Human rights advocates and families are urging the Turkish authorities to release seriously ill and severely disabled prisoners, highlighting the prolonged solitary confinement and repeated denial of medical parole for inmates such as Soydan Akay and Emin Aladağ.
Akay, who is held in Marmara L-Type Closed Prison in Silivri, Istanbul, has been hospitalised seven times since March, including three emergency admissions. Despite a history of heart attacks and multiple chronic illnesses, he remains in solitary confinement. His lawyer states that although Akay completed the maximum legal threshold of 30 years for conditional release in August 2023, the prison’s Administrative and Monitoring Board has postponed his parole four times without explanation.
Turkey’s independent Human Rights Association (İHD) has raised concerns over Akay’s treatment, claiming he was denied accurate medical information after suffering a heart attack in March. The group argues that ongoing restrictions on legal visits and communication violate Akay’s rights under Turkish penal law.
Şafi Hayme, a former cellmate and now a board member of the Federation of Legal Aid Associations for Families of Remand Prisoners and Convicts (MED TUHAD-FED), called for immediate state action. “There are hundreds of seriously ill prisoners like Akay. A new process has started, and if the state does not take steps, people will lose faith in it,” he said. Hayme referenced recent gestures by jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and said the government must respond in kind.
Protests have taken place in İstanbul and Ankara, where rights groups highlighted the cases of Akay and Aladağ. At the 681st weekly “F Session” vigil in İstanbul, the İHD displayed banners reading “Healthcare is a right, it may not be denied” and “Isolation kills, solidarity maintains life”. Family members and supporters carried photographs of the prisoners and urged the authorities to act.
Oya Ersoy, Secretary of the İHD’s Istanbul branch, said Akay’s imprisonment has violated both medical ethics and legal norms. According to Ersoy, Akay’s conversations with his lawyer are monitored and recorded, while his prolonged isolation since 2018 contravenes his legal status. “His health and life are being deliberately endangered,” she said.
In Ankara, the Freedom for Sick Prisoners Initiative marked its 553rd weekly protest by focusing on the case of Emin Aladağ, held in Elazığ High Security Prison. Aladağ, who suffers from multiple chronic illnesses and partial paralysis, has a certified 87% disability rating according to the Turkish system of diagnosis, which carries legal weight. Despite this, requests for external medical treatment have been repeatedly denied. Rights groups say his deteriorating condition makes it impossible for him to function without help from fellow inmates.
Adding to the scrutiny, Meral Danış Beştaş, co-spokesperson of the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) and a Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party MP, visited Marmara Prison on Saturday. In a post on social media, she said that the conditions for many inmates remain dire. “We saw 37 people held in wards built for seven. The prisons are overflowing—with students, dissidents and Kurds,” she wrote. Beştaş argued that discriminatory treatment against Kurdish inmates continues, and called for equal application of justice regardless of political opinion or ethnicity.
The treatment of political prisoners, including those who are seriously ill, has also become a subject of discussion in the context of ongoing peace talks in Turkey. Rights groups and Kurdish representatives say that addressing prison conditions and ending discriminatory practices are vital steps for restoring trust and advancing any meaningful negotiation process.
Meanwhile, official figures from Turkey’s General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Centres reveal that the country’s prisons are severely overcrowded. As of 11 April, 403,060 people were incarcerated in facilities built to house just under 300,000—an excess of over 103,000 inmates.
