Children, the main victims of war
Children, the main victims of war
Doðan Teyboða was 13 when he died, a few days ago. He was hit in the head by a tear gas canister during a violent police attack on a demonstration in Cudi Neighborhood in Silopi, a district of Þýrnak on July 24. The teenager died in the intensive care unit of Diyarbakýr State Hospital. His funeral have been hold in Silopi after the autopsy was carried out.
Mehmet Ayýk was 20. He set himself on fire on July 21 at 5:00 pm in Side, a town of the Manavgat district in Antalya. He died early this morning. Mehmet was also protesting, like Doðan, against the repression he and the Kurdish people have to suffer every day of their life. Mehmet had chosen a symbolic date for his protest: 14 July, the day four Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members went on hunger strike in 1982. Ayýk had been taken to Akdeniz University Hospital with burns over 90 percent of his body.
Ayýk’s cousin said that Mehmet last message was; “No one has the power to stop our people’s struggle for freedom.”
Doðan, Mehmet. Before them Evrim Demir, a young, bright Kurdish woman who graduated with top marks from her high school. She also set herself on fire. She did it in her garden in Mus. She doused herself with petrol. She left a note saying “I'm not a separatist; I'm not a terrorist! I'm a Kurd”. And this is the reason why children are killed. Because they are Kurds. Children are suffering a great deal in Kurdistan because of the repression and the war. A young boy, now on his thirties, tells of his ordeal. He has lost his father and uncle in this war. They had been abducted by gendarmerie and killed. Their bones only discovered after years. The magistrate told the family they could take the bones to bury them properly. Except they were in a bag containing the remains of other 6 people. The family rejected the 'offer', yet another insult to their suffering. The boy today has a job in Diyarbakir and he is looking after his family, being the eldest boy. With him, six brothers and sisters. What he and his family went through left scars which will never be healed. He is reflecting on the past suffering and says: "The loss of a father in this way is so painful is hard to explain. But this loss also brought other losses. For example, I had to leave the school when my father disappeared, because being the oldest in the family I had to take my father place as the breadwinner. I could not study. So my life was actually decided by somebody else. Like the life of thousands in this country was decided by others, the Turkish warmongers".
Before young Teyboða eighteen-month-old Mehmet Uytun died after being hit by a canister when police attacked a demonstration on October 9, 2009 in Cizre, a district of Þýrnak. Mustafa Dað and Mahsum Karoðlan lost their life on April 4, 2009 after being hit by a gendarmerie tear gas canister in Urfa. Sixty-year-old Kazým Þeker, died because of intensive gas used by police on April 27, in Bismil, a district of Diyarbakýr. Fifty-four year-old Hatice Ýdin, who sustained brain damage after having been hit by a police tear gas on June 12 this year (the day of the general election), died from her injuries in Batman World Hospital on July 1st. Fifty-three year-old Metin Lokumcu, a retired teacher, lost his life as a result of the police’s intense usage of tear gas while they were dispersing a protest demonstration against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoðan in Hopa, a district of Artvin, on May 31. In addition, police have injured 35 Kurdish children with tear gas canisters when they attacked protests in Nusaybin, a district of Mardin, over the last two months.
The list of the seriously injured people is long: Mahfuz Kutlu, was hit in the face by police tear gas canister and, as a result, lost an eye. Kutlu was participating at a protest against Supreme Election Board’s (YSK) decision in Mersin. Police injured seventy-five year-old Halime Kayar and eleven others during the celebration of the election results on June 12 in Siirt. Her wounds required more than 100 stitches in her head. On June 6, a police tear gas canister hit Hüseyin Caruþ in the face during a protest march in Diyarbakýr and, as a result, he lost his eye. Fifty-six-year-old Nezir Gecidibi was seriously injured on June 6 in Mardin. Also, a mentally handicapped young boy was cruelly beaten on June 28 in Istanbul. Police also injured Ümit Özeren on June 24 in Yüksekova, a district of Hakkari, 65-year-old Hasbiye Tunç and Nezir Gecidibi on June 26, in Nusaybin, a district of Mardin; Mahfuz Kutlu on June 30 in Mersin; and 73-year-old Adile Savcý on July 4 in Nusaybin.
