Tunca Öğreten: We made fun of evil

Journalist Tunca Öğreten was arrested on 25 December 2016 charged with having reported on information at the personal email address of President Erdoğan’s son-in-law, Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak, that had been hacked by RedHack. Having spent 24 days under harsh conditions at police premises, he was remanded in detention. Öğreten, recounting that one of their legal consultants, Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, had said prior to the publication of the report, “There is no crime but you will be placed in detention,” spoke of solitary confinement and how they had “made fun of it.”

 -What was your first day in jail like? 

The 24 days that I spent under arrest was a bad period. I was held in a tiny cell with there being, at times, four of us. We slept on mattresses. The light above was on for 24 hours. We were able to go to the toilet four times per day. It was uncertain when that would be. So, I breathed a sigh of relief on entering prison. 

Feeling like a hamster 

- How did you plan one of your days? 

Time passed quickly if you were programmed. I woke up at 7.30 because there was a count. I read books until 10. Then the papers came. I read them until 2 or 3 pm. Then I returned to books. I started exercising at 4.30. I started to watch the news at 7. After having dinner, I watched television or read books until going to bed. I felt like a “hamster on the treadmill” going through this cycle. 

- How many months did it take you to get used to being there? 

Physically, I got used to it quickly. I created a living space for myself. Initially I found myself asking, “How long will I stay here? How long will I be separated from Minez (his wife)? When will the indictment come out?” All ammunition has a range. You can foresee how far a bullet or shell will go. You foresee nothing with this, because justice in Turkey has no range. In the first period, Erol brother (Önderoğlu) came to my mind. I thought we would get out in ten days like him. It was not to be. We might be let out after three months like Aslı Erdoğan and Necmiye Alpay. It was not to be. With the indictment also proving elusive, I said to myself, “Tunca, it looks like you are stuck here.” Up to twenty years’ imprisonment was sought in the indictment. I had reckoned that, given I had broken the record with 24 days under arrest, they would also slap down the stiffest possible penalty. I asked myself, “Will Minez wait?” I thought that I needed to do things from which I could derive pleasure. I did the strangest of things to amuse myself. 

Bud in the yard forbidden, too 

- What were these? 

There was mention of a summer holiday programme in a letter that came during sunny weather. The season was summer and, because I was still on the inside, I turned the chair in the yard round and made it into a deck chair and sunbathed. My cell mate poured water on my back to keep me cool. I created a holiday atmosphere. Then, a warder came and said it was forbidden. I said there was no item in the rule book that sunbathing was forbidden. He marched off. I played chess with the adjoining cell. I wrote my move on a piece of paper, wrapped it round a battery and threw it over to the other side of the wall. His own chess board was sitting in front of him. He wrote down his move and threw it back. You long for a living organism there. One day a bird dropped the flower bud in its beak into the yard. And I saw a flower for the first time in months. That brought back a memory which also involved Minez. To keep the memory going, I planted that bud in a pot I made by putting moss off the wall into a plastic cup. The flower bloomed. Then the wardens took it, because that is forbidden, too. You create the life you are used to on the inside. I spoke to myself in Minez’s voice and replied. We made fun of this evil. We made ourselves and those on the outside laugh. I also think that we dispirited those who were the cause of this, because we were not the Tunca and Minez they wanted to see. 

Bitterness on release 

- Many journalists were detained a short time before you, and after you. Did this scare you? 

It did so a lot, because, rather than there being a discharge, there is a charge. Drug smugglers, murderers and rapists go in and out but we could not get out. I met Ahmet (Şık) brother in the custody suite. I was walking to the toilet. A voice from behind: “Brother, what’s up?” I said, “Welcome.” The custody suite is the journalists’ regular haunt. It is a place like a bar you go to after work. Even worse is making this out to be normal. They remanded him in detention after fifteen days. People who are going to be judges and prosecutors should be obliged to stay in prison for a short while. They need to know what it is to be separated from your loved ones and freedom. Detention orders should not be handed down so easily. 

- How did you feel after having walked out of the main gate? 

I had reached a state in which I was incapable of placing much trust in anything. When I heard the decision, I said, “They’ll apprehend us again when we get out of the gate like Murat Aksoy and Atilla Taş.” Getting through that, I waited at home until five o’ clock. We have a dog. Its name is Jüliet. It used to get bored at home. A massive dog. When I took it outside, it used to run around like a mad thing. This is how I was after walking out of the main gate. We were in Levent to get food. When we stopped, I hopped and ran breathlessly around the cars in the street. Having spent one year in a 12-square-metre space, a person wants to run around like a dog that has been let off the lead. 

- Was there a bitter feeling as you walked out? 

You feel bad because there are people who are feeling and doing the same things as you and are no different from you left inside. It is your lot to get out and they are still in there. You also actually feel a bit of shame. Perhaps those who got out before us felt the same things. If Ahmet (Şık) gets out, his sorrow will continue, too. We will not feel at ease until the last person gets out. 

- How much does one change on the inside? 

You come out a totally different person. You only have yourself for company. There are two Tuncas. Both of them have a sword in their hand. You are battling with yourself. Whichever of the two inflicts the blow, you are actually the one to be wounded. You do battle with yourself as a kind of internal settling of accounts and concluding if you are right or wrong. This is a change for the good. 

“The warder trod on my foot at my wedding” 

The moment I loved most in prison was the moment Minez signed. I saw her for the first time in 64 days at the marriage desk. It was an absurd situation. The warder performed the traditional treading on my foot. I went through that awful procedure on the happiest day of my life. This is a paradox. It also has an absurd side to it. The warder trod on my foot instead of Minez. Then the waiting period started. I would wait for the visits that took place once a week. The week would find me pacing endlessly up and down. During visits, I felt like I had been in a coma and they had given me an electric shock to bring me back to life. You know how they talk about seeing a white light? That is just how it was in the visiting booth. I was very happy for those 45 minutes that kept me connected with life. Then life comes to a halt there.

Tunca Öğreten: Kötülükle alay ettik