Mardin wedding party massacre
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Mardin wedding party attack | |
Location of Mardin in Turkey |
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Location | Bilge, Mardin, |
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Date | May 4, 2009 |
Attack type | Alleged blood feud |
Weapon(s) | grenades, automatic weapons |
Deaths | 44 |
Injured | 3–6 |
Perpetrator(s) | 8 suspects in custody, but none linked to the PKK |
The Mardin wedding party massacre was a massacre at a wedding ceremony where at least forty-four people were killed on May 4, 2009, in the village of Bilge, Mardin Province, Turkey. The attack was perpetrated by at least two masked assailants using grenades and automatic weapons, who authorities believe are involved in a feud between two families.[1]
The faces of the victims were left in a physically unrecognisable state.[2] Reuters said it was "one of the worst attacks involving civilians in Turkey's modern history", declaring that the scale of the attack had shocked the nation.[3]
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[edit] Casualties
The guests were escorted into a large room before being attacked with hand grenades.[4] The attack killed at least forty-four people and injured six, according to Turkey's Interior Minister, Beşir Atalay.[5] The Bilge village head along with ten other members of his family were among those killed in the attack.[5] Six of the dead were children, sixteen were reported as being women, and twenty-two as men.[2][4] Other corpses discovered at the scene included those of the bride, Sevgi Celebi, and her husband, Habib Ari alongside Ari's sister, Ruken, a four-year-old girl.[4] The bride's father, Cemil Celebi, was injured. The wedding cleric himself was also killed in the incident.[6] Two girls allegedly survived by hiding under the corpses of associates.[6] One whole family, comprising of two adult parents and six children between the ages of three and twelve at the time of their deaths, were slaughtered.[6] Several wailing women pursued the ambulances bearing 17 corpses to a Mardin morgue.[6]
One man whose nephew was murdered described the scene as "horrifying", saying "you could not believe your eyes".[2] Another involved man claimed the slaughter began "after they took their position to perform prayers" and that explosives had been used to dismember the faces of the victims.[2] Schoolteacher Sadik Akbulut attended the wedding alongside his wife, Bedia Akbulut, but survived after he failed to wake up in time for the party.[4] Bedia claimed they heard shots being fired and that her husband dimmed the lights.[4]
Approximately two hundred guests attended the wedding.[2] Allegations of a family feud surfaced when it emerged that there was a similarity between the dead and those who left them in this state.[4] However, it has been said that this feud was settled around twenty years previously.[4] The marriage is thought to have reopened the feud amongst factions which "strongly disagreed" with its occurrence.[4] It has been described as "a combination of tribalism, love for guns, and tradition gone awfully wrong".[3]
It is unclear if the bride and groom had completed the required steps to become legally married. While some reports refer to them in unmarried terms,[4] others refer to them in married terms.[3]
[edit] Perpetrators
Speculation as to the cause and identity of the perpetrators circulated via the local media after the incident. One suggestion had a long-term village family feud.[2] Another suggestion blamed the Village Guards, a shadowy militia force established in 1984 to assist government troops in battles against the PKK.[2] Those who carried out the attack were disguised in masks.[4]
The perpetrators fled after the attack to the nearby Syrian border as a sandstorm in the area intensified.[6][4] Initial assessments rule out the PKK, according to Atalay.[6] As of May 5, there were eight suspects in custody that had been arrested with weapons and they remain anonymous.[7][8][2]
Soldiers blockaded roads leading into the village after the incident and journalists were forbidden to enter.[6] Electricity supplies and telephone access were also cut off.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Edis, Şeyhmus (2009-05-06). "Family dispute leads to massacre in Mardin". Today's Zaman: pp. 1, 17. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=174423. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Many die in Turkey wedding attack". BBC. 2009-05-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8032970.stm. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
- ^ a b c "Blood feuds, gun violence plague Turkey's southeast". Reuters. 2009-05-05. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5443G520090505. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "8 Arrested in Turkish Wedding Shooting". The New York Times. 2009-05-05. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/world/europe/06turkey.html?_r=1&partner=MOREOVERNEWS&ei=5040. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
- ^ a b "Reuters article" Reuters. Retrieved 4 May, 2009
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Associated Foreign Press article" Yahoo. Retrieved 4 May, 2009
- ^ "Suspects Detained" Yahoo. Retrieved 5 May, 2009
- ^ "Eight held after Turkey wedding attack". RTÉ. 2009-05-05. http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0505/turkey.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.