To sign the inaugural declaration of GIT, please send an e-mail to diana.gonzalez2@wanadoo.fr -- to join GIT - North America, e-mail gitamerica@yahoo.com
Sociologist and writer Pınar Selek's Kafkaesque trial
Read about the trial of the 1998 blast in Istanbul's Spice Bazaar that has been going on for fourteen years, in which the prosecutor repeated the void plea of seven years ago, via GIT - North America.
Dictionary of discriminatory sayings, proverbs, and idioms in Turkish
Read about the online dictionary that aims to document discriminatory sayings, proverbs, and idioms in Turkish on GIT - North America.
International Press Institute urges Nedim Şener's release in alleged coup plot
Read the statement of IPI, which had selected Nedim Şener World Press Freedom Hero in 2010, via GIT - North America.
The New Yorker's "Letter from Turkey" and "Daily Comment" on Turkey's Jailed Journalist
Read the New Yorker's commentaries on the authoritarian tendency in Turkish democracy under Tayyip Erdoğan's rule via GIT - North America.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
International Press Institute urges Nedim Sener's release in alleged coup plot
According to Hurriyet Daily News, "media watchdog International Press Institute (IPI) urged Turkey to release prominent journalists detained over an alleged coup plot, slamming the country's treatment of reporters as 'sad and shameful'. The statement came a year after Turkish investigative journalist Nedim Şener and 12 others were arrested for allegedly aiding a shadowy group aiming to topple the Islamist-rooted government". To read the full news report on Hurriyet Daily News, please click here.
The IPI selected Nedim Sener as World Press Freedom Hero in June 2010, eight months before his detention in March 2011, and just recently started a petition calling for his release. To sign the petition, please click here.
The IPI selected Nedim Sener as World Press Freedom Hero in June 2010, eight months before his detention in March 2011, and just recently started a petition calling for his release. To sign the petition, please click here.
The New Yorker's "Letter from Turkey" and "Daily Comment" on Turkey's Jailed Journalists
A concise commentary by Dexter Filkins in the New Yorker discusses the jailed journalists in Turkey and tries to situate it within a socio-political context:
"Mind you, Turkey is a democracy, or at least, it’s supposed to be. Erdogan’s triumph, and that of his party, in 2002, represented an epochal shift in Turkey’s political history. The election threw out an entrenched secular minority that had governed the country since its founding, often suppressing the majority of moderately religious Turks. In his nine years in power, Erdogan has transformed Turkish society in many positive ways. But, more and more, Erdogan’s Turkey is coming to resembled Putin’s Russia—a kind of one-party democracy."
In a related piece, likewise in the New Yorker, Filkins further analyzes the "deep state" tradition in Turkey in an effort to better understand Erdogan's increasingly autocratic rule:
"Friends and colleagues say Erdoğan worried that the deep state would never allow him to govern [...] But Erdoğan’s rule has another, darker side, which the West seems intent on ignoring: an increasingly harsh campaign to crush domestic opposition. In the past five years, more than seven hundred people have been arrested, including generals, admirals, members of parliament, newspaper editors and other journalists, owners of television networks, directors of charitable organizations, and university officials. The American response to this intensifying repression has been tepid. President Barack Obama has developed a close relationship with Erdoğan, whom he regards as a dynamic and democratically minded leader"
"Mind you, Turkey is a democracy, or at least, it’s supposed to be. Erdogan’s triumph, and that of his party, in 2002, represented an epochal shift in Turkey’s political history. The election threw out an entrenched secular minority that had governed the country since its founding, often suppressing the majority of moderately religious Turks. In his nine years in power, Erdogan has transformed Turkish society in many positive ways. But, more and more, Erdogan’s Turkey is coming to resembled Putin’s Russia—a kind of one-party democracy."
In a related piece, likewise in the New Yorker, Filkins further analyzes the "deep state" tradition in Turkey in an effort to better understand Erdogan's increasingly autocratic rule:
"Friends and colleagues say Erdoğan worried that the deep state would never allow him to govern [...] But Erdoğan’s rule has another, darker side, which the West seems intent on ignoring: an increasingly harsh campaign to crush domestic opposition. In the past five years, more than seven hundred people have been arrested, including generals, admirals, members of parliament, newspaper editors and other journalists, owners of television networks, directors of charitable organizations, and university officials. The American response to this intensifying repression has been tepid. President Barack Obama has developed a close relationship with Erdoğan, whom he regards as a dynamic and democratically minded leader"
Discriminative Dictionary of Turkish
"Dictionary of Discriminatory Sayings, Proverbs, and Idioms" was launched by Ümit Kurt and Ahmet Ozcan. The online dictionary calls for contributions for a collective conscious-raising about sexist, racist, and xenophobic expressions in Turkish, not only to problematize their effect on the way we think about 'others' but also to expose them as hate crimes. Ozcan, who is currently writing a PhD dissertation entitled “Last Kurdish Bandits” at Bogaziçi, kindly shared with GIT-North America the idea behind their initiative.
Discriminative Dictionary
Dictionary of Discriminatory* Sayings, Proverbs, and Idioms
(*Sexist, Racist,Xenophobic etc.)
by Ahmet Ozcan
“The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare upon the brains of the living.” (Karl Marx)
“Language is not neutral. It is not merely a vehicle,which carries ideas. It is itself a shaper of ideas.” (Dale Spender)
The specters of the past are haunting us. The generations of the present, anxious and hesitant about their future, are clutching onto the legacy of their ancestors, believing that they can exist in the modern world,whose salient and permanent characteristic is obscurity and volatility, only under its shadow. Since they are afraid of facing themselves right here and right now, they identify the present with its past, thus reproduce it under its shadow. They prefer to repeat, as they are not used to create in exactly the same way that they are forced to become stereotypes, as they"cannot" think. This legacy, reproduced every day by the ordinary language, is not totally innocent. It contains wisdom, discretion, and reason;but also spreads centuries-long social hysterias, prejudices, and obsessions.Language is not a neutral means of communication; it is the very instant reproduction of the present power relations and of the domination of one gender, religion, sect, race, and class over the other(s). Language creates others. The other of the present, through language, is thrown next to the others of the past.
While Turkish Linguistic Society has begun to erase, in hurry,the discriminative idioms and proverbs in the dictionaries; we aim to collect and assemble them not only to analyze the reproduction of discrimination via daily language, but also to expose and condemn them as hate crimes against society and humanity. Our objective is to problematize, rather than neglect,the discriminative language. We call for your contribution to this collective study.
