Prof. Dr. Mehmet Pakdemirli, a university rector and brother of Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli who has been jailed for over two years as part of the Turkish government’s post-coup witch hunt targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement, has in a letter enumerated human rights violations and maltreatment experienced in prison.
According to a report by online news outlet Duvar on Thursday, the letter from former Celal Bayar University Rector Pakdemirli, who had been dismissed from his position, was submitted by human rights activist and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu to Parliament’s Human Rights Commission. “I have been in prison for over two years. I see a great benefit in notifying the authorities of problems, and I want to say on behalf of all prisoners that the problems should not be ignored in prisons,” said Prof. Dr. Pakdemirli.
After Turkey adopted a presidential system of governance, Prof. Dr. Pakdemirli’s brother Bekir Pakdemirli was appointed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as minister of agriculture and forestry. The list in Pakdemirli’s letter, which was conveyed by his wife Nur Pakdemirli to Gergerlioğlu, includes 21 articles detailing violations of human rights and maltreatment in the prison where he has held for more than two years.
Some excerpts from Prof. Dr. Pakdemirli’s letter are as follow:
“I was held in Manisa E Type Prison for 14 months. Dirty waters were flowing over us from detention rooms. The prison authorities did not find a permanent solution for these 14 months. This was a violation of human rights.
“At the entrance to the Manisa T-Type prison, people’s all clothes including their underwears have been getting off. These people have been obliged to knee and cough. This treatment was not complying with human dignity and honor.
“We were not subject to such a treatment at the Manisa E Type Prison. However, the solitary confinement implementation has been applied to people like me who have no crime. This violation of the human rights has been applied systematically to the people in the prison who have not been convicted yet.
“Food quality has always been low in T-Type Prison. E-Type Prison’s food quality is much better despite they have been given the same allowance. It is worth researching whether there is an abuse in this issue.
“My medications were not allowed when I was transferred to T-Type Prison and it was said me that my medications will be put on the corridor. Then an officer threw them into the dustbin. I asked the authorities to find the responsible through investigating the cameras. But my applications were ignored. The next day, they told me to go to the doctor to take the same medications again. ‘After all, the state will pay their money’ they said. Since I replied to them by saying that ”The state is not obliged to pay for your mistakes,” they did not take me to doctor for a month despite my petitions.
“I was told by the doctor that he was not informed on my petitions when I could eventually visit the doctor. I understood that the problem was not with the doctor, but in the prison administration. I have very strong suspicions that the petitions that were not liked by the prison administration were not recorded and destroyed. In general, the petitions given by prisoner have been ignored. Güray Yıldız, a friend in prison, lost his eye because he could not get the necessary treatment in time. If I have a serious health problem in coming days, the prison administration will be responsible.
“In the solitary confinement, there is also a wire similar to a chicken coop as if the iron bars are not enough. It partially blocks the light and the sky. I’ve heard that in other prisons such practices have been removed.
“As all these were not enough, I have been prohibited to have the open or closed meetings with my wife for 6 months. I think that the reason was they thought that 4 pills that I had were given by my wife Nur. Prohibition over my meeting with my wife is a solid violence of human rights. The pills were for insomnia that I got in E-Type Prison as a cure for my sleep disorder caused by the filthy waters.
“Two rooms called ‘the rooms with sponge’ are located in my corridor. From time to time I have heard sounds of crying and shootings. Probably, they are beating someone. I don’t even need to tell that the prison guards’ rude behavior for me who used to work as a university rector. Moreover, some of the guards scream at midnight to prevent us from sleeping. I see a severe lack of education in many of these guardians.
“On the other hand, the solitary confinement has also some good sides. You don’t have to wait in a queue for a single bathroom in a 30-people ward. At least you have your own bed and your own closet. Someone has burned my cell before, but at least it’s mine now. In the ward, we were only able to sleep alternately in the beds. In the beginning, there were beds everywhere in the ward even before the toilet due to the intensity.
“I would like you to know that the prison administration will continue to commit such human rights abuses as long as these complaints are not addressed by related authorities.”
Hundreds of thousands of people in Turkey have been the subject of legal proceedings in the last two years on charges of membership in the Gülen movement since the coup attempt in July 2016, a Turkish Justice Ministry official told a symposium on July 19, 2018.
“Legal proceedings have been carried out against 445,000 members of this organization,” Turkey’s pro-government Islamist news agency İLKHA quoted Turkish Justice Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ömer Faruk Aydıner as saying.
Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016, that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. On December 13, 2017, the Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.
Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on April 18, 2018, that the Turkish government had jailed 77,081 people between July 15, 2016, and April 11, 2018, over alleged links to the Gülen movement.
