AMED - The letter of Ferhat Önkol, held in Konya Ereğli High Security Prison, in which he wrote about the violations he experienced in prison was interpreted as "disrupt the unity and territorial integrity of the state".

 

The letter sent by Ferhat Önkol, who is being held in Konya Ereğli High Security Closed Prison, to journalist-writer Hüseyin Aykol on 22 November 2024 was confiscated. The Prison Administration Disciplinary Board convened on the same day for Önkol's letter, which drew attention to rights violations.

 

The reasons for confiscating Önkol's letter were listed as follows: "It is partially objectionable for the convict to send the letter as it is, in the opinion that it contains partially objectionable expressions due to the fact that it was written for the purpose of providing organisational propaganda, morale and motivation aimed at disrupt the unity and territorial integrity of the state, containing false and false information about the functioning of the institution, unwarranted accusations against public officials, slander, false and false sentences... If it is written by the convict, it will not be sent."

 

'THIS IS A SYSTEM OF TORTURE'

 

Prisoner Önkol sent a letter to our agency through his lawyers, which was interpreted as "disrupt the unity and territorial integrity of the state". The letter contains the following statements: "A 'strip search' was imposed when entering the prison... The other day I went to the infirmary, I asked the doctor 'I have difficulty breathing, can you refer me to hospital? I said, 'There is no urgency!' and I was not referred. The other day I hurt my ankle while playing ball, I was taken to the hospital and a plaster cast was applied. I couldn't stay in the cell in this state, so I asked to be transferred to a triple room at least until I recovered. But they refused to accept this. 'You can stay in the cell like this,' they said. There is more; recently, a seriously ill friend of ours, whose 'sentence' had ended, was told the following just to prevent him from leaving: 'If you weren't ill, you would have participated in the protests...' With this prejudiced, intention-reading nonsense, our friend's release is postponed. I think this is the end of the line... In fact, it is necessary to say this clearly; this 'well-type' prison system aims to wear people out both psychologically and biologically over time and even kill them. This is a system of 'torture'. Undoubtedly, torture is not only done with physical brute force; on the contrary, the most dangerous torture system is the kind of structures we are talking about. Of course, just as we have not bowed to this system until today; we will never bow after today. In these deserted wells, we will resist like Joseph. By stealing our sun, we will be an answer like a slap to those who aim to condemn us to their own dark mentality by illuminating our horizons. We will respond to those who want to create social collapse by embracing sociality more strongly. Even if we are physically single, we will live every moment with our society in heart, emotion and thought. We will be the owners of a strong struggle with the claim of a meaningful big beautiful life. In short, we will create paradise against the hell they want to create." 

 

'WE WILL NOT BOW DOWN'

 

Önkol gave the following message through his family: "Those who resist have the last word. As we will say when the times comes, let us say the last word now; Just as we have not bowed down to the system that smells of opression until today, we will not bow down as the remaining descendants of Seyit Rıza and Şêx Seîd. We will respond to the henchmen of liberalism who want to create social collapse by clinging more strongly to sociality. Let it not be forgotten that a Prometheus is hidden in the heart of every resister. Even though we are physically alone in cells with a narrow material space, in the spiritual infinite space, in the heart, şn emotion and thought, we spend every moment with our beautiful society. I wanted to send all my thoughts and the problems we are experiencing to the newspaper through a letter last month. But the prison confiscated my letter and told me that they would not send it as it was and that they would send it by scribbling more than half of my letter. I did not accept this either."