Saylan's job continues

Saylan, a secular figure and the chairwoman of the Association for Supporting Contemporary Life, or ÇYDD, said although she is fond of neither a military coup nor shariah law in Turkey, the Ergenekon probe has reached her, too. "We can see what the coups have taken from us and how people were suffocated," she said, CNNTürk reported yesterday.

The Ergenekon probe claims to be an investigation into an alleged gang that is trying to topple the government.

"As daughters of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk [founder of the Turkish Republic], we will work for a more modern, just and equal Turkey," Saylan said as she was leaving the hospital where she receives cancer treatment. Saylan said she would return to the hospital Monday and would continue to work until the last minute.

As some press outlets confronted her, Saylan said she would "prove the claims against her false and sustain the rule of law," adding that she would go to the European Court of Human Rights if needed.

Congregations discontent with Saylan’s activities
The ÇYDD grants scholarships and has built dormitories for girls in need who live in rural Turkey to let them attend higher education. Saylan said some groups were not happy with the ÇYDD’s activities.

"As those girls living in East and Southeast Turkey don’t wear headscarves and don’t get married early but instead attend higher education and have a job, this harms the congregations," said Saylan, adding that many people are unhappy with Turkey’s republican revolution because they cannot steal people’s bodies and minds.

Equal opportunity should be maintained in Turkey, said Saylan. "Why can’t a child in a mountain village in the eastern province of Hakkari have the same opportunities as my children?" She said there are university students from lower income families in eastern provinces who cannot even afford to eat properly when they attend school.

Saylan said the recent incident had not broken her spirit. "I believe those who did this to me have been disturbed and are regretful of what they did," she said. Those who were taken into custody were asked why they were granting scholarships to children, Saylan said, adding that some newspapers blame her for sending those children to the mountains. "Those claims do not concern me as they are not right. I am only unhappy for my friends who were arrested."