MÛŞ - Elif Çetinbaş, who was among those who went to retrieve the body of YJA-Star member Kevser Eltürk during the period when her body was publicly displayed, said: “They tried to send a message to women through what was done to Ekin Wan. We will protest at the very place where her body was publicly displayed.”

 

The repercussions of the conflict that began after 2015, following the state’s response to demands for a solution to the Kurdish issue and the democratic demands of the peoples of Kurdistan, continue to this day. The conflict was deepened through the use of tanks and artillery, as well as the expansion of psychological warfare, in response to demands and calls for a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue. The massacres and human rights violations committed during this period remain etched in the collective memory.

 

Mûş’s Gimgim (Varto) district was one of the places most affected by the conflict. Several people were killed in clashes in Gimgim in 2015. Reports documenting the clashes by the Human Rights Association (İHD) recorded that security forces opened fire even on homes. 

 

However, the death of YJA-Star guerrilla Kevser Eltürk (Ekin Wan) on August 10, 2015, and the events that followed sparked outrage among the peoples of Kurdistan and women.

 

The public display of Kevser Eltürk’s body in the district and the circulation of photographs of her body on social media became one of the most widely condemned incidents of the time. Doctors and women who saw Kevser Eltürk’s body said there were deep marks around her neck, confirming that her body had been subjected to torture. The boots belong to security forces that appeared in one of the photographs of Kevser Eltürk’s body also sparked public outrage. Women took the streets across Turkey, Kurdistan and cities across Europe, saying that what had been done to Kevser Eltürk’s body constituted war crime.

 

SOCIAL TRAUMA

 

Regarding the attack on Kevser Eltürk’s body, the Muş Governor’s Office merely stated that it would “follow up on the matter.” Legal complaints filed over the mistreatment went nowhere. The clashes and the public display of Kevser Eltürk’s body left deep scars on the collective memory of the district. The security personnel involved in displaying her body were shielded from prosecution under a policy of impunity. Elif Çetinbaş, who was working with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) at the time and is now a member of the Party Assembly of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), recounted what she witnessed in the aftermath of Kevser Eltürk’s body being publicly displayed.

 

 

‘A MESSAGE WAS BEING SENT TO WOMEN’

 

Elif Çetinbaş, who said she was recently released from prison, said she had been prosecuted over the October 6-8 events and the public display of Kevser Eltürk’s body. Elif Çetinbaş said: “Ekin Wan was killed in Varto. It did not end with her killing, her body was publicly displayed. We know that this was a reflection of a patriarchal mindset. They do not want women to resist or fight. They showed this by torturing Ekin Wan’s body. Ekin Wan received tremendous support. We witnessed an atrocity at the time that shocked the world. When they called us, they told us that a woman’s body had been publicly displayed. We could hardly believe it. We had heard some rumblings while working to organize and fight for peace, but we did not expect things to escalate that quickly. We found it shocking that a woman’s naked body had been publicly displayed on a mountainside. We looked into it and when we learned that she was a guerrilla, we all went there. There were horrific allegations. There are accounts documented in reports that a rope had been tied around her neck and that her body had been dragged. Before that, the image that appeared in the media showed a completely naked body and three pairs of men’s boots. It was a photograph that was deliberately public. Through Ekin Wan, they wanted to send a message to women and to the world: ‘If you say ‘we are exist’, this is what awaits you.’”

 

WITNESS TESTIMONY

 

Elif Çetinbaş said they were repeatedly prevented from pursuing legal actions and were unable to obtain any results, adding that those responsible were never held accountable. She emphasized that Kevser Eltürk’s body had been used to assert ‘male dominance’, and said: “There was a surge in the women’s movement. Everyone said, ‘We are Ekin Wan.’ Panels were held and marches organized in response to the public display of her body, sending powerful messages to public. They did not achieve their aims, and they never will. If you ask me what I think about the peace process underway today, I would say that we will once again be the ones fighting for a peace in which bodies like Ekin Wan’s are never put on display. According to eyewitnesses, a flare was fired and Ekin Wan was shot in the hip with a Kanas rifle. There is a photograph of her lying in that position, and another photograph taken in the same position after her clothes had been removed. This was a deliberate message.”

 

Elif Çetinbaş, who said they know what kind of mindset they are up against, said: “Despite all this, we continue to call for peace. Peace has many winners, but war always has losers. Sadly, women are children are among those who suffer most from war. This is how we approach and carry forward our struggle for women’s rights. Despite all the suffering we have endured, we continue to struggle so that no woman’s body is left to be kept in a refrigerator like Cemile’s, or left lying in the street like Taybet Ana’s. I want to make it clear that we are moving towards a point where we will fight only for peace.”

 

‘HER BODY WAS DISPLAYED IN A CENTRAL LOCATION’

 

Describing the place where Kevser Eltürk’s body was publicly displayed, Elif Çetinbaş said: “It was a very central location with no civilians around. It wasn’t in the middle of nowhere. It was on a hill. We were all shocked when we got there. After all, she was a guerrilla who had been martyred. There were claims that, judging by her body, something had been tied around her neck and she had been dragged. The mentality behind the public display of Ekin Wan’s body is the same mentality that sent a message through a woman’s hair in Rojava. This mentality has not disappeared today. It is an expression of that mindset. It became more visible with the massacre in Shengal in 2014. In the 21st century, women have been abducted, imprisoned, sold, massacred, and subjected to sexual harassment and rape. Ekin Wan’s body being publicly displayed, the killing of girls, the bodies of our mothers being left lying in the streets, and a woman’s hair being cut in Rojava are all interconnected. The response in Rojava was ten times stronger than the one we saw ten years ago. There is now a Kurdish people who have awakened and taken the struggle for women’s rights to a new level. This is what frightens them. The struggle of women to embrace ‘Xwebûn (selfhood) and Hebûn (existence)’ has reached a new stage. It gives us hope.”

 

Elif Çetinbaş concluded by saying that they would hold a press statement at the site where Ekin Wan’s body was publicly displayed and would continue to be there to honour her memory and carry on the struggle.

 

MA / Can Kırbaş