Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RwISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
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By Sinan Vdmaz
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- Violent conditions that have dominated
the eastern and southeastern regions of Anatolia for
the past several years have led to the migration of villagers
seeking safer ground in the western portion of
the country. .
One of the areas being settled is Beypazan, a district
located 105 kilometers outside of Ankara where
approximately 50 families from the Mardin area are
struggling to survive under harsh conditions in tents
constructed from plastic and wood pieces.
Because of the poor living standards, the population
in the district ISconstantly in flux. Since the flfst
families arrived five years ago, the municipality has
failed to provide the Kurdish immigrants with anything
but electricity.
Together with a delegation consisting of representatives
from the privately-run Turkish Human Rights
Association (HRA) and the Tum Saglik Union, we
visited the settlement that is identified as Camp Zeli
by the local resident of Baypazan.
First, we were invited to see the "best" dwelling in
the camp. The hut, identified as the "village mansion,"
was considered to be the most luxurious shelter
in the whole settlement. The settlers, consisting pri-
~arily of shoddily clothed wo~en ~nd children,
seemed unaffected by the surrounding dm and filth:
The Kurdish families living in Camp Zeli had
migrated mainly from the villages of Yukariocak,
A~aglOca\(,Kun, Karalan and I~lkyaka in Mardin's
MazIdagi district. A few families from Urfa 'were also
living in the makeshift village.
Since the first group from Mardin arrived in 1989,
the population of the camp has grown to about 350
people, but exact figures are not available. Each family
is estimated to have an average of five children,
with some having up to ten. After drinking tea on the
terrace of the so-called luxurious mansion, the conversation
turned to the living conditions in the village.
Although our hosts were initially hesitant to discuss
this subject, one elderly man, speaking in a loud
voice, said quite bluntly in Kurdish: "The resources
for subsistence do not exist in this village. Blood is
being shed and I want to leave, but to where? ... I
heard that three days ago they (village guards operating
under government authonty) bumecfdown my village.
There, we had land and vmeyards; here, we have
nothing but difficulties."
These remarks encouraBed others to participate in
the discussion, during which they mentioned that the
police had visited them before our arrival, warning
them to keep quiet. Followin~ the conversation,
the police arrived in order to mspect our identification
cards. They left after bèmg given a list
of delegation members from HRA lawyer
Göksel Arslan. During the conversations, it
appeared evident that the young people preferred
that the older villagers tell their stories.
Apparently, the settlers opted to leave their villages
in the Southeast rather than be forced to
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