JINHA

AMED - Syriac women reacted to "urgent expropriation" decision which has been declared in Sur, including historic buildings. "The state has assimilated the Kurds by killing them and it has ignored us. We won't give our churches and houses in Sur." said Syriac women.

Genocidal attacks had continued in the Sur district of Diyarbakır for months. Urgent expropriation has been declared by cabinet decision in Sur where de facto ban has continued. The town has been in danger of the risk of destruction. Meanwhile, the hictoric buildings such as Surp Giragos Armenian church, Surp Sarkis Armenian church, Chaldean church, Armenian Catolic church, Syriac Virgin Mary OrthodoxChurch, Protestant church, which had been restored, have been expropriated by cabinet decision. Some of these churches are belong to the foundations of the churches, while some are belong to General Directorate of Foundations or the Minister of Culture and Tourism.

The minority population said that they cannot accept the urgent expropriation decision by reacting to the decision. One of these population members is Şamira Ezilmez. Şamira attends church service every Sunday in Virgin Mary Church. "There must be a place to people live in peace. A peace place can be formed, if the people are free to speak in their language, practice their region in freedom. There are churches and mosques in this area. We don't touch the mosques. However, they are trying to occupy our worship places. We want to attend our services like before.

"They cannot get anything by pressing on minority population. We had difficulty to practice our religion for years. Even sometimes we couldn't come to church for service. We thought we left these difficult times behind. Now we understand that they have eye on our churches. Many historic buildings were destroyed during curfew. Our church was used as military quarters during the curfew. They are trying to take our churches from us now.

"We can breathe with our religion. I couldn't come to church during the curfew. I felt so sorry that time. We felt alone. The state has ignored us like assimilate the Kurds by killing them. We won't give our churches and houses."

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