Vildan Atmaca/JINHA

WAN – In the absence of investigations into the 1930 massacre of 15,000 Kurds in the Zilan region of Van province, young health students have taken into their own hands the effort to research the massacre and its traumatic effects.

85 years after 15,000 Kurds were killed (according to official figures) in the Zilan region, located in the Erciş district of Van province on July 17, 1930, there is still a deep silence on the issue. A group composed of young medical students and health workers from the Van Free Youth Health Assembly, the Turkish Physicians Union Medical Students Branch and the Health and Social Services Workers Union took it upon themselves to research the ongoing psychological and health effects of the massacre. They traveled to eight villages to interview local people.

Researcher Zehra Koştu said they found that many people were still living with the fear, rage and trauma of the massacre. They might not have gathered complete data, however, without the participation of women researchers. She said older women tended to form bonds and share their experiences and emotions more openly with women who could speak their native Kurdish.

In Turkey, despite the peace process and negotiations going on between the Turkish state and the PKK, there have still been no provisions for truth commissions to research the long history of state massacres in the region. As the witnesses to the massacres pass away, the students say efforts like theirs are their attempt to bring the truth into the light before it's too late.

"When we asked the younger generation about the Zilan massacre, some of them didn't even know about it," said Şilan Okalin, one of the young women professionals working on the project. She noted that the younger generation lives with the knowledge of the massacre, but with no idea of the details. But Şilan said that, when young people in the region told her, "when I go home, I'll ask my grandmother and grandfather about the massacre," the study had, in a way, achieved its goal.

The group held a panel in Erciş district recently to share the results of their research with local people. They also participated in a tree-planting in honor of those who lost their lives in the massacre. They will join a demonstration in Erciş on May 17, calling for the founding of truth commissions in Turkey.

(gk/fk/cm)