Hundreds of bodies 'on hold' in clash-hit Turkey town

The bodies of hundreds of people killed during clashes between Turkish security forces and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the southeastern town of Cizre are currently being held, with dozens of them rendered unidentifiable because of burns.

In large cold storages close to the Iraqi border crossing of Habur, the bodies of those killed are awaiting autopsies as well as identification, in laboratories set up by the ??rnak Forensic Institute alongside relatives and friends of the deceased. 

The deceased were the casualties of a security operation against the outlawed PKK militants in town centers, which led to fierce clashes in Cizre, a district in the southeastern ??rnak province, between Dec. 14, 2015, and Feb. 11.

Forensic institute officials are currently trying to identify the bodies, each stored in a numbered blue body bag. Officials have said the majority of bodies are burnt, making their identification almost impossible.

"We heard of his death on Feb. 13. Our father, Ahmet Tunç, went [to the forensic institute] to identify him, but failed to do so," said Murat Tunç, the brother of 18-year-old Orhan Tunç who was killed in Cizre. The brother, uncle and several other relatives of the young man are still waiting for the body.

"Getting the body will not be enough. We will get a document from the attorney in Silopi for the funeral. Burial is prohibited in Cizre, so we will bury [the body of Orhan Tunç] in ??rnak," he added. Silopi is another district in ??rnak that was kept under curfew for weeks.

"We want peace, we want an end to deaths," said Halime, Orhan Tunç's sister.  "Do not let what happened in Cizre and Sur anywhere else, do not let the children become orphans."

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