The "Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan, solution to the Kurdish issue" campaign, carried out in Kurdistan, Turkey and many European countries, continues with actions and events. Mêrdîn is one of the cities that hosted the Justice Watch, which is initiated under the leadership of prisoners' relatives and Mothers for Peace. The action, which was launched in Mêrdîn on January 7, after Amed, Wan, Adana, Mersin, Istanbul and Izmir, has entered its 62nd day.

 

Thousands of people visited the watch, which is carried out with determination on the first day at the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) provincial building, over a two-month period. The guard area, where relatives of prisoners and Mothers for Peace held daily agenda discussions, turned into an education centre with readings of Democratic Modernity, Xwebun and Yeni Yaşam newspapers and Kurdish books. During the duty, apart from daily visits, a Kurdish education period was created with reading and discussion hours.

 

While selected sections of newspapers, magazines and books are read by certain visitors during reading hours, an hour-long Kurdish reading and writing training is given every day by Mother for Peace Gurbet Tekin. Relatives of prisoners and Mothers for Peace, who turned the Justice Watch into an education centre, started with learning the Kurdish alphabet and have received training in Kurdish to the extent of being able to write certain sentences.

 

THEY GET STRENGTH FROM EACH OTHER

 

Gurbet Tekin, Mother for Peace and Justice Watch's Kurdish instructor, reminded that the purpose of their actions iss the physical freedom of Abdullah Ocalan. Stating that the participants of the protest change every 3 days, Tekin said that each mother participating in the protest has a different story and added: “They tell their problems to each other here. They tell their own stories and their children's stories. They sing songs for their children. By listening to each other. They learn and understand each other's pain."

 

'EVERYONE MUST PROTECT THEIR LANGUAGE'

 

Stating that the decision to study Kurdish was taken as a result of their discussion, Tekin said: “Language is our culture, our existence, our history, our everything. We are known for our language. Every tribe, every person is known by their own language. Today, we see that our children are starting to forget their mother language at home and speak Turkish. Our children's names are Zilan, Beritan, Şervan, but they speak Turkish. Our people need to protect and speak their mother language. We are not just saying it is for the Kurds. Arabs should also protect their language, and Turks and Assyrians should live with their own language and culture. We believe in this. Many of our mothers cannot read or write. Some of them recognize the Turkish alphabet but not the Kurdish alphabet. We wanted our mothers to improve themselves by starting Kurdish education. We started with the alphabet, showing the words. Our mothers also learn and become happy. We want to protect our language, culture, art and liberate our Leader."

 

MA / Ahmet Kanbal