JINHA

ŞIRNEX - First, the village of Asya Oğlağı was burned and then her mother was exposed to turture under arrest. Her mother became sick as a result of torture and she passed away. After her mother passed away, her husband joined the PKK. "They burned our home which was built by my husband's great efforts. What can they do more? They killed my husband, they tortured my mother. They left my children without father. But, we will never surrender. We will never live as they want." said Asya.

Cizre women say, "We will never surrender. We know this massacre from 1990s. We didn't surrender in 1990s and we will never surrender." Cizre women sit on the debris in the Cizre district of Şırnak. Many of them aren't surprised what happened in Cizre. Each of them has stories from the past. Some lost their husbands or children. Their homes have been burned second time. Women, whose villages were burned many years ago, are sitting on the debris of their homes now and told us the state's persecution which has continued for years.

One of the women is Asya Oğlağı. Asya married Hadi who is one of her relatives when she was 16 years old. Asya stated that they had to leave the Robar village of Cizre due to the state's persecution. "They arrested the people. They killed the people. There was a hard pressure. They burned all villages and they forced people to leave there. They collected all villagers in cities. The villagers were happy in the villages. People had difficulty in cities. But then, they got used to the cities."

Asya told that her mother Nure Şerifoğlu and her brother's wife were taken into custody. "My husband joined the freedom struggle due to the pressure. I haven't received any news from my husband for 27 years. When my husband went to join the PKK, I lived with my four children and mother in law. I looked after them in poverty. After many years, we have experienced the same. Our home was demolished by the state forces. I hadn't taken a blanket from our home. My husband built this home. We don't have anything now. I experienced this many years ago and now my grandchildren are experiencing the same. When we left our home, there was everything in my home. Now, we have just the clothes on us.

"They [refer to Turkish people] talk about the friendship, but they burn their friends' homes. They have sucked my family's blood for 28 years. They have talked about the friendship and they have sucked their friends's blood for 28 years.

"We were born as Kurds. Do we ignore our identity? Do we have to speak in Turkish by force? We don't want their lands. They burned our homes. We fought in all wars together. My grandfather did his military service for four years. I am a citizen of this country. However, I am a Kurd. They burned my home while my son was doing his military service. They brought all psychopaths to here. And these psychopaths burned Cizre.

"I will speak my language. They haven't given us anything. We have done everthing ourselves. All people are in the same situation here. I swear; we will never surrender. We won't surrender even if we don't have water to drink. They killed my husband, they tortured my mother. They left my children without children. What can they do more? We will never leave our lands."

(ht/mg/gd)