Gülistan Azak 

 

DERSİM - Returning to her village, which was evacuated by the state due to its special war policies, Gülizar Uçan tries to make a claim to her nature, culture, and language. She supports to build of her village with her beekeeping business.

 

Citizens returning to their villages, which were burned down and evacuated by the state in the 90s due to the special war policies in Dersim, rebuild their homes and make a claim to their nature, culture, and language. One of these villages is the Han Hamlet of Büyükyurt (Hakis) village of Nazimiye district, which was evacuated in 1993.

 

They gave their direction to their village

 

Being a wonder of nature with its valley stretching along the Yermamuk Mountain, stream, rich plant diversity and oxygen, the Han Hamlet is one of the most productive habitats of many creatures and especially bees. Citizens who continue to build their homes in the hamlet, where returns began in 2008, meet their nutritional needs from the foothills of the mountain, the grass they collect from the valley and the honey they obtain from the bees.

 

‘Both need and livelihood’

 

Gülizar Uçan (60-year-old) stated that she started to work in beekeeping after returning to the village and stated that she used some of the honey she obtained for her own needs and tried to make a living by selling some of it. "There are many banned places in the region. For example, Kervan and Xılves villages close to our village are still banned. There are many military towers in the region. People are watched from these towers. We cannot ranch because the region is banned. Beekeeping is our only source of livelihood right now," she said.

 

Beekeeping requires love and sacrifice

 

Emphasizing that the beekeeping profession requires love and devotion, Gülizar said: "There are many women who do this job like me. We do all the work from the care of the bees to the extraction of honey. We take all the effort. Women do this job more than men. As long as we want, we do it with love. Women do all the work if they want. I also think of expanding my bee business."

 

‘The richness of the region is reflected in the quality of honey’

 

Expressing that the rich flora, air and water of the region are reflected in the quality of honey, Gülizar said: "Bees enjoy this beautiful nature. Our waterfalls, streams, our flowers… Of course, these beauties also have good honey. They find our honey very beautiful. There are people who come here to taste our honey. Life is in these geographies. The difficulties are high due to the prohibitions. But despite these prohibitions, we are determined to live in this beautiful and rich geography."

 

‘Everything we need is in nature’

 

Stating that they are trying to make a living by selling plants such as garlic and rosehip in addition to beekeeping in the region, Gülizar stated that these herbs are also used for diseases in the village. Gülizar said: "We would not need to go to the hospital in our villages. The region we live in would offer us everything we need for our health. We could prevent diseases with herbs we learned from our mothers. Moreover, we would even treat fractures and dislocations in possible accidents with herbs we collected from nature. Our villages were evacuated, we were exiled to metropolises, but we did not forget the knowledge and culture we were taught. We continue our treatments with herbs. I introduce herbs to my children and grandchildren. I advise them to tell this information to their own children. Everything we need is in our nature."

 

‘They didn't even leave a stone to put our heads on’

 

Expressing the happiness of returning to their lands where they have been longing for years, Gülizar stated: "Living away from this land made us very sad. Most of the time, I wish I had been killed and not left the village. I cannot express my longing in words. The state was very difficult when we arrived. When we saw our village, we could not believe it. They did not even leave a stone to put our heads on. They even cut our trees. We cooperated with our returning villagers and worked to bring this place back to its living space. It took a lot of effort to get us out. We slept worried that they would blast a bomb on our heads at night, but we still did not leave. Our village is still under construction. Some lived in tents they set up, others built small huts. We are in our village. We will continue to be here. We will not leave our culture, language, nature."

 

Finally, Gülizar called on everyone who was displaced from their villages to return to claim their nature, living spaces, culture, and language.