Journalist and photojournalist Ramazan Öztürk, who has followed wars both across the Middle East and in many parts of the world, and whose photographs introduced the world to the Halabja Massacre, describes the current developments by saying, “Wherever the possibility of peace emerges, time slows down.” Öztürk has documented wars and their aftermath in 107 countries through documentary reporting.
The first part of this interview can be read here.
Ramazan Öztürk, who took some of the most widely known photographs of the Maraş Massacre, one of the largest massacres in the history of Turkey and Kurdistan, said that what he witnessed there was, in effect, a smaller version of the Halabja Massacre, and continued as follows:
“The Maraş Massacre is, given my age and what I have read, one of the most difficult events in recent history to comprehend. There have been larger massacres and bigger wars, of course. But I am speaking by comparing it to events in my own country, events that I was old enough to witness, to see with my own eyes, and to know about firsthand.
Do you know what affected me the most? We were walking through the streets; they were filled with bodies. A soldier was collecting the corpses, crying as he did so. We entered a street where the houses were old. A very elderly woman was sitting in front of her house, staring into the street with frozen eyes. There was a cross marked on the neighboring house.
I said, ‘Auntie, do you live in this house?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ I asked, ‘Are the people next door your neighbors?’ ‘Yes, my son,’ she said. ‘I have lived in this house since I was married, and we have been neighbors.’
‘So what happened to the people, auntie?’ I asked. She sighed deeply… They had lived together for centuries.
There is another thing I can never forget. There were ‘liberated zones’ in the streets. When I first arrived, there was no police, no gendarmerie. Not even 24 hours had passed since my first entry. Smoke was still rising, and the fire brigade could not reach everywhere.
I was working for Günaydın newspaper at the time. I was with colleagues from Tercüman and Hergün. They were not being harmed, those who presented themselves as nationalists, as supporters of the Nationalist Movement Party. They were going to enter the restricted zone. I said, ‘Tell them I am with you so I can enter as well.’ They agreed, and we went in. Smoke was still coming out of the houses.”
Öztürk also said: “A man with drooping moustaches met us. Pointing to a house, he said, ‘When Ecevit said in the evening that the Maraş incidents were under control, that’s when we burned this house.’ A child around nine or ten years old said, ‘Brother, brother, there’s a body here.’ I turned and looked; the man’s head had been crushed with a stone, completely flattened. After the child said this, the man who had said ‘we burned this place’ turned and kicked the child. ‘How can you call that a body? That is carrion, carrion,’ he said. I still have difficulty understanding this. After that, because of the state of mind I was in, I stopped and left, it was too much.
I went to the provincial building, where Interior Minister İrfan Özaydın was holding a press conference. He was explaining how they had ‘brought things under control.’ In that state of mind, I stood up and said this: ‘Mr. Minister, I have just come from a neighborhood where no one is entering. There, a child was kicked simply for saying, “There is a body here.” They told him, “You will not say body; you will say carrion.”’ He did not know what to say.
The collected bodies were being brought to the Maraş slaughterhouse. There were women and children piled on top of one another. Pregnant women whose bellies had been slashed with rakes, young girls… I saw all of this. I also saw some people who had been caught looting bodies. They brought one of them in. When they made him place his hands against the wall, there were five or six watches and bracelets hanging from each arm.
For me, the Maraş Massacre is a smaller Halabja Massacre.”
Time slows whenever peace is raised in the Middle East
Ramazan Öztürk shared his views on the recently launched process and said that whenever peace comes onto the agenda in the Middle East, time begins to slow.
Öztürk also said: “This process has been attempted several times before, but it collapsed each time. That is because the intention was never to achieve peace; it was about gaining political leverage and winning votes. When they realized they could not achieve that, they dismantled the process. There is a fascist and racist vein embedded in Turkey’s structure. Regardless of who is living there, a single belief and a single identity are imposed. There is a segment that holds this perception. Unfortunately, this segment also exists in the background, what we refer to as the ‘deep state.’
In the Middle East, whenever peace enters the agenda, time slows and feet begin to drag. In the end, when those who do not want peace to prevail, it becomes very easy for the process to collapse. One or two provocations are enough to turn everything upside down, and we have lived through this.
Now, with this newly launched peace process, everyone has something to say, and they are not wrong to do so. When you look at the lessons and outcomes of past experiences, you are left in a dilemma: Will it collapse again? Who is calculating what? What interests are at play? These doubts exist, and they are understandable.
What I am saying is this: once again, there are many calculations involved, but is this calculation a higher one than those before? It must be. Because if it is not, this issue cannot be resolved by a narrow calculation that leaves others crushed beneath it.”
No peace will come to the Middle East without resolving the Kurdish question
Öztürk said: “Why do I say this? Because Turkey’s most radical and most nationalist party is leading this process. For a year now, it has not taken a single step back. We know this party well, from its founding to the present day.
There is a level of thinking here that goes far beyond past attempts. Would it be bad if the issue were resolved in this way? No, it would be good. If a truly democratic system is established, if everyone gains constitutional rights, and if society shows the courage to confront its own past, this would be a very positive outcome.
In fact, taking such a radical step would only have been possible with a party like the MHP and its leader stepping forward. The AKP could not have achieved this on its own, and the CHP could not have done it either. The CHP has a strong nationalist vein within it, a solid current that views everyone as ‘Turkish.’
To conclude, alongside major developments in the world and in the Middle East, the powers that dominate the global order have realized one thing: without resolving the Kurdish issue, peace will not come to the Middle East. As time passes, everyone suffers more. As for my final view, I remain cautious about this process until legal steps are formally signed and put into effect.”