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Four articles by Aslı Erdoğan were used in the Turkish State’s indictment against her. Kedistan published them in support for the campaign to obtain her freedom.
Writer Aslı Erdoğan was detained as of August 16 2016 in Istanbul’s Bakırköy prison while awaiting sentencing. The charges called for life imprisonment. She was released on
The English versions you are reading are derived from translations from Turkish to French done by Kedistan during the period of her imprisonment. As such, they do not claim to be faithful renditions of Asli Erdogan’s originals and are provided as a means for English speakers to familiarize themselves with the conditions Aslı Erdoğan described…and how the texts were used against her by the Turkish government.
Article published on March 29 2016
This is your father
I’m pursuing the compilation of press clippings, testimonials, declarations by the families, communiqués by the authorities, and graffiti…
“As the curfew reached its 96th day in the Sur neighborhood of Diyarbakır, it was hit nonstop by tank strikes… 44 people who attempted to leave the town in the beginning of the week — including 19 children, among them a baby by the name of Elif Su – are still being held… In Idil, the curfew has entered its 19th day…(March 6)
“The special units who have installed their headquarters in Yüksekova shared on social networks what they had written on the school blackboards: “We’ve come to show you beautiful days”… “The ezan (the call to prayer) will not cease, the flag will not be lowered”, “Conquest March 2016” (March 6)
“Following the attacks by heavy weapons, tanks and cannons in Cizre, a commune of Şırnak, 1 200 homes have been heavily damaged.”
“The fact that scores of wounded people in the cellars were burned, and that the majority of them were buried without identification in common graves…Approximately 300 lives were lost, including children, babies and old people…The fact there are bodies under the rubble, that pieces of bodies come up, that there are dismembered bodies, cut in half, legs torn off, heads missing…”
“Where is humanity?” (M. Duymak in direct TV coverage from a cellar)
“They gave me a bag of bones, they said this is your husband.” (M. Duymak’s wife)
“The fact that the corpses of cats, of dogs are strung up on trees as warnings, that racist and sexist slogans are written on women’s underclothes…“The “pussy” touched the wolf’s tooth, be afaraid”. [Rhymes with the graffiti “the blood has touched the wolf’s tooth, tremble”], “Girls, we have come, we’ve entered your lair”.
“My big sister was massacred, burned. Her body is carbonized. While being immolated, she and her friend Sakine embraced. Their bodies are fused. Impossible to separate them.”
“The green grass burns with the dry.” [Turkish saying]. “We have shown the power of the State, now we will show you its compassion.” (graffiti)
L’Etat est arrivé (avec le symbole des ultranationalistes) — The state has arrived (with the symbol of ultra-nationalists)
“The smell of human fat is fixed to the walls of the cellars, it is obvious that they were burned alive.”
“The fact a family cannot reach the funeral for its children was never seen before, we have 200 meters to cover to reach the funerals, we will not leave without attending them.”
“On December 11, I entered Sur to gather scrap iron. When the curfew began, I stayed for 79 days…Eight, nine children, we were in the same cellar. One of them wrote his name in copper wire and hung it around his neck…One child took a hit to the head from a grenade launcher. I stayed by his side for two hours. Then he died. (S.D. 15 years old)
“For the past two months, I haven’t managed to recover his remains. My son was handicapped in one hand, he got caught by a machine. He was big.”
“They say they are taking out remains. We tell ourselves maybe it’s him/her, we go to the hospital and we come back. People are sad when the remains arrive, but we are happy to find them…” “My son was massacred on the street where he was born and grew up. What sufferings I endured to raise him, what poverty…He is gone, we haven’t found him yet. No one has found anyone…” “My daughter was in her last year in high school. There is (nothing but) a barricade between my daughter and I, let them take it away so I can go and get her. Even if it’s just a bone…”
“They warned us they had burned 60 people. We didn’t want to believe it at first. Then, we went and we looked. Five kilos of bones and flesh, we don’t understand. They said, this is your father.”
To reach the four articles and more, click on this file
Translation by Renée Lucie Bourges
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