First of all, I want to thank you for inviting me to this panel.
I wanted to be there with you, but unfortunately, it was a bit late to be there when I heard about this panel. That's why I am using video conference.
Let me introduce myself briefly. I am a journalist with 15 years of experience. I spent 15 years in an independent media organization. In the last nine years, I was a courthouse and police reporter. I also spent those nine years publishing news about corruption, unsolved murders against the Kurdish people, and the Turkish intelligence agency, which sent people to Syria illegally.
I am the only journalist who wrote about it and followed all of the processes. By the way, prosecutors and soldiers of this case are sitting in a jail, and I am the only journalist who cares about them.
I was sentenced to three years just because I wrote about them, and the government took guardianship of my children. On July 15, 2016, I shared my opinion on social media about the coup and the police torture of the jailed soldiers. Then I became the first journalist to face the detention decision. After two days, on July 17, police showed up at my house and tried to arrest, with me were my seven-month-old and seven-year-old daughters. After the corruption investigation, which included Erdogan and his family and many of his ministers, there was no justice in Turkey.
After the coup, it was completely dead. That was why I refused to surrender to the cops and lived for about five months like an outlaw. It was like hell, and I don't know how many times I died in that period. It was very hard and my future was uncertain. My only option was to leave the country illegally. If I made it, I was going to be free and if I didn't, I was going to be a prisoner just like my other journalist friends.
Luckily, I was able to make it, but I could not take my children with me. Afterwards, I entered Canada illegally and I have been here for 14 months. My youngest doesn't even recognize me anymore. I learned so many things in this period. I left Turkey as a Turkish mother of two, but now I feel like every single child's mother who is left to be alone, for example, Karim, who lost his entire family and his eye in Syria. It's the same for the ones after the genocide in Sri Lanka. I don't identify myself as Turkish. I am just human now.
I am against anything that others people, like religion, ethnicity, ideology, language, etc. People understand each other but politicians separate us. I have seen many lives and deaths. I nearly died and had losses, but I want to speak specifically about Turkey here.
Tons of people are jailed now. According to authorities, 650,000 people have legal processes against them. Thousands of people were fired. About 700 babies are in jail with their mothers. Many journalists are in jail, as well as doctors, police, prosecutors, judges, academics, as Abdullah Bozkurt said. They even arrest lawyers just because they take the cases. They torture them in the jails. More than 80 people have died in there. They don't even let your [Inaudible-Editor] in the prison.
They arrested 3,000 judges and prosecutors just in one day. Now they are able to...some of the non-governmental organizations, TV and radio channels, and newspapers. There is no justice and freedom of the press in Turkey. Sometimes they don't let you go even if you have your eviction, such as many journalists, academic and author Mehmet Altan, or chairman of Amnesty International Turkey, Taner Kilic.
Turkey arrested judges who were ordered to be expelled and dismissed from the profession. There are no human rights in Turkey. Civil rights activists from all around the world mention it. You and other people may be interested in my words, but the politicians are mostly interested in their own benefits. For example, a French journalist was accused by Erdogan in France, just because he did not like the question. The French leader, Macron, instead of doing something, made a cattle deal with him. Erdogan's bodyguards thrashed protesters but he bought airplanes, estimated at a cost of $11 billion, and the United States did nothing.
The European Court of Human Rights doesn't take any action against this situation and is keeping it out of their agenda. Media organizations of Erdogan carry the role of a hitman. They commit genocide against the Kurdish, like Hitler against the Jews. They are making a witch hunt like McCarthy did. There is the same fear as the Red Scare in the period of McCarthy. Thousands of people share the same role with Sacco and Vanzetti. We are under persecution just because we demand freedom of speech.
They condemn this but it is not enough. They publish reports and then do nothing. If you want to complain, start with your own leaders. If they don't speak against Erdogan, they are the part of this crime that is against human rights. Why is the European Court of Human Rights not responding to their colleagues' plight?
I want to remind you that Ahmet Altan is also known as editor-in-chief of Taraf newspaper, where I used to work. He and his brother, Mehmet Altan, have been sitting in jail since September 2016, sentenced for life. Their father, Cetin Altan, was jailed when he was 70 years old, and the reason was that he said [Inaudible—Editor]. Nevertheless, he told his son to bite the bullet and say what he had to say if he had to.
Ahmet Altan once said during his trial that the rule of law was worse than hell, that today the system crawls around holding people in Turkey. “Oh Judge, I am ready to die and I don't have any fear, but are you?”
On the other hand, Mehmet Altan asked an important question: “Do you want to be judged by a judge like you?”
Now, I am asking you, don't you smell the same stench, which crawls around the world? Some people are sleeping in cells away from their families for nothing. It is not a bad country or imaginary [Inaudible—Editor]. We're the people [Inaudible—Editor] for anybody from anywhere: Turkey, Europe, Syria. It doesn't matter. If there is unrighteousness anywhere in the world, we shall stand against it. If a politician legitimatizes a dictator, we have to condemn him or her. Human rights cannot be disregarded for a cattle deal. Europe is still silent for Syrian refugees.
This is not a dramatic movie. Their lives are as real as yours. We cannot be partners of this crime. It has worked for losing everything. We cannot sleep if we see the faces of the innocent.
I don't fear dying. I died before many times, but also I loved life every time after I died. When you go through your worst nightmares, you will find out how much you love life. Don't be pardoned just for your kids. Ask yourself first if you can ever belong to any other kids.
Did you know that the dog that found the weapons that went to Syria from Turkey was exiled—even the dog? That's a dog with dignity. We must be better than a dog.
Unfortunately, some people will sit and be quiet, and dismiss. They don't even share the dignity of a dog.
Thank you for listening to me.