Belfast is a port city on the opposite coast of Scotland and England. At first sight, it is a typical northern town with its cathedral, old textured buildings, pubs and shopping malls with international brands. But when you enter our hotel in the center of Belfast, history strikes us: “This is the most bombed hotel in Northern Ireland”.
In the lobby of the Europa Hotel, just behind the reception, there is a plaque certifying that Bill Clinton, one of the most supportive leaders of the Peace Process, has stayed at this hotel. In the meantime, there is a strong Irish diaspora in the United States, especially the Kennedy, most of the former presidents are rooted in Ireland. Clinton is one of them. Therefore, the US plays an active role in the process.
As you travel from the center of Belfast to the suburbs, suddenly colors, flags and murals begin. Each picture evokes a death. In those days, it was tried to control the conflicts by separating the most conflicted Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods of West and East Belfast. It is still valid today. In 1969, with the increasing clashes across the country, Belfast’s Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods spread together and the ‘Peace Wall an was built, which physically separated the two communities.
These walls have gradually increased during the years of conflict. The lower part of the wall consists of concrete, the middle part is iron and the upper part is steel wires. While there were 18 walls throughout the country at the beginning of the 1990s, it is stated that it has reached 48 units and its total length is 34 kilometers. Today there are still traces and pictures of ‘The Troubles’ on the walls. But on the Republican side of the walls, you see portraits and messages of solidarity from the various independence struggles of the world, from the left leaders.
Very Special Guides
This Sorun Big Problem ’area of Belfast is now the focus of tourist tours. Every year 2 million people come to see. By comparison, the number of tourists visiting Dublin every year is 4 million. What makes the tour interesting is the tourist guides. The large steel gates that unite the living spaces of the two communities behind the walls during the day and those chilling places where they are closed at night are the old convicts.
First, an IRA convict welcomes you to take a tour of the neighborhoods, which can be defined as Republican, Irish Nationalist and Catholic. This guidance service, which is the product of a process involved in the process of reintegration of the detainees and convicts in the prison after the peace process and release, is an unforgettable experience. As a clashing man in the streets, he tells us about who was killed in which house and how, and which place was bombed.
The most popular wall on this side of the neighborhood is the portrait of Bobby Sands, the insurgent name of the hunger strike in 1981 against the oppressive practices of the Thatcher era. Sands, who died on hunger strike in prison even though he was elected as a deputy, was the subject of the film The Hunger. Under the wall of Sands, Sinn Fein, who is in parliament today, has a small shop. Here, Sinn Fein and his books on the struggle for Irish independence include pictures, flags, T-shirts and so on. it is possible to find souvenirs at an affordable price.
These neighborhoods of Belfast consist of small shops, houses and pubs. Pub is a very important social environment. When we pass through the steel gates, ‘Royalist’, ‘Unionist’ and ‘Protestants hâlâ, which are still open for daytime to our Republican guide, our guide to the IRA is UDA (Ulster Defense Union) convict. With his testimony, he shows us where the UDA leaders lived, where they were killed, the shops the IRA bombed, the pubs. When the guide says gülüm Pub her, he makes a gesture like he makes a glass with his hand.
Living with Death
After all these ‘Pub’ promises, we enter a pub. There is a cheerful Irish music live. Stylish people at a crowded table eats an enjoyable meal. Var There is a ceremony, ”they say. Gülseren (Onanç) of our team is curious and wants to meet the bride and groom. However, the funeral of someone who passed away at the age of 68 ceremony is learned that surprise. We are in the land where death and life are intertwined.
The wedding does not end, the funeral… Songs and mourning continues. What about us? Without these deaths, in fact, we’re better, at least it doesn’t separate the walls. We return with the hope and knowledge of the importance of the Women’s Coalition in Northern Ireland, where we are going to learn about the role of women in the peace process by the Institute for Democratic Development.
“Big Trouble” Days in Northern Ireland
’The Troubles için can be translated as‘ Great Distress için for the case of Ireland. The essence of the incident was the conflict between the late 1960s and the mid-1990s. The parties to the conflict are the Republican armed organization, the IRA, and the UAM, the organization of paramilitaries supported by royalists. 3 thousand 500 people in the number of losses in the days of horrors of clashes should not come to you less. Because we compare this figure with the country’s population it is equivalent to 1.5 million people in Turkey. The peace process, which began in 1994, was ruled by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
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