Former Tunceli Governor Osman Kaymak, who was appointed as a trustee to the Tunceli Municipality in January, has ordered local authorities to deny basic funeral rites to outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants killed in clashes with Turkish security forces, the artigercek news website reported on Wednesday.
According to Kaymak’s order, the bodies of PKK militants will not bathed and a gravesite will not be given to them for burial.
Kaymak’s order was issued following the recent killing of 14 PKK militants in Tunceli during a clash with the Turkish armed forces.
Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Tunceli deputy Alican Önlü said Kaymak threatened that an investigation would be launched into those performing funeral rituals for slain PKK militants.
In a similar development, the Diyarbakır Municipality, which is run by a trustee appointed by the Turkish government, denied Kemal Kurkut, a youth who was killed by a police officer during Nevruz celebrations in Diyarbakır on March 21 on suspicion that he was a suicide bomber, a proper funeral.
Two police officers who were involved in Kurkut’s killing were suspended from their jobs by the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office last week.