Oznur Deger

 

MÊRDÎÎN - Alye Işık, 79 years old, living in Midyad, is a brief summary of what Kurdish women go through in Kurdistan. Alye Işık, who lost two sons in the struggle for freedom and has a daughter in prison, lives alone in her house and watches for her daughter in prison.

 

Every door opens a story on the streets of Kurdistan. A pain and dried tears appear in every house. In Kurdistan, the symbol of pain and resistance, every woman is the subject of a story that is the subject of novels. Mêrdîn is one of the cities with countless stories blended with pain and resistance. 

 

While I was attending the condolence service in Midyad (Midyat) for Cihan Bilgin, a journalist who was killed by a Turkish drone in northern and eastern Syria, I was a guest at the house of a woman in her 80s living alone and spent the night there.

 

The woman, who has been living alone in her small and quite old house for many years, draws my attention with her agile behaviour despite her age. After hearing her story, I start to listen attentively and decide that it is a story that needs to be written.

 

The story I am going to tell is the story of Alye Işık, who lost her two sons in the struggle for freedom, lost her husband due to the effects of torture and has been waiting for 5 years for her only child, her daughter, to be released from prison.

 

Alye Işık has the generosity to share all the bread in her house with her guest, and the heart to rejoice when a young woman is a guest in her house.

 

When I asked Alye Işık's age, she said that she did not know, but when I looked at her identity card, I learnt that she was born on 2 February 1945 (if this is the truth).

 

Let's listen to the story of Alye Işık, who is 79 years old according to her identity card, with tears in her eyes and a cigarette in her hand, from her, whom I could hardly convince to be interviewed because she was shy.

 

She told about her childhood

 

On 2 February 1945, she was born as the second child of a family of four children in Kevseng (Dolunay) neighbourhood of Mîdyat district of Mêrdîn. Alye Işık tells that she had a beautiful childhood in the village where she spent 20 years in addition to her childhood. Stating that she used to play games with her friends as a child, Alye Işık says, "They used to make houses out of sticks and create rooms. We were always on the streets playing games, we used to play tag. Girls and boys were on the streets together. Boys played marbles, but they did not include us in their games. We used to play outside all the time."

 

Intertwined with agriculture

 

Noting that they were engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, Alye Işık said, "Village life is a labour-demanding life, but it was much better than today's life. My father had orchards. We were very interested in them. Those times were good, there was no fear. We did a lot of work as children. We had cows, we looked after them, we made milk and yoghurt from them."

 

Married off at the age of 16

 

In the village where she spent her childhood, at the request of her family, she was married off to her neighbour when she was still a child. Alya Işık, who was married off as a 16-year-old child, summarises the social norms she was affected by as follows: ‘We did whatever our father told us to do. If he told us to go there, we would go, if he told us to do this, we would do that. My father wanted me to marry my neighbour and said, ‘He is a Seyit child, he is good’. I said ‘OK’"

 

Raises 10 children

 

Alye Işık moved to Mîdyat a while after her marriage and had 10 children, 5 girls and 5 boys. Living in Mîdyat for more than 50 years, Alye Işık says that her husband was engaged in trade. Alye Işık states that they used to live on the income they earned from a shop they opened afterwards, and that they had to close the shop after the pressure they faced.

 

He couldn't describe the tortures he was subjected to

 

"No one in Turkey has been persecuted like us,” said Alye Işık, pointing to the state oppression, and began to describe her experiences hesitantly. Alye Işık said that the whole family was detained and tortured, "They raided our house and detained me, my husband, my children, my daughter-in-law and our whole family. They took us to the torture centre. They tortured us all. They were pulling my husband's fingernails, blood was flowing like water. Afterwards, my husband could not stand the torture he was subjected to, he got cancer and died. "Alye Işık, who says that she was threatened with rape and subjected to severe torture, cannot tell more.

 

For 5 years she has been looking for her daughter

 

Alye Işık's two sons joined the PKK after being subjected to pressure and torture, and her daughter is also in prison. The only child she has left with her, her daughter Filiz Işık, a former HDP district co-chair, has been held in Diyarbakır Women's Closed Prison for 5 years. For 5 years, Alye Işık has been watching for her daughter Filiz Işık, and she lights a cigarette while diving deeply into the past.  

 

Lost 2 children and says ‘peace’

 

Alye Işık summarises her experiences with the words ‘We have been martyred and imprisoned’. Alye Işık, whose two sons Seyfettin Işık (Rubar) and Erdal Işık lost their lives in the clashes, does not give up saying ‘peace’ and wants the war to end despite her age and experiences. "Neither we nor the Turks should die. Let there be peace now. We will all die one day. So why this persecution? (Recalling Cihan Bilgin's condolence) They cannot even tolerate a condolence. We have been detained, tortured and imprisoned many times. I am proud of their struggle. We do not regret anything."