“When they talk in Kurdish, they feel safer”

Photo: Eyup Ok student of journalism

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After the earthquakes in Kahramanmaras, thousands of civilians rushed to help the affected cities.

They had important roles like rescuing people trapped under the rubble, distributing food, and clothing, and making tents.

The role of university students in the earthquake process

University students are also organizationally involved in this process from the first day.

Students go to the earthquake areas through parties, humanitarian organizations, and student organizations.

How did they participate in the aiding process, and what did they provide to the victims of the earthquake, Fatê Polat who is a student in University student, gave answes to our questions.

Polat stated that she and her friends went to the city of Adiyaman through the coordination of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP). They worked there for 9 days.

Works in the tent city

In the beginning, we went to the Adiyaman Alevi Culture Association. Because the HDP coordination center was there. On the first day, we did the work of insulating tents. On the other days, we worked again to fix the tents; We built a road to get electricity into the tents, and a friend and I prepared a map of the electricity cables so that the next ones would not have problems when they came.

Fate Polat

 In the evenings, we kept watching in front of the tents. In the mornings, we prepared breakfast with the families of the earthquake victims, some of our friends were interested in cleaning the tents, and others contacted the families and helped them with their deficiencies. In addition, some of our friends were teachers, played games with the children, painted tents, and read books.

A mother from Kobani and her sons Muhammad and Omar in tents

When we visited the tents, we met a mother from Kobani to get to know the families closely and solve them if needed. She did not know Turkish and she communicated with us in Kurmanji. Since I am a Kurd from Kirmanc, I didn’t understand much about it, but my friend who was from Van made a good connection with her. At first, she kept away from us a little, she was also shy; but after the mother saw that we were Kurds, she easily communicated with us, and told us about her needs and those of her family.

She had two small children; Muhammad and Omar. We spoke to them in Kurmanci, they also knew Turkish, but they expressed themselves better in Kurdish. When they spoke Kurdish in that tent city, they felt safer. While we were there, they ate, talked, and played with us.

I would also like to say that after four days of meeting me and that family from Kobani, that mother asked to give me her friend’s necklace that was given to her four years ago. Of course, this wish made me very happy…

This news was translated by Yonca Sarsilmaz