Name of resistance: Mother Taybet

Tayber İnan, known as Mother Taybet, who was killed and her dead body was left in the street for seven days during the 24-hour curfew declared in Şırnak’s Silopi district, has become the symbol of resisting Kurdish women.

News Center - Peace, unity, solidarity, fraternity and many other words have been crushed many times in Turkey due to speeches saying, “One flag, one nation and one state”. Many people demanding peace, freedom and fraternity have been killed in the country. According to Islam, after a person dies, body should be buried as soon as possible from the time of death after washing and shrouding the body of the deceased. In Turkey, where the ruling party claims that it is an Islamist party, dead body of a woman was left in the street for seven days. Her children did not sleep for seven days in order to protect their mother’s body from animals. Despite their calls, her dead body remained in the street for seven days. Her name is Taybet İnan, known as Mother Taybet.

People all around the world heard her name

On December 14, 2015, a 24-hour curfew was declared in the Silopi district of Şırnak province. The curfew lasted for 37 days. During the curfew, 68 people, including Kurdish women politicians Pakize Nayır, Fatma Uyar and Sêvê Demir, were killed. More than 500 houses were destroyed. Taybet İnan was one of the 68 people killed in Silopi. She was shot dead in the street by snipers while returning home from her neighbor on the 5th day of the curfew. 10 bullets were found in her body. Her dead body was left in the street for seven days because the Turkish army prevented anyone from reaching her. Her two sons and brother were allowed to attend the funeral of Taybet İnan, who became the symbol of the curfew in Silopi.

Story of Taybet İnan

The family of Mother Taybet was one of the families that left Silopi’s Xezayê village to the center of Silopi in 1988 due to the ongoing pressure on them. After living in the district center for a year, her son Ömer and her husband’s brother Avdi İnan were detained by police in a house raid without showing any reason. Ömer İnan was sent to the prison in Elazığ while Avdi İnan was sent to a prison in Mardin. In 1992, Mother Taybet lost her children named Esmer (10) and Botan (4) and her nephews named Ayaz (9), Şevzet (5) and Mehmet (10) when a landmine exploded in their neighborhood. While the İnan family was mourning for their children, riot police raided their home. Her husband Halit İnan was detained by the riot police and then sent to the prison in Mardin. After being held in prison for 11 months, Halit İnan was released. Then, he was arrested again and stayed in prison for three years and nine months.

In the 24-hour curfew declared on December 14, 2015, Taybet İnan and her husband’s brother Yusuf İnan were killed. Her daughter Heznî İnan was one of the victims killed in the “Death basements of Cizre”.

The policy of impunity

An ineffective investigation was carried out in the death of Taybet İnan. In 2020, the prosecutor's office issued a 'permanent search warrant' to identify the perpetrators; however, the search warrant was commented as a policy of impunity.

Lawyers will apply to ECHR

The lawyers of the family say that the prosecutors ignore their demands. The murder case of Taybet İnan is now under the investigation of the Constitutional Court. After the decision of the Constitutional Court, the lawyers will apply to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).