‘The things denied in life, are also denied in death’

27/10/2015 | Writer: Gökhan C.

Representatives from Kaos GL Association, Hacı Bektaş Veli Anatolian Cultural Association and People’ Bridge Association, discussed about dying as the others and the ways to fight with.

The second session of the symposium of ‘’Our Lost Ones and Us // Dying As The Other’’ organized by Kaos GL Association, Hacı Bektaş Veli Anatolian Cultural Association and People’s Bridge Association, started with the speeches from Peace Mothers in İzmir İsmet İnönü Culture and Art Center.

Behiye Yalçın who speaks on behalf of İzmir Peace Mothers, she said ‘’ I have been trying to find the bones of my child. I have been trying for years, yet I have not found.’’

To remind the ones we lost in Ankara and Suruç Bombing, she indicated ‘’ They bombed our children, who were seeking nothing but peace. They only wanted peace. The ones who were going to Suruç, bombed on the road. Those all only for 400 members of congress.’’

‘’Prime minister have spoken correctly for the first time’’

Yalçın who said ‘’Tears have no diversity’’ continued to her speech by stating all kinds of ferocity are being tried upon Kurdish nation:

‘’Whole world witness this cruelty but no one bestow hand on us. I don’t know whom we have hurt. We just want to live like everyone else, like a human being. It’s enough, down with this war. We have been saying down with war for years, but our children are being bombed by tanks, aircrafts, and mortars. Peace mothers are taken into custody. They think they can exterminate us with those but they are only creating atmosphere of enmity and hatred. What we are trying is to destroy this enmity and hatred. What for they are pushing us so hard? When Prime Minister said ‘’ We root for the underdog’’ he said the truth. That’s right. The only correct words he have spoken for the very first time.’’

Yalçın who burst out crying, expressed her emotions ‘’I wish I could find the bones of my child, so that there would be a grave which I could say my prayer.’’

After the Yalçın’s speech, under the moderation of Aylime Aslı Demir from Kaos GL Association, ‘’How We Are Living’’ session started. In this session, Ercan Geçmez from Hacı Bektaş Veli Anatolian Cultural Association, Ali Erol from Kaos GL Association and Zeynep Altın from People’ Bridge Association, took part.

‘’People’ Bridge Association and their works’’

Zeynep Altın talked about the works of People’ Bridge Association. Altın who said the association established to create bridges between nations, ‘’At the last period, we feel that working for refugees is a must.’’ Altın, after mentioning the works they put in the field are mostly related for İzmir, stated ‘’ Immigration to İzmir will continue because İzmir is a transition area to Europe, a part of the refugees work as farm laborer for half of the price.’’

Altın, afterwards, talked about the campaign of ‘’Open the doors, frontiers of the İzmir Expo to refugees.’’

‘’Born as Alevi, Bury as Sunni’’

General President of Hacı Bektaş Veli Anatolian Cultural Association, Ercan Geçmez started his speech with those words: ‘’There are two ceremonies I remember in Sivas since my childhood, one of them is funeral and the other one is wedding.’’ He continued his speech after mentioning there is not death in Alevism but only cycle:

‘’To make this cycle eternal, we share legacy, we mourn, we Jem. I learnt the discrimination when I was in first school. Our religious culture and moral knowledge teacher said that all our ceremonies are invalid. He humiliated a faith which holds no place for death but cycle. That’s exact point when I learnt about being the other.’’

‘’Alevis realized that they were being buried as a Sunni when they came to city. Alevis who no longer lived in villages, had to go to mosques. In mosques we are not allowed to perform our ceremonies, we had to do a second ceremony in our homes.’’

Geçmez, when he was doing his military service, he stated that soldiers who fallen in military, were taken to mosques, and he shared an experience:

‘’We lost our branch chairman when he was trying to save a turtle. His son was in jail and they gave him permission to participate his father’s funeral. Under the condition that soldiers that escorting him would not go to Cemevi, emptying the Cemevi and the return of the prisoner as soon as possible.’’

‘’The last ones on the stage’’

Last speaker Ali Erol from Kaos GL Association, mentioned ‘’ This system which thinks giving us survivability is a favour, is being built on those ideas. After the forced migration of Rums and Armenians, we weren’t included in the project of nation-state.’’ And he continued:

‘’We are the last ones on the stage as lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals. Just as this state throws the Kurdish people out of stage because of nation-state, just as this state throws the Alevis out of stage because of their creed, LGBTI people are being thrown out of the stage, because of state’s sexual regime. ‘’

Erol by mentioning their works to achieve the usurped rights of LGBTI people, he stated ‘’ Once we were being denied, now we are at the process of recognition against the ones who think we as sick, criminal, sinner people. Erol mentioned their works as a horizontal relationship with Alevism and Kurdish nation in terms of their own formal ideology and he added: ‘’No fraction can liberalize as single. What are the touch points of liberation between Alevis and Kurdish people, Kurdish people and women, women and LGBTI people?’’

Erol as to express LGBTI people’s struggle between denial and extermination, ‘’The things denied and exterminated in life, of course will be denied in death. In our struggle that continues for twenty years, we have reached a point where even our lost ones cannot achieve tranquility. At funeral house of our friend, neighbors are calling police because there is a rainbow flag. No matter how much distance there is between Alevis, Kurdish people and LGBTI people, the system sees us as in the same box. So we need to focus on the focus on the campaign of being commemorated with our names, with equality.

Tags: life