Şehriban Aslan / JINHA

AMED - Kerxê village of Diyarbakır's Bismil, where district has numerous stories, had been evacuated in 1990s. Trees also have stories like each person and house. One of these tree had been burned in 1990s. Menice Güler made this tree green by looking after it for years.

As pressure, oppression and displacement policies have been imposed in Kurdistan villages since 1990s, thousands of people those who had been forcibly displaced from their villages, have returned their villages. Not only people but also all creatures had been damaged by war policies in 1990s. One of these villages is Kerxe. Women in the village say that they will never forget the atrocity they faced in 1990s.

"It is so difficult to tell. One day, soldiers entered the villages and they took all people and tortured them." said women. Soldiers saw village's people as responsible the clash had broken out in Main Street of the village and they had tortured people for days. One of women, who lived in the village that time, said that "I was a child that time but I still cannot forget what they did to my family and villagers. Soldiers had arrested many men in the village and they had beaten the detainees for days. They tortured my uncle, too. I will never forget that. They melt the nylon on fire and poured it on my uncle's face. Actually, they were going to burn everything in the village but they didn't because our village is located on Main Avenue. They could burn us in this period, too."

Soldiers didn't only damage people but also houses and trees. Children showed us a tree in a garden and told us, "Do you know the story of this tree? Not only people but also all creatures had been damaged."

People say that soldiers burned the house and tree in the garden when they conducted raid on village. Owner of house Menice Güler stopped at nothing to bring the tree back to life. She looked after the tree like looking after a child for days. Finally, she managed to bring the tree back to life. Menice passed away three years ago; however, her tree has empowered it roots and become stronger each day.

(gc/gd)