Hundreds of villages in Kurdistan were evacuated under state pressure in the 1990s, forcing their inhabitants to migrate. Areas inhabited by tens of thousands of people from cities such as Şirnex (Şırnak), Êlih (Batman), Colemêrg (Hakkari), Amed (Diyarbakır) and Mêrdîn (Mardin) were burned and destroyed. Kaçali, an Arab village in the Qabilcewz (Sason) district of Êlih, was among the villages that were evacuated after refusing the imposition of the village guard system.

 

When the village was evacuated in 1992, 12 households set out on the road of displacement with a single tractor. Soldiers stopped the villagers at the district exit and kept young people, children, the elderly and women waiting under the sun for three days. The villagers later migrated to cities such as Bismil district of Amed, Tekirdağ, Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir. The Çelik family, who settled in Bismil, was subjected to state pressure there as well. Despite all threats and pressure, Hadi Çelik and his family, members of the Qabilcewz Arab community, chose to stand with the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

 

His son, Şehmuz Çelik (Sidar Amed), lost his life on 11 May 2021, while his nephews Ayhan Çelik (Rizgar Sason) and Süheyla Çelik (Nûda Sason) lost their lives in 1999 and on 4 August 2021, respectively. Hadi Çelik stated that an honorable peace would be built through the Democratic Society and Peace Process in lands where conflict, displacement, pressure and oppression have never been absent.

 

DISPLACEMENT, PRESSURE AND OPPRESSION

 

Stating that there had been 25 households in the village before they were displaced, Çelik said they made a living through animal husbandry, refused to become village guards, and did not want to leave their village. He noted that the state subjected them to heavy pressure and that they were forcibly displaced as a result.

 

Saying that they arrived in Bismil after being forced to wait under the sun for three days, Çelik stressed that they never stepped back from the struggle. He recalled the hardships they faced upon arriving in Bismil and noted that many of those who migrated with them later moved to Mersin or Istanbul.

 

Emphasizing that they have no regrets despite all the difficulties they endured, Çelik said: “We stand behind our cause. We are three brothers, and there are three martyrs in our family. We were only able to recover the remains of one of them; we do not know where the other two are. We want to find those two graves. Even if only a bone remains, we want to reach it.”

 

Çelik also noted that he himself spent seven months in prison and is currently being tried with a request for a sentence of six years and three months. Despite all these pressures, he said they continue to take part in the activities of the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

 

COMMON STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLES

 

Stating that, as an Arab, he struggles for what he described as the just cause of the Kurdish people, Çelik said: “This cause does not belong only to Kurds, Turks or Arabs. It belongs to all of us. Unity and solidarity in society are important for us. My son is a martyr, and I want peace. Because I do not want other children to become martyrs.”

 

LONGING FOR HIS VILLAGE

 

Çelik said that he occasionally visits the village from which he was displaced. “My village still comes before my eyes day and night. If I had the opportunity now, I would not stay here for a moment; I would go there. But I no longer have a house there, and that is why I cannot return,” he said.

 

Referring to the Democratic Society and Peace Process, Çelik concluded: “Let a lasting peace be achieved. Let our friends in prison be released. Let the guerrillas who have laid down their arms return home. Let us live together. Let us build peace together.”

 

MA / Fethi Balaman - Helin Dolanbay