On 28 December 2024 and 22 January, the DEM Party's İmralı delegation met with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is being held under heavy isolation conditions in İmralı Type F High Security Prison. After the 28 December meeting, Abdullah Öcalan issued a 7-point declaration on the solution of the Kurdish issue and called on all segments of society.

 

Families who lost their relatives during the conflict process evaluated the 7-point road map on the Kurdish issue presented to the public by the DEM Party İmralı delegation in talks with Abdullah Öcalan, the language and attitude of the government in this process and their own demands.

 

EQUAL RIGHTS

 

Raziye Küçükkaya (37), who was born in Deywan village of Kerboran (Dargeçit) district of Mêrdîn (Mardin), said that they had to move to Meletî (Malatya) in 1992 due to the state's imposition of village guards. Raziye Küçükkaya stated that they were subjected to the state's pressures in Meletî and said, "We had to move to Istanbul due to these attacks. An identity was imposed on us. These impositions and denial still continue. But despite all these pressures, we could not give up our language, culture and ideas."

 

Raziye Küçükkaya stated that she lost her cousin during the self-government resistance in 2015 in Sûr district of Amed.

 

Raziye Küçükkaya added, "While our mother tongue question continues, while thousands of our people are imprisoned in prisons and our houses are raided every day, Erdoğan cannot impose disarmament by saying 'they will either lay down their arms or be buried'. Because Kurds did not take up arms and go to the mountains arbitrarily. We always wanted peace, but the other side refused. We all want the war to end and an honourable peace. If they have schools, so should we, and just as they can speak their mother tongue freely, we Kurds should be able to speak our mother tongue everywhere. Just as Turks live in their own lands with honour, we Kurds should live freely in our own lands. We are not asking for anything from anyone. As long as we have our consciousness and belief, we will not give up our own language and lands."

 

Stating that they are in favour of all peoples living equally, Raziye Küçükkaya said: "If we are to live together and equally in a country, we want the same as they want for themselves. For 40 years the Kurdish people have been waging a struggle and have buried thousands of their children for this cause and continue to do so. If our demands are to be fulfilled, of course we want peace. We are not against it. Imagine a country where a people do not have the right to learn their mother tongue. So it is not possible to talk about freedom and peace here. Peace is only possible by ensuring equal rights."

 

KURDISH ISSUE

 

Gurbet Taş (44), who was born in Nisêbîn (Nusaybin) district of Mêrdîn and settled in Istanbul after her marriage, said, "My brother joined the PKK in 2015 after the self-government resistance. Four years after he joined, he lost his life in a clash. We will always feel this pain in our hearts and we will always follow in their footsteps. But if there is to be peace, we want the Kurdish issue to be solved and Kurds to be given their rights. We do not want anyone's children to die. We want no more bloodshed and no more heartache for mothers. For this, we want peace to be achieved. We are against the massacre of Kurds not only in Turkey but also in Rojava. Kurds have never been enemies of any people throughout history. The Kurdish people want peace."

 

Emphasising that the basic rights of the Kurdish people must be granted in order to ensure peace, Gurbet Taş said, "Political prisoners must be released and the isolation of the Leader (Abdullah Öcalan) must be lifted. If the isolation is not lifted and the prisoners in prisons are not released, they cannot gain the trust of the Kurdish people and things will not go well. We trust our Leader, but we do not trust the state. Because they have said before that they will solve the Kurdish issue, but then they arrested and imprisoned everyone. There was a big war in Kurdistan. We have not forgotten these. Our language is still mentioned as an ‘unknown’ language in the Parliament. Our halays are banned in wedding halls. They should fix these first. There are talks today, but on the other hand, they are attacking Rojava. If the state really wants to solve this problem, it must first stop these attacks."

 

‘MY FATHER LOST HIS LIFE UNDER THE TORTURE OF THE STATE’

 

Kamile Turan (65), who was born in Triwa village in Kerboran district of Mêrdîn, stated that in 1990 their village was burnt down and they had to migrate to Kerboran because they did not accept the state's imposition of village guards. Kamile Turan said, "After we migrated to Kerboran, the state did not leave us alone. They took my father into custody and he was detained in Mardin Prison for a while. After being tortured there, my father lost his life. Due to this situation, my uncle's son also joined the struggle. He became a martyr after my father. As a result of the continued oppression, we had to migrate from Kerboran to Istanbul and we have been living here for 25 years. The biggest problem we had after migrating to Istanbul was the language problem. I had great difficulty because I did not know any other language other than Kurdish. Turkish was spoken everywhere. When we spoke Kurdish, we were subjected to the imposition of ‘What language are you speaking, we don't understand, speak Turkish’. Even now, when we speak Kurdish, they roll their eyes and look at us with hostility. This perspective needs to change first. There is also a problem of justice and law. These problems need to be solved."

 

Kamile Turan stated that the Kurdish people have never been in favour of war, Turan added, "Thousands of our young people lost their lives in the war. Thousands of our villages were burnt and plundered. We were taken into captivity, but we are still in favour of an honourable peace. Kurdish people have been under persecution for thousands of years. Like other peoples, we want a country where we can freely live our language and identity. We have no eyes on anyone's land. We want to live freely in our own land. This is a basic human right. The issue is not to lay down arms, the issue is to make a fair peace from the heart. If we are brothers and sisters, we must be fair and equal. In order for this to happen, we must first restore our burnt villages, the ban on our language must be lifted and prisoners must be released."

 

MA / Esra Solin Dal