Thousands of Political Prisoners are Rotting in Turkish Jails
by Uzay Bulut • April 29, 2023 at 5:00 am
"Terrorism charges continue to be widely misused to restrict the rights to free expression and association.... As of July 2020, Ministry of Justice and Interior figures stated that 58,409 were on trial and 132,954 still under criminal investigation on terrorism in cases linked to the Gülen movement. Of those 25,912 were held in prison on remand." — Turkey: Events of 2020, Human Rights Watch.
"There are no published official numbers of prisoners held on remand or convicted for alleged links with the PKK, although on the basis of the previous years' figures the number is at least 8,500 and includes elected politicians and journalists. — Turkey: Events of 2020, Human Rights Watch.
"At time of writing, 58 journalists and media workers were in prison or serving sentences for terrorism offenses because of their journalistic work or association with media." — Turkey: Events of 2021, Human Rights Watch.
"Thousands of people every year already face arrest and prosecution for their social media posts, typically charged with defamation, insulting the president, or spreading terrorist propaganda." — Turkey: Events of 2021, Human Rights Watch.
"Scores of former HDP politicians including mayors are held as remand prisoners or are serving sentences after being convicted of terrorism offenses on the basis of their legitimate non-violent political activities, speeches, and social media postings." — Turkey: Events of 2021, Human Rights Watch.
A Kurdish musician received an effective life sentence at the age of 14 despite evidence of his innocence. Mazlum İçli was arrested in 2018 for allegedly being involved in killing four people during protests in the city of Diyarbakir in 2014. He was sentenced to the absurd prison term of 124 years and 8 months. According to news reports and Historical Traffic Search (HTS) records, images and testimonies showed that he was not at the scene of the crime. An expert examination later determined that İçli was at a wedding during the protests. This accords with the wedding videos and the testimonies of witnesses. Yet, İçli is still in jail. He is now 23 years old.
A Kurdish political prisoner, Mehmet Savur, who has spent 31 years in prison and was to have been released in 2021, is still behind bars.
A major problem in Turkey's judicial system is that statements from "anonymous witnesses" (or "protected witnesses", called in Turkish "secret witnesses") are enough to be sentenced to years in jail on alleged charges of terrorism.
Mehmet Emin Özkan, 84, for instance, suffers from severe illnesses and is still kept in prison despite the lack of any credible evidence – based on claims against him by two "secret witnesses".... Hospitals.... have provided reports saying that he should not be incarcerated and needed to be discharged to obtain medical treatment.
An overpowering problem is that Turkey fails to recognize its own crimes and atrocities. The Turkish military, for instance, evacuated and destroyed villages in southeast Turkey in the 1990s. But the government of Turkey blames others for committing these crimes and calls them terrorists.
Yusuf Özmen, a political prisoner and stage-4 cancer patient, remains incarcerated despite a medical report saying he is almost totally disabled.
While Erdogan's regime itself has well-documented ties with the Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Syria, it accuses its own peaceful citizens of "terrorism," locks them up with no solid evidence against them, sends them to prison where they contract severe illnesses, then leaves them there to die.
The West should insist that all future economic cooperation with Turkey be linked to Turkey's improvement of human rights and respect for international law.... to induce positive change.
Such economic cooperation would be carried out only on the condition that the required changes are made and maintained. No human rights for the people in Turkey, and no respect for international law in the region? Then no economic cooperation, no commercial agreements.
The Turkish government will not change its behavior in any way unless it sees that violations bring serious consequences. Otherwise, this slow-motion mass murder of political prisoners will continue in Turkey, as well as its many reversals of civilized norms and the targeting of others, including Greece, Syria, Iraq, Cyprus, Armenians, Assyrians, Yazidis and Kurds,
In Turkey, criticizing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or his family, requesting equal rights or autonomy for Kurds, or posting on social media your criticism of almost any government policy can land you in jail. Even if you may be committed to non-violence and have nothing to do with any terrorist activity, you might, for these so-called charges, spend years in prison. It is common in Turkey for citizens to be labelled "terrorists" and jailed on charges of "terrorism".
Currently, the two groups that are most targeted for being or supporting "terrorists" are the Kurds, and those allegedly close to the movement of the Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, now in self-exile in the United States.
