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Author: Hatice Cengiz
Hatice Cengiz (@mercan_resifi) is a Turkish academic and researcher in Middle Eastern studies. Her fiancé, Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was assassinated inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018. Since that day, Hatice has campaigned for truth and justice and for the international community to hold accountable those who ordered and planned the killing. She will give the 2022 Helmut Schmidt Lecture.
The need to speak up, to strive for justice, stems from the importance of raising our voices at a time when the rights offered to us by political elites are insufficient. At a time when communication technologies have entered our lives, making it much easier to raise our voices to defend our rights, we also have obligations to defend those who cannot speak up or are unaware of how to do so.
Life has primarily asked me to tell others about what I have experienced, not what I have read. Four years ago, we, all of us, came across the news of a world-famous journalist who had been assassinated. Readers and listeners encountered this news in one way or another. Unwillingly, I found myself part of this news. Later, when I found that I was the first and the last witness to this news, my testimony turned into that of a victim and then of an advocate for justice, placing a burden on me to become his voice.
While waiting outside the consulate, the media started flocking to the scene slowly. But soon, representatives of all local and international media agencies were present and the story was having a major impact. It was at that moment that I fully realised and understood how powerful the media would be in uncovering the murder that took place and in providing the context for it. Both the media and the impact of speaking up was evident from day one. After that day, the media did not let go of the incident.
I can still remember my first media interview as if it was yesterday. At the time, I was under great shock and it was hard to speak in person. I needed to pull myself together to explain everything that had happened. In the end, it was a natural human act, despite all the chaos, the suffering and the pain. It is a natural human right for a person to defend themselves. If the person cannot defend themselves because they are now absent, another person must speak up to defend them and demand their rights.
Several months ago, a reporter at the White House questioned the US president’s spokesperson, quoting a tweet published by me. Unfortunately, the spokesperson gave a diplomatic answer – as it is usually the case for a politician. Nevertheless, it still meant a great deal to me, as it embodied what speaking up means.
When I look back, I could not have known that a journey that started with an interview would put me on the path to be a human rights defender today. I am motivated to seek my rights on a subject on which I am convinced I am right. To be the change the world needs, I feel the need to talk, to speak and to bring up not only my own experience but also other painful events that took place around the world. Sadly, I have learnt how crucial this is from my own experience.
