The Başbağlar massacre ( tr, Başbağlar Katliamı) is the name given to the 5 July 1993 massacre of 33 civilians in the village of Başbağlar (which was then burnt down), in

Erzincan Province Erzincan Province ( tr, ; ku, Parezgêha Erzînganê) is a province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. In Turkey, its capital is also called Erzincan. The population was 236,034 in 2018. Geography Erzincan is traversed by the northeaste ...

during the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. While the attack was originally attributed to the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK), the former Turkish special forces soldier

Ayhan Çarkın Ayhan Çarkın (born 1962, Erzurum) is a Turkish policeman who is reported to have played a controversial role in the Susurluk scandal. The leader of the Special Operations Department ( tr, Özel Harekât Dairesi), İbrahim Şahin, said Çark� ...

claimed that the deep state was behind the massacre. But later he then said that all of his claims were "just predictions". The leader of the PKK,

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish and Kurdish for "uncle"), is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from ...

while in prison stated that massacre was committed by a PKK member codenamed "Dr. Baran".

Background

The small village of Başbağlar is located 220 kilometers from the city of Erzincan in the eastern

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

n province of Erzincan's Kemaliye district.

Incident

Turkish authorities claimed that approximately 100 heavily armed militants rampaged through the village, dragged all the civilians to the village square and burned their homes and property. After an hour of propaganda session dozens of men from the village were killed in front of their families. The militants then moved on to setting the whole village on fire. 214 homes, a school, a mosque, a clinic and a community center were burnt down. The Başbağlar massacre is considered one of the bloodiest mass killings in the history of the PKK.

Investigation

Nearly twenty people were allegedly arrested as part of the investigation, in which two people were jailed and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

for being members of the PKK. Turkish authorities claimed that although the PKK apparently claimed responsibility for the attack, during interrogations, jailed PKK leader

said that he had been unaware of the incident and stated that a PKK member codenamed Dr. Baran was responsible for the incident. In 1998 the case was closed.

Reactions

On 5 July 2010, the Turkish minister Faruk Çelik visited Başbağlar to commemorate the day, he said: "No matter how many years pass after this incident, we will never forget this sorrow and those who caused it.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basbaglar massacre Massacres in 1993 Arson in Turkey History of Erzincan Province History of the Kurdistan Workers' Party Mass murder in Turkey Mass murder in 1993 Massacres of men Terrorist incidents in Turkey July 1993 events in Europe Terrorist incidents in Turkey in 1993 1993 murders in Turkey Violence against men in Asia Massacres in Turkey