By Ernest Truely

26 March 2013. Error Renewal is in it’s third week of operations in the Kurdish capital, Diyarbakir. Eight Errorists from northern regions with support from local artists and academics have occupied a flat on Revolution Boulevard, a section of an industrial compound and periphery regions of Sümerpark. Error Collectivists have been interrogated by police and escorted by urban tanks in attempts to comprehend their actions. Fashion Errors including but not limited to short shorts have provoked conflict with Muslims and clashes between neighbors and family members.

Errorist were seen in the outlaying Bağıvar where reports of mural bombing the elementary schools. Laser cut stencils of traditional Estonian mitten patterns were spray painted across the school’s exits. The walls, painted with texts like, “Let’s be friends,” and “Life is beautiful” as well as the paintings of an elephant, bunny, butterfly and flowers are a constant reminder to the village children of a chain of inexplicable errors.

A local businessman commented, “I see them advance to Sümerpark every morning and quick march back to Revolution Boulevard late at night, and they are always carrying garbage,” the man gestured his bewilderment and asked, “WTF are they doing?”

On 22 March an Error intervention at Sümerpark occurred when a 170 centemeter diameter sphere covered in plastic waste material was carried in a ritualistic procession. Park inhabitants seemed mostly undisturbed but the action drew the attention of a gang of feral children and an unconfirmed “village idiot workshop” coinciding in the same territory. Tensions arose when the giant ball of garbage was hoisted atop the roof of ecological project ruins. A video recording of an onlooker waving a big stick, drawing his knife was posted by Error on YouTube. Errorists set fires around the compound and brandished a burning banner of what seemed to be a dirty old piece of textile on a stick. Error claimed responsibility for setting two traps, one of which was stolen by passing school children, the second turned out to be a benign installation art. Rumors circulated of police involvement and long prison sentences however sources confirm only one Errorist was detained briefly by park security forces, offered tea and nice tobacco. The evening ended without incident and only minor bloodshed from work related injuries. Local newspapers cited their actions as artistic, ecological, and political.

After the 22 March demonstration onlookers offered the following comments;

“Their clothes are dirty, they appear unwashed and the men are unshaven.

Sometimes I offer them food and tea because they seem so pitiful. They are always taking things from the streets.”

A bewildered regular of Sümerpark observed, “They all carry knives, sometimes clubs or a saw. Once I saw one of them from Finland sweeping the street. He is from one of the richest nations in the world with the best social care. Why is he sweeping up cigarette butts from the streets of Diyarbakir? And why does his dustpan have wheels?”

A man who prefers to have his name remain anonymous explained, first one Errorist from Estonia arrived unannounced and moved into my flat. A friend of mine vouched that they were sympathetic but within a few days two more flew in from northernmost Europe, a week later three more joined them from Finland then another came from Sweden. They only use money for art materials, frivolities and inebriation. They sleep on scraps of cardboard on the floor, they eat all the food, and they fill the flat with waste material they find on the street.”

It is reported that on 23 March three of the collective member hitch-hiked to Istanbul and another is retreating Estonia in the early morning 27 March. It is not clear if the movement indicates evacuation or another baffling strategy for which this collective is known. It appears that Error members have momentarily retreated from Sümerpark, leaving behind scorched earth, a bottle of pee, broken windows fused into glass art, a few shitty DIY berimbau and the shimmering sun of garbage hovering above the southeastern corner of the park.

On the 27th of March, Error issued a statement:  

By Justin Tyler Tate

Our(Ernest Truely, Rauno Õispuu and Justin Tyler Tate) first day in Diyarbakir has passed full of wonder, surprises, delicious food, second-hand smoke (first-hand for some people) and decisions to be made. Almost everybody else (Mikko Laajola, Karl Hallberg, Mika Palonen, Sara Milazzo, Kilian Ochs) will be arriving in a few days.

The flat we are temporarily staying in is a 3 bedroom apt. with one man, named Engin, living in it and no furniture to speak of except for in Engin's room, one fold out couch and one small table covered with office supplies. We stayed inside the apartment for most of our first day in Diyarbakir as we waited for Seckin Aydin with the boys taking one excursion to look for a bank machine, oil and food; they came back empty handed with only the explanation that people had told them that "the bank is in Istanbul".

