Journalist Seyhan Avşar: 'My child cannot forget the trauma of the police raid'

Journalist Seyhan Avşar wrote about the process she experienced following a police raid on her home and the trauma her young daughter was subjected to. In a long text shared on her personal social media account, Avşar described the effects of the events on both herself and her child.

Avşar used the following expressions in her writing:

*"I went back and forth between writing and not writing about the pressure directed at the press in Turkey. But in this period when the pressure on journalists is increasing every day, staying silent would be an injustice to myself, my child, and my profession. That is why I decided to do what I know best.

Months ago, my door was knocked on one morning. It was the police. As it happened, my daughter was writhing with a high fever that day. I asked the officers, I wanted to lower my child's fever first. Thank goodness they waited. While I was talking to them, my daughter stood at the door. Her face was bright red from the fever. Upon seeing the police, these words spilled from her tiny lips:

'You are Chucky.'

After that day, my daughter wet the bed for fifteen days. Whenever she saw the clothes I was wearing that day, she would say, 'You were wearing this when the police came.' I couldn't bear it, I got rid of those clothes. My pedagogue friend had said, 'The wetting will pass over time.' It did, or so I thought.

Last night, we put my daughter to bed at 21:30, but she couldn't fall asleep. A sentence that my colleagues and I often use during the day spilled from my lips again:

'My dear, I have to work. If we make a mistake, we'll end up with the police.'

For me, it was an ordinary remark that we would laugh off. But at that moment, a heavy silence fell over the room. She was silent for minutes. Then I was startled by the sound of a sob. My daughter was sobbing uncontrollably.

— What happened, my dear? I asked.

— You know the police came to the door before, that came to my mind. I can't forget it…

At that moment, it was as if there was an adult in front of me, not a child. When she said 'I can't forget,' my heart broke. Last night, I faced the trauma my own child is carrying.

Yet, I believed I was fighting so that my daughter and all children could live in a better world. But it seems that sometimes, we can also hurt those we love the most."*

Avşar concluded her writing by emphasizing that “staying silent in this period when the pressure on journalists is increasing would be an injustice to both her profession and her child.”

News Source: 12punto