Resul Emrah Şahan writes from Silivri: 'Young children, university students are coming inside'

Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan, who was arrested and sent to Marmara Closed Prison as part of the 'city consensus' investigation, wrote a letter from Silivri. 

Writing for Nefes Gazetesi, Şahan spoke at length about the students who were arrested just like him. 

The article written by Şahan is as follows: 

"Young Ömer: The Republic and the Future

It is my 4th day in custody… Young children, university students are coming inside. Their concern is clear: The future!

Ömer walks in. Thin, with newly grown whiskers, a deep voice, only 20 years old, he joins the conversation.

Ömer tells me about his father during the detention process, sitting on the floor next to us in the holding cell…

His father reacts to the police who came to the house to detain Ömer, shouting, “I am an AK Party supporter, I vote for you.” His mother is having suhoor at that time, she is scared.

Ömer, on the other hand, is taken in as a “terrorist” because of a social media post.

The situation and the state this society is in is the state in the example of Ömer and his father.

Turkey is between Ömer, the son of an AK Party family who has no hope for the future and asks, “What will I do, brother? Which school will I go to, and if I go, how will I find a job?” and demands justice, law, and a future; and the father who thought that if he voted for the AK Party, nothing would happen to him, his life, or his son, but whose son was taken from his home at gunpoint.

Turkey is in a place beyond choosing a party or being a party member.

It is in the lawlessness and lack of democracy that makes young Ömer say in the holding cell, “Brother, I will get out, I will go to Saraçhane again, what else can I do?” Turkey is in a place where the values of the Republic are being destroyed.
I am sure that Ömer’s courage will convince that father.

That father’s conscience will see the truth and take a step for the change of this country.
The issue is no longer one person or one party.

The issue is not İmamoğlu or us who are inside.
The issue is between those who have a problem with the Republic, and even those who have a problem with Atatürk, and those who do not.

I look at the entire staff inside… They are all children of Anatolia, people who have been elected or become administrators today thanks to the Republic…

Mahir Polat, born in a village in Erzincan; Gürkan Akgün, who grew up in Sürmene, Trabzon; Murat Ongun, the son of a soldier from Giresun; Ekrem İmamoğlu, who became a hope from a 40-household village and a presidential candidate with 15.5 million votes…

When the equality of the Republic disappears, the Ömers are driven to despair.

Even if his father votes for the AK Party, they enter the house with guns and take him away.

This is not a generation gap, nor is it a conflict of interest.
It is the effort of those who have a problem with Atatürk to destroy the entire founding paradigm.

The oppressed are the father-son and the future conflict.
But neither will these young people allow this, nor will the fathers accept it.

The conscience of these lands will not let the Ömers be crushed at the end of the day.
That 20-year-old youth in Silivri spreads hope to us…

Note: "Ömer" was of course not his real name...

Resul Emrah Şahan
Mayor of Şişli"

News Source: 12punto