Gülsüm Elvan: I am doing my all for children not to die

Mother Elvan says, “My anger stifles my grief. There are times when I lose hope, but when I see my son in my mind’s eye, a feeling of struggle swells up in me for other children not to die.”
 
Zehra Özdilek
 
Mother Gülsüm Elvan and big sister Gamze Elvan of Berkin Elvan, who at the age of fourteen was struck in the head by a gas canister when he popped out of his home to buy some bread in the course of the Gezi Park Resistance, are calling on all those who are demanding justice to follow the trial set for today. Mother Elvan says, “Try as I have, I have been unable to get Berkin out of my mind. When there is nobody at home I still watch from the window thinking, ‘Berkin is off to get me some bread and will come.’ I am still capable of saying this. I am currently doing my all for children not to die anymore. This is my only concern and aim.” And big sister Gamze Elvan says, “I call on everyone to be at our sides tomorrow at the hearing at 9.30” and adds, “My brother is not the only one to have been murdered in this country. It can happen to everyone.”
 
Police officer Fatih D., who is alleged to have killed Berkin Elvan, is being tried at Istanbul Serious Crime Court No 17. The trial’s third session will be held today. Mother Gülsüm Elvan is not very hopeful about the way the trial is going. She is determined to keep treading the path to court so that justice is done. She says, “The day will surely come when those people get their punishment.” She mentions that threats continue to be directed at her family. She says she has been at the receiving end of verbal abuse that does not bear repeating. As to the criminal complaints she has made about this, they have been unable to get any result. She has now given up going and filing criminal complaints because nothing is done. She says, “If something is posted on social media about them, they immediately arrest and detain them.  There have also been threats targeting my daughters. And they say, ‘They are even afraid of our brother when he is dead.’ My small daughter has an important exam tomorrow. Of course, there is also the hearing. She very much wants to come to the hearing. This is how my children’s studies are going. They had experiences like this when they were taking the university exams. They win places, but they cannot achieve the goals they set because they have too much on their minds.”
 
Do not give up
 
The grieving mother, saying there are times when she fully loses hope, continues: “I feel despondent when I look at what is going on in the country, but then a sense of resistance forms inside me over the injustices that are being done. My anger stifles my grief. When I see my son in my mind’s eye, a feeling of struggle swells up in me for other children not to die. Then I manage not to lose hope. I advise mothers in my position definitely not to give up. If you give up when you bury your child, you endanger your other children. If you do not want to lose your other children, resist using legal means. I will go all the way. Have there not been days on which I was overwhelmed? Of course there have. On those days when I felt overwhelmed while trying to get my child’s rights, I consoled myself. If I were to say, ‘OK. I have given up and am letting it go,’ who will fight? It was not a single person who did and orchestrated the shooting and I will resist till my final breath until they are punished.”
 
Nuriye and Semih
 
Elvan gives the following description of the way their lives have changed over the past four years: “We ceased to be a family and are pulling ourselves back together again. Part of us is missing. I come and set the dining table and there are four instead of five of us. One of us is missing. When there is nobody at home I still watch from the window thinking, ‘Berkin is off to get me some bread and will come.’ I sometimes call out to myself, saying, ‘Come on Berkin, breakfast is ready.’ I am still capable of saying this. It is very tough. It is such a tough business that I keep myself going for my two daughters. Today journalists are behind bars for writing about things that happen. Those who are up to no good are trying to camouflage their deeds. They cannot kid anybody with this camouflage now. We are following their hearings. We have our hearing tomorrow (today). Our friends who wish to fight along with us will be at our side at the judicial complex for their own children’s futures. If we fight as a single body in such circumstances we will win. I will not stop speaking of Nuriye and Semih, either.”
 
JUSTICE IS OUR ONLY GOAL
 
Berkin’s big sister Gamze Elvan is a second-year student in the literature department. She wants everyone in her brother’s case to be punished from the giver of the order to the puller of the trigger, not just a single person. Noting that this will not be easy, she says, “The judiciary has never been run independently. After Berkin, a whole host of people I do not know have entered our life. Our school has changed. Many things have moved in a way I do not want. It is the same with my sister. And now both of us are trying somehow to put things straight. Our only goal right now is to seek justice.”