Safawiyah's massacre.. example of brutality of Turkish occupation

Every IDP person from the occupied Girê Spi has a story that carries wounds caused by the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries.

4 years, since Turkey and its mercenaries launched their aggression against the Serêkaniyê and Girê Spi regions on October 9, 2019.

Musa Darwish, one of those who witnessed the brutality of the Turkish occupation and was forced to leave his town to live with 6 members of his family in a tent of Serêkaniyê displaced camp.

Darwish is in his fifties. He comes from the village of Safawiyah (15 km in the eastern countryside of Ain Issa). His village is located on the contact lines with the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries, and is only 2 km away from the occupation base in the village of Bir Issa, adjacent to the M4 international road.

In the village of Darwish, Safawiyah, a massacre was committed on August 3, 2020, in which 7 people were martyred and wounded. They were members of one family, including children as young as 12 years old.

That day, a Turkish occupation tank targeted the house of citizen Zidan Khalaf Al-Issa with a shell, which led to his immediate martyrdom along with his children (Ziyad, 12 years old, Hoda 8 years old, and Mona 10 years old), while his wife and two of his daughters, one of whom was two years old, were seriously injured.

The IDP say  during ANHA meeting with him: “I refused to leave my village despite the bombing we are subjected to on a daily shelling, we suffered greatly. Our women and children suffered from panic attacks, and some of them suffered from chronic diseases such as (diabetes and triple hepatitis) over their fear of the sound of bombing and cannons.

Darwish went on to tell his story by saying: “We continued like this, refusing to leave our village despite the danger of living there,until the day came of the hideous massacre that claimed the lives of the family of my cousin Zidan Al-Issa, who died as a result of their house being targeted by a tank shell.

He added: " We were forced to leave our land because the occupier began directly targeting our homes, and we left behind everything, our homes and lands. However, we have never forgotten our land, and we always remember, while sitting with my cousins who live with me in the camp, our memories in the village and our hearts are filled with longing and nostalgia for it.”

Musa Darwish, like all IDPs, confirm that they will return to their villages one day, after defeating occupation and its mercenaries.

a.k

ANHA