Kurdish seasonal workers who went to Sakarya to pick hazelnuts were subjected to a racist attack. The workers who returned to their homes, went to the hospital to get an assault report. Gendermerie District Command who called the headmen of the village, told that the workers had to come to the gendermerie command and give their statements. Gendermerie also blockaded the enterance of the village, banning people to get in or out.

 

Returning to their homes, the workers spoke to Mesopotamia Agency (MA).

 

THEY WERE INSULTED

 

One of the workers, Hadra Demir said they went to work happy yesterday. Demir told that the grandson of the employer insulted them and told them 'a pack of dogs'.  Stating that they left the garden after being insulted, Demir told that they followed them and attacked them physically. Demir told that their employer attacked her relative, said the attacker also punched her brother and then things got out of control. Demir said they were all assaulted and beaten up.

 

'WE CALLED THE GENDERMERIE, THEY DIDN'T SHOW UP' 

 

Referring to the statement of the Sakarya Governorship manipulating the incident, Demir said: "They said we were lying. Thank god the press revealed what happened. We called the gendermerie over and over again. They didn't show up. Then we realized that if they did show up, they were going to help them, not us. So we gave up. Demir referring to the attackers as 'fascists', said: We went there 17 days ago. They kept insulting us. They paid one day's wage for 3 days. We had to make do with it."

 

'THEY SAY THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS KURDISH'

 

Tuğba Demir who was also attacked, said they were paid 90 TL per day. Demir said: "When we told them we were going to call the gendermerie, they told us 'Call all the families of all the Kurds if you want. Call the family of the gendermerie. Gendermerie is with me, on my side. I'll walk free." Stating that this was a fascist and racist attack, Demir said: "All the people we worked for was fascists, racists. They say we are the only ones in this country. There is no such thing as Kurdish. As if they are the only ones created by god."

 

Saldırıya uğrayan Tuba Demir ise, harçlıklarını çıkarmak için Sakarya’ya gittiklerini ve günlük 90 TL’ye çalıştıklarını dile getirdi.

 

'THEY TORED THEIR CLOTHES WHEN WE CALLED THE GENDERMERIE'

 

Şilan Demir, who is clearly seen in the video served by our agency, being punched by a man said: "We were attacked when we said we were not going to accept their insults. Stating that her brothers tried to get her back in home when Kadir Cebecioğlu punched her, said the attacked continued there too. Stating that they were threatened to be burned down with their belongings if they did not leave, Demir said, 'While we were about to leave, Kadir Cebecioğlu started to tear his clothes apart. He started scratching his own face. We were shocked. He did it so he could have told the gendermerie we did that."

 

Demir stated that Kadir Cebecioğlu told them 'We will kill you if you wait. This is not Mardin. This is our homeland. The gendermerie is with us. Soldiers are with us. No one can hurt us here". Mentioning that the gendermerie asked them why they didn't wait for them, Demir said they did not wait because they were afraid of being killed and told that they will file a criminal complaint.

 

MA / Ahmet Kanbal