ŞIRNEX - Elif Oz, 45, saw her daughter at the ceremony held in Silêmanî (Sulaymaniyah) after 12 years, said: “We want peace and tranquillity. Mothers of soldiers should also raise their voices for peace.”
Following the call of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, a group of 30 guerrillas destroyed their weapons by burning them at a ceremony held in Şikefta Casenê (Jasana Cave), in the countryside of Sulaymaniyah in the Federal Kurdistan Region.
The ceremony to destroy the weapons caused a huge stir around the world. One of the 30 members of the group who said, “We are destroying our weapons of our own free will,” was Zeynep Oz (Beritan Botan), who joined the PKK in 2013. Her mother, Elif Oz spoke about her feelings after seeing her daughter on television for the first time in 12 years.
Elif Oz said she started watching television constantly in the hope of seeing her daughter after she joined the PKK: "We knew that some guerrillas would lay down their arms before the broadcast, but it never crossed my mind that my daughter would be among them. I recognised her as soon as she appeared on the screen. Even though she was far away, I recognised her. I both cried and rejoiced. I felt both emotions at the same time. I prayed that all mothers would be reunited with their children. As mothers, we do not want anyone to die. We don't want soldiers and police officers to die. We want soldiers' mothers to come out like us and say, “Enough is enough, let there be peace, let there be no more bloodshed. Mothers' tears are one. How long will the bloodshed continue?"
“We have always wanted peace. Let there be no more tears from mothers. We don't want to go to bed every night wondering what will happen. We want peace and tranquillity," she said.
Elif Oz recalled the steps taken by Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and the PKK to achieve social peace. She concluded: "Our demand is for legal regulations to be put in place as soon as possible and for our children to be with us. If they come, everything will be better and there will be no more tears. Mothers cannot be separated from their children. After my daughter left, I never heard from her again. I watched every programme on television every day, hoping to see her. I would watch television for hours to see her, and finally I did.”
MA / Emrullah Acar