Bêrîtan Elyakut/JINHA

AMED - A women, who stayed in the Sur district of Diyarbakır for nine days during the curfew which was declared on November 28, told us what she experienced during these days. She doesn't want us to give out her name. "We began to live a new life after the Civil Protection Units (YPS)/ Women's Civil Defense Forces (YPS-JIN) came to our neighborhoods. As women, we felt safer and we became more conscious." said the woman.

After Tahir Elçi was killed (Head of bar association in Diyarbakir), curfew was declared on November 28 in the Sur district of Diyarbakır to obfuscate the evidences. 24-hour curfew has been imposed in the town since then. 24-hour curfew was lifted for one day on the ninth day. The people, who had to leave their homes and neighborhoods with the lifting of the ban, have waited to return their homes for four months by looking their houses from far away. A woman, who lived nine days under the curfew, told us what she experienced under the ban. The woman doesn't want us to give out her name.

The woman said, "We hadn't entered our neighborhoods easily before the YPS. After the YPS members came into our neighborhoods, everyone felt safer. The YPS members didn't attack the people in the neighborhoods. When we invited them to our homes, they never came in our homes. They drank water at our doors. The state has destructed the order with its soldiers and police not the youths."

The woman said that her husband used violence against her. However, the YPS-JIN members stoped this violence. We asked her, "How did YPS-JIN members solve the problems? The woman said, "I had been exposed to violence by my husband before YPS-JIN. Once, he used violence against me again. The YPS-JIN members, who heard my voice, came in our house. They told my husband that if he uses violence against me again, they will punish him. Then they talked about the women's rights. My husband hasn't used violence against me since then. We began a new life with the YPS and YPS-JIN members. As women, we felt safer and we became more conscious."

The woman talked about state forces violence against them. Special forces had conducted raid on her mother's house. "When we heard the cry of my mother, we went to out. They shouted at her, "You gave food to terrorists. You opened your doors to them. We will bring you to account." Then they held my mother's hair. When we saw that, we attacked them. They battered us, too. They held us hostage for three hours. The YPS and YPS-JIN members never disregarded against elderly people. When they saw an elderly person, they kissed their hands. This state has grossed us out by itself. The youths fought for us for 109 days."

(dk/gd)