I Completed My Education Under Difficult Conditions And Became A Police Officer

First of all, I want to talk a little about my family.

I was born as the second of 5 children of a worker father and a housewife mother in a small village in Gediz district of Kütahya province. I completed my education under difficult conditions and became a police officer after passing the police exams.

In the 14th year of my career, I was suspended on 28 July, using so-called coup attempt in our country on 15 July 2016 as an excuse. I was dismissed from my profession on September 1, 2016. Our whole lives, including my 3 children and my wife, were turned upside down.

But life was going on and I had to take care of my family. I applied for jobs in various places. But when they learned that I had been dismissed by decree law, all employers rejected my job application, saying that they could not hire me, otherwise they might be subject to investigation.

I started driving a taxi upon the offer of a relative. After 6 months, I was detained and arrested on false grounds. I stayed in prison for 1 year. During this period, my family experienced great suffering and economic difficulties. At the first hearing, the court sentenced me to 6 years and 10 months and released me. I continued driving a taxi again. 9 months later, I was detained again with a different excuse and was released after 7 days of detention by the decision of the prosecutor's office. Meanwhile, our family order and the entire psychology of family members were disrupted. My wife and I broke up.

I started trying to be both a mother and a father to my two daughters, 17 and 14 years old, and a 12-year-old son.

My children were excluded by their friends both at school and in the environment we lived in. We were already treated like the plague.

I could not hire a lawyer due to financial difficulties. I made the necessary objections myself through all necessary legal means. The Supreme Court overturned the sentence given by the first instance court because the witnesses were not heard in court. I was retried and the court made the same decision, but I appealed again. The Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Public Prosecutor's Office requested that my sentence be approved.

We had only one choice left, and that was to go abroad. I was banned from traveling abroad. Therefore, there was no possibility of me leaving the country by normal means.

Going abroad illegally was very expensive and I did not have enough money; For this reason, I had to sell the house I bought with my 20 years of savings. One night, we crossed the (Meriç) Maritsa River in a (plastic)rubber makeshift boat, and after a 4-hour journey filled with danger at every moment, with about 30 people.

In the end we managed to cross to Greece with my three children. We were finally free. I was not going to go to prison, I was free from the anxiety that was gnawing at my brain, what if I went to prison, to whom would I entrust my children, who would take care of them.

This is my story…