This is what I have learned so far from Furkan’s father. We did not talk about how he was killed yet. He just isn’t ready to talk about that yet, and I’m not ready to ask.
The pronunciation of his name is:
Furkan - ‘fur’ ‘kahn’
Dogan - ‘doe’ (like the baby deer) ‘ahn’ – the ‘g’ is silent.
This is hard for me to write so if my text is a little disorganized please forgive me.
Furkan was 18 years old. In Turkey ages are given as the year you are in, not the years you have completed, so in Turkey his age was given as 19.
NOTE: This diary has made it to the Recommended Diaries list. For me this is a tribute to Furkan Dogan and the others who died on the Mavi Marmara.
How did Furkan end up on the Mavi Marmara?
Furkan saw some posters in Kayseri giving information about the flotilla about a month before it sailed. He went to the office which was indicated on the posters and talked to the people there. He asked them if he could go and they said it was possible but he should think about it carefully and talk with his family first before he made his final decision.
He talked with his family, mostly his father, and they discussed it. Furkan’s father wasn’t very enthusiastic about it at first but Furkan convinced him. He told his father that he had finished high school, taken his university exam and Furkan also told his father that he felt a lot of sympathy towards the people who were in Gaza.
Furkan was a friendly, well-mannered, intelligent young man and he was also very helpful. He was a good student and he often helped his classmates with their lessons, and he wanted to be a doctor.
His father finally agreed.
Furkan and his father also discussed the difficulties that Furkan might experience on the trip. His father wanted him to be aware of what might happen. They talked about possibly being imprisoned, and possibly being treated badly if he was. Furkan understood and accepted that these things might happen.
The biggest problem they expected was that he might be detained for some time, so Furkan completed his university application papers so that his father could submit them if Furkan came back late.
The possibility that Furkan could be killed never came up.
On the Mavi Marmara Furkan made friends with some of the other passengers and they all said he was happy, friendly and well liked. He helped out in one of the snack bars on the ship.
Furkan was a U.S. citizen. He did not have Turkish citizenship. He could have taken Turkish citizenship at any time after he turned 18 but he had not done so.
When Furkan boarded the Mavi Marmara in Antalya he didn’t have his Turkish Residency Permit with him. The Passport Police told him that this would be a problem. Furkan called his father and asked him to fax a copy to him. One last time his father asked him if he was sure about going and Furkan said he was, so his father sent the fax.
How did his family learn that Furkan had been killed?
After the Mavi Marmara was boarded and 9 people were reported killed, Furkan’s father contacted the Turkish government and the U.S. government to try to get information about Furkan. No one could tell him anything. Then when the lists of detainees, injured and killed were released Furkan’s name wasn’t on any of the lists. Furkan’s father then heard that the detainees, injured and dead were being flown to Istanbul so he went to Istanbul hoping to see his son getting off one of these flights. He waited and looked and waited and looked. But Furkan was not on any of the flights.
Then he was told that three Americans had been held in Israel and not allowed to board the flights so he asked the U.S. consulate for information but they had none. Finally he was told that there were four bodies in the morgue waiting for identification so maybe he should check there.
He went to the morgue, really not expecting to find his son there, but that’s where he finally found him.
What has the U.S. government done for him?
One consular official called him once and offered condolences on behalf of the U.S. government, and two days ago the Ambassador called and requested copies of Furkan’s autopsy report and death certificate. He also said these would be checked by the Department of Justice, who would then decide if anything needed to be done.
Furkan’s father is very upset that some people and some in the media have been trying to make his son into a terrorist. He thinks is wrong and very unfair. He is also not happy with the U.S. government’s actions.
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I explained to Furkan’s father that there were many people who would like to express their condolences to him and that there were many people who would like him to know that they think his son was brave and that he did the right thing in trying to help others.
Furkan's father wants me to thank you all.
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I will talk to him again soon. There are many things that need to be told but it’s not yet the right time to ask him about some of them.
If you have anything you would like to say or ask please let me know.