’What would you do in our place?’

İrfan Arslan, one of the seven adult male members of the family to survive Monday’s murder of 44 people in the village of Bilge in the southeastern Mardin province, asked the question on everyone’s mind: “What would you do if you were in our place?”�

In a region dominated by the feudal aşiret structure and blood feuds, the answer is something that worries almost everyone in the country.

Late on Monday, masked gunmen entered a home in the village of Bilge in the Mazıdağı region, where an engagement ceremony was taking place. The gunmen used rifles and hand grenades to kill 44 people and injure three more. Ten suspects charged for the crime are the victims’ close relatives from the same village, resulting in everyone asking what motive could result in such a massacre.

Mardin is seen as the haven of tolerance and religion in a region dominated by violence. Kurds, Arabs, Turks, Syriacs and Muslims and Christians live side by side in peace.

No matter who one talks to in the city of Mardin, their first response is: “This is barbarity,” only to be followed by, “We have seen nothing like it.” Almost all are worried that their city will be associated with this crime at a time when Mardin is just becoming a tourist center.

Mardin Mayor Mehmet Beşir Ayhanoğlu’s argument why the crime should not be associated with the city is clear. “It happened in the rural areas. It is not at the city center. The feudal structure exists in the villages but not in the city, which is dominated by modern family units,” he told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

He also tried to disassociate the feudal structure from the crime, too, arguing that political persuasions of the city showed the village was not ruled by a clan leader, also known as an ağa.

“When one looks at who the village votes for, we see that they vote for two or even three political parties in elections. If there had been a feudal structure in the sense that exists elsewhere in the region, all votes would have gone to a single party picked by the ağa. This [crime] is a first for Mardin. It is not the result of a blood feud or terrorism. This is outside the routine. We talked to the respected men of the wider region, and they tell us this has no place in tradition. Women and children cannot be targeted in blood feuds. This is something like the school massacres we see in the United States or Europe.”

He said Mardin could not be associated with the crime and believed in the long run it would not affect the region’s tourism potential. “I talked to authorities about tourism hotel reservations, and there are no cancellations. We, as the municipality, are behind our people and constantly help them. Mardin will overcome this crime hand-in-hand.”

Mardin Chamber of Trade President Ali Tutaşı repeated what everyone said, noting that killing of women and children could not be justified by tradition or blood feuds.

He also said a crime in a village of rural Mardin could not and should not be used to tarnish the city’s image. “It can happen anywhere. This crime is condemned in the harshest way in Mardin. Every community here has lived in peace for thousands of years here and still do,” he said. “Everyone can come here to find peace.”

The head of the Mardin Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association, Nasır Duyan, started by saying, “We, the people of Mardin, cannot find any word to describe what has happened. This was a first for Turkey, let alone Mardin. This is not a blood feud or a clash resulting from a girl. I have seen many murders resulting from blood feuds in the region and in none have the culprits targeted women and children.” He shares the concern of the mayor about the harm the crime will do to Mardin.

“Hotels were fully booked for the next three months. Mardin should not be victimized because of what happened. Such things happen all around the world. I hope it never does again. There are blood feuds, but the people of the region want nothing to do with that anymore,” he said.

When asked about the victims’ families, he said Duyan said Mardin had mobilized to help them. “Most survivors are children. That’s why people are doing everything they can. They are given provisions,” he said.

When asked about the village guard system and the fact that all adult males of the village of Bilge were village guards armed by the state, Duyan said, “Some village guards have started to break the law. Their original purpose was to protect their village [against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK], but they have begun to overstep their bounds. Sometimes they erect roadblocks. The state needs to be more exclusive in choosing village guards. There needs to be tests. Not everyone should be given weapons. Carrying weapons necessitates a sense of responsibility,” he said, before noting that the village guard system in the region was widespread.

Punishment should suit the crime
Baker Murat Sara in Mardin city described the crime as barbarity. “Women and children cannot be killed. The killing of 44 people in one night is unacceptable. I don’t know what they will do now, but we, as the people of Mardin, are behind the victims’ families,” he said.

Mahmut Sincar, a passerby, said Mardin could not accept what happened but adds that the crime is far from the end of the whole affair. “We can only hope there will be no bloodshed, but that doesn’t seem likely. I believe all of the culprits should be hanged so that the spirits of the dead are satiated. The culprits should not be saved and fed in prison.”

A kebab shop manager in Mardin city, Mehmet Mecnun, said he knew the victims. “They used to come to my shop all the time. I sometimes went to see them. I was shocked when I heard what happened. I am 70 years old and have been managing my shop for 40 years, but I have seen or heard nothing like it.”

He said the guilty should be punished in a way that satisfies everyone.

Ağa is gone, replaced by the rule of the strong

Rashid Clan’s ağa, Mehmet Emin Şimşek, is 103 years old. He is known as the region’s walking history and remembers the times and the practices of the early republican era when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was in charge.

