By Muhammed Shekh Yousef
ISTANBUL
Shaza Barakat, related to Deah Barakat -- one of the three Muslim students who were killed on Tuesday -- expressed delight at Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s stance towards the death of Deah, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha and her sister Razan while other Muslim countries remained silent about the incident.
Barakat criticized the Muslim world, saying, “Muslim counties did not have a united stance in favor of Muslims. Unfortunately, Muslim countries did not rally for the Muslims’ blood in Syria or for children in Gaza, Damascus, Ghouta, Aleppo or Homs. But they send international coalition’s warplanes to kill children. If Deah’s blood is going to move the stagnant water, I hope so and let it be a light inside the darkness.”
She expressed her pleasure of the Turkish president Erdogan who criticized the silence of U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration: “This is not a strange stance for Erdogan because he is a free man who doesn’t submit to international conglomerates and defends people’s rights. He is a bright spot in this world.”
“Deah was an American citizen who was born there and is a victim of racism because he was Muslim,” she said.
“The Muslim women in the U.S. feel unsafe -- especially those who wear headscarves -- and ask themselves if they may have the same fate like Yusor and her sister Razan,” Shaza said.
“If America claims that it leads the free world, it should submit to the humanitarian laws. As some showed solidarity with Charlie Hebdo’s victims (in deadly Paris shootings in January) they should also do the same with the Muslim victims. If the killers in Paris are terrorists then those who killed our sons are also terrorists,” she said.
Shaza also denounced the American statement about the incident describing the murder as stemming from a parking dispute: “Could there be such a ridiculous case as killing an entire family for such a dispute? It was planned; the killer insisted on committing murder.”
Shaza blamed western media and the American and western foreign policy for showing Muslims in a bad stereotypical image: “We become terrorists only with America’s standards; there should be humanitarian standards as we share the same planet and there should be a single humanitarian law,” she said.
“Deah was a helpful person who never hated anybody and tried to help people through his career,” she said.
Shaza is from Idlib and works in humanitarian aid since the war on Iraq and was also on board the Mavi Marmara vessel to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. After the Syrian revolution began, she went to Turkey, where she works as Arabic teacher. Her son was killed by the Syrian regime.
She also said that Deah’s parents are her cousins and moved to the U.S. 23 years ago.
Deah Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were fatally shot Tuesday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
President Barack Obama on Friday denounced the "brutal and outrageous murders," three days after the incident.
"No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship," Obama said.
