DERSİM - Stating that the funeral of Aysel Doğan was embraced by the people just like she embraced the people when she was alive, HDP Dersim MP Alican Önlü said, "Those who condemned Israel's inhuman attitude towards a funeral displayed the same damn attitude towards Aysel's funeral."

 

Aysel Doğan, who came to Turkey from Europe as the 2nd Peace Group member upon the call of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, lost her life in Cologne, Germany, on May 11, after succumbing to cancer, which she described as "the fascist in me". Doğan's remains was sent off from Germany to Diyarbakır, and from there to her hometown of Dersim. The remains of Doğan, who was sent off to her final journey by thousands of people, was stopped at checkpoints along the way in Dersim. The police, who did not allow the funeral to be participated en masse, attacked Doğan's remains and the crowd there with water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas. The police also abducted the remains of Doğan. Doğan was laid to rest in the Asri Cemetery with the participation of only family members.

 

Participating in Doğan's funeral, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Dersim MP Alican Önlü, who was the target of the attacks, evaluated the events to the Mezopotamya Agency (MA).

 

AYSEL WAS EMBRACED BY THE PEOPLE, JUST LIKE SHE EMRACED THE PEOPLE

 

Önlü said, "The style of Aysel's struggle was just like her. She did not submit to pressures. She was rebellious. Her funeral was just like her life. Because she embraced her comrades that way. The people embraced her values, her struggle, their martyrs, language and culture. And those who attacked the funeral, displayed their own culture and background."

 

ANSWER TO SOYLU

 

Referring to the post of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on his Twitter account after the attack on Doğan's funeral, Doğan said, "Comrade Aysel was a person of nature. She was in love with her mountains, history, land, culture, language. She was not a person like Soylu who sold and destroyed all his values, abandoned all his human values and personality, and had no measure."

 

TURKEY DID WHAT ISRAEL DID TO ABU AKLEH

 

Recalling the murder of Palestinian female reporter Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli soldiers and the attack on her funeral, Önlü said, "Those who condemned the inhumane attitude towards a funeral by Israel for days and define it as terrorism have displayed the same damn attitude here because their mentality is the same. Israel is also an invader which disregards values.

 

Pointing out that those who condemn the attitude of the Israeli soldiers ignored the attack on Aysel Doğan's funeral, Önlü said, “This is hypocrisy. The Kurdish people stood up against this damned attitude and embraced their own values. It was a resistance in the name of democratization. Another message was given in Dersim. Soylu told he destroyed the values of the Kurdish people. The people showed him otherwise."

 

'RESISTANCE CONTINUES'

 

Emphasizing that human values were trampled on in Dersim, Önlü said, "This was not just a situation spesific to that day. All inhumane methods were tried, just like what was done to Aysel Tuğluk's mother, the destruction of cemeteries, the Turkish government sending the bodies of the Kurdish fighters by cargo to their families, the use of chemical weapons, which are crimes against humanity. Therefore, the resistance there was the hope for the peoples of Turkey. This hope is not over, the resistance continues."

 

Drawing attention to the attacks on the funerals and cemeteries of Kurds, Önlü said: "There are a lot of things aimed with these actions, but they can't get results with assimilation policies, genocides, village burnings, attacks on funerals, they did not even tolerate the bones of the dead and hoped this hostility would help. But they can't get results. Therefore, they do not want this resistance to spread to the peoples of Turkey and a common struggle ground to be formed. Wasn't that what the Suruç and Ankara massacres were for?"

 

'NOW THEY ARE TOGETHER'

 

Noting that Doğan's funeral was embraced by the crowds and that Doğan was laid to rest right next to her childhood friend Sakine Cansız, Önlü continued: "Aysel fought for peace all her life. Two friends who fought for peace all their lives came together yesterday.  Now they are all together."

 

MA / Cengiz Ozbasar