Residents of the Gera Cafer (Altinoluk) village continue to explain the persecution by the PKK with murders and massacres in the 90s.

PKK caused a great pain by killing the innocent villagers with bullets in an ambush and sometimes by planting  mines on their land. Children, women and the elderly were the target of the PKK. There was great suffering and the pain remains unforgotten.

Mehmet Ali Tokdemir had been the target of the PKK at the age of 15. His father Haci Abdurrahman explained the atrocities they experienced in the 90s to Ilke News Agency.

Mehmet Ali Tokdemir was in the prime of his life at the age of 15. He devoted to Islamic education in the mosque of the village because he loved to read. Tokdemir spent most of his time in the mosque and even slept there overnight. The mosque was a home for him and he always wanted to learn new things to increase his knowledge. Even the village imam was amazed by Mehmet Ali’s eager to learn. He always wanted to be educated to become a scholar so he can transfer his knowledge to other people and show them the right path.  

In 1995 Mehmet Ali Tokdemir caught an illness and had to be taken to hospital for his treatment. At the time there were only a few number of tractors in the county but a one was bought to the village to take him to the hospital. The PKK fighters put a nefarious plan into effect when they heard about this. The tractor came to the village and picked up Mehmet Ali and left the village. However, in the meanwhile the PKK had concealed mines under the ground on the road. 15-year-old Mehmet Ali, Besir Ulas and Selim Orhan were martyred as a result of the mine explosion during the passage of the tractor.

“The PKK is a heartless terror organisation”

Mehmet Ali Tokdemir’s father Haci Abdurrahman explained the painful years they experienced: “My son was a student of the mosque. He loved learning and sometimes he used to spend the whole night in the mosque. He always mentioned that he wanted to be a martyr to his mother. My son had an illness and we left our village to take him to the doctor in Kerboran village for his treatment. Our friends said ‘Your son is ill and he cannot walk so we should get a tractor to take him to the doctor.’ A tractor was sent over to us so we made our way to county. The PKK had concealed mines under the ground when they heard about us leaving village. The mine bomb exploded during our passage on the road. The driver and my son were martyred immediately. I had ear injuries and I was left disabled. Our other friends also had injuries. The PKK is a heartless terror organisation and they killed our children, women and elderly.”   

“We never yielded to the PKK”

“We were born and raised in this village. Apostate organisation tried to pull us to their side and send our children to the mountains to fight. As Muslims, we rejected these offers because it is a contrary to Islam so we said this would spread the Lenin and Mao ideology.  We never yielded to the PKK. We never sacrificed our property or our lives to them and we always continued with struggles. After these incidents, the cruel organisation PKK began to attack us. Many of our friends, siblings and relatives were martyred on this matter. May God keep us away from their ideologies.” said Haci Abdurrahman.

5 people were martyred in 1996 when the mines exploded on the village way

In 1996 the PKK fighters in Gera Cafer attack the innocent people on their way to the village with guns. People were attacked by the PKK who were hidden among sheep. Besir Tokdemir, Mahmut Kaya, Hasan Orhan, Huseyin Orhan and Ramazan Orhan were killed in the attack.

“My father sent me and my other siblings to madrasah to be educated”

Haci Mehmet Tokdemir lost his father Besir Tokdemir in the mined attack and he says, “I am the 6th child of the family. My father had always been a religious man and he helped the villagers immediately at their problems. He sent me and my other siblings to madrasah to be educated and he always advised us to study. He always said that salvation is in Islam. He spent most of his time in the mosque with teenagers. During my fathers visit to the Susa martyrs he prayed to Allah for shahada. Not long after this his prayer was accepted.  

“They wanted to collect tribute from the villagers”

The PKK were forcing the village chiefs to collect tribute from the villagers in the 90s said Tokdemir. He continued: “One night in 1991 the PKK visited the village chief house and told him to collect tribute from each house in the village. The village chief refused to this and explained that the villagers were already in bad financial circumstances. 15 days after this visit the PKK came and asked if the village chief had collected the tribute but he was shot and injured by one of the PKK when he said he had already told them that he couldn’t. Mullah Abdurrahman heard the gun shot and intervened. One of the militants asked if they should take Mullah Abdurrahman too but the leader responded ‘No, there is still time for him’. They then left the village.”

“Imams who spoke the truth were killed”

Tokdemir explained how Mullah Abdurrahman was murdered by the PKK: “Mullah Abdurrahman left to go to a nearby village as an imam. He was being followed by the PKK on his way to that village. One night the PKK raided his house and asked his wife where Mullah Abdurrahman is and she told them that he was in the mosque. Mullah Abdurrahman was caught by the PKK and they asked ‘Do you still say Allah’s way is the truth’ and he responded ‘Yes of course I must say that I am an imam’. After this response he was shot on the head and martyred.”

“My father and his 4 friends were martyred in the ambush”

Haci Mehmet Tokdemir concluded his speech by saying, “My father and his friends made their way to the Kayikli village to show people the right path. The PKK heard about this and waited for my father and his friends to arrive. Just before they arrived to the Kayikli village, my father and his 4 friends were martyred in the ambush by the PKK.”

“Nobody even gave us food in the county because of our Islamic identity”

Mehmet Emin Orhan lost two of his brother in the ambush by the PKK and he says, “There was 4 of us but my brothers Hasan and Huseyin were martyred in the ambush by the PKK. They were murdered at the exit of a village near Mehina. They were both very nice people and nobody had any complaints about them. They were very brave and they never yielded to oppression. One of them was aged 35 and the other was aged 39 when they were killed. 4 of our family members were martyred. Nobody even gave us food in the county because of our Islamic identity. i remember going days without eating and we can never forget those days.”

“Our resistance is only for Islam”

Ismail Tokdemir from the Gera Cafer village explained the 90s: “So many people were killed only because we didn’t join up with the PKK. They asked us to send our children including daughters to the mountains to fight with them and they wanted us to fully support them. We told them that this is not a matter of Kurds so we cannot act together with them and they began to attack us. They martyred Mullah Abdurrahman and since then we have promised not to follow their their path and fight against them if we have to.

To be continued… (ILKHA)