Ayşe Çelik, a teacher living in the city of Diyarbakır in southeast Turkey, will go to prison on April 20 with the accusation of “terrorist propaganda” for saying, “Don’t let children die,” on a popular talk show.
Çelik was sentenced to 15 months with the charge of “terrorist propaganda” in favour of the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) following her phone call into a top television show and, referring to the curfew then-enforced in the region, saying: “People are fighting hunger and thirst, in particular, the children. Please be sensitive and do not remain silent. What the media is telling you is very different from what we are experiencing. Do not remain silent. See us, hear us and please extend a helping hand to us. Don't let people die, don't let children die and don't let mothers cry.”
After the trial, Çelik’s attorney had objected the court decision, explaining that women with children younger than 6 months old could not be committed to prison, which was followed by the verdict of postponing the execution of the sentence to April 20, when the baby would be 6 months old.
