Kurdish opposition party calls for end to inhumane conditions in Turkish prisons

The HDP said in a statement that "Turkey's prisons continue to be centres of ill-treatment and torture." 
Thousands of political prisoners are held in the vast Silivri prison, Istanbul, 2016 (Photo: AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Thousands of political prisoners are held in the vast Silivri prison, Istanbul, 2016 (Photo: AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) called on the international community to take action "against torture and inhumane conditions in Turkish prisons before even more people lose their health or lives."

The HDP said in a statement released on Wednesday that "Turkey's prisons continue to be centres of ill-treatment and torture." 

In January, the party called for action over sick prisoners in Turkey and the worsening health of jailed HDP politician and former deputy Aysel Tuğluk.

Read More: Pro-Kurdish party calls for action for sick prisoners in Turkey

According to an Apr. 29 statement made by the Turkish Human Rights Association (İHD), there are 1,517 sick prisoners in Turkish jails, 651 of whom are seriously ill. 

"In our statement of 18 March 2022, we recorded that the number of prisoners who had lost their lives in Turkey's prisons had increased by eight between last December and March," the HDP said. "Unfortunately, the number of people dying in prison is continuing to increase day by day." 

Read More: Kurdish prisoner in Turkey loses his life in prison due to health conditions

Therefore, the HDP called on the "international community, first and foremost the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and other relevant organs of the Council of Europe (CoE), human rights commissioners of the CoE and the UN, and other human rights organizations, to take action against torture and inhumane conditions in Turkish prisons before even more people lose their health or lives."

A number of ill prisoners have lost their lives in prison due to bad conditions and ill-treatment.

Thousands of HDP members have been arrested since the sudden collapse of the ceasefire between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in July 2015 and the failed July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. Those events, coupled with deteriorating relations between Ankara and Washington, drastically reversed democratic advancements in Turkey.