-
A-bout the Idea of Discriminative Dictionary:
As everybody else, I have been witnessing the discriminative language in my daily life. These are the sayings that are shared only among the friends and the family and told as reasonable and true judgments, since “there can be no smoke without a fire.” As soon as I classified the discriminative sayings, idioms, and proverbs that I’ve collected with the question “who is the other?” the data shows, by itself, how discrimination has penetrated into our daily language and shaped us through it. These sayings that emerged in a specific period with a specific cause differ according to their sexist, racist, and xenophobic characteristics; for instance, an idiom could be both sexist and racist at the same time. I was sure that this was only the tip of a giant iceberg and I dream about a “Discriminative Dictionary” not only to analyze the whole data for studying discrimination in the mentality of generations, but also to expose and condemn discrimination from our daily language. Such a dictionary could only be possible through a collective study and thus, with my friend Ümit Kurt from the Department of History at the Clark University, I’ve established the blog on Discriminative Dictionary. I am happy to note that as far as now, the blog received a really warm and enthusiastic welcome from the public.
T-he problematization of the discriminative language:
At the very moment that I read the news reporting that the Turkish Linguistic Society has created a committee of academics to erase the discriminative idioms and proverbs in the dictionaries, I thought that we should problematize, rather than neglect, this daily-used discriminative discourse which is, through ordinary language, reproduced and transmitted to the new generations. In other words, in order to exclude discrimination from language, it is certainly not enough to expect hopefully that discriminatory sayings will be forgotten one day; on the contrary, it is indispensible to criticize, falsify, and condemn them as crimes of hate against society and humanity. Now, at this very point, the Discriminative Dictionary aims to contribute humbly into such a conscious effort to exclude discrimination from the daily language.
T-he politics of emotions:
As opposed to the definition of human as “homo-economicus” in the early 18th century; the 21st century,which has begun with the Arab Spring, reminds that human is also an emotional (thumos) social being. In other words, s/he is ruled neither only by class interests nor by a cold daily rationality, s/he is also shaped by emotions thatare shared and clashed in society. The discriminative discourse, which is especially on the rise in Turkey in the recent years, has been fed by social emotions like pride, rage, and hate. (This is exactly why discrimination is called a hate crime.) However, in order to oppose discrimination, the newly developing democratic political culture in Turkey should radiate counter-emotions like self-esteem, toleration, empathy, and love. I believe, with reference to Hrant Dink’s political position on the Armenian issue, that a sincere sadness is maybe the first emotion that we, as the whole society, need to feel about our dark past. I think that the famous “existing political and economic contradictions” will acquire a new dimension in the face of such a powerful emotion. Here, the Discriminative Dictionary aims humbly to contribute into the radiation of such emotions, i.e. the emotions deriving from understanding “the other”.
Sociologist and writer Pınar Selek's Kafkaesque trial
Prosecutor Reiterated Final Speech from 7 Year ago
"The new prosecutor of the trial related to the Spice Bazaar blast in Istanbul in the late 1990s reiterated the claim for an aggravated life sentence for Pınar Selek. Her father Alp Selek told bianet that the prosecutor repeated the final speech given seven years earlier.The hearing was attended by Selek's father and joint attorney Ali Selek, her sister Seyda, members of the Platform 'We are still witnesses', friends of Selek, and some journalists and writers.
None of the defendants appeared at court.
Despite the decision for acquittal given on 9 February 2011, Prosecutor Mehmet Ali Uysal reiterated the plea made seven years earlier and demanded an aggravated life sentence for Pınar Selek.
Lawyer Alp Selek told bianet, "He does not know the file very well. The court gave a decision of insistence. It is not right to read the same plea as done seven years ago again now. Therefore, the repetition of the final plea and the demand for an aggravated life sentence are entirely void. Many parts of the file have changed in the meantime".
The previous session on 7 March was the first hearing with Prosecutor Mehmet Ali Uysal who previously worked at the Samandağ Public Prosecution, the justice inspectorate and the Şişli Public Prosecution. He replaced prosecutor Nuri Ahmet Saraç who was displaced from the case and appointed as investigation prosecutor."
To read the rest of the article in Bianet, please visit:
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/136776-prosecutor-reiterated-final-speech-from-7-year-ago
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Newsfeed - March 7
To sign the inaugural declaration of GIT, please send an e-mail to diana.gonzalez2@wanadoo.fr -- to join GIT - North America, e-mail gitamerica@yahoo.com
Three counts of insult to injury: The unbearable weight of daily news in Turkey
Turkish Minister of EU Affairs grossly misrepresents facts on BBC by calling some of the arrested journalist rapists; reporters who work for the news agency that uncovered the sexual abuse scandal in a juvenile prison are arrested; and the AKP majority in the parliament rejects a proposal that could allow the continuation of the trial of Sivas Massacre (1993) -- find out the details on GIT - North America.
Students facing prison -- again
Read another example of the students becoming targets for "discipline and punish" policies on GIT - North America.
The Dean's New Job: Social media surveillance
Marmara University College of Communication Dean Yusuf Devran, whose name became well-known for suspending Communication senior Mikail Boz from University for 6 months because he had criticized his becoming dean so fast, has now begun sleuthing. Find out how on GIT - North America.
Freedom of Expression, Association and Publication: BIA Media Monitoring Full Report
Emel Gülcan from Bianet writes about the freedom of expression, association and publication landscape invaded by criminal charges and interpretations of the vaguely phrased Anti-Terrorism Law in Turkey. Read it via GIT - North America.
More from POMED: Dispensing with the Turkish Model
Read an article written by Sinan Ciddi on the appeal and feasibility of the Turkish model for the wider Middle East region via GIT - North America.
Three counts of insult to injury: The unbearable weight of daily news in Turkey
Turkish Minister of EU Affairs grossly misrepresents facts on BBC by calling some of the arrested journalist rapists; reporters who work for the news agency that uncovered the sexual abuse scandal in a juvenile prison are arrested; and the AKP majority in the parliament rejects a proposal that could allow the continuation of the trial of Sivas Massacre (1993) -- find out the details on GIT - North America.
Students facing prison -- again
Read another example of the students becoming targets for "discipline and punish" policies on GIT - North America.
The Dean's New Job: Social media surveillance
Marmara University College of Communication Dean Yusuf Devran, whose name became well-known for suspending Communication senior Mikail Boz from University for 6 months because he had criticized his becoming dean so fast, has now begun sleuthing. Find out how on GIT - North America.
