‘The woman who flew,’ Ulusal Channel’s reporter Husna Sari, explains what she experienced when she was water-cannoned: ‘‘I will stubbornly stick to my job just to show them.’’
AD: Hüsna Sarı started working at Ulusal Kanal two months ago. She loves her job and intends to continue working. At the Ankara Assembly in Güvenpark on 13 February, Sari got hit by a water-cannon. The hit was so powerful that Sarı flung forward, thus attaining the nickname, “The woman who flew.” Sarı held on to her microphone. “I thought I was going to die,” she admits. “But today, I am on my feet, and I will show them that I am still on the job.”
“I will stubbornly stick to my job just to show them.”
“I was reporting live at the time. I hadn’t even started with the news when the police starting gassing and water-cannoning us, so I jumped right into explaining that. To top it off, I’m right in the middle of the protest. I’ve participated in other interventions before, and never have I seen one so aggressive.
The TGB youths were demolishing the barricade and moving forward. Chaos ensued. The police were responding. I tried to turn around and tell them I am a reporter. But as soon as I turned my head, I saw that I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The cannon was spraying water. On my left, another water-cannon. From one side, I’m moving forward. I feel a pain on my back. I remember falling on the ground. I tried to get up. I took one step and fell again. The pain in my shoulder returned. It was not an explosion. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was that came to me. I knew I had to get out.
I inched forward again. I don’t remember what happened after that. Afterwards the police said, ‘How were we supposed to know that she’s a reporter?’ Even though I had signalled it. Aydinlik reporter İlkay Akkaya came up to me. I heard him yell. I remember saying, ‘I am dying, help.’ I couldn’t breath. I felt that I was going to die at any moment. They took me to the Ankara Numune Hospital. I was discharged three hours later. There were wounds and bruises on my shoulder and legs. I will stubbornly stick to my job, just to show them.”
The world spoke
Sarı’s experience gained wide media coverage. Her pictures appeared in several Turkish newspapers, and even foreign ones. Her piece in the English Times is titled, ‘Reality’s Cold Blow.’ Fox TV gave top priority to the Fatih Portakal news. Social media in general have condemned the attacks.
Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2014/02/15/flying-woman-turkey-water-cannoned-reporter-tells/
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