HEDEP Mersin MP Perihan Koca said that there were serious human rights violations in Tarsus Prison.

Koca visited the prisoners and told ANF that that the conditions in the jail are getting worse day by day and the applications of the relatives of prisoners are ignored. Koca said: “Prisoners staying in Tarsus Prison are experiencing serious rights violations. Today, when the constitution is suspended and the most basic human rights are ignored, the problems in prisons are increasing exponentially. While torture and ill-treatment continue systematically in prisons, violence is normalized."

Insults, violence and punishments

Koca underlined the serious problems of hygiene, health, food and hot water in Tarsus Prison, and added that the warnings and applications of the prisoners and their relatives were ignored. Koca continued: “When they protest, prisoners are exposed to insults and physical violence by prison staff and are given arbitrary disciplinary penalties by the prison administration. They said that they wanted to have a meeting with the director regarding these violations, but all their attempts were unsuccessful. Phone call, open and closed meeting bans are imposed on them as disciplinary punishments whenever they object."

Forbidden to speak Kurdish

HEDEP Mersin MP Perihan Koca underlined that sanctions were imposed on Kurdish prisoners, especially in Tarsus Closed Prison No. 2, due to their language and identity, and said: “In recent weeks, a guard went to the ward searches and asked the prisoners to line up in a single row to count them while standing. When they objected, they reported being heavily harassed. During the counting and searches in recent weeks, the same guard imposed a Kurdish ban on prisoners! While the political prisoners were speaking Kurdish among themselves, he told them that it was forbidden to speak Kurdish in that prison. Those in the ward were given disciplinary punishment and a political prisoner was given a one-day solitary sentence for speaking in his native language."