Speaking in Kurdish with the help of a translator, he said: “I have never seen or heard anything like it. If these two families fear each other, peace can be established. But if not, the bloodshed will continue.”

He said in Atatürk’s time, from 1923 until 1938, nothing like this would have happened. “The state’s stance is important. With Atatürk, everyone was scared of the state and knew that the state was equal to all. It’s not like that anymore,” Şimşek said.

When asked about the feudal system dominating the region, he said: “The ağa system existed in the past. It doesn’t anymore.”

Ağas were known for their justice and equality in the past, unlike the ağas of today, Şimşek said. “No one could be disrespectful in the past. Ağas supported the state and the state the ağas. If the old traditions were in place and old ağas in charge, something like this would never have happened.”

He said when one ağa died, his replacement was not his son. “Whoever could do the job properly would be chosen. Nowadays, when an ağa dies, 10 children share in the spoils and there is no leader. Consequently, there is no justice and strong-arm tactics dominate. Whoever is stronger punishes the weaker ones,” he said.

When asked about blood feuds, Şimşek says there aren’t any. “The biggest blood feud was between Kahramanlar family and a Turkish clan. Seven died in one day and then 50 more in the next 60 years. Those families have made up. Hacı Şakir made peace between them. It is not easy to kill 44 people in one night.”
Duyan Clan’s ağa, 85-year-old Şakir Duyan, or as he is known by the public, Hacı Şakir, doesn’t believe in lawyers because he believes mediation of an elder can resolve all arguments.

Hacı Şakir, who is very influential in the region, spoke to the Daily News in a small room in his village, where Christians and Muslims live side by side and pray side-by-side in their neighboring mosque and church.

He sat with photographs of Atatürk and himself on the wall behind him. Everyone else sat on the ground.

“There were crimes but not such a barbarity,” he said, adding that he had mediated an agreement between the two families in Bilge 14 or 15 years ago. “There was an argument over land division and the victims then had pushed out the attackers. There were clashes and eight people died. They came and asked for my help. I told them they were the same family, and I couldn’t interfere. After this, it appears another argument developed over a girl. The attackers demanded the attacked family not to give away their daughter as a bride to a family from Diyarbakır. The attacked family did. However, this is just an excuse. The real argument is based on land. No matter what it is, I have never seen such barbarity. I did not hear anything like it from my father either,” he said.
He also said the real owner of the village was kicked out years ago by the families currently in the village. “They had appropriated his land at the time.”
Duyan said he had mediated in blood feuds of six clans, with numerous blood feuds among families.

“In blood feuds, women cannot be killed. One cannot be attacked at weddings or a funeral. In old times, one could not be shot in public,” explained Duyan.
When asked if he was willing to take the lead in creating peace at Bilge, Duyan said: “They are relatives, and I don’t think they will ever make peace. Even if they do, they will still kill each other. They are not even proper villagers. They used to be shepherds and half a century ago, they came to the village and extorted the land from the owner before kicking him out.”

The village
When one enters the village, the first thing that can be seen are the small houses dotting the beautiful green landscape. However, once a person sees the string of graves to the left of the entrance to the village, the mood turns overwhelmingly grim. On Thursday, the last members of the families of the attackers left the village and went to an unknown destination as the surviving members of the victims’ families mourned their dead.

One person, who did not want to give his name because he is a state servant, said he lost his sister, brother-in-law and six nephews in the massacre.
He said there were problems in 1994 and the eight people who died then were explained away as being killed by the PKK. “The side that killed those eight people said the PKK had killed them. Then, we couldn’t prove anything,” he said.

He said attackers thought they could blame the PKK this time around. “After having made sure they killed everyone, they went back to their home and went to bed. One of my nephews survived the attack and saw them.” He also explained how closely related the attackers and the attacked were by saying, “Those who died are the children of three brothers while those who attacked are the children of the fourth.”

İrfan Arslan, a survivor from the village, takes a while to persuade. When asked what was the difference between the families, Arslan says, “One side was rich and the other poor. This can happen in any family but nothing could result in such a thing [as this massacre]. This has nothing to do with wealth or jealousy. Every motive listed before is a lie. The land or the fish farm arguments cannot be a motive to kill 44 people. There is no girl issue or family honor that was violated. We cannot make sense of what happened. What I can say is human beings cannot plan such a thing. They first shot every one and then went around and shot the people in their head to make sure they were dead. They then went home and slept. The gendarmerie woke them up and detained them the next morning.”

He said there were only seven adult males left in the attacked family.

He then went on to explain his response to the question, “Will this turn into a blood feud?”

He said: “What would you do if you were in our place? The punishment accorded by the law will not be enough to provide a sense of justice to the victims. If I had the power, I would kill each one of them.”