Dilşah Özgen, who has been fighting for peace for nearly 30 years, continues to express her demand at the age of 92. Özgen, whose story is similar to that of thousands of mothers in Kurdistan, has difficulty walking and speaking due to her advanced age. Still, she has never stopped demanding peace, for which she has been detained and tried many times.
The Peace Mother, who is facing a six-year prison sentence in a case heard by the Court of Appeal, spoke to ANF about her experience and expectations of the current process seeking a solution to the Kurdish question.
“Whatever rights they have, we should have them too. Otherwise, nobody can talk about peace,” said Dilşah Özgen, drawing attention to the sacrifices made by the Kurdish people over the years. “Let there be peace, let the Kurdish people have their rights and their state. We should have our own parliament, our own spaces. So many people, so many young lives have been sacrificed—they didn’t shed their blood for an empty ‘peace’ slogan.”
Now it is the state’s turn to take a step
Dilşah Özgen emphasized that peace can only be achieved by meeting the demands of the people, not just with words: “This process cannot be achieved by simply saying ‘there will be peace’ and then sitting back and doing nothing. This process must be built on the realization of the Kurdish people’s demands. We have been fighting for peace for years. Everyone has paid a price for this cause. Most recently, they have burned their weapons; now it is the state’s turn to take a step.”
Özgen continued, “These issues must be discussed in the parliamentary commission. The people who burned their weapons and paid the price must be granted their rights. This people has paid a heavy price and suffered too much. Mothers suffered separately, young people suffered separately. Even the children of this people suffered greatly in this war. They must grant us our rights.”
We all want peace, but first they must grant us our rights
Dilşah Özgen also spoke about her losses, saying, “My village was burned down, I lost two children, and I have not been able to find the grave of my murdered husband for years. This is what we mean with justice. First, they must face what they have done, then apologize and give us back all the rights they took away from us. We have been through too much for 30 years. We all want peace, but first they must grant us our rights.”
Dilşah Özgen also criticized the government’s approach, stating: “First, they need to abandon the ‘terrorism’ rhetoric. The government should represent everyone and ensure that we live together as equals. If they don’t do this, there can be no peace. I don’t trust this government; they are only trying to deceive the people. This must stop; they must take sincere steps forward. We have suffered so much, endured so much pain. The blood of Kurdish youth is shed across every inch of this land. This blood was shed for justice, not for mere rhetoric.”
I was sentenced to prison for demanding peace
“I am a mother of peace. I was detained for demanding ‘peace,’ I was insulted, and I was sentenced to prison,” said Dilşah Özgen, recalling the attacks on her children’s graves. “The graves where our children’s bodies lie were bombed, and the gravestones were broken. We struggled to make sure that these things would not happen. We grew up saying ‘peace.’ We have suffered oppression up until today. All this struggle is to ensure that people like you and those who come after you may see and live in peace.”
She lost her husband and two sons
Dilşah Özgen, a 92-year-old mother of six whose village was burned down in the Kulp district of Amed (tr: Diyarbakır) in the 1990s, lost her son Mefair Özgen, a member of the PKK, who was wounded and captured by police in Istanbul in 1992. Mefair Özgen underwent surgery without anesthesia and died three months later. Dilşah’s husband, Fikri Özgen, was killed in an “unsolved” incident in Amed on February 27, 1997, while returning from visiting his son in Çankırı Prison. Despite all the efforts made by the family, no further information about him has been obtained. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Turkey must pay compensation to the family in a case they filed regarding the forced disappearance of Fikri Özgen. Two years after Fikri Özgen’s disappearance, in 1999, his other son, Ferdi Özgen, was killed in a clash in Sason. The containers donated by Dilşah Özgen to the cemetery in Lice were attacked with explosives during an operation in the fall of 2016, and the cemetery where her son was buried was destroyed by Turkish soldiers.