Univeristy might not admit students after 19 months in jail
Univeristy might not admit students after 19 months in jail
Students Berna Yýlmaz and Ferhat Tüzer held a press conference on Friday (7 October), one day after being released from prison pending trial after 19 months in detention. The students are being tried on the grounds of posting a banner that read "We want free education and we will get it".
They stand accused of "membership of the DHKP/C terror organization" (Party and Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of the Turkish People) and "making propaganda for a terrorist organization" because they posted a banner calling for free education during the speech of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan on 14 March 2010. Both students were expelled from university while in detention.
Bianet website reported Berna Yýlmaz as saying: "We carried out this action for millions of young people who are suffering because of free education. We are symbols in this sense. We were released thanks to the public support and the struggle conducted by us inside and our friends outside. In prison I received letters of many people I did not know who expressed their support. I was very surprised and happy about this".
Ferhat Tüzer stayed in the Tekirdað F Type Prison and was then transferred to the Kandýra F Type Prison. He talked about the conditions of detention:
"We had heard about human rights violations in F type prisons before and we struggled against it but experiencing it personally was very different. From the moment you enter the prison they want you to undress in a disgracing application. If you refuse this, the torture starts. We received cell fines continuously. We were beaten. When we were taken to the doctor's, the bruises on our bodies were not written in the report".
The probability for the students who are being tried on terror charges to return to school is very low according to the statutes of the Higher Education Council (YÖK).
The coming hearing is set for 3 March 2012.
They stand accused of "membership of the DHKP/C terror organization" (Party and Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of the Turkish People) and "making propaganda for a terrorist organization" because they posted a banner calling for free education during the speech of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan on 14 March 2010. Both students were expelled from university while in detention.
Bianet website reported Berna Yýlmaz as saying: "We carried out this action for millions of young people who are suffering because of free education. We are symbols in this sense. We were released thanks to the public support and the struggle conducted by us inside and our friends outside. In prison I received letters of many people I did not know who expressed their support. I was very surprised and happy about this".
Ferhat Tüzer stayed in the Tekirdað F Type Prison and was then transferred to the Kandýra F Type Prison. He talked about the conditions of detention:
"We had heard about human rights violations in F type prisons before and we struggled against it but experiencing it personally was very different. From the moment you enter the prison they want you to undress in a disgracing application. If you refuse this, the torture starts. We received cell fines continuously. We were beaten. When we were taken to the doctor's, the bruises on our bodies were not written in the report".
The probability for the students who are being tried on terror charges to return to school is very low according to the statutes of the Higher Education Council (YÖK).
The coming hearing is set for 3 March 2012.
