Rights violations against prisoners in the prisons of Kurdistan and Turkey continue unabated. According to data from the Ministry of Justice dated November 2024, the release of 8,521 prisoners was blocked by the decisions of the Prison Administration and Observation Boards.
This number has further increased in the first seven months of 2025. In Bolu Prison alone, the release of 30 inmates, most of whom have been imprisoned for over 30 years, has been denied. Among them are elderly and seriously ill prisoners.
Despite repeated appeals by lawyers and human rights defenders, the board responsible for these decisions has not been dissolved.
In Elazığ Type No. 2 High-Security Prison, which has come under public scrutiny both for these delays in release and for torture allegations, prisoners have been on a rotating hunger strike for seven days to protest the mistreatment.
Serhat Eren, MP for Amed (Diyarbakır) from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), visited Elazığ Prison to meet with the prisoners. He stated that prison directors continue to violate basic rights and called attention to ongoing abuse.
Serhat Eren stated that prison officials are evading responsibility by saying, “What happens outside does not concern us; we only focus on the inside,” in response to the ongoing protest process.
Eren visited Elazığ Prison on July 17 and met with the inmates. He reported that numerous rights violations were conveyed to him during the visit. Most recently, he said, during a raid on one of the wards, a prisoner named Lokman Aslan was subjected to physical torture and was taken out of his ward and left waiting in a hallway for an entire day.
Eren pointed out that raids and searches inside the prison are carried out at arbitrary times, and that guards who enter prisoners’ rooms often behave abusively. He said, “Prisoners who resist these searches are beaten. Osman Aslan also reacted to this and was dragged out alone after his arm was twisted. He was then subjected to mistreatment and torture for an entire day in the corridor where he was taken. This is only one recent example. There are no humane or legal practices in this prison.”
Prisoners are returned without receiving medical treatment
Eren drew attention to the fact that sick prisoners in the facility are not being transferred to hospitals and described the situation as follows: “Beyond that, they spoke of many other violations. Chief among them is the denial of requests from sick prisoners to be taken to the hospital. Sometimes, they receive a response only after a year. Some inmates told me they urgently need treatment and must go to the hospital, but the prison administration continues to resist responding to these requests.
Furthermore, medical confidentiality between patient and doctor is not respected. Prisoners are made to wait at the hospital for hours, forced to wear double handcuffs, and subjected to invasive mouth searches. Because of these practices, which are incompatible with human dignity, sick prisoners are often returned to prison without receiving any medical treatment.”
Prisoners’ releases are being arbitrarily obstructed
Serhat Eren also addressed the issue of prisoners whose release has been blocked, noting that inmates are being asked politically charged questions about the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), and that the boards are making decisions independently of the broader political process.
Eren stated, “In the end, these are conditional release evaluations. During interviews conducted by the Administration and Observation Boards with prisoners who have served 30 years, they ask questions like, ‘What do you think about the PKK? Do you support the PKK? Are you a member?’ These questions are clearly asked with the intention of creating a pretext to extend their imprisonment.
In response, prisoners say: ‘How can someone be a member of an organization that has dissolved itself and declared its decision to lay down arms? Is it even appropriate to ask such a question?’ The questions themselves are malicious and directly aimed at prolonging sentences. It is a process filled with rights violations from beginning to end.”
The administration reveals its opposition to the process through violations
Eren stated that prisoners’ requests to meet with the administration to address their problems are also being rejected: “They are trying to block communication within the prison. When inmates request meetings with the administration to resolve potential issues, these requests are categorically denied. The response they receive is: ‘If you have an individual problem, submit it in writing. Otherwise, we will not meet with you.’
It is reported that the prison prosecutor and the current warden have said the following: ‘There might be a peace or resolution process outside. That does not concern us. We do not care about the process. We only deal with what’s inside.’
By adopting such an indifferent stance toward the ongoing process, they are further deepening the violations within the prisons.”
The Ministry will be responsible for any possible death
Serhat Eren emphasized that prisoners have launched a rotating hunger strike in response to these violations and that the protest will continue until the prison administration steps back:
“The prisoners are determined to continue their action until their demands are met. At this point, both the prison wardens and the Ministry of Justice bear responsibility. The administrations of prisons that oppose this process must be replaced.
From this moment on, the Ministry of Justice will be directly responsible for every rights violation, every act of torture or mistreatment, and for any prisoner whose illness worsens or who dies due to lack of medical treatment.
We call on the Ministry of Justice to fulfill its responsibilities, to immediately end these unlawful practices, and to recognize the crucial role prisons play in the resolution of this process. The way prisons are approached reflects the approach to the process as a whole, and we therefore urge the Ministry to act immediately to resolve these issues.”
Source: ANF News
