The Palu Family: The untouched side of the truth

 You wake up one morning and someone you have known for a long time claims to be a chosen person, saying they have received divine messages. What would your reaction be?

Before judging them because you know them, would you try to talk and understand? Or would you say, “I trust them; if they have such a claim, I believe it.” 

Let’s change the scenario; you read in the news that someone you have never met claims to be the son of God, that they walk with angels, that the apocalypse will come in fifty years, and that everyone needs to gather around them. What would you feel while reading this, and what would your first reaction be?

There is no doubt that the reactions we give to events do not emerge independently of our worldview, the cultural environment in which we were raised, or the political, ideological, and theological identities imposed upon us. Our perspective also affects our way of looking at things.

But when we look, how much are we searching for the truth, and how much of the truth do we want to see?

When dear Tunca Öğreten called me about the Palu family documentary, this was one of the first questions that came to my mind: “How much of the truth do we want to see?”

Was Tuncer Ustael, who stood at the center of the murders and lived a life of hell for years with a mother, children, and the people around him, and subsequently became a murderer, telling the whole truth about the Palu family? Could we ease our conscience by focusing solely on his “psychopathic” identity and illuminate the entire dark process behind the events? Could we open all the doors with the only key we have and uncover the system of torture that spanned years?

I think the answer to these questions lies in our practice of confronting the truth. If we ignore the conditions that created Tuncer Ustael, the “religious teachings” that kept him powerful, and the acceptance of those teachings in society, and if we ignore the negligence of the police, health services, and other public institutions throughout this entire process, and do not want to touch this side of the truth, then a single perpetrator is enough for us. After all, we are facing a psychopath, a monster; anything beyond that requires effort, courage, bravery, research, and questioning. Moreover, this entire process perhaps necessitates a confrontation and a reckoning with the values we embrace and protect. The sad thing is that when it comes to talking about this side of the truth, millions of people can turn their backs on it. Because political, religious, and cultural identities can also determine the dosage of the truth. 

The documentary “The Palu Family: The Dark Spiral” handles the truth from a comprehensive, encompassing, and instructive place. In this respect, it is valuable and important. It goes beyond Tuncer Ustael, turning its cameras not only to the perpetrator but also to the conditions that created him, the upbringing process of a monster, and the faces that did not touch or protect the people who were victims throughout this entire process. Just as it asks questions from more realistic places, it also tries to make the indifferent, insensitive, and even irresponsible people around the perpetrator visible. 

According to what we learned from the documentary, Ustael had a very unhappy childhood. He was constantly beaten by his father and even tortured. He did not receive love from his mother or father. The roots of the deformities in his soul primarily extend to this point. He continued his path with those deformities that followed, and the illness in his soul grew day by day because it was not treated. The wound deepened from within; while life outside flowed in a completely different way. Agendas are separate, politics is separate, and sensitivities toward people and society flow from a completely different place. Throughout this entire process, perhaps not one but hundreds of Ustaels are growing up; they pass by us at bus stops, on trains, and on ferries.

Then, these same Ustaels, with the religious acceptances and knowledge they learned from their upbringing and environment, use them at some point in life, during their darkest days. They talk about jinn, magic, and prayer; they claim to be saints or religious scholars. Because they know that all of these are accepted, and they experience the response to all these beliefs in society day by day. People believe in jinn and magic; it is written in books, and volumes of books are written about saints. In other words, they are not talking about something that does not exist; they are just adding a new one to those believed to exist. All that remains is to believe. And most things begin with believing.

We must not forget: The Palu Family did not exist on its own. Religious, political, cultural, and social conditions created it. Unquestioned beliefs, accepted cultural values, and politically irresponsible people who knew their limits fueled that darkness. Teachings that devalued women, merchants who exploited religion, and disciples who made their sheikhs fly caused this disease. 

The result?

Everyone who watches the Palu Family only as a “psychopath story” is deceiving themselves. Because one person did not create this darkness. Those who marketed superstition as knowledge, those who considered questioning a sin, those who stripped women of their will, those who did not hear the screams of children, and those who turned religion into fear and obedience have fed this order for years.

There was not just a murderer; there was a social order that made him possible. There were those who remained silent. There were those who saw and kept quiet, those who heard and turned their heads, and those who brushed it off by calling it a “family matter.”

People are still asking, “How were they deceived?” Because they are avoiding the question that really needs to be asked:

Do we have the courage to talk about why ignorance can roam so comfortably under the guise of the sacred in this country? 

Do we have the courage to talk about the lack of ownership, helplessness, and absence in this country from a shattering place, and to reopen the cases of the millions killed by politics?

The truth is disturbing. Because the truth shows not only the face of the murderer but also the face of society in the mirror. And not everyone wants to look into that mirror.