Would you also like to listen to a martyr's child?

The parliamentary commission's visit to İmralı was one of the demands and conditions of the terrorist leader. They went.

Despite this, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, the architect of the new opening, while saying, "Our martyr families should not worry, our veterans should not be afraid. We will not make them bow their heads. We are not in negotiations. We are completely closed to a give-and-take process. As the People's Alliance, we are not, cannot be, and will not be involved in any wrongdoing that would weaken Turkey's sovereign law or the founding philosophy of the Republic," also noted the following:

"If there is a network of social relations that has become blurred and frozen, it is possible to rebuild it from scratch on the basis of living and keeping alive together, with mutual understanding, respect, love, sacrifice, empathy, and commitment... Let us grow our brotherhood and our bread together under the roof of a national and unitary state."

We are setting aside the fact that the terrorist leader's men, as if they had won a victory, press the nation's nerves every single day with statements that they will change the national and unitary state structure, that they can say, "We did not commit a crime, so why should we ask for an amnesty," or that they demand apologies/compensation for the enemies of the Republic.

Ziya Sözen, Chairman of the Anatolian Martyrs' Families, Veterans and Security Guards Foundation, made the following call during the week when the vote on whether or not to go to İmralı was to be held in Parliament:

"The praise and insistence on visits directed at a person who has been called a 'baby killer' and 'monster of İmralı' for years have deeply wounded and hurt us, and constitute a disrespect to our cherished memories. The vote you will take is far beyond a simple decision to visit. This decision is a survival vote that will determine the future of the Republic of Turkey. Every vote you cast will either be a sign of the highest respect for the cherished memories of our tens of thousands of martyrs and veterans, or it will go down in history as a great injustice and disrespect committed against these sacred memories. Every vote you cast will either soothe the hearts of us martyr families and veterans, or it will be equivalent to a bullet fired at us... If you vote in favor of visiting the separatist leader and visit the baby killer, this situation will remain as a document of shame that you will leave to your children, and history will remember you with this heavy burden... Our final word and request is that we expect you not to sign any decision in the upcoming vote that will please the terrorists and their supporters and refresh our pain."

We have seen what those who said, "We have not hurt the martyr families and veterans, and we will not," have done; they sent three deputies on behalf of the commission!..

IMRALI 26 YEARS AGO

Recently, Yılmaz Özdil reminded us of the İmralı travelers in 1999 and the state of the terrorist leader who was tried there.

One of the İmralı travelers of that period was Nurse Yıldız, the wife of Petty Officer Murat Namdar, who was martyred by the PKK at the age of 25 on September 23, 1995. Petty Officer Murat was traveling from Erzincan to Mersin with Nurse Yıldız, his 11-month-old son, his father, and his aunt. Their path was blocked at the exit of Erzincan. Those blocking the road were wearing military uniforms. Nurse Yıldız noticed something was wrong and said, "Murat, these are terrorists." Although Petty Officer Murat replied, "Calm down my love, it's nothing," he had understood what was happening. They took him away before his family's eyes and murdered him.

Nurse Yıldız was in İmralı to tell these stories and to hold the terrorist leader, who was sitting slumped in a glass cage, to account. What she told, holding the Turkish flag in one hand and her martyred husband's photograph in the other, made everyone, including Presiding Judge Turgut Okyay, cry.

What did the terrorist leader do? He bowed his head, looked at the floor, and muttered, "I share your pain..." Throughout his defense, he used the address "esteemed martyr families," and said things like, "I share the sadness you are experiencing from the bottom of my heart... I feel sorrow because of my responsibility."

While the terrorist leader was being tried, one of the lawyers for the martyr families was Feti Yıldız from the MHP.

THE CURRENT IMRALI

The same Feti Yıldız has now been sent to İmralı on behalf of the commission to meet with the terrorist leader and listen to his views.

According to the 3-4 page summary of the meeting minutes, this characteristic of Feti Yıldız and the situation of the martyr families were also brought up. What was discussed?

When Yıldız reminded him that he was present as a lawyer in the case for which the terrorist leader was convicted, for some reason, the terrorist leader said, "I stand behind the promises I made during the process that began with Devlet Bey's handshake."

When AKP's Hüseyin Yayman, who tried to hide that he went to İmralı, stated that he came there with the sensitivity of the martyr families, the terrorist leader said that "every loss of a soldier was a tragedy for him, that he was never happy about it, and that young people should not die like this," and that he "looked at the martyr families with respect and knew how great their pain was." He also noted that no martyrs had been given during the 1-year period of the process.

If we compare it to 25 years ago; they don't even feel the need to apologize, and now they don't even take responsibility!..

As for not giving any martyrs; in the words of Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, are Infantry Specialist Corporal Berat Mecit Day, who was hit by a "launched drone," or our 12 soldiers who were poisoned in a cave entered "upon information provided by a terrorist," not counted as martyrs?!

BUĞRAHAN, WHO GREW UP WITHOUT A FATHER

Yes, the managers of martyr families and veterans' associations were heard in the commission. Apart from that, if we don't count Mother Pakize and Nurse Yıldız, there is no one who opened their mouth, or if they did, was listened to.

I thought about what the children of martyrs, who have not even been thought of since the visit to İmralı on behalf of the Parliament, feel.

