DÊRSİM - Freedom Marchers visited Gola Çeto, Ana Fatma and cliff of 38 in Dersim and apportioned lokma (the food shared equally among everyone after cems, offers and visits to sacred places in Alevi belief.) and burned kindling for the freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The "Great Freedom March", which was initiated with the demand for physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, continued on its 8th day with various commemorations and visits in Dersim. Marchers visited Gola Çeto, Ana Fatma and cliff of 38 throughout the day due to the month of Hızır.
LOKMAS SHARED FOR FREEDOM OF OCALAN
Speaking during the visit to Gola Çeto, Democratic Alevi Associations (DAD) executive Şükriye Ercan said: “Let our lokma be a lokma for peace in the month of Hızır. I will not explain the history of prisons in detail here. In the past, bandits were put in prisons, but today thieves and pickpockets are all outside. The people's representatives and leaders are both in prison and isolated. Today, those who should be inside are outside, and those who should be outside are inside. They changed the history of prisons. As if it wasn't enough that they imprisoned the leader of the people, they also imposed isolation. Although Mr. Abdullah Ocalan said: ‘If I play my role and mission, I can resolve this conflict in a week,’ he is not listened to. May these marches and lokmas lead to Mr. Ocalan's freedom. Mr. Ocalan must be free as soon as possible to fulfill his role and mission. We, mothers, want peace. Mothers' tears are the same. There are thousands of political prisoners and they must be released as soon as possible.”
After the speeches, lokma of Hızır was apportioned and kindlings were lit for peace.
The next stop after Gola Çeto was Ana Fatma. Here too, new kindlings were lit and lokma was apportioned. Mersin Mothers for Peace Assembly member Emine Eren said: “We light our kindlings for the freedom of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan and for peace. I hope these kindlings we lit will lead to peace. We don't want any mother to cry anymore. As mothers, we wish success to the freedom marchers.”
'THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC IS A HISTORY OF MASSACRES'
Subsequently, the region near the Munzur River, which was one of the points where the most people were massacred during the Dersim genocide in 1937-38 and was therefore known as the "cliff of 38", was visited.
Speaking here, HDK Co-Speaker and DEM Party Deputy Cengiz Çiçek said: “It is difficult for me to speak here today. Because I speak as someone who lost hundreds of family members in the Dersim Massacre. Our history is not a personal history. What happened here is the history of the Kurds. It is a history of massacre in the history of the nation-state. It is said that the Dersim massacre is a secret that everyone knows. We are the grandchildren of those who survived the massacre by chance. This history we live in shows us this; Dersim is a secret that everyone knows, why is it a secret? Everyone knows that this geography was subjected to genocide and massacres to Turkify, but they remain silent. In fact, the history of the Republic is a massacre in which Kurdish massacres are covered up. My struggle is an answer to this silence. Just as the values of those who struggle for the honor of the Kurds and for the Kurds to live freely in their own homeland are denied today, the massacre here has still been denied for decades and being used as a material for politics.”
'DÊRSİM IS KURDISH AND IT IS KURDISTAN'
Çiçek continued his words as follows: “We are calling out again from here, from this place of massacre, Dersim is Kurdish, Dersim is Kurdistan, Dersim is the ancient homeland of the Alevis. We will continue our struggle and march despite this genocidal mentality. We have not heard from Mr. Ocalan for 3 years. We commemorated Sheikh Said in Hınıs, we commemorate Seyit Rıza here. The bodies of two Kurd leaders were also lost. Just as the bodies of the Kurd leaders were lost, today they want to continue the Kurdish genocide by deepening the isolation imposed on Mr. Abdullah Ocalan. Unless this massacre mentality is held accountable, this case will continue."
'OUR MARCH WILL CONTINUE UNTIL OCALAN IS FREE'
Stating that they will fight to ensure the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Ocalan, Çiçek said: “This case will not end no matter what the cost. This march will not end until the Kurdish issue is resolved democratically and Mr. Ocalan regains his physical freedom. We will always hold our heads up and walk, just like our ancestors who fought against all attacks in Dersim and did not bow down. We will definitely win. We promise to all our lost lives, elders and values; These lands will be the capital of equality and unity, not oppression. There is a saying that says; Insisting on remaining human wherever there is organized evil, cruelty and oppression is rebellion. We are the ones who rebel against this outdated order, we will rebel, we will revolt and we will definitely hold accountable for all the massacres.”
After the speeches, carnations were left in Munzur in memory of the people who were murdered and thrown from the cliffs in 1938.