NEWS CENTER - Süleyman Soylu who is at the center of Sedat Peker's exposé, says no one was tortured in his term at office in the Ministry of Interior. But there are countless of photographs proving people were tortured during his term.

 

Süleyman Soylu appeared at a TV show last night at HaberTürk, to answer the questions of journalists. Not responding to the majority of the questions, Soylu claimed that no one was tortured in his term at office.

 

Soylu said: "We are the interlocutor of Amnesty International. We have been giving a battle ourselves. We saw people tortured during the FETÖ period. We are helping Amnesty International to observe anywhere they want. They haven't written anything about torture in Turkey for the last 4 and a half years."

 

TORTURE CASES INCREASED

 

Amnesty International denied Soylu with a post on its Twitter account regarding calls for urgent action and reports of torture and ill-treatement in Turkey as well as many accounts on Twitter that shared photographs of torture during Soylu's term in office.

 

Cases of torture at the hands of soldiers, police, rangers and guards in the region refutes Soylu as well. The cases of torture in the cities of South East Turkey during curfews and in the operation zones sky rocketed during Soylu's term. While decisions of non-prosecution was made for cases that were proved with photos, the torture cases that made its way to the court resulted in impunity. 

 

PRISONS

 

Prisons are among the most important places where violations of rights sky-rocketed. Ill-treatment and violations of rights against detainees and convicts were reflected in the data of the Ministry of Justice too. According to the Ministry's data, 396 prisoners made applications because they were tortured, between 1 October 2019 and 19 June 2020. Again, hundreds of political prisoners announced through their families and lawyers that they were battered, forced to strip searches etc.

 

Some cases of torture and ill-treatment that took place after Soylu took office on August 31, 2016 and which had wide public repercussion are as follows:

 

December 12, 2016: Many people, including Viranşehir Municipality Co-mayor Emrullah Cin and his lawyers, were detained in Urfa and tortured in the upper floor of the TEM Branch. Statements of torture were reflected in court minutes.

 

February 11, 2017: During the curfew declared between February 11 and March 2, 2017 in Kuruköy (Xerabê Bava) in Mardin's Nusaybin district, a total of 39 people, two of whom are children, were detained. There was no news for a long time from Abdi Aykut, who was among those detained. Photos where Aykut, tortured reflected in the press. Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said, “Nothing is done outside the rule of law. That old man supports terrorism ”,  and he defended torture. Abdi Aykut and the 7 people accompanying him were released on 17 August 2017. The court acquitted all of them. Mardin Administrative Court sentenced the Ministry of Interior to indemnity on the grounds of "unjust detention".  

 

4-6 October 2017: Nude photographs of 7 people who were detained and battered on the allegation that they were "members of the PKK" in Ortaca and Seydikemer regions of Muğla were served. 

 

June 5, 2018: 4 shepherds who grazed their animals in Korgan Village of Semdinli district of Hakkari were tortured by soldiers. Diyarbakır, Van and Hakkari bar associations announced the torture with the report they prepared. 

 

June 9, 2017: After the attack on the Gevaş District Police Department in Van on June 9, 2017, 4 villagers who returned from collecting mushrooms were detained by the police. Abdulselam Aslan (32), Cemal Aslan (53), Halil Aslan (48) and Nejdet Beysüm (29) were subjected to severe torture by the police during their detention. The villagers were later released and the torture was served by many writers and newspapers close to the AKP with headlines "Terrorists in the tender arms of our police".

 

May 16, 2018: Temer Şengül and Mehmet Ali Avcı were battered by the police during house raids in the village of Şapatan in Şemdinli district of Hakkari.

 

May 16, 2018: Four people in the car, which was stopped by the police in Istanbul Bağcılar, were detained due to the air rifle found in the vehicle. Four people who were taken to Bağcılar 100. Yıl Kemalpaşa Police Station were subjected to brutal torture before being interrogated.

 

May 18, 2019: 1 commissioner and 2 HPG members lost their lives in the clash that broke out in the Halfeti district of Urfa. After the conflict, 55 people were detained in the neighborhoods of Halfeti and Bozova districts on the grounds that they were affiliated with the 'terrorists'. The photographs of the detainees who were laid face down in the garden of the Yaylak Gendarmerie Station while soldiers were trampling them with their boots on, reflected to the press. The mistreatment continued in Urfa TEM Branch. The detainees stated that they were subjected to torture, electrocuted, assaulted and the police officer squeezed their genitals. Some of the women said they were sexually assaulted.

 

September 8, 2020: Servet Turgut (55) and Osman Şiban (50), who were detained by the soldiers who were carrying out an operation in the Çatak district of Van, were thrown from a military helicopter and lynched by more than 150 soldiers. While Interior Minister Soylu denied it ever happened, it was claimed that Turgut and Şiban fell from some rocks. Osman Şiban, who suffered from temporary memory loss due to torture, was discharged and his house was raided and he was admitted to a military hospital by force. Server Turgut, on the other hand, died in the hospital.

 

30 May 2020: Muhammed Emir Cura, who was detained after the murder of a police officer in Bağlar district of Diyarbakır, was tortured in the police station. Şeyhmus and Menice Yılmaz, whose houses were raided within the scope of the same operation, were subjected to torture with dogs unleashed on them. In its statement about the incident, the governorship argued that the dog attacked them in reflex when the police was shot.

  

June 27, 2020: HDP Local Governments Board member Rojbin Sevil Çetin, who was detained at her home in Diyarbakır as part of the DTK investigation, was also tortured with dogs that were unleashed on her. No action was taken against the perpetrators of torture. 

 

18 July 2020: 3 people were detained after the death of a police officer in Istanbul were tortured at the police station. Photos of the detainees who were tortured at the police station reflected to the press.

 

March 18, 2021: DBP's Azad Polat stated that he was taken into custody and taken to Cizre Police Department, was beaten, electrocuted and threatened with his naked photographs taken by the police because he did not give his phone his password.

 

7 May 2021: F.B., who was detained and arrested in the Suruç district of Urfa. (25) was subjected to verbal and physical torture at the TEM Branch.

 

May 10, 2021: Some refugees in Harmandalı Removal Center (GGM) were tortured while their room was being raided. The governorship claimed that the refugees "resisted, damaged public property" and that the intervention was "within the legal framework".

 

 

MA / Gökhan Altay