ŞIRNAK - The house of Ebubekir Yağarcık who had to migrate to Cizre because his village was evacuated by the Turkish soldiers in the 90's was raided 111 times. Yağarcık who has been tortured, detained and arrested multiple times said: "The state never allowed itself to be forgotten but I never kneeled before them."

 

Yağarcık migrated to the Cizre district of Şırnak during 90's. The house of Yağarcık located in the Cudi neighborhood has been raided by the police 111 times so far. Ebubekir Yağarcık who had to move a lot to avoid these raids, spoke to Mesopotamia Agency (MA) and said: "I will never forgive what the Turkish state have done to us."

 

TORTURED AND ELECTROCUTED FOR 8 DAYS

 

Stating that he was jailed for 13 months when he was first detained, Yağarcık said: "They were attacking the Kurds from all sides back in the 90's. I was held in prison for 13 months when I was first taken into custody. Again, in 1993, my house was raided and I was tortured for 2 hours. They electrocuted me for 8 days. They starved me for 8 days. I had done nothing. I was innocent. There were no evidence against me proving I was 'guilty'. I was arrested with the accusation of 'aiding and abetting a terrorist organization' and sent to Diyarbakır High Security Prison with 12 other people. They put 7 of us in a cell. We were afraid. They could have killed us and get away with it. We had to raise our voices in order not to be killed. I banged on the doorof the cell non stop. The people I was arrested with me asked me what I was doing. I told them they would kill us if we didn't make some noise and we had to make some noise to survive. I was released after 3 months."

 

EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY HAS BEEN DETAINED AT LEAST ONCE

 

Explaining the systematic police raids, Yağarcık said: "All of my children have been detained at least once. From my 20-year-old son to 8-year-old daughter. Everytime they broke down our door and stormed our house and tried to make us kneel. I have never kneeled before them. Not even once."

 

THEY MADE MY SON WAIT NAKED IN THE RAIN

 

Pointing out that his son was made to wait in the rain naked during a raid, Yağarcık said: "They stripped my son and made him wait under the rain. I was very angry, I told them 'Kill him but don't do that'. I hope God never forgets this either. During a raid in 2020 I asked the police chief, "You have raided and searched my house 111 times. You have never found anything. Why are you doing this?" I told them this was a shame for Turkey. I will never forgive and never forget what Turkey has done to me. And the state never allows us to forget it anyway."

 

Stating that he will never forget what the state done to his family, Yağarcık said: "My whole life has been spent with these bad things. Now I am 90 years old. The only thing I want to see in my life is peace and tranquility. What I want from the Kurds is that they never give up on being Kurdish. They should speak Kurdish, fight back in Kurdish. I Turkish state can never be clean and good for me after all these persecution, bloodshed and massacres. Even Nemrud did not do to his people what the state had done to the Kurds. I will never forgive them."

 

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut