Lawyer Gülizar Tuncer on behalf of IHD (Human Rights Association) Istanbul Branch and lawyers Ayşe Acinikli and Hüseyin Boğatekin on behalf of Association of Lawyers for Freedom visited Tekirdağ No. 1 and 2 F Type prisons where they met prisoners recently transferred from Muş and Mardin jails.

According to the report which was prepared following the talks with inmates, 60 prisoners were transferred from Muş closed prison to Tekirdağ No. 1 F Type prison on 8 November, 38 inmates from Mardin closed prison and 15 from Batman prison were transferred to Tekirdağ No. 2 F Type prison on 10 November.

The inmates transferred from Muş E Type prison told that they were taken by plane first to Çorum, then to Tekirdağ at around six in the morning after being informed about the transfer the night before.

All those transferred to Tekirdağ No. 1 F Type prison were subjected to naked search when they first arrived there, and were assaulted by prison officers when objecting to the imposition.

The report said that the prison administrator was at the scene and watched the incident as prisoners were assaulted and searched by force.

The prisoners were given their clothes after they were put in cells, but were denied all other things such as their books, magazines, notebooks and radios. They further faced disciplinary punishments, including the denial of visit and communication, due to the investigations the administration launched against them after the incident.

The inmates transferred from Mardin and Batman to Tekirdağ No. 2 F Type prison were hastily taken from their wards and didn't have any time and chance to take any of their belongings with them.

Among these inmates are also those with a chronic disease, disabled and seriously ill ones that cannot even go up the stairs. They were also exposed to naked search when they first arrived the jail. Four were assaulted by prison officers when they protested the naked search imposition.

Lawyer Raziye Öztürk on behalf of the Prisoners' Families Solidarity Association (TAYAD) and the Association of Lawyers for Freedom met the prisoners transferred to Edirne F Type prison.

According to the information obtained from lawyer Öztürk, 60 prisoners were transferred from Diyarbakır D Type prison to Edirne F Type prison on 13 November.

Prisoners were held in handcuffs during the whole travel and were kept waiting in the ring vehicle for four hours when they first arrived the jail. They were in the same way forced to undergo naked search to which they objected, and were later assaulted by prison officers.

Prisoners said the doctor of the prison was there during the assault, and remarked that they didn't apply to the doctor to receive a report after the assault because they “knew very well what report would be given by a doctor who watched them as they were tortured”. They asked the doctor why he didn't intervene, he said the search was a “routine practice”.

Prisoners were later put in cells and denied their traditional clothes as well as their letters, books, photographs, personal belongings and necessaries.

Kurdish political prisoners are also being denied permission to use their mother language in the jail. The letters they write in Kurdish are not sent and their phone conversation with their families is immediately interrupted when they speak Kurdish, unless they convince the prison administration before the conversation that “nobody in the family knows Turkish”.

Transferred prisoners raised particular concerns over the situation of two among them with mental disorders, Aziz Bayın and Şeyh Davut Başgan, who -they said- will be facing a more critical situation under the isolation they are being subjected to now.

The prisoners could have a bath only twice since the transfer and they said there was no hot water, nor heating in the jail and the food was very bad.

The psychologist they met after the transfer asked them questions such as “Do you admit your crime?”, “Does your family's attitude towards you make you sad?”. They protested the psychologist's attitude and didn't answer the questions.

Prisoners called on democratic circles to display solidarity with inmates who have been transferred to jails miles away from their families without any explanation.