JINHA

AMED – Migrants' solidarity organization GÖÇ-DER says they are working to organize returns to Diyarbakır province for the displaced villagers who work as hyper-exploited seasonal agricultural workers in Turkey.Plans for communal agricultural production in several villages in Diyarbakır would ensure that these workers have both honorable and reliable working conditions.

The workforce of seasonal agricultural workers in Turkey first began to grow in the 1950s, with the mechanization of agriculture launching the process that displaced villagers from their land.Butthe 1990s saw this workforce swell with millions of Kurdish villagers, displaced in the Turkish state's campaign of eradication and destruction of the Northern Kurdish countrysidein its war with the PKK.

Now, the hyper-exploited workforce of three million migratory agricultural workersis overwhelmingly composed of Kurds, scattered to all parts of the country by the demands of big agriculture.

FatmaEsmer, co-chair of the Diyarbakır branch of GÖÇ-DER, says the peace process launched by Abdullah Öcalan in his 2013 Newroz announcement provided the opening for GÖÇ-DER to lay thegroundwork for village returns in the province.

"This is not just any return project. We are basing our work on the principal of communal life," explainedFatma.GÖÇ-DER's work includes plans for communal agricultural production, as well as culture centers and gathering places to facilitate shared social life.

Communal lifein the villages is the most permanent solution to the urgent working conditions issues faced by these migrant workers, said Fatma.

Fatma says most of the applications for return have come from those in the city center. Some villagers, displaced to cities like Diyarbakır and Mersin, have still been returning to their lands every summer to maintain their fields, in spite of the difficulties.

Fatma says that given the widespread distribution of these villagers across the cities and agricultural regions of Turkey, GÖÇ-DER will need the assistance of a range of local governments and institutions to accomplish the village returns.

 The GÖÇ-DER branch in Diyarbakır province has a large number of applications for return from villagers displaced from the Pirajman, Xaçek and Heridan villages near Piran and the Nedara village in the Kulp area.

 (sg/dk/fk/cm)