A cry for justice to fight the darkness that turns a baby into a killer

One of the most devastating effects created by the political regime that has been in power in our country for 21 years has been the rise of a culture of violence.

We have become a country where innocent people are targeted and murdered, where brutality, bullying, and barbarism are valued and rewarded, and where such people are respected.

Mafia television series on one hand, and social media on the other, have rotted and corrupted society through an unimaginable process of destruction. Media outlets that act like lie machines, producing provocation and manipulation and disconnecting the public from the truth, have also added fuel to this mill of destruction.

This entire destructive, devastating transformation did not, of course, happen in a single day. But the consequences have been severe.

Last month, a murder took place in Balıkesir that saddened and affected even those with the smallest shred of humanity in them...

Ata Emre Akman, one of the millions of young people who are victims of this distorted system, was both attending university and working as a motorcycle courier to hold onto life.

He was murdered with blood-curdling brutality in Balıkesir by E. Özdemir, who is claimed to be 17 years old, though there are doubts regarding his actual age.

A mother and father's darling—an innocent, life-loving, hopeful, guitar-playing, song-singing young man who looked at the world with kindness and harmed no one—was torn from life.

In such situations, I am always reminded of the words of Rakel Dink, the wife of Hrant Dink, which have gone down in history...

After her husband Hrant Dink was murdered by being shot in the back, Rakel Dink wrote a letter and expressed her feelings as follows: "My brothers and sisters, nothing can be done without questioning the darkness that turns a baby into a killer."

The darkness, of course, cannot only be used to describe people and actions that attempt to change history, provoke society, or embody various fictional evils, nor can it only be used to define those responsible for political assassinations.

The darkness encompasses the entire process by which a baby, no matter what, turns into a killer, as well as all the elements that create it, and even more.

Those who murder women, those who abuse children, those who kill people without blinking, those who persecute animals, those who destroy nature... They are all the darkness itself.

Today, the killer, who is claimed to be 17 years old, appeared before a judge for the first time at the Balıkesir Courthouse.

Because he is under 18, a reduction in his sentence was requested. As a journalist, my expectation from justice is that it fights this darkness as it deserves, does everything necessary to bring the truth to light, and leaves not the slightest loophole.

Undoubtedly, the pain of Akman's mother and father will not subside, but at the very least, we will gain strength to cope with and fight against this ruthless system, the darkness that turns a baby into a killer.