Poverty and special war policies: Children's future at risk  

2025-09-05 12:18:47


	 

	AMED - “Our children are being driven to drugs, not school,” say women from Rezan, drawing attention to deepening poverty and the state's special war policies.

	 

	As the new academic year approaches, families say they cannot afford education costs due to rising inflation and the deepening economic crisis. Many students are unable to continue their education due to economic hardship. Children and young people are being alienated from education, driven to drugs and prostitution, particularly by the state's special war policies in Kurdistan. One of the most striking examples of this situation can be seen in the Rezan (Bağlar) district of Amed.

	 

	In this district, which has been in the news for drug, prostitution, and child abduction incidents, we knock on women's doors to discuss how they will cover their children's education expenses in the new term.

	 

	We enter Rezan which has been left to its own devices

	 

	When we enter the streets of Rezan, graffiti on the walls particularly catches our attention. The walls are covered with jihadist slogans, piles of garbage accumulated due to lack of cleaning, and the resulting stench creates an atmosphere that gives the district a bad, “dangerous,” and “abandoned” impression.

	 

	We notice that children, whom we estimate to be between the ages of 5 and 15, are being introduced to cigarettes. Previous field research had suggested that children in the same age groups in Rezan were being introduced to drugs. We encounter their reactions when they see our cameras.

	 

	Lives continuing under social pressure

	 

	We first try to talk to the women who bear the brunt of the economic crisis and the private war. Women look at us through half-open doors with expressions of waiting for help, saying, “I really want to talk, I have so much to say, but if my husband sees me, he will abuse me.”

	 

	We encounter another woman cleaning the front of her house. As we begin talking to her, she tells us she was married as a child, is now 37 years old, and has eight children. As she says this, her mentally disabled child pulls on the hose she is using to clean the front of the house. The woman sighs deeply. Most women say they cannot speak to the camera because they are afraid of the male mentality.

	 

	Then, a woman who exclaims, “Why shouldn't we speak up? We shouldn't be afraid either,” decides to speak.

	 

	‘I don’t know how I’ll cover school expenses’

	 

	Mevlide Gedizmenler, who sells clothes on the street in Rezan, says she is struggling financially and adds: “Sometimes I get work, sometimes I don’t. I have two children, my daughter is starting school and expenses have increased. We were already struggling to buy notebooks and pens, and now they say the dress code has been lifted, so expenses have doubled. When school starts, there will be even more expenses, and I don't know how I'll cover them. Everything is expensive because of the crisis, and prices keep going up. Every time I go to the market, I see prices have gone up. We can't afford notebooks, pens, or school uniforms. May God help everyone; the expenses are too much.

	 

	Now it's the rent, the children's expenses-it's very difficult. I come in the morning to sell clothes, but there's no business until evening, so I close up and go home. School has started now; people won't be able to afford anything."

	 

	Children cannot continue their education

	 

	Gülsüm Genç, who says that students cannot afford school uniforms, begins by saying that people are barely able to put food on the table. Noting that almost everyone is a tenant, Gülsüm Genç complains about the high cost of electricity and water bills. Gülsüm Genç continues by saying that students should be allowed to go to school in casual clothes: "I saw it on TV, I got angry, they are imposing expenses on the people again. Everyone is struggling because of the economic crisis. When the electricity bill comes, people experience a crisis, they struggle to make ends meet. People are unemployed. My grandchild will go to school, but maybe he won't be able to continue because of the expenses.

	 

	Children can't go to school, there are no jobs, so they are being introduced to drugs so they can work. Let them go around Diyarbakır, take care of all the children, get them insured jobs. If the state is going to give students uniforms, let them wear them. Three or four people are studying in one house, how are they going to get uniforms? Everything has become so expensive..."

	 

	‘How can children go to school hungry?’

	 

	Finally, Sude Uslu, who said she struggled to meet the needs of her grandchildren who are going to school this year, said: “The children are falling behind and lack everything. Their family situation is not good; their fathers work for minimum wage and they rent their homes. Everything is so expensive that they struggle to make ends meet. This is the government's fault; it needs to find a solution. When they can't make ends meet, children can't study and pick up bad habits. If they had the means, they would love to study. How can these children go to school hungry? The government needs to step in."

	 

	‘How am I going to raise them all?’

	 

	A citizen who did not want to give his name shared that their financial situation was poor. Expressing that they had experienced an economic collapse, the citizen said: “I am sending four children to school, and my wife also does freelance work. When he earns money, we are full, but when he doesn't, we go hungry. If I had the means, I wouldn't live here. My son is going to school this year, we asked about the uniform he needs to wear, and they said it costs 1,600 TL. I am sending four children to school, how am I going to raise them all? There are transportation costs, food costs, pens, notebooks, they have many needs."

	 

	‘They sell drugs on every corner near the schools’

	 

	Yurttaş points out that when children don’t have access to education, they can get involved in substance abuse, and emphasizes that there is no security in Rezan in this regard. The citizen concludes: "Turkey is going downhill, may God have mercy on us. Turkey is sinking, and as long as we have a president like this, Turkey will sink. They tell us, ‘Educate your children.’ Give us the means so we can educate our children. I don't want my children to become drug addicts or thieves. Try raising a child in this neighborhood. I'm too scared to send my child to the grocery store. There's drugs and dealers everywhere. How can I educate them when they're selling drugs on every corner near the schools?

	 

	Don't you see the state of the students? These places are terrible. Generally, no one here dares send their children to the grocery store out of fear."