JINHA

AMED – As Turkish state forces attempt to depopulate the Sur district of the city of Diyarbakır by expanding areas under total martial law, the women of Sur say they will not be displaced again.

In the Sur district, the Turkish state forced countless Sur residents to migrate in a two-month nonstop blockade on many parts of the district. Recently, Turkish state forces declared that the 24-hour curfews in effect in six Sur neighborhoods would spread to five more neighborhoods and a major avenue. Sur women, reacting to the attempts to depopulate Sur, said, “we will not be displaced again.”

Hülya Güler and her family were forced to leave their home in Sur’s Hasırlı neighborhood due to intensive state attacks.

“But we did not abandon the district of Sur because we are not a people to betray the place, the lands where we were born and raised,” said Hülya.

“If a state does not recognize the Kurdish people, the Kurdish people will not recognize that state and will protect themselves against it,” said Hülya. “We will never submit to people who do not recognize us.” Hülya said that although strange masked people tour the area every day with the hope of intimidating the people into abandoning Sur entirely, she and her family will stay and will continue supporting the youth defending the Sur district from state attacks.

Hidayet Aslan, also refusing to leave Sur, said that police tour the neighborhoods everyday repeating the statement “leave your homes” through a loudspeaker.

“The state is trying to force us to migrate a second time, out of Sur. We will not leave our house a second time and we are not going anywhere,” said Hidayet.

(tt-mm/gc/cm)