Freedom of Expression, Association and Publication: BIA Media Monitoring Full Report
Emel Gülcan from Bianet writes about the freedom of expression, association and publication landscape invaded by criminal charges and interpretations of the vaguely phrased Anti-Terrorism Law in Turkey. Read it via GIT - North America.
More from POMED: Dispensing with the Turkish Model
Read an article written by Sinan Ciddi on the appeal and feasibility of the Turkish model for the wider Middle East region via GIT - North America.
Three Counts of Insult to Injury: The unbearable weight of daily news in Turkey
Recently, three pieces of news that are related to the concerns of GIT - North America hit the Turkish press.
The first one was a statement by Egemen Bağış, minister for European Union affairs in Erdoğan's cabinet, during an interview with Stephen Sackur on BBC's Hardtalk last Friday. Mr. Bağış claimed that some of the journalists in Turkish prisons were there because they were caught while raping others. This was an outrageous misrepresentation of the facts. A list of the journalists in Turkish prisons today and why they are in jail might be found here. As one can easily see, most journalists are in jail for supporting or being a member of a "terrorist organization." So far, we have yet to see any evidence of the terror they created other than the state-produced terror that they reported, which brings us to the second "insult to injury" in recent news from Turkey.
Yesterday (Tuesday, March 6) another round of KCK arrests took place in Turkey. Once again it hit several journalists. Three of the journalists arrested yesterday deserve special mention: Ali Buluş, Özlem Ağuş ve Hamdullah Keser. They work for the Adana office of the DİHA (Dicle Haber Ajansı, Tigris News Agency) that had uncovered the torture and sexual abuse scandal at the Pozantı Juvenile Prison.
The third insult to injury came from the AKP majority in the parliament when they voted yesterday against a proposal that would allow the trial of the perpetrators of the Sivas Massacre to continue. This trial is about to end due to the statute of limitations next Tuesday in Ankara. 35 intellectuals were burnt alive in Sivas by a mob in 1993. Aziz Nesin had been saved in the last moment. For a report (in Turkish) about the vote in the parliament, see Bianet. Young Academics from Turkey have started a petition directed to the court, asking for the continuation of the trial. You can sign it here or visit their webpage to find out more about this massacre here.
The first one was a statement by Egemen Bağış, minister for European Union affairs in Erdoğan's cabinet, during an interview with Stephen Sackur on BBC's Hardtalk last Friday. Mr. Bağış claimed that some of the journalists in Turkish prisons were there because they were caught while raping others. This was an outrageous misrepresentation of the facts. A list of the journalists in Turkish prisons today and why they are in jail might be found here. As one can easily see, most journalists are in jail for supporting or being a member of a "terrorist organization." So far, we have yet to see any evidence of the terror they created other than the state-produced terror that they reported, which brings us to the second "insult to injury" in recent news from Turkey.
Yesterday (Tuesday, March 6) another round of KCK arrests took place in Turkey. Once again it hit several journalists. Three of the journalists arrested yesterday deserve special mention: Ali Buluş, Özlem Ağuş ve Hamdullah Keser. They work for the Adana office of the DİHA (Dicle Haber Ajansı, Tigris News Agency) that had uncovered the torture and sexual abuse scandal at the Pozantı Juvenile Prison.
The third insult to injury came from the AKP majority in the parliament when they voted yesterday against a proposal that would allow the trial of the perpetrators of the Sivas Massacre to continue. This trial is about to end due to the statute of limitations next Tuesday in Ankara. 35 intellectuals were burnt alive in Sivas by a mob in 1993. Aziz Nesin had been saved in the last moment. For a report (in Turkish) about the vote in the parliament, see Bianet. Young Academics from Turkey have started a petition directed to the court, asking for the continuation of the trial. You can sign it here or visit their webpage to find out more about this massacre here.
More from POMED: Dispensing with the Turkish Model
GIT North America previously published in its February 29 newsfeed information on a panel discussion that featured GIT-member Howard Eissenstat. The panel took place as part of Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED). You can watch a video of the panel and read more about the project on the POMED website.
You can read an article written by one of the panelists, Sinan Ciddi, on the appeal and feasibility of the Turkish model for the wider Middle East region on Hurriyet Daily news.
You can read an article written by one of the panelists, Sinan Ciddi, on the appeal and feasibility of the Turkish model for the wider Middle East region on Hurriyet Daily news.
Students facing prison--again
On March 4, GIT - North America presented a special dossier on students and the hardships, violence, imprisonment that they were subjected to as part of the government's "Discipline and Punish" campaign against dissidents in collaboration with AKP-Abdullah Gül-appointed university presidents and security forces. As part of this, we published TODI (Initiative for Solidarity with Students in Prison) signature campaign call, an interview with a TODI member--Ekim Arbatlı whose brother is also in prison, and TODI statement prepared for GIT, in addition to the Students Collective account on violence against students on campus, a report on the controversial Bologna process, as well as an account of a symbolic course offered in front of Bakirkoy Women's Prison. To see a full account of this issue please visit http://gitamerica.blogspot.com/2012/03/newsfeed-special-students-march-4.html.
Similarly, we had also reported before various grievances against students, including the case of Mikail Boz who was suspended from school for criticizing the lack of transparency in appointing a Dean to the School of Communication at Marmara University.
Here is another example of the students becoming targets for "discipline and punish" policies; Serhat Korkmaz writes on Bianet:
"Poster Trial
[...]
bianet talked to defendant Özgür Alkan. He said, "This trial is an indicator for how much freedom of expression is being restricted in this country. Not even [indictments about] murderers seek prison sentences as high as sought for my friend and me".
The indictment put forward that the students posted a banner reading "Those who fell in Kızıldere are alive in our fight - Revolutionary Students Union" at another demonstration on 30 March. According to the indictment, the event was allegedly held to commemorate Mahir Çayan, murdered leader of the Turkey's People's Liberation Party-Front (THKP-C). The students were taken into police custody during a crackdown on their hall of residence and arrested on 4 May.
Items found in their rooms in the course of the search and classified as "evidence of crime" include going to the March Culture, Arts and Thoughts Association; being the founder of the association; possession of that association's magazine; the book "War and Peace" by Tolstoy; post cards of Deniz Gezmiş; books of Mahir Çayan or a photo calendar or Deniz Gezmiş."
