Association of Solidarity with Families of Prisoners (TUAY-DER) Headquarters member Attorney Abdurrahman İlgin told that the prisoners from Rojava are in severe conditions in Turkish prisons. İlgin said that there are 25 prisoners from Rojava in the Çukurova Region. Stating that the number of prisoners is probably higher, İlgin said that they were not able to reach them all, but they know that the rights of these people are being violated from the start. Stating that the people from Rojava are usually detained by the gendermerie, İlgin said: "When these people are detained, the law is not obeyed. Laws determined by the Criminal Procedure Code (CMK) are not complied with. For example, there must be a certified trabnslator during the deposition, but usually soldiers who claim to speak Kurdish does the translating. It is not clear what those soldiers understand and what they translated but these statements are taken as a basis in courts. This is against the law. This is enemy law."

 

Reminding that nearly 90 percent of the Rojava prisoners are accused of "membership of a terrorist organization" or "terrorist propaganda", İlgin stated that the people from Rojava are arrested because of the photos on their phones or the presence of a brother or relative in the YPG.

 

CELLS FOR ISOLATION

 

Drawing attention to the fact that prisoners from Rojava are being held in cells by themselves to prevent them from socialising with the other prisoners, İlgin said: "When they say they want to stay with the other political prisoners, they are told that they are the only political prisoners in that particular prison and therefore they'll be held in solitary confinement. So they are isolated. Because they are isolated, no one can reach them and they can't reach anyone. There are prisoners who we find out to be in prison 3-4 years after their arrest. No prisoners in Turkey are provided with a translator. Foreign national prisoners are not able to reflect their demands because of language problems. The needs of these prisoners are often not met. They can not access clothes or money because these needs are met from the outside. They don't have anything to wear because their families are not in Turkey. The prison administrations doesn't meet their needs even though they pay for it."

 

İlgin continued: "The prison administration informs immigration administration when their sentences are over. And the immigration administration decide their deportation immediately and they are sent back to Syria and delivered to gangs like Free Syrian Army. They are being punished in Syria like it was not enough they were punished in Turkey."

 

Stating that if the prisoners from Rojava are able to reach solidarity associations for prisoners, these associations can stop the deportation, İlgin said: "When we receive an application like this, we object to the Criminal Judgeship of Peace. Then we file a lawsuit in the administrative court with a request for a stay of execution. We prevent those people from being sent to Syria until the cases are concluded. Their request of asylum to Turkey is rejected due to public security reasons, so we help them seek refuge in another country."

 

 

MA / Ömer Akın