MARDİN - Stating that Aysel Tuğluk's health condition is getting worse day by day and she is being left for dead in prison, Ahmet Türk said, "It is not possible to accept such hostility towards a person who cannot maintain her life in prison."

 

Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk has been in prison for over 5 years. Tuğluk, who suffered from a disease, known as dementia that causes memory loss due to "impairment of mental functions such as learning, memory, orientation, language functions and personality" and held in Kandıra  Type F Closed Prison, was not released despite all the calls made for her release. She was examined for 3 days in the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK), where she was taken on February 1, 2022. Despite her situation, ATK prepared a report on Tuğluk saying that "she has criminal responsibility" and did not give an opinion on whether she could stay in prison.

 

Campaigns for the releasing of Tuğluk continue. Tuğluk, whose health condition is getting worse day by day, is not releaseing. Kurdish politician Ahmet Türk, who was co-chairperson of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) between 2009 and 2014, spoke to the Mesopotamia Agency (MA) for the founding Co-Chair of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), Tuğluk, which was closed by the Constitutional Court.

 

'AYSEL SHOULD NOT BE HELD IN PRISON'

 

Describing Tuğluk as "She was the best politician, best friend, best comrade I know. She was a person who shared everything, had almost no arrogance, always based herself on the common evaluation. She had full faith in the people and in politics. She is an honest politician, an honest Kurd, a friend of ours who always cares about the future of her people more than anything else." Stating that he have a long-standing political history with Tuğluk, Türk said, “We have held the position of co-chairs together for almost 5 years. She is a friend of ours who truly believes in democracy and conducts the struggle of her people sincerely. Of course, she is in prison today because of her ideas and thoughts. Of course, many of our friends are in these dungeons, but every person with a conscience should demand that Aysel should not be held in prison due to her illness."

 

A HOSTILE APPROACH

 

Stating that even human values are trampled on in Turkey, Türk said that the necessary examination was not carried out at the ATK about Tuğluk. Türk said:  “It is a humanitarian situation. Her health is worsening on a daily basis. She can not maintain herself in prison. But despite this, unfortunately, this government seems very prepared to make us, our politicians, to pay a great price. In other words, Turkish state's approaches against Aysel is an hostile approach. The fact is, everyone needs some humanity in themselves. Holding a person in prison in this condition is not humane."

 

 

SHE IS IN NO CONDITION TO BE IN PRISON

 

Stating that it does not seem possible to improve Tuğluk's health, Türk said that according to the news he received, she is in no condition to remain in prison and she is not able to meet her own needs. An enemy law is being enforced. We may think differently, we will have differences, and we may even have fought against each other politically. But it is not possible to accept and understand that such hostility towards a person who is really incapable of remaining in prison."

 

'SHE IS LEFT FOR DEAD IN PRISON'

 

Reminding that her condition was not good in his last meeting with Aysel Tuğluk in prison more than a year ago, Türk said, “Her situation is getting worse. Her condition is such a condition that it gets worse on a daily basis. Sometimes she doesn't even recognise her own friends. According to the information given by her friends sharing the same cell, she sometimes goes to bed without taking off her shoes. She is not able to meet her needs. Turkish state really behaves like condemning a person to death there. Both the Ministry of Justice, the ATK and those who rule Turkey have a perspective that almost prepares a person to their deaths in prison." 

 

'WHAT HAPPENED AT HER MOTHER'S FUNERAL TRIGGERED HER SITUATION'

 

Türk, who also witnessed the death of Tuğluk's mother, Hatun Tuğluk, and what happened in the cemetery afterwards, said: “We were attacked by a mob in the cemetery  They tried to exhume her mother from her grave. They even managed to dig up the grave after we buried her.  It was as if they waited there to lynch us. Aysel was brought from prison. She saw all these with her own eyes as a person who just lost her mother. It was a tragedy. I don't think it is possible for her to overcome this memory. It effected us too as people who are not related to Hatun Tuğluk. Aysel was devastated.This triggered her condition. We are going though difficult times. We are in a period of lawlessness, injustice and oppression. We are all trying to endure and resist this persecution. But of course; Aysel's situation is different. The death of her mother, who raised her, educated her, sacrificed everything for her day and night, and this behavior towards her mother in the cemetery was very heavy. It was inevitable it would effect her."

 

 

MA / Ahmet Kanbal