Medya Cebe - Gülfidan Ataman/JINHA

WAN – At a wedding in the Kurdish city of Van, women kept the dancing going as police fired tear gas in their neighborhood. The women said that they would resist repression by maintaining their everyday lives.

Since the ruling AKP government in Turkey lost its single-party majority in Turkey’s June elections, the state has followed a policy of escalating a conflict in the region. For the last two months, the neighborhood of Xaçort (Hacı Bekir) in the Kurdish city of Van has been under near-constant police assault. Nevertheless, for women in the neighborhood, resistance is the only response. We headed to a wedding in the neighborhood to talk to women about what they have experienced in Xaçort.

“However much we talk about a wedding, it’s half there; it’s bittersweet. Nevertheless, we won’t gratify our enemy,” said Halime Filit, from the family holding the wedding. Halime said that the residents were not scared of the police or the street.

“We’re a people who dance even when we’re going to war,” said Halime. “Their tanks and pistols aren’t strong enough to stop the enthusiasm we have in our hearts. Still, we’re having a wedding right now, but at this point we want to dance with real happiness.”

Cemile Bakış had hoped to spend the evening before the wedding painting henna on her the hands of her son, the groom, as is traditonal. However, the state had cut the electricity to the neighborhood—common now that clashes are routine in Xaçort.

“We’re holding this wedding with the sounds of tear gas and bombs exploding behind us,” said Cemile. “After this wedding, I’m ready to be at the very front of an action to stop this war. Erdoğan can make war as much as he likes. Just as we don’t give up our dances, we won’t give up Kurdistan, our resistance or our ideology. We’ll never fall back; we’ll keep going forward, renewing ourselves.”

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