Political prisoners in Turkey

Seven years after the failed military coup in Turkey (July 15, 2016), the Society or Threatened Peoples (STP) would like to draw attention to the desperate situation of the thousands of political prisoners in the NATO state. “Up to 83 people are said to have died under suspicious circumstances in Turkish prisons or in police custody in 2022. Also, there are increasing reports of torture in the overcrowded Turkish prisons. The worst thing, however, is the arbitrary practice of not releasing prisoners when they have served their time – often more than 30 years,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Consultant, on Wednesday in Göttingen.

In Turkish prisons, it is common to try and turn Kurdish people into “good Turks”. They are put under pressure to deny their Kurdish identity, to reject their language, their culture, and their history. “As early as in the 1930s, the Turkish state started forcing Kurdish families to adopt names such as ‘Öztürk’ – meaning ‘real Turk’ – in the scope of the Turkish surname law. Of course, such a name does not protect the people from further repression. Thus, a Kurdish woman living in Cologne is desperately trying to get help for her father, who is imprisoned in Turkey. Nevzat Öztürk was arrested in Istanbul, far from his hometown, in 1992. He should have been released from prison on June 23, but his sentence was extended for 3 months. The reasons stated were that he “did not save electricity” in prison, and that he “did not read enough books in the prison library”. “It is unclear whether he will be released in three months. The so-called “prison administration and monitoring boards”, which have gained importance since the coup attempt in 2016, often keep prisoners from being released after they have served their time,” Sido added.

The Kurdish prisoner Nevzat Öztürk was born in 1966. In April of this year, he turned 57. He spent 31 years of these 57 years in prison. At the time of his arrest, he was married – with two children. His daughter, who is living in Cologne today, was three years old back then. His son was one year old. Today, he is living in Mardin in Kurdistan/Turkey, together with his mother – and he is seriously ill, like his imprisoned father.

The Kurdish prisoner has a heart issue. He has been moved from one prison to another several times. Bans on visits and telephone calls are commonplace. The ban on telephone calls is a tragedy, as the family members, his wife and his seriously ill son, have to travel 1,300 kilometers from Mardin, in the far east of the country, to Bolu, where he is imprisoned at the moment. Often, it is uncertain whether they can actually visit him, due to the Turkish arbitrariness.” The daughter of the Kurdish prisoner phoned the STP to ask for help to ensure that her father will be released after so many years. For the Turkish state, it is a matter of political consideration whether she, her brother and her mother will be able to meet each other again. This is absolutely incompatible with a rule of law,” Sido stated.