Yüksel Mutlu, co-spokesperson for the DEM Party’s Peoples and Beliefs Commission, commemorated the victims of the Zilan Massacre on its 95th anniversary and called on the Turkish state to confront the massacre and apologize to the people.
In a written statement on Sunday, Yüksel Mutlu said, “On July 13, 1930, thousands of people were massacred in the Zilan Valley. Women, children, and the elderly were killed with bombs and machine guns. Houses were burned down, villages were wiped off the map, and the survivors were forced into exile. Zilan Massacre is one of the most severe examples of the systematic policy of annihilation and denial targeting the Kurdish people.”
The statement continued: “95 years have passed, but there has been no official acknowledgment of the massacre, and the state has not even mentioned its name. There is no memorial, no apology, and no trace of justice in the region where the massacre took place. Despite all the policies of denial, our peoples continue to carry this truth in their memory.
As the DEM Party, we emphasize that confronting the past is one of the cornerstones of the Peace and Democratic Society Process we are pursuing. Zilan is not only a great wound in the collective memory of the Kurdish people, but also a shared responsibility for everyone who desires an equal and free life in these lands.”
The DEM Party listed their demands as follows:
– The Zilan Massacre must be officially recognized by the Republic of Turkey and a public apology must be made to the people.
– An independent and inclusive Investigation Commission must be established within the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
– Zilan Valley must be preserved as a place of memory and confrontation; the traces of the destroyed villages and erased lives must be made visible through a restorative approach.
A system that denies the truth cannot produce peace. Justice is not built by forgetting, but by confronting the past. We have not forgotten Zilan.
Source: ANF News
