NEWS CENTER – Prisons in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan have become centers of torture, especially for revolutionary patriotic prisoners. In addition to the imposition of isolation in all prisons, the prohibition of the rights given to the prisoners according to the arbitrariness of the administration, and the torture of the guards and soldiers against the prisoners is increasing day by day.
After this torture and usurpation of rights, the executions of the prisoners have been burned in recent years. The following definition is made in the legislation regarding the situation, which is used as a tool of pressure especially on sick prisoners and is defined as burning execution: “If the convict commits an intentional crime that requires a prison sentence within the period of probation and the date of conditional release, the execution of the convict is done. It is sufficient to commit the second crime within the period of supervision. Otherwise, a penalty will not be imposed for this second offense during the trial period and a finalization will not be sought.” However, since it is not determined what the ‘crime’ is and what is included in the definition of crime, and it is the responsibility of the prison administration to give punishment, the prisoners are punished in an arbitrary manner.
EXECUTION BURNINGS STARTED WITH THE ADMINISTRATIVE OBSERVATION BOARD
In addition to the torture and the usurpation of rights, the Administration Observation Boards, which were published in the Official Gazette and entered into force in the last days of December 2020, were introduced by the government with the propaganda that they “increase the chance of prior release”. However, the boards became an institution that was used to delay the release, not the pre-release, especially for political prisoners. Even after the commissions started to function, both the conditional release and the transition to open prison became more difficult. With its decisions, the Board has been used to delay the release of political prisoners, especially those who have been held in prisons for 30 years or more, who are sick and whose release is coming.
Administrative Monitoring Boards are defined as follows in the legislation: “Administrative and observation boards; under the chairmanship of the director of the institution, the second director responsible for observation and classification, administrative officer, prison doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, teacher, chief execution and protection officer and an officer selected from among technical personnel by the director of the institution.
In the same legislation, the decision-making mechanism of the boards is defined as follows: “Administration and observation board; While making his assessment of the convict, he makes a decision based on the observation, assessment and development assessment reports, the risk assessment report and all the information and documents in the execution files. During this evaluation, the boards may interview the convict upon request or ex officio.
Since there was no definition of crime, these boards included almost everything in the definition of criminal element in order to give punishment in addition to the punishments of especially revolutionary patriotic prisoners.
REASONS: READING TOO MUCH BOOKS, Laughing DURING INTERVIEW
The Administration Monitoring Board burned the execution of more than 60 political prisoners on various pretexts in 2021 alone. The reasons put forward by the board for burning the execution are strange. The Board has made many meaningless decisions so far, and the prominent reasons it has given in its decisions are as follows:
“He did not show any regrets, did not
meet with the imam,
did not behave well,
did not comply with the rules of the prison,
did not use water sparingly, did not use water sparingly, did not participate
in the activities of the prison, did not participate in the activities of the prison, did not participate in the activities of the prison , did not help the staff during the search, laughed during the interview , sang a song in Kurdish, sang a song in Kurdish , did not keep his distance from the organization , etc.”
In fact, the execution of a never-married political prisoner was burned on the grounds that “you killed your wife, you may harm her family”. Again, the execution of a prisoner who had 6 to 9-year-old daughters was burned because it was said that “the children are in organizational activity”.
The Observation Boards burned the executions of so many prisoners that even data were difficult to obtain. According to the data obtained, the executions of at least 217 political prisoners were burned. Some of these prisoners were released later, but some of them have not been released yet.
SOME OF THE PRISONERS THAT WERE BURNED
Some of the prisoners who were executed are as follows:
- “Cevahir Vurucu – For laughing during the interview
- Ferit Orak – for using too much water
- Sevket Bilici – because he has no regrets
- 8 political prisoners in Diyarbakir No.1 Type T prison – because he has no regrets
- Songül Bagadır – Kandıra L Type – because she has no regrets
- Ercan İşcan – Giresun Espiye L Type – for not helping staff during calls
- Murat Aktaş – Kandıra No. 1 F Type – disciplinary sanctions
- Fahriye Ceylan – Alanya L Type – no regrets
- Executions of 12 female prisoners in Bayburt M Type Prison were burned because they refused the military order census
- Execution of almost all political prisoners burned in Sincan Women’s Closed Prison
- Metin Güven – Yozgat T Type Closed Prison – no regrets
- Aliye Süer – Diyarbakır Women’s Closed Prison – For singing the anthem
- The execution of 12 prisoners in Bolu Prison was burned because they did not use water sparingly and did not regret it.
- Resul Baltacı – Düzce Çilimli T Type – because he has no regrets
- Hatice Çakmak – Alanya L Type Women’s Prison – solitary sentences given as reason
- Kadir Karabak – Tekirdağ No. 2 F Type – on the grounds that their daughters aged 6.5 to 9 are engaged in organizational activities.
- Rojda Erez – Sincan Women’s Prison – Erez, who never married
- Ms. Yildirim – Sincan Women’s Prison – Burned as ‘Your brother is a FETOist’
- Sabri Yakut, Hakan Zertürk, Bilal Balbeş, Faruk Aydemir – Erzurum Dumlu No. 1 and 2 – for not regretting
- Şemsettin Tekin, Sevgi İlboğa – Oltu T-Type – for not regretting
- Mehmet Cengel – Van High Security Prison – because he has no regrets
- Dilan Olaş – Sincan Women’s Prison – disciplinary punishments
- Peace Mother Xense Bulut – İzmir Şakran Woman Closed – because she has no regrets
- Azize Yağız – Tarsus T Type – not well behaved
- Damla Erdem, Sevda Turgal – Şakran Woman Closed – because she has no regrets
- İlyas Peldek, Abdulhaluk Autonomous – Samsun Bafra T Type – non-compliance with the rules
- Abdurrahim Çetinkaya – Şakran No. 3 L Type – disciplinary punishments.”
