PERİ BAYAV

Sêrt- Nearly 3.000 villages in Southeast Anatolia of Turkey were burned and depopulated in the 1990s. Thousands of Kurds were forcibly displaced from their villages to the western cities. At that time, about four million people were forbidden to return to their villages; they didn’t have any place to live or job to maintain their families.

They cannot forget…

30 years have passed since the villages were burned and depopulated. The state allowed the villagers to return to their villages. As a daughter of a family forcibly displaced in the 90s, I can say that my family members will never forget what they faced in the 90s. They still feel sad whenever they remember those years. They cannot forget; we will never forget. Our village was burned, everything was burned to the ground.

“The homeland does not leave the body until the last moment, the moment of death,” says Palestinian poet and writer Mourid Barghouti.

“Everyone went different places”

Erkent village of Siirt’s Pervari district is one of the burned and depopulated villages in 1993. My family lived in this village at that time. My family was forcibly displaced and had to settle in Adana province of Turkey when I was a child. I barely remember my village. After the village was burned down and depopulated, some villagers went to Adana while some went to Mersin or Antep. Families who went to Çukurova region feel like they are a minority and diaspora.

I remember how my mother always cried

I didn’t know the meaning of forcibly displacement because I was just a child while my family members became the victims of forced displacement. I remember how my mother always cried. Whenever I saw her crying, I also cried with her. She always talked about the village, gardens, her goats and her beloved dog, Naze. When they left the village, they left Naze in the village. One day, we learned that Naze died. I don’t remember Naze very much but I always think of her.

Mothers who do not speak Turkish raised children who do not speak Kurdish

We didn’t have a house and tried to hold on to life in Adana. We had many troubles at that time. Adana was a big city, compared to our village. We were alone in that big city. We couldn’t even express ourselves. Our mother language was forbidden in that city. I learned Turkish when I started school. Many of our elders, like my mother, did not know Turkish at that time, so they had difficulty expressing themselves both in daily life and in official institutions. At that time, the mothers who did not speak Turkish had to raise children who did not speak Kurdish; they faced assimilation. Many of our elderly villagers could not bear to be away from their lands after our village was burned down and most of them died of a broken heart. My family and other villagers waited for years to return to their village. Their only hope was to return to their village. They didn’t feel good and they will never feel good. 21 years later, I went to Erkent as an adult. I was a little girl when I left there. The house I was born in was in ruin.

After 20 years of displacement, 42 families returned to Erkent eight years ago. I spoke to Vesile Bağrıyanık, one of the villagers who returned to the village.

“Be village guards or leave the village in 24 hours”

Vesile Bağrıyanık was born and grew up in the Erkent village. She spent most of her life in this village. When the village was burned down, she went to Antep with her family members. She tried to hold on to life with her family in a city where they don’t know the culture and language of the people.

“We were told ‘be village guards or leave the village in 24 hours’. We didn’t accept being village guards. Then, everyone tried to leave the village in 24 hours. Some villagers could only take their children with them. Everyone tried to go to a city. The surrounding villages were afraid to host us because our village was called ‘The village of the PKK’. We managed to go to Eruh but we were afraid of not only the state but also everyone. Everyone saw us as enemies. Our village was wiped from the map in 1993. We took a minibus and went to Antep. We didn’t know Turkish, we couldn’t express ourselves. We tried to rebuild our lives there. Kurdish mothers faced many difficulties. I lived in a big city for 39 years but I never saw the city in my dreams. I always saw my village in my dreams.”

“We always believed that one day we would return”

“We faced many difficulties,” said Mother Vesile, who talked about how they had made yogurt and cheese in the village. “The longing for our village was always with us. We always believed that one day we would return to our village. When I left the village, I felt great pain. This pain will always be in my heart.”

“We don’t want to face same things again”

Mother Vesile is still in fear, “I wonder if the state will one day come and force us to leave our village again. Will we face the atrocities we faced in 1993? We always ask ourselves these questions. We couldn’t sleep for six months due to gunshots before our village was burned down. We sometimes took shelter in the mountains when conflicts broke out. We don’t want to face things again.”