Forty-four killed in engagement party massacre in southeast Turkey

Interior Minister Besir Atalay told reporters at the scene that three of the dead women were pregnant, the Anatolian Agency reported.

 

Police are questioning eight suspects detained following the attack in the village of Bilge in the southeastern province of Mardin.

 

"Eight people have been caught and detained, and their weapons confiscated. This can be understood as a hostility between two families," Atalay earlier told a press conference.

 

"Evidence so far shows it was not the work of a terrorist group," he said when asked if the terror organization PKK was behind the attack. Â

 

Most of the dead and the detained have the same surname, the Turkish interior minister added.

 

Along with Atalay, Turkish Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin and Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker are monitoring the investigations from the village, which was surrounded by soldiers who cut all roads leading to it. Authorities also implemented a curfew in the village in the Mazidagi district.

 

Four large earth-movers were seen digging graves for the victims on the edge of the village on Tuesday morning. 

 

AUTHORITIES CONDEMN

Speaking at a party group meeting in the capital, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that based on the information he received, the attack was the result of enmity between two families and not a terror attack.

 

Erdogan condemned the attack, one of the worst involving civilians in the country's modern history, and called on everybody to fulfill their responsibilities to ensure there is no repeat of such incidents.

 

"As a result of this incident, I ask the universities in the region, the media, non-governmental organizations, education institutions and opinion makers to take action."

 

"No kind of tradition can justify this killing, no conscience can justify this kind of pain," he also said.

 

Turkish President Abdullah Gul also condemned the attack and said that outmoded traditions and practices should be placed under the spotlight. "Such primitive and violent acts that cause deep suffering can never be justified," he said in a written statement.

 

The main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, has also sent a delegation to investigate the attack, the party's leader, Deniz Baykal, told a parliamentary group meeting.

 

BRIDE, GROOM AMONG DEAD

The attack occurred during the engagement of the daughter of Cemil Celebi, a former village headman who was among the wounded, according to reports.

 

The bride, Sevgi Celebi, the groom, Habib Ari, his mother and sister were all killed, as was the imam who was presiding over the engagement at time of the attack, which lasted 15 minutes, the agency added.

 

Turkish media initially described the gathering as a wedding celebration. However, media outlets later used a term which refers to an engagement ceremony.

 

"There were a few people, they broke into the house and started spraying the place with bullets, hitting both men and women, their faces were covered with masks," a 20-year-old female eyewitness who declined to be named told Reuters.

 

She said there were some 200 people at the party.

 

One survivor, a 19-year-old woman, told broadcaster NTV that the assailants ordered people to huddle in one room and then opened fire.

 

Anatolian Agency said the attack occurred when people were praying at the house, citing other witnesses.

 

Photo: DHA