Sevgi Celebi and the man she intended to marry,Habib Ari,were celebrating their love by throwing an engagement party.Neither of them could have imagined the force of hatred that would intervene.Their celebration became the scene of what appears to be a bloody clan feud.Both Sevgi Celebi & Habib Ari were killed in the massacre.Here’s more from The Guardian:
“Forty-four people were killed when gunmen opened fire at an engagement party in south-eastern Turkey last night in what is believed to have been the culmination of a blood feud between rival families.
Ahmet Ferhat Ozen, the acting governor of Mardin province, told Reuters the masked assailants stormed a hall in the village of Bilge, attacking guests with automatic rifles and hand grenades.The prospective bride, Sevgi Celebi, and groom, Habib Ari, were killed in the assault – thought to have lasted for 15 minutes – as was the cleric conducting the “introduction” ceremony.Six children and 16 women were among the victims. One schoolboy survived after the body of his brother, who was killed, fell on top of him.
Earlier reports had said the attack was made on a wedding party.
The Turkish interior minister, Besir Atalay, said the most likely cause of the attack was a feud between families.
“Evidence so far shows it was not the work of a terrorist group,” he said when asked whether the militant Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) could have been responsible.
Eight suspects had been detained, Atalay said. Most of them shared the same family name as many of the dead, bolstering suggestions that the attack had been driven by an intra-clan vendetta.
A local official told Turkey’s Haberturk TV channel that the killings had arisen from an old feud in a pro-government militia that included the families of the prospective bride – the daughter of the village muhtar, or chief – and groom.
One of the families had reportedly opposed the marriage. The muhtar, Hamit Celebi, was killed along with 10 of his relatives, the state-run Anatolian news agency reported.”(End of Excerpt) Read the rest here.
