MPs visiting Silivri also split up

CHP Izmir MP ATİLLA SERTEL writes for Cumhuriyet

We make our way to the Silivri dungeons and meet up there every month, sometimes twice a month. On entering the prison, not only will we visit all the remandees separately, they also split me up from Tuncay Özkan. 

KADRİ GÜRSEL
Kadri Gürsel has one wish and that is for the indictment to be drafted immediately and to appear before the judiciary: ‘The struggle for the law and democracy obliges me to keep saying the same thing here. Learned public prosecutor, draft the indictment against us immediately and end the extrajudicial sentence that has been imposed on us. Let us slug it out with your evidence, if there is any, in court.’
MUSA KART
‘You know, Ankara Provincial Governor of the day, Nevzat Tandoğan, said, “If communism is to come to this country, then we will bring it, too.” Today something similar is said. Throw the cartoonists inside and if humour is to be made, we will make it. That’s what they’re doing, as well. Look at the referendum. They have associated all those who are going to vote “No” with terrorism. I say it would tax the imagination of humourists and cartoonists to go this far.’
TURHAN GÜNAY
Turhan Günay is busying himself with increasing the number of books in Silivri. He is most grateful to writers and bookshops and also to the CHP’s General Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. He is grateful to the latter for standing up for the freedom of press and expression without discrimination and marginalisation, and for raising the issue of the remanded journalists at every group meeting. There were apparently 1,745 books in Silivri, and 1,700 of these were religious books. Now the number of books has reached 3,600. Books are flowing in from bookshops to Silivri.
BÜLENT UTKU
Bülent Utku speaks of harshening of prison prohibitions. He speaks of neither being able to write letters nor incoming letters being given to him. He stresses that this is the first time he has encountered such a situation in his time as a lawyer and that counsel may only visit the remandees once a week and only for one hour. He says, ‘Even under 12 September conditions a ban on letters was not applied.’ Another situation raised by Utku is that he says the time that has been spent drafting the indictment amounts to an extrajudicial sentence.
AHMET ŞIK
Ahmet Şık immediately summed up his own situation in an incisive comment:
‘First I was arrested and held here in a cell by the Fethullah Gülen organisation on account of a book that was not printed. Now, they have remanded me on the grounds of being a member of the FETO, PKK and DHKP-C. If, tomorrow, there is a RETO case, I will be detained and brought here again.’ Ahmet Şık is hopeful about Turkey but points to a threat and says, ‘Any kind of game might be played and any kind of trap might be set for people in Turkey to secure a “Yes” vote. Full alertness is the order of the day.’
AKIN ATALAY
‘We have paid the price by doing time for the crimes we stand accused of. We will be acquitted, but even were we to be punished, they have already made us overpay. We want the indictment to be drafted and placed before us. What else are they to investigate? Are they investigating our childhood?’
MURAT SABUNCU
‘Our hearts burn for our country. We have put ourselves to one side and we grieve for our country’s state. Each fallen soldier who comes from Al-Bab makes our hearts bleed.’
M. KEMAL GÜNGÖR
He says, ‘I have grown a beard for the first time in my life and that is out of necessity.’ Mustafa Kemal says that they have been held hostage and are waiting for the indictment in a case in which they are being prosecuted for ‘aiding and abetting FETO’ by a public prosecutor who himself is under prosecution for FETO membership.
HAKAN KARA
‘I have written nearly 3,000 articles in Cumhuriyet. They have been unable to find and place in the file a single article of mine that praises FETO or another terrorist organisation. Let them set out why we are here and what we are charged with in an indictment. Otherwise, let them release us. In the 12 September referendum, the ‘No’ ballot slips were blue and the envelopes were transparent. Those placing blue ones in the envelope were identified but, in spite of that, I voted “No.” Let them not deny us the opportunity of voting “No” in this referendum. I want to vote and hope for the best.’ Kara is sad that he is unable to follow the computer magazines Chip and PC Net. He says, ‘OK, computers cannot enter the prison, but I can’t understand why the magazines are forbidden,’ and continues, ‘We are not even able to receive letters in jail. Today we have completed 103 days. The indictment is still absent. We expect the indictment to be drafted immediately and to appear before the court. We also expect a favourable decision to emerge from the court.’
ÖNDER ÇELİK
Önder Çelik says, ‘The public prosecutor who is to draft the indictment against us is undergoing prosecution for FETO membership with a life sentence sought,’ and then adds with a laugh: ‘So, we are the assistants of the prosecutor who is to draft the indictment against us. We set out this situation to the judge who remanded us. He said, “But the presumption of innocence applies to the prosecutor and that’s why he is being tried on a non-remand basis.” We laughed. The prosecutor is under prosecution with a life sentence sought and is on pre-trial release, and we supposedly aided and abetted his organisation and are on remand. Let anybody with the brains to do so make sense of it.’
GÜRAY TEKİN ÖZ
He is for the most part seeking the news not reported on television and in the papers: ‘What is to appear in the indictment? They are going to include our articles. Can proof be given for a situation that cannot be? There are no documents and there is no information. An extrajudicial sentence is in place.’