MESOP FOCUS : Villagers Return To Homes In Diyarbakir Province

Rojava Report 25.5.2014 – Families from the villages of Xaçek andHeridan in the Dicle district of Diyarbakir province have begun the process of returning to their homes, according to an article from DİHA and carried by Özgür Gündem.

The villagers, who forced to leave as part of the Turkish state’s campaign of village evacuations in the 1990’s, are coming back as part of a project directed by the Return To Ancient Lands And Construction of Democracy Platform (Turkish: Kadim Topraklara Dönüş ve Demokratik İnşa Platformu). Villagers returning home were accompanied by the President of GÖÇ-DER Vecih Aydoğan, Co-Mayor of Greater Diyarbakır Fırat Anlı, and Mıgırdiç Margosyan, a well-known Armenian writer whose family is from Heridan.

Fırat Anlı addressed residents of the village, remarking how the state attempted many times to drive people from their homes and depopulate the region. Anli went on to speak of how such depopulated areas needed to be brought back to a state of inhabitation, and recalling the Armenian people who once lived on those land, said : “our experience is bittersweet as we once again meet those who we lost one hundred years ago and who were torn from our hearts, and as we bring them together on their own lands. They may be physically far from us but they have a singular place in our hearts…next year the sounds of life will once again return to Heridan and Xaçek…we will be successful in sharing the same stones and water with the people, each with their own identities, their own cultures, their own languages and beliefs.”

We Will Resist All Together

Mıgırdiç Margosyan, whose family was forced to flee Heridan during the Armenian genocide, stressed that those compelled to leave their homes unwillingly suffered through painful circumstances. Margosyan explained that while many had been unable to return home for close to 30-years, his family had lived through a century-long exile and spoke of the sadness that he experienced at such an exile. Margosyan told those present that “now we will all resist together, and we will drink water together from our fountains. We will also work to continue this unity and togetherness into the generations which come after us.

Margosyan spoke finally of how beautiful he feels life to be at every visit to Heridan, saying “after this we together with you all will make these lands green and fertile again. Once again we will live a life full of vitality here.”  Following Margosyan’s remarks the delegation returned to Diyarbakir