9 people killed in Diyarbakır (Amed): A massacre with announcement

In Bismil near Diyarbakir (Kurd. Amed) in the Southeastern part of Turkey, a bloodbath with 9 casualties and two injured at noon took place today. According to a report by the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the incident was preceded by a dispute over 20 hectares of land. According to this, the Alyamaç and Taş families, who are related, have long been at odds over the lands on which wheat was grown. After a fire was set in one of the fields, the families attacked each other with automatic AK-47 rifles. Pixelated footage shows several people lying lifeless on the ground with their weapons.

📍Ölü sayısının 9'a yükseldiği kavgadan sıcak görüntüler

📍Diyarbakır valiliğinden yeni açıklama

📌#Diyarbakır #sondakika #bismil #arazi

Haberin Detayı👇 https://t.co/f5G0jeihRa pic.twitter.com/0ZGPopm736

— Diyarbakır Yenigün (@GazeteYenigun) June 15, 2023

After the incident, the village was cordoned off by security forces. At least eight people were arrested. Such incidents occur again and again in Turkey, mainly in the Kurdish Southeast of the country. Many families are also armed and financed by the state as part of the so-called “village guards” system so that they can support the Turkish army in fighting the PKK. There are also many armed extended families in the region whose status is tolerated by the state. But again and again these weapons are also used for private feuds, as in this case. In 2009, so-called ‘village guards’ in Mardin (kurd. Mêrdîn) carried out a massacre with 44 dead at an engagement party.

It is still unclear whether they were also village guards in this case, but it is worrying that so many rapid-fire weapons were used.

#Diyarbakır #Bismil arazi kavgası 10 ölü

Silahlı kavga Bismil’in Serçeler köyünde iki aile arasında 400 dönümlük hazine arazisinden kaynaklı yaşandı.

Sorumlusu iktidardır !

Nedenine gelince ;

2015 -2016 ve 2017’de Mecliste konu ile ilgili tehlikeye, cinayetlere dikkat… pic.twitter.com/mPXvJoxkZP

— Mehmet Ali ASLAN (@HemmedAliAslan) June 15, 2023

Mehmet Ali Aslan, ex-HDP MP, said that responsibility for this act lies upon the shoulders of the government. Between 2015 and 2017 he repeatedly drew attention to the problem of land disputes in the Turkish parliament. Indeed, in 2017, Aslan had presented a bill to the parliament aiming to put an end to this problem, but it was defeated by the ruling AKP and MHP. He finally asked on Twitter: “Who is guilty, who are the guilty ones? Decide for yourself!