May is a mourning month for Turkish and Kurdish people who are sensitive about Turkey’s social problems. Many of the leaders of the left were killed in the past decades and new ones have joined them in more recent times. Their families, friends and supporters have never forgotten them. Among them are Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leaders Ferhat Kurtay, Eþref Anyýk, Necmi Öner, Haki Karer, Halil Çavgun and Mahmut Zengin, as well as one of Turkish left leaders, Ýbrahim Kaypakkaya. And then there are the forced disappeared people, like Hasan Ocak and Rýdvan Karakoç or student Þerzan Kurt, killed by a police bullet last year.

The Martyrs of May were remembered during the Black Thursday Actions in Diyarbakýr and in Kýzýltepe (province of Mardin) where the activists also marched to condemn the ongoing military operations.

People in Silvan and Ceylanpýnar and in Ýstanbul commemorated their May Martyrs while others held mass condolences visits for the 10 HPG members who lost their life on May 13 and 14 in Uludere. Hundreds flocked to the condolences tents in Hakkari center and in Yüksekova. In Bingöl as well many people went to pay their tribute to families of the Kurdish guerrillas who recently lost their life.

One surprising visit was that of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Hakkari Chair Mehmet Ertuþ and his many relatives. Yesterday, they visited the condolences tent built for HPG member Adem Aþkan (Canþêr Cempîrî, who lost his life in Uludere) in Hakkari.

There was also one more mass religious ceremony for whole of the dead of May in Urfa’s district Ceylanpýnar.

Despite being a mourning month, yesterday the local governor and the gendarmerie station’s commander in Karlýova (province of Muþ) have forced people to take down the condolences tent they had put up for HPG member Abdulkadir Ay. According to local sources, the local authorities threatened the family to carry out a night raid if they insist on keeping the tent opened to visitors.