Kurds who had houses demolished tell their stories
Kurds who had houses demolished tell their stories
The results of the war and the deadlock would not keep off people's back in the most Western parts too. 18 years after the burning of their village, homes were destroyed this time. Now they do not have any place to go. They can neither return nor move forward. There isn’t a village to return. That’s why they say "We will not leave Ovacik”. 14 families, who were left on the streets when CHP’s (Republican People’s Party) Cesme Municipality burnt down their houses in Ovacýk, migrated from Agri, Bitlis and Van. It is obvious why they took the migration way; the pressure and violence applied by the state. In other words, the dirty war conducted against the Kurds.
Talat Yasar had been living in Diyadin/Agrý before his migration to Izmir. Highlands were burnt down, animals were killed by burning and villages were raided. Among them are people whose family members were jailed, lost their lives and even disappeared. They resorted to migrate when the pressure on them increased in 92-93’s. Talat answers the question “Why Izmir?” as follows; “before migrating, we would come and work here in construction. We live on our labour. We decided to settle here for working opportunities”.
They bought a land with other migrating families, built a house and tried to earn their life away from the war. They sent their children to school but also taught them their mother tongue. However, the militarist and racist mentality found them in the West too and collapsed their house.
It is not clear what will happen next but Talat Yasar’s answer is quite clear; “We will resist. To this date, we have always resisted at the risk of our lives. Nothing will change here, in this case. We will not leave here and we will rebuild our homes”. Yasar also has a reminding to the retired soldier mayor Faik Tütüncüoglu; “You are not a soldier any more. You are retired and we are not your aides. Do not forget that”.
Fevzi Ozkul from Bitlis, who settled in Cesme in 1997, is also a construction worker. Telling that they have no problems with the people around them, Ozkul says; “The municipal management does segregate”. Ozkul adds that the threats against them did not end after the demolition and the mayor keeps applying pressure through soldiers to make them leave the region.
Ozkul says they will maintain their action to the end without bowing.
Aygül Ozkul, wife of Fevzi Özkul,explains the events with more details; “Our house was destroyed, animals were burnt and nine children in our village were burnt to death. Where will we go? I can wait here till the end. We have turned an honest penny. Why they did they do this to us, is this the justice? The state hit us in Bitlis and keeps hitting here as well”.
Nurcan Sürüm… The story is the same. “We were in our village in 1993. Our house and all our stuff were burned down. My next door neighbor, who was pregnant, was burnt to death with her nine children. We migrated here, came to the West, worked and built our houses here. Now they are trying to banish us from here. We will not leave here and we will rebuild our homes”.
Müzeyyen Yardýmcý, mother of three, tells that their children can’t go to school because of the demolishment. She sends a clear message to the mayor; “Faik will not be able to defeat us. We will stand here and not leave. We aill again be in front of his eyes. He has that chair thanks to the Kurdish people”.
Habib Demir will have a child a month later but he can’t live the excitement of being father for the first time. He is among those who were sued upon the mayor’s complaint. He is also a victim of the war. He doesn’t tell much about the past as it is already gone but he has a great wrath in the face of the current situation. Demir says; “It is our right to resist here as we have done. We have no intention of leaving here”.(Translation: Berna Ozgencil)
The homes of 14 Kurdish families in the village of Ovacýk (Izmir) were knocked down by the municipality of Çeþme on 28 April. The alleged reason: the houses were "located on agricultural land".
The rubbles of the houses were set on fire after the demolition. The families went to the Çeþme Municipality building after the incident and broke the windows of the building. After the police had intervened, the families went back to their destroyed houses. Çeþme is a district of Izmir, a major city on the Aegean coast in western Turkey.
In a statement made to bianet, the Izmir Co-Chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Mukaddes Kubilay, assessed the municipality's application as an attack aimed at the Kurdish families. He underlined that the municipality did not touch the houses of other families in the same location without Kurdish ethnic origins.
Kubilay said that the families were left homeless. The BDP criticized the application directed by Mayor Faik Tütüncüoðlu, a retired colonel, and sent a delegation to the scene of the incident.
As reported by the DÝHA News Agency, Erdal Savcý, MP Candidate of the Labour, Freedom and Democracy Block for the 2nd region of Izmir, issued an announcement on behalf of the BDP delegation while they were still investigating the scene. He said that the houses were set on fire after they had been demolished. Savcý declared that they felt compelled to respond to the situation.
