p>Thousands of people who had to leave their homes in Şırnak, attacked by the state with heavy weapons for four and a half months and burned down, still refuse to leave their city and live in tents they have set up in locations close to the city center. Thousands of Şırnak residents who have settled in tents by the hilltop areas and the river bed in İkizce, Toptepe, Konutlar, Segirik, Su Deposu and Cifane regions are determined to never leave their city no matter what happens. Thousands of people face very harsh conditions in the tents they have set up and they overcome these hardships with the solidarity network built by the DBP led Şırnak province and district municipalities. Thousands of Şırnak residents living in tent cities for four and a half months want an end to the curfews and attacks, and to return to their city.

Mehmet Şükrü Katar, Naciye Budak, Hanım Yatman and Aziz Üstek who live in tent cities talked about life in the tents and their resolve in resistance to the ANF.

“WE WILL LIVE ON STONES BUT WE WILL NOT LEAVE THIS LAND”

Mehmet Şükrü Katar pointed out the hardships in living in tents and said they had issues with water and power, and they can’t reach anyone. Katar said 4 or more families live in one tent and that they have faced serious problems for longer than 4 months but they still won’t leave their city.

Katar said they watched the city day and night and lost sleep over it when they first came to the Konutlar region that overlooks the city from above, and that it pained them a lot to watch their city being burned down day and night in front of their eyes. Pointing out that the state forces had begun actually burning houses recently, Katar said this was completely unjust and illegal.

Katar expressed that what they know about events in Şırnak was limited to what they could see from their location and said they could guess an even greater destruction and violence going on down below. Katar continued: “We want to go home as soon as possible. We are here and we are not leaving Şırnak no matter what happens. We will live on stones if we have to, we will lay on the ground, but we won’t leave this land.”

“WE OVERCOME PROBLEMS TOGETHER”

Naciye Budak lives in the tents with her 6 children, and said the hardship they suffered was great, but nothing would be harder than being away from Şırnak for them. Budak said they never considered leaving their land after they had to leave their home and continued: “We don’t have any income here, we suffer hardship, but we overcome our problems together in solidarity and we will not leave.”

“WE WILL BUILD AGAIN, OUR PEOPLE SHOULD SUPPORT US”

“We have nowhere else to go,” said Aziz Üstek, and stated that they will return to Şırnak to rebuild their life once the curfews and the attacks are over. Üstek emphasized that the burning down of the city won’t make them give up Şırnak, and said they can rebuild a new life in every inch of Şırnak, but they will never leave this land. Üstek said it “obviously wasn’t easy” to live in tents, but their priority was to live freely in their own land. Üstek called for solidarity from the Kurdish people and expressed that together they will win for certain, and the Kurdish people should continue their support.

“I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH CRUELTY BEFORE AT MY OLD AGE”

70 year old Hanım Yatman said what they went through was very hard, and she hadn’t seen such cruelty before in all of her 70 years. Yatman said the AKP government pushed them away from their homes and killed their children, and that this cruelty would “not go unpunished”. Yatman said she watched the burned down city every day and she cried, and she continued: “But whatever happens, we will die in these lands. We don’t have a chance to go live somewhere else. We will resist here, and we will have our freedom here.”