When Seckin arrived, we left to look at possible sites for the project:

We were not able to see site 1 since we've been in Turkey, but Seckin sent us photos from before we came to Turkey; it is the studio of some sculptors.

The first place we looked at seemed new from the outside but on the inside was perfect-ish; exposed concrete and exposed roof access made it seem almost ideal but as we were looking at the surroundings from the roof some men came in the building. Coming down the stairs the first, and oldest, man greeted us with a handshake and we gave our names as did he, I think. Following the introduction we made our way out of the stout building with the yellow exterior past four men who did not seem angry but were intimidating all the same. We were told, as we walked around from site 2, that those men also wanted the building but the owner would not sell it to them. 

Seckin encouraged us to go look at site 3 as we would not get any support for local organisations in regards to site 2.

Site 3 is a really cool little house but far from what we imagined. It was made by an eco-organisation which had the point of showing people that a house could be made almost-for-free with non-industrial materials. The house had definitely been was disused or maybe a better way to put it is to say that it had been inappropriately used; the local community of glue-huffing kids(not shown in the picture) had been using site 3 as a place to, well, huff glue - the organisation who built the house had recently locked the door so that neither the glue-sniffing-kids or us could enter the structure. Details:

• The walls of the house were made with compressed earth.
  
• The site is sitting in the shadow of a beautiful Mosque and in the center of a park.
  
• Working on this site would mean support for accommodation and materials.
• A gang of slingshot wielding young boys likes to hang out around there.

Site 3 & 1/2 is far from disused but like the other sites has it's pro's and con's. We actually had not been looking for another potential site but rather for a translator and then Site 3 & 1/2 fell into our laps.  

As we talked to the potential translator (who teaches English and also runs a cafe called Mona) we explained the purpose of our trip, a little bit about how we work and then if he could translate, for free, for us at some points. He agreed to our request but also said that he was not happy with the upstairs of the cafe, that it was generally unused and then suggested that maybe we would like to use it for our project in which case he would buy the materials we wanted and we could change the structure/aesthetics of the cafe, relatively, as much as we wanted. He offered that we can live in the cafe, come and go as much as we want, use the kitchen (which has a deep-fryer), the cafe also has free wi-fi and the location is good. The con's of the situation are that it's a cafe we would be renovating and so not-at-all aligned with the intentions of Error Renewal and also we would basically be cheap foreign labor (which is also interesting).

We have not seen Site 4 yet because it is about 80km North-West of Diyarbakir but have been told that there are many disused buildings in the large town/small city(100k) of Silvan. For this site we would receive assistance from the local municipality but would be slightly removed and out of touch.

Night came as we were in Cafe Mona and Seckin invited us to the studio of two of his friends for dinner and drinks. We went to pick up some Raki and beer at a liquor store followed by a quick visit to one of Diyarbakir's many nut and dried fruit shops for some after dinner snacks. Dinner was, prepared by the two artists whose studio we were invited to, a traditional Kurdish meal consisting of spicy eggplant and pepper salads; slices of red bell peppers stuffed with cheese; yogurt with herbs, oil and garlic; lightly steamed broccoli with olive oil and lemon juice, chunks of lamb with bell peppers, spice, garlic and eggplant cooked on a roasting pan; and all of that was followed with lots of nuts/seeds (selected by Seckin at the nut shop) - Iranian twice roasted almonds, cashews, pistachios, and pumpkin seeds; the end of the meal consisted of kiwi and apple with lemon juice. During the meal we drank Raki(an anise liquor) over ice with water(which, because of the anise, turns the liquor white) and fermented turnip juice with tea at the end of the evening. Right before dinner the power cut out (which apparently is a frequent occurrence) and from between 8pm and 1am we  enjoyed the company of new friends, the mixing of languages and culture, music from around the middle east, and some of the most delicious food I can remember eating by only candle light. All in all, we had a productive first day and a perfect first night in Kurdistan.