Anxiety.
That’s the prevailing mood for the past year. Sometimes the
anxiety is aimless and sometimes it is a divination.
On Monday, my sister-in-law received a call from her father.
Monday are the days prisoners at Silivri get a phone call. She said his voice
sounded strange—subdued, morose. We found out that a hunger strike was planned
among the prisoners in the KCK case. We had no idea if my father-in-law would
be among the strikers. His name was missing from the official lists, but it was
clear from his voice that something was wrong. The trial is resuming next week.
The visitation this week was canceled—the prisoners themselves were boycotting
visits as a means of protest. We would have no news for a while.
Tuesday, my wife, determined to see her father and find out
if he was okay, arranged a car and a lawyer to go with her to Silivri—while
family could not get in, most likely a lawyer would be let through. The only
trouble was finding a driver—we called friends, friends of friends, and friends
of those, but there was no one who knew how to drive (imagine having that
problem in the States!) She was talking about driving out there on her own—a thought
which terrified me, given her lack of experience. It looked like we might have
to give up the trip, but something was nagging at her and she had to get out
there somehow. I was about to call in to work to make the drive myself when a
friend came through at the last minute.
The rest I heard from my wife herself.
The prison was eerily empty—the crowds of visitors for the
KCK inmates missing, home because of the protest. The lawyer was let in and met
with my father-in-law, Kemal Seven, who was extremely pleased to see him.
Something had happened, and in their isolation, he had feared no one would ever
find out.
My wife’s instincts had been correct.
Tuesday, September 25th, 10 of the 99 detainees remaining
from this particular round-up began a hunger strike. They wrote a petition to
the prison announcing the strike so that later the officials could not claim
ignorance should something happen later on. The remaining 89 prisoners wrote a
petition of their own declaring their support. Sometime the same day, roughly
between 40 to 50 guards and riot police in
full gear (this means shields, gas masks, billy clubs and pepper gas) gathered
at the door of the prisoners wards. Among them were the assistant warden and
the chief of the prison guards. They entered the cells to take away the hunger
strikers. Apparently, they were taking them to one-person cells isolated from
the others. Their comrades did not want to give them up—they feared that in a
few days the strikers would no longer be able to take care of themselves, and
expected little help or understanding from the prison officials. Thus, they
tried to prevent the guards from taking them awa. The guards attacked. Everyone
was beaten (Remember, please, that resistance or no, many of these men are
around 60 years old with a host of ailments ranging from heart disease to
diabetes). The ten hunger strikers and 2 other prisoners were taken away. None
of their belongings were removed from the cells and they’ve had no word of
where they’ve been taken. The others worry because, on hunger strike, of
course, they need to drink water and sugar water quite regularly and there has
been no sign of anyone making provisions for that.
The remaining 89 have refused food since Tuesday in
solidarity. I’m posting this on a Saturday, so this might have changed. The
trial will resume Monday. Most likely with the reading of the 2,500 page
indictment-I think after 10 days in July we left off on page three hundred and
something.
Türçesi (Özet)
Silivri L Tipi
Cezaevinde, KCK davasından tutuklu bulunan 99 tutukludan 10 kişi süresiz
dönüşümsüz açlık görevine başladılar.
Bir dilekçe yazıp, hapishaneye bildirmişler. Kalan 89 kişiden bu arkadaşları destek
verdiği diye bir dilekçe yazmışlar.
Sonra robokop şeklinde 20-25 hapishanenin gardiyanı ikinci müdür ve başgardiyan
koğuş kapılarını açmışlar bu on kişi alıp bir tek kişilik hücre götürmek
istemişler. (Bu arada koğuşlar 18
kişilik. 99 kişi kalıyor, bu koğuşlarda, her koğuşa gardiyanlar dağıtılmış). Dün Salı günü yaklaşık 40-50 kişi yarısı
gardiyan yarısı robokop şeklinde, koğuşlara girmişler. Koğuşlardakiler tabii ki
arkadaşlarını bırakmak istemdiler (Çünkü bu 10 kişi 10 gün sonra kendi
ihtiyaçlarına bakamayacaklardı). Direnmişler. Gardiyanlar onlara darp
etmişler. 10 grevlileri götürmüşler bir
de direnen kişi den iki kişi daha. Bu 12 kişinin nereye götürüldüğünden koğuş
arkadaşlarının haberi yok. Henüz gardiyanlar gelip onların eşyalarını
götürmemişler. Açlık grevinde olan bu kişilerin su ve şekerli su almaları
gerekiyor, bu yazı yazıldığında kendilerinden bir haber alınamamıştı. Tüm
tutuklular Salı gününden beri arkadaşları destelemek amacıyla yemek ve ekmek
almıyorlar.
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