Having lost her two sons and husband in an attack by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP’s) MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız’s relatives and bodyguards, Emine Şenyaşar has been demanding justice through a sit-in protest that has reached its 43rd day.
Emine Şenyaşar and her son Ferit Şenyaşar have continued their sit-in protest in front of Urfa Courthouse in Turkey’s Urfa (Riha). They continue to demand “justice” for their dead and arrested family members.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP and HDP Women’s Assembly spokesperson Ayşe Acar Başaran, Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) co-spokesperson İdil Uğurlu and the chair of the Revolutionary Party Elif Torun Öneren paid a solidarity visit to the justice vigil of the Şenyaşar family, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reports.
HDP MP Başaran, who has closely followed the Şenyaşar case, said: ”Those who want to see the level of injustice, pay attention to Emine Şenyaşar: she is the portrait of injustice. This family was attacked in their workplace and the family members were brutally murdered. Three people from a family were murdered in the hospital. Despite camera footage and evidence, the Şenyaşar family was punished. The trial process shows how justice has been shaped by the interests of the government.”
Clarifying that they will continue to follow the case as a matter of humanitarian responsibility, Başaran believes that this case hurts not only the Şenyaşar family but also the conscience of all of society. ”The only way to end the pain and grief of the family is to reach justice: we are all responsible,” Başaran said.
Uğurlu shared her view that the demands of the Şenyaşars are for basic “human rights. When the suffering they have been subjected to reached an unbearable level, the Şenyaşar family decided to launch the vigil. The massacre of their family members occurred before the eyes of the public,” the HDK co-spokesperson said.
Uğurlu described the ‘justice reform’ announced by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as “image making, nothing more. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been in rule for 20 years and yet they announce ‘reforms’ as if they have no role in what happened during those years,” Uğurlu said. “Opposition groups have to come side-by-side and fight together with the idea of a ‘third way’ politics. As long as there is a judiciary close to the government, society should continue its search for justice.”
The 19-year AKP and current AKP-MHP ruling system hurts mothers the most, added the chair of the Revolutionary Party, Elif Torun Öneren . “I cannot describe this mother’s pain with words: I can just call it fascism,” Öneren said.
Öneren stressed that Turkey is going through a “historical period” in terms of oppression and the struggle against it. ”In such a process, our task is to act together with all the forces opposing the system,” Öneren added. “The question is not only the problem of a mother, Emine, it is a problem that faces all of us. Those murdered are our brothers and sisters.”
