Once more the end of the year is approaching... While preparations for a new year goes on, people ask to each other how was your last year?
My year of 2017 went by while I was marching... Not only I, all of us , all of us who still believed in this country called Turkey, we spent the whole year marching on...
No no, I am not talking only about the historic march last summer which which millions joined in and was organized by the opposition and was above all political parties and has been massively supported by citizens from a variety of backgrounds, different opinions, different beliefs. The march from the capital Ankara to Istanbul, more than 450 kilometers...
I am talking about the "March" throughout the whole year: Every time a writer or a journalist was taken to prison... Every time a book was banned... The "march" and protests In front of court gates and in front of prisons... Every time an academic lost her or his job because of her or his thoughts...
We marched for the freedom of thought and freedom of expression. We marched for equality and peace. We marched for justice, without which there can be no democracy. By justice, I mean real justice, beneficial not only to the government but to everybody equally. Our march was for the right to oppose, which has been denied. It enabled us to give voice to thoughts without fear. We marched for the right to live. In order to highlight that life itself is the most precious value among all, we walked for the rights of the coal miners who were killed in Soma, western Turkey, because of working under inhuman conditions. We marched in order to defend the rights of more than 100 thousand civil servants and hundredths of Academics who lost their right to work. We marched to say no to wars, no to violence... We kept on walking to stand against all kinds of lynching campaigns.. We marched for the women who have been exploited and harassed by violence at home, outdoors, at police stations and the judiciary. We walked on and on in order to be the voice of the voiceless women... We marched to protest the “new” education system that aims to raise a pious and a hateful , revengeful youth. We want our children and youngsters to grow up without fear and hatred, equipped with scientific thinking and be creative and in harmony with conscience. More than a decade now, in the name of “progress” and more income, numerous forests, rivers , land, our environment have been destroyed for personal gains.. We also marched to be the voice of all those forests, those trees. We marched again and again to regain secularism, our most precious asset. We walked on to stop the counter-revolution in all areas of life: education, arts and sciences, social life, etc... In short: We marched for our human dignity. We marched in order to defend our human dignity, our honor, our pride. As we walked on and on, our search for justice became the most essential issue... I am still walking on and I am still looking for justice... In PEN Turkey Center we did not stop emphasizing on our search and we prepared a declaration which down below I am sharing with you... "Lack of Justice means the end of the world has already come. Lack of Justice means no ties have survived that could have kept society together. Where there is no Justice, summers are not beautiful, fruits are not delicious. Where there is no Justice, songs are considered to be lies -and poems fake. In a land without Justice, there can be neither pride about the past nor confidence in a bright future. A day without Justice is felt to last as long as a century. Nature abandons the world if it is without Justice; trees die, waters dry up, birds cease singing. Cruelty reigns in a place without Justice; there is injustice, evil. Only if there is Justice can there be civilization –with honour, pride, history; only there can there be humanity.
Still Looking for Justice
Once more the end of the year is approaching... While preparations for a new year goes on, people ask to each other how was your last year?
My year of 2017 went by while I was marching... Not only I, all of us , all of us who still believed in this country called Turkey, we spent the whole year marching on...
No no, I am not talking only about the historic march last summer which which millions joined in and was organized by the opposition and was above all political parties and has been massively supported by citizens from a variety of backgrounds, different opinions, different beliefs. The march from the capital Ankara to Istanbul, more than 450 kilometers...
I am talking about the "March" throughout the whole year: Every time a writer or a journalist was taken to prison... Every time a book was banned... The "march" and protests In front of court gates and in front of prisons... Every time an academic lost her or his job because of her or his thoughts...
We marched for the freedom of thought and freedom of expression.
We marched for equality and peace.
We marched for justice, without which there can be no democracy. By justice, I mean real justice, beneficial not only to the government but to everybody equally.
Our march was for the right to oppose, which has been denied. It enabled us to give voice to thoughts without fear.
We marched for the right to live. In order to highlight that life itself is the most precious value among all, we walked for the rights of the coal miners who were killed in Soma, western Turkey, because of working under inhuman conditions.
We marched in order to defend the rights of more than 100 thousand civil servants and hundredths of Academics who lost their right to work.
We marched to say no to wars, no to violence... We kept on walking to stand against all kinds of lynching campaigns..
We marched for the women who have been exploited and harassed by violence at home, outdoors, at police stations and the judiciary. We walked on and on in order to be the voice of the voiceless women...
We marched to protest the “new” education system that aims to raise a pious and a hateful , revengeful youth. We want our children and youngsters to grow up without fear and hatred, equipped with scientific thinking and be creative and in harmony with conscience.
More than a decade now, in the name of “progress” and more income, numerous forests, rivers , land, our environment have been destroyed for personal gains.. We also marched to be the voice of all those forests, those trees.
We marched again and again to regain secularism, our most precious asset. We walked on to stop the counter-revolution in all areas of life: education, arts and sciences, social life, etc...
In short: We marched for our human dignity. We marched in order to defend our human dignity, our honor, our pride.
As we walked on and on, our search for justice became the most essential issue...
I am still walking on and I am still looking for justice...
In PEN Turkey Center we did not stop emphasizing on our search and we prepared a declaration which down below I am sharing with you...
"Lack of Justice means the end of the world has already come.
Lack of Justice means no ties have survived that could have kept society together.
Where there is no Justice, summers are not beautiful, fruits are not delicious.
Where there is no Justice, songs are considered to be lies -and poems fake.
In a land without Justice, there can be neither pride about the past nor confidence in a bright future.
A day without Justice is felt to last as long as a century.
Nature abandons the world if it is without Justice; trees die, waters dry up, birds cease singing.
Cruelty reigns in a place without Justice; there is injustice, evil.
Only if there is Justice can there be civilization –with honour, pride, history; only there can there be humanity.
If there is no Justice, then there is nothing. "