Tekoşin Tekin/JINHA

AMED – Women forced by Turkish state violence to abandon their homes in the 1990s have begun swimming classes in Diyarbakır, many with the hope of one day swimming in the rivers of their native villages.

In the 1990s, a Turkish army campaign of terror drove up to twomillion people from their villages in Northern Kurdistan. The Turkish army's effort to depopulate the Northern Kurdish countryside included the burning, bombing and violent evacuation of thousands of villages. Many of the forcibly displaced came to Diyarbakır.

Since the painful 1990s, the popular desire to return to the villages has remained strong among the city's population of 1.3 million. The working-class neighborhood of Bağlar in particular is home to thousands of displaced women, still waiting for the day they can overcome the many obstacles in the face of return.

Bağlar swimming teacher Mizgin Öner says that attending a swimming class in a place like Bağlar has more than physical challenges. Many of the women in her class of 40, who range from 15 to 55,have had to stand up against their husbands' and families' opposition in order to take part in the class.

"By coming here, women are not just getting a healthier body, but a stronger consciousness as women," explained the teacher at the Bağlar municipality's Solin playground and swimming pool facility, who teaches the class four days a week.

Swimming holds a special meaning for women displaced from their homes in Northern Kurdistan, a land of rivers. For many of the women, it has been decades since they left their home villages in violent attacks.

"It's easy to see that the women still have not overcome the trauma of forced migration," said Mizgin. "But I think that women can express themselves more easily when they swim."

Mizgin expects the already high demand for the course, a first in Bağlar, to increase as summer approaches.

(zd/fk/cm)