BEING THE OTHER IN TURKEY: "Captured in the Lens: Turkey’s Grave Human Rights Violations"
About this ebook
Especially after the coup attempt of 15 July 2016, it is a reality that many people, who have never been involved in violence in their lives, have been subjected to monstrous pressure and discrimination just because of their social affiliations. The state apparatus, which has been rapidly evolving towards a one-party dictatorship, overturned all the rules of law in the ensuing period, shelved the constitutional rights and decriminalized legal acts that could never be considered a crime within the framework of universal principles, and even made a blatant attempt to retroactively exploit these newly-defined crimes to sentence people. As part of the mass cultural genocide perpetrated against the members of the Gülen Movement, also known as Hizmet:
* Investigations were launched against more than 1.5 million people for terrorism allegations,
* 300,000 people were detained,
* More than 100,000 people were arrested.
* 234,419 passports revoked,
* More than 17,000 women were arrested,
* Nearly 900 babies had to grow up in prison with their mothers. * Hundreds of thousands were laid off from their jobs,
* Properties of thousands of people were forcibly confiscated.
As AST, we wanted to record the intense oppression and persecution and to demonstrate the unlawful and anti-democratic practices of the political regime in Turkey and make a note of history with 159 photographs, some of which could be the symbols of this period. For example, among many others, the photos featured Zabit Kişi, who was tortured for 108 days
and lost 30 kilos due to intense torments; Bilal Konakçı, a bomb disposal expert, who was sent to prison on account of the “membership in a terrorist organization” years after he became blind and had a 98-percent disability when a bomb exploded while he was trying to defuse it; or Ms. Hacer, whose hospital room door was well guarded by a police team that was there to detain her soon after she gave birth. We were unable to demonstrate all the atrocities due to the physical limitations of this book. Yet the book will achieve its purpose if it can interpret the sufferings of the innocent masses, albeit with a weak voice.
