ANKARA – The DEM Party Prison Commission stated that prisoners' access to healthcare is being blocked, discriminatory practices targeting Kurdish identity are continuing, and that they will follow up on the rights violations being experienced.
Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party Prison Commission members, Çewlîg (Bingöl) MP Ömer Faruk Hülakü, Colemêrg (Hakkari) MP Onur Düşünmez, Şirnex (Şırnak) MP Newroz Uysal and Sêrt (Siirt) MP Sabahat Erdoğan Sarıtaş, held a press conference in Parliament regarding their visits to prisons in the Black Sea Region.
The statement regarding the visits was made on behalf of the commission by Onur Düşünmez. He stated that as the DEM Party delegation, between 8-12 June they met with 148 political prisoners in the prisons of Tokat, Samsun, Kavak, Bafra, Çarşamba, Espiye, Kalkandere and Beşikdüzü, and examined on-site the applications made by prisoner families and legal institutions regarding the said prisons.
Düşünmez said that what is being pursued is not a set of institution-specific shortcomings but a comprehensive policy — a policy of deepening isolation and discriminatory practices targeting Kurdish political prisoners.
Stating that the law is not functioning in Turkish prisons, Düşünmez said that the political decisions of Administration and Observation Boards have replaced the law. He said that in recent years there has been a particular imposition of oral cavity searches on political prisoners, and that prisoners who refuse this imposition are denied access to healthcare.
Düşünmez said: "In the prisons in the Black Sea region, there are prisoners who have been unable to go to hospital for years. There are prisoners with epilepsy, diabetes and heart conditions. There are prisoners awaiting surgery and those at risk of cancer. Yet despite all these health problems, the right to access treatment is being blocked by the arbitrary practices of the administration."
Stating that many prisoners are also unable to access their medication, Düşünmez said that the right to treatment and the right to life cannot be left to the whim of the administration. Stating that the second fundamental problem in Black Sea prisons is also the deepening of isolation policies, Düşünmez said that political prisoners' rooms are deliberately kept far apart from one another, criminal prisoners are placed between wards, and the rights to socializing and sport are being blocked.
Düşünmez said that room changes, raids and disciplinary punishments carried out in Kavak and Çarşamba prisons in recent months have taken isolation to a new stage. He said that the said isolation practices are a continuation of the practices maintained at İmralı Island Prison. Düşünmez said that prisoners who have been held in prison for more than 30 years are being prevented from being released.
Düşünmez also stated that there are discriminatory practices targeting Kurdish identity and the Kurdish language, and that prisoners cannot access Kurdish-language books, newspapers or television channels.
Düşünmez said that Black Sea prisons are holding prisoners beyond capacity, with situations where 10 people are held in rooms designed for three. Calling for the said practices to be ended, Düşünmez added: "Prisoners whose release is being arbitrarily blocked by Administration and Observation Boards must be freed immediately. We will follow up on these rights violations. We will report on the rights violations we encountered in the Black Sea region as soon as possible and raise our voices in every arena."
