The Family Solidarity Network (ADA), established by the relatives of the victims of the March 19 operation, came together in Saraçhane Park for its 46th meeting.
To meet; NEW Deputy Chairman, Party Assembly members, members of parliament, Provincial Deputy Chairman, mayors, district mayors, relatives of detainees, representatives of non-governmental organizations and journalists attended.
Dilek Kaya İmamoğlu, wife of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and Presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been detained in Silivri for more than a year, said the following in her speech:
"HOW WILL YOU COMPENSATE FOR A FAMILY'S LOST TIME?"
“We have been fighting for our loved ones, our families, and the whole of Türkiye for 18 months.
Our struggle is a struggle for rights, law and justice.
For 18 months, justice is not based on assumptions, rumors and gossip; We say that it must be provided with facts and evidence.
'I heard about it', 'I thought so', 'I watched it on TV', a few easy-to-say sentences that are not based on any reality... But these sentences came at a very heavy price.
These empty claims have been keeping our loved ones apart from us for 18 months.
18 months of just 'mish's' and 'mish's'.
A whole time is taken from people's lives and separates them from their families... How will you bring back the days a child spends away from his mother or father?
How do you make up for a family's lost time?
“ALL OF OUR LIVES HAVE BEEN IN SİLİVRİ FOR 18 MONTHS”
In these 18 months, when legal security is damaged, we see firsthand how its effects start from people's lives, affecting their families, institutions and society's confidence in the future.
And today, after all that has happened, we are still looking for the answer to this question: For what reasons do you take months and years from people's lives?
We have been asking for answers to these questions for 45 weeks.
Anyone can be judged.
But we cannot accept that a person who has not been sentenced is deprived of his time and freedom.
This is a violation of fundamental human rights, this is a crime against humanity.
You should know that it is not just the people you hold captive for political reasons; As mothers, fathers, children and spouses, we have all been between four walls for 18 months.
All of our lives have been in Silivri for 18 months.
A great drama has been going on in Silivri for 18 months.
And with the witness of all of you, every week we asked you questions that we could not get answers to.
We are at the same point today as we were on the first day.
Our foreheads are white, our heads are high.
There is no account we cannot give.
"LET THE TRUTH BE REVEALED IN FRONT OF EVERYONE'S EYES"
For months, very serious allegations were kept on Turkey's agenda, and very precise sentences were made.
People were given public judgments before they even appeared before a judge or made their defense.
Dispute-damaging news was made and slander was made.
The presumption of innocence and the right not to be tarnished have been destroyed.
Our loved ones, who could not make their voices heard within four walls because they were detained and tried, could not respond to the allegations made against them.
For months, the public listened only to allegations and slander.
Now, there are defenses, statements and facts against those allegations and slanders.
We listen in the courtroom every day.
The allegations in the indictment are discussed here one by one.
We listen to the defenses.
We hear how the statements were made, which ones were based on direct information, and which were prepared under pressure and guidance.
We understand from witness statements that many issues talked about in the public as if they were real are not true.
Is just a few lies enough to take 18 months off people's lives without any evidence?
How can anyone be safe in such a country?
Who can feel safe in a country where people's freedom can be taken away for months with slander and gossip? Who can plan, work and produce their future?
Maybe you've heard these words from us many times.
We will not stop asking these questions until they are answered.
We are not saying that no one should be prosecuted.
On the contrary; let him be judged.
If there is evidence, let it be presented.
Let the defense be heard fully.
Whatever the truth is, let it be revealed before everyone's eyes.
But being judged is one thing; Making people pay the price even before the verdict is given is another.
“EKREM İMAMOĞLU'S VOICE IS FORBIDDEN, HIS PHOTO IS FORBIDDEN!”
We, the families, do not want to lose our faith in justice.
We continue on our way together with the families here, with those listening to us on the screen, and with everyone who raises their voice against injustice.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and Presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu and his companions, who were elected by the will of the nation, have been deprived of their freedom for 1.5 years.
Ekrem İmamoğlu's voice is prohibited, his photo is prohibited!
The book he wrote was banned before it was published!
His social media accounts, where he addressed his nation and expressed himself, were blocked many times.
While they are trying to make him forget in a dungeon, on the other hand, damaging allegations and slander continue to be spread about him.
In the face of all this, he is not allowed to defend his rights, explain what is what, or even defend himself.
In fact, exactly 14 months ago, Ekrem İmamoğlu's lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan was arrested for fulfilling his defense duty.
Is it possible for such a justice system to dispense justice?
He entrusts himself to the nation because the nation sees, believes and knows; Ekrem İmamoğlu is a political prisoner; Everyone witnesses it, everyone knows it.
We need a legal order in which trial without detention is essential, the presumption of innocence is protected, and everyone has the right to a fair trial before independent and impartial courts.
“JUSTICE FOR EVERYONE, NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE”
We have to strengthen the rule of law, guarantee the independence of the judiciary and ensure the same legal guarantee for everyone.
Today, we have to go beyond just talking about what happened in the past.
The real issue is what kind of legal order we will live in from now on.
A country where every person knows that they have the security of the law, regardless of who they are, what job they do or what political view they have, is our common need.
The power of the state does not come from its power over its citizens; It comes from the ability to apply the law equally to everyone.
Trust in institutions is only strengthened with this.
It does not demand privileges for anyone and does not deprive anyone of legal security; An order where justice works equally for everyone... This is what we need.
Law for everyone, no matter who they are.
Justice for everyone, no matter who they are.
With my belief in such a Turkey; “I offer my love to all of you and thank you for your support to our struggle.”
