AMED - Murat Sarı, co-chair of Mesopotamia Migration Monitoring and Research Association (GÖÇ-DER) stated that legal grounds should be created for the return of the people who were forced to migrate in the 90s and the rangership should be abolished. 

 

The National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission, which was established in the Parliament in order to create a legal and political basis for the democratic solution of the Kurdish issue, continues to listen to different groups of people. 

 

At its 11th meeting on 18 September, the Commission listened to GÖÇ-DER co-chair Murat Sarı, and those whose villages were burnt down and forcibly displaced in the 90s. 

 

Sarı stated that the establishment of the commission was the result of the process initiated by Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's call for peace and a democratic society, and said that they wanted the deep damage caused by the policy of denial and annihilation to end. 

 

Stressing that an important process is taking place for the construction of the peace that the peoples long for, Sarı said that the state should also take steps against the steps taken by the Kurdish side. He added that the commission should play its role and should meet with the main interlocutors of the process. 

 

'THE RANGERSHIP SHOULD BE ABOLISHED'

 

Stating that they demanded from the commission to create a legal basis for the return to their villages, Sarı stated that while ensuring the return of people who had to migrate from their villages in the 90s, there should also be a confrontation. 

 

Criticising the rangership, which is a paramilitary group working on the side of the state against the PKK in return for money, Sarı said: "Due to the rangerhsip, around 3 thousand 700 villages and hamlets were evacuated with the approach 'Either you become a ranger or you leave the village'. They were subjected to pressure and persecution. We demanded the abolition of the village guard system, which is one of the biggest causes of migration."

 

Sarı also referred to the citizens seeking asylum in Europe: "A legal basis should be established also for the return of Mexmûr (Makhmur) people. For people who have to migrate with the threat of punishment, legal steps should be taken so that they do not face a threat when they return to the land of their birth."

 

'LEGAL STEPS MUST BE TAKEN' 

 

Stating that the Kurdish names of the villages should be recognised if a return process is to be initiated, Sarı warned that the new migration policy, which was put into effect through ecocide, would negatively affect the process and cited the ecocide in Gabar, Cûdî, Licê and Pasûr as examples. Sarı concluded: "Migration, which was carried out with military force in the 90s, is now being carried out with ecocide. This must be prevented. While the Commission is carrying out its work, legal steps need to be taken.”