Leyla Güven: We will respond to racism in an organized manner!

Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chair Leyla Güven penned a letter to the Dedeoğulları family whose 7 members were killed as a result of a racist attack in the Meram district of Konya on July 30. The letter has been published on Jinnews.

Güven emphasized that they would “respond to these racist attacks through a national consciousness and organized state”.

Güven’s letter reads as follows:

“Are there really Kurds in Konya?

To the precious Dedeoğulları family;

First, I share your inexpressible pain and convey my condolences. We are very angry at the racist attack against you since we have suffered a lot in this country because of our identity. What did those who tormented us say? ‘We have lived together for a thousand years. We are religious fellows. We are inseparable. We live together as brothers’ and a bunch of other clichés… These words were a lie in the past, as they are so today…

We have never been genuinely brothers. Every Kurd knows this reality, but we, the Kurds of Central Anatolia, feel it better. Currently, the Turkish public debates over the refugee influx, which is used as a political tool. However, we have always been refugees. We have never been considered natives in Konya where we came to settle down about 500 years ago. We have been identified as refugees. Because we were not Turks. We weren’t from there either, yet we couldn’t say we were Kurds. It was seen as discriminatory to point that out. Therefore, uttering our Kurdishness did not seem acceptable to the locals. In recent years, those who emphasized their Kurdish identity have been accused of separatism and faced legal actions. Currently, we are being lynched in this country.

So, who were we? We were Kurds who were exiled hundreds of years ago into Central Anatolia to get assimilated. We were among those who settled down in the Cihanbeyli and Haymana regions. We were surrounded by Turks whose language and culture we did not know. We used to listen to Yerevan radio and Kurdish tapes secretly in tears. Years later, when we migrated from villages to cities, we were called Kurdish peasants and experienced the same things repeatedly. With migration to Europe, we once again ended up being refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers, and others. Despite all the disasters we went through, we always remained grateful. We have never been able to get used to allusive questions: ‘my dear, are you a Kurd? But you don’t look like Kurds at all. Don’t worry, God created you like us. Why do they say that the Kurds have tails, is that true? You are not one of the terrorists who fight in the mountains, are you?’ We grew up with such ignorant rhetoric.

Thousands of Central Anatolian Kurds who experienced and never accepted this fascistic, exclusionary language rebelled and took to the mountains. Despite all this, those who blame us irresponsibly and claim that the Kurds want to start a Kurdish-Turkish conflict are pathetic heartless people who want to distort the truth.

Those who murdered the Dedeoğulları family members in their house know very well that it is not a crime to kill a Kurd in this country. They know this from 17 thousand unidentified murders organized by the state itself. They know this from Ceylan, Uğur, Taybet Mother, Şenyaşar family and Roboski massacre. That’s why they’re so immoral. Those who endorse fascism are addicted to their boundless egos, racist mentalities and the power they have gripped. As they go downhill with anger and despair because of their crimes, they struggle in a sea of mud they have created. For this reason, they blame the Kurds for being the cause of all evil. Just as a compass needle always points to the north, the politicians from AKP and MHP are constantly pointing the finger at the Kurds. As they speak their toxic language, we are killed. As we die, they keep speaking. We say that the people should now speak, not those holding the power.

Therefore, no one should tell us that what we experience is our destiny, that it is in our nature, so we must be patient. We are not at that point anymore. We will respond to all kinds of discrimination against us by acting in concert, solidarity, national consciousness and will be organized all over the world. We also know that fascist racist attacks have taken place against Kurds in recent years, not only in Konya but also in many parts of the country. Most recently, they murdered our comrade Deniz Poyraz in Izmir, which caused great suffering to us. Every human being, not just us Kurds, should stand up to these attacks with candidness and courage. If we create a democratic, free, egalitarian and pro-woman life, everyone will be able to live in peace and tranquillity based on their own identity. This is not too difficult to achieve if we remove prejudices. Let’s act with the principles of being human.

Finally, I once again convey my condolences to the Kurdish people and the Dedeoğulları family and offer my respect to all sensitive groups and the public.”