In front of the eyes of my 3,5 year old child, my wrists were handcuffed behind my back as if I were a very dangerous criminal

Hello, I am reliving those days as I write about my grievances...

I am the youngest (last) child of a poor and wretched family from Anatolia. My father tried to educate me and my siblings with limited financial means so that we could serve the country.

After graduating from high school, I passed the police exams and started working in the police force. In 2016, I was dismissed from my job, which I had proudly done for 10 years, due to the unfortunate events that took place.

One night, my house was raided and searched and I was taken into custody. In front of the eyes of my 3,5 year old child, my wrists were handcuffed behind my back as if I were a very dangerous criminal. I was humiliated in front of my family, neighbors, and neighborhood.

I had believed that truth and justice would prevail one day, so I was patient, but unfortunately, it never happened. At the time I was detained, my wife was pregnant, and because she was so upset, our baby died in the womb, and we barely saved my wife.

After a certain process, I applied for various jobs to support my family. However, when employers found out that I was a Gulenist, they fired me. During this period, I did a lot of jobs: taxi driving, bookselling, market trading, construction work, waitering… We began to see that they completely isolated us from society. Everyone, including our close family circle and neighbors, stopped contacting us. We were at that time unwanted strangers in our own homeland.

The court sentenced me to 6 years and 10 months in prison for non-legal reasons, and this decision was approved by the Supreme Court. I no longer had a choice. Since my sentence was finalized, I had to hide until I could go abroad to avoid being caught. That period was very challenging for me and my family. After many troubles, I had to flee my country one night, leaving my wife and child behind, with tears in my eyes, and sought asylum in Europe, which I saw as a safe haven. Currently, my wife, child, and I are looking forward to getting a residence permit and the day when we will be reunited after family reunification.

I have been in the Netherlands for about 8 months and since the day I arrived, I have been studying Dutch every day and participating in volunteer work 4 days a week to integrate quickly. I want to stand on my own feet as soon as possible and be useful to my family and society.

Best regards.