The price for a thought should not be so heavy

Alican Uludağ
 
Yeliz Toy, sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for organisation membership due to having participated in May Day Workers’ Holiday and 8 March World Working Women’s Day events, entered prison on 19 October 2017, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter İdil Elvan. Toy, who sent a letter from prison, said, “The judge who sentenced us, Metin Özçelik, is in jail. The prosecutor at the time, Celal Kara, in turn, is wanted under a red bulletin. I cannot bring my daughter in with me. Winter conditions and the harshness of conditions with concrete on all sides may exert both a psychological and health toll. The price for a thought should not be so heavy.”
 
Kocaeli resident Yeliz Toy was arrested along with 17 people in an operation staged in November 2010 as part of an investigation conducted by Istanbul Republic Chief Prosecution into the DHKP/C. A trial was brought against Toy, who had been released following investigation, by Istanbul special-jurisdiction Republic Prosecutor at the time, Celal Kara. Toy, having been tried at Istanbul special-jurisdiction Serious Crime Court No 11, was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for the offence of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. In the meantime Toy, having married construction worker Kemal Toy in Tunceli, had a daughter named İdil Elvan. Toy, who made a statement to certain newspapers in 2015, called on the Court of Cassation not to uphold the ruling saying, “Let my seven-month tiny child not grow up behind iron bars. We should be granted the right to a retrial. In fact, many of the rulings issued by the same court have been overturned.” However, Toy went to prison on 19 October 2017 with the Court of Cassation upholding the sentence.
 
“My daughter has become introverted”
 
Toy, who sent a letter to Cumhuriyet from Gebze Closed Women’s Prison, said, “I was taken away from my family in Kocaeli on 19 October 2017 and brought to Gebze Prison. I currently have a three-year-old daughter. She is with my mum’s family. I am able to see her once a month and only for one hour. This is not enough either for me or my daughter who needs her mother at this age. In the place of my daughter on our first visits who was becoming socially aware and forming a much closer relationship, the İdil who came had become introverted. She assuages her longing in my absence by kissing my picture.”
 
The judge is in jail and the prosecutor on the run
 
Toy, noting that she was accused of organisation membership for having exercised her constitutional freedom of expression and her tiny daughter was also paying the price for this, continued, “My husband is in Tunceli and is able to come every two months due to material circumstances. The judge who sentenced us, Metin Özçelik, is currently in Silivri Prison, his FETO/PDY verdict having been upheld. The prosecutor at the time, Celal Kara, is currently wanted under a red bulletin. I am in prison due to sentences passed by people the political rulership calls traitors and against whom there are convictions that have become effective. I cannot bring my daughter in with me. Winter conditions and the harshness of conditions with concrete on all sides may exert both a psychological and health toll. The price for a thought should not be so heavy.”