'Even the prison administration says Aysel Tuğluk is not in good health'

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Pervin Buldan on December 21 visited imprisoned former HDP deputy Aysel Tuğluk, who was diagnosed with dementia.

Despite a report by Kocaeli University stating that she can't stay in prison, the enforcement of Tuğluk's sentence has not been deferred.

Buldan, who had last seen Tuğluk before the coronavirus pandemic, told bianet about her latest visit.

Tuğluk "didn't seem good at all," she said. "Even one and a half years before, she was bad. But I saw Aysel Tuğluk much worse this time."

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Tuğluk is in a situation where she cannot meet her own needs, Buldan stressed.

"She is having difficulties speaking, recognizing [people]. She has movement limitations. The day when I visited her, they had taken Aysel to the hospital.

"I think the court board in the Kobanî trial demanded Aysel participate in the hearing via SEGBİS [video conference system] and they had taken her to the hospital because of this request.

"However, Aysel couldn't explain this to us. Her roommate had written this on a piece of paper and Aysel tried to show this note to us. But she was having difficulties even doing this."

"Everyone says the same thing"

"We directed her to show the note. We said, 'Aysel, raise your hand, hold it against the window.' Obviously, we are not always with her. I'm telling you what we witnessed in a 10-minute meeting. But both the prison administration and her friends staying with her give much more detailed information.

"They say Aysel's daily life has become much more difficult. We also met Gültan [Kışanak] and our Co-Chair Figen [Yüksekdağ]. They said the same things. They are not roommates, but Aysel goes to them sometimes and they stay together. Everyone says the same thing, they say Aysel needs a good treatment."

"The prison administration is aware"

"We also talked to the administration. The prison director and deputy directors are aware of Aysel's disease. The prison administration also says Aysel is not well. They say they have observed big changes in Aysel's behavior, movement and speech.

"Two officials even said they felt sorry for Aysel. 'We try to help her go to the hospital. We send people with her when she goes to the hospital. But some issues are beyond us,' they said."

"Great trauma"

"Aysel had a great trauma, we all witnessed that. When she went to her mother's funeral, she witnessed her mother's body being exhumed. This caused a big trauma. After this incident, Aysel wouldn't utter even a single word in our meetings.

*After a racist mob attacked the funeral of Tuğluk's mother in Ankara, her body was exhumed and taken to Dersim.

"We visited her many times after her mother's passing away, but she was silent in all meetings. She would never talk. After the disease began, she began not to remember things.

"The disease may not be irreversible, it may be slowed down at least. Aysel will get worse and worse, we have such a concern."

The price of doing politics

Tuğluk's condition is deteriorating despite medical treatment, said Buldan.

"She was given medication when she went to the hospital before. She uses those drugs but we see that there is improvement. On the contrary, she is getting worse.

"She had also been taken to the hospital when we visited her, but it was written in the note in her hand that the doctor had examined her superficially and sent her back.

"So, we can't say that she went through a very detailed examination in the hospital. Aysel's sentence should be deferred and her treatment should be done outside as soon as possible. We see that there is no other alternative.

"Aysel is a person who did politics and served as an MP and a party chair in Turkey. Thiefs and murderers are released, but Aysel is made to pay a price for doing politics in Turkey.

"Political decisions" of the ATK

About the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) report concluding that Tuğluk can continue to stay in prison, Buldan said it was a "political decision."

"This is a totally political decision. They don't do this only to Aysel. Almost all political prisoners get the same treatment from the ATK.

"There has been one death after another over the past week. People aren't released even in the last stage [of their diseases]. They are not allowed to be with their families in their last days."

"Don't remain silent"

Buldan called on all political parties, NGOs and human rights advocates to speak up for ill prisoners.

"As the HDP, we are working for ill prisoners, but only the HDP doing something about this is not enough. All political parties, civil society organizations, human rights advocates, luminaries and writers should create a public opinion." (RT/VK)