JINHA

ŞIRNEX - After martial law under the name of "curfew" was lifted, children have difficult to adapt to schools in the Cizre district of Şırnak. Soldiers and police are still using the schools as military command center while many schools have been demolished. The teachers had left the town before the "curfew" was declared. Their students reached to the teachers by saying, "What can you teach us?"

Teachers, who had left Cizre before "curfew" was declared, have returned to the town. While, the children have difficult to adapt to schools, many schools have been demolished, others are being used by soldiers and police. The children haven't healed trauma in Cizre. They are feeling sad when they see their teachers who left them. They have seen the police and soldiers when they go school not their friends. The children said, "We will never forget anything."

The children of Cudi neighborhood of Cizre said that they returned to their home as soon as the ban was lifted. "When we returned, there wasn't our home. There were only rubble stones. We knew that our friends had been massacred in basements. We knew that all of our friends were wounded and they [refer to state forces] burned them to death. When we returned, we were confronted with this scene. We will never forget what we lived here."

The children said that their schools were opened last week. "We went to schools. We saw our teachers who left us. We told them "You teached us the best, why did you leave us? Our teachers told us, "We could be killed here. We had to leave." We told them, "We weren't scared of death. You should have stayed with the oppressed. What can you teach us after these? They didn't tell us anything, only bow their heads. AMany of our friends left the school. They say that they cannot learn anything from school."

Children stated that their schools are being used by soldiers and police. "Half of our schools are being used by soldiers and police. They are trying to frighten us by walking around. We don't want them here. They killed the people who we loved them. They tell us to go school. How can we study? They are using our schools and they are walking around of our neighborhood. They ask us to obey them. We grew up with the stories of resistance. We won't obey how our brothers and sisters didn't."

(ht/mg/gd)