Former TRT Announcer Sırrı Er: “Orphaned Justice”

Former TRT Announcer Sırrı Er: “Orphaned Justice”
Sırrı Er
Publish: 22.04.2026
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I would like to share two striking historical examples that make us question why justice has been left “orphaned.”

In 399 BC, in Athens—the heart of democracy—there was a thinker named Socrates. This man, who elevated questioning, reason, and curiosity, was accused of “corrupting the youth” and was executed by drinking hemlock.

Western civilization did not forget his death and turned Socrates into a symbol of speaking the truth and questioning the state.

More than a thousand years later, in Baghdad, Abu Hanifa—considered the “Socrates” of the Islamic world—emerged. He, too, came into conflict with authority for defending independent reasoning and adherence to law.

He rejected the judicial position offered by the state and refused to compromise his independence.

He paid a very heavy price: he was imprisoned, flogged, and ultimately poisoned to death.

Yet there is a great tragedy here: the West embraced Socrates’ courage as a foundation of law and individual rights.

In this geography, however, Abu Hanifa’s name was preserved, but the spirit of free and critical thinking he championed was buried.

If today the law is not seen as an independent force capable of speaking against the state, the roots of this lie in that historical rupture.

The orphaning of justice and law is not only a mistake of the past; it remains a crucial problem we must still overcome today.

“One who wants to change things should first start with oneself. The unexamined life is not worth living.”
— Socrates

#Orphaned

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Sırrı Er
Sırrı Er
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