Sümeyra has departed for her eternal home. She was a 15-year-old girl in Turkey. She was both a sister and a mother to her two siblings. She had epilepsy. But it wasn’t her illness that killed her — it was the tyranny of the Turkey’s AKP that roams freely in this country, the massive injustice, the lack of conscience, and the human tragedy that took her life.
This is not an ordinary death. On the contrary, it’s murder. The killer and the accomplices are known…
Her mother, Melek Gelir, who is in prison, was brought to her daughter’s grave in handcuffs. Without even having the chance to mourn her child, she was thrown back into prison. In this country, a mother’s hands were shackled, her heart imprisoned with longing. The world is silent in the face of this scene. Turkey is deaf and mute!
But let me remind you of something. In 2015, when the lifeless body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed up on the shores of Bodrum, all of Europe wept. That image made headlines in Germany. Merkel and her cabinet said, “We can no longer remain silent!” And the doors that had been closed to war victims suddenly opened.
Why? Because Aylan’s tiny body shook consciences…
It moved governments. Changed policies. Opened shut borders. So what happened to Sümeyra’s body in Turkey? Nothing. Not a leaf stirred. Except for the usual few exceptions, there was no reaction from politicians, bureaucrats, or the public. The outcries on social media meant nothing.
I ask you — has a deathly silence settled over Turkey? Those who rightly cried for Aylan — why are you mute, deaf, and blind when it comes to Sümeyra?
It brings to mind a verse from the Surah At-Takwir. On Judgment Day, the girl who was buried alive simply for being a girl in the time of ignorance will come and ask:
“When the girl buried alive is asked for what sin she was killed…” (At-Takwir 8-9)
This is a timeless message from the Qur’an.
O AKP members who condone these injustices! Have no doubt, in the Hereafter, Sümeyra will also ask you this question.
“You killed me. Despite being 15 and having epilepsy, you took my mother away and killed me. What was my mother’s crime, a teacher? What was my crime? What were my siblings’ crimes?” she will ask.
I don’t know what answer you will give when that day comes.
Sümeyra is gone. But her pain, her prayers, her cries will live on among us. Forever. She will take her place as one frame in the thousands in the AKP’s file of oppression. And that photo will shout silently until the end of time:
“I was killed at 15!”
Everyone who remains silent today, who turns a blind eye to what is happening, will one day have to look at that photo:
A mother in handcuffs, a child dead, hearts shattered.
O Erdoğan and your cronies! You have burdened yourselves with the sins of Sümeyra, Yusuf Kerim, Berkin Elvan, and countless other children whose names we do not know. Some of you signed off on it, some gave the orders, some kept silent. But know this:
Those children will find you. They will not let go of your collar in the Hereafter.
Let me end with this…
Sümeyra! May those who caused you, your mother, your siblings, and all your loved ones and those whose consciences are still alive to suffer this pain never see peace in this world. May God not take their lives before they live what they made others live… And in the Hereafter, may He deal with them not with His mercy, but with His justice.
