It has been 9 years since the curfew in Silopi district of Şirnex (Şırnak), which was declared on 14 December 2015 and lasted for 38 days. At least 68 people were killed in Silopi, which was blockaded for 308 days with the curfew. According to the report prepared by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) at the time, 68 people aged between 11 and 75 died between July 2015 and October 2016. More than 500 houses were destroyed.

 

One of those killed in Silopi was 57-year-old Taybet İnan. On 19 December 2015, special operation police fired at her on the street and her relatives were not allowed to take her body for 7 days. On the 5th day of the curfew, Taybet İnan was killed with 10 bullets while she was returning from her neighbourhood. Her son-in-law Yusuf İnan who wanted to help her was shot in the courtyard of his house and was kept wounded for 20 hours and died of blood loss. Taybet İnan's husband Halit İnan was also wounded while trying to take the body. The fact that Taybet İnan's body was kept on the street for 7 days and 7 nights is remembered as a symbol of the brutality of that period. Only her 2 sons and brother were allowed to attend Taybet İnan's funeral.

 

SHE LEARNT THAT HER MOTHER WAS MURDERED ON TELEVISION

 

Azime Tunç, who learnt about the death of her mother Taybet İnan from television, said: "I was in Şirnex when curfews were declared in Silopiya. After the curfew was lifted in Silopiya, we came to Silopiya. We were watching and learning about the developments there on television. I thought, 'They won't do anything to civilians', I never thought that people sitting at home would be massacred. One day it was 02.00 at night. I couldn't sleep. Then I called my sister, they answered, I asked, 'Did something happen right away?' They answered, 'Nothing, nothing happened.' I asked, 'If nothing happened, why are you awake until this time?' They told me, 'Mother wounded in the leg, but she is fine. My mother's body was left on the street for 7 days, but I was never informed about it."

 

Azime Tunç said that her husband and children knew about the incident, so they did not switch on the television and prevented her from accessing the internet, and that she could not reach her family in Silopya because the electricity was cut off and their phone batteries were dead. Azime Tunç said that she learnt about the incident when she found an opportunity to access the internet.

 

'I PUT A KISS FOR EACH CHILD'

 

Azime Tunç, who said that she sewed her mother's shroud with her hands and washed her mother's lifeless body, said: "I looked at and touched my mother's wounds. Her wounds were not serious. If they had taken her to the hospital, she was alive and among us. She lost her life because she lost a lot of blood. When they brought my mother's body to Şirnex, I welcomed her. I sewed my mother's shroud with my hands. Only my brother came with my mother's body. No one was allowed to come with him. They even forbade my family to come with the funeral. But I said, 'I will meet my mother no matter what.' A woman had come to wash my mother's body. There was an MP from Şirnex there, and said to the people there, 'How can her daughter come and wash her mother? MP got angry and said that I should not wash her. But I washed my mother. I kissed my mother 12 times. I didn't wet my mouth for 4 days and I didn't take anything in my mouth. I was saying 'I can smell my mother's smell from my mouth'. I sewed my mother's shroud. But 9 years have passed and whenever I pass by this street, I always remember those days. My mother's wound is still on this street. I don't come to my father's house unless I have to, because every time I do I feel as if I lived yesterday. I will never forget. My mother's wounds will always be in front of my eyes. I saw those wounds once and I will never forget them."

 

Azime Tunç reminded that those who murdered her mother have still not been put on trial and continued: "The thing that bothered me the most was that those who murdered my mother lifted and brought my mother's funeral with their dirty hands. They kidnapped her body and then buried it. We know those who murdered my mother. But they are not held accountable and they are still among us. They called my mother a terrorist. How can a 60-year-old mother with 12 children be a terrorist? I get angry even when I hear the word justice, because this justice has never come to us. What justice will they provide for a person they killed? My mother had 12 children. How can someone murder such a woman?"

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut