The lack is greater every day. Mother Gunay Akkaya from Etten-Leur lives in uncertainty. A ‘music trip’ from her daughters has a dark end. They are associated with terrorism. Daughter Betül (32) has a prison sentence of more than ten years, the other daughter is not allowed to leave the country. A podcast tells their impressive story. “I miss them every second of the day,” Gunay mourns.
“I can’t hug them. I can’t even see Betül, if only for a moment,” says mother Gunay in her living room in Etten-Leur. “The lack is very big. There are no words for this. I have not seen Betül for five years since she is in prison.”
Gunays highlights are FaceTime interviews with her youngest daughter Bergün. She is free, but is not allowed to leave Istanbul. She still has to wait for a lawsuit. And so she can video calling, including this Thursday morning. “I’m fine. Of course I miss my mother enormously,” she told Omroep Brabant.
Dream
It started as a musical dream. After that, the sisters were more often in prison. Flute player Betül Varan went to Turkey in 2016 to perform with a protest band: Grup Yorum. She is then young and brash: only early twenty.
A year later, her younger sister Bergün (now 30) comes to visit Istanbul. She is only there for three days when the police raid the headquarters of the protest band. Both sisters are arrested and since then they have been in prison every once in a while. They only claim to make music, but activism is just as important for the two. Moreover, the parents have been a fan of the activist group for years.
Grup Yorum is a thorn in the eye of the Turkish authorities. The music group would have ties with an extreme left group: DHKP-C. The Turkish, but also the Dutch state, sees that group as a terrorist organization.
“Cell of ten square meters to share.”
Betül has since been convicted on appeal for membership of a terrorist organization. She is stuck in a mega prison just outside of Istanbul until 2030. According to her lawyer, she was convicted on the basis of false testimonies.
Hunger strike
Gunay: “A cell is only ten square meters, where they are with a maximum of three women. She is not allowed there!” According to her mother, Betül has been in a hunger strike for thirty days. “She wants a better situation in prisons.” She does that to support her comrades, who have been in a hunger strike for some time. “She’s doing well.”
Mother Gunay and father Erdem welcome the activism of the sisters from Etten-Leur. The now divorced couple will have to deal with the Dutch government. For example, Erdem was placed on the terrorism list by the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). Yet the mother still likes to listen to the music of the band. She is also proud of her daughters.
Whether it is not naive and dangerous to join such an activist group in Turkey? “Driving is also dangerous,” she takes off the discussion. The woman says he doesn’t understand that they are stuck. “They didn’t do anything wrong,” she says.
Despite everything, Gunay keeps hope. “They come back. I know that for sure. Betül is released! I’m going to see her.” What will she do first? “Cuddle firmly!”
In the four -part podcast one way Istanbul, Emmie Kollau and Catrien Spijkerman follow the idealistic battle of the sisters. They followed the family for more than four years. The makers critically highlight all sides of the impressive story. The podcast Can be heard In the well -known podcast apps.
Protest band
Grup Yorum was founded forty years ago. It is an activist folk band. With their music they draw attention to injustice and oppression of, for example, the Kurds. They sing about ‘revolution’. The group has a large number of fans and also regularly performs outside of Turkey. Last year they were still in TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht.
