Dear friends,
Today was a very full day! At 10:00 in the morning, Yüksel and Peter went walking to the place of the big manifestation of Alevi groups. When we arrived to the square we had to pass by the police who checked if we had weapons. We said good-day (merhaba) and gave them a smile, which they returned. There weren’t too many people in the square so we went for coffee and chai, passing again through the police. There were lots of policemen. At 11:30, Hüseyin called. He had arrived to the house/salita from South Africa. We agreed that he would come to the square. A while later, Mehtap called and said she was just arriving to the square. So we went back to the square, again passing through the police and repeating the procedure. Many people had arrived, the square was coloring many flags and posters. We met Mehtap and her brother and while later Zehra arrived with Fatosh (her daughter). At the same time the two marches entered at both sides. Very colorful and very orange.
To understand better what happened, Mehtap, her brother, Zehra and Fatosh and Peter moved around the square, reading the flyers and listening to slogans translated into English by Mehtap, while taking pictures of everything. It was a wonderful experience seeing so many good people, many of whom were young, all together in an atmosphere full of human warmth and unity. It was obvious that one of the issues was to say no to the imminent war against Syria and the US interference in middle eastern countries. An asking for peace in the whole world and for Alevi freedom of expression and the end of all violence against them. There were also many Syrian youths. We spent some good moments together and in contact with the human. It was great being there with a group of messengers.
At 13:30 we decided to go back home. Hüseyin and Yüksel had talked on the phone and were on their way. Mehtap took Peter home and went to Kizilay to meet a friend. Handan called and we agreed to meet at 17:00 at home and go together (Handan, Yüksel, Hüseyin and Peter) to Yüksel ‘s friends’ Suhela and Barbün’s house. Suhela had invited us to dinner.
We took 2 metros to arrive, it was pretty far away and we were well received. The youngest daughter was also there, Iluna, who gave us a short and very good violin concert. We stayed there until around midnight, talking about everything in an excellent human atmosphere. At a certain point they started asking about our humanism and Silo’s Message and a beautiful exchange developed. It was so animated we ended up losing the last metro and had to take a taxi. We gave the Book and Comments to Suhela and Barbün and they told us to please come back for another get-together before Peter leaves.
There was also a special moment when Suhela called a friend, Saniye, who lived in Holland for a long time but now is back in Ankara with her husband and daughter. Peter and Saniye talked for a long while in Dutch and Saniye wants to meet him and bring her daughter along. So we agreed to meet in Kizilay in the following days.
It was a day rich in new experiences, with old friends and meeting new and beautiful people: Mehtap’s brother, Suhela, Barbün, Iluna and Saniye.
A big hug to all,
Mehtap, Handan, Zehra, Hüseyin, Yüksel, Fatosh and Peter
No comments:
Post a Comment