DİYARBAKIR – Drawing attention to the children growing in the region, 19 year old Cotkar Amara Yürek who has been detained 12 times since the age 7, and arrested once for 10 months said, "A child should never be arrested."
19 year old Cotkar Amara Yürek has been detained 12 times since he was 7 in Diyarbakır. He was placed in prison at the age 17, and was released at 18. Yürek was held in Diyarbakır Type D Closed Prison for 10 months and then he was released. Stating that what he had been through at a very early age made him stronger, Yürek told his story to Mesopotamia Agency (MA).
Underlining that a child to be exposed to such pressure is against the normal course of life, Yürek said: "The fact that I was sent to prison at that age, and the home raids were brutal. But this is very common in the region. The children in the region don't have the opportunity to live as a regular child. The pressures we have been exposed to as a child, turned into traumas now, but also made us stronger. What I have been through was the worst nightmare a child can go through. Especially when you are arrested. You feel afraid and concerned at all times. I saw other children that went through what I was going through in prison and figured out that this wasn't only happening to me. I can say that a child should never be arrested. It takes away a lot from your life."
Stating that a child to understand what prison means in prison when they first get there is very hard, Yürek said: "They raid your home while you are sleeping. That turns into a trauma. Me being taken into custody as a child indicates a general problem. Despite the fact that these things are normalized in the region, we know that the circumstances in the region where we grew up is a lot different compared to the rest of the world. They do not consider you to be a child. They consider you to be someone that must be stopped."
'THEY REJECTED OUR MOTHER TONGUE'
Stating that a 7 year old child starts school deprived of their mother tongue, Yürek said: "Can anyone say anything beyond that? This is obviously a historical problem. It is a problem for a child to grow up with their mother tongue banned. That means they don't accept your existance. Being arrested and imprisoned at an early age has a serious impact not only on the child but also on the family. A child who is ripped away from their family, school, friends feels lonely. But what I have been through helped me see the attacks and impositions on us more clearly. It helped me evaluate where I live, who I am. It made me stronger."
Referring to the Children's Rights Day, Yürek said: "Considering November 20 World Children's Rights Day, the point that becomes clear here is; When conditions improve, we will understand and remember the meaning and importance of this day. Then this day will take a place in our lives, otherwise this day has practically no meaning. We are living it by experience. What we have been going through is a whole with the children who died in Sur during the curfews."