{"id":6595,"date":"2025-03-17T14:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T14:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/?p=6595"},"modified":"2025-09-04T09:01:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T09:01:18","slug":"melek-ipek-a-matriarch-a-philanthropist-a-prisoner-of-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/melek-ipek-a-matriarch-a-philanthropist-a-prisoner-of-conscience\/","title":{"rendered":"Melek \u0130pek : a Matriarch, a Philanthropist, and a Prisoner of Conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melek \u0130pek was once known only to those familiar with her work as a philanthropist, and those who knew her as the matriarch of the Ipek Media Group. However, in 2015, when trustees were forcibly appointed to seizeher familty company, her name began to resonate far beyond those circles. First, among the employees and readers resisting the takeover, and soon across the entire country. Indeed, with her unwavering stance, her fair and courageous demeanor, and her speeches, that always called for peace, she captured attention from all sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0130pek Media Group\u2014home to Bug\u00fcn and Millet newspapers, Kanalt\u00fcrk and Bug\u00fcn TV, and Kanalt\u00fcrk radio\u2014first came under attack on September 1, 2015, when police raided its headquarters, seizing digital archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeks later, on October 27, 2015, the government-appointed trustees moved into take full control. The following night, riot police and armored water cannons (TOMA) stormed the media group\u2019s offices in Mecidiyek\u00f6y, Istanbul. Tear gas and arrests crushed the employees\u2019 resistance, and within hours, editorial policies were forcibly rewritten. The next morning, October 29\u2014Republic Day in Turkey\u2014marked the first day of a silenced press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid this crackdown, the struggle of Ak\u0131n \u0130pek, son of Melek, and his employees was captured in the slogans “Don’t touch my media” and “Journalism is not a crime.” But it was Melek \u0130pek\u2019s words that gave strength to the oppressed and unsettled the oppressors. Now, at 78\u2014an age when she should be surrounded by the warmth of her grandchildren\u2014she has been thrown into prison. And anyone with reason, conscience, or even the slightest sense of justice knows exactly why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melek \u0130pek\u2019s voice was so powerful and commanding, that journalist Ahmet Hakan once wrote, \u201cIf she started a party, she would win office.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the ruthless takeover of one of Turkey\u2019s last independent media outlets, her defiant voice echoed from Ankara: “No one can test us with wealth and poverty.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 29, 2015, Melek \u0130pek stood among the crowd protesting the unlawful seizure of her sons\u2019 media group. She embraced the women around her, looked them in the eye, and spoke words that would be remembered for years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I know very well that you work for the sake of God. I once saw a cleaning woman donate ten liras from her wages as a scholarship. When I witnessed this, I couldn\u2019t hold back my tears. May God never let anyone live without earning their own livelihood, and never let them consume unlawful wealth. Because if the unlawful overshadows the lawful, people lose their way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My husband, my children, and I have worked for 40 or 50 years, and now these people will walk into our businesses, sit at our desks, and take over\u2014feeding off of our earnings as their salaries. How will they justify that to their children?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Dear brothers and sisters, we will walk the path of God and His Prophet. We will not harbor hatred against those who wrong us. This country is ours\u2014we have no other home. As Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk once said, \u2018If the homeland is at stake, everything else is a detail.\u2019 Did our Prophet not say, \u2018The best of people are those who bring the most benefit to others\u2019? We will strive for goodness and work hard. And I promise you, for the rest of my life, I will continue to serve for the sake of God. No one can test us with wealth and property. I am a shareholder of these companies. I am eternally grateful to all three of my children. My eldest son, who took over after his father, has never allowed us to consume unlawful wealth\u2014just as his father never did.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With these words, Melek \u0130pek became “Melek Anne” (Mother Melek) to the people. To those in power, however, she was a voice that had to be silenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She did not earn the name “Melek Anne” by chance. She had devoted her life to charity, made benevolence her mission, and embodied integrity in every aspect of her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, Melek \u0130pek and her late husband welcomed politicians into their home in Ankara. Ministers, parliament members, and high-ranking officials once sat at their table, enjoying their hospitality. But when power shifted, those same figures vanished without a trace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, whether she stood among Turkey\u2019s wealthiest or was stripped of everything, Melek \u0130pek never wavered. If she carried any sorrow, it was not for herself but for the people she could no longer help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the politically motivated trials targeting the Gulen Movement, Melek \u0130pek was sentenced to six years and three months in prison. On the morning of November 9, 2024, she was arrested in Ankara and sent to prison. The Court of Cassation upheld her sentence. At 78 years old, suffering from the ailments of old age, she now lives behind bars\u2014branded a terrorist for nothing more than standing tall in the face of injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n