Shooting at engagement ceremony in Turkey leaves 44 dead
A soldier patrols as men mourn in the village of Bilge, where a shooting at an engagement ceremony claimed 44 lives. The Anatolia news agency said the masked attackers had wanted the young woman from the engaged couple, Sevgi Celebi, to marry among their own group of friends or relatives, but that her family would not allow it. The news agency cited unnamed villagers as saying there was a dispute between the attackers’ family and the family of the would-be groom, and that Celebi’s family had resisted pressure to cancel the marriage plans. (Ibrahim Usta / Associated Press)
Eight men suspected of gunning down 44 people during an engagement ceremony were arrested Tuesday, accused of killing the betrothed couple whose wedding they opposed along with relatives and friends in a 15-minute rampage.
People from neighboring villages watch workers digging graves in the village of Bilge. “No customs and mores can be used as an excuse for this massacre,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “This is the painful price we are paying for such customs and mores.” Among the dead, he said, were six children, 17 women and 21 men. He said some suspects had the same family name as the victims. “The people were killed at a happy event, during a ceremony, while praying,” Erdogan said in his weekly address to ruling party lawmakers in parliament. “The fact that they pointed guns and massacred children, defenseless people, is atrocious.” (Ibrahim Usta / Associated Press)
Reports said the gunmen opened fire as men and women prayed in separate rooms, in line with tradition in parts of Turkey. One teenage girl said she lost six members of her family. “I heard the shooting and I hid in the barn because I was afraid. I was really afraid,” the girl said on television footage released by Turkey’s Dogan news agency. Here, a woman cries as others mourn in the village of Bilge. (Ibrahim Usta / Associated Press)
People prepare to bury the victims of Monday night’s shooting in the village of Bilge, near the city of Mardin in southeastern Turkey. Four large earth-movers dig graves for victims in the village cemetery. Residents carried gravestones and two dozen seated women wept beside a tree, slapping their legs in grief. Men silently watched from a hilltop nearby as soldiers patrolled. (Ibrahim Usta / Associated Press)
A victim’s coffin is carried to burial in the village of Bilge. Interior Minister Besir Atalay said eight suspects were in custody. “They were caught with their weapons,” he said, according to the Associated Press. (Ibrahim Usta / Associated Press)
Turkish soldiers guard an entrance to Bilge today. Villager Abdullah Akan was one of the first villagers who entered the house where the shooting occurred. “There were bodies everywhere when I entered the house. The imam in the front and the men lined up behind him, all were dead,” daily Hurriyet’s Web site quoted Akan as saying. “Women and children were in a separate room, the inside was a bloodbath. I have not seen such savagery in my life.” (Ibrahim Usta / Associated Press)
A Turkish soldier watches burial preparations. The slaughter in Bilge gained national attention; opposition lawmaker Canan Aritman urged the government to take steps toward eradicating the tribal system, though she did not elaborate. “It is something that doesn’t exist even in the most primitive societies,” said Aritman, member of a parliamentary panel investigating so-called “honor killings” within traditional families. (Ibrahim Usta / Associated Press)
Military trucks mix with civilian vehicles at the cemetery. Mehmet Besir Ayanoglu, the mayor of the nearby city of Mardin, told Turkish television that he spoke to two survivors, both girls, who said at least two masked men stormed a house where the ceremony took place. Bedia Akbulut, a teacher living in the village, told the state-run Anatolia news agency that her husband turned out the lights when they first heard shots fired. “Then there was silence and we went out. Everyone in the village was in great fear,” she said. “We can’t believe what we went through.” (Ibrahim Usta / Associated Press)