Turkey fieldwork notes: grave excavation ethics

Kurdistan/Turkey fieldwork notes extracts

I've given up on writing up my notes in order. I'm going to try to write them up as I go along, inserting older, as-yet unposted notes extracts into arbitrarily-chosen, as-yet empty spaces.

At 8.05pm on the 30th of April 2007, I noted that,

I can't believe the last thing I heard about before I left the house this morning; I mean, I can, but...

An archaeologist [I confused my notes and began by saying he was digging ahead of the dams, when the site was uncovered incidentally, by locals]... finally refused to conduct the work because the Turkish Historical Society had tampered with it. I have to try to contact the archaeologist, David Gaunt and visit the site, Xirabêbaba (Kuru) village in village in Nusaybin district, Mardin municipality.

The Turkish-language Kurdish newspaper that broke the story, Ülkede Özgür Gündem ("Free Agenda in the Country"), was 'closed down after reporting the discovery of the mass grave', according to Blogian. Its Gündemimiz ("Our Agenda") website is still blocked, although, if you know the web page address and Google it, or Google the desired terms and find Gündemimiz pages, you may still be able to view them by choosing to visit Google's cache of the site's material.

The page reads, 'Bu siteye erişim mahkeme kararıyla engellenmiştir [Access to this site has been blocked by law court order]!...', which was the same as the first line of the notice put up on youtube during its (albeit temporary) ban in Turkey.

What appears to be the same newspaper (presumably a successor), Gündem Online, has a string of articles about the issue (unfortunately, all in Turkish):

• "Gaunt: Mezar aynı kemikler değiştirilmiş" (27th of April 2007);
• "TTK, meğer kürekle çalışıyormuş!" (26th of April 2007);
• "Mardin'deki toplu mezarda TTK oyunu" (24th of April 2007);
• "Tarih Romalıları değil, Ermenileri yazıyor" (23rd of April 2007);
• "Mezarda kemik oyunu" (22nd of April 2007);
• "Halaçoğlu ve Gaunt toplu mezarı inceleyecek" (21st of April 2007);
• "Halaçoğlu ve Gaunt toplu mezarı inceleyecek" (20th of April 2007);
• "Nusaybin'deki toplu mezar incelenecek" (10th of February 2007);
• "Kürtler suçlandı, mezar bahara kaldı" (29th of December 2006);
• "Deliller yok edilebilir" (14th of December 2006);
• "Toplu mezar gizleniyor" (22nd of October 2006); and
• "Ermeni köyü'nde toplu mezar" (19th of October 2006).

There are various English-language articles available too:

• "Truth of mass grave eludes Swedish professor", by the Turkish Daily News (27th of April 2007);
• "Turkey destroys evidence of Genocide (Seyfo)", by the Eastern Star News Agency (ESNA) reproduced by the Christians of Iraq (27th of April 2007), which seems to refer to the same site, but under the name of Dara [Dara may have been the home village of the victims buried in Kuru];
• "Investigation of the Mass Grave Unearthed In A Cave In Nusaybin (Nisibin), Mardin, Turkey", either by Zinda Magazine or reprinted there from the Gorgias Press, although the Press no longer carries it (26th April 2007);
• "Genocide mass grave manipulated in Turkey", by Blogian (25th of April 2007), where commentator Zane drew people's attention to genocide denial, shown in that case by, "Prof. Enver Konukchu: There is no single mass grave of Armenians in the world", promoted by the Azeri Press Agentliyi" (24th of April 2007);
• "Mass Grave Investigation in Mardin Province Involves Gorgias Author David Gaunt", by the Gorgias Press (20th of April 2007);
• "Mass Grave Investigation Involves Gorgias Author", by the Gorgias Press (19th of February 2007);
• "Turkey, mass grave and the three monkeys" by the Eastern Star News Agency (ESNA), reproduced by the Assyrian Times (12th of December 2006), which appears to refer to the same site, but under the name of Dara [Dara may have been the home village of the victims buried in Kuru]; and
• "Found by Villagers; Covered up by the Military", reproduced by the Armenian Community and Church Council of Great Britain (ACCC) and the Investigative Journalists of Armenia (30th of October 2006).

I'm running late for my flight and I haven't even packed yet, so this will have to suffice until I can write up more.

[Updated on the 1st of June 2007.]