A mother and her baby went to prison again. 2.5-year-old Hakan baby and his mother were arrested two days ago. The father is accused of participating in a trip organized by the state university and he has been detained for 15 months. Now three of them are together at Osmaniye Toprakkale Prison…
SEVİNÇ ÖZARSLAN
A new one has been added to baby prisoners. Zeynep Zeyfeoglu and his two-year-old son Hakan were arrested Thursday morning (March 21st). After teacher Zeynep and her son`s arrest, the number of nuclear families in Turkey prisons is again improved. The three members of the Zeyfeoğlu family which was started in 2014 are now in Osmaniye Toprakkale Prison.
PARTICIPATING IN A TRIP ORGANIZED BY THE STATE UNIVERSITY WAS CONSIDERED AS A CRIME
Sercan Zeyfeoğlu, a history teacher, was detained on 29 December 2017 and arrested on 3 January 2018. He was detained in charge of ‘being a member of an armed terrorist organization’ due to his name was given to police by a friend. Zeyfeoglu who is known as a cheerful person was arrested because of a smile while his testimony was being read. He then became a Bylock user in his indictment. The most tragicomic crime attributed to him was to attend a trip which was organized by the rectorate of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University. Sercan Zeyfeoğlu, who graduated from the history department of the university in 2011, is accused of going on a visit of the Rectorate.
FIRST, ‘NO BYLOCK’, THEN ‘YES, THERE IS’
His wife Zeynep Zeyfeoglu was also attributed to ‘use Bylock’ as a crime. However, when Sercan Zeyfeoglu was detained, the police confiscated the mobile phones of them, then first; “your phones are clean” they said. Then they took back Sercan Zeyfeoğlu’s mobile and found Bylock! Zeynep Zeyfeoğlu, who went to visit her husband in prison for a year and a half, was suddenly declared as a Bylock user!
S. Zeyfeoğlu, whom we talked to by phone from the Zeyfeoğlu family; “They detained Zeynep on Thursday and arrested him the same day. They also wrote to the arrest report that ‘detection of evidence is being made’. They could’ve done it without arrest. They could do it with probation too. There is no logic anywhere in this incident. The judge, the prosecutor’s aim is to put the pressure to make her use the effective repentance law to get somebody else`s name. So there would not be anyone who is not arrested in this country. Attending a trip which was organized by the rectorate of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University was considered as a crime. It was a trip organized by the state university.” she said.
Sercan Zeyfeoğlu’s first trial was in November 2018, the second trial was held last January. The third court will be held on 9 April. According to S. Zeyfeoğlu and the lawyer, the reason for the arrest of Zeynep Zeyfeoğlu was to put pressure on the family to get somebody else`s name before the final hearing.
THEY ARE THE ONLY CHILDREN WHO ARE EDUCATED IN THEIR FAMILIES
One is the only educated daughter of a family of 14, and the other is the only educated son of a family of six… Zeynep Zeyfeoğlu, a 29-year-old from Siirt Pervari, is one of the two girls of the village who graduated from a university. In Dogankoy where girls’ education is not considered as necessary, her struggle was hope for other girls in the village. She opened a path for them. There are many girls who are university students at the moment in Dogankoy.
Everyone in his family cherished to make him an educated person, 31-year-old Sercan Zeyfeoğlu, grew up in Osmaniye. Zeynep Zeyfeoğlu Erzurum graduated from Atatürk University, Sercan Zeyfeoğlu graduated from Van Yüzüncü Yıl University. One is a history teacher and the other is a math teacher.
The son of Zeyfeoglu, Hakan was born in October 2016, after the Zeyfeoglu couple got married while they were working in Çağlayan Education institution in Van in 2014. Now, with all the rights taken away, he lives with his mother in a 40-square-meter ward. Two years ago by returning to Osmaniye, the Zeyfeoğlu couple were fellow citizens who were living in their own world…
THE DIALOGUES AND ATMOSPHERE IN THE COURTS ARE…
Suleyman Zeyfeoglu who had Parkinson’s syndrome and heart failure, the father of Sercan Zeyfeoglu, was diagnosed with lung cancer after the Feast of Sacrifice in 2018. S. Zeyfeoğlu stated that their sufferings triggered this disease by these expressions; “We tried very hard to make Sercan an educated person. While we think he is now a teacher, the state stigmatized him as a terrorist. If you see the dialogues and atmosphere in the courts, you can understand better. There is a court game in there, just like a theater. What is your name? What is your surname? Do you have an objection to your expression? Sit down. Next one… The people are as desperate as death.”
Sercan Zeyfeoğlu` father who was diagnosed as lung cancer, Suleyman Zeyfeoglu, said “I lived what I have in my fate, I want to see my son released as final request’. Süleyman Zeyfeoğlu died on 28 March 2019 and the prosecutor’s office did not allow his son to attend the funeral.
