Kurdish Peace Mothers marched in Turkey’s southeastern city of Silopi, calling for an end to Turkey’s military operations in the Iraqi Kurdistan and its use of chemical weapons against the Kurds, and urging the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to stop collaborating with the Turkish forces in these operations.
The mothers who came from various Kurdish-majority provinces marched behind a banner that expressed their support for the Kurdish fighters who are being targeted by Turkish forces and its proxies.
The banner read, ‘The children who defend their people are not alone, take your dirty hands off them’.
Emine Özek, member of the Silopi Peace Mothers Assembly, made a call, addressing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the KDP and all forces that collaborate with the Turkish army.
“On behalf of the Peace Mothers of Silopi, Botan, I make a call from the Ibrahim Xelil crossing, to the Barzani administration, the Barzani family, the Roj peshmergas and upon all who collaborate regarding these brutal attacks ongoing since last April, to end this dirty war against the oppressed Kurdish people, our sons and daughters,” she said.
“We, as the mothers, do not have the patience or the tolerance anymore for these incidents that have been ongoing for the last six months, as they attack our people with their troops, artillery and aircraft and drones, using chemical gases and weapons.”
As a peace mother from Siirt (Sêrt), Taybet Tekin, protested at the KDP officials for holding the funerals of the fighters killed in combat far away from and without their families, Besna Günay, a peace mother from Kızıltepe (Qoser) called upon the KDP to deliver the remains of their loved ones to the families as quickly as possible.
While the mothers made statements at a spot near the Habur crossing (Ibrahim Khalil crossing) on the Turkish-Iraqi border, they were surrounded by armoured vehicles and troops carrying automatic rifles. After the statements they marched away with slogans and zılgıt, a Kurdish exclamation of rage or suffering.
The Peace Mothers is a women’s peace and civil rights movement in Turkey, which promotes a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish Question and struggles for an end to armed conflict between Turkish armed forces and Kurdish fighters.
