ANKARA - The names of the 103 people who lost their lives in October 10 Ankara Train Station bombing are being embroidered on trees. The women said 'Peace is our everfading immortal tree' for the demonstration they lead.
A group of women describing themselves as the 'Volunteers of October 10', are knitting blankets with the names of the people massacred on October 10 embroidered on, are dressing the trees with these blankets in different parts of the city. So far, one tree in the explosion site and some trees in front of the October 10 Association have been dressed.
One of the volunteers, Hatice Kapusuz said: "The first two years after the bombing were spent through litigation and court proceedings. In the third year of the massacre, we thought about what kind of work we could do in terms of recovery and memory. We talked about how we can keep October 10 in the people's memory, and as a group of people, we started to work and talk about improving memory. We decided to knit blankets. ”
Kapusuz stated that they sent blankets to the wounded people and the families of the people who lost their lives and that they sent the first blanket to Cihan Andiç who was seriously injured on October 10. Kapusuz said that people from different cities were involved in the event by sending blankets, and that they sent a piece of blanket from Norway, saying that it was a way of collective recovery, sharing and warming.
Kapusuz, stating that they had a monument in their minds for the 4th year anniversary , said: "Dressing a tree is both symbolic and politic. Trees are holding on to life with their roots and reaching the sky with their leaves. It symbolizes the October 10 bombing and what was left behind. October 10 carries many symbols with the curfews and war and with all those people gathering to stop it, demanding peace. So we dressed the trees with the names of our doves of peace embroidered on. We named every one of them with the names of the friends we lost at the massacre. Peace is our everfading and immortal tree, so we embroidered the names on them to make them live forever. Because we, the survivors, are living with those memories."
One of the volunteers, Kardelen Işık, recalling that knitting is common among women in South Africa and in Chile during the dictatorship, said: "These are not just blankets. This is a political stance and the daily life ensures this political stance."
Adding that they are preparing to apply for a competition that awards women about the tree dressing activity, Işık said that only women can apply to this particular competition and that they will apply on behalf of Hatice Çevik, who lost her daughter and her husband's sister in the massacre.