Gökhan Yeni Teacher, Special Education Institution
  • Death Date 29/07/2018
  • Place of Death Aegean Sea, Balıkesir-Ayvalık
  • Cause of Death Drowning in Aegean Sea
  • Date of Burial 31.07.2018, Amasya

Biography

Gökhan Yeni was an idealist and successful educator at the age of 31. It was one of those lives that darkened on the 15th of July. He and his wife Gülfem Yeni was unemployed . They had to hide. Finally, they decided to leave the country to overcome. Their boat sank in the Aegean Sea on their journey with their babies, one 2 years old and one 8 months old. Only Gülfem Yeni remained from the family. Gökhan Yeni and his two children were buried in Amasya on July 31, 2018.

Gökhan Yeni was a name that many schools wanted as a mind and intelligence games instructor. His wife, Gülfem Yeni, was an administrator in a private dormitory. They had had two children, one 2 years old and the other 8 months old. By the 15th of July, their lives had darkened. First they were unemployed. They found themselves in a social thread. Gökhan Yeni, who applied for many jobs such as a waitress, received a rejection response from each of his applications. He tried to survive in a country dominated by an empire of fear. He tried to support his family, but it did not happen. They had to hide. In such an environment, they had no other choice but to leave the country.

They decided to set out on July 28, 2018. Making this decision was not easy. The difficulty of the road and the life safety of two small babies made parents be in hesitation. But there was no choice but to go. The smugglers, who took away all their assets, said with thousands of promises that they would reach Greece in a few minutes. But nothing happened as advertised. They pushed 15 people into a 5 person boat. The road was set off. Before long, the boat started taking in water. Screams and screams and then a deep silence. The cool waters of Aegean Sea had swallowed the boat first, then all those innocent people. Gülfem Yeni was crying, asking her husband what to do. Gokhan Yeni, monument of mercy, consoled his wife. “Don’t be sad, everything will be fine.” However, he soon succumbed to the waters. He turned to his wife with tired eyes and said goodbye to her. Gülfem Yeni, who was left with two small babies on her neck, did not know how to swim.

The woman, who witnessed the death of her children after her husband, was praying helplessly in the middle of the sea. Gülfem Yeni, who was rescued by a fisherman in the morning, told journalist Emine Bilgiç about her feelings as follows: “Under normal conditions, a woman who loses her husband and children one by one in front of her eyes is expected to lose her mind and let herself into the water. I don’t know what I felt. I had lost my feelings., the only thing I felt was that if I let my children go, they will never be found again, if we were going to die, at least let our corpses be together. ”

THE MOTHER WHO LOST HER HUSBAND AND TWO CHILDREN IS IN CUSTODY
Gülfem Yeni, who survived the drowning, was detained without even the chance to live the pain of losing her children and her husband. She was accused of unbelievably causing the deaths of her husband and children. Tried Gülfem Yeni was sentenced to 6 years and 10 months in prison.

HUMANITY HAS DROUGHT: BABIES WERE NOT GIVEN THE FUNERAL CAR
Even a funeral vehicle was not allocated for Gökhan Yeni and his two children upon the instruction of the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality mayor. Gökhan Yeni, his 2.5-year-old son Burhan Yeni, and his 8-month-old daughter Nurbanu Yeni, who died as a result of the sinking of the fiber boat, were not deemed worthy of this routine service. Human rights defender Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, who announced that Bursa Metropolitan Municipality did not provide a funeral vehicle and that the family took the funerals to Amasya with their own means, made the issue public by saying “I think it was humanity who drowned there”. Gökçen Yeni, who lost his brother and two nephews, said, “My brother’s only crime is working in schools. What is the fault of these two puppies? We could not experience our pain. The funeral vehicle was not provided, we had to find a funeral vehicle ourselves, ”he said. Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, on the other hand, made a statement that “funerals are provided to all citizens and that the funeral owners do not take advantage of this opportunity and transfer the bodies themselves”. Gülfem Yeni is still in Turkey. He started to study at his second university. He wants to be useful to people again, if the “terrorist” stigma struck on him is lifted one day.

SOURCES
https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/insanlik-da-boguldu-bebeklere-cenaze-arabasi-verilmedi-1041491

Yürekler dağlandı: Ege’deki tekne faciasında can veren Gökhan Yeni ve 2 bebeği toprağa verildi

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