Farewell, Hasankeyf

Borders drawn, memory erased, history disappearing, people displaced. While Hasankeyf was still there, a handful of soil was bottled and the memory was kept inside. Soon the city was filled with water and they disappeared.

A piece of land contains experiences. However, every memory experienced is now under water. Water has a destructive power as well as a power in its carrier. Does saying goodbye move forward or heal over time?

The bottle was released on a raft from the Aegean coast, along with a note inside, into the open sea. Maybe one day it will come to light. Significantly, many people migrated from that coast and left these lands.

Experiences flow by, lives covered up. Just like a handful of soil that is bottled and sealed, it too is closed, gone, finished. First, a layer of concrete was poured, then water filled it and the dam was formed. Hasankeyf is under water, there is no need to quote “veiled history”, it is covered up for the sake of being destroyed. The experiences are there as they have been experienced, the healing power of water is not innocent here. Behind the invisible, for the sake of their purpose. The power is still there, it has been displaced again by migration. This is neither the first nor the last. This is just a farewell, in memory of the call. Hasankeyf is now under water.

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* The bottle filled with sand was taken from Hasankeyf in 2018.

*The city was flooded in May 2020.