İZMİR - Known as a torturer, Haydar Ali Ak is on the agenda again with the pressures in Kırıklar Prison which he introduced himself as the continuation of another known torturer, Esat Oktay Yıldıran, the Director of Diyarbakır Military Prison. 

 

The hunger strike initiated by the prisoners against pressures and ill treatment in İzmir Buca Kırıklar No 2 Type F Closed Prison continues on its 44th day. 11 prisoners are on an indefinite and non-rotating hunger strike, while the prison administration remains silent about it.

 

Selma Altan, director of the Aegean Association for Assistance and Solidarity with the Families of Prisoners and Convicts (EGE-TUHAYDER), spoke about the hunger strike and the violations of rights.

 

A NEW ESAT OKTAY

 

According to what the detainees in Kırıklar No. 2 Type F Closed Prison told them, Altan stated that prison director Haydar Ali Ak introduced himself as the continuation of Diyarbakır Military Prison Director Esat Oktay Yıldıran, and that a hunger strike was started as a result of the arbitrary practices of the director. Altan said, “The hunger strike was started against the pressure of the prison director. Because the director in question attacked all the rights of the detainees and subjected the detainees to ill treatment.

 

ISOLATION IN ISOLATION

 

Stating that the detainees kept in Block A for 20 years in the prison were forcibly transferred to three different blocks after Ak was appointed to the prison, Altan said that the top of the yard is closed with wires so that they could not see the sky, and that the detainees could not access fresh air or sunlight. In addition, Altan said the things the detainees bought from the canteen are confiscated by the guards and they were given disciplinary punishments for the last 4 months.

 

AWARENESS SHOULD BE RAISED

 

Emphasizing that 11 detainees went on a hunger strike against oppression and violations of rights, Altan warned that this number may increase gradually. Stating that the aforementioned pressure in the prison can be stopped by raising awareness, Altan said, “Haydar Ali Ak displayed the same attitude in the prisons he worked before causing prisoners lose their lives."  Expressing that it is now time stop him, Altan said: “The state has left the detainees in prison for dead. This is not something we will accept. We need to hear the cries of the prisoners. The time has come to put a stop to the rights violations that the detainees are going through. That is why I believe that we can only overcome this situation with resistance and solidarity.”

 

REPUTATION OF AK

 

Prison director Haydar Ali Ak had come to the fore with repression, violations of rights and practices up to torture in many prisons where he had worked before. Some of the news articles that appeared in some media organs during the time he worked in other prisons are as follows: 

 

RADIKAL NEWSPAPER

 

Radikal newspaper, in its news on September 3, 2011 with the headline "What's going on in Tekirdağ Type F", included the following statements: "Haydar Ali Director" uprising is taking place in Tekirdağ Type F Prison. Some of the 25 allegations against Director Haydar Ali A in a year are as follows: breaking one prisoner's arm, punching another, having a prisoner who does not say 'Good morning' to himself be sentenced to solitary confinement, collecting handmade pencil cases made of paper, turning the counts into torture raiding the wards of the prisoners and send those who resist to the 'padded cell'.

 

CUMHURIYET NEWSPAPER

 

The following are the news article written about Ak in Cumhuriyet Newspaper; "The detainees and convicts in Tekirdağ No. 1 Type F Prison, where violations of rights are experienced intensely, prepared a brochure describing the ill-treatment they experienced and the violation of their rights. Convicts emphasizing that complaints about violations of rights in F-type prisons are not investigated unless there is "death or media coverage"; said: "Most of the complaints we file are not progressed and they are covered up We have filed a lot criminal complaints against prison director Haydar Ali Al for torture and ill treatment. Ak was promoted instead of being held to account."

 

BİRGÜN NEWSPAPER

 

Naime Emlik Kara, mother of political prisoner Fikret Kara in Edirne F Type Prison, gave an interview to Birgün newspaper on September 24, 2017 about what happened in prison and Ak: "Political prisoners, including my son, were exiled from Edirne F Type Prison on the morning of September 11, on the grounds of the protests. Before exile, my son Fikret Kara was badly beaten and his ribs were broken under the leadership of chief guard Sinan Avcı, on the instructions of Haydar Ali Ak. Barış Aras, İleri Kızılaltun, and Ayberk Demirdöğen were put in padded cell tied up. More prisoners were exiled on September 12. Prisoners Sadık Çelik, Eren Odabaşı, Hüseyin Özen and Osman Beyazkaya were beaten and taken away. I will file a criminal complaint against Edirne Type F Prison Director Haydar Ali Ak and the prison administration. I am very worried and angry. We want those who tortured our children to be punished.”

 

 

MA / Hakan Yalçın