Zeliha Asks: Who will Protect Me and My Son?

* Photo: Evrim Kepenek (İstanbul, November 25, 2019) / "We defend our life"

Click to read the article in Turkish

"Now, he will be released. I don't have life safety. Who will protect me? Did you ask me while giving amnesty to him? You grant amnesty to the one who inflicted violence on me. Then, at least ensure my life safety."

Zeliha Erdemir lives in the Aegean province of Aydın.

Since the day she heard that those convicted of "violence-injury" would also be released, she cannot sleep at night, Erdemir says.

Because she knows that her ex-husband Murat Cem Kara, whom she could finally have arrested after a great struggle, will be released as he will benefit from the recently enacted law on criminal enforcement, which has given the opportunity of early release to almost 90 thousand convicts.

CLICK - Law on Criminal Enforcement Enters into Force

"We are talking about a man who broke an ankle monitor to inflict violence on me, how am I supposed to not worry," she asks.

Erdemir tells us that she met her ex-husband Murat Cem Kara while they were studying in Muğla in 2009 and got married in 2012. "We had no problems in the first month of marriage, but then I was subjected to systematic violence," says Erdemir and continues as follows:

"The first slap came when I was pregnant. Then, it kept on. He took me out of the home and battered me, dragging me on the floor. I couldn't stand it. I left home in October 2014. He kidnapped my child. He made me listen to him and threatened me, 'If you come and see, then forget about the child.' He took the child and disappeared for 15 days, we could not find them.

'I had internal bleeding, I was hospitalized'

"I got the temporary custody. When we saw them playing in front of the store, we went there with the police and took the child. It kept on like that. Neither his violence nor his abduction of my child ended.

"We officially got divorced on December 28, 2018. I had to give me child to him at weekends. While I was about to give him the child one weekend, he battered me in the middle of the street. He kicked me in the stomach. He kicked me on the head. I was hospitalized with internal bleeding.

'He texted me 'I will continue'

"I got on the TV with my face in bruises and talked about what happened. He texted me and said, 'The make-up on your face is nice, I will go on like this.'

"Then, the child started school. He came when I brought the child to school. The moment my son entered the school, he would start attacking me.

"It continued like this for months. We applied to the police for several times. An ankle monitor was put on him. The monitor made an impact. This time, he started to threaten my attorneys from home.

"Finally, he broke the monitor and inflicted violence on me. With other crimes combined, he was sentenced to 17 months in prison. He was behind bars for three months. How am I supposed to accept this?

"I am really afraid. He threatens not only me, but he also threatens my attorney with her daughter. He swears at the bar association chair, the man never stops. Why do you release that man? Three months cannot be the punishment for what he made me go through.

'I don't have life safety'

"You release the one who inflicted violence on me. Who will protect me? I don't have safety of life. They put an ankle monitor on this man, he broke it. If he finds out where I am, he can come and batter me at my workplace. What am I supposed to do? Quit my job? How can I go somewhere else?

"I have friends who have similar experiences. Her husband who inflicted violence on a friend of mine texted her and said, 'I benefit from the amnesty, we will continue where we left.'

"This amnesty has encouraged people. It is like he took a three-month vacation and he will be back now. I am very afraid. No one called me to ask 'Did you forgive him?' I can neither sleep nor go out in the street for days now. We are anxiously waiting with my child. This fear will never leave this kid. Why do they make my son live this fear?

'I have not been informed whether he has been released or not. They should at least give me information about this, my attorneys have made an application about the issue. We are really afraid, protect us from violence."

She also tries to make herself heard on social media

Erdemir has also posted the below video to raise concerns and publicity about her situation, attaching the note:

"It is only a part of what I went through and it will continue where it was left. Maybe, this time, I will live something worse. Maybe, he will do what he wants to do. Maybe, I cannot see my son grow up."

#ZelihaErdemiriKoru yaşadıklarımın sadece bir kısmı bunlar şimdi yine kaldıgım yerden devam edeceğim belki bu sefer daha kötüsünü yasayacagım yapmak istediği şeyi yapacak belki çocuğumun büyüdüğünü bile göremiycem #AFFETMİYORUM @sadecefero @BahaRDemr321 @PatiiRoN @HayatUmutUfuk1 pic.twitter.com/DoNqqQsyP2

— Zeliha Erdemir (@ErdemirZeliha) April 15, 2020

(EMK/SD)