"HE DID EVERYTHING HE COULD DO FROM HIS CELL"
Later, Lawyer Ayşegül Kamalı Durak, wife of Adalar Municipality Deputy Mayor Fırat Durak, spoke.
Durak stated the following in his statement:
“I am Lawyer Ayşegül Kamalı Durak, wife of Adalar Deputy Mayor Lawyer Fırat Durak.
Fırat has been detained for 100 days.
He has been kept in a cell alone for 100 days under unfair, unlawful, unproven and disproportionately heavy isolation conditions.
They are left separated from us, their children, their loved ones and the Islands.
We have a 2-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter.
He hasn't been able to hug his children for 100 days; He misses the days when they grew up, the tiny but never-to-come-back moments of their lives, within four walls.
But despite all this, he did not back down even one step from his determination to fight, the values he believed in and his determination.
We saw the last example of this in the vice presidential elections held in the Islands.
Fırat resigned from both the Islands Municipality Council Membership and the IMM Council Membership in order to be able to vote in his place, to protect the will of the Islanders at the ballot box, and for the election to be drawn with at least a 4-4 tie.
He did whatever he could from his cell.
Fırat could have acted like the others.
Moreover, perhaps he had more reasons than anyone else to retreat, remain silent, and think about himself and his family.
He could renounce the will handed over to him.
And as the father of a 2-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter, if he had done this, perhaps none of us would have said a word to him.
But he didn't.
Even when his own freedom was at stake, he put the will entrusted to him before his own future.
Because...
Because for some people, politics is not just about office.
For some people, the vote given to them is not a number that can be given up when the conditions become difficult.
It is a trust that must be carried with honor.
Fırat did not leave that trust behind even on the days when he was deprived of his freedom.
However, he did not take into account that some of the people with whom he worked overtime, sat at the same table, and fought the same struggle might pay the price of being outside today by giving up the will of their friends inside.
Because maybe a person can bear being shut in between four walls.
But he cannot easily think that the people he walks with can leave his friend buried in concrete behind.
“HE STRUGGLED WITH DIFFICULTIES, HIS EFFORT, AND HIS WORK THROUGH HIS LIFE”
Fırat may be in prison today.
But he is free enough to walk around the streets of the Islands with his head held high.
Because freedom is not just being able to walk on the street.
Sometimes a person is outside, but he is a prisoner of his fears.
Sometimes he is in a cell, but his conscience, words and stance are free.
Fırat is in a cell today.
Its gate is iron, its walls are concrete.
Their children are outside, their loved ones are outside, the Islands are outside.
But his dignity is not inside.
Because you cannot lock the door of honor.
You can't build walls around dignity.
You cannot embed a principled stance in concrete.
You can lock a person's body within four walls, but you cannot imprison the values he believes in, his conscience and his loyalty to the will entrusted to him.
Honor does not fit into a cell, dignity does not remain behind iron doors, principled stance cannot be limited to four walls.
Life was never handed to Fırat on a silver platter.
He struggled with difficulties, labor and sweat throughout his life.
He shouldered the burden of life from a young age.
He never got anything easy.
In the face of this great injustice he is experiencing today, he stands in the same way without bowing down, without surrendering, without lowering his head.
Maybe the real issue today is not who is in and who is out.
The real issue is who has his head held high and who does not have to look away when he is alone with his own conscience.
"FIRAT TAKES CARE OF OUR WILL AND THE TRUST WE HAVE DELIVERED TO HIM"
Let it be within four walls, not on the streets of the island today.
Because tomorrow he won't have to bow his head when he takes to the streets.
He did not sell the will entrusted to him, he did not put his fear before his conscience, he did not even use his longing to be reunited with his children as a reason to give up his principles.
And perhaps this is the most valuable legacy he will leave to his two young children.
An honorable life that one day he can tell his children by looking into their eyes.
Fırat protected our will and the trust we handed over to him.
Now it's our turn.
Now, at a time when others are retreating simply out of fear of falling into the same cells, it is time to stand up for those who do not give up their honorable stance by risking paying the price inside that cell.
Because today the issue is not only about Euphrates.
The question is whether fear or courage, calculation or conscience, rank or honor will win.
Fırat made his own choice, he protected his will, he protected his trust, he protected his honor.
Now our duty is to show that he and all his honorable companions are not alone within four walls.
Because what we need to protect today is not just a person; It is a will that does not bend despite fear, a principle that is not abandoned despite the cost, and an honor that cannot be imprisoned despite four walls.
He protected our will within those four walls, now we who are outside will protect his honor, dignity and struggle.
Because you can imprison bodies, but never honor!
Briefly, I would like to end my words with the last lines of Fırat's letter, which he shared with the public when he submitted his resignation.
Because I think his own words best describe where he stands today, what he believes in, and why he is still standing tall despite all this:
'Let them come at us with their politicized judiciary and law enforcement forces; Let them test us with the longing for my children whom I can see once a month.
They will be defeated eventually!
Because we get our power from the truth and they cannot defeat the truth.
When the day comes, the light of truth will drown out all this darkness; We will emerge from these cells, which we entered with dignity, with dignity, without bowing down, and even stronger.
We will never forget these days when we leave.
May the tears of my daughter Dicle, whom I can only see once a month and who leaves me crying every time I see her openly, remain a sign of shame for the rest of her life, on the necks of both those who see this oppression as justified and those who share this oppression and betray their will to choose.
Tomorrow is ours.”
The 46th meeting ended with a group photo taken after the speeches.
