AMED - Stating that migration continues in the cities hit by the earthquake, Veysel Moray from the Mezopotamya Migration Monitoring and Research Association emphasized that non-governmental organizations must produce solution-oriented policies against this situation.

 

According to official figures, 50 thousand 783 people lost their lives in the 7.8 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023, centered in Mereş, while millions of people living in the cities affected by the disaster had to migrate. 

According to the data of the Migration Policy Application and Research Center, 2.2 million people left their region of residence in the first week of the earthquake. On March 1, 2023, this number reached 3 million 300 thousand.

 

Veysel Moray, director of the Mezopotamya Migration Monitoring and Research Association, said that the government, taking the earthquake as an opportunity, is trying to change the demographic structure of the cities.

 

DISPLACEMENT POLICY 

 

Stating that they followed the migration mobility in the field on behalf of the Migration Monitoring and Research Platform during the earthquake, Moray said: “The people in Amed healed on their own, reacted quickly and built solidarity networks quickly. This was not possible in other places. As of the first week of March, we went to earthquake regions and saw that those responsible could not produce the necessary solution and were insufficient to meet the necessary needs. We witnessed in the field that a policy of displacement was implemented because the memory of what happened was not wanted to be transmitted to the next generations. We diagnosed this through one-on-one interviews. Days after the earthquake, the necessary attention and solution were not shown to the places in the center, and the destruction in Kurd-Alevi villages was also ignored. People couldn't even reach a blanket. This was also a practice of marginalization."

 

‘TURN CRISIS INTO AN OPPURTUNITY’ 

 

Pointing out that migration policies similar to the 90s were experienced in the Kurdistan region, Moray said: “The situation of changing the demographic structure of the geography has developed. The state mind tried to turn the crisis there into an opportunity. We saw this policy with the buses brought to earthquake areas, as if smuggling goods from the fire: 'Whoever wants to go to Istanbul can take this bus, whoever wants to go to Antalya can take this bus...' In other words, there were directions to metropolises that memory can grind. We know this memory from the village burnings and evacuations in the early 90s. We especially know that our people who go there are in a position to attack the pressures they experience in the neighborhoods they form together, the results of assimilation, and the dangers of cultural degeneration. The effort to put people on buses with their pain and send them to metropolises is a clear indication that they want to change the demographic structure of that region."

 

REDESIGN DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE

 

Moray said: “Especially in the Kurd-Alevi regions (Maraş, Adıyaman, Malatya), there were cases of sending people to Europe quickly, without any issues, and without requiring a visa. The way was opened for travel to Canada and Europe. In that emotional collapse, we saw that the state power created the opportunity to get rid of the issues of the society and shape and redesign the demographic structure according to its own wishes."

 

Reminding that displacement policies in Kurdistan date back to the time of the Eastern Reform Plan, Moray said: “Settlement policies will be our starting point. That mentality, which knew that it could not change the demographic structure of this place as much as it wanted since then, knew that it could do this very easily in such a crisis. And they have the tools to do it. In order not to appear to the world press as 'they committed a massacre', they designed the consequences by placing the responsibility more on the natural disaster."

 

'CULTURE OF SOLIDARITY'

 

Referring to the calls for migration made in Amed, Moray continued as follows: "Amed was specifically wanted to be evacuated due to its political identity and its position of guiding other provinces. Whatever its name, a reflex that emerges from here will echo to all other cities and metropolises of Turkey. In terms of that issue, it is important that Amed is wanted to be evacuated. In the 90s, villages were burned, animals were killed, people were massacred, unsolved murders, etc. They wanted to be removed from this region as much as possible.

 

But the culture of solidarity here, the understanding of complementing each other, did not change when it came from villages to cities. That's where being political comes from. There were calls for the people of Amed to come to Antalya. The call made by the institutions at that time was due to this very concern. Being aware of the effort to evacuate these places using an earthquake disaster as an excuse was exactly what institutions that analysed the needs of the society would do. Amed managed to heal it’s wound quickly here. Amed showed an example of solidarity that reached even unknown villages where destruction occurred.”

 

'THEY WANT GET RID FROM THE KURDS'

 

Emphasizing that migrations are continuing, Moray concluded his words as follows: “We announced data in the past months, there is a migration of nearly 6 thousand per month. 90 percent of these immigrants are Kurds. Even though this policy has changed its form and method, it is the same policy; To clear the region of Kurds. To separate the Kurds from the lands created by the Kurds. There is coercion to leave the country, there is psychological and political violence. Even if they see getting out of here as a solution, this land needs us. We must keep the culture of solidarity alive as much as possible and create a Kurdish youth mind that will be enlightened with a collective consciousness. 

 

WE MUST TAKE CARE OF OUR HISTORY

 

It is necessary to show resistance to keep ourselves alive in order not to lose our history, our culture, our land, and the place where our roots that makes us who we are. Our friends here should also find a way and method to stay here as much as possible. Non-governmental organizations can lead the way. The constant implementation of trustee policies in these cities is also a policy of displacement. As we go to local elections, it is necessary to analyse immigration policies well and implement practices that can produce solutions together with associations working on this issue."

 

MA / Eylem Akdağ