"There is a warrant out for my arrest," Turkish Muslim student Türkü Avci told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Aspiring-journalist Avci moved to Israel from Turkey five years ago to study at Hebrew University. Last week, Instagram influencer Tal The Traveler posted a video in which he asked Avci if she, a Turkish Muslim woman, is a Zionist, to which she said, "Yes, of course." That night, the video went completely viral on Turkish media and social media. The video has thousands of comments from Turks calling for her arrest, to be killed, and recommending that the secret service investigate her.
"I knew there would be some comments about [the video], but for 48 hours the only thing they were talking about was me," she told the Post.
To start with, Avci was not too worried, believing it would die down, but then people on social media and even journalists, such as one from TRT, started sharing pictures of her parents, their ID numbers, and other personal information they had somehow found.
"Then I started worrying a lot."
The TRT journalist wrote conspiracy theories about Avci, such as that she is an Israeli agent, and a journalist at Yeni Safak claimed her brother had threatened him. "He tried to dehumanize me and like provoke people. And then the other random social media people found out my ID and everything and my Turkish number and it's all over social media. And I was getting thousands of messages on my social media account."
After a while, the thousands of messages became overwhelming. People were threatening her with rape and death. "They launched what could only be described as a coordinated jihadist-style lynch campaign," she said. The Jerusalem Post found 122,000 results for her name on Google in the past week alone.
She is not even sure how safe she is in Israel, given that people in Turkey said they contacted their Palestinian friends to hunt her down and harm her.
Then, on Thursday last week, she learned that there is an arrest warrant in Turkey in her name. She is now unable to go back to Turkey, or even go to its embassy in Israel, and believes that if she sets foot in Turkey, she would be killed.
Interestingly, however, her lawyer in Turkey (following a much less intense and much briefer incident with the media last year, Avci sought a lawyer and passed him her power of attorney) was unable to see the file for the arrest warrant, and therefore cannot see the details of it or the reason for the warrant. To Avci and her lawyer, this suggests that the state security is in charge of the matter, as a police warrant would have been sent to her lawyer first; this file remains secret.
"Only the prosecutor knows," she added.
Avci's family receiving threats
Avci's parents had to change their location for a week and have been receiving threats. "It's really difficult for them because they have nothing to do with this."
"I'm really upset that I involved my family in this and if something will happen it's not something I can ever forgive myself and it's just for nothing you know we didn't do anything wrong as family nothing," she told the Post. "But on the other hand, I don't have to be afraid anymore about saying what I want."
Avci cannot return to Turkey, but her options in Israel are also limited. She came to study at Hebrew University on a privately funded scholarship she found for herself. However, the donors no longer wanted to support her after October 7, and she also cannot work in Israel under her student visa. She therefore had to move out of her dorms and has since been couch-surfing with no money to rent somewhere.
Her visa will end in March, at which point Avci is considering seeking political asylum in Israel. However, it is a difficult process and also a long one,
Avci's thoughts on Turkey following her persecution
What are her views towards Turkey now, given that the country has seemingly turned against her?
"I love Turkey, but like how it turned out now is unbelievable. It's like we are going to be Iran and Iran is going to be Turkey 20 years ago.
"Everything I've been through, and how they attack a girl who doesn't think like them, the same attacks happen to people who support LGBTQ.
"There is no freedom of speech. Even when someone talks about Kurds in Syria, they get called a traitor."
Avci explained that a lot changed after October 7. Prior to this, relations with Israel seemed better, and there were many Israeli tourists. Now, she says antisemitism became "legal."
Of course, this whole ordeal was sparked by Avci saying she was a Zionist, but she said she didn't really start using the word to define herself until after October 7. In her first year at Hebrew University, she took courses about Zionism and met people with diverse views, but it was after October 7 that she said it became "a strong statement" for her.
She has never felt unwelcome in Israel. She has lived with religious and secular Jewish families, and she has friends from different walks of life. "I didn't see any kind of discrimination at all," she said. "But in my country, just because I said I'm a Zionist, I'm an outsider."
"Right now, it's the trolls of Erdogan who decide who is going to get arrested. There is no law, there's no protection for my family as there needs to be a physical attack before you can seek protection."
Despite everything that has happened, she said she does not regret coming to Israel.
"I love Israel," she said. "I can see myself living here and doing journalism."