They took my grandfather’s music and our language.

"My first memory of which I felt really oppressed was seeing my grandfather digging a hole in our garden in front of our house. He put the gramophone and all the disks into the hole, then covered it with dirt and laid a carpet on it. I didn't understand! I was questioning, why is my grandfather doing that? While I was questioning my grandmother, she was encouraging him to hurry, she had an anxious voice, and I was told not to say anything. Especially not talk in Kurmanji! But we don't speak Turkish!”

- Sevim Zelal Tonbul, Kurmanji speaker in Bakur, Turkish-occupied Kurdistan