who writes on Kurdish question, development and other questions in Turkey
A short note in Turkish // Başlamadan: 17 Mart 2016 tarihinde
Veysi Polat’ın T24'te yayınlanan köşe yazısını İngilizceye çevirmemin ardından,
bu sefer Nurcan Baysal’la iletişime geçtim. Kendisinin 4 Nisan 2016 tarihinde
T24’te yayınlanan ‘Toledo sizin olsun, Sur bizim!’ adlı köşe yazısını
İngilizceye çevirdim. İçinde bulunduğumuz duruma uluslar arası platformlarda
ses vermek üzere, elimden geldiğince destek olmak adına bu tür çarpıcı köşe
yazılarını çevirmeye devam edeceğim.
Notes on the author and one of her books before we head into the translation of her newspaper column:
About the author [1]: Born in Diyarbakır in 1975, Nurcan
Baysal has worked on different aspects of development, war, civil society and
Kurdish issue. She is one of the founders of DISA/Diyarbakir Political and
Social Research Institute and serves as an advisor or board member to many
non-profit organizations, like Global Fund for Women, Women Labor and
Employment Platform, Urgent Action Fund, Mesopotamia Foundation. She took
WWSF/Women's World Summit Foundation award in 2010. She writes in the online
newspaper called T24. Her books O Gün,
Kurdistan’da Sivil Toplum (co-writer)
and Ezidiler: 73.Ferman was published
by Iletişim Publishers.
Follow her works
here
Writer’s pick: Civil Society in Turkey Kurdistan [2]
In Kurdish geography, from arts and culture to
social solidarity, the fight for human rights, ecologists, women’s movement, religious
artifacts and reaching out research institutes, there is a big vitality. Şeyhmus Diken and Nurcan Baysal’s
conversations display the colorful panorama of this liveliness in the field of
civil society. A wide glance to internal universe of Turkey Kurdistan… A
perfect guidebook for understanding the big change that Kurdish society is
having and seeing the socio-cultural multiplicity.
You have Toledo, Sur is ours! [3]
…And now these historical
lands of thousands years are vitalizing. Fruitfulness story is being written
over again. The fortresses that witness the history will go to stand up in
front of Tigris with all their majesties. Sur will open its doors with all its
stature. This precious city will be again beautiful. Mosques, prayer rooms will
go to again salute the visitors. Prayer calls will not cease from Bursa Ulu Mosque’s
sibling Diyarbakır’s Ulu Mosque’s minaret. The charity fountains in front of
the doors of Diyarbakır houses will go to flow in a rich voice and will going
to fulfill the city’s thirst. During hot summer days, the courtyards will be
filled with people who want to cool off and to rest. The sounds of ornamental
pools in the courtyards will go to be mixed with children’s laughter. Arbors will
challenge the Sun, will going to host household under their shadow. Iwans will
be cheered again with people’s chats. Seljuk and Ottoman handicrafts will be
exhibited in living rooms. Families will find peace again. Those beautiful
divans and carpets will continue to impress. Every courtyard will be
transformed into a family story. Each of the historical stairs will go to
inspire the future. All the courtyards’ rooms will go to breath. The Famous
Four Feet Minaret will going to continue to remind our unity and solidarity to
everybody…”
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These words are from the
animation film prepared for Sur by the Prime Ministry. There are plenty of
sounds of prayer calls, constructions assimilating bibelots and of course a big
Turkish flag waving on top of fortresses. This extremely terribly prepared
video is pretty away from the 7000 years Sur’s spirit.
During his visit to
Diyarbakır, under the protection, amongst thousands of soldier and police, under
surveillance of snipers standing just behind him, President Davutoğlu calls out
to a handful of Kurds in Hasanpaşa Han, which was closed to Kurds since months
and is open only for few weeks:
“We are hearty Diyarbekirians. Some people
want to pull on our hearts. Some people, as if they want to, crash our Suriçi
(walled city), which likes to show one country means one heart to Sema (sky/heaven).”
“Proprietary rights will be
obeyed. Architectural touch will definitely be preserved. The ones, who have a
property here, will go to have the right to do whatever is convenient to make
with the available opportunities. We are making regulations in order for the
ones who are tenanted to be householders.
