Although the book "Hitler Stole My Toy", written by German writer Judith Kerr based on her autobiography, was written for children, I recommend it to those who benefit from the privileges of the "Turkishness Contract". The book deals with the story of Anna (the main character of the book) leaving Germany as the only way of salvation for her journalist-writer father, in a chaotic period when Nazi propaganda intensified and Hitler was almost in power. The book presents he struggle of "Anna and her family, who had to leave everything they had behind in order to survive," in a unique language.

 

Michael Morpurgo asks, "How would you feel if you were removed from the lands where you were born, grew up and know as your homeland" in the foreword of the book. I am asking the same question to "journalists, intellectuals, writers, politicians, national and international professional organisations" who speaks loudly about "fraternity, peace, freedom, democracy, law and justice" who remained silent when 20 journalists were detained in Diyarbakır yesterday. Now, stop playing dead for a minute. I am inviting you to the story of Mahir Baran, whose story is very similar to Anna's. Forgive me for waking you up, but my 20 colleagues (21 with the cook) haven't slept uninterrupted for 3 days.

 

Mahir Baran goes to kindergarten. Mahir Baran is still unaware of the Republic of Turkey, which has ruled seven worlds, is a game-changer in the world, goes into outer space, produces domestic and national automobiles, brings all capitalist-imperialist states on their knees, leaps forward from era to era, is great, powerful and mighty. Mahir Baran is also unaware of the days when his door was broken when he was a 38-day-old baby and his father clawed to death on the balcony. But Mahir Baran once again witnessed the fear and violence caused by the armed men who entered their house uninvited on the 8th of June this year. And Mahir Baran will never forget these armed men who took his father away. Undoubtedly, the child's memory will forget that his father was taken away after a while, but he will not forget that his tablet PC, which is his toy, was taken away for the rest of his life. Because as soon as he saw me at the door, he said that armed men took his toy, namely his tablet, not his father. Mahir Baran will ask one day why the door of their apartment has dents on it. Even though the time, place and the "almighty" are different, "Anna's memory" is repeated in Mahir Baran. Don't worry about Mahir Baran, he is strong, smiling and happy like his name.

 

Mahir Baran is the son of my colleague Ömer Çelik, with whom I have been working at the same desk for 10 years. Every time I go to Ömer's house, I do not look at the door number, I know that I am at the right address by looking at the marks of the blows left on the door by the police. Ömer is a journalist who is picked up by the police everytime Turkey decides to launch an operation on the Kurdish press.

 

You will remember that Ömer, who was detained and arrested together with 46 journalists in the “KCK Press Operation” carried out by the Fettulah Gülen organisation in 2011, was held in prison for 1.5 years.

 

Ömer, who was detained and arrested together with 5 of his colleagues, was imprisoned for 11 months because he wrote about the information that RedHack seized and spread, the contents of the e-mail account of Berat Albayrak, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the time, in September 2016. There are numerous lawsuits pending against Ömer.

 

Imagine for a moment the gaze of not only Ömer, but also Arjin, the daughter of Serdar Altan whom I have been working with for nearly 20 years. They watched their fathers being taken away by the armed men. Who can write decently about their father Aziz Oruç, who had to leave the country when Aren was one-year-old and Mira was not yet born, was detained again less than a year after his release!Or, JINNEWS Manager, Safiye Alagaş, with whom I work from time to time, Xwebûn Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Ali Ertaş, Suat Doğuhan, Ramazan Geciken, Esmer Tunç, Neşe Toprak, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Mazlum Doğan Güler, Mehmet Şahin, Elif Üngür, İbrahim Koyuncu, Remziye Temel, Mehmet Yalçın, Abdurrahman Öncü, Lezgin Akdeniz ve Kadir Bayram. How can I fit all their stories in this article?

 

It is not my intention to cry the blues. I wouldn't need it for the world!But you have to know that the accusations against our friends have no basis at all! This is not the first time we face pressure. We don't even know the exact number of our friends who were detained in masse and got arrested. The public opinion in Turkey is being misled. Journalism is being presented as a crime with the violence and the repression against journalists that gets tougher by the day. The main purpose is to silence the Kurds and to prevent the circulation of the truth, to deprive the people of the news coming from Iraq Federated Kurdistan Region where Turkey is currently attacking, to silence Kurdish press, the only people that will write about it, to leave people clueless about the war that is going on under their nose, to do whatever they want in the upcoming elections and to crush the democratic struggle. I want you to know these facts. 

 

That's why you have to show the same reflex for the Kurds as for the lawlessness, injustice, oppression and persecution in western Turkey. Otherwise, you will not be able to escape from this hell alone

 

I will finalise my words with what Morpurgo wrote about the book, "..as the years have passed it became more meaningful over the years because it is the story of our time as well as the Hitler era". Maybe this story will put some of you to shame, distrub you.. But I know "The memory of shame is week, it is quickly forgotten".

 

This story will be forgotten over time. I hope the life will not put me in the shame to write a similar story again!

 

MA/Sedat Yılmaz