DİYARBAKIR - Kevser Nebi, who had to migrate from Kobanê to Diyarbakır, is trying to live on by loosening cotton fields. The women from Kobanê, who are aware of their efforts have been exploited, highlight that they bear long working hours in the hope of returning to their lands.

The women from Kobanê, who are trying to make their living by loosening cotton fields, take the road early hours to the cotton fields in the Bağıvar village of Diyarbakır’s Sur district. The women, who have settled in Diyarbakır due to the siege of Kobanê by the Daesh gangs and cannot return to their lands due to the trauma they have suffered although Kobanê has been liberated, are keep living by picking cotton. Stating that they have thought to return to their lands but they couldn’t get rid of the trauma, Kevser Nebi said that their children still sleep in fear.

‘We keep living by picking cotton’

Telling her experiences in Diyarbakır for three years, Kevser stated that Kurdish people have a sense of ownership for each other in everywhere even if they’re not in their own lands.

“I don’t feel left out here. I am testifying pressures but I am not the only one, who face this but also all Kurdish people in Diyarbakır face this at the same time. I have learned to resist here. I am waiting for my children to gather strength. I will return my lands when they gather strength. We are picking cotton to keep living here. The only thing I can do here is picking cotton now. We are supporting each other, as women. When we tell each other our sufferings, I feel sorry for them and they feel sorry for me. If you are Kurdish you have same enemy and same sorrows.” said Kevser.

‘I will keep my children alive until I return to my land’

Referring the difficulty of picking cotton, Kevser stated that working under the sun exhaust them in summer months. Pointing out that the cottons should be picked before winter, Kevser said, “The winter is coming and our works should be finished. We are working for long hours but we couldn’t take enough money in return. We work from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. to get 30 Turkish liras in return per day. The labor dimension of this job is too high while its economic dimension is very low and this wears away at us. My only struggle is to keep my children alive until I return to my land.”

‘We are exploited because we are foreigners’

Amira Nebi, another Kobanê women working in cotton fields, stated that her husband was taken captive when they were attacked by Daesh gangs and that they haven’t received any news about him for three years. Pointing out that her husband had sent her and their children to Diyarbakır a few days before the attack of Daesh gangs, Amira said that her husband had been going to fight Daesh but they received reports saying he had been taken captive by Daesh. Amira, who lives in Diyarbakır for three years, stated that they come from Diyarbakır’s Seyrantepe district to the Bağıvar village’s cotton fields for loosening the fields and takes 30 Turkish liras per day, and she also added that they are trying to live on under hard conditions.

‘We even slept on the floor’

Amira stated that they have left their properties, animals, and their car on the other side of the border and she added, “The state built borders between us but the state forgets that the siblings can overcome all barriers. My husband chose to stay there and the struggle and he sent us here, to our Kurdish siblings. We miss our lands, and the fear and trauma we face are not easy to overcome. Some people ask us why we don’t return our lands. We faced with such a savagery and monsters; nobody can understand how our psychological condition is. Sometimes, we have slept on the floor but people haven’t shut the door in our faces. I do cotton farming here now. We work long hours for 30 Turkish liras in return. Our labors are being exploited. Despite everything, I should raise money and return to my land. The pressures of land owners are too much but we are enduring them.”