'Children of Sur Experienced War'

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Health workers have been staging protests in front of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality as of December 22, 2015 against curfews and violation rights in Sur and Cizre. Education Union (Eğitim-Sen) Branch No.1 President, Havva Karahancı summarizes the purpose of the act as “firstly defending right to live and draw attention to students whose right to education has been taken away.

Karahancı: “They didn’t care about life safety of students”

National Education Ministry (MEB) had said compensation education was planned for children whose schools have been close. According to Karahancı, putting this program into practice is not possible. “First, we need to find the students, ” say Karahancı and goes on as follows:

“Because they spread across all districts of the city. We are talking about students who migrated with their families, almost all of them suffer from sheltering issue. Poor families not being able to afford to rent a house have moved near their families. Those who can rent a house in another district go through compliance problem. Their economy has started to cripple after migration. So, the students and families have primary needs such as surviving, finding a shelter, and meeting the need of food”.

Karahancı expressing that the ministry is responsible for students as much as teachers said, “They have pulled the teacher from conflict zone, but they didn’t care about life safety of the students”.

Karahancı added that some schools in Sur have been damaged because of the clashes, and police and military use them as headquarters and that it will take a long time for the hospitals to be put into service.

Kızılırmak: Cause for trauma

Psychological Counseling and Guidance teacher, Halis Kızılırmak said, “Children of Sur have witnessed war, and forced to migrate”. Kızılırmak telling children in Sur cannot live an ordinary childhood because of the conflict and migration, this is in itself a cause for trauma.

Kızılırmak explained his observations as to the students who can make it to school as follows:

“Students who have to pass several check points and subjected to insult in each checks on their way to school cannot study as normal students. They boggle by every boom, feel worried about their families and cry. It doesn’t become possible for these children to concentrate on the lecture”.

Kızılırmak noting it is not easy for a teacher to console a child who witnessed war, and this desperateness further weighs down the teacher.

Educators try to warm around fire in two barrels. Poster hanging on the building has photos of children killed, which reminds that the war knows no law. (VE/HK/TK)