My daughter was at risk of dying if she didn’t take her medication, but the police took her medication.

Our lives and the lives of our children are divided into two as before and after the slander called July 15. Before July 15, I was working as a principal at a private educational institution. I had university and high school students. Our job was not just a job, but a project to make an effort to make the whole world better... It was a job done for all people regardless of religion, language, or race, and for social assistance...

But because we did not support the wrongdoings of those who govern the state, because we voiced that these things were wrong, they targeted us and after July 15, I lost my job, my husband, and my home overnight. Despite my child, who was 1 year old at the time and receiving treatment for a life-threatening illness, I was left unemployed, homeless, and alone. My daughter is at risk of death if she does not take her medication, and despite me telling them this many times, the police who came to our house, unlawfully and unconscionably took my daughter's medicines and prevented her from taking medicine for 2 months.

My husband was detained in a very bad way and I did not hear from him for 20 days. After 20 days, we had a phone call for a few minutes. He asked me to take good care of myself and our children and wait patiently and hung up. Then, even more painful processes began because a criminal case had also been opened regarding me and an arrest warrant had been issued. If I was arrested, who would look after my daughter, who was 1 year old at the time, and my son, who was 7 years old? That’s why I had to hide. My hiding from the police lasted 23 months.

During those 23 months, I couldn’t see my husband, who was in prison, even once because if I went to visit him, they could arrest me as well. According to prison rules, my mother and father couldn’t visit my husband, who was their son-in-law, without me being with them. That’s why my mother and father took my children to the prison gate. My 7-year-old son had to go through the gate to visit the prison, have their ID checked, and go through the body searches alone, along with his 1-year-old sister…

At the end of 23 months, I went to the police myself. I explained my situation, told them that I needed to be with my daughter for her treatment, that her life was in danger. Thankfully, the judges, who still had some conscience left, due to my daughter's illness and my husband's arrest, decided to let me stand trial without being arrested.

My daughter's treatment was very expensive and required special nutrition and special care. I was unemployed, looking for a job but couldn't find one. Because if a business offered me a job, the cruel state administrators could close that business down with an excuse, and so employers were afraid to hire me. During this period, I had to both support our household and send money to my husband who was in prison, so even though they were both young, I left my children alone at home and went to do the cleaning from time to time and went to the market to sell things. My son was also worn out during this process, he suddenly had no father, we were struggling to make ends meet, and since I was taking care of my ill daughter alone, I had no time to take care of my son. My son tried to survive on his own amidst these storms.

So, weren't there good people or relatives who would support us? There were, but they were also in the hands of tyrants and were being obstructed by the state. When it was determined that they were helping us, a criminal case would be filed against them, and since they were threatened with this, they were afraid to support us and help us. We went through very difficult times.

I was very upset when news of the detention, arrest and torture that my husband and many other good people like him had been subjected to came. On the one hand, they had took my daughter's medicines and were threatening us with my daughter's treatment, in other words, her life. It was as if I was not facing state officials but bandits blocking the road. We could not seek our rights in any way, justice had been torn away from the country overnight. Not only justice, but also conscience and humanity. How can state officials use the life of a tiny innocent child as a tool? Of course, we were not guilty, but let's say even if we were guilty, what was my tiny child's crime? We could not explain our situation to anyone, no one understood our situation, except for those who were victimized like us. They were broadcasting such unrealistic news on television that people's brains had been numbed.

It was no longer possible to seek rights, the people they assigned as judges and prosecutors were either evil-hearted like those who governed the state or were cowards who saw their own future in danger if they made just decisions.

At the end of 5 years, my husband was released from prison and returned home. Just as we were rejoicing that my husband had returned, we received the news that my criminal case had been concluded. If I had continued to stay in the country, I would have been in prison for years, so we had to leave the country immediately. But how would that have happened? My daughter was receiving treatment and she might not have been able to handle this difficult process. But if we had stayed in the country, if I had been arrested, her psychology could have been worn out and her treatment could have worsened. We decided to leave the country, but this decision was a very difficult one for my husband and I.

I would like to point out here that if victims like us did not have to leave the country, I would definitely not leave the country. I would not have because this journey was threatening my daughter's life. Despite all this, we had to risk everything and set off on the road because I could have been arrested; because my daughter's treatment could have been prevented again; because my husband could have been arrested again despite being in prison and released and even if we look at the situation Turkey is in right now, we are in a period where even 16-year-old children are being arrested, and my son could have been arrested in a few years.

And we came to the Netherlands in September, walking for 4 hours in very difficult conditions, swimming across the Meriç River, by running the risk of drowning while passing by, staying in custody at the police station for 20 days, despite my daughter, having endured a difficult journey. After coming here, the doctors here said that my daughter's health was very worn out and the treatment she received in Turkey was insufficient and inadequate, and they hospitalized her for 20 days due to her life-threatening condition, and while we were in the hospital, my son lived alone in the camp. This process was also very difficult for us. Unfortunately, my daughter now has to take oxygen support at nights.

Despite my daughter's condition, we were able to get a residence permit after 8 months. The doctor expects us to move home immediately for additional treatments to be added to my daughter's treatment. We have been waiting for a house for a few months.

A person does not leave her/his country because another country is better, especially Turkey was a good country until the July 15 plot, but now our lives are in danger there…

One incident that upset me here was when an official said that the process of you Gülenists is long because Syrians are given priority because they are fleeing the war…

So what was war, was it to die, we also have dead people, those who died in prison under torture, those who were kidnapped and killed, those who died of heart attacks or cancer due to the severity of the process, those who could not stand these oppressions and slanders and committed suicide…

What was war, wasn’t it cruelty to children and women without discrimination? Many women are in prison under torture, children are in prison with their mothers…

What was war, wasn’t it cruelty to patients? 1605 people are in prison despite their serious illnesses…

There are elderly people, visually impaired people, wheelchair users and even bedridden patients in prisons.…

Even people who have been released after spending years in prison are being arrested again and torture continues…

We went through very difficult days, my husband's experiences, my daughter's, my son's, all experienced separate traumas...