As Turkey's government grows increasingly authoritarian, prison conditions, already a mirror of how the country is governed, have worsened. In today’s climate, even chanting slogans is criminalized and used as grounds for arrest. The newly constructed Y- and S-Type prisons, which surpass even the notorious F-Type facilities in terms of isolation, have become places where political prisoners are effectively denied the right to breathe. These so-called “pit” prisons, where sunlight is forgotten, and human faces are unseen, have inflicted such severe psychological and physical damage that many political prisoners have resorted to hunger strikes just to make the suffering visible. One of those recently released is 27-year-old Cafer Erözsoy, Esenyurt representative of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), who spoke to ANF about what he experienced.

Erözsoy emphasized that the closure of these “well” prisons, which disregard human dignity and pose a threat to all dissidents, must be treated as a top priority on the public agenda.

They pressed on my head and beat me for minutes

Cafer Erözsoy was one of 34 socialists arrested during a political crackdown targeting the ESP.

A metalworker by profession, Erözsoy noted that his participation in protests against trustee appointments and worker deaths was treated as grounds for his imprisonment.

He recounted that on the morning of 21 January 2025, armed special operations police raided his home in Esenyurt: “They broke down the door and entered the house with guns. After forcing me to the ground and handcuffing me, they pressed on my head and beat me for minutes. They kicked me in the stomach and all over my body. They demanded the password to my phone. When I refused, they started choking me. They tore the house apart for nearly an hour and a half. They confiscated legally published books.”

"They try to force me to give false testimony"

At the Istanbul Police Headquarters on Vatan Street, Erözsoy was deceived by officers who told him, “Your lawyer is here,” only to pressure him into giving false testimony against his comrades. He stated that he refused to comply.

Erözsoy also revealed that even before the political crackdown, he had been threatened by two individuals who identified themselves as police officers: “Before I was arrested, while walking down the street, two plainclothes officers grabbed me by the arms and threatened me. They said, ‘You will leave ESP and abandon the struggle. If not, you, your family, all of you, will suffer the consequences.’ In those days, I was not the only one. Many of our friends were threatened in the same way. Their families were also targeted. Some were even pressured to become informants. They said, ‘Join their ranks, spy for us, and we will pay you 30,000 Turkish lira a month.’ One day after we made a public statement about these threats at the Human Rights Association (IHD), our homes were raided, and we were taken into custody.”

The warden claimed there were no inhumane practices

After four days in police custody, Cafer Erözsoy was brought before the Çağlayan Courthouse and formally arrested along with 34 others. He was first sent to Marmara Prison in Silivri, but about a month and a half later, he and five of his comrades were suddenly transferred, against their will, to Karatepe Y-Type Prison.

Erözsoy recalled that as soon as they arrived at Karatepe Y-Type, the prison warden came to address them and said, “There are no practices here that violate human dignity.” Shortly after making that statement, the warden left and the torture began. He described how prison guards forced them to undress: “They pinned us down and forcibly removed our clothes, leaving only our underwear on. Then they ran my clothes through an X-ray machine. What’s most striking is that just before the strip search, the warden came and explicitly said there were no inhumane practices in this institution. As soon as he walked away, the violations against our dignity began.”

You can’t see the sun or breathe the air

Right after the strip search torture, Erözsoy said that each of them was placed in single-person cells lined up along the same corridor. He described the conditions as follows: “There are six single cells next to each other in one corridor. Each of us was placed in a separate one. The window in the cell has one metal bar and one wire screen, so you can neither see sunlight nor get fresh air. No air comes in. When we wake up in the morning, we don’t even know if it’s sunny or cloudy outside. We only find out during the 1.5 hours we’re allowed into the yard each day. The yard is on the middle floor, just 10 square meters, and it feels like a cage. The sky is blocked by electrified wires. You wait 24 hours just to see a tiny glimpse of the sky. The cells themselves are barely four steps long. Inside are the shower, a small kitchen counter, a cupboard, and the toilet. There’s no space to walk. You’re allowed 50 liters of hot water per day. If you take a shower, you can’t wash your clothes or dishes. Even if you do wash your clothes, there’s nowhere to hang them. When we were first brought to the cells, we were not given drinking water or hygiene supplies for five days. It was March, and even though it was cold, we weren’t given blankets. I pressed the call button for the guards many times, but no one came. It felt like being thrown into the bottom of a pit where no one hears your voice and no one exists.”

We were placed in solitary cells to refuse 24-hour surveillance

Erözsoy stated that they had submitted petitions requesting to be transferred out of the 'pit-type' prison, but instead of being relocated, he and two other prisoners were placed in a cell monitored by surveillance cameras 24 hours a day. He noted that these cameras also recorded the toilets and showers inside the cell. In protest, they covered the cameras, and for five days, they were subjected to constant threats by the guards.

Because they refused to accept such surveillance, the prison warden personally came and threatened them. Erözsoy continued: “Since we resisted the cameras, they forcibly moved us to solitary cells in the lowest floor of the prison, which was still under construction. No one had been placed there before us. There was no hot water, and the cells were full of construction sand. I cleaned the sand myself, and after four days, I told them I wouldn’t attend court unless they turned on the hot water. Only then did they open it. Shortly after, I began an indefinite hunger strike. Ten days later, I was taken to court for the first time and released with a sentence.”

'Pit-type' prisons must be shut down

Erözsoy emphasized that these 'pit-type' prisons were built to break the will of revolutionaries who could not be silenced through pressure, threats, detentions, or arrests. He stressed that such facilities pose a threat to all dissidents and said: “There are seriously ill prisoners in the Karatepe ‘well’ prison. I saw inmates in wheelchairs when they were brought to the phone. I saw prisoners with missing limbs. Just imagine these ill prisoners being held in solitary confinement cells. No one should remain silent about this. These pit-type facilities are places that violate human dignity in every sense. They are designed entirely to destroy a person’s mental health. Anyone who considers themselves human should stand against this, and the closure of these prisons must be brought to the forefront of public debate.”