‘It was the worst day of my life’

Uğur Kurt died because the police fired on people. Police brutality, violence and murders have become regular incidents in Turkey. After reading this Facebook message, maybe you will have a better understanding of our frustration This is my service for my non-Turkish-speaking readers. This Facebook message of a witness to the death of Uğur Kurt has been circulating on social media. Our fraternal paper daily Radikal printed it, but here I have translated it into English.

Because it is in Turkish, you may have missed it. Uğur Kurt was shot dead in the courtyard of a cemevi, the house of worship for Alevis, while he was attending a funeral, most probably with a police bullet. (As I was writing this, it was confirmed that the bullet came from a police weapon.) There are many witnesses who saw police officer(s) shooting at the cemevi, and there are video recordings of the incident.

I only have space for the Facebook message. After reading this, maybe you will have a better understanding of why people, young and old, take to the streets in Turkey. And why there is so much hatred around here…

Dr. Hülya Hürmet Özcan wrote this on her Facebook account:

“It was the worst day of my life yesterday (May 22, 2014). My 80-year-old mother, Esma Ceylan, an Alzheimer’s patient, who was in a coma for the past week, died at around 6 in the morning. According to my mother’s wishes, I and my sisters went to the Okmeydanı Cemevi to carry out the procedures for the funeral, the place where my father’s funeral had been held. We were sad; we had lost our mother.

“We were at the cemevi at around 9 in the morning. With the help of cemevi officials, an SMS about my...