N, B, Y, N, N, B, A, N, M, M, V, Z, R, C, U, N, D, M, E, A, Ş…

Nuriye Ak, June 11, 1993

She was only 25 years old. She was a young primary school teacher who radiated light, just like her name. She was born and raised in Çanakkale. When she was assigned to the Diyarbakır Central Buçuktepe Village, she didn't worry about it at all. 

“Every inch of this homeland is my home,” she said as she set out on her journey…

She taught dozens of children how to read and write, and instilled in them a love for humanity. She radiated light. She didn't just concern herself with her students; she also came to the aid of the villagers. She taught grown men and women. The village of Buçuktepe became “whole” with her. There was no one who didn't love this young teacher. She was precious to the villagers… It didn't take long for the PKK traitors to become uncomfortable with the “awakening movement” Nuriye Ak had started. If this woman was educating children, radiating light to the village, and making the villagers strong against them; then she had to be eliminated.

And they did just that…

As the calendar turned to June 11, 1993, they raided her living quarters. Dozens of traitors showered this defenseless, unarmed woman with bullets.

The light succumbed to the darkness!

Bayram and Yasemin Tekin, October 25, 1993.

Bayram Tekin was born on April 18, 1964, in Çiçekdağı, Kırşehir… He was three years younger than me. He was my fellow countryman. He was one of those children of the steppe whose heart was full of love for the homeland. His wife, Yasemin, who had just started the profession like him, was also in love with teaching. During the most rampant times of terrorism, they willingly took on the task of teaching in Düzköy, located in the Yolalan district of Bitlis. They won the hearts of the children and the villagers in a short time… This love, again, bothered the vile PKK members. They raided the home of this teacher couple. First, they murdered Yasemin, who was eight months pregnant, and their three-year-old daughter, Betül. 

They forced Bayram to watch this atrocity. Then, they took his life as well. 

Neşe Alten, October 26, 1993,

Neşe Alten was born in 1972 in Şarköy, Tekirdağ. She was an innocent-smiling, cheerful, and brilliant Turkish woman. When she received her assignment, she didn't hesitate for a moment; she took her father with her and rushed from Edirne to Diyarbakır. She struggled tirelessly so that terrorism would not be the fate of the children. She was killed when she was only 21 years old, that is, on the 26th day of her teaching career. She had given a significant portion of her first salary to the craftsmen to repair the neglected school in the village, and had gone into debt for the rest. In other words, in a culture where kilos of gold are pinned on people at tribal weddings, Neşe was one of the dozens of teachers who covered the school's needs out of her own pocket. 

Just like teacher Necmettin Yılmaz, who was kidnapped in Tunceli on June 16, 2017, and was understood to have been martyred 21 days later.

On the evening of October 26, 1993, PKK terrorists knocked on the door of the house where Neşe lived with her father, saying, “Open up, we are from the village. We have a question for the teacher.” When the young teacher and her father opened the door, they found themselves facing armed terrorists. One of the PKK members shoved Neşe's father, Hasan Alten, to the ground with his weapon, saying, “Didn't we make a public statement? Didn't we say we wouldn't let any teacher of the Republic of Turkey into Kurdistan?” And they martyred Neşe's father by holding the gun to his head in front of his daughter's eyes. They dragged teacher Neşe to the edge of the village. They brutally murdered her by firing five bullets into her left chest, and then five into her right. And what did the villagers do? Nothing!

Buminhan Temizkan and five heroes, September 11, 1994

Buminhan Temizkan and his five teacher friends had gathered for dinner in Darıkent, Mazgirt, Tunceli. On that dark night, six male teachers just wanted to have a meal and share their troubles.

Teacher Buminhan and his friends were struggling so that children would not hold guns, would not become prey to jackals in the mountains, and would have a happy and livable life following the path of science and the pen. Six male teachers, away from their spouses and families in a lodging at the top of a mountain, had sat down at the table to eat whatever they could find in a foreign land. Their home was raided while they were at the table with Ali İhsan Çetinkaya, Metin Kaynar, Mustafa Karınca, Rüstem Şen, and Vedat İnan. They were taken from the table, brought in front of the lodging, and martyred by being sprayed with automatic gunfire.

Nurullah Saraç and 3 heroes, October 11, 1994.

Teacher Nurullah went as an education volunteer from the northernmost part of the Black Sea, from Gerze, Sinop, to Taşkesen Village in the Tekman district of Erzurum... He was brutally murdered on October 11, 1994, after being taken from their homes along with 28-year-old Ersoy Yorulmaz from Muğla, 27-year-old Ali Bulut from Trabzon, and 26-year-old Ragip Köse from Silifke. 35 bullet holes were found in the body of each of the four teachers… A total of 140 bullets!

Zeki Ödük, Mahmut Çatalkaya, Erol Ercan, Ali Yıldız, November 4, 1994.

Teacher Zeki Ödük was from Mardin. Zeki had chosen to be on the side of light in defiance of the darkness. On November 4, 1994, the PKK, the representative of darkness, evil, and separatism, blocked their path in Savur, Mardin. Along with teachers Ali Yıldız, Mahmut Çatalkaya, and Erol Ercan, they were taken out of the car and murdered in a hail of gunfire. Teachers Mahmut and Erol had finished their mandatory service and had been assigned to provinces in the West. They had canceled their assignments, saying, “We will not surrender this place to terrorism,” and had stayed in Mardin.

Nesrin Ünügör and three more lights… October 1, 1996

Teacher Nesrin Ünügör was murdered on October 1, 1996, in Hantepe, Diyarbakır, after being taken outside the village along with Cuma İbiş, Mustafa Sadettin Küçük, and Uğur Gören. They walked to their deaths without fear. Not once did they beg, nor did they kneel before the killers!

Dilay Kerman, September 4, 2011

Teacher Dilay Kerman was a graduate of the Gazi University Department of Teaching the Visually Impaired. Shortly after graduating, she married Commissioner Cem Kerman and started working at the Tunceli Guidance and Research Center that same year.

Her husband, Commissioner Cem Kerman, was playing a match on an artificial turf field with his police friends. Dilay just wanted to enjoy the moment by watching her one and only love being happy. The traitors showered bullets on both the police on the field and the spectators who were the wives of those police officers. Teacher Dilay was martyred in Tunceli at the age of 28. Together with her life partner, she became immortal through the bullets of those devoid of humanity and conscience. 

Şenay Aybüke Yalçın, June 9, 2017

Şenay Aybüke Yalçın was born in 1994 in Osmancık. She was the daughter of a civil servant father. She was martyred in Kozluk, Batman, where she had rushed with a love for teaching. The date was June 9, 2017, in the late afternoon. After this news, we began to see and read her tweet that said, “I have become a teacher.” In a video lasting a few minutes, we listened to Aybüke's husky voice saying, “Mağusa harbor, it is a harbor, those who kill you have no religion or faith.” With tears in our eyes…

***

I couldn't fit all these names into the headline… Moreover, I haven't even written half of them yet!

I found the solution in writing the initials of their names…

I wish they had a “solution” too.

It didn't happen, it couldn't happen. 

The state could not protect these children it sent to “difficult” regions.

***

Today is Teachers' Day…

Happy Teachers' Day to all teachers who do not deviate from the principles and revolutions of the Republic…

But it didn't sit well with me to forget our teachers who sacrificed their lives to bring light to the darkness!

May their day be celebrated as well…

I remember them all with respect.