"These people immigrated to this place to live with the people from the Aegean because their homes in Yöre had been burnt down. Yet, the Mayor of Çeþme with his military roots had about twenty houses knocked down but did not touch the houses of people from other regions. For us, this is an indicator for the fascist feelings of the mayor".
Talat Yasar had been living in Diyadin/Agrý before his migration to Izmir. Highlands were burnt down, animals were killed by burning and villages were raided. Among them are people whose family members were jailed, lost their lives and even disappeared. They resorted to migrate when the pressure on them increased in 92-93’s. Talat answers the question “Why Izmir?” as follows; “before migrating, we would come and work here in construction. We live on our labour. We decided to settle here for working opportunities”.
They bought a land with other migrating families, built a house and tried to earn their life away from the war. They sent their children to school but also taught them their mother tongue. However, the militarist and racist mentality found them in the West too and collapsed their house.
It is not clear what will happen next but Talat Yasar’s answer is quite clear; “We will resist. To this date, we have always resisted at the risk of our lives. Nothing will change here, in this case. We will not leave here and we will rebuild our homes”. Yasar also has a reminding to the retired soldier mayor Faik Tütüncüoglu; “You are not a soldier any more. You are retired and we are not your aides. Do not forget that”.
Fevzi Ozkul from Bitlis, who settled in Cesme in 1997, is also a construction worker. Telling that they have no problems with the people around them, Ozkul says; “The municipal management does segregate”. Ozkul adds that the threats against them did not end after the demolition and the mayor keeps applying pressure through soldiers to make them leave the region.
Ozkul says they will maintain their action to the end without bowing.
Aygül Ozkul, wife of Fevzi Özkul,explains the events with more details; “Our house was destroyed, animals were burnt and nine children in our village were burnt to death. Where will we go? I can wait here till the end. We have turned an honest penny. Why they did they do this to us, is this the justice? The state hit us in Bitlis and keeps hitting here as well”.
Nurcan Sürüm… The story is the same. “We were in our village in 1993. Our house and all our stuff were burned down. My next door neighbor, who was pregnant, was burnt to death with her nine children. We migrated here, came to the West, worked and built our houses here. Now they are trying to banish us from here. We will not leave here and we will rebuild our homes”.
Müzeyyen Yardýmcý, mother of three, tells that their children can’t go to school because of the demolishment. She sends a clear message to the mayor; “Faik will not be able to defeat us. We will stand here and not leave. We aill again be in front of his eyes. He has that chair thanks to the Kurdish people”.
Habib Demir will have a child a month later but he can’t live the excitement of being father for the first time. He is among those who were sued upon the mayor’s complaint. He is also a victim of the war. He doesn’t tell much about the past as it is already gone but he has a great wrath in the face of the current situation. Demir says; “It is our right to resist here as we have done. We have no intention of leaving here”.(Translation: Berna Ozgencil)
The homes of 14 Kurdish families in the village of Ovacýk (Izmir) were knocked down by the municipality of Çeþme on 28 April. The alleged reason: the houses were "located on agricultural land".
The rubbles of the houses were set on fire after the demolition. The families went to the Çeþme Municipality building after the incident and broke the windows of the building. After the police had intervened, the families went back to their destroyed houses. Çeþme is a district of Izmir, a major city on the Aegean coast in western Turkey.
In a statement made to bianet, the Izmir Co-Chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Mukaddes Kubilay, assessed the municipality's application as an attack aimed at the Kurdish families. He underlined that the municipality did not touch the houses of other families in the same location without Kurdish ethnic origins.
Kubilay said that the families were left homeless. The BDP criticized the application directed by Mayor Faik Tütüncüoðlu, a retired colonel, and sent a delegation to the scene of the incident.
As reported by the DÝHA News Agency, Erdal Savcý, MP Candidate of the Labour, Freedom and Democracy Block for the 2nd region of Izmir, issued an announcement on behalf of the BDP delegation while they were still investigating the scene. He said that the houses were set on fire after they had been demolished. Savcý declared that they felt compelled to respond to the situation.
"These people immigrated to this place to live with the people from the Aegean because their homes in Yöre had been burnt down. Yet, the Mayor of Çeþme with his military roots had about twenty houses knocked down but did not touch the houses of people from other regions. For us, this is an indicator for the fascist feelings of the mayor".
