WEBVTT

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I come from West Anatolia,
a progressive part of Turkey.

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I’m from a political family.
I went to a public high school.

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Back in 1975–78, the atmostphere
in Turkey was exremely political.

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In high school, I was also one of
the leaders of the left-wing opposition.

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After high school I moved to Izmir.

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I passed the entrance exam
and enrolled in an architecture degree

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at the University of Izmir.

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Once in Izmir, I was immediately accepted
into a youth organization.

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Without it being openly said,
it was the youth organization

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of the Communist Party of Turkey,
which was banned.

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Then there was the military coup
and this political organization

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became totally illegal. Many friends
were jailed and tortured.

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The police were on university campus,
the secret police too.

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We had to do illegal and conspiratorial
political work.

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We were not arrested, but we found out
that the police were looking for us.

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At some point the organization decided
that we had to leave the country.

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That was 1985. We had forged papers.

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My fiancé left first, and then one day later
I went to Sofia.

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That night, another comrade came
and told us we were leaving the next day.

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He didn’t where we were going
and I didn’t ask.

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It was secretive business. 
We weren’t allowed to ask anything.

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We were picked up early from the hotel.

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At the airport I found out
that we were going to East Berlin in the GDR.