ŞIRNAK - Halime İnan, daughter of Taybet İnan who was shot by special forces in front of her house during the curfews in Silopi and left there for a week after she died, said she believes those responsible will be held to account one day.
It has been 6 years since the curfew declared by the governorship on December 14, 2015 in the Silopi district of Şırnak. While the people of Şırnak have been trying to heal their wounds in these last 6 years, the pain that has been experienced preserves its place in the memories like yesterday. In Silopi, where the curfew lasted 38 days, the blockade of the state lasted for 308 days. According to the report prepared by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), 68 people aged between 11 and 75 died between July 2015 and October 2016. More than 500 houses were destroyed.
57-year-old Taybet İnan was one of those killed in that process. The dead body of İnan, who was killed by the special forces with 10 bullets on her body while returning from her neighbor's house on the 5th day of the ban in the district, was kept lying on the street for 7 days. Inan's brother-in-law, Yusuf Inan, was shot in the courtyard of his house while trying go get her inside was also shot and left lying on the street for 20 hours. He bled to death. Taybet İnan's husband Halit İnan was also shot trying to het to his wife, lying on the street. The body of Taybet İnan who was left on the street for 7 days became a symbol of the brutality people suffered in the region. The state officials allowed the family to collect her body from the street after seven days but allowed only her two sons and brother to participate in her funeral.
While her family was still grieving the death of Taybet İnan, they recieved the news of the death of Taybet İnan's daughter, Heznê İnan (22). The body of Heznê İnan that was set on fire with numerous people in a basement in Cizre was released to her family after 5 months.
BOTAN AND ESMER WAS SLAUGHTERED
Taybet İnan who suffered the oppression of the state whole her life lost her two children in 1993. Her 3-year-old son Botan and 12-year-old daughter Esmer was killed as a result of a military object that exploded while they were playing in a field in Cudi neighborhood. 5 more children also died in that explosion. Taybet İnan looked for the body parts of her children for three days after the explosion. İnan who collected the body parts of 7 children into a bag, buries all of them in one grave. Taking her place in the struggle in order to stop other children being killed like that, İnan was also a victim of an 'unsolved' attack.
DO NOT MOURN
Taybet İnan's daughter Halime İnan underlined that they will never forget the persecution they were subjected to and reminded what her mother said before she was killed, telling about the day she died: "A few days before she was murdered, she came to our house. She said 'Wake up, can't you see, there is a great war!'. She turned to me and said, 'Everyone's gone. Do not mourn if I die'. Then she was shot. She was lying in the middle of the street and they were firing at people who tried to grab her and pull her inside. I saw her lying motionless in the middle of the street, it was like she was sleeping. It was like she wasn't dead yet. I tried to approach to her to take her from their with a white flag in my hand three times. They fired at me everytime. Even the white flag in my hand was fired at. There is a bullet whole in the middle of it."
I LOST MY MOTHER AND SISTER THE SAME WAY, IN THE SAME WEEK
Stating that her mother and three siblings were killed in the same way and by the same people, İnan said: "I don't want to walk through that street. I don't want to see that street. I have to stay here because the rest of my family is here. My sister was killed in a basement in Cizre the same week. We waited for her body to be released to us or months. Her grave was a 100 meters away from my mothers but we didn't know it was hers. There was a number on it and they engraved the word 'derelict' on it. When we gave a blood sample for the DNA test, she matched. She was 100 meters away from where my mother was buried. She came back to my mom, but none of them were alive."
BODIES OF ESMER AND BOTAN WAS FOUND FOUR DAYS LATER AS WELL
Stating that just like her mother, the bodies of her two siblings were left on the ground for 4 days, İnan said: "The bodies of 7 children that died as a result of a military object that exploded was buried in one grave and in pieces. Their bodies lied on that field for days while birds of prey flew around. My mother saw these birds and found my siblings and the other 5 children. She collected all the body parts she could find and buried all of them in one grave."
'I WILL TAKE OVER HER STRUGGLE'
İnan said: "All of these things I told are like a nightmare. But I believe that those who are responsible or these crimes will one day be held to account and justice will be served. I will take over my mother's struggle and continue until the day I die."
MA / Zeynep Durgut