Meydan TV editor Gunel Movlud’s brothers were arrested last week on charges of drug possession. They may face several years in prison.
I have never had a proper relationship with my brothers. They are ordinary Azerbaijanis, people of traditional mentality, which is why they could neither understand nor appreciate my work. For the past 30 years, we have somehow struggled with our relationship.
They neither read my writings nor did they know about my new beginnings. From here and there, they gleaned a distorted version of my writings and actions from those who read my work and viewed it as inappropriate. They sometimes asked me such ridiculous questions that I felt ashamed.
Now the regime has arrested my two brothers who have never read me, never supported me, and have never in their lives been involved in politics. It was something to be expected, as we all know the current situation. However, this arrest laid bare another truth about the regime apart from what it is already capable of.
When the news of my brothers’ arrest reached my relatives, they started cursing me, Meydan TV, Emin Milli and those who work with us instead of the regime, which arrested two innocent men on bogus charges. Not a single one of them realized even a tiny bit that Meydan TV and its employees, including me, are simply doing our jobs. We are not to blame for anyone’s arrest or they pressure they face.
Yet, everyone cursed us. They cursed the same media channel that writes about the millions stolen from those same people. The channel that does not let the system hide the truth about their sons who lose their lives in military camps. The channel that broadcasts news about human rights violations and illegal home demolitions. The same channel they run to when no one else listens to their pleas or when there is no other place to go.
I write about your violated human rights, and yet you curse me instead of the regime that unlawfully arrested your son.
But the resides not even with the police officers who placed marijuana in my brothers’ pockets or the judge who convicted on fabricated charges, or the system that put two innocent, ignorant and unaware boys behind the bars. In my eyes, the guilt resides with those who, despite knowing the truth about the system, still blame honest people instead of the filthy regime. They are as guilty as the actual perpetrators.
These arrests are the result of inaction from those who remain silent when their rights are violated, and those who act as if they were “renting the place” that belongs to them.
To me, there are two culprits: the regime that brutalizes innocent people and those who are silent when their rights are violated.
Perhaps, at some point, the day will come when I forgive the police officers who put drugs into innocent people’s pockets, or the unjust judges who convict those innocent people on falsified accusations. They simply followed orders, they did their jobs. However, it is impossible to forgive people who are silent when their rights are abused.
No one can order you to be silent when your rights are being taken away.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Meydan TV’s editorial policy.
