In Turkey, nobody has faith in the judiciary, justice, and law anymore. This is the attitude for a long time, but as the court records appear, the photograph becomes clearer. The following dialogue between a judge, a defendant and a confessor in Şanlıurfa is important in showing the situation in the Turkish courts once more…
SEVİNÇ ÖZARSLAN
– Place: Şanlıurfa 6th High Criminal Court.
– Date: November 11, 2018.
– Judge Ali Kara asks the confessor Büşra Demirdal.
– Do you know Ayse Demir?
– Answer: No, this is not Ayse Demir. The woman that I know as Ayse Demir was a female pharmacist. She was 40 to 45 years old. I don’t know this woman.
– Judge: Arrest the suspect Ayse Demir…
Büşra Demirdal, who gave the name of Ayşe Demir while she was in custody, stated that the person that she mentioned was another person when she met the suspect in the court. But the judicial decision does not change.
MOTHER AND FATHER WERE ARRESTED ON THE SAME DAY IN FRONT OF THEIR CHILDREN
Turkish teacher Ayşe Demir and her husband physics teacher Beytullah Demir were arrested on September 12, 2018, in Urfa, in front of their three children.
After 10 days in custody, Şanlıurfa Magistrate was released Ayşe Demir with judicial control decision. Beytullah Demir was sent to Diyarbakır Prison on charge of ‘membership of illegal group’.
For a month, Ayşe Demir went to give signature without fleeing and hiding. At the end of the month, there was a new development. Büşra Demirdal, a prisoner in Silivri Prison, was a confessor, give the name of Ayşe Demir, then the 6th High Criminal Court of Şanlıurfa filed a lawsuit against Ayşe Demir. Since Ayşe Demir was born in Ceylanpınar, the Ceylanpınar Court was instructed to take her testimony.
But Ayşe Demir, living in the center of Şanlıurfa, went to the trial in Şanlıurfa 6th High Criminal Court on 11 November 2018 to defend herself with her own words. She was arrested in court where she went voluntarily.
Judge Ali Kara separated the young mother from her three children, despite the statement by Büşra Demirdal, who was on trial with Sound and Vision Information Technology System (SEGBIS), saying, “I do not know this woman”.
On December 12, 2018, 32-year-old Demir was sentenced to 5 years, 18 months and 22 days imprisonment on charge of membership of a terrorist organization. The appeal court approved the decision ten days ago. The case is currently in the Supreme Court.
Ayşe Demir who was a Turkish teacher was sent to Hilvan 2nd numbered T-Type Closed Prison because a confessor gave her name in a statement. Her husband and herself graduated from Dicle University. Between 2011 and 2014, they worked as a paid teacher in a private education Institution (Kültür Özel Eğitim ve Nehir Özel Eğitim Kurumları) in Diyarbakır.
When Ayse Demir became pregnant, she left the school. After the institution they worked was terminated, they moved to Şanlıurfa. Meanwhile, Ayse Demir gave birth and the number of children increased to three. Taha Bera, now 1,5 years old, had not yet been weaned when her mother was arrested. His eldest sons Osman is 7 and Hümeyra is 2 years old.
After two months, Beytullah Demir who had his first trial 20 days ago will again appear before the judge and try to prove that he is not a “terrorist”!
I’M LOOKING AT MY THREE GRANDCHILDREN AND MY PARALYZED DAD AT 80
Ayşe Demir’s father, retired Şeref Atay, looks after his grandchildren and his own father who is hospitalized because of a brain hemorrhage. He is toing and froing desperately. Şeref Atay, whom we interviewed by phone, as a desperate father and grandfather, expressed what they had been living for 6 months as the voice of all victims:
“You have to be a partisan, or there is no other choice. I asked my daughter if she knew Busra. I swear to God I don’t know her, she said. We saw Büşra Demirdal in the trial, we do not know who she is. She was in Diyarbakir before presumably.
Büşra Demirdal wasn’t able to meet with my daughter at that time. My daughter was a college student at that time. She wasn’t married, she was holding my surname… I am miserable at the moment. I look after my grandchildren. My 80-year-old father had a cerebral hemorrhage, was paralyzed, and now is in hospital.
Three children are up to me, they have diapers and so on. Taha Bera still sucks milk. I’m taking him to prison twice a day. I’m a retired person. Now our psychology is broken. Whenever I go home, the kids start to ask; ‘when will mother come to the home?’ I do not know what to say.”
I LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED
“There is no such lawlessness. If my daughter is guilty, give her the penalty. But she isn’t. Just give me a reason! They wrote to one of the charges that he was living in an undisclosed location. A mother who lives in her own house with her three children, how she lives in an undisclosed location!
Realtor is certain, we hired the flat and settled my daughter there. For the sake of God, what terrorist organization! I don’t understand if she used a gun or smuggled somewhere. We suffered as much that we had a hell of a time. I leave no stone unturned. I have no faith in anyone and nothing…”
There are three incriminating accusations attributed to Ayşe Demir: between 2011 and 2014, she worked as a paid teacher in a private education Institution (Kültür Özel Eğitim ve Nehir Özel Eğitim kurumları) in Diyarbakır, accusation that she was staying in undisclosed location and her name was given by a confessor that she has never seen. Ayse Demir’s lawyer expresses that, despite the allegations that they have refuted, there is no favorable result.
Ayse Demir, Büşra Demirdal expressions and the defense of the lawyer Abdülahmit Tapışık: