Althought two months have passed since Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's "Call for Peace and Democratic Society" announced on 27 February, no concrete steps have been taken by the government and the state. Despite the call, operations by the Turkish Armed Forces still continue and the condisitons for Öcalan to live and work freely have not been met. Families who lost their relatives during the conflict continue to demand the state to take steps. 

 

LOST 2 CHILDREN

 

Gulizar Yasar was born in Zerene hamlet of Oremear village in Gever (Yuksekova) district of Colemêrg (Hakkari). For more than 30 years she lived in the village of Zerene. The first casualty of the Kurdish freedom struggle was her older brother Devali Gurdal. Her older brother Gurdal was killed in a clas in the Cilo region in 1985 while he was a militia member of the HRK. With the death of her brother, threats from soldiers and contras against Gulizar Yasar, her husband and her family intensified. Gulizar Yasar had to leave the village in the face of the threats. After the death of her brother, her daughter Rehyan Yasar (Adar Gever) joined the ranks of the PKK in 1993 and Macit Gurdal (Zınar Gever), the son of her dead brother, joined the ranks of the PKK in 1994. Her nephew Macit Gurdal died in the same year in the Çarçella-Zagros region and her daughter Reyhan Yasar died in 1998 in the Xakurkê (Khakurke) region.

 

Four years after the death of her daugher Reyhan, her other daughter Hamiyet Yasar joined the PKK in 2004 and her son Servan Yasa (Êrîş Adar) joined in 2012. While her son Servan Yasar died in 2022, her daughter still in the ranks of the PKK. 

 

19 MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY DIED

 

Gulizar Yasar, whose entire family, especially herself, has spent their entire lives in the struggle for freedom and peace, said, "Not only my children, but dozens of my nephews and relatives have lost their lives in this struggle. I lost 19 members of my family. There is nothing we have not seen and experienced, including torture, oppression and death. But despite this, we still demand peace. I may have lost my children today, but I have always wanted peace so that no one else would suffer and no one else's children would die. We don't want soldiers and guerrilla families to suffer and cry anymore."

 

Gulizar Yasar said that the PKK emerged because Kurds were massacred in Agirî (Ağrı) and Dêrsîm (Tunceli), thrown into prisons and many people were killed in unsolved murders. "If the current demands of the Kurdish people had been met 100 years ago, this would not have happened today. We want our land and our language. We have nothing against anyone. We want every people to live a free life like them in peace," she said.

 

Gulizar Yasar stated that when the democratic rights of Kurds are recognised, there will be no point in using weapons, and Kurds should be given the right to education in their mother tongue and a free life. Stating that the state should fulfil its responsibilities and duties in the face of the process initiated by Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, Gulizar Yasar said: "The state needs to take concrete steps. If concrete steps are taken mutually, the process will be successful."

 

'DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS SHOULD BE RECOGNISED'

 

Gulizar Yasar stressed, "If the state takes concrete steps, if education in mother tongue and democratic rights are granted, we will believe and trust in this process. All political prisoners should be liberated in this process. The doors of prisons should be opened. Most importantly, Öcalan, who is leading the process, must be free. Öcalan has taken the necessary step, now it is the turn of Devlet Bahceli and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They must also take a step."

 

Calling on the families of soldiers, guerrillas and prisoners, Gulizar Yasar underlined that everyone should support the process.

 

MA / Ruken Polat - Mazlum Engindeniz