STRUGGLES

The same thing happens in agriculture and farming. Twenty years ago they evacuated more
than 2,000 villages. After that, Kurdish people couldn’t produce and work in farming. The
government gives Kurdish people small subsidies each month so that they don’t have to
produce anything. They do this under the name ofsupporting people. People become
dependent on the small handouts. This is another way ofwaging war against Kurdish people
and it continues until now.
CW: What do you think ofthe companies building the dams?
Ofcourse we don’t think that the companies building these dams should be doing this. They
destroy our history, our culture, and we don’t want them opening mines and making dams
here.
Kurdish people have been in struggle for a long time. We have a long
rebellion against capitalism and the state, but unfortunately people in
Europe don’t know Kurdish struggles like they do the Palestinian or
Zapatista struggles. We need the democratic, socialist, anarchist and
autonomist people to cooperate with Kurdish people against the colonialist,
imperialist and fascist powers.
CW: Do you think that people should target
companies?
You can definitely target the companies. In
the case ofthe Ilısu dam, the people
targeted the European export credit
guarantees and companies pulled out. It
delayed the project by a few years. Ifwe
target these connections we can affect the
projects.
The deserted village ofSavaşan Köyü. The
minaret ofthe submerged mosque can be
seen above the water. The village is in the
district ofHalfeti, which was flooded after
the completion ofthe Birecik dam on the
Euphrates (Firat) river. 6,500 mostly
Kurdish villagers had to be relocated. Photo
by Corporate Watch, 2013.