BDP leaders and activists have begun an indefinite sit-in in Mardin against the continued construction of the “wall of shame” between Qamişlo and Nusaybin, reported DIHA News Agency. A second protest march also took place in the town of Uludere in the province of Şırnak. The wall currently under construction is 1.2 meters tall and topped by Concertina wire. An earlier hunger strike by the mayor of Nusaybin,  Ayşe Gökkan, was ended when the BDP leadership claimed that it had assurances from the Turkish state that construction on the wall would be halted.

The sit-in in Mardin began with a statement to the press in the garden of the Mitanni Culture and  Art Center. The co-president of the Mardin Branch of the BDP, Reşat Kaymaz, said that “neither any state nor government authorities have given any explanation concerning the wall. The government told us that the wall would not be constructed. But after we ended our death fast protest construction on the wall began again. Why isn’t the government keeping its promise?”

Kaymaz went on the stress than in the 21st Century instead of removing borders and cleaning up minefields the government was building a “wall of shame,” and that he wanted the AKP to immediately back away from these “dirty” policies. He went on to say that the wall was not only dividing Kurds but Armenian, Assyrian, Ezidi and Arab peoples as well, and that “we have exposed the state’s hypocrisy and we made the AKP take off its mask in Nusaybin. Let the government take a step back and let it be immediately saved from this disgrace.”

We are in an indefinite sit-in

Kaymaz went on to stress that everyone living in the city needed to respond democratically, and said that the until government authorities gave an official statement concerning the stopping of the wall the indefinite sit-in would continue. Kaymaz also warned that in the case that construction on the wall was not halted, more radical protests would occur. After the statement close to 200 chosen individuals began the sit-in in the garden of the Mitanni Culture and Art center. Those present frequently shouted the slogan “Em dîwar naxwazin dîwar şerme” (We do not want the wall, the wall is a disgrace).

The want to obstruct the people’s unity

In the town of Uludere in the province of Şırnak the BDP district office organized a march from the local party headquarters to the central mosque. Marchers carried posters of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and placards bearing the words “Tyrannical powers have ended up under the wall of shame,” “The Kurdish resistance will tear down the wall of shame,” “Walls cannot divide the Kurdish People” while they shouted slogans such as “Long live the YPG,” “Long Live President Apo” and “The PKK are the people and the people are here.” The co-president of the BDP district branch Yunus Ürek told the assembled crowd that “Now that borders have clearly lost their meaning, in the 21st Century in which all walls of shame that have been built to establish borders have been condemned by the people and knocked down and in which minefields have been cleared, the state is building a wall with the of obstruction the unity of the people and cutting off relations between them; however passage is open to the gangs.”

After the statement the demonstrators took part in a five minute sit-in to protest the wall and then sung the Çerxa Şoreşê march before walking back to party headquarters.

*Translation by The Rojava Report