Spokesperson of the 78 Generation and Peoples’ Democratic Party, party council member Celalettin Can has held a press conference elaborating on his experiences during his 5 month imprisonment in the notorious Silivri Prison Complex. Can said “Silivri is a show-centre”.
Celalettin Can has held a press conference in Istanbul’s Taxim Hill Hotel; in the background a banner was put up calling for release of all political prisoners. Can started his press conference by explaining how he had been detained; “when I was detained all the electronic devices at home have been confiscated; they have turned my apartment upside-down. I was kept alone at the anti-terror detention centre on Vatan Avenue. Afterwards sometimes I was kept with ISIS militants in the same cell. There is no harsh torture but there was a lot of psychological torture.”
Intelligence Officers tried to approach with offers
Can stated that he had been taken to testify twice; once the regular questioning but before that another questioning by two intelligence officers who said “we are coming from high above. You have held quite many people’s meetings between 2013 and 2018.” When asked there was any criminal content in those meetings, the officers replied “no but there is a matter of survival. Sometimes words are more dangerous than weapons.” Can explained that the officers tried to offer some kind of deal but they could not dare. Can also explained that he had heard about the early elections from the talk among intelligence officers, “we never wanted you to get taken, but stay here, otherwise you would get really tired in election process.”
Silivri as a show-centre
“Istanbul 4th Court of Peace is a special one; every time the judge is about to give an interim decision the police officers who questioned me go into the same room with the judge; they give the decisions together” says Can before he drew attention to the lack of health treatment in prison, “almost all the prisoners taken there are separated upon arrival, physical & psychological isolation is imposed. The guardians are specially selected, they are anti-humanist who consider prisoners as subhuman and impose social-torture. Political prisoners are barred from solidarity or socialisation, Silivri is a show-centre. Perhaps we are not treated so bad since we are well-known, but Prison Building no: 9 is an absolute isolation centre; inmates are not given proper health treatment. If they are taken to hospital, they are kept in the basement handcuffed for hours. The government is listless against the demands of prisoners, except for Nationalist Movement Party MHP and they are only worried about Alaattin Çakıcı. Solution is not to construct a new prison complex but release of all political prisoners. For that reason we must reclaim the political prisoners.”
“No Submission”
Human Rights Association co-chair Eren Keskin also spoke in the press conference. Keskin referred to the Prime Minister Yıldırım’s call “submit and be happy”, Keskin said “we will not submit and we are not happy.” Keskin also continued to explain that Silivri has become the concentration of all intellectuals in the country, “if the country was governed from Silivri, it would have been much more democratic because all intellectuals are there. We can not take our position according to the alliances state creates within itself; we are the same people, but currently the prisons are the same as they were in the 1990s. Especially in Kurdistan prisons, female inmates are feeling sexually harassed via camera control. People are hesitant to go to hospital because on the way to the hospital they are getting tortured again.
Transphobia of the OppositionKeskin also criticised the opposition movements for not being able to come over from their transphobia, explaining that the trans inmate Buse has not received the same kind of attention as hunger strike educators Nuriye Gulmen & Semih Özakça, even though Buse has also been in hunger strike for over a month now.