by Uzay Bulut • September 11th
Inmates in a jail in Şanlıurfa in southeast Turkey tell of the plight of 27-year-old Uğur Yeloğlu, who they say has been isolated and tortured so badly since his imprisonment seven months ago that his level of functioning is like that of a baby.
Yeloğlu was arrested in Istanbul in January for allegedly "aiding a terrorist organization." His lawyer, Abdülkadir Aslan, said that in spite of the many months his client has been in jail, his indictment has not yet been prepared by prosecutors: "The investigation file is also marked 'confidential,' so we do not know what it contains."
"Prisoners are beaten up and sometimes killed, when they refuse to roll-call standing up, give military salute, reject strip searches, or ask to see a doctor." — Report by the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
Torture and other forms of unlawful abuse are increasingly widespread in Turkish jails and prisons, under the rule of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (Photo by Getty Images)
In the early 2000s, after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power in Turkey, its leader, then Prime Minister (now President) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, proclaimed a policy of "zero tolerance" for torture.
In June of this year, Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül repeated the same mantra. "We -- as the AKP government -- are implementing a policy of zero tolerance for torture," he said.
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