Mothers of dismissed educators in Turkey demand justice on Mother’s Day
BURCU CANSU
burcucansu@birgun.net / @burcu_cansu
Today is Mother’s Day. All announcements on TV channels say ‘to make your mom happy…’ and all store windows have writings saying ‘special Mother’s Day discounts…’ However, it is obvious that expectations of a number of mothers in Turkey are completely different since our country is a place where a child was killed when going to grocery store to buy bread; young people ended their lives because of unemployment; a young person trying to sell flowers on the streets was killed in a car crash caused by a son of a wealthy businessman; drunk police officers crashed into a house killing children; and, young ones lost their lives with the bullets of snipers.
Watching her son Semih Özakça at the site of his sit-in with worry in her eyes, Sultan Özakça told us about how she raised Semih through hardships and, then, all of a sudden, had to see him and his wife lose everything in an unfair way.
Özakça said: “They say on TVs: ‘here is a gift for your mother’. But we have a different reality here in the capital city of Ankara. The best Mother’s Day gift for me is not something that is mentioned on commercials; I want my son, who has been rightfully resisting in dignity, to be returned to his job. If officials got susceptive about it and return our children to their jobs, we would be happy only then.”
Mentioning that their family earned living through farming, mother Sultan Özakça added: “While children of wealthy families went to summer holidays, we used to work in farms with Semih... We gave effort so that we could save up some money and enable him to attend school. Semih got an education by working in farms and saving money. He got accepted to college; he finished it; and, then, he had to go through KPSS (Exam for selection of state employees). We are not a rich family. Two of our children got their education with only one person’s monthly salary...I can’t stand the fact that my son was fired from his position over night with the order of a decree...”
About her son’s hunger strike, Özakça said: “When he first told me that he was going to go on a hunger strike, I got really worried but I also respected his decision. They started their hunger strike earlier than planned since they were taken into custody. When I found out about the detention, I came to Ankara and held a demonstration in front of the courthouse. He was released on the 6th day. Two days after he was released, he was detained again.”
Nuriye Gülmen, who initially started the demonstration on Yüksel street of Ankara’s downtown by herself, was later joined by other dismissed professionals Semih Özakça, Esra Özakça, Veli Saçılık, and Acun Karadağ.
Gülmen’s mother Cemile Gülmen told us: “We don’t have Mother’s Day on our minds. Our only concern is for our child to be returned to her job in health. She’s got siblings; it is also worrisome for them, too.”
Taking a deep breath after saying ‘our children are melting away in front of our eyes’, Gülmen said: “Hopefully, it’ll end up well. Nuriye and Semih should be returned to their jobs before they lose their health.”
While many other people shared solidarity messages and even began hunger strikes in various cities in Turkey, police has been attacking the site on Yüksel street where Gülmen and Özakça have been holding their sit-in for months.
In her latest message, dismissed teacher Nuriye Gülmen said: “They tell us that we are melting away day by day. But our friends should not be saddened. Even our deteriorating bodies are better than a Turkey where no voice is raised in the face of over 150000 people’s dismissal. We are on a hunger strike so that we won’t get used to injustice. We are on a hunger strike to show them (officials) that we determinately want our jobs back. We have dedicated 66th day to all public workers. All those who share hunger with us should know that they are actually sharing this with all other dismissed people.”
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/evlatlarimizi-adaletsizliginize-kurban-etmeyecegiz-159445.html