Vehibe Seydi Temo is 63 years old and lives in the Serêkaniyê IDP camp. The refugee camp is named after the city from which more than 200,000 people were displaced by the Turkish occupation three years ago. She had to leave everything behind, her house and possessions with her children and grandchildren. She told ANF: “We couldn't take anything with us and only had some clothes on our backs. They [Turkish troops] bombed everything indiscriminately, whether it was women or children. We left everything behind and that’s how we came to Hesekê.”

"We have nothing left"

In Serêkaniyê, the family had an orderly life, a piece of land and their own apartments. The grandmother laments: “We had our own land. We worked in agriculture, had a large family and were able to make a very good living from it. Now we have nothing left to live on. We can hardly make a living. Our house is gone. It's not even clear if it was demolished or burned, or if mercenaries now live in it.”

"We want to go back to our land"

Temo dreams of returning: “There is no situation more difficult than living away from home. It is one thing to live with your family on your own land and another to live in tents as a refugee. We have now got to know hunger and thirst. We have nothing left. Our home and our country are lost.”

"As long as ISIS and Erdoğan are in Serêkaniyê, we cannot go back"

Nevertheless, Temo does not give up her hope: "The day I return will be the happiest day of my life. All families who left Serêkaniyê are currently living in very difficult conditions. We cannot return to our homes because they are occupied. Not just me, but all families think like that. As long as ISIS and Erdoğan are in Serêkaniyê, we cannot return home. Erdoğan is massacring our children. People are attached to their land, their houses and everything that goes with it. Thousands of people have been displaced from their homes due to Erdoğan's attacks. Erdoğan came to Serêkaniyê to rob, plunder and massacre.”