The Platform of Democratic Institutions organized a march in Diyarbakır as part of World Peace Day on September 1. The march, which began in front of the DEM Party Bağlar District Organization, ended in the Ofis neighborhood. DEM Party Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları, Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Ayşe Serra Bucak Küçük, lawmakers, co-mayors, civil society representatives and many people took part in the action.
Hatimoğulları said the day was declared to ensure that the destruction and deaths caused by the Second World War, which began on September 1, 1939, would not be forgotten. Referring to the “Peace and Democratic Society” process, Hatimoğulları said an honorable peace must be established without forgetting past suffering and the sacrifices made.
She stated that peace means justice, democracy, equal fraternity, education in one’s mother tongue, freedom, the release of political prisoners, a future for young people and equality for women. She emphasized that peace is not passivity, but an active and courageous will aimed at building democracy. Saying that the language of peace is everyone’s responsibility, Hatimoğulları stated that mothers’ tears are shared and that suffering cannot be pitted against suffering.
Why it matters
In the speech, peace was addressed not merely as a goal limited to the cessation of conflicts, but together with justice, democracy, equality, freedom and social rights. This approach shows that the gathering in Diyarbakır opened up for discussion, within the same framework and beyond its commemorative nature, issues such as the situation of political prisoners, education in one’s mother tongue, equality for women and the future of young people. The emphasis on not forgetting the suffering experienced in the past indicates that the peace being sought is not considered independently of issues of social memory and reckoning. The call for the language of peace to be everyone’s responsibility, meanwhile, shows that the process places obligations not only on political actors but also on different segments of society. The unresolved issue is how these principles will be translated into concrete and common steps.