To read the full news, please visit:
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/136612-students-face-25-years-in-jail---evidence-posters
Similarly, we had also reported before various grievances against students, including the case of Mikail Boz who was suspended from school for criticizing the lack of transparency in appointing a Dean to the School of Communication at Marmara University.
Here is another example of the students becoming targets for "discipline and punish" policies; Serhat Korkmaz writes on Bianet:
"Poster Trial
Students Face 25 Years in Jail - Evidence: Posters
University students Alkan and Söylemez were detained for six months on the grounds of certain posters they carried before they were released pending trial. Due to a recent legal amendment the prosecutor was allowed additional time till the next hearing to present his final plea.[...]
bianet talked to defendant Özgür Alkan. He said, "This trial is an indicator for how much freedom of expression is being restricted in this country. Not even [indictments about] murderers seek prison sentences as high as sought for my friend and me".
What happened?
At a demonstration organized by the TTB on 13 March in Ankara, students Alkan and Söylemez carried a poster that showed the pictures of three revolutionists who were executed in the course of the military coup on 12 September 1980. The banner featured the slogan "Executions don't intimidate us - Ethem Çoşkun, Seyit Konuk, Necati Vardar; the warriors of 13 March are alive; Leninists are fighting".The indictment put forward that the students posted a banner reading "Those who fell in Kızıldere are alive in our fight - Revolutionary Students Union" at another demonstration on 30 March. According to the indictment, the event was allegedly held to commemorate Mahir Çayan, murdered leader of the Turkey's People's Liberation Party-Front (THKP-C). The students were taken into police custody during a crackdown on their hall of residence and arrested on 4 May.
Items found in their rooms in the course of the search and classified as "evidence of crime" include going to the March Culture, Arts and Thoughts Association; being the founder of the association; possession of that association's magazine; the book "War and Peace" by Tolstoy; post cards of Deniz Gezmiş; books of Mahir Çayan or a photo calendar or Deniz Gezmiş."
To read the full news, please visit:
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/136612-students-face-25-years-in-jail---evidence-posters
The Dean's New Job: Social Media Surveillance
On March 4, GIT - North America presented a special dossier on students and the hardships, violence, imprisonment that they were subjected to as part of the government's "Discipline and Punish" campaign against dissidents. To see a full account of this issue please visit http://gitamerica.blogspot.com/2012/03/newsfeed-special-students-march-4.html.
Similarly, we had also reported before various grievances against students, including the case of Mikail Boz who was suspended from school for criticizing the lack of transparency in appointing a Dean to the School of Communication at Marmara University.
The same Dean figures as the main protagonist in the satirical story below, translated from the Students Collective website by GIT - North America:
"Marmara University College of Communication Dean Yusuf Devran, whose name became well-known for suspending Communication senior Mikail Boz from University for 6 months because he [Mikail Boz] had criticized his becoming dean so fast, has now begun sleuthing.
Yusuf Devran, whose credentials include plenty of references from AKP and Samanyolu TV [Fethullah Gülen's media flagship and examples of its journalism from the paper version was covered here in fn.3. and the TV version here on GIT - North America], was promoted very fast into full professorship and then appointed as Dean at Marmara University. Mikail Boz criticized the lack of transparency in this promotion process on social media [urban-dictionary-like] Sour Dictionary/Ekşi Sözlük, and subsequently, was suspended from the university for a semester by Dean Devran. Following the public reaction to this sanction, the president of the University reduced Mikail Boz's suspension time to one week.
In a defensive statement he later made to the daily Hürriyet, Yusuf Devran had pointed at the invisible dark forces plotting against him (!) and said "somebody is cooking up against me through this young man. This is an organized plot [against me]." As such, following his academically informed communication premonitions, Yusuf Devran has been on the trail [of his critiques] for a while now.
After the column written by Ezgi Başaran [1], journalist in the daily Radikal, entitled "Should Marmara Communication 'end up like this?'," Yusuf Devran has apparently finally put all the pieces in his head together, and due to his special interest in the social media, he seems to have stumbled upon those dark forces while strolling through university students' Facebook profiles.
Isolating journalist Ezgi Başaran's name on student exchanges on Facebook to put Marmara College of Communication students and alumni in touch [because Başaran is also an alumna of the same school], Yusuf Devran announced this achievement on his personal profile page. Clearly under the influence of the distorted indictments lately issued by AKP law enforcement and prosecutors, Yusuf Devran managed to deduce from these student FB exchanges that it was the students who plotted against him and sent his article [criticized by Başaran as shallow and rudimentary] to her. Thus, even though it is possible to clearly see what the student exchanges on their Facebook accounts were actually all about, the Dean proudly exposes their intentions to 'denigrate' him.
Zero tolerance to criticism
Just like his intolerance to Mikail Boz's criticism, Yusuf Devran also couldn't take the Ezgi Başaran's panning and he doesn't hide the fact that he profiles his students and holds records [through tracking their posts and exchanges on the social media]. Even though he is a person of science, and the Dean of the College of Communication, Yusuf Devran publicly shared snapshots he took of the personal exchanges written by the students in his school. Actually, with such acts of intolerance that follow one after another, Yusuf Devran only proved how worthy he is to the chair he was placed by AKP.
Following Devran's latest 'academic' work, we are awaiting with curiosity what other news of investigation and sanction will come out of this issue."
To read the piece in Turkish and see Dean Devran's Facebook post exposing the students' personal exchanges, please visit:
http://www.kolektifler.net/manset/11194/dekanin-yeni-meslegi-sosyal-medya-hafiyeligi
To read Ezgi Başaran's piece in Turkish, please visit:
http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalYazar&ArticleID=1080339&Yazar=EZGI-BASARAN&Date=20.11.2011&CategoryID=97
[1] Translator's note: After Başaran wrote a critical column on his work written and published in English, Devran first claimed Başaran's English was insufficient and therefore implied she misrepresented his work by translating it badly into Turkish. Following Başaran's posting of the original pages from his article, only to show how correct her translation and evaluation of his work were, Dean Devran shifted his attention from Başaran to the students and implied that they are the culprit who plotted against him by sending the article to Başaran with bad intentions. It is not clear however, why he never questions if the academic quality of his analysis in that article were high as he argues and not shallow as Ezgi Başaran denotes, why it would be a problem for anyone to share an article with someone. Actually, regardless of the quality of a work, how such an act illustrates a dark plot is a mystery. One thing is certain though: Dean Devran is watching.
