JINHA

ŞIRNEX - Women in the Kurdish town of Cizre, Turkey marched for peace in the country yesterday for September 1, celebrated in the country as World Peace Day.

Many residents of the town of Cizre, in Northern Kurdistan (in Turkey), have been killed in recent weeks as Turkey's ruling government continues a new war in the area. Yesterday, thousands of women took to the streets of Cizre to demand an end to the killing. The women also demanded freedom for jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Women marched with photographs of the Cizre children who have been killed by police and soldiers at the march, to the sound of traditional Kurdish drumming. The women ended their march at the district governor's office. They held a minute of silence for all those who have lost their lives in the struggle for freedom and democracy. Then, the women cast off their traditional white muslin scarves and threw them to the ground. In Kurdistan, this gesture indicates an end to a conflict.

"Baran, Emin, Nihat and many more children should not be under the ground. They should be in the streets playing," said Leyla İmret, the co-mayor of Cizre. "The more we talk about democracy, the more they kill us." She issued a call for a meaningful peace.

(zd-ma/gc/cm)