Eye-witness: Şırnak

by Selin Galolar

Graduate in Philosophy, professional volleyball player, amateur musician and postgraduate student at the Women’s Studies Institute of Ankara University, Selin Galolar (28) recently spent a year teaching English at a primary education school in Şırnak…

In my mind’s eye, the provincial centre of Şırnak in Southeast Turkey may one day become a bustling modern resort, well-known for its climbing, hiking and its long ski season, its wildlife, its fresh produce, its handicrafts and its baking summer temperatures.

Let others postulate that Noah’s Ark settled on Mount Ağrı (Ararat), the highest peak of Turkey; the people of Şırnak believe firmly that it was on the slopes of Mount Cudi (2,114m) that the pairs of every living being finally disembarked. The original name of the area is supposed to have been “Şehr-i Nuh”, meaning the “City of Noah”. The name, it is said, later degenerated to “Şırnak”.

Curiously, the two highest peaks are, in fact, Geçit Hill (3,631m) and Golden Mountain (3,358m). The Kızılsu and Habur brooks, arms of the legendary Tigris, form the frontiers with Iraq and Syria. According to 1997 figures, there are 256,000 sheep, more than 150,000 mohair goats, and 29,000 oxen. Unsurprisingly, weaving is one of the main handicrafts, and the kilims of Beytüşşebap have won prizes at European exhibitions.

Before the violence, stock-breeding was more widespread, especially in the Faraşin Valley. The wild goats still roam, however, in the state-created 256,400-acre “ibex protection zone.”

A kind of growth

My mind switches to harsher realities. The provincial centre, home to just 53,743 souls according to the 2000 census, is arranged either side of a longish avenue of shops, restaurants and single-storey houses. Here and there, new multi-storied buildings are going up, but the overall appearance remains rural rather than urban. People are leaving, fed up with poverty and acts of terrorism, but the high birth rate continues to swell the population. Families have at least nine children.

Industry accounts for only one percent of the economy. Mineral resources are limited to asphalt and a little coal. Even the agricultural potential is limited due to the hard rock and steep slopes. But under the Southeast Anatolian Project (GAP), 121,000 acres of new land will be irrigated.

Ankara, 1,175 kilometers away, has not forgotten Şırnak. It has employed medical personnel, soldiers and security officers. Despite the security situation, it has expanded formal education, built boarding schools and lodgings for teachers, and opened a Vocational College attached to Diyarbakır’s Dicle University. And it has sent people like me to staff the schools.

Bridges of understanding

I have struggled to establish a continuous dialogue in a classroom where many of the youngsters – though by no means all - had little Turkish, and I spoke no Kurdish. My colleagues and I have somehow built bridges of understanding, learning to conceal our own impatience and disappointment at the low levels of literacy and concentration. We have perhaps had more success with rehearsals for national day ceremonies - and volleyball and basketball matches - in the comparatively large school compound.

Had I been asked to teach a course in philosophy as well, how would I have explained Kant’s “categorical imperative”, or Nietzsche’s “Übermensch”? I dread to think. But I taught a few things, and learned many myself. My experience became a part of me, just as “far-away” Şırnak is a part of my country. I cannot stop myself imagining a brighter future for the place.

(DIPLOMAT  -  December 2005  -  Ankara)