Activist woman carries out vigil for her brother in prison

The families of prisoners have been carrying out a Justice Vigil for 29 days in the Amed Bar Association headquarters for the sick prisoners and the other prisoners who have not been released although they have completed their execution. İnci Güler Altındağ, sister of Abdülselam Güler who is in Diyarbakır F Type High Security Prison has been participating the vigil since the first day.

Altındağ said that her brother was arrested in 1993 while he was active in youth political organizations. Güler was deported to many cities, including Amed, Bandırma and Ordu, and was finally brought to Diyarbakır Prison. Güler is among the prisoners who were not released under the regulations made in the law on execution of sentences.

 “Actually, I’ve been fighting for my brother for 29 years. While he has been struggling inside, we, as his family, have been struggling outside,” Altındağ said.

THEY HAVE IMPRISONED US OUTSIDE

Altındağ pointed out that the state keeps deporting prisoners to distant cities to discourage relatives. “They imprisoned my brother indoors and us outdoors,” she said.

Altındağ added that she and her family travelled to the prison where her brother was deported despite the difficult conditions. She remarked that the state ‘punished’ not only her brother, but also themselves as a family. Altındağ said that her mother, who was bedridden for 18 years, kept saying “If only I had seen my son walking through that door before I died”. However, their parents passed away without seeing their son outside.

HIS WHOLE LIFE SPENT IN PRISON

Altındağ said that her memories with her older brother are rare and that they did not have the opportunity to get to know each other well.

“We grew up with my brother, but we had to grow apart because he went to prison. We were in despair when we thought about what my brother went through and the expectations of our parents who yearned for him. We still live in this desperation. For example, I got married after my brother, but my whole life has been spent for visiting him and finding solutions to my family’s problems.”

When Altındağ talked about the problems they experienced when they visited her brother, she became angry once again. She said that the state officials looked down on them during their visits. “Prison guards and people were all openly calling us ‘terrorists’. That’s why we used to go very early and wait outside the prison in order not to be harassed by them. We were allowed to talk to my brother for only 45 minutes. It was not enough for a proper talk. We used to be sleepless, anxious and tired. Moreover, the attitudes of the local people towards us were getting worse. We went to Bandırma once and we wanted to walk around the area because we had time. We wanted to buy ice cream. The ice cream seller had said that if he had known from the beginning that we were from Diyarbakır, he would not have sold us ice cream. We returned the ice cream and replied that ‘If you had come to our place, we wouldn’t even have asked for money from you’ and left. In Ordu we had similar experiences.”

The Güler family has always cared about Abdülselam. They have always been proud of him. Therefore, they are fighting the pressures and injustices against him. Inci Güler Altındağ wants justice to be secured immediately and her brother and all other prisoners to be released.