Let them die

“A group of 10-15 people, wearing their professional uniforms, entered the mosque together with demonstrators. They separated the injured inside the mosque into three groups according to their injuries; they set up an infirmary in the mosque and they committed a crime by providing health care with the medication they brought to those who injured during the illegal action…”

This is one of the most striking parts of the indictment of 245 people in the Gezi incidents case. The crime of the doctors is treating the injured; they are being tried for this reason. Even in a war, one of the inevitable duties of a doctor is to treat the injured enemy soldier.

They did not participate

In the Gezi indictment, two doctors, Sercan Yüksel from the Istanbul Medical Faculty’s Department of General Surgery and Erenç Yasemin Dokudan from the same faculty at the Forensic Medicine Department, are being tried for treating the injured.

Actually, as stated in the indictment, many doctors arrived at the Dolmabahçe Bezmialem Valide Sultan Mosque. Doctor Yüksel, because he was wearing his scrubs and Doctor Dokudan because she talked to the cameras inside the mosque, they have been recorded.

Another part of the indictment of the two doctors is an example in the history of law and medicine: “Even though Yüksel’s and Dokudan’s participation in the demonstrations has not been determined, they medically helped the suspects…”

They were not demonstrators, but they helped the injured. They committed a crime, this is number one. Also, they littered the mosque, this is their second crime.

Hippocratic Oath

Since 470 B.C., for 2,500 years, today in Turkey doctors first take the oath and then they are accepted to their profession: “I will not permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient; I will maintain the utmost respect for human life.”

Well, it was Gezi, so the Hippocratic Oath was really not so valid there…

Cause of action

Separated from humanity, medical ethics and the Hippocratic Oath, there is also an irregularity in terms of law.

Such things as “cause of action” are excuses. The aim is to question the doctors, “What do you mean by treating the injured?” This gives the message, “Let the demonstrators die…”

This is an exemplary document to be added to the list of those other unprecedented ones we have been encountering lately.

A president is wanted

Civil society has become mobilized; they are setting up websites, collecting signatures. One of the sites is called: “A President Is Wanted.” It is a platform that all citizens from all segments can join. This website defines the president as follows:

“A president is wanted who has genuinely adopted the principle of separation of powers, human rights and freedoms, universal law; who opposes all kinds of ethnic, religious, sectarian and sexual orientation discriminations, who has internalized the principle of free citizens possessing equal rights, one who will be the president of all of us with his/her peaceful and conciliatory personality.”

A president who will prevent the destruction of natural resources for the sake of profits, and who will also prevent the transformation of the green into cement; a president who will approach every segment of the society equally…

This is a very clear definition; it is not Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This platform will visit the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and People’s Democracy Party (HDP) at the beginning of the week. They have not yet scheduled a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) visit but I do hope they will make one.