They say “These people ‘are
going to dehumanize here’”. No. On the
contrary, we are going to bring Sur and saint Diyarbekirians together. We are
going to turn Sur into a beautiful place, where people walk around peacefully,
salute each other, seethe with each other forever.”
“We came to plant love seeds
on these lands. Let me tell you also one of my goal. I also told to my wife,
Ms. Sare that I want to own a house in Sur.”
I do not even want to mention
this speech, which has no palpability. But it is obvious that President does not
know Sur. Sur was already world’s most beautiful place, where people would
salute and seethe with each other. It was not a dull bibelot, not an artificial
Toledo as shown in the animation, but was a place tens of cultures lived
together on its küçes (streets). If you already have forgotten, let us remind
you President, it was the state who destroyed and burned this hundreds years
place!
It is true that ditches were
dig on these streets. However, although there are many other ways to deal with
ditches, you chose to bomb 7000 years old city with tanks and cannonballs under
the name of “public order”. With or without ditch, you burned hundreds of
places.
And now, as if this was not
enough, under the roof of “expropriation”, secretively, you try to appropriate
our houses and streets! On one side you issue a decision on the “expropriation”,
on the other hand, since there is a raise of reactions, you say “proprietary rights will be obeyed”! Are
we going to believe the decision of the Council of Ministers or your words?
By the way President, if you
do not know I tell you:
When you were giving your
speech in Hasanpaşa, screams of mothers were risen to the sky, who came to take
their children’s funerals to Tigris-Euphrates Culture Center (Dicle-Fırat
Kültür Merkezi), which is only one hundred meter away!
While you were conducting your
Friday prayer, Kurdish mothers cannot even pray for their own children’s
funeral!
While you were giving your
speech dear Mr. President, darling Suriçi continued to be destroyed and its
ruins were thrown to near Tigris.
When you, President, were
making this speech, Kurdish mothers were giving blood in order to try to
recognize their children from mortal remains spread in number of places of the
region.
We don’t have a city on sale!
Mr. President, since you came
all the way here, why did not you bother to walk around the streets of
Diyarbakır in order to see the realities? If you were walking around the
streets of Diyarbakır, you could see these billboards on all roads and streets:
“Do not interfere in the
history, belief and life and SUR!
Compensate the tradesmen and
the public for their loss quickly”
Since you came all over the
way to Diyarbakır, we would like to hear a couple of words on peace, Mr.
President! At least, we would expect to hear a tiny apologize for my burned and
destroyed city with a history of 7000 years. We would like to see a single hope
for the future!
For this country, the war was not
the only choice. You, President, turned down all the other choices except war!
You chose war! You chose death instead of life! You chose destruction!
What are you going to do? Are
you going to build your own house on top of this ruin, the ruins of houses
demolished in Sur? President, do you think the one who demolishes a house can
own a house!
I am telling you Dear Mr.
President!
This state burned and
destroyed our city, but cannot take it away from us! Nobody can eradicate us
from our own city! Despite all cruelty done by governances of all time, we did not
and we are not going to leave Amed, Amida, Diyarbakır, Dikranagerd. Sur is the
heart of Amed. To leave Sur means to leave Amed. It means to leave our history,
identity, Armenians, Assyrians, Keldani, neighbours, memories and our true life
experiences!
We do not have a city on sale
President!
You are welcome to get a house
in Toledo, you can have Toledo, Sur is ours!
[1]: About the author information and Baysal's profile photo are taken from her personal blog: www.nurcanbaysal.blogspot.com.tr
[2] Baysal, N. & Diken, Ş.
(Mayı 2015). Kürdistan’da Sivil Toplum. İstanbul, İletişim Yayınları. About the book information is translated from İletişim's official website.
[3] Original
article, Toledo
sizin olsun, Sur bizim! , published at T24 online newspaper on April 4th,
2016. Translated into English by an anonymous person, who volunteered to
disseminate the article to international audience. The title makes a reference to PM Davutuoğlu’s
comparison of historic Sur district of Diyarbakır province with the Spanish
city of Toledo.
Nurcan Baysal'in ve Veysi Polat'in yazilarini ve fikirlerini bir kez daha dolasima sokarak bizi haberdar ettigin icin sagol varol arkadasim. Taze haber, ceviri ve yorumlarin icin takipteyim...
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