MARDIN - While Kurdish artists detained in Mardin were accused of organizing children's activities, Artist Vesile Yüksel said that she was subjected to strip search by the police while her house was being raided.

 

45 people were detained in house raids in Mardin and its districts on November 27. Gradually, 45 people, including Peace Mothers, politicians, union leaders, artists and citizens, were released. Those detained were accused of political, cultural activities and their activities in various trade unions after 2014. Abdullah Ayav, Vesile Yüksel, Kudret Uçuk and Ruken Aslan, members of the Mesopotamia Culture and Art Association were accused of the children's activities and songs sung in Mardin and its districts recently.

 

While a strip search was imposed on Artist Vesile Yüksel while her house was being stormed, other members of the association was forced to be a spy in their circles. The artist applied to the Mardin Branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD) regarding this imposition. Artists Yüksel and Ayav talked about their experiences during the house raid and detention.

 

STRIP SEARCH

 

Vesile Yüksel, who was subjected strip search in her home, noted that their house was raided at around 06:00 in the morning, and that nearly 30 special operations police stormed the house where she was staying with her 2 children. Expressing that a strip search was imposed despite her objections after the house search, Yüksel stated that the police said that they will strip search her no matter what she says, adding, "And they did strip search me and in a very inhumane way. They said they were suspicious. Then they took me outside and put on handcuffs for all to see. There is a great pressure and isolation in prisons. Due to the silence of the society, now we are being strip searched in our own homes. This silence must end. Tomorrow it will be done to others. It will be done on the streets. We have to raise our voice against it."

 

'KURDISH IS BANNED FOR US'

 

Stating that she was accused of organizing children's activities accompanied by clowns while she was in custody, Yüksel said, “They detained us for organizing children's event. That's a shame. Everyone is doing activities for children. Why are we being detained? Schools were closed for the last two years, everyone was at home because of the pandemic. We wanted to help the children and thought why wait for the children to come to us, when we can go to them? Let children grow up with their own culture. Prostitution and drugs are getting more common day by day. We wanted to warn people from childhood so that they would not be harmed. Everyone speaks Kurdish. Turkish artists sing in Kurdish, the President speaks Kurdish, but we are banned from speaking our own mother tongue. They don't want us to own our culture."

 

'THEY HAVE NO TOLERANCE FOR OUR CHILDREN'

 

Stating that they were detained without any tangible reason and that they knew what the purpose was, Ayav stated that they were carrying out cultural and artistic activities and said, “We were detained because of the activities we organised for children. This is ridiculous. We learned that we were detained because of the song 'Awazek Te'. They accused us because the lyrics contain the word Kurdistan. They claimed that we are propagandizing for a terrorist organization because the lyrics contains the word Kurdistan. We were not shocked. We were neither laughing nor sad. Because we know that this will not be the first nor the last. That is their approach to Kurdistan. Neither the name of an organisation nor a party was mentioned in the lyrics. Only Kurdistan. There is a child there. There is a clown. There is a game. There is a program. They have no tolerance for an activity for the Kurdish children. They want us to abandon our children and our language and our culture. We will not." 

 

MA / Ahmet Kanbal