JINHA

MÊRDÎN - Mothers joined march for the besieged Botan region against genocide attacks in Cizre. Each of mothers joining the march in the town of Nusaybin has different life story. "The aim of our struggle is to follow in the footsteps of our children's struggle in these lands." said mothers.

Thousands have maintained a vigil in the Girêmîra neighborhood of Nusaybin district of Mardin to break the blockade in Sur and Cizre, an action called by the Democratic Regions Party (DBP). We followed the songs of lament sung by mothers in Girêmîra's Funeral Home. A woman dengbej (traditional Kurdish singer) sang a lament; all the women around her were crying.

When Xezal Çiçek, dengbej woman,saw our camera, she asked us, "Can my son see me?" Xezal started to sing a song that she composed for her son Osman, who joined the PKK 25 years ago. Xezal has not seen him since then. After the song, Xezal spoke to us. "Whoever is resisting is my Osman. I sense my son in the ground of resistance. My resistance is to follow in the footsteps of my son in these lands," said Xezal.

İslim Deniz, another woman, sang with Xezal. İslim came from Antep (a city of Turkey). Police wounded her in the face in a march yesterday. İslim is the mother of Latif Gap, who was one of the commanders of the PKK and died in the Dêrik district of Mardin in the 1990s. Stating how they became the target of state after her son joined the PKK, İslim said, "They arrested my husband and children. They organized house raids on our house. Our house became [like] a police station. Once, they came to my house and they forced me to tell them where my children were. But I didn't tell them. They knocked me down the staircase. I was pregnant and I miscarried. I was drenched in blood. However, they kept torturing me.

"It went like this for years, but I never gave up," said İslim.

(mc-zd/fk/gd)