‘The responsible of what happened to us was the state’

  • 12:04 10 December 2017
  • News

Gülistan Azak

MALATYA - Alevi citizen, Zeynep Çelikkanat’s house was marked by unknown person or people. Zeynep stated that the investigation is continuing however she doesn’t trust both the state and the police, "The responsible of whatever happened to us was the state," said Zeynep. 
 
An investigation, launched due to the reactions of 13 Alevi citizens whose houses' door had been marked in November 22 in Cemal Gürsel Neighborhood in Malatya, is continuing. The Alevi citizens, who were signed from their houses’ doors, say that this event is not disjunctive. 
 
‘You need to be brave’ 
 
Stating that the state sentences people by imposing on them pressure, fear and violence, Zeynep said “We need to be brave against the fear wall wanted to be created by state. As Alevi, Sunni, Kurdish and Armenian people, we have always lived together. The so-called police officers serve the mentality of the state for our security. How can we trust the police, who don’t like us? In this country, our children are not accepted for a job just because their names are Hüseyin. The state accepts people, who are not Alevi while condemning Alevi people to work in constructions in the west cities, for a job. 
 
‘The government benefits from this distrust’ 
 
“In the previous times we didn’t know the difference between Alevi and Sünni people. We didn’t have fears. We used to sleep while our door was open. However, no one trusts each other now. The most state has benefit from the distrust among the people. There is a religious-political structuring; saying that who kills an Alevi person, a paradise will be given. They try to make them exist in this way. We shouldn’t allow such thoughts that represent themselves as religious to harm and separate us with their dirty mentalities. We are Alevi, Sunni, Armenian, Kurdish, Turkish, and Christian, who share the same life regardless from which language, color, and religion. "We are Alevi, Sunni, Armenian, Kurdish, Turkish, Christian who share the same life regardless of what is on the ground, from the color to the color.” 
 
At the end, Zeynep called for unity and she said, “We have lived together with our colors, languages and religions in this territory and we have got old together.”