Elif and Baki Yaþ, two political prisoners who have been married for 20 years have spent 18 years of their married life in jail. Telling the story of the couple DIHA News Agency underlined that the two have not been able to see or talk to each other since 2004. The couple who refuses to use some rights given to prisoners under certain conditions is a living proof of the reality in F Type isolation-cell prisons.

"F Type prisons are products of a system planned to rid political prisoners of their political ideas. They cannot be improved with certain changes, they must be closed. The system must be destroyed. Elif and Baki who are aware of this fact refuse to use some of their 'rights.' Thus they have not been able to see each other since eight years," says Bakis' lawyer Sevinç Sarýkaya, adding that the question of prisoners' freedom is a basic question concerning all.

The Yaþ couple was arrested in Ankara on December 22, 1993 on the allegation of attempting to change the constitutional order with arms. They were charged to 36 years of life sentence.

"We were arrested together with my wife Elif. We were tried and charged. We spent 18 years in prison. We will be celebrating our 20th year together in a few weeks' time. Eight-teen of these years were spent in prison. We were not next to each other but our names were together in case files. Our next hearing is on February 28. Maybe they will take both of us to the court. So I can see Elif for a few minutes, whose voice I have not heard since eight years," writes Baki Yaþ in a letter.

Baki Yaþ is currently in Bolu F Type Prison as his wife Elif is in Bakýrköy Women's Prison.