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Meriç Kahraman: My 4.5-year-old daughter Vera is living in fear of prison

Dr. Meriç Demir Kahraman, the wife of urban planning expert Tayfun Kahraman—who served as the Head of the Earthquake Risk Management and Urban Improvement Department at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) until he was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the Gezi Park trial—shared a post on her social media account describing how their daughter, Vera, is living in fear of prison.

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Stating that the photo she included in her post, in which Tayfun Kahraman is hugging his daughter, was taken 2 years ago, Kahraman said, "The photo below was taken 26 months ago. 26 months ago, Vera was 2 years old. Since she started talking, she has been trying to make sense of a situation that even we cannot comprehend, with her child's mind. As the daughter of a father who is being 'held' inside without cause, she senses that something bad will happen to her if she says she wants her father."

Meriç Kahraman said, "As a mother, my heart aches. Vera said a little while ago, 'I want to talk to the people who are holding my father, I will explain everything to them.'

Then she asked, 'But I'm scared, Mom, what if they hold me too, will they hold me there too?' My daughter is 4.5 years old. We have had no effort other than raising her as a good person who does not know hatred or how to do evil. My daughter, whom I protect like the apple of my eye, tells me at 4.5 years old that she is afraid of being 'thrown inside'," she said.

"MY HUSBAND TAYFUN KAHRAMAN IS INNOCENT"

Stating that there is no evidence against Tayfun Kahraman, Meriç Demir Kahraman continued:

"I am calling out to everyone with a mind, conscience, and morality: For God's sake, do not remain silent! My one and only Vera, whose biggest fear should be losing a toy, does not deserve this fear she is being made to live through; no child deserves it! Have hearts become so hardened that they can remain spectators to the continuation of this persecution? Tayfun Kahraman is an honorable, decent, and honest statesman who acted as a mediator during the Gezi events, who strove to establish a ground for reconciliation with the government to calm the events, who met with both Mr. Bülent Arınç and Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who completely rejected violence, and who never deviated from the line of law. All the actors of that period are witnesses to this.

My husband Tayfun Kahraman is innocent. He is being held in prison without a single piece of evidenced crime against him in the case file, and without a single concrete crime with a written legal justification.

I am saying this not as Tayfun's wife, but as Vera Kahraman's mother: I do not accept my daughter growing up at 4.5 years old with the fear of whether she will go to prison! I do not accept this being considered normal!"