Similarly, we had also reported before various grievances against students, including the case of Mikail Boz who was suspended from school for criticizing the lack of transparency in appointing a Dean to the School of Communication at Marmara University.
The same Dean figures as the main protagonist in the satirical story below, translated from the Students Collective website by GIT - North America:
"Marmara University College of Communication Dean Yusuf Devran, whose name became well-known for suspending Communication senior Mikail Boz from University for 6 months because he [Mikail Boz] had criticized his becoming dean so fast, has now begun sleuthing.
Yusuf Devran, whose credentials include plenty of references from AKP and Samanyolu TV [Fethullah Gülen's media flagship and examples of its journalism from the paper version was covered here in fn.3. and the TV version here on GIT - North America], was promoted very fast into full professorship and then appointed as Dean at Marmara University. Mikail Boz criticized the lack of transparency in this promotion process on social media [urban-dictionary-like] Sour Dictionary/Ekşi Sözlük, and subsequently, was suspended from the university for a semester by Dean Devran. Following the public reaction to this sanction, the president of the University reduced Mikail Boz's suspension time to one week.
In a defensive statement he later made to the daily Hürriyet, Yusuf Devran had pointed at the invisible dark forces plotting against him (!) and said "somebody is cooking up against me through this young man. This is an organized plot [against me]." As such, following his academically informed communication premonitions, Yusuf Devran has been on the trail [of his critiques] for a while now.
After the column written by Ezgi Başaran [1], journalist in the daily Radikal, entitled "Should Marmara Communication 'end up like this?'," Yusuf Devran has apparently finally put all the pieces in his head together, and due to his special interest in the social media, he seems to have stumbled upon those dark forces while strolling through university students' Facebook profiles.
Isolating journalist Ezgi Başaran's name on student exchanges on Facebook to put Marmara College of Communication students and alumni in touch [because Başaran is also an alumna of the same school], Yusuf Devran announced this achievement on his personal profile page. Clearly under the influence of the distorted indictments lately issued by AKP law enforcement and prosecutors, Yusuf Devran managed to deduce from these student FB exchanges that it was the students who plotted against him and sent his article [criticized by Başaran as shallow and rudimentary] to her. Thus, even though it is possible to clearly see what the student exchanges on their Facebook accounts were actually all about, the Dean proudly exposes their intentions to 'denigrate' him.
Zero tolerance to criticism
Just like his intolerance to Mikail Boz's criticism, Yusuf Devran also couldn't take the Ezgi Başaran's panning and he doesn't hide the fact that he profiles his students and holds records [through tracking their posts and exchanges on the social media]. Even though he is a person of science, and the Dean of the College of Communication, Yusuf Devran publicly shared snapshots he took of the personal exchanges written by the students in his school. Actually, with such acts of intolerance that follow one after another, Yusuf Devran only proved how worthy he is to the chair he was placed by AKP.
Following Devran's latest 'academic' work, we are awaiting with curiosity what other news of investigation and sanction will come out of this issue."
To read the piece in Turkish and see Dean Devran's Facebook post exposing the students' personal exchanges, please visit:
http://www.kolektifler.net/manset/11194/dekanin-yeni-meslegi-sosyal-medya-hafiyeligi
To read Ezgi Başaran's piece in Turkish, please visit:
http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalYazar&ArticleID=1080339&Yazar=EZGI-BASARAN&Date=20.11.2011&CategoryID=97
[1] Translator's note: After Başaran wrote a critical column on his work written and published in English, Devran first claimed Başaran's English was insufficient and therefore implied she misrepresented his work by translating it badly into Turkish. Following Başaran's posting of the original pages from his article, only to show how correct her translation and evaluation of his work were, Dean Devran shifted his attention from Başaran to the students and implied that they are the culprit who plotted against him by sending the article to Başaran with bad intentions. It is not clear however, why he never questions if the academic quality of his analysis in that article were high as he argues and not shallow as Ezgi Başaran denotes, why it would be a problem for anyone to share an article with someone. Actually, regardless of the quality of a work, how such an act illustrates a dark plot is a mystery. One thing is certain though: Dean Devran is watching.
Freedom of Expression, Association and Publication: BIA Media Monitoring Full Report
Emel Gülcan from Bianet writes about the freedom of expression, association and publication landscape invaded by criminal charges and interpretations of the vaguely phrased Anti-Terrorism Law in Turkey:
"Journalist murders/trials, imprisoned journalists, attacks, threats, and restraints, inquiries, trials, decisions, publication bans, defamation, personal rights and compensation cases, RTUK and ECHR decisions.
[...]
Punishment for Kurdish folk songs: Raziye Kızıl President of the Komela Jinen Dengbej (KJD) Women Dengbejler House, was sentenced to a year in prison on 10 October by the Van 3rd High Criminal Court. Kızıl had sang two folk songs, 'Megrî / Don't cry' and 'Lo Lawo' on 7 February 2010 at the Dengbêjler Council at the Tatvan Municipality Culture Centre. She was charged with 'membership in a terrorist organization' (TMK 7/2). It was said that the songs in question were about two students named Mahsun and Mustafa, who were killed in the intervention of the soldiers during the Amara march in 2009. It was added that the word 'Amara' was translated as 'Gabar,' and the name 'Mahsun' was translated as 'Mesut,' and that these two were represented as 'terrorists killed in Gabar.' Kızıl's objection that there is a mistake in translation was not accepted.
[...]
10 months in prison for chanting slogans at a concert: In October, the 9th Division of the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the punishment handed out to three youngsters, who chanted slogans at the Group Yorum concert in 2007 in the Hozat district of Dersim. Mesut Geyik, Emrah Sarıtaş and Sinan Yıldırım have been sentenced to 10 months in prison for 'making propaganda in connection with DHKP-C' (TMK 7/2).
One year prison sentence for a caricature: Bahadır Baruter is facing a year in prison for a caricature published in the Penguen magazine on 10 February 2011, which had the writing "There is no Allah, religion is a lie" on a mosque column. Baruter is being accused of 'insulting the religious values embraced by part of the people' (TCK 216/3). Turkish Religious Affairs and Foundation Members' Union and a number of citizens had filed a complaint against Baruter. During the first hearing on 29 September, it was decided that Baruter is brought to court by compulsion and that the complainants should be included in the trial. Baruter's lawyer Tora Pekin expects the court to decide for lack of jurisdiction based on article 27/2 of the Press Law and to transfer the trial to the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The second hearing is scheduled for 29 March 2012.
