Discovery of Kurdish Mass Graves Leads Turkey to Face Past

Excavations¹ are continuing at two mass graves which have been discovered in the southeast of Turkey, a predominantly Kurdish southeast Turkey. The bodies are believed to be victims of Turkey's war against the Kurdish rebel group the PKK, which for decades has been fighting for greater Kurdish rights. At the height of the conflict in the 1990's, thousands of people disappeared. Their families have met a wall of silence in their struggle to find out what happened to loved ones.
Where they were found
It's grisly work excavating² the earth at the two mass graves near the town of Bitlis in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast. Both sites are close to a rubbish dump which was used by the local police station. So far 20 bodies have been found. The victims are believed to belong to what the Kurds simply call "the disappeared".
Ayfer's father is one of them. She's now 25 but was only 10 when she says her father was dragged from their home by soldiers in the middle of the night. Ayfer has devoted³ her life to finding him.
"My father does not have a grave. He's all alone. When we find him, we'll be able to dig a grave for him in a cemetery⁴ and he'll have a place in the world," she says. "It was so hard growing up not knowing where he is."
Ayer is one of thousands trying to find the remains⁵ of loved ones. Her father was a victim of the Turkish state's dirty war against the Kurdish rebel group the PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish rights since 1984.
Rights allegations
Emma Sinclair Webb of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch says the disappearances⁶ were part of a state policy to terrorize the local civilian⁷ population.
"In the early 90's there was a policy of rounding of hundreds and thousands of civilians⁸, and giving no proper trial or judicial⁹ process, but rather taking them in, threatening them, torturing them. There was systematic¹⁰ torture throughout that period, and a lot of others simply were not heard of again and in that region thousands disappeared or bodies were found too at the time, but not identified and there was no attempt to discover how the killings¹¹ took place and who by. So there is massive legacy¹² and impunity¹³. For the past abuses, for the disappearances and killings," Webb explains.
Observers say that dark legacy continues to remain an open wound in Turkey.
Protests and resentment¹⁴
The discovery of these latest mass graves led to thousands of Kurds protesting against what they say is the government's silence over this issue. For years, the main Kurdish party has called for an investigation¹⁵ into the disappearances, but the authorities have dismissed this demand as terrorist propaganda. That is until now.
Sezgin Tanr?kulu a leading Kurdish lawyer and now responsible for human rights for the main opposition¹⁶ CHP party, says Turkey must face up to what happened during the conflict.
"What we're asking for today can put us on the road to reconciliation¹⁷ and achieving justice for all these unknown killings, for the Kurdish issue, for democracy," he says.
Tanr?kulu is calling for a "truth commission" to be set up by parliament, on a non-party basis. He says it should investigate unsolved political killings and cases involving missing persons that have occurred since Turkey's military coup¹⁸ in 1980. The ruling AK party has so far rejected such calls. But pressure is also growing from the EU, which Turkey is seeking to join.
Requested reforms
Richard Howitt, the spokesman for the European Parliament's committee on Turkey, says the government has to change its attitude. "There is still amongst the ruling class a heavy defensiveness¹⁹ against Kurdish rights in Ankara. And the default position of the government and those around them is simply to attack the terrorism of the PKK," he said.
The mounting pressure on the government does appear to be having an affect. Last weekend the Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with mothers of the disappeared in a highly publicized event. He promised to look into their individual cases, but refused calls for a parliamentary investigation.

1 excavations   

n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹

参考例句：

• The excavations are open to the public. 发掘现场对公众开放。
• This year's excavations may reveal ancient artifacts. 今年的挖掘可能会发现史前古器物。 来自辞典例句

2 excavating   

v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• A bulldozer was employed for excavating the foundations of the building. 推土机用来给楼房挖地基。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs. 一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。 来自辞典例句

3 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

4 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

7 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

8 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

9 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

10 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

11 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

12 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

13 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

14 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

15 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

16 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

17 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

18 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

19 defensiveness   

防御性

参考例句：

• The fear of being sued for malpractice has magnified physicians' defensiveness. 担心因医疗事故而被起诉的恐惧加剧了医生们的防卫心理。
• This outbreak of defensiveness embodies one paradox and several myths. 排外行动的爆发，体现了一个矛盾和几个“神话”。