A march led by MEYA-DER (association of relatives of the disappeared people) Siirt branch has been staged to Newala Qesaba where mass graves containing the bodies of 300 people, including PKK's leading cadre Mahsum Korkmaz (Egît), were found in the province of Siirt in North Kurdistan.

Hundreds of civilians and PKK members were buried in mass graves in Botan region after being massacred by unofficial state organs such as JİTEM (gendarmerie intelligence and anti-terror unit) as of 80's.

Deprived of religious ceremonies, some of these people were thrown in wasteyards while many others were placed in mass graves opened by scoopers belonging to municipalities of the time. Newala Qesaba (Butchers' Valley) is one of these places which has been a graveyard for the Armenians massacred in 1915 and at least 300 Kurds murdered as of 1984.

Bodies of People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK) Commander Mahsun Korkmaz and Mehmet Oktay, the first imam to join the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) are among those buried in the butchers' valley which was named so because of the savage massacres committed by the Turkish state. The history of the valley dates back to 1915 when large numbers of Christians and Kurds in Siirt were murdered and buried in mass.

Thousands of people marched to the Newala Qeseba today to remember Mahsum Korkmaz within the ongoing events to mark the "Week of Bravery".

The march was also joined by Korkmaz's family, members of the IHD (Human Rights Association), Peace Mothers Assembly, HDP, DBP provincial and district organisations, as well as political representatives from Batman, Bitlis, Tatvan and surrounding provinces.

Speaking after the mass reached the valley, Co-mayor of Siirt Tuncer Bakırhan commemorated all those fallen in the freedom struggle in the person of those buried in Newala Qesaba. Bakırhan stressed that the Kurds who were murdered and massacred by the state ever since the establishment of the Turkish Republic basically had fought for their identity, language, faith and demand to lead a free life.

Pointing out that Armenians, Syriacs and Chaldeans in Kurdistan have long been massacred, forced to migration and assimilated, Bakırhan said that; "The Kurdish people and youths however never abandoned their identity and they will never do so."

Police attacked the people attending the commemoration as the mass started to disperse following the speeches. Youths responded to police with stones.