Protest in Istanbul against deaths in prison

In Istanbul, a rally against deaths in Turkish prisons was banned and eleven people were taken into custody. An alliance had called for the action in the centre of Istanbul under the slogan “Isolation and injustice are deadly, freedom for the sick prisoners”. Even before the rally began at the end of Istiklal Avenue, HDP MPs Musa Piroğlu and Oysa Ersoy were surrounded by police. The other participants, including activists from the women’s movement TJA and the Peace Mothers as well as the HDP Istanbul co-chair Ferhat Encü, were attacked by the police.

In protest against the arbitrary action, the activists walked along Istiklal Avenue to the HDP headquarters, chanting slogans to draw attention to their cause. The police intervened again and again and finally besieged the building of the HDP association.

The HDP MPs finally made a statement at Galatasaray Square. Musa Piroğlu pointed out that seven people had died in prison in the past few days and that the state was simply letting sick prisoners die. The situation in the prisons is very bad, he said, as any protest outside the prison walls is brutally suppressed.

Oya Ersoy raised the case of the Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk, who has lost her memory in prison and is completely dependent on the care of her fellow prisoners. “She is sick and yet she is being held in a solitary cell,” the MP said, describing the action as a hateful vendetta. Such a procedure would only be conceivable in fascism, she added.

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