[...]
Disclaimer for readers' comments: Odatv.com web site's director Barış Pehlivan is standing trial for charges of not withdrawing the comments about a news story on Fetullah Gülen, which allegedly constituted insult and of not publishing a disclaimer. The trial continued at the 12th Criminal Court of Peace on 1 November. Lawyer Topbaş argued that the 3rd Criminal Court of Peace, in its decision for a disclaimer, stated that the comments, which constituted insult should be withdrawn, but did not state which comments exactly should be withdrawn. He demanded the acquittal of the defendant. The trial was postponed to 10 January 2012.
[...]
The comment on Facebook: H.Y. was reported on 19 October to the Prime Ministry Communication Center for insulting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, TBMM Speaker Cemil Çiçek, deputy prime ministers, some ministers and members of parliaments on facebook. In his defense statement H.Y. stated that he had no ulterior motives and that he is regretful. The defendant is faced with up to two years in prison for charges of 'insult through a voice, written or video message' at the trial at the Ankara 7th Criminal Court of Peace.
[...]
Decisions by the Prime Ministerial Board for the Protection of Children from Harmful Publications
The Soft Machine: Translator Süha Sertabiboğlu of the book 'The Soft Machine' and publisher İrfan Sancı are standing trial for charges of 'publicizing indecent words' under TCK 226/2. They are faced with 6 months to three years in prison. The third hearing of the trial was held on 1 December at the Çağlayan Courthouse. The trial was postponed to 18 January 2012 since the book could not be sent to a court expert due to a change of judge. At the previous hearing, Sertabiboğlu and Sancı had demanded that the book is sent to the Comparative Literature department and the expert report is prepared by the experts. The same demands were voiced since the book had still not been sent to a court expert due to a change of judges.
Death Porn: Translator Funda Uncu of Chuck Palahniuk's book named 'Death Porn' and Hasan Basri Çıplak, the head of the Ayrıntı Publishing house are standing trial for charges of 'acting as intermediary in publication of indecent publications' TCK 226/2. ' The first hearing was held on 17 November at the Çağlayan Court House İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. Çıplak, in his defense statement, pleaded not guilty and added that the book in question is a literary work. Uncu and Çıplak face 6 months to three years in prison. The next hearing was scheduled for 18 January 2012.
Bans, suspensions, confiscations
Three books were seized in January-October, two of which were not yet published. The publications of four newspapers were suspended for a total of 5 months and 15 days. The publications of a magazine were suspended for a month and the publication of one magazine was suspended altogether. A magazine went out of business after receiving a fine of 150 thousand TL (about 64 thousand euros). The following are the violations in October-November-December:Book ban in prison: According to the Sincan Prison Report published on 20 December by the Contemporary Lawyers' Association, books sent to the prison were not allowed inside citing bans applied in the 70s. According to the report, 'History of Civilization' by Server Tanilli, 'What Should I Tell You' by Ece Temelkuran and 'Operation Return to Life' by Güçlü Sevimli were among the books that were found to be objectionable despite of a lack of a confiscation order.
Yürüyüş magazine was confiscated: Bağımsızlık Demokrasi Sosyalizm için Yürüyüş ('March for Freedom, Democracy, Socialism') magazine's 299th issue dated 18 December 2011, was confiscated with decision no 2011/823 of Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court. According to the decision signed by Judge Hakim Mustafa Boz, the grounds for the decision for closure were the articles titled, 'Revolution hope lives in Anatolia with our 122 martyrs' on page 5, the Revolutionary School article on pages 23-25, the article in the 'From the Youth Federation' column on page 40, and an article titled, 'The Ones We Lost in the Freedom, Democracy, Socialism Struggle' on page 54. The decision included the seizure of the magazine and the suspension of its publication for a month.
İnci sözlük is banned: There was vast reaction in the social media for the blocking of access to İnci Sözlük through a court decision on 15 December. In a statement, İnci Sözlük said that the decision was taken by the Adana 6th Criminal Court of Peace on grounds of illegal football game broadcasts over the Internet. The site's owner Serkan İnci stated that they had received no notification and added that he cannot understand the reasoning behind this decision. Serkan İnci also reacted against this decision through Twitter.
Berivan's airing was banned: The airing of the film named Bêrîvan was banned at the Batman Yılmaz Güney Film Festival on 15 December, so director Aydın Orak talked about his film on stage. The banning decision communicated by the Office of the Governor, stated that there was a unanimous decision to ban the film from commercial circulation and screening. The decision said that the film, 'distorts historical realities,' 'is in violation of the basic principles of the constitution,' and 'disseminates PKK propaganda,' among others. Berivan's screening was banned a couple of times before. The censorship board of the Ministry of Culture had not given permission for the film to get a banderole. Berivan is a film about the events in 1992 in Cizre and the incidents a 17-year-old girl named Berivan was faced with. The film's director Aydın Orak talked about the film on stage.
Letters were seized: On 13 December, the letters sent to the media organizations by the prisoners at the Kocaeli No 1 F-type prison were seized because they 'pointed as target the institution and the employees.' Prisoner Ömer Adıgüzel, who sent a fax to Özgür Radio, stated that the periodic letters to media organizations and writers every month telling about the rights violations they are faced with are being withheld by the management. Adıgüzel said that the letters they sent to Özgür Radio, Özgür Gündem, Atılım, Birgün newspapers, the Human Rights Association and a number of columnists were seized.
Ban on Kurdish banners: Iğdır and Kars Governors' Offices banned the banners of the "I am here, I am becoming a member of BDP - Ez li virim" campaign by BDP in December on grounds that they included Kurdish writings. BDP made a statement saying that according to the notification sent to the provincial organizations by the Provincial Police Headquarters, the reason of the ban is the Kurdish writings on the banners.
RTÜK obstacle for Mor Çatı: Mor Çatı Women's Shelter Foundation produced three short films named '3 Films Against Violence Directed to Women' to be screened on TV for the 25 November International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The Radio and Television Higher Board, in a statement sent to Mor Çatı on 1 December said the reason for the ban is that the films 'includes generalizations that are in contradiction with gender equality.'
[...]
