Support for Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's "Call for Peace and Democratic Society" announced on 27 February continues. Families whose villages were burnt down and who paid the price during the 40 year conflict process also pointed out the importance of the call and demanded the government to take steps for solution and peace. 

 

The Oruç family had to migrate to Adana in 1993 because their house was burnt down in Alluzê (Aluc) village in Bismil district of Amed (Diyarbakır). Zehra Oruç (Tamara Silan Sipan), who struggled against oppression, died during the curfew in Sur district of Amed in 2016, but her body was not delivered. Mother Bezo Oruç wants her daughter to have a grave. 

 

Bezo Oruç stated that they were persecuted and oppressed, but despite this, they did not give up their struggle. Supporting Abdullah Öcalan's call, Bezo Oruç said, "Thousands of people were massacred in this struggle. They were displaced from their lands. Despite this, we want peace, brotherhood and no bloodshed."

 

Xeza Özlü was forced to migrate to Adana after the village of Mezra in the Elkê (Beytüşşebap) district of Şırnex (Şırnak) was burnt down in 1997. Her daughter Sultan Özlü joined the PKK in 1995 and died in 2007. Xeza Özlü and her children were subjected to intense pressure and torture by the police for years. Xeza Özlü, who was arrested and released 2 times, did not step back from her struggle despite the pressure.

 

Xeza Özlü stated that they do not know the fate of her daughter's body and said, "I have experienced the persecution, oppression and torture of the state. Every time they come and ask me about my daughter. We want peace and brotherhood. We do not want neither soldiers, policemen nor guerrillas to die. We ask the mothers of soldiers to join hands and solve this problem. My daughter does not even have a gravestone. It is a difficult situation. My daughter comes to my dreams. I want my daughter to have a grave," he said.

 

'THE STATE SHOULD TAKE A STEP' 

 

Mustafa Yıldız, co-chair of the Adana Akdeniz Association for Assistance and Solidarity with Families of Disappeared Relatives (AYKAY-DER), stated that he had lost two brothers in the Kurdish freedom struggle and that they did not even have graves. Stating that they support Abdullah Öcalan's call, Yıldız reminded that it is the government's turn to take steps and stressed: "We want the state to take steps as soon as possible. We want the bloodshed to stop. We don't want neither soldiers, policemen nor guerrillas to lose their lives anymore. We do not want mothers to cry. The tears of mothers are the same. We want Turkish and Kurdish mothers to join hands together and do their best to make this process a success."

 

MA / Hamdullah Yağız Kesen