Mehmet Durak Karak has been in prison in Turkey for 29 years. He was first arrested after the military coup on 12 September 1980, along with six siblings and his father during a raid in his village Qûbika Çareba in Suruç (Pirsûs), and was imprisoned for almost four years. After his release, he was forced into military service. He was then arrested again and spent eight months in prison. The next arrest took place in 1989 for 18 months, and in 1992 he was imprisoned for three months. When he was arrested for the fifth time in 1995, he was already the father of six children and was sentenced to life imprisonment for separatism by a state security court.

Karak's release could have taken place after thirty years and was expected to take place in June 2025. However, as he learned in September, the prospect of early release on parole for the next six years had been removed from his prison statute. The next review is scheduled for 2031, and the note "life sentence" has been entered in the prison statute. The reason given is three disciplinary punishments imposed on Karak in prison. In 1996, he was punished for a hunger strike against the torture he had suffered, in 2006 for alleged terrorist propaganda in an application to the public prosecutor's office, and most recently in 2024, because "prohibited items" that were allowed in the previous prison were discovered when he was transferred to Erzincan.

Four family members in prison

Journalist Ceylan Şahinli from Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) spoke to Karak's brother Müslüm Karak, who said that the family has been subjected to repression since the military coup in 1980. In addition to his brother, a nephew is also imprisoned in Erzincan, his son is in prison in Ankara and his son-in-law is in jail in Kırşehir. "We currently have four members of our family in prison," said Müslüm Karak, adding: "On Sunday we are going to Erzincan to visit my nephew Baran Karak on Monday and my brother Durak on Tuesday. Then we will go on to Ankara. On Thursday I will visit my son Ismet in Sincan prison and on Friday my son-in-law Şükrü Karak in Kırşehir. Our life takes place mainly on the roads between prisons. There is talk of peace, but we are experiencing something different.”

Result of the unresolved Kurdish question

What the family is experiencing is the result of the unresolved Kurdish question and political isolation, explained Müslüm Karak. Although there have been hints of a possible peace process recently, the oppression in the prisons has become worse. “They want us to suffer,” said Karak. “We have not robbed or oppressed anyone. We are fighting for our people. Our path is right, and we will stick to it. We are not demanding anything for ourselves. We want peace to prevail and for Mr. Öcalan to be free and the ill prisoners to be released immediately.”

His brother Durak said during his last visit: “We are not afraid of punishment. We are expected to show remorse. If there was something to regret, I would have said it on the day of my arrest. Have I been in prison all these years for nothing?”