Mîr Celadet Bedirxan Library in Silopi continues to serve students against all odds

One of the 6 municipalities remaining under the management of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) due to the appointment of trustees is Silopi District Municipality, in Şırnak. Co-mayors Adalet Fidan and Süleyman Şavluk, who took over the municipality with a debt of 133.5 million TL, continue to serve the public despite the obstacles they face. One of these services is the “Pirtukxanêya Mîr Celadet Bedirxân” (Mîr Celadet Bedîrxan Library), which was opened within the scope of the promise given to young people. The library, which was opened in July, is the place for students to read, study and prepare for university.

Located on Art Street and containing 1,600 works on history, literature, philosophy, culture and language, the library provides an environment where 34 students can work at the same time.

Noting that the population of the district exceeds 104 thousand officially and 130 thousand unofficially, Silopi Municipality co-mayor Süleyman Şavluk said that they constantly receive migrants from the surrounding areas because they are a border province. He added that the number of young people who read is constantly increasing also because of the new migrant population and said that the library premises are actually small as there is a need for a place where students can easily work and access books. Şavluk said: “Our families are crowded. Our students may not have the opportunity to work at home. As a municipality, we wanted to provide both a study environment and a library in order to provide our students with the best opportunity to study.”

Şavluk explained why the name of the library is Mîr Celadet Ali Bedîrxan: “The first job of the trustee appointed to the Siirt Municipality was to have the Celadet Ali Bedîrxan Library demolished. Trustees want to make people forget the names that have history and identities. We wanted to keep this history and name alive by opening a library with the same name in our district.”

Preparations for an additional library

Reminding that the library is open between 8:00 and 17:00, 7 days a week, Şavluk said that dozens of students benefit from the library every day. Stating that more than 300 students benefited from the library in a short period of one and a half months, Şavluk said that there are preparations for an additional library to serve more young people and students. Şavluk underlined that the municipality will continue to work in the fields of culture, language and education.

Aynur Yesugey, the 26-year-old director of the library, said: “Dozens of middle and high school students come here every day. At the same time, students who are preparing for the university exam come. The number of students is increasing by the day. We are doing our best to provide them with a suitable working environment.”

Aysel Yesugey (20), who is preparing for university, said that she comes to the library at 8:00 every day and studies until late. Stating that she benefited from both the work environment and the books in the library, Yesugey said that if the library would offer a teacher to help them while studying it would be a great advantage.