Mehmet Ayýk was 20. He set himself on fire on July 21 at 5:00 pm in Side, a town of the Manavgat district in Antalya. He died early this morning. Mehmet was also protesting, like Doðan, against the repression he and the Kurdish people have to suffer every day of their life. Mehmet had chosen a symbolic date for his protest: 14 July, the day four Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members went on hunger strike in 1982. Ayýk had been taken to Akdeniz University Hospital with burns over 90 percent of his body.
Ayýk’s cousin said that Mehmet last message was; “No one has the power to stop our people’s struggle for freedom.”
Doðan, Mehmet. Before them Evrim Demir, a young, bright Kurdish woman who graduated with top marks from her high school. She also set herself on fire. She did it in her garden in Mus. She doused herself with petrol. She left a note saying “I'm not a separatist; I'm not a terrorist! I'm a Kurd”. And this is the reason why children are killed. Because they are Kurds. Children are suffering a great deal in Kurdistan because of the repression and the war. A young boy, now on his thirties, tells of his ordeal. He has lost his father and uncle in this war. They had been abducted by gendarmerie and killed. Their bones only discovered after years. The magistrate told the family they could take the bones to bury them properly. Except they were in a bag containing the remains of other 6 people. The family rejected the 'offer', yet another insult to their suffering. The boy today has a job in Diyarbakir and he is looking after his family, being the eldest boy. With him, six brothers and sisters. What he and his family went through left scars which will never be healed. He is reflecting on the past suffering and says: "The loss of a father in this way is so painful is hard to explain. But this loss also brought other losses. For example, I had to leave the school when my father disappeared, because being the oldest in the family I had to take my father place as the breadwinner. I could not study. So my life was actually decided by somebody else. Like the life of thousands in this country was decided by others, the Turkish warmongers".
Before young Teyboða eighteen-month-old Mehmet Uytun died after being hit by a canister when police attacked a demonstration on October 9, 2009 in Cizre, a district of Þýrnak. Mustafa Dað and Mahsum Karoðlan lost their life on April 4, 2009 after being hit by a gendarmerie tear gas canister in Urfa. Sixty-year-old Kazým Þeker, died because of intensive gas used by police on April 27, in Bismil, a district of Diyarbakýr. Fifty-four year-old Hatice Ýdin, who sustained brain damage after having been hit by a police tear gas on June 12 this year (the day of the general election), died from her injuries in Batman World Hospital on July 1st. Fifty-three year-old Metin Lokumcu, a retired teacher, lost his life as a result of the police’s intense usage of tear gas while they were dispersing a protest demonstration against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoðan in Hopa, a district of Artvin, on May 31. In addition, police have injured 35 Kurdish children with tear gas canisters when they attacked protests in Nusaybin, a district of Mardin, over the last two months.
The list of the seriously injured people is long: Mahfuz Kutlu, was hit in the face by police tear gas canister and, as a result, lost an eye. Kutlu was participating at a protest against Supreme Election Board’s (YSK) decision in Mersin. Police injured seventy-five year-old Halime Kayar and eleven others during the celebration of the election results on June 12 in Siirt. Her wounds required more than 100 stitches in her head. On June 6, a police tear gas canister hit Hüseyin Caruþ in the face during a protest march in Diyarbakýr and, as a result, he lost his eye. Fifty-six-year-old Nezir Gecidibi was seriously injured on June 6 in Mardin. Also, a mentally handicapped young boy was cruelly beaten on June 28 in Istanbul. Police also injured Ümit Özeren on June 24 in Yüksekova, a district of Hakkari, 65-year-old Hasbiye Tunç and Nezir Gecidibi on June 26, in Nusaybin, a district of Mardin; Mahfuz Kutlu on June 30 in Mersin; and 73-year-old Adile Savcý on July 4 in Nusaybin.
