ŞEHMUZ: It’s about a friendship between a person from east and a person from west of the country. That’s what it’s about.

YELIZ: Because Gurbet is from Batman, people think that they two cannot somehow meet. As for me the people who get amazed at this really amaze me.

YELIZ: When you turn on the television, all the discourse is about “our Kurdish brothers and sisters”, “our Alewi friends” I think that discourse all by itself stirs up the idea of discrimination.

BANU: I have always thought Turkey is divided into two parts. May it never be divided! The east and the west of Turkey. One is the full child. The other one is the stepchild. The east part of Turkey has never gotten its share of equity. Firstly because of its unfortunate geography. The tough living conditions and the patriarchal make-up of the culture and its impact on women are other factors.

ÖZGE: We have a traditional song. The one that goes: “In the distance there is a village. Even though we never saw it, Even though we never went there, That village is ours” You should go and see that village. I grasped the meaning of it when I began to work in that village. There are enormous disparities between the kids here and the kids there. We learn what’s imposed on us especially by the media. Someone put that abstract thought in our minds. I should say with great success. That speculation wipes us away. It destroys our souls, our minds. All the conflicts, the fears, the biases stem from that speculation.