I asked this to Buğrahan Namdar, who is now 30 years old and whose father was martyred when he was only 11 months old, that is, to Nurse Yıldız's son. He began his words as follows:

"When my father was martyred by the PKK terrorist organization, I wasn't even a year old. Throughout my life, unlike my other friends, I grew up in an incomplete family, but with the awareness of being a martyr's son. Tears never stopped in my home; whenever my father was mentioned, both our guests and my family would burst into tears. For my mother, the absence of her husband and the pain of the injustice done to our family never disappeared, no matter how much time passed. For me, the deficiency created by growing up without a father has been carried on my shoulder as a burden to this day. However, being a 'martyr's family' was there for me and my family as a support; our culture, our national values, our faith, and every individual in our society had always been a supporter in the face of what happened to us and had always protected us from our pain as a solid force against terror."

And now?

"Until today, the terrorist leader has been seen as an enemy by our entire society, and a common understanding had been built in society, including the delegation members who went to visit him, that 'There is no negotiation with a terrorist.' Indeed, is it acceptable to meet with terrorists who have killed thousands of our citizens—officials, teachers, doctors, soldiers, civilians—who have spread terror to our nation, who have torn our families apart, and who have drowned us in pain with traumas that will stick to us for a lifetime, as if they were equals, and to go to their 'offices'? Yes, we know that there is always communication between states and armed terrorist organizations. However, considering that this communication is always done in a closed manner, through security and diplomatic bureaucratic channels, we ask, 'Why are the representatives of the nation going to give a visual?' If there is a negotiation, what does it mean to try to move this to the public eye? Because moving the process to the public eye to reach a consensus is not only unhelpful, it is a very dangerous decision. No results have been reached in the meetings held so far, and if such a decision had to be taken, the situation is dire; it is not just giving concessions by legitimizing the terrorist, but also a declaration of defeat."

'ARE WE STILL IN TURKEY?.. ARE WE THAT NATION?'

While pointing out that the issue is not an ethnic identity issue, this 30-year-old young man made such consistent observations that they were better than many politicians and intellectuals... Here is a summary of what he said:

"Including the 8th President Turgut Özal, our citizens of Kurdish origin have always been within political representation. Media channels like TRT Kürdi, the opening of departments such as Kurdology, Kurdish Language and Literature in universities, and the active participation of our Kurdish citizens in the business world are obvious answers to discourses and actions such as ethnic discrimination. The interaction with KCK/PKK is not an ethnic issue, but a security issue. The meeting with the terrorist is an attempt to move this security issue to an identity issue. The meetings give a terrible message to our citizens of Kurdish origin; they are saying, 'Look, this is your representative, your representative is a terrorist.' Whereas, the message that KCK/PKK is a 'proxy force' of the occupying powers inherited from the Treaty of Sèvres period needs to be given. It is obvious that KCK/PKK does not represent citizens of Kurdish origin in any way, and that visiting the terrorist lays the groundwork for a larger-scale separatism. We are also aware that the issue of terrorist organizations is not just a domestic policy issue, but also a serious foreign policy issue. Their interlocutors are not just organizations and actors in the region, but actors on a global scale. However, it is unfortunately not realistic for our country to assign a role to the terrorist and think that it will break the influence of other actors by portraying him as an actor."

Buğrahan Namdar finally drew the following picture of Turkey:

"Today, nationalist circles that claim to be the representatives of national values are going to open meetings with the terrorist; Islamic circles that claim to be the representatives of religious values are allowing the Pope to hold a mass in Istanbul; depending on economic developments, food contents are being weakened to protect food access and our nutritional quality is being lowered; the messages carried by popular music and the TV series industry, which represent culture, are tending to rot social values; people who kill innocent citizens for no reason and in a meaningless way are being released with light sentences; while receiving immigration from many countries, Uyghurs, who are the Turkish Nation, are being sent back; while sympathy for Turkey is falling in the TRNC, statements are being made that will cause our relations to be damaged; our drilling ship sent to the southwest of the island of Cyprus is suddenly directed to Somalia, and our sovereign presence there is being broken; while the Turkic States are forming a consensus with the Greek Cypriot side, the Organization of Turkic States, whose president is a Turkish Turk, cannot be involved in the process; a retired colonel who calls for a protest, which is a constitutional right, is being threatened and a lawsuit is being filed; martyr families who react to what is happening are being told, 'You are just a martyr's family, know your place.'"

He then noted the following:

"Is it acceptable to go to his feet for a meeting as a step that will legitimize the terrorist? I am really asking; are we still in Turkey? Are we still the nation that says, 'Atatürk, Fatih Sultan Mehmet, Alparslan, Metehan, Kara Fatma are our ancestors'? I remind all our citizens who love their country; do not ignore what is before our eyes with discourses such as 'secret plan,' 'big game,' 'deep strategy.' Turks are a nation responsible for taking action when the situation calls for it; now we need to call out to the leaders you follow and help them move in the right direction. The will of the nation is still in the nation. The responsibility to show the right path to our administrators, who take risky decisions due to the difficulties and impossibilities they are in, is still ours."

I hope Buğrahan is not told, "You are just a martyr's son, know your place," and that from now on, instead of listening to some places, only the Turkish youth, especially Buğrahan, and the Turkish Nation are listened to!..

Müyesser YILDIZ

December 8, 2025