Abdülkadir Bozkurt is one of 38 prisoners who were transferred from Mardin Closed Prison to the Tekirdağ no. 2 F Type (High Security) Prison and were subjected to a strip search on their arrival. 20-year-old Bozkurt, convicted of membership of the PKK, had his clothes forcibly removed by 7 prison officers, with his head being smashed against the wall during the struggle.

Abdülkadir Bozkurt's elder brother Ibrahim, who went to visit his brother on 25 November, said his brother's face was black and blue, adding: "As if it's not bad enough to exile him far away from his family and friends, he was also beaten up by the guards at Tekirdağ prison. The prisoners are not alone. May the authorities not incite us to respond in a different way."

THEY SMASHED HIS HEAD AGAINST THE WALL AND KICKED HIM IN THE STOMACH

İbrahim Bozkurt said he could not get his brother's bruised and bloodied face out of his thoughts, adding: "My brother told me that the guards selected him and 5 others for special treatment on arrival at the prison. They read out the names one by one and put them in separate rooms and ordered them to strip. As he refused to comply with this humiliating order the guards piled into him and smashed his head against the wall and kicked him in the stomach."

DOUBLE PUNISHMENT

Bozkurt said his family was angry, adding: “On the one hand they talk about justice and democracy and on the other my brother is assaulted by 7 racist guards. Where's the humanity in this? They are trying to get us to react. I will not stand idly by while my brother is mistreated.” Bozkurt said that it was not only the prisoners who had a grievance. "My family lives in Urfa. When my brother was in Mardin prison we could visit him every week, but now he has been exiled how can we visit him every week? This is a double punishment."

Bozkurt added that his brother had severe bronchitis and asthma, adding that prisoners, including those with diabetes, were deliberately given greasy food, and that he feared his brother's health would worsen in Tekirdağ F Type Prison, where there is oppression.

Abdülkadir Bozkurt has suffered persecution and injustice from an early age. While still only 17 he experienced the sort of systematic oppression regarding as fitting for Kurds.

FORCED TO SIGN CONFESSION BY POLICE

While a student at secondary school Abdülkadir Bozkurt was forced into a police car 2 friends in March 2011 while walking in the Eyyübiye İmam Keskin neighbourhood of Urfa, where he lived. The youths were not told why they had been arrested until they were taken to the Urfa Anti-Terror Branch where they were flabbergasted to learn that they were accused of participation in a molotof cocktail attack at midnight of the previous day which had left a person seriously injured. Although they denied any involvement they were forced to sign statements put in front of them, following which they were taken to a court and remanded in custody for "Committing an offence on behalf of the PKK while not being a member of the organisation, and unauthorised possession of explosives".

LONG SENTENCE HANDED DOWN

Bozkurt was sentenced despite the lack of any evidence, but on appeal the sentence was quashed by the Court of Cassation. Prior to the final hearing of the retrial at Diyarbakır no. 4 Serious Criminal Court Bozkurt was suddenly transferred to Tekirdağ prison on 13 November. Therefore , Bozkurt could only appear by tele-conference at the final hearing on 28 November. He told the court he wished to attend the hearing, but was unable to do so on account of being exiled, but had his request turned down and was then found guilty of "Personal involvement in acts designed to separate part of the national territory from the authority of the state, and to establish a separate, independent state on that territory", and was sentenced to 13 years 4 months imprisonment.