Halide Kaya, the mother of Leyla Kaya whose body was buried under sidewalks in Kilyos Cemetery, takes back her daughter’s body. Halide Kaya calls on other families to take their loved ones’ bodies under sidewalks.

News Center- On December 19, 2017, the Garzan Cemetery located in the Yukarıölek (Kurdish: Oleka Jor) neighborhood of Bitlis province was destroyed and the bodies had been buried in the cemetery were removed and reburied under sidewalks in Kilyos Cemetery in Istanbul without informing the families. The body of Leyla Kaya, a PKK member, was among the bodies buried under the sidewalks. Her body has been delivered to her family.

After the body of Leyla Kaya was identified by DNA test, Halide Kaya went to Kilyos along with many people, including Sultan Karasu and Şehmus Işık, co-chairs of the Aid and Solidarity Association with Families Who Lost Their Relatives in Anatolia (AN-YAKAY-DER).

The bones of Leyla Kaya were given to her mother in a plastic box. The family of Leyla Kaya shrouded bones and then performed the funeral prayer. The body was sent to Varto district of Muş province to be reburied.

“The persecution we face is unreasonable”

Leyla Kaya’s mother Halide Kaya describes the destruction of the Garzan Cemetery and the constant transport of corpses as persecution, “Today, Turkey thinks we deserve this persecution. But they shouldn’t forget that they actually practice this persecution against themselves.  The persecution carried by the President is unreasonable. The more he hurts us, the more he hurts himself. He should end the war between Kurds and Turks. Don’t they understand this; the end of this cruelty is not happiness but pain.”