In a news report by Medine Mamedoğlu, a young journalist actively working in the earthquake-affected region, the narrative unfolds the story of a woman whose life has been marked by war, conflicts, and ultimately, forced migration due to an earthquake.
“They took everything from me, but I didn’t give up. I am here, continuing to live. As a woman, I am striving to establish an order for my children and for myself. This land is ours, the land of my ancestors. Therefore, even if I experience ten migrations and ten homes collapse, I am determined to stay here.”
Medine Mamedoğlu
“Every journey, every exit through a door, has taken more from me than I could have anticipated,” begins Nazime Çokdalan. At the age of forty-two, she is one of the women who, for various reasons, has had to part ways with places she considered home throughout thirty years of her life, compelling her to start anew each time. The challenges she has faced over the years have left additional lines on her face and strands of white in her hair. Starting to narrate her life story by saying, “My migration journey that began in my childhood is still ongoing,” Nazime, now in her present home, struggles to unpack her suitcase and establish a new order.
Originally from Yönlüce village in Lice, Nazime experienced the horrors of war and village burnings in the 90s, learning about the sounds of flying bullets and the terror of war when she was just twelve years old:
“I’ll never forget; it was the day of the holiday, and towards the evening, my little brother and I went to the fountain to get water. Right at that moment, we heard gunshots; the conflict had started. We quickly ran home with my brother. The conflict escalated, and staying at home became impossible. That night, we moved to another village. Two of my siblings were missing. I can never forget my mother searching for them in the dark. Fortunately, they came with my aunt the next day. When we realized we couldn’t stay there anymore, we moved first to Lice and then to Diyarbakır.”
Nazime experienced for the first time what it meant to be forced to leave the lands where she was born and raised. After the burning of their village, she began a new life in the Sur district of Diyarbakır. She describes the initial period as challenging for everyone, but living in the city made the difficulties somewhat more bearable. “Finding work for my family was easier, and for us children, Sur became our new home,” she says. Although she spent both her childhood and youth in this house, the war that separated her from her first home in her childhood did not leave them behind.
Due to the conflicts that erupted in Sur in 2015, Nazime and her family had to once again gather their belongings and move to another neighborhood in the city, Şehitlik. This marked her third migration, and Nazime’s unease persisted: “When we moved to our new house here, I always had a feeling inside me that we would leave here too. I couldn’t unpack my clothes from my suitcase for a long time. The unease doesn’t go away when you experience the same things over and over. Years have passed, but my fear proved to be justified.”
The earthquake on February 6th prompted Nazime and her family to leave their home once again and embark on a search for a new place to live. Nazime, who says she will never forget that night, recounts, “Our house was almost 20 years old. I knew it wasn’t sturdy. After the earthquake, we immediately went downstairs. We spent the night in the car until morning. When morning came, we saw that our house had cracks everywhere, and some walls had collapsed. We couldn’t enter that house again.”
Due to the earthquake in Diyarbakır, approximately 200,000 people, including Nazime, are currently homeless. Citizens whose homes were destroyed or suffered severe or moderate damage struggle to find shelter, and many have been forced to migrate due to their collapsed homes. Alican Çetinkaya, Co-Spokesperson of the Diyarbakır Branch of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, was one of the individuals on the ground during the earthquake. Çetinkaya emphasizes that the earthquake caused significant damage both in the city center and in the districts, pointing out that there are more than 6,100 severely damaged buildings and more than 3,700 moderately damaged ones in the city. While the demolition process of severely damaged buildings continues, over 200,000 people in the city are left homeless, exposed to internal or external migration.
Nazime, like all women who experienced the earthquake, embarked on a quest for stability for her family without being able to think about her own pain and mourning. She says they still cannot meet their housing and basic care needs. After staying in other people’s homes for months, her children have finally moved to a rented new house, but their fears have not yet subsided. She describes how each migration, each departure, took a toll on her, erasing all her memories. “Leaving every home was never easy for me. Each home brought the fear of separation again,” she says.
Associate Professor Didem Danış from Galatasaray University’s Sociology Department underscores that these processes cause substantial harm both to women and society at large. She contends that not only natural disasters but also societal, economic, and conflict-induced migrations primarily and intensely impact women. Danış argues that in cases of forced migration due to conflicts or disasters, the consequences for women are particularly severe. The obligation to conform to norms and cultural expectations in the migrated location, driven by patriarchal values, can lead to tension in traditional gender roles for women, subsequently contributing to an increase in incidents of domestic violence.
Nazime, acknowledging that she shares a common fate with thousands of women worldwide, remains steadfast in her belief that the struggle must not be abandoned:
“They took everything from me, but I didn’t give up. I am here, continuing to live. As a woman, I am striving to establish an order for my children and for myself. This land is ours, the land of my ancestors. Therefore, even if I experience ten migrations and ten homes collapse, I am determined to stay here.”
*This news has been prepared as part of the “News Exists, Voice Exists!: Solidarity with Women Journalists Project,” with contributions from the “Women Solidarity Fund” by the SES Equality and Solidarity Association.