PELİN ÖZKAPTAN

 News Center- The World Peace Day is observed every year on September 1 by many countries. On this day, people voice their demand for peace against war.

The members of the Peace Mothers’ Initiative are the symbol of the struggle for peace. Güler Buğday and Sultan Bozkurt are two of them who spend their lives resisting cruelty and oppression. In an interview with NuJINHA, they talked about their struggle for peace since the 1990s.

 Güler Buğday is from Amed (Diyarbakır). “After one of my children was martyred in 1993, we began to receive threats. Two years passed like a nightmare for us. At that time, people were murdered and their murders have remained unsolved. Actually, the murderers were known, there was Hizbullah. In 1995, we moved to Istanbul to protect our children. We planned to stay in Istanbul only one year; however, villages were burned down, cities were blockaded. We have been living in Istanbul for 27 years,” she told us.

‘We have never seen such a government’

Since the 1990s, Güler Buğday has been struggling for peace during the rule of many governments. “We witnessed the 1980 coup d'état; the execution and arrest of many people. We witnessed how the members of Hizbullah killed people, how Newroz celebrations were banned. Despite everything, we resisted,” Güler Buğday said. Speaking about the AKP government, she said:

“The systems are all deep and dirty; however, the AKP government is the worst of both worlds. When some people complained about the increasing food prices, the president told them, ‘Do you know how much a bullet costs?’. This shows that the government supports wars, not peace. People from all nations and religions fought and died in the Turkish War of Independence; however, the rights of the Kurdish people were not given to them although they fought and died in the war. But we have never seen such a government (The AKP government) before. Despite everything, people should stand firm and raise their voices against this system and the ruling party.”

 “Peace is a must for all those who suffer from poverty and are in prison,” said Güler Buğday. “We do not want to see any war and conflict next September. Peace is needed in this country and in every part of the world. We need peace more than water and bread. I call on people from all nations, intellectuals, writers, socialists, women, mothers and NGOs to unite for peace. They should raise their voices to ensure peace in this country.”

‘We do not lose our minds thanks to the struggle’

Sultan Bozkurt is from the district of Qoser (Kızıltepe) in Mardin. Her daughter was detained when she was 14. “We received no news from her for 28 days. Then, we learned that she was held in prison. After 20 months in prison, she was released. At that time, my daughter was a high school student. In 1999, she was rearrested and then she was given a life sentence.”

Sultan Bozkurt’s family is one of the families forcibly displaced in the 1990s. “At that time, villages were burned down, destroyed, evacuated, there was complete horror. We were given 24 hours to leave our village. First, we went to Izmir and then to Istanbul. What we experienced causes trauma for us. We do not lose our minds thanks to the struggle for peace. If we did not have such a struggle, we would lose our minds because of what we had experienced.”

‘The persecution is not over, but our struggle has got stronger’

Noting that they have suffered from persecution for years, Sultan Bozkurt said, “There was a real atrocity at the time of Çiller (Tansu Çiller, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1993 to 1996). At that time, many people became the victims of enforced disappearance and unsolved murders. In 2002, the AKP became the ruling party. The AKP has silenced the people and persuaded them with religion. Despite the persecution of the AKP, the Kurdish struggle and the socialist struggle do end; on the contrary, they have got stronger.”

‘Peace is more important for women’

Sultan Bozkurt thinks peace is more important for women. “There is no equality in society. Women are always oppressed and ignored. Since the AKP has become the ruling party, the situation of women has become worse. They ignore women. Women have no right although they make great efforts for their families, country and people. Women have no right especially in the Middle East,” she said.

“Not only Kurds need peace,” Sultan Bozkurt said, “But also people all around the world need peace because there are wars all around the world. As Turkey, we are in a ship in the middle of the ocean. If this ship sinks, we will all die. The AKP disciplines the people with hunger. It detains, arrests and kills everyone who raises their voices. Despite everything, everyone should be the voice of peace, raise this voice.”