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Turkey: Abuse claims pile up in Pozanti
Prison - Sexual abuse of Kurdish children in Turkish
prison
3.3.2012 |
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DIHA Photo
March 3, 2012
MERSIN, — Reports are coming through
regarding Kurdish children who were arrested in
connection with political actions and placed in
ordinary criminals' ward in Pozantı Prison. The kids
are claiming that they have been
sexually abused and
beaten by ordinary criminals.
“Upon arrival, we were forced to pass naked through
x-ray machines many times. The soldiers hit our
fingers while taking our fingerprints. Then they
took us to a dark room where we were forced to
undress. They poured cold water on us and hit us
with hosepipes,” tells V.Y. (17) who spent four and
a half months in the Pozantı Prison when he was 13
years old.
As sexual and physical abuse claims in the Pozantı
Prison struck the agenda similar stories pile up one
after another. V.Y. tells they stayed 25 of them in
a ward of 14 and had to call the wardens ‘Sir.’ Sick
prisoners were not treated and political prisoners’
right to social activity and visits were diminished.
Those who resisted the wardens were taken out of the
ward and they returned with their pants taken off.
V.Y. who was subjected to torture not only in the
Pozantı Prison but also in the police station and
the Tarsus C Type Closed Prison has applied to the
Human Rights Association (İHD) Adana Branch for
legal aid.
On the other hand, families are not happy with the
government’s solution to the problems in the Pozantı
Prison by transferring the prisoners to the Sincan
Prison. “Instead of transferring them to far-away
prisons where we will not be able to visit them,
they should improve the conditions of the Pozantı
Prison,” says Abdullah A. whose son C.A. (17) has
been jailed for six months.
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Mersin MP Ertuğrul
Kürkçü had a meeting yesterday with the Pozantı
Prison administration who denies the claims. In
spite of the fact that he was unable to get
information,www.ekurd.net
Kürkçü said the claims are real and should be
investigated.
At the same time, Mersin Association of Help and
Solidarity with Immigrants (Göç-Der) President
Selahattin Güvenç commented that it was the
government’s policy since the establishment of the
Turkish Republic to retain and abuse Kurdish
children, referring to the sexual abuse of forcibly
adopted girls after the Dersim massacre in 1938.
“This is a government’s policy. The government takes
away the children and subject them to harassment and
sexual abuse. It took place 74 years ago in
soldiers’ homes where girls were forced to go, it is
taking place today in prisons,” said Güvenç.
A commission from the People’s Republican Party (CHP) went to Mersin on Tuesday to investigate
the child sexual and physical abuse claims in the
Pozantı Prison. The commission visited İŞTAR Women’s
Counselling Centre and Human Rights Association
Mersin Branch. “The released children live in a
state of paranoia. They are very anxious, they
believe they are being followed and tapped,” said
Didem Gelegen from İŞTAR noting that sexual and
physical abuse has to be prevented in prisons and
child arrests must be made more difficult legally.
The Association of Socialist Youth (SGD)
demanded the Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin’s
resignation in Diyarbakır on Friday in a
demonstration to protest the child sexual abuse in
the Pozantı Prison. "The oppressive mentality of
December 19 which turned the prisons into bloodshed
has been replaced with a similar mentality turning
the prisons into torture centres for children. The
Ministry of Justice is responsible for all inhuman
treatment, sexual abuse and torture,” said Jülide
Ateş on behalf of the SGD. The SGD members
will send postcards to child prisoners in the
Pozantı Prison.
In Ankara, Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) and
human rights associations say that the transfer of
abused children from the Pozantı Prison to the
Ankara Juvenile Closed Prison is not a solution
because of several factors, one of them being the
great number of denouncements against the latter.
Human Rights Association (İHD) Secretary Emrah
Şeyhanlıoğlu noted that the transfer was not in
favor of the children whom the families will not be
able to visit in Ankara due to long distances.
Şeyhanlıoğlu criticized the few number of juvenile
prisons in Turkey saying, “There are only three
juvenile prisons whereas more than 2,000 children
are jailed in Turkey. This means children are
incarcerated together with adults.” ÇHD Ankara
Branch President Murat Yılmaz also underlined that
changing places was not a solution. “The real
solution is to transfer these children to
reformatories. Hospitals must be opened where
psychologists will ensure the protection from any
kind of abuse. The state is responsible for the
[sexual abuse] incidents. Because the state ignores
them these incidents increase,” said Yılmaz.
Meanwhile eight child prisoners jailed under the
Anti-Terror Law (TMK) in the Mardin E Type Closed
Prison declared on Saturday that they have gone on a
three-day hunger strike in order to protest the
sexual abuse incidents in the Pozantı Prison and the
isolation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Leader
Abdullah Öcalan.
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