Kaçmaz: There is systematic torture in Turkey, and its center is Imrali

HDP Şirnak MP Hüseyin Kaçmaz said: "There is systematic torture in Turkey, and its center is Imrali Prison."

The debate on the 2023 Central Government Budget Law Proposal in the General Assembly of the Assembly continues with the deputies taking the floor on the budget submitted by the Ministry of Justice and its affiliated institutions. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Şirnak MP Hüseyin Kaçmaz spoke about the isolation system in Imrali and the prevention of the release of detainees who have had their sentence completed.

Referring to the isolation in Imrali, Kaçmaz stated that the release of the prisoner, Çetin Arkadaş was delayed because he used the expression "Mr. Öcalan" and asked the Minister of Justice Bozdağ: "Is it a crime to say Mr. Öcalan? There are dozens of judicial decisions that it is not a crime, and there are statements by government officials in this direction. Minister, you mentioned zero tolerance for torture in your budget presentation. But the truth is not like that. There is systematic torture in Turkey. The center of this systematic torture is Imralı Prison. I ask: isn't isolation torture? Is social isolation practiced with isolation, not torture? Isn't it torture not to let the prisoners meet with their families and lawyers? Isn't the denial of the right to hope not torture? For years, you hid behind bad weather and a broken boat lie [as reasons for not letting families and lawyers go to Imrali]. Now, you are constantly applying absolute isolation with arbitrary disciplinary punishments on absurd grounds. We see that Mr. Öcalan and the other prisoners have been barred from visits on the grounds that they were chatting while walking and playing sports. Could such an absurd reason be behind this decision? Isolation leads to a deadlock on the Kurdish issue, the policy of war and conflict to come into play, the law to be trampled on, and the public's budget to be diverted to war, interest lobbies and warmongers.”