The 9th FilmAmed Documentary Film Festival in Diyarbakır (Amed) continues. One of the films shown was Bîra Sûrê (The Memory of Sur), which sheds light on the destruction that followed the curfews declared in Diyarbakır’s historic Sur (Sûr) district in 2015-2016. Directed by journalist Azad Altay, the film was screened at the Çand Amed Congress Center. The screening was attended by Democratic Regions Party (DBP) co-chair Keskin Bayındır, Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan, representatives of political parties and civil society organizations, as well as many others.
The crowd, which could not fit into the hall, watched the film with great interest and chanted “Şehîd namirin” (“Martyrs are immortal”) at the end. Afterward, Azad Altay gave a short speech and said: “When we started this work, making a documentary was not on our minds. We were going there with friends for news coverage. Then, every time we went, we saw that a piece of Sur’s history was being torn away, that Sur’s memory was being targeted. We wanted to make sure this Sur would not be forgotten. I do not know how much we succeeded, but making such a work was a good step. Even though we call this film ‘The Memory of Sur,’ this memory is the memory of the Kurdish people and of Kurdistan.”
Altay also thanked the journalists and media outlets who contributed to the making of the documentary.
Now the responsibility is ours
Keskin Bayındır took the floor afterward and said: “This documentary is the history of the Kurdish people and of Kurdistan. We have endured suffering, but at the same time our spirit has always deepened and flourished in this land. We saw this reflected in the documentary. We also commemorate the nameless and not buried martyrs of Sur. Mr. Azad has given us a message. Today, the surroundings of Sur are like the Diyarbakır prison. They try to impose this on us, and saying: ‘This is how your life will be, according to us.’ But the Kurdish people, those who love this land, gave their lives for it. Just as there was a historic resistance in the Diyarbakır prison, around Sur, we will also remember our resistance, our struggle, our memory. We will strive to recreate what Sur was, what Kurdistan was. With this documentary, our friends have shown us a path; now the responsibility rests on our shoulders.”
They turned Sur into a prison
After the speeches, a question-and-answer session was held. Later, Peace Mother Meryem Turan presented a plaque to Azad Altay. Mother Turan said: “Sur was the history of Kurdistan. That is why they said, ‘Let’s turn this history into a prison.’ Today they have turned Sur into a prison for us. We look at Sur as if it were a prison. Kurdish children lost their lives in Sur. I commemorate the martyrs of Kurdistan. Let peace come to this country, and may Kurdish children no longer fall as martyrs. We do not want either Kurdish or Turkish children to die. They burned the Kurdish villages and cities, yet the Kurds still said, ‘We want peace.’ The president of the Kurdish people (Abdullah Öcalan) said, ‘Let us bring peace to this country so that no one will fall as a martyr anymore.’ The state has still not taken a step toward this. They said, ‘Let Öcalan come and speak in Parliament.’ Let the president of the Kurdish people come and speak.”
After the screenings, voting was carried out in ballot boxes set up for the audience to select the award-winning film.