Writer Ayşe Düzkan from the 1000 Women Campaign Group for Aysel Tuğluk said that it is against humanity that Aysel Tuğluk continue to stay in prison for another case, despite the release order in the Kobanê Case.

Writer Ayşe Düzkan spoke to ANF about the fact that Aysel Tuğluk was not released despite a Kocaeli Medical Faculty report saying that she could not stay in prison. Düzkan said: “The Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) report said Aysel Tuğluk said that she had criminal liability at the time the alleged crimes were committed, but this is not our point. Our point is that it is against humanity to keep Aysel Tuğluk in prison. Çevik Bir, a general involved in the 28 February, was diagnosed with dementia and was told he could not stay in prison. Here, we see a different kind of hostility towards our friend Aysel Tuğluk and other ill prisoners. If you fight for freedom, justice and peace like Aysel, and especially if you are Kurdish and a woman, anything can happen to you. Not even being ill can save you. What is done to Aysel is a message to others. This is actually a punishment outside the law. It is a sentence to death.”

People are sent to death

Drawing attention to the suspicious death of prisoners denied medical treatment, Düzkan said: “We saw the death of Garibe Gezer and many others. People are sent to die in many different ways. Aysel Tuğluk represents all these people for us. We are trying to fight for all of them in the person of Aysel Tuğluk. Ill prisoners need to get treatment according to the existing law, we are fighting for them to get that right. We believe we will win."

Düzkan said that although the release decision given to Aysel Tuğluk in the Kobanê Case is important, the court committee did not take responsibility to follow through. “The court knew that Aysel Tuğluk was convicted in another case. The decision is an important one, but we want the court to release Aysel Tuğluk as soon as possible, taking into account the Kocaeli report, which, unlike the ATK, is not the backyard of the government.”

Risk to life

Underlining that political prisoners are at risk for their lives in this period, as they always were, Düzkan added: “Like the 12 September 1980, 90s, and 19 December processes, prisoners are always at risk of life. What happened to Aysel and other ill prisoners today is unfortunately a continuation of what has always happened. It is very important for the public to be sensitive. Even participation in hashtag campaigns on social media is very important. We believe that Aysel will be our first friend to be released. And hers will be the first of many.”