For many mothers, Mother’s Day will have a loss of ‘celebratory’ meaning as they confront the loss of their children on that day. Two mothers, Fahriye Çukur and Nazlı Şen, spoke to Jin News about their years of longing for their ‘lost’ children.
Fahriye Çukur, the mother of 17-year-old Rozerin Çukur – who was killed in the self-governance resistance in Diyarbakır’s (Amed’s) Sur district in 2016 when the Turkish military carried out a deadly campaign in many Kurdish cities in Turkey following the declaration of curfews – described the pain and sorrow she feels.
She described her feeling of loss by stating that every day for her feels like the very first day she lost Rozerin. The feeling has been the same, every day, for the past five years. In this sense, she said Mother’s Day has lost its celebratory meaning for her.
”There is no cure for my pain. I still have the hope that my daughter will come. I still can’t accept it. We were not allowed to take Rozerin’s body for six months. We waited for her funeral for months. There are still families who cannot find their children’s bodies”.
She continued: “I lost Rozerin, but not only Rozerin, we lost many of our children”. Fahriye said: “Every child and every young person is a Rozerin for me. Not only me, but those mothers are now spending Mother’s Day without their children. Children and people were killed here and nobody even said what to do. How can a person be killed so easily? Where’s the justice?”, she asked.
Nazlı Şen, mother of 12-year-old Helin Şen – who was killed during the curfews in Sur as she was going to buy a bread – also expressed her feelings. Şen stated that even although five years have passed since her daughter was killed, her pain is still acute and ever-present. ”I feel like my other half is gone. I breathe, but I do not feel alive”, she said.
Şen stated that Helin’s case continues through the courts again, after the suspension decision was lifted. “I will not stop until the police who killed my daughter are punished”, she said.
Commenting on the upcoming Mother’s Day, Şen said: “I have been spending Mother’s Day for five years without Helin. Helin used to get up early on every Mother’s Day to buy me a gift. She never forgot to celebrate my Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day has turned into sorrow for us. I hope no mother experiences this pain”.