Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was sent to Ankara Sincan Prison after being stripped of his MP status. Gergerlioğlu has now shared a message on the situation in prison from his Twitter account, reports the Mesopotamia News Agency.
“I have been imprisoned because I said ‘there is strip search’. I have found a document proving strip searches in prison. In the booklet that is prepared for prisoners it says, ‘Even the underwear can be removed’. Where are those who denied for months, saying ‘I don’t believe’,” asked Gergerlioğlu on his Twitter account.
"Çıplak arama vardır" dedim diye cezaevine atıldım. Cezaevinde çıplak aramanın belgesini buldum. Mahkum yardım kitapçığında, "Çamaşırı bile indirilebilir" diyor. "İnanmıyorum" diyerek aylarca inkar edenler nerede? Gerçekle baş edemezsiniz.
— Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu (@gergerliogluof) April 10, 2021
Gergerlioğlu also stressed that “the Constitutional Court should be protected for democracy and law”. He criticised the conditions in prisons and said prisoners are not allowed to read books. “What does a person do in prison. He/she can read books but there is a restriction on books in Sincan Prison. The world wants people to read but here in Turkey the government is busy preventing people from reading more books or banning newspapers in prisons,” he said.
He also noted that those who hold power cannot hide the truth. “You cannot win the truth. I said to the police officers who detained and tortured me in the vehicle, ‘Human rights may be necessary for you one day, too. If you are persecuted tomorrow, we human rights defenders, will speak again for your rights.'”
He described the moment he entered the prison as follows: “I remembered the photo of the sociologist Ali Shariati on the cover of a book while my photos were taken from the front, left, and right. Tired, with long beards but thinking eyes… He won, and we will win too.”
He gave examples from people in history who resisted against oppression. “The thinker Bruno, who was burned by the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, refused to apologise in the face of fire. Regardless of religious views, we will write the resistance in history.”
Gergerlioğlu also shared the following messages from Castellio, the 16th century theologian. “‘Oh, you blind! The ones who live in darkness! You liars! When will you see the truth? What about you judges? When will you stop shedding human blood with your arbitrary decisions’ – Castellio.
“‘Seeking the truth and expressing it as one thinks can never be a crime. Nobody can be forced into a belief, faith is free’ – Castellio.”
