History

After the First World War, which divided Kurdistan among four countries, a new century dawned for the Kurds. The Kurds were divided across four countries where they were condemned to a life in which their language and culture were ignored. In this century, Kurds fought for independence in every part of Kurdistan. However, it was also a century of losses, tears, and resistance for the Kurds.

Kurds in the Turkish Republic

Just like in other countries, this resistance continued in the regions of Kurdistan given to Turkey. The Kurds staged major uprisings against the young Turkish Republic. These resistances in the early period of the Republic were brutally suppressed with a massive assault, and most insurgents were hanged in public squares. Even today, there is no information about the whereabouts of their graves. Sheikh Said, Alişer, Zarife, and Seyid Rıza left their stories in the hearts of the Kurdish people as leaders of these uprisings. While their story was passed down from generation to generation, the Kurds remained silent for a long time after this process.

PKK

With the formation of certain revolutionary groups in Turkey after 1968, the Kurds began to organize, and in 1978, a revolutionary organization called the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) was established. After the military coup on September 12, 1980, Kurdish revolutionaries were subjected to severe torture in Diyarbakır Prison. As a result of these tortures, dozens of Kurdish revolutionaries were brutally killed.

After these inhumane practices, the PKK began a war against Turkey in 1984. After this process, nothing would be the same for the Kurds. The toll of the heavy war grew day by day and left behind tragic stories. Bombed mountains, evacuated villages, people forced to migrate, people tortured, thousands of disappearances…

No graves

In the 1990s, many people were detained in Kurdistan and Turkey, and no one heard from them again. To this day, the families of the missing take to the streets to inquire about their fate. The same disappearance occurred with Kurdish fighters. Especially the thousands of fighters who lost their lives in the conflict they found themselves in, have no grave today.