The problem with 'The Memories of a Dinosaur': Mina Urgan's book named, 'The memories of a Dinosaur' was found to be objectionable with regards the high-school students. Ankara Yenimahalle District National Education Directorate, has opened an investigation against Suna Kayabaştar, a literature teacher at the Mobil Anadolu Lisesi, who suggested the book to the ninth graders as an example of 'writings that are about personal life.' The grounds for the investigation is that the book contains blasphemy, creates suspicion regarding the belief in god and encourages the consumption of alcohol. İstanbul member of parliament Melda Onur asked for further information regarding the investigation from the National Education Minister Ömer Dinçer with the motion she submitted to the Presidency of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 25 November."
To read the rest of this lengthy and bleak report, please visit:
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/136599-bia-media-monitoring-report-2011-full-text
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Newsfeed special: Students - March 4
To sign the inaugural declaration of GIT, please send an e-mail to diana.gonzalez2@wanadoo.fr -- to join GIT - North America, e-mail gitamerica@yahoo.com
On this special Newsfeed we tried to collect and synthesize few of the numerous examples of curtailment of the rights and liberties of students. This more focused issue is aimed at bringing to the fore the less publicized but more common cases of the Turkish state’s arbitrary criminalization, and often times, violence against, students.
On this special Newsfeed we tried to collect and synthesize few of the numerous examples of curtailment of the rights and liberties of students. This more focused issue is aimed at bringing to the fore the less publicized but more common cases of the Turkish state’s arbitrary criminalization, and often times, violence against, students.
“Bologna Burns” - 2010 Vienna Protests and Counter Summit
Read about the global framework of student movements fueled by the “Bologna Process” and the participation of Turkish students therein on GIT – North America.
Signature Campaign of the Initiative for Solidarity with Students in Prison
Read the statement of the initiative against arbitrary detention of students and sign their petition on GIT – North America.
GIT Interview with TÖDİ [Initiative for Solidarity with Students in Prison] member Ekim Arbatlı
Read the full interview to find out about the goals and activities of the Initiative, as well as some of the data that they have so far produced on GIT – North America.
TÖDİ [Initiative for Solidarity with Students in Prison] Statement for GIT
Read the full statement on GIT – North America.
Discipline and Punish on Campus: Plights of Students
Read the GIT translation of an announcement by the Students Collective, regarding different campus dynamics and "discipline and punish" strategies implemented against the students on GIT – North America.
Prison Lectures: Professors honor their students at Bakırkoy Women's Prison
Read about the inaugural Prison Lectures that took place in front of Bakırköy Women's Prison organized by the Initiative of Solidarity with Students in Prison (Tutuklu Öğrencilerle Dayanışma İnisiyatifi, TÖDİ) and supported by GIT Turkiye and Don't touch my student! campaign (Öğrencime Dokunma! Kampanyası) on GIT – North America.
Where is this Kurdish problem that people are speaking of, I can’t see it!
Where is this Kurdish problem that people are speaking of, I can’t see it!
The Kurdish problem comprises first pigeonholing young children as “stone-throwers,” and then putting them in jail to exert sexual and psychological violence on them.
A publicity event for a 3.15 million-Euro-budget project was held at one of Ankara’s five-star hotels. Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin introduced the project with the following words: “Children who had been dragged into criminal behavior and ended up in our system of criminal execution are in need of special care, help and legal protection for their physical, mental, social and psychological development. Their development is crucial especially considering the effects of their unfavorable past experiences.” The project was entitled “Justice for Children.” How ironic…
No later than 2 days after the 5-star-flamboyance and the charming words of justice we all realized what the government actually meant by “justice for children.” 3.15 million Euros is peanuts after all! We heard about what the Kurdish children, most of whom were randomly picked from political protests, were being put through in the Pozantı Prison of Adana. We heard how they were hit on their hands with pieces of PVC joinery… How they were threatened with batons… How they were forced to kiss flags… How the knot on the rope tied around the neck could be tightened narrower and narrower when ‘necessary’… How they were forced to share cells with non-political prisoners and petty offenders… How their pants were pulled down by the various ‘representatives’ in these cells… How the representatives were forced into their beds… How they were raped and sexually abused… We heard about these -- with shame, with rage, with disgust.
Foul-smelling fumes had been leaking out of Pozantı Prison for some time now, and yet we had not been able to measure the exact depth of the cesspit. It is true that they trained their citizens to get used to thinking in a certain way: Lives of children who throw stones will be ruined; maltreatment in prison is customary; if you get ill you die, there is no way for you to claim right to treatment. So we got used to hunger strikes, and cries of political prisoners. They made us get used to them. You know how your nose, if exposed to the same foul smell over an extended period of time, will cultivate a mechanism to feel numb against that smell. But that numbness is also proof that you have started smelling foul yourself.
Foul-smelling fumes had been leaking out of Pozantı Prison for some time now, and yet we had not been able to measure the exact depth of the cesspit. It is true that they trained their citizens to get used to thinking in a certain way: Lives of children who throw stones will be ruined; maltreatment in prison is customary; if you get ill you die, there is no way for you to claim right to treatment. So we got used to hunger strikes, and cries of political prisoners. They made us get used to them. You know how your nose, if exposed to the same foul smell over an extended period of time, will cultivate a mechanism to feel numb against that smell. But that numbness is also proof that you have started smelling foul yourself.
Another incident you may not have heard about is that of Rıdvan. He is a sportsman –of the smart and agile kind.[2] He was a junior at Dicle University’s Physical Education Department. He became the national champion three times, and came third in an international tournament in the Balkans in 2008. He was one of our national athletes, so to speak. I speak in the past tense, because Rıdvan has been in prison for almost a year now. Why? Because he attended the May Day celebrations organized by BDP,[3] because he chanted slogans, because he sang along to songs and marches, and clapped… And so he is accused of propagating a political organization and committing crime for a political organization… Evidence? The fact that Rıdvan’s mouth is seen open in the photographs taken during the [May Day] march… And in turn, he has been committed to prison for 14 years and 7 months.
The journalists working for Özgür Gündem, Birgün and DİHA news agencies are arrested for their alleged relationship to KCK.[4] The voices of female journalists are silenced --they are the ones to, in usual contrast to their colleagues of the opposite sex, rigorously work through the Kurdish problem and speak coherently and candidly about it. Columnists Nuray Mert and Ece Temelkuran no longer have their columns; Banu Güven is told to stay aside; Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, during a live interview, gets told off by a minister, who says “It doesn’t escape me that you are acting like a BDP-advocate” and the following week her program is gets cancelled. All of these are relatively reasonable in comparison to the potential prospect of detention. It was in this spirit that… A new expression was invented for the occasion: “Thank God we are only laid off.”
