The racist attack against the funeral of HDP’s arrested Deputy Co-chair Aysel Tuğluk’s mother Hatun Tuğluk has been etched into collective memory as a striking example of social polarization and racism in Turkey.

Government circles have made statement condemning the attack while AKP Spokesperson Bekir Bozdağ called the incident an “act that doesn’t go with our traditions and our beliefs”, bringing to mind other attacks on funerals in the recent years.

Contrary to Bozdağ’s comments, there have been countless attacks on dozens of funerals by the police, the army and racist groups in Kurdish and other cities.

POLICE EXPOSED THE BODY

In Muş’s Varto district, the body of HPG member Kevser Eltürk’s (Ekin Wan) who lost her life in the clashes on August 10, 2015 was stripped naked by the police and photos were published on social media.

CEMETERIES BOMBED

During the same time in Varto, the Martyr Ismail and Martyr Ronahi Cemeteries where HPG members are buried was bombed with F-16 fighter jets on September 17. The mosque and the Cemevi (Alevi place of worship) inside the cemeteries were also destroyed.

BODY PUT IN FREEZER

During the “curfew” in Cizre on September 7, 2015, during an operation 10 year old Cemile Çağırga lost her life with a soldier’s bullet in front of her home. The police and soldiers didn’t allow Cemile Çağırga’s body to be buried and it was kept in the freezer for 3 days, only later to be put into the morgue in the hospital. The body was buried days later.

HACI LOKMAN BİRLİK’S BODY DRAGGED ON THE STREETS

In Şırnak on October 2, 2015, the body of Hacı Lokman Birlik, shot to death by the police, was tied to the back of an armored vehicle and dragged through the streets. The policemen who carried out this attack on a dead body only received 6 months of suspended promotion.

TAYBET İNAN’S BODY LEFT OUT ON THE STREET FOR 7 DAYS

In Silopi during the “curfews”, 50 years old Taybet İnan was shot by the soldiers and police carrying out an operation in the street her home was on. Security forces shot and killed her relative Yusuf İnan who attempted to take the body as well. İnan was left out on the street wounded for hours and lost her life while her family was forced to watch. Her children kept watch from a distance so stray animals wouldn’t peck at her. The body of Taybet İnan, mother of 11, was only able to be buried after 7 days.

KARAKAŞ’S BODY REFUSED IN İZMİR

22 year old PKK member Recep Karakaş lost his life in a jet fighter bombing in Dersim. His family buried him in İzmir on November 22, 2016, but Karakaş’s body had to be removed from the grave after 4 days due to an attack by a racist group.

90 DAYS OF HUNGER STRIKE TO BE ABLE TO BURY A BODY

DHKP-C member Murat Gün lost his life in an aerial attack on the rural area near Dersim’s Çet River on November 7, 2016. His father Kemal Gün appealed with every official institution to receive his son’s body, of which only charred bones were left, but wasn’t able to get a positive reply. Kemal Gün went on a hunger strike in Dersim city center for 90 days before he was able to receive his son’s body and bury it. Gün was fined 13 thousand liras for his demonstration.

BODIES KEPT WAITING AT THE BORDER

Bodies of many people who fought against ISIS in Syria weren’t allowed by the government to be brought into Turkey. United Freedom Forces (BÖG) fighters Aziz Güler and Eylem Ataş who lost their lives fighting ISIS in Syria were only able to be brought into the country after widescale public outrage. Güler’s body waited at the border for 59 days and Ataş’s for 101.

PUBLIC TOILET BUILT OVER AN ARMENIAN CEMETERY

The trustee appointed to Van’s Edremit Municipality built a public toilet, a parking lot and changing booths over an Armenian Cemetery and the Dilkaya Tumulus, a first-degree natural protected area. Dihaber’s article on August 1 showed bones from dozens of human bodies removed from the cemetery and strewn about.

INVENTION OF THE “TRAITORS CEMETERY”

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Mayor Kadir Topbaş announced that after July 15, the people who were allegedly part of the coup attempt should be buried in an area dubbed the “Traitors Cemetery” to be built by the municipality itself. Topbaş said: “There should be an allocated space called the cemetery of traitors to the country, passersby should curse at them. Every passersby should curse them, and they shouldn’t rest easy in the grave.”

RESIDENTS OF THE CAPITAL ATTACKED FUNERAL

Government officials are “surprised” as if it’s the first time a funeral has been attacked, but Incek was the latest installment in a long series. The body of HDP Deputy Co-chair Aysel Tuğluk’s mother Hatun Tuğluk was to be buried in the cemetery in the İncek neighborhood of Ankara’s Gölcek neighborhood, but the funeral was attacked by some 20 people. Despite police presence in the area, Tuğluk’s family had to remove Hatun Tuğluk’s body from the cemetery where she had already been buried due to the attack and Tuğluk had to be buried in Dersim.

“THEY WOULD MAKE THE ATTACKERS LOOK INNOCENT SAVE FOR THE CONSCIENTIOUS PEOPLE”

HDP Group Deputy Chairperson Ahmet Yıldırım spoke on the incident and the government’s statements and said: “A great portion of the public showed conscience and voiced dissent. If they hadn’t, [the AKP government] wouldn’t even have issued a message, as seen in the incidents in the past. Maybe they would make the attackers look innocent. The AKP, since the day it was founded, has used all tradition, all Islamic values and historic references to their own interests.”

“THEY WILL TRY TO COVER THIS UP”

Yıldırım called for the attackers to be identified as soon as possible and said: “Wasn’t it them who said they had technology good enough to detect people’s watches with the UCAV cameras? How many people whose faces and stature were visible front and back have been processed? Cover up is what they do. You will see, they will try to cover this up as well.”