Witch-hunt-targeted mother dies in Kabul, family could not attend funeral in Turkey

Almost every member of the Gülen movement, who has been exposed to a witch-hunt around the world by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government led by Turkish autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has a different dramatic story. Almost every family has tragedies that could be a movie or a novel.

Recently, there has been an example to this in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. İsmail Eyüpoğlu (42), who has been living abroad for 25 years, lost his wife early in the morning on Saturday, February 3. He was straddled between the idea of going back to Turkey with his children and bid farewell to his wife for 18 years in her last journey and on the other hand, the fear of being arrested at the airport and sadden his two children.

He and his children decided not to go to Turkey at the last moment. His children said that “Father, if they put you in the jail, what would we do without a father and a mother? Don’t go, and we will stay here with you, too.” He waved to his wife and his children waved to their mother goodbye for the last time after putting her coffin on the plane.

At the end of 2017, İsmail Eyüpoğlu accepted a proposal of a company of being its Kabul representative. Eyüpoğlu family moved to Kabul about 2 weeks ago.

While sleeping in their new home, early morning on Saturday at 03; 30, Habibe Eyüpoğlu(41) woke up with pain and the chest tightness and said, “Could you call an ambulance?” İsmail Eyüpoğlu could not reach anybody in the night-time in Afghanistan conditions, where he had just arrived. There was a German Hospital near their home. He asked his wife if she could walk up to there. His wife said she could.

But the hospital was closed. He asked around and learned that there was another hospital nearby. According to the video recording of the CCTVs, at 04:06, as soon as they went through the hospital door, Habibe Eyüpoğlu called out” İsmail!” and she collapsed. She hit her head on the door. They waited for a stretcher, but it did not come for some minutes and İsmail Eyüpoğlu carried his wife in. Unfortunately, his wife passed away after a short time.

His 16-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter were sleeping at home. İsmail Eyüpoğlu came home without knowing what to do. He could not say anything to her kids. He called his wife’s family in Turkey. They wanted their daughter’s funeral to be brought to Turkey as soon as possible.

On the other hand, because the hospital did not have a morgue, he took his wife to another hospital having a morgue. The Turkish Embassy could not prepare transport documents on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Eyüpoğlu could not tell, yet, his children that their mothers passed away. He thought that; “When we are at the airport in Turkey I can tell them along with my family.” While talking to the SCF, he said that “I could not say anything. It was too difficult for me. I was unable to take this responsibility alone with that psychology.”

But on Monday, he heard that if he went to Turkey that he would be detained at the airport. He gave up going. In this case, he thought that it was necessary to give that painful news to his children. He needed help from his friends from the Gülen movement in Kabul. They all went home together. Children could not understand why so many people were gathered. They asked “Why is everyone sad?” When their father gave the tragic news to Selim and Zehra, they started to cry out. İsmail Eyüpoğlu said “At that moment I was helpless for which one to hug. I hugged my Selman and my Zehra one by one and cried together.”

And then it was time to take another critical decision. He told his children that “Together we can bury your mother in Turkey. But I want you to know that I have the possibility of being detained at the airport and arrested.” On top of that both his son and daughter said that “Dad, then let’s not go to Turkey. If we lose you after our mother, what do we do?”

Then they went and saw their mother’s funeral. They hugged their nonliving mothers and said goodbye to her. Documents were completed on Tuesday. İsmail Eyüpoğlu said that “I procured the documents I needed from the Afghan authorities within an hour. But on Saturday, when my wife passed away, I found out that a Turkish citizen, who helped me collect the documents, denounced me as a “Gülenist.” I think that influenced the preparation of the documents at the Turkish Embassy in four days.”

As a result Habibe Eyüpoğlu’s funeral was sent from Kabul to Turkey on Tuesday evening. Two children with tears and a painful father were left behind.

Published on Stockholm Center for Freedom, 9 February 2018, Friday