Luqman Thank you my dear for the words and the link

Per your request, please find two links, the first one will link you the the “Ey Reqib” song– original version in Sorani Kurdish dialect. The other version sang by the Koma Zaroken Amede is the Kurmanji translation of this.

http://www.kurdmania.com/Forum-topic-2614.html

The bellow link will also take you to a beautiful music video made of the Koma Zaroken Amede. The song is about themselves, singing that “we are the children of Amed, and we are calling for peace….” Hope you will enjoy.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=31A1qywx6vU&feature=related

I realize that you feel it is completely Turkey’s fault. You may be right, but I am not familiar with all the details. But in any event, no matter who is right or wrong, the children suffer. It may well be time to put their best interest above political ideology. I am not pointing fingers. I’m just saying that their welfare should be a major part of the calculation. And this applies to almost all of the conflicts out there, including between Israel and the Palestinians.

I see what you are saying and if these kids were being told to carry pictures of rebels or praise war, then your argument might make sense. But they simply sang a song that millions of Kurds around the world know by heart and sing at every celebration.

There is no one to blame for the well-being of these children than the spineless Turkish prosecutors putting them on trial and the backwards Turkish regime supporting such spineless acts.

The Turkish government has displaced millions of Kurds with no compensation, killed thousands, and the result is children on the streets selling whatever they can to help support their starving families. The Turkish government refuses to help them and when the local Kurdish politicians finally find a way to get these children help, Turkey reacts by putting the kids on trial for singing a simple song that says “let no one say the Kurds are dead, we are alive, Kurds are alive.” Freaking ridiculous.

So, for example, it is wrong of Turkey to put the kids on trial, or to break a child’s arm, for whatever conceivable justification it may come up with. The children did not cause the conflict, and should not bear the heavy weight of the conflict.

Similarly, it is wrong to put kids in a situation where they are likely to become victimized. If the kids were encouraged by adults to sing certain songs that would put them in harms way, that is wrong as well. We must protect our children, and we are not entitled to make symbols out of them.

The innocence of a child is probably one of the most precious resources we have. We cannot squander that resource, no matter what the cause is. If we have to fight it out, fine. But leave the kids out of the picture.

The only crime (and its only a crime in a ridiculously stupid country like Turkey) that these kids committed was singing a song. And a song that is one of the most popular Kurdish songs in the world that millions of people sing. How can you even dare to justify that?? This isn’t about a cause, this is about a basic right!

It is quiet upsetting how they present this peace of news through AP. The song that was sang does NOT belong to any group, rather, it belongs to all Kurds. But i guess in a country that fears anything Kurdish, a country that has denied the existence of kurds and their culture, it is quiet alright to put kids on trial for singing.

It must be a crime, as well, to celebrate an ancient celebration of Newroz. Maybe, this is why they broke young Cunyet’s arm, or maybe this is part of the Turkish policy, as said by the PM himself:

“Security forces will intervene with every possible means indiscriminately, including against women and children.”
- Recib Tayyip Erdogan

What is next for this insecure and barbaric regime? Would they go ahead and bring to trial the one million Kurdish people in Diyabakir? Who celebrated Newroz on March 21, 2008, where almost all the songs were patriotic, and “rebel songs”, where everyone was waving the PKK, DTP, and Kurdish flags. Would they go ahead and break the hands of all the Kurdish children for raising those flags? Would they crush all the Kurdish mothers for wearing their Kurdish cloths to celebrate Newroz? As they recently did in Van, Hakkari, Shernex, and Gevere.

It is a big shame for the world to stay quite about such inhumane and barbaric Turkish actions against the Kurdish people. As much as I stand behind those people protesting around the world against China for the mis-treatment of the Tibetan, however as a Kurd, I truly find it hypocritical and ignorant of them to stand idly by, while the Kurdish people are persecuted 100 times worse by the Turkish regime.

Luqman Barwari (USA)