10 October 2009 / BUGÜN ADEM YAVUZ ARSLAN,
As we were taking care of “critical” business in Ankara, the Diyarbakır district of Lice was dealing with its own drama. Fourteen-year-old Ceylan Önkol, tending her sheep in front of her house, was killed by a bomb from unknown sources.
Her body was ripped to pieces. But Ankara is so blind and deaf that for nearly 15 days now it has continued to play out the three monkey scenario -- see nothing, hear nothing, do nothing. Silence reigns everywhere. Even the politicians who offered their condolences to Ceylan's family said nothing, or perhaps were not able to say anything, about how the “murderers will be found.” We have been writing for weeks now about how there are no magical formulas for this whole democratic initiative and how we should not wait any longer. Now the important thing is a change in understanding and how the state needs to make peace with the people of the nation, with the downtrodden, with the excluded factions. This is the goal of all the work that is currently going on. But if Ceylan's murderers are not found, thousands of people's anger will continue. In fact, the story surrounding Ceylan will continue to be discussed, transforming the story into a myth. The very basic problem of lack of trust between the state and the citizens will work to only magnify this situation.
