The Turkish state policy of invasion pushing Kurds 30 kilometers south of the border was imposed on the Assyrians who were deported to Syria by the Turkish state a hundred years ago.

From Hakkari to Til Temir...

During the Seyfo massacre, Bünyamin Îşo Yuhanna, whose family was first deported to South Kurdistan from the Geliyê Tiyarê (Kazan Valley) in Çelê (Çukurca) district of Colemêrg (Hakkari), later settled in Serêkaniyê and eventually moved to Til Temir.

Underlining that the same policy is imposed on Kurds today, Bünyamin Îşo Yuhanna, said that the hatred shown to the people of the region forced through genocide by the Turkish state has never ended and that today Turkey wants Kurds to live what the Assyrians have lived.

"We are from Hakkari. - said Yuhanna - The Ottoman Empire published an edict forcing our family to emigrate to Iraq. Then some of us come to Serêkaniyê."

The 30 Kilometer obsession of the Turkish state

After settling in Serêkaniyê it was not all nice for the Assyrians as the Turkish state put pressure on France, which then ruled Syria, to expel the Assyrians from the border. "The Turkish state would not accept us to be on the border. - said Yuhanna - France stated that we could not stay in Serêkaniyê and settled us along the Habur water from Til Temir to Hesekê 30 kilometers away from the border."

Yuhanna who is from the village of Til Hürmüz near the Habur water, also witnessed the attacks of ISIS mercenaries against the Assyrian villages of Habur on 23 February 2015.

Yuhanna said that the Turkish state is the partner of ISIS- "When they attacked that night, the Turkish state had opened the dam covers."

Yuhanna, who survived by hiding behind a tree during ISIS attacks, said: "In the evening I crawled and I reached the forces of YPG that had arrived. They said they would send me to Hesekê. But I said no. I stayed with YPG for 3 months. I lived with them. Then our village was liberated."

'My place is here'

Following the ISIS attacks and massacres, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Armenians had emigrated, and Yuhanna said that his relatives insisted that he migrate tooo. But he said: "I have no place to go, this is my place. I did not go."

Yuhanna said that Turkey wants to destroy Kurds as it destroyed the Assyrians, Armenians, Chaldean. "Look what they are doing to Serêkaniyê. They destroyed all the houses. They steal and plunder people's properties. The Turkish state is evil. The world should say stop that. But no one makes a sound. When they slaughtered us, no one say anything."