"Just as I feel the pain of the soldiers who die, other mothers should also feel the pain of my son in prison. Motherhood does not recognise Turkishness or Kurdishness. Whatever the language or identity, no mother wants another mother's heart to suffer. The tears of mothers are the same, they flow the same way. When there is no provocation, all mothers are like that."
Lütfiye Gürbüz of the Peace Mothers Initiative says that her son Özgür was imprisoned for PKK membership ten years ago.
He has been in prison since the age of 23 and is serving a life sentence. Gürbüz told bianet of her fear that, after the recent events, her son may be attacked, injured, or even killed in prison; she cannot sleep at night:
"I am very sad, very worried. We have been struggling for years so that there are no deaths in the street, in the military or in prisons. We cannot accept that children die. I am scared that there may be an attack and we will not be told. The situation in prisons is already very tense, and with this added to it...The psychology of women whose sons are doing their military service is the same."
Hatred is state politics
Gürbüz emphasised that hatred was state politics and that there was no hostility between peoples. She also called on TV channels, journalists and intellectuals to act responsibly:
"Do not let anyone be shown as a target. Political parties after their own interests do not think about how bad the results can be. They do not think that social peace can be destroyed. I hope we will not experience events from which it will be difficult to recover. We would pay a heavy price and experience great pain. It would not help Kurds or Turks..."
Mothers experience the same fears
Gürbüz recounted the experiences of a mother whose daughter is a PKK militant:
"She experiences the same worries that [...] a soldier's mother or I do...The state needs to come to a responsible solution. The problem is not solved by turning peoples into enemies. It does not healp to sceam, shout, and agitate..." (GG/AG)
