Bêrîtan Elyakut/JINHA

AMED - The town of Silvan, Turkey has been devastated by days of police attacks. The town's children, who have witnessed death for the first time, say they just want to play freely in the streets.

When residents of Silvan, located in Northern Kurdistan (in Turkey), began digging trenches to defend their town from police, police launched an attack on the neighborhood. Over the course of several days, access to the town was shut down. Heavy clashes devastated the streets and three died. For the children of Silvan, it has not been easy to understand what they said.

"There were really strange people around our house," said 10-year-old M.S. "They were always opening fire. I thought they would kill me too." He compared the police to the Daesh fighters he had seen on the news.

"I was scared that I wouldn't get to play again. It was like the police came just to kill everyone. I kept telling my mom, 'they're going to kill everyone,' but she told me I needed to not be scared and that they would go away," the boy said.

13-year-old Ç.G. displayed the bullet casings that he had collected from the neighborhood. He offered them as proof that "they're our enemies." He referred to a youth named Serhat, who was killed defending the neighborhood during the attack. Ç. referred to Serhat as an "older brother" to the neighborhood children.

"I'm going to keep these shells and show them to the people who killed my older brother," said Ç. Ç. said that when he first went outside after the attack, he saw that his best friend's house was full of bullet holes.

"The only thing I was thinking at that moment is I'm never going to see my best friend again," said Ç. His friend was all right, but he learned that Serhat had died. "We don't want war anymore. We just want to play in the street with our friends."

(kt/gc/cm)