Increasingly, many political prisoners in Turkey who have served lengthy prison sentences and who are reaching the end of their prison terms are being informed that their prison sentences have been arbitrarily increased. The conditions in prisons are not appropriate for healthy people either, but seriously ill prisoners have been living under severe conditions and human rights organisations have been continuously appealing to authorities to release the seriously ill prisoners immediately.
For 17 days, the families of seriously ill prisoners and of detainees whose prison sentences have been increased arbitrarily have been organising a ‘Justice Vigil’ in the Diyarbakir (Amed) province of Turkey.
The stated demands of the families who are taking part in the vigil are that seriously ill prisoners should be released immediately and there should be an end to ‘rights violations’ in Turkish prisons.
While the Justice Vigil continues under the leadership of the mothers, it needs to be appreciated that the mothers themselves have stories to share that are as concerning to hear as their children’s stories (i.e., those that remain in detention).
Fevziye Kolakan is one of the mothers. She is a 71-year-old Kurdish woman whose two children are behind bars. Her 47-year-old son Ahmet Kolakan has been imprisoned for 28 years and her 28-year-old son Mahsun Kolakan has been imprisoned for eight years. Mother Kolakan has been attending the vigil in Diyarbakir’s (Amed’s) Bar Association for 17 days, demanding the immediate release of both her sons, MA reports.
Fevziye Kolakan was born into a poor Kurdish family, married a man 25 years her senior – when she was only 13 – and gave birth to 14 children. By 1980, Kolakan and her family began to face state oppression. The family was consequently forced to leave the village of Sêdeqnê (Bayrambasi) in Silvan and settle in Bismil district. However, oppression against the family members continued in Bismil.
“When we were in Bismil, they raided our house every day. We were no longer comfortable, so we left our house and came to Amed.”
Six of Kolakan’s children were imprisoned on various dates because it was the price that Kurds ‘have to pay in Turkey.’ she noted, if they resist state oppression. Kolakan’s son, Ahmet Kolakan, has been imprisoned for 28 years and has been transferred to numerous prisons in Turkey to date. He is currently being held in Bandirma T-Type Closed Prison, while her other son, Mahsun, who has been imprisoned for eight years, is being held in Siverek Prison.
Mother Kolakay says while her children spend years in prison, her life has also passed by, often at the prison gates. She states that she is attending the vigil every day for her two sons and for the other sick detainees, adding: “I do not accept this persecution. I will pursue my children’s goal, and I will continue this struggle. I’ll be with them to the last drop of my blood.”
