STRUGGLES

had been shelled. The blood ofYakup Sinbağ
covered the wall. He was twenty-eight years old
and was shot through the heart on the 9th
November.
Whilst walking through the streets, we met an
older woman who told us:“My husband died ofa
heart attack during the clashes. Now I live alone with
my daughter. My house was damaged. They just left
my soul inside me. They destroyed everything else.”
Nine year old Hasan was killed after he found an
unexploded grenade. Photo provided by friends in
Farqîn.
We also met a man with a learning disability who
showed us his injury. He was shot in the back by
a sniper as he walked on the street during a
curfew. Children gathered around us, eager to
show us some ofthe bullet and munition casings
littering the streets.
As we walked through the neighbourhoods, we
saw a lot ofgraffiti that had been painted over.
We were told that the police had left fascist and
threatening messages on the walls. One piece of
graffiti said: “In the teeth ofthe wolfthere is blood.”
The wolfis a symbol offascists in Turkey.
We spoke to Zuhal Tekiner, co-Mayor ofthe
municipality in Farqîn. She is only thirty-five
years old and has already been imprisoned twice by the Turkish state. She told us:
“When you go home to the UK, please talk about every bullet that they fired, about
every person who is dead, and make noise about this. Ask the state ofTurkey to be
accountable for every bullet they use. Remind Turkey ofhuman rights. They try to
depict us as terrorists. You can change this mindset. We are not terrorists. It’s not
a war between different countries. We are ready to give our own lives.”
voices from the struggles for freedom in bakur
We asked her whether we should protest against the exporting ofweapons to Turkey. She
replied:
“It would be beautiful ifpeople tried to stand against the selling ofweapons to Turkey. The Turkish police
and military are using new guns and bullets. A 75 year old woman was killed. Just one bullet is enough to
kill. When it enters the body it causes a small hole and when it comes out it is huge.”
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