Dilan Karamanoğlu/Aysel Işık/JINHA

ŞIRNEX – When she was just a child, 28-year-old Gurbet Bakış’ mother smuggled her out of their village hidden in a saddlebag as Turkish soldiers burned their homes to the ground. Now, Gurbet is forced to do the same for her children as the Turkish state assaults the town of Cizre.

“The state won’t leave us alone,” said Gurbet’s mother Bedriye. The two women said the state’s oppression has touched both their generations.

In the 1990s, the Turkish government and military launched a campaign to burn down and destroy villages across Kurdistan, displacing countless civilians. Today, the AKP government has taken up the unfinished business of destruction by declaring 24-hour curfews in Kurdistan’s cities.

Gurbet Bakış explained that after her family’s village was burned down in the 1990s, the family moved to the district’s town center of Cizre, where they have lived for the last 20 years. Gurbet has a disabled child dependent on medication.

“Now they’ve attacked us again and destroyed our houses,” said Gurbet. “I lived under martial law for 24 days. They hit our houses with artillery. There was no food, no bread, no medication.” Gurbet had to leave with her disabled child. Her husband and mother-in-law stayed behind until a rocket hit the house recently, finally forcing them to flee as well.

“We would stay in the basement. We were always under bombardment there. We couldn’t go outside our front door,” said Gurbet. “There were 25 of us in that basement. We would stay alive by sharing pieces of bread and a bit of cheese, whatever we had.”

When Gurbet’s disabled child grew increasingly disturbed by the sounds of bombs, she had no choice but to leave.

“We grabbed a white rag in our hands and left the district,” said Gurbet. “There were bullets left and right. They were shooting at us nonstop, despite the white flag in our hands. They were shooting at our feet. I couldn’t even get my children’s clothes.”

Gurbet said that after her family was forced leave their village of Dêrşewê in the 1990s when the state burned it to the ground, once again she was fleeing her home empty-handed.

“Back then we left without a thing in our hands and we relocated to Cizre. We worked as seasonal workers, picking hazelnuts and carrying loads, and we were able to build this house. Now they’ve demolished the house too; we have nothing left anymore.

“We didn’t come and occupy anyone’s land. They’re coming here to our land and oppressing us like this,” said Gurbet. “That was our house, and they came to destroy and loot it. Maybe if we had occupied their houses, we would say they were right. I leave them to God. May God curse them.”

Gurbet’s mother, Bedriye Bektaş, began speaking by recalling that the state tormented them for years in the 1990s and destroyed their home.

“And so we moved to the city. But they still won’t leave us alone,” said Bedriye. “One of my daughter, one of my sons and three of my grandchildren joined the guerrilla because of this cruelty. My daughter and one of my grandchildren were martyred. I don’t know where the others are—where they are, whether or not they’ve alive.

“They killed all our children, and they still don’t stop. We just want our rights; it’s not much at all,” said Bedriye. She said that this time, they had nowhere left to go.

“When we left our village, this daughter of mine was just a girl. She grew up, married, had children. Now they’ve burned her house too. She too had to take her children and flee. Is this right?” said Bedriye.

“We will not leave our land. We will defend it to the end. We never hurt anyone, but they hurt us. We won’t give up our rights, by God.”

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