Last Wednesday, two members of the PKK terrorist organization attempted abduct six teachers from the Bulakbaşı village in Iğdır's Karakoyunlu district. Students and villagers objected to the PKK's attempt to kidnap their teachers and tracked the two terrorists down, demanding they release the teachers. In the end, the two PKK terrorists were forced to release their abductees just one hour after they had kidnapped them. Images show the teachers desperately running back to the school for safety.
SABAH had the opportunity to visit this exemplary village and meet with the students and villagers who did not allow for their teachers to be abducted by the PKK terrorist organization. As the village's 19 teachers arrived in a service bus from Iğdır, their 400 students, between the ages of 5-13 gathered in the school courtyard to greet them with applause.
Students excitedly shared with us what happened that day when two armed members of the PKK ambushed their school. Özcan, a sixth grader explains, "We were in the garden for our physical education class and were doing sprints. It was just my turn when the PKK terrorists showed up. We were so scared. I ran home and told my family what happened and they showed up at the school. They didn't let our teachers go and our teachers shouldn't let us go." Fifth-grader Esma says, "We cried so much fearing our teachers would never return. When I grow up, I want to be a teacher," she adds.
Stating that the sole reasons for terrorism is ignorance and inexperience, the teachers from Bulakbaşı village state, "We need to educate these people, these children. That is why we are here."
Explaining that the villagers had the courage to grab the terrorists by their arms, telling them to, "release the teachers," the teachers say, "These villagers stood up for us because this event sprung from love and our students. However, their greatest display of standing up to what happened came in the form of sending their children to school the next day."
On the evening of October 19th, terrorists set fire to the Atatürk High School, an 800-student, two-story, 12 classroom school in Hakâri's Yüksekova district, forcing the school to take a break from classes. Since then with repairs and maintenance work, the school is now to welcome its students and classed resumed today.
This is a translation of an article originally written by Safure Canturk.