligence in local languages and dialects. In the 1990s, village guards and their families settled in many of the villages evacuated by the military for security reasons. An Interior Ministry report in 1996 showed that one in three were involved in criminal activity. The current number of village guards stands at about 65,000, down from a high of 90,000.