Kurdish prisoner Kemal Çelik has been released after thirty years in Turkish prisons. The 57-year-old man held in the Şakran prison in İzmir province was hospitalised and operated on due to severe health problems on Friday. Yesterday was his regular day of release from prison, and today he was able to leave the hospital and be received by his family. Friends, board members of the HDP Izmir branch and members of the Aegean prisoners' aid organisation TUHAYDER also came to greet him in front of the hospital.

Çelik was 27 years old when he was arrested and fell ill in prison. Over the past thirty years, he has had to undergo several operations. Despite this, he never gave up hope, he said during the welcome outside the hospital: "Getting out of prison is not a success in itself. I am now no longer with my friends, and that is sad for me. However, I hope that they will also be released. It's hard to describe the feelings in prison. We went through very hard times, but we shared everything with each other. We did not bow down and I come out of prison with dignity. That is a success for us. The friends I left behind in prison will also come out with their heads held high. I always had hope and it was my conviction that made me survive these thirty years. Once I was on hunger strike for a hundred days, I wouldn't be able to do that now. People are strong through their will, and we believe in our will."

After the welcome, Kemal Çelik and his relatives left for his home in Siirt.

In recent months, many prisoners have been released in Turkey who were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993 by the now abolished State Security Courts. However, about 200 political prisoners are not released even after serving their regular sentence. No court decides on release, but a committee of the prison at its own discretion. Without the approval of this committee, the release from prison can be repeatedly postponed by three or six months on arbitrary grounds.