Exclusive interview with the Wife and Friend of Cevdat Kılıçlar, Turkish Marmara ship Martyr
It is most common that a martyr's memory doesn't fade away, nor is it ever forgotten. A martyr of moral deeds and traits, not only affects his family, but yet affects the whole word, or at least those who care for a specific cause.
The 31st of May 2010 assault, or in other words, massacre which occurred on board of the Mavi-Marmara Ship of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, is, and will be a forever long a memory, a lesson, a reason for resistance...
Nine Turkish martyrs were gone, leaving behind hundreds and thousands of people who look up at them as heroes, hoping that someday, they would also achieve an affective accomplishment for the sake of an amazing cause; Free Palestine.
"He lived like a martyr and became a martyr", says Derya, Martyr Cevdat Kılıçlar (Jawdat kilichlar)'s wife and life partner.
Martyr Cevdat was martyred on the day the "Israeli army" attacked one of the Freedom Flotilla ships, Marmara. He was 38 years old, married, and father of two children.
In an interview with moqawama.org, Derya Kılıçlar, Cebdats wife, and Ahmet Emin, Cevdats friend for over 20 years, recount the story of Cevdats life, which revolved around "Martyrdom".
Derya knew Cevdat since high school years, there was where they met and that was the only time Cevdat chose a human being over Martyrdom.
"After we finished High school he asked me to marry him, but I didn't accept more than once. The last time he asked he said that if I don't accept he wouldn't stay in Turkey but would go to Bosnia for jihad against the occupiers. That time I accepted because I didn't want him to die, for back then I didn't feel the importance of martyrdom", said the wife.
Ever since then he used to always tell her that he used to love two things: her and martyrdom, but he used to stress saying: "I want to acquire martyrdom".
It wasn't only to Derya he used to expresses his love for martyrdom. When Cevdat was young, he used to always tell his friends how he wished to be killed by a bullet piercing his head, where for him, that was the easiest way to be martyred.
Examining his martyr body years after, that was the way he was killed by the "Israelis" bullets.
"He was a very good man, he was a very good husband, father, and friend. Everyone loved him, the children and elders. He always thought about others before himself, and he was a very good Muslim and had the values of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). When he used to work, his children used to follow him to the door to say goodbye and when he came back they ran to salute him. He was a great father" Derya added.
"His character with his friends was the same as his character with his children, he used to take care of them and he used to try his outmost to help them in everything" Ahmet ascertains.
"He was loved by everyone" his wife and friend always repeated.
When he used to watch the news about Lebanon and Gaza, he always wished to be with them, and tried his best to be with them.
He would tell his family that they shouldn't be the like the army of Yazid in Karbala, who watched Imam Hussein die and didn't do anything, but he used to stress saying, "We should do something, we should not sit and watch!"
And that was why he always tried to go to Gaza to help his brothers and sisters. "If he knew that he would be martyred on that ship, would he go up on it? Yes of course he would; deliberately!" Derya asked and answered in a way explaining her husband's approach.
"He always lived like a martyr and became a martyr" Derya continues.
The day of departure was hard for the whole family, yet for Cevdat it wasn't.
"The morning Cevdat left for the ship, he prepared himself as though he were a groom, as though it was his wedding day." His wife says.
All of his family felt there was something dangerous about him to happen, and his daughter expressed that feeling where his wife said, "She asked him not to go, she said that she was afraid for him".
"Yet his answer was, "My daughter, don't be afraid, if we are all afraid then who will go help our brothers and sisters in Palestine?"" his wife stated.
On the morning of the "Israeli" attack on the ship, Ahmet was there with Cevdat and witnessed what happened, and how Cevdat was martyred.
"When the "Israeli" soldiers tried to go down from their helicopters to the ship on their first attempt they weren't able to do so, when they came down on the second attempt, the men on the ship took their guns and threw them into the water. The "Israelis" in the helicopters saw what happened and started shooting and throwing real grenades", Ahmet describes.
Ahmet recalled that that was when 6 men where martyred, after which men on the lower deck tried to go up to help the rest injured people, yet the "Israelis" started shooting haphazardly.
"Cevdat was there and that's when he was shot and killed. But his death wasn't haphazard, he was targeted, he was holding a camera, he didn't have a weapon, but that still scared them." Ahmet stated, adding that he was shot through the head, as he had wished many years before.
His martyrdom however, wasn't a possession he wanted to pursue; for he had a message behind it.
The message is "unity of Muslims."
Derya says, in the memory of what Cevdat had wished for, "As the family of the martyr, we hope that the Muslims don't stay quiet over the "Israeli" oppressions. They have to be with the resistance against the occupation ... If they are united I think we will be victorious over the "Israelis" and we can remove the occupation".
A few days ago, Derya saw in her dream Cevdat calling her and telling her that he was not dead, he is still living. That is the real state of Martyrs who die for such a noble cause as his.
This reminded Derya of the Holy verse in the Koran: "Think not of those, who are slain in the way of Allah, as dead. Nay, they are living. With their Lord they have provision" 3:169.
This is one sample of millions of people who offer their lives for the freedom of their country, or the freedom of oppressed and impoverished neighbors and brother human beings.
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