“What is this Kurdish problem that people are speaking of… There is even a new TV channel that broadcasts in Kurdish, with a series and everything! What more do they want? I look hard to understand the problem but can’t see it.” Those who share such sentiments and spawl, here is my special summary section for you:
This is precisely what the Kurdish problem is, my dears. It is turning little children into ‘stone-throwers,’ and then putting them in jail for having thrown stones only to abuse them sexually and psychologically. It is penalizing a young national athlete, who is Kurdish, with 14 years in jail because he attended the May Day and clapped his hands, instead of supporting his outstanding success. The two questions, “How a baby grows to become a murderer?” and “Why is the Kurdish problem unresolved/Why are these young people still headed to [join the guerrilla forces in] the mountains?” share the same answer, in a way. Just look at Pozantı or Rıdvan; look at how, the discussions on the Kurdish problem, which are said to have been freed from previous taboos, are pushed to stay within the boundaries imposed by the state; look at the way in which these discussion are strategically reshaped and the curtailment of the rights of association thereof. And see it, already! I don’t know what more to say.
[1] This article is a translation by the GIT- North America blog editors from its Turkish original written by Ezgi Başaran and originally published in the newspaper Radikal. The title is a quote from the Minister of Internal Affairs, Idris Naim Şahin, whose perplexing views on freedom and chilling new definitions of terrorism GIT had previously denounced. To access the original article visit here.
[2] Translator’s note: The author, here, is making a reference to the famous quote by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: “I like a sportsman who is also smart, agile and wholesome.”
[3] Translator’s note: The author’s referring to the Pro-KurdishPeace and Democracy Party
[4] Translator’s note: The author’s referring to the Kurdish umbrella organization, Kurdistan Communities Union
Prison Lectures: Professors honor their students at Bakirkoy Women's Prison
The event started with an introduction by Zeynep Kıvılcım, an assistant professor of international relations at Istanbul University. Dr. Kıvılcım read a list of names belonging to the faculty and female college students held at Bakırköy Women's Prison, starting with Büşra Ersanlı, professor of international relations at Marmara University. Many of these people are subjected to pre-trial detention or are held there during their ongoing trials, based on the assumption that they are dangerous suspects who are linked with terrorist activities. To this day, the evidence found about such students and faculty is limited with books, a lecture on women and gender studies, a flag, some CDs, some journals, or a haircut.
Both of the lecturers focused on women and gender studies, in order to acknowledge the women who are at the Bakırköy Women's Prison and also to honor International Women's Day, coming up on March 8. The first lecturer was Nükhet Sirman, professor of sociology at Boğaziçi University. Sirman gave a lecture on the social construction of gender categories. She was followed by Ayten Alkan, associate professor of public administration at Istanbul University, who gave a historical overview of women's struggles for equality and the recognition of their rights, both globally and in Turkey.
In addition to the students from various universities in Istanbul, the lecture audience included four members of parliament: Melda Onur (Istanbul), Sezgin Tanrıkulu (Istanbul), and Veli Ağbaba (Malatya) from the Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP), which is the second largest party of Turkey, and Levent Tüzel (Istanbul), an independent.
There was another "senior" student in the audience, Mrs. Emine Küçükbumin, the mother of Deniz Küçükbumin, a college student at Istanbul University, majoring in History -- until three months ago, when he was arrested, for his alleged affiliation with a terrorist organization, supposedly called the Revolutionary Headquarters, or Devrimci Karargah. Mrs. Küçükbumin says that while leftist Kurdish students are arrested for their alleged affiliation with KCK (Koma Civaken Kurdistan, Union of Communities in Kurdistan), leftist Turkish students are detained in the context of the Revolutionary Headquarters case. In none of the cases involving students that she is aware of is there any evidence beyond books, posters, CDs, flags, journals, letters, and encyclopedias. She visits her son every week in the Tekirdağ F-Type Prison where her son shares a cell with two others. Until he was arrested, she says, he had not known the other alleged members of the "Revolutionary Headquarters" but a sense of solidarity arising from a shared destiny developed among them rather quickly. Mrs. Küçükbumin has to wake up at 5 AM on the days when she visits her son because Tekirdağ is quite far from Istanbul, and if she does not get there on the specified time, she cannot see her son for another week. Her son's girl friend, Şeyma Özcan, was also arrested, the only known piece of evidence against her being a taped phone conversation in which she talked about an internship at a journal -- an idea that she later did not even follow up on. Şeyma is a second year student at Boğaziçi University, majoring in History. She is held at the Bakırköy Women's Prison in front of which the inaugural Prison Lectures were held yesterday.
Mrs. Küçükbumin feels especially sorry for the poorer students whose families cannot support them while in prison. Those who can afford it can have a small refrigerator, a small TV, and a kettle in their cells. But if you cannot afford it, the administration does not even let such properties belonging to departing inmates to pass to others; they confiscate them and place them in a depot. She is also concerned about the parents of these students who have to go through a lot of trouble to reach the prison in Tekirdağ which is out on the countryside in Turkish Thrace. She says when these parents go out after a visit, they have to wait for a bus, sometimes for an hour, out in the cold with no enclosed space to protect them from the elements. So whenever she goes there with her husband in their van, they pick up as many parents as they can on the way back.
Among other things, Mrs. Küçükbumin is trying to establish a network of parents. In order to raise awareness about their plight, she is hand-making small white-dove shaped pins with a touch of blue on them. Her last victory was to pass through the security at the prison with one of these pins on her collar. "I wore a blue and white striped shirt; since the blue and white on the pin blended with my shirt, they could not recognize it. The sensor kept beeping but they could not figure out why. I was so happy to be able to show the pin to my son," she said while she let GIT - North America take a photograph of her pin.
At the end of the lectures, the audience wrote cards for the women students held at Bakırköy Women's Prison and elsewhere, including Aysel Diler, Benay Can, Büşra Beste, Derya Göregen, Esra Sekman, Fatma Dikmen, Hasret Dayan, İdil Aydınoğlu, Leyla Akyıldız, Meltem Yıldırım, Meltem Yağmur Bolkır, Songül Sıcakyüz, Şeyma Özcan, Şilan Dörtyama, Tuğba Kahraman, Hatice Dilek, Rojda Bilen, Selver İspir, Şeyma Güzel, Emine Akman ve Dilan Sonsuz.
For media coverage of this event in Turkish, see Doğan News Agency and Bianet; you could also watch a short video on YouTube.
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