‘They have left no one to wish me a happy Mother’s Day’

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Ahead of Mother's Day yesterday (May 9), Emine Şenyaşar, who had lost her two sons and husband in an armed conflict in Turkey's southeastern province of Urfa in 2018, spoke to Mezopotamya Agency (MA).

Before the general elections on June 24, 2018, Emine Şenyaşar's sons and spouse were attacked by the guards and relatives of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Urfa MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız, who came to visit their shop in Suruç, after they had criticized the AKP politicians.

The attack that started in the shop continued in the hospital where the wounded Şenyaşar family was taken to. Father Hacı Esvet Şenyaşar and sons Celal and Adil Şenyaşar lost their lives in the incident, while Emine Şenyaşar's other son Fadıl Şenyaşar has been arrested over the attack.

'The unjust took you away from me'

Speaking during her justice watch before Mother's Day, Emine Şenyaşar said, "They have left no one to wish me a happy Mother's Day."

"My Celal, my Adil used to celebrate my day. They have taken them away from me. They have put my Fadıl in prison," she said.

"I would sacrifice my life for them. Your mother cannot go through holidays, she cannot go through [special] days without you. Rise from wherever you lie and come; come and kiss my hand, as you used to do. Let me hug you. The unjust took you away from me," she added.

'Who killed my children?'

In response to the slow pace of the investigation regarding her son Ferit Şenyaşar, who survived the attack, Emine Şenyaşar started a justice watch in front of the courthouse on September 10, 2019. Detained several times upon complaints, she has decided to keep her watch at home.

Emphasizing that she has been after the truth, Şenyaşar added, "My children were massacred at hospital in front of my eyes. Where is it seen that people are massacred at a hospital? If this massacre is covered up, I want the ones who cover it up to go through the same sorrows. May their hearts hurt as my hurt is hurting now. Take out the registers. Why is the prosecutor hiding the truths? The whole world has heard about this atrocity. Why are you hiding it? Don't you have any conscience at all? Who killed my children?"

'Let this atrocity end'

Underlining that she will not step back from the promise of "justice" that she gave her children, Şenyaşar briefly added, "I am keeping my justice watch at home. Release my son. Let this atrocity end already. What kind of justice is that? The hospital records have been hidden. The ones who killed my children are outside. What kind of justice is that?"

Noting that her sons were attacked in their workplace, Şenyaşar asked, "Why aren't these people arrested? We go to the prosecutor, the prosecutor kicks us out. They are doing us wrong. My children were brutally attacked in their stores where they went to work everyday. No one has witnessed such atrocity before. They have put images of scales on courthouses, they say that there is justice. But my innocent son has been in prison for 3 years."

What happened?

During the election campaign of ruling AKP Urfa MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız in Suruç, Urfa on June 14, 2018, an attack turned into an armed conflict, which claimed the lives of Yıldız's brother Mehmet Şah Yıldız, shop owner Hacı Esvet Şenyaşar and his sons Adil and Celal Şenyaşar.

Having lost his father and two brothers and been wounded himself in the incident, Fadıl Şenyaşar was discharged from hospital and detained on June 17. He was then arrested and sent to prison. (NÖ/SD)