The first letter that Mehmet Hayri Durmuş, a leading cadre of the Kurdish Freedom Movement and one of the symbolic figures of the July 14 Great Death Fast Resistance, wrote to his family from Diyarbakır Military Prison No. 5 has been made public. The Fırat News Agency (ANF) has also released, for the first time, video footage of the letter and his personal belongings. 

 

Mehmet Hayri Durmuş, who was detained together with Ferhat Kurtay in the Qoser (Kızıltepe) district of Mêrdin on November 30, 1979, was held in custody for a period before being transferred to Diyarbakır Military Prison. In the first letter he wrote after his imprisonment, dated January 24, 1980, Durmuş informed his family that he was in a good situation and urged them not to believe any claims that might be made about the circumstances of his capture.  

 

In the video, Mehmet Hayri Durmuş’s first letter from prison is read by his sister, Ayten Durmuş. The footage also showcases personal belongings that have been preserved in the family archive to this day, bringing them to the public for the first time. 

 

The video also features Yıldız Durmuş, the wife of Mehmet Hayri Durmuş’s brother Hüseyin Durmuş, presenting one by one the personal belongings, death certificate, and other keepsakes that were handed over to his father İsa Durmuş, following Hayri Durmuş’s death. 

 

The full text of the letter Hayri Durmuş sent to his family following his arrest reads as follows:

 

“Father, 

 

I was captured some time ago. I was held in custody for a while and was then imprisoned. I am now being held at Diyarbakır Military Prison. I do not know whether you have learned of my imprisonment. I wanted to let you know about my situation so you would not worry. 

 

As you know, I had been wanted for a long time. Eventually, I was captured after the search for me intensified in recent months. There may be baseless and false claims about the circumstances of my capture. Do not pay any attention to such rumors.

 

My situation is good, and I have no problems. Whatever you may think of it, as I have often told you before, this is a struggle and it involves every kind of hardship. I joined this struggle knowing I would have to endure whatever it might bring. I regard my current situation as only natural, because what I am struggling for is right. 

 

Today, the oppression and exploitation inflicted on both revolutionaries and the people as a whole are unjust. In this struggle, thousands of revolutionaries continue their resistance against state oppression, carrying the banner of the cause. Many of my dear comrades have lost their lives in this struggle. Yet neither their deaths nor the imprisonment of hundreds of revolutionaries and supporters of the cause saddens us or forces us into submission. 

 

Whether we are in the mountains, in prison, on the plains, or under the harshest conditions, we will always resist the oppression of Turkish colonialism and we have no other choice. 

 

Do not worry about me. My fate is no different from that of hundreds of my heroic comrades. Indeed, our fate is one with that of our people. The people standing alongside the revolutionaries against Turkish colonialism will be the first step toward our liberation.

 

For this cause, both our people and the hundreds of revolutionaries and those supporters of the cause will endure hardship. Yet we firmly believe that these hardships will one day come to an end and that we will be free.

 

Do not write to me, and my siblings should not write to me either. Do not come to visit me in bad weather. If you worry too much, one of my siblings can come and see me. Above all, my mother should not come. 

 

Let me say once again that my situation is good. I have no problems. If there is anything I need, I will let you know. 

 

That is all for now.

 

I kiss your hands and my mother’s with respect. I kiss my siblings and my sister-in-law on the eyes. Convey my greetings to all my friends and comrades. 

 

Mehmet Hayri Durmuş

 

24 January 1980”