Public backlash against religious community dorms in Turkey after Enes Kara’s passing

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After sharing a video where he talked about the pressure that he faced at the dorm of a religious community, Enes Kara, a student of Elazığ Fırat University Medical Faculty, committed suicide. His passing has caused a growing public outrage at religious community dorms in Turkey.

The Psychiatric Association of Turkey (PAT) has expressed its "deep sadness" over the death of Enes Kara. Extending its condolences to the family and loved ones of Kara, the Association has underlined that "it is a public obligation to ensure that young people benefit from quality education, housing, food and psychosocial support services."

Noting that "this public obligation should naturally be discussed and debated" in society, the Association has recommended that "social media users should not repeatedly use the news that feature pictures, images and detailed account of the suicide in debating the issue."

His friends protested with carnations

The friends of Enes Kara at the Fırat University Faculty of Medicine protested his passing at their campus. As reported by Evrensel, they met in front of the faculty building, holding carnations in their hands.

* Photo: Evrensel

Reading out the statement for the press about the conditions pushing Kara to take his own life, Zeynep İlayda Baykendi briefly said:

We have in our minds what he said in the video that he had shot nearly a month before his suicide. Our friend talks about the pressure at home and the religious community dorm where he stays and his anxiety about classes and the future. How many losses of life should we suffer to do something? How many young people's laughs that would embrace the world should fade away in their faces? We demand that this situation be addressed and families, teachers and the administration do something about this situation. We are here today as the students of Fırat Medical Faculty and the friends of Enes. You will always be 19 years old.

'Respect your children's choices'

Musician Tarkan has also expressed his sadness over "Enes Kara's being driven to suicide and taking his own life."

Underlining that there are "thousands of desperate young people in our country who are unfortunately in the situation of Enes Kara, live in fear and under pressure and have lost their joy for life and hope," Tarkan has called out to parents and briefly said the following:

"Dear mothers and fathers! Before it is too late, sensitively and lovingly hear what your children feel and think and be unconditionally on their side.

"Respect their free will, wishes and choices. Your priority must be their happiness. The lives they live are their lives. Your children are neither your property nor do they belong to you.

"They are free souls who have come to the world through us, their mothers and fathers. Instead of putting out their light, let your children illuminate our hearts with that light.

"Don't forget that our main duty is to protect and look after our children. Not to make them serve the exploitation of bigoted and fanatical mentalities..."

Political parties' reactions

Some opposition political parties have lashed out at the living conditions and pressure at the dorms of religious communities in Turkey over Kara's passing and criticized the policies of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government condemning young people to these dorms.

The Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) has stated, "The palace, adding wealth to its wealth, begrudges students even a dormitory."

The Left Party has said, "Every single penny transferred from the public to religious cult-community and pro-government foundations should be taken back and these resources should be used to find solutions for young people's problems with housing and employment."

The Labor Party (EMEP) has stressed that "the students who cannot find a place in public dorms have been condemned to private dorms," saying that "this policy is a capitalist mentality viewing students and education as a market and the AKP is an utterly capitalist party."

The party has further stressed that "the state has used the lack of capacity at public dorms to condemn students to the dormitories of religious cults and communities." The EMEP has called on the authorities to "investigate the process leading to Kara's death, close the dorms of religious cults and communities and open free public dormitories for all students."

While Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İstanbul MP has submitted a Parliamentary question about the incident, Ali Babacan, the Chair of the DEVA Party and a former senior AKP politician, has also made a statement on social media and said, "Until the young people of this country can act in the light of their own minds and beliefs and until we ensure their intellectual and economic independence, none of us will be free."

AKP reacts against reactions

The ruling AKP, on the other hand, has reacted against the reactions. AKP Vice Chair and Spokesperson Ömer Çelik has first expressed his "deep sadness over the death of Enes Kara" and moved on to say that "what the ones who produce a fight, ideological revenge and division through the death of a young person do is not acceptable and not moral."

Saying that "every death should bring a person face to face with her or his own soul," he has said, "This is a great test. The grief over the deceased should bring us to this. The ones who produce a division even through a death should set aside the fight of ideological egoes."

What happened?

Enes Kara (20), a sophomore at the Fırat University Faculty of Medicine in Turkey's eastern province of Elazığ, talked about his anxiety about the future and the pressure that he faced at the dorm of a religious community; Kara took his own life afterwards.

The video that he posted nearly a month before the incident was widely shared on social media after his passing. Leaving a suicide note as well, Kara said that though he was not a Muslim, the dorm where he was staying was forcing him to perform daily prayers, attend the classes of the religious community and do daily chores such as cooking and cleaning. 

"I have lost my entire joy for life and enthusiasm in the situation that I have found myself in," he said in the video. (AÖ/AEK/SD)