Unknown No. 77

Unknown No. 77 I named this project as Unknown 77, which consists of my photography selection at the Ezidi refugee camp located on Sirnak, Turkey. Thousands of Ezidi people were either forced to leave their home or killed by ISIS on July 2014. After 12 days struggle on mountains, lucky ones arrived to Sirnak from Shingal. As I was living at the camp with these people, I was able to sense the feelings that they were going through. In those moments, I was influenced the most by the ambiguity that was almost tangible within the young crowd. Most of them did not know why they were at that camp and why they are supposed to be in there. The future of the camp, as well as theirs, was obscure; they didn’t even know if the camp assistants would stay or leave soon. They had had to leave their families, friends, lovers, houses, and land behind and had not heard from them since. Toddlers and kids were are not even aware of the severity of the situation. Thus, this feeling of unknown influenced me in every photograph I took during my stay. Secondly, A doctor in the camp told me that 77 is the number of aggressions in history against Ezedis. They are facing another trouble for the 77th time. It was very sad and unjustifiable to me to see that these people, especially children, live a life with labels as scared and opressed because of their custom, ethnic background, lifestyle, and belief. Accordingly, I hope to be the voice of the people, not only Ezidis, but also those who suffer from similar persecutions through this photography project.