Following the discovery of the body of murdered eight-year-old Narin Güran, thousands of people took to the streets in Amed and pointed out the connection between the Turkish regime's policies and the murder.
On Sunday, the Free Women's Movement (TJA), the Democratic Regions’ Party (DBP) and Peace and Democracy Party (DEM) called for a demonstration in Amed (Diyarbakır) over the murder of eight-year-old Narin Günar. The girl, who lived in the rural village of Tavşantepe (Çullî) of Bağlar district, had been reported missing since 21 August. Her body was found 19 days later in a sack in a stream. A confidentiality order has been issued in the proceedings and 21 people, including family members of Narin, were taken into custody in connection with the investigation into the murder.
DBP co-chairs Keskin Bayındır and Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar, the co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK), Cengiz Çiçek, many MPs, co-mayors and officials of the DEM party, fans of the Amedspor football club and thousands of other people took part in the demonstration on Sunday evening.
The people gathered in the Ofis neighbourhood in the district of Yenişehir together with the board of the Amed Children's Rights Commission, representatives of the Network to Combat Violence and the Dicle-Amed Women's Platform.
The demonstration was accompanied by massive police provocations. The police tried to stop the march right from the start. In front of the police cordon, people repeatedly chanted slogans such as ‘Don't hinder the people, hinder the murderers’, ‘Narin is a child of our people’ and ‘The murders of our children are political’. Banners with the words ‘Justice for Narin’ and pictures of the eight-year-old were carried.
Turkish riot police blocked the demonstration and snatched banners with photos of Narin from people. People kept shouting ‘Narin zarok e kujerê wê dewlet e’ (Narin is a child, her murderer is the state)’ and “Murderer Hezbollah, collaborator AKP”. The police received massive boos when they called on the protesters to refrain from ‘insulting the state’ in the face of these slogans.
When the activists overcame the police barrier, the police officers tore up the front banner with Narin's picture and attacked the crowd with pepper spray. The police attack was met with boos. The people stormed the police cordon with the torn photo of Narin and broke through it. They marched from there to Koşuyolu Park chanting loud slogans.
A rally was held in front of the human rights memorial in Koşuyolu. Suzan Işbilen from the Rosa Women's Association said: “While we waited for days for the news that little Narin was still alive, we have now received the information that she is dead. That is why we are all together to prevent the death of more Narins. The twenty-day search was obviously to hide and protect the murderers and destroy evidence. That is why we are protesting together against this male justice.”
Doğan Hatun, co-mayor of Amed, said he was sad and angry at the same time. Hatun pointed out that the murder of children by family members is absolutely intolerable and stated: “Our society has come down because we failed to stand up for our children and protect our society. Let's take care of our children, let's take care of the political morality of living together, let's take care of the rights to protect people, women and nature. Otherwise, we will lose children like Narin day after day. No law in this state defends children or women. No law defends nature. If the law does not protect them, then we must do it. A child has been missing here in Amed for 19 days. The gendarmerie (military police), the police, AFAD (disaster and emergency tems) and the municipality have been involved in the search. We apologise on behalf of the municipality. We also appeal to the state: Did you dam up the Tigris? Did you send all the soldiers and police? Who did you protect or what did you protect? A child has neither religion nor a political position, it is simply a child. Whoever killed it, it remains a child. You have to stand up for children and society and protect them. But you protected the murderers. The Forensic Medicine Institute informed that Narin was not killed today. Tell the truth. Inform the people. We want to know how this happened.”
The co-chair of the DBP, Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar, recalled in a speech how difficult it is to be a child in Kurdistan: “How many children were run over by armoured cars? What did the authorities of this state do for 19 days? The state media made it a sensational story in the tabloids. On the way here, people chanted a historic slogan: ‘Murderer Hezbollah’. The interior minister of this country once said about Hezbollah’: ‘In ten years, we will achieve results.’ Hezbollah has not been idle since that day. Women are threatened, cafés are attacked. The person who attacked the café was a convicted ISIS perpetrator. This government has formed an alliance with all forces that are hostile to the Kurdish people and has remodelled Kurdistan to suit its interests. Narin has fallen victim to this policy. You want a perpetrator? The perpetrator of Narin is this mentality. The main goal of this mentality is to corrupt society. Wherever attempts are made to normalise prostitution and drugs, we must fight back at all costs. We will protect ourselves, young people and children against the criminal practices of this government. We will stifle the AKP/MHP regime and its dirty alliances with ‘Jin, Jiyan Azadî’ (Woman, Life, Freedom). We must lead this struggle hand in hand, arm in arm, against those who try to divide the Kurdish people in their values, beliefs and struggle. We will not allow any new Narins.”
