Amed (Diyarbakır)- Sakine Arat, a member of the Peace Mothers who was at the frontline of the Kurdish struggle for freedom for years, passed away on Wednesday night, at the age of 91.

Sakine Arat was born in 1934, in Kütahya, where her father was exiled following the Sheikh Said rebellion. When she was 17, she returned to Amed, her homeland, with her family after an amnesty was granted by the Democrat Party government.

Sakine Arat was forced to marry someone older than her and gave birth to 10 children; however, she lost two of her children. She raised her eight children by working as a tailor. During the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, her son Cemal Arat was arrested. Her son died in a hunger strike in 1984 Diyarbakır Prison. Sakine Arat lost her seven children, four of whom in the struggle for freedom. The “Emrê Dirêj Bextê Reş (English: Long Life, Dark Fortune)” book by Rojin Zarg tells life story of Sakine Arat.

Although she lost her seven children, she struggled for peace for years as a member of the Peace Mothers. In July 2010, she attended a meeting held by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, when he was the Prime Minister, during the Democratic initiative process and asked Tayyip Erdoğan to start a peace process in order to stop military operations.

“We have been living together for hundreds of years,” she said in an interview. “I want to ask everyone what would you do if your children were killed in front of you? I have been demanding peace for years. I want peace for everyone. We should say no to the war together. Do not allow our children to be killed anymore.”

Sakine Arat struggled for peace and the rights of Kurdish people until she died on March 12, 2025.