Not just we, but everyone, sees how right he is there.” I am so happy when I hear his defences in courts. She says this and, finally, carefully applies the lipstick. Think, this is how scared they are of him,” is the light that comes from the sense of being indisputably right and thus strong. It is impossible for him to tamper with the evidence since all the evidence is the speeches he made and the articles he wrote. The light radiating from her eyes as she says, “He cannot flee and had returned from abroad two days before he was detained. The judiciary losing its independence, courts becoming dysfunctional and the failure so far for a politician who has been held in jail for months, since this is what those in power wish for, even though he is a presidential candidate is puzzling not only for them, but for the world. Yes, they are all right, because they know that what has befallen them is not a personal thing. “It is important for him always to see me well groomed,” she says, “Otherwise, he will be plagued with thoughts about whether we are all right and there is a problem.” While curling her hair and readying herself to make the one hundredth prison visit to twenty-month-detainee Selahattin Demirtaş, she is as excited as when she was going to meet her husband of sixteen years for the first time. By now, she is done with curling her hair and has moved on to make-up. And she tells me how she met Selahattin Demirtaş, how they got married, how they have been devoted to one another since the first day of their marriage, how they have spent sixteen years together and how things have ended up as they have. Başak is curling her hair in the bathroom. The suitcase in which she put the clean towels and T-shirts last night stands in the corridor. But, it gives me solace to bring some things belonging to him home every week and to bring him something from home.” She says, “He actually also washes his own laundry. Clean underwear, clothing and towels inside. This suitcase is carefully packed every week. One for me, one for my colleague Vedat who is to take the photographs and one for my colleague Berna who is to shoot the video. We have only just become acquainted we are as yet unaware that by this time tomorrow we would return as two friends who had made a monstrous journey, had shared many things with one another and had probably had different experiences but had at the same time become closer to one another in many ways.Ī few minutes after having said, out of politeness, “How can we do that?” three beds are unfolded in the flat. “Oh, stay here,” she says, “It’ll be easier.” I inquire, “How early can we call by in the morning to get footage of you leaving home?” We have called in for an evening tea to get acquainted one day early. We are here to accompany her on the journey she makes regularly every week to Edirne for a prison visit. They have dried the flowers he has sent from prison and hung them on the wall. They stand upside down and, dry as they may be, still maintain the magic of their colours. These are the flowers that Selahattin Demirtaş has sent from the inside. We are drinking tea and looking at the dried flowers hanging on the wall. We are on the expansive balcony of a flat on the top floor of a multistorey apartment building in one of the new quarters of Diyarbakır surrounded by wide streets that in no way resembles those venerable quarters crammed in among narrow roads. They say, “What a lovely smile she’s got, hasn’t she?“ The “Hola“ on her T-shirt is Zaza for ”I’m well.“
And it is also love’s non-political and exceptionally human story.īaşak posted a Tweet and asked people to send the best photographs they have taken of the election campaign. And, at the same time, of patience, perseverance and faith. This story is the story of this long day trip. With patience, perseverance and faith to enable her to see her husband Selahattin Demirtaş in Edirne Prison and spend a mere hour with him. Translated from Turkish by Tim Draytonįor twenty months, she has set out on a long journey from their home in Diyarbakır every Wednesday. In the following article that appeared in the Cumhuriyet newspaper on, Mine Söğüt describes her experiences while accompanying Başak Demirtaş on the arduous journey she makes every week to visit her husband, former HDP co-chair and the party's presidential candidate, Selahattin, in Edirne Prison 1700 kilometres away. > Other sample press translations from Turkish to English Başak Demirtaş: This is a good trek (m) > Return to HOME
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