Mardin MP rejects rhetoric on cause of massacre
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Göksel Bozkurt
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 07, 2009 00:00
ANKARA-As Turkey seeks to find a reason behind the massacre of 44 people in the southeastern city of Mardin, a local deputy says the incident should not be referred to as the result of a "blood feud."
"I was born and bred in Mardin, but I have never witnessed such an incident before," Gönül Şahkulubey, a female deputy with the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
"Thus, it is not correct to call the killing of 44 people a blood feud. This is a different case, which should be studied in detail," she said.
Şahkulubey visited the area along with Interior Minister Beşir Atalay to examine the crime scene soon after the attack. Before being elected as the AKP’s Mardin deputy, she was the head of the Mardin Women’s Union.
"Some say gunmen attacked the engagement party because they wanted bride-to-be Sevgi Çelebi to marry someone else in their village," Şahkulubey said, stressing that this story has not yet been verified. "We don’t know whether the reason for the massacre is a deep-rooted problem or a state of lunacy."
Noting that the judiciary is currently investigating the incident, Şahkulubey said it is better to wait for the result of the investigation before reaching an absolute conclusion.
She also rejected claims that the village guard system was at the root of the incident. "I do not think that the incident is related to a terrorist organization or to the village guard system. This is domestic violence," she said, noting that the victims and the perpetrators were related.
The village guard system was set up by the government in the mid-1980s to protect the region’s towns and villages against attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. After the Mardin murders, it was claimed that the instigators were members of the village guard system.
Incident is ’not endemic’
Şahkulubey said the incident does not reflect an endemic situation, stressing that Mardin is a city of tolerance where people of different religions and from different ethnic groups live together in peace. "Such incidents of mass killings or suicides also appear in other parts of the world, including the U.S. and Europe," she said. "We should act with social responsibility and increase our efforts to fight against social violence."
The deputy said she would start work to prevent further incidences of civilian violence and noted that many women and children barely survived the massacre, with some left widowed or orphaned. "We are trying to identify them," she said. "They will be taken under state protection."
Masked gunmen attacked an engagement ceremony in a Mardin village late Monday with automatic weapons and indiscriminately opened fire on the guests. The incident resulted in 44 deaths.
"Thus, it is not correct to call the killing of 44 people a blood feud. This is a different case, which should be studied in detail," she said.
Şahkulubey visited the area along with Interior Minister Beşir Atalay to examine the crime scene soon after the attack. Before being elected as the AKP’s Mardin deputy, she was the head of the Mardin Women’s Union.
"Some say gunmen attacked the engagement party because they wanted bride-to-be Sevgi Çelebi to marry someone else in their village," Şahkulubey said, stressing that this story has not yet been verified. "We don’t know whether the reason for the massacre is a deep-rooted problem or a state of lunacy."
Noting that the judiciary is currently investigating the incident, Şahkulubey said it is better to wait for the result of the investigation before reaching an absolute conclusion.
She also rejected claims that the village guard system was at the root of the incident. "I do not think that the incident is related to a terrorist organization or to the village guard system. This is domestic violence," she said, noting that the victims and the perpetrators were related.
The village guard system was set up by the government in the mid-1980s to protect the region’s towns and villages against attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. After the Mardin murders, it was claimed that the instigators were members of the village guard system.
Incident is ’not endemic’
Şahkulubey said the incident does not reflect an endemic situation, stressing that Mardin is a city of tolerance where people of different religions and from different ethnic groups live together in peace. "Such incidents of mass killings or suicides also appear in other parts of the world, including the U.S. and Europe," she said. "We should act with social responsibility and increase our efforts to fight against social violence."
The deputy said she would start work to prevent further incidences of civilian violence and noted that many women and children barely survived the massacre, with some left widowed or orphaned. "We are trying to identify them," she said. "They will be taken under state protection."
Masked gunmen attacked an engagement ceremony in a Mardin village late Monday with automatic weapons and indiscriminately opened fire on the guests. The incident resulted in 44 deaths.