AMED - Describing Kalo, one of the Free Press workers who did not step back against death threats, pressures and attacks, his mother Mevlüde Yakut said: "He was a loyal person to his cause and his people."

 

Two years have passed since the death of Yılmaz Yakut (Kalo), one of the newspaper distributors whom he started working as a child and whom Ape Musa (Musa Anter) described as "My Little Generals". Kalo of the Free Press, who did not step back from his struggle despite the torture, oppression and kidnapping practices he was subjected to, died on January 16, 2022 due to colon cancer. Kalo, who distributed newspapers in the 1990s when newspapers were banned from entering Kurdistan and when he was only 15 years old, was arrested many times and nearly died many times due to attacks in the middle of the street. He started distributing newspapers with the Özgür Gündem newspaper and continued until 2010 with the newspapers Özgür Ülke, Yeni Politika, Demokrasi, Ülkede Gündem, Özgür Bakış, Yeni Gündem, Yeniden Özgür Gündem, Welat and Ülkede Özgür Gündem.

 

Mother Mevlüde Yakut

 

HE DID NOT GIVE UP DESPITE THE ATTACKS

 

For years, Kalo deliver newspapers to his subscribers, neighborhood by neighborhood, street by street, street by street in Amed. During the years when the entry and distribution of newspapers were banned in the city, Kalo distributed newspapers, sometimes by wearing a large coat, camouflaged in the coat and sometimes in a seed bucket.

 

On a winter day in 1993, while delivering newspapers to subscribers on Melikahmet Street in Sur (Sur) district, Kalo was attacked by Hezbollah members with cleavers and what saved Kalo was the newspapers he had hidden in his coat. Although the Yakut family migrated to Adana due to pressure and threats, Kalo did not accept their migration and returned to Kurdistan after a short time.

 

Kalo's mother, Mevlüde Yakut, told about the struggle of Kalo, who distributed his newspaper with the slogan "The truth will not remain in the dark" despite the pressure he faced for years.

 

Explaining that Kalo, who started distributing newspapers, told him "we will either be arrested or killed" two weeks later, Yakut said: "I was pouring water behind him every morning when he left the house. One day, his aunt said that Yılmaz was injured. When we went to the hospital, he had received 6 stab wounds to his body. The stab wounds did not go deep because of the newspaper he kept under his coat. His dress was torn to shreds. His clothes were in a bag. After being treated in the hospital for 15 days, he continued distributing newspapers where he left off”

Explaining that her son Yakut was detained and tortured many times, mother Yakut said: “We heard from Yılmaz two or three days after he was kidnapped. His jaw was broken due to the severe torture he was subjected to. His father took him to the hospital. I fed him food for 45 days. As soon as he recovered, he resumed his work. I was telling him not to go, but he said 'I will go because I promised'. Once, there was a rally where Nineveh Shopping Mall is located. After the rally, we heard that a panzer hit Yılmaz. So we looked for him and couldn't find him. He came home 3 days later and was covered in mud. He got angry with us and said, 'You are sitting at home and they are massacring the people. You don't know anything. They launched a panzer on the child, and I fell into the mud while trying to pull him out’”

 

Expressing that Kalo is a loyal and hard-working person, Yakut continued: “Once, they broke his teeth while being detained. He brought his broken teeth home. I said, ‘What are you going to do with your teeth?’ he answered: ‘I wouldn't even give my broken teeth to the enemy’. His feet were always purple because of the torture he suffered. He went through so many difficulties that even if I talked about it until tomorrow, it wouldn't end. It is difficult to explain these. The only thing for him was his case. He was loyal to his cause and his people.”

 

MA/ Mehmet Güleş