MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Dersim- Many villages of Dersim were evacuated and depopulated due to the military operations in the 90s. For years, many people living in the villages of Dersim have been leaving their villages due to the economic crisis and unemployment while displaced people in the 90s have been returning to their villages. The people, who have returned to their villages, have developed a project entitled, “Back to the Village” in order to stop current migration from the city and increase production in the city. They are going to found an association entitled, “The Association for Development of Villages” as part of the project in order to encourage the people to return to their villages. The project will be realized in the Türktaner village of Dersim’s Hozat district.

She returned to her village after 30 years

Safiye Akgündüz had to leave her village when she was 14. After living in Europe for 30 years, she returned to her village in Dersim. She has been living in her village for four years. Since she returned to her village, she has called everyone to return to their villages. “We have developed this project in order to encourage people to return to their villages,” she told NuJINHA.

They aim to found an association

Underlining that they have developed such a project for young people and families, who had to leave their villages for different reasons in the 90s and 2000s, Safiye Akgündüz told us that they aim to found an association entitled, “The Association for Development of Villages”. “We restored the building of the primary school in the village by getting permission from the Provincial Directorate of National Education. The people living abroad and in the village donated money for the restoration.”

“Our aim is to encourage people to return to their villages”

“We will hold meetings to discuss what we can do for our village. One of our aims is to found an association entitled, ‘The Association for Development of Villages’. We will found this association this year. The main aim of the project is to encourage people to return to their villages and to be engaged in agriculture again. We will organize activities to protect our mother tongue and culture. We want to revive animal husbandry and agriculture through this project,” Safiye Akgündüz said.

“People should return to their homeland”

Calling on the young people and their families, who had to leave their villages, Safiye Akgündüz said, “There are only old people in our village now. We want to encourage young people to return to their villages. Many people, including me, have returned to their villages. The people living in Europe always dream of returning to their villages. I lived in Europe for years by preserving my culture. I was far away from my village but always missed it. Living in your homeland is a different feeling. When I lived in Europe, I always remembered my village and now many people living in Europe remember their villages every day. People should return to their homeland.”