MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Elih – In the 1990s, thousands of Kurdish villages were depopulated, burned, and razed in Turkey. Thousands of people were forcibly displaced and killed. People, who were forcibly displaced from their villages, never forget what they faced even if years have passed. “The state took my memories and childhood,” said Menfia Çelik, one of these villagers. She was forcibly displaced from the Ulaş village of Mardin province after three people, including her father, were killed in 1996. She settled in the İdil district of Şırnak province with her family.

“They killed three people, including my father”

“At that time, soldiers constantly raided our village and told us, ‘You are hiding terrorists.’ One day, they killed three people, including my father, in the village. After killing them, they threatened us ‘If you don’t accept being village guards, we will burn your village’. We had to leave our village. They burned down our village, even the caves around the village after we left there.”

“The state kept following us”

After being forcibly displaced from their village, Menfia Çelik and her family members continued to face pressure, “We moved to İdil after leaving our village but the state kept following us there. Our house was raided almost every night. Sometimes, we couldn’t even go to the toilet because of fear.”

“I sit on the stones of our destroyed house”

The village of Menfia Çelik was burned and razed in the 90s and the villagers cannot rebuild their village. But she visits her village once a year and sits on the stones of her destroyed house. “The state took my father, memories, and childhood from me. I was born and grew in this village. But we couldn’t rebuild our village after being burned down. Still, there are traces of burned houses in the village. Only two houses have been rebuilt until now.”

“I will never forget my father and memories”

When the village was burned down, Menfia Çelik was a child. “I remember everything very well. I remember what happened as if it happened only yesterday. People living in the village always supported each other. I will never forget those days, the memories I spent in that village, and my father until I die. We don’t have a house in the village now but I visit it once a year. I sit on the stones of our burned house to take a breath. Whenever I visit my village, I remember who I am.”