When my daughter was five years old, I took her to the police station right next to my house, introduced her to the police officers working here, and provided support to get rid of her phobic situation. Because during this period, her father was arrested for reactionary activities and most of our friends were branded with heavy accusations. We had made statements so that she would not be affected by the problems we were experiencing, but despite this, she believed that the soldiers and police were a force that punished people and he developed an intense fear. When she was driving her to school in the morning, her fears were triggered and the police could punish us, she said, let's not go through here. We tried to organize the family environment in accordance with the development of my daughter, and subjects that could cause phobic problems were not talked about much in our household, but we did not have a chance to isolate her from society and the fears that filtered through people's subconscious were somehow reaching our children.
I have been following the news about police violence, which has been on the agenda of the society for a week, and my mind takes me back years, to the pathological fears my daughter had in her childhood. And I involuntarily ask: Why can't we, the peoples, achieve the justice and tranquility that we hope for a lifetime? We cannot reach it because we have blocked the roads with our own hands…
We see that the conflicts and violence between the police and opposition groups cause chronic fears not only in children but also in adults, and we despair. When justice turns into a tool used by those who hold power, the authorities that will protect your security turn to brute force and you lose your freedom as well as your rights. You can see the mentality, belief, and attitudes of the person or group that prepares the ground for the conflict as a danger and you can take action to prevent the danger, but there is a legal way for this, which is to go to your goal and protect the individual rights of the individuals even if the crime is detected. You must take care. Otherwise, violence becomes inevitable and the people watching these images lose their sense of trust and are exposed to a secondary trauma.
As a matter of fact, the march of the Alpaslan Kuytul group in Adana and the use of disproportionate force by the police, causing many injuries, aroused discomfort in all of us. People began to discuss the sociological and psychological damage caused by official violence and to express their longing for justice more loudly.
As a result of the evaluations made by politicians, lawyers and human rights activists about the images of violence and the intense reaction this situation aroused in the society, the political side also made a statement and tried to attract attention in a different direction. In the statement in question, it was said that the group acted provocatively and the police had to react. Well, was the event so simple that we did it and you said it happened and glossed over it. Shouldn't you make a self-criticism and take the necessary precautions by evaluating these images in the context of rights?
The legal system is a force that keeps society alive. The state has to protect the rights of every individual regardless of belief or ideology, but unfortunately, this system has not been established in our society and the prohibitions, pressures and images of violence that we cannot erase from our memories have caused fear and insecurity in our inner world.
The ineffectiveness of the justice system and the inability of the law to be manifested on individuals undermine our sense of trust and cause chronic fears. The balance of life is disturbed and people try to attack each other by accusing and stigmatizing, and to act with an approach that does not belong to us, to inflame violence.
None of us could digest the grave event in Adana and the images of violence displayed, and we realized that we have turned into a society of fear and talked about the measures that can be taken for the establishment of justice. As a matter of fact, a person has a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, which is the most important principle and requirement of universal law. If the law is shaped according to the interests of individuals and ideologies and is used by the biases and suspicions of those who hold power, it is not possible for individuals to feel safe here. Of course, if a situation has arisen that will undermine the security of the society, the security forces should and will take the necessary precautions, but even if a crime is detected, care should be taken to protect the fundamental rights of the individual and violence should not be seen as a tool.