Raulken co.UK - Turkey wedding bloodbath puts militia in spotlight

By Seyhmus Cakan DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Eight men arrested over the killing of 44 people at a wedding were all members of state-backed "Village Guard" units set up to help combat Kurdish separatists in Turkey's southeast, officials said on ...

60? "60px": "auto" ); height:expression(do*****ent.body.clientHeight > 60? "60px": "auto" );' onload=this.style.filter='progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Shadow(color=#000000,direction=135,strength=5)'>By Seyhmus Cakan Reuters Wednesday, May 6, 2009; 9:05 AM DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Eight men arrested over the killing of 44 people at a wedding were all members of state-backed "Village Guard" units set up to help combat Kurdish separatists in Turkey's southeast, officials said on Wednesday. The involvement of village guards in the worst mass killing in modern Turkish history raises pressure on the EU-candidate country to rein in the heavily armed units. Human rights groups have accused them of illegal killings and drug trafficking, but the army has praised their role in combating Kurdish rebels. Monday's attack by masked men with assault rifles and grenades at a wedding in the largely Kurdish southeast demonstrated for some the dangers of arming such informal units in an area known for blood feuds and vendettas. "If these people committed this massacre with guns the state gave them, it would be time to reconsider the village guard system," Rustem Erkan, head of the sociology department at Diyarbakir's Dicle University told the Hurriyet Daily News. The attack was condemned by the vice-president of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), Turkey's only legal Kurdish party. "The massacre reveals to what extent the village guards system has been turned into a murder network," Emine Ayna told the newspaper Sabah. On Wednesday, the DTP called on the government to set up a...
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