The flag-draped tent is the country's cold, hard truth!

He went to the front line after promising to buy a house for his family living in a tent. Their two-story house in Dulkadiroğlu had been razed to the ground in the Kahramanmaraş earthquake. “He was a kind-hearted, noble young man who kept his word,” says his neighbor, Nazire Hanım, describing him; “He signed up as a contract infantry private…”

Last night, his name was added to the list of martyrs as one of our 9 soldiers who fell in the Operation Claw-Lock.

Müslüm Özdemir was only 22 years old.

When they went to tell his family the news that Müslüm had been martyred, they brought 10 heaters to the tent house.

His mother Ümmihani and father Ali Özdemir learned in the freezing cold, in the small tent they had taken refuge in, that their son Müslüm would never return.

Even if you gave them not 10, but 100 heaters, you cannot warm the heart of a mother who has lost her child. The cold, hard truth emerging from that small tent pierced our hearts.

In the year of the earthquake, the “small tent with a flag hanging on it” is the cold, hard truth of this country.

The names of the operations change, the names of our martyrs change, but the reality does not. Unfortunately, terrorism does not end.

In 23 days, we laid 21 of our young people to rest. Yesterday, 9 more of our young people were martyred in an operation.

I went to the region where the Zap clashes took place, to Hakkari, to Kato, years ago during the period when the word “peace” was being pronounced. I met with the mothers of the souls who were fighting against each other. I conducted interviews.

We have forgotten that the souls who are forced to kill each other are real human beings.

The word PEACE has such a magical effect in that geography, on the people of that region, that when you say “Peace,” tears stream from their eyes.

And then there is the emotion called motherhood, which recognizes neither nationality nor race. It doesn't look at language or religion. For a mother, a soul is neither Kurdish nor Turkish. Souls are equal in a mother's heart.

In 20 days, our 23rd martyr is Müslüm Özdemir from Kahramanmaraş. His biggest dream was to buy a house for his parents, who had to live in a tent provided by the Red Crescent after the earthquake forced them out of their demolished home. The Governor's Office said, “Our martyr's family is not living in a tent.” Yet, before the Governor's Office, Haluk Levent, who was chosen as the most trusted name in Turkey, confirmed the cold, hard truth on Twitter:

“The family of martyr Müslüm Özdemir has a right to a house. Our Governor of Kahramanmaraş enlightened us on this matter.

But we said let us lend a hand as well.

Together with the proceeds from my Bursa concert today and the revenue from one show by my brother Hasancan Kaya, we will buy our mother a house next week.”

Müslüm is no longer alive, but thanks to the life he paid for with his own, his mother will leave the tent and get her home.

There are so many of our martyrs whose names and dreams we do not know, whose lost lives we reduce to numbers…

Peace does not come through fighting. Terrorism is not solved by the same methods. This must be voiced loudly by Özgür Özel, the leader of the main opposition party who came to power on a wind of change.

The main opposition party has canceled the Constitution rally planned for Sunday, January 14. Yet, the CHP could have turned the Constitution rally into a peace and democracy rally with a much stronger voice, together with all the families of the martyrs, and brought millions together in Tandoğan to commemorate our martyrs.

Today, we need to hear the word PEACE more than ever.

As Yaşar Kemal emphasized every time,

“If the mountains, the people, and even death itself have grown tired, then the most beautiful poem now is peace.”