Unsilenced Memories: Saliha: Stories of Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times

Our protagonist Saliha—who, thanks to her mother's self-sacrifice and loyalty, realized her dream of becoming a teacher just like her older sisters and brother—was living in her own simple world when iron handcuffs were suddenly slapped onto her wrists. Before she could even confront her father's disloyalty and apathy, it would not be easy for her to accept that the cruel Turkish government had also unjustly separated her from her child, her spouse, and her loved ones, placing her in a cage surrounded on all four sides by wire fences. In this challenging process, she has only two things left to do: Never give up, no matter what happens, just like her mother, and never lose hope.

​​​​​​​Relying on interviews conducted with Saliha and dozens of individuals whose lives, like hundreds of thousands others, were upended in the aftermath of Turkey's post-coup-conspiracy crackdown, this book brings together stories of the ordinary people who met injustice not with rebellion, but with quiet endurance and unbroken hope.