'Half of my heart is in prison': Former HDP deputy Gülser Yıldırım calls for Aysel Tuğluk's release

Click to read the article in Turkish

Gülser Yıldırım, a former MP for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) who was released this week after six years in prison, called for the release of her fellow party member Aysel Tuğluk, who is kept in prison despite being diagnosed with dementia.

Both Yıldırım and Tuğluk were HDP deputies in 2016, when they got arrested on charge of "being a member of a terrorist organization," namely the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK).

Although Yıldırım was released on Tuesday (October 18), after a four-month overdue, she has been directly placed into house arrest. Tuğluk and Yıldırım also stand trial in the Kobani case.

The Kobanî trial is a legal procedure that unfolded after what is known as the "Kobanî protests" in October 2014, when ISIS laid siege to Kobanî a Kurdish town in northern Syria, protests were held in Türkiye.

The HDP had called for demonstrations against a potential massacre in Kobanî, resulting in thousands of people protesting, which with the onset of police violence resulted in the death of 46 people died and 682 people, according to the Human Rights Association (İHD). Many HDP members were indicted in the aftermath.

Yıldırım called for the release of Aysel Tuğluk as her physical condition is deteriorating. Tuğluk is held in one of Turkey's F-type prisons and is reportedly diagnosed with middle-stage dementia. Furthermore, the former MP called for the release of political prisoners. She stated that half of her heart remains in prison.

"Political prisoners... They have worked for democracy and freedom. This is already an honor for us. Our heads are high because of the struggle for freedom and peace. We will not be happy with this release, without seeing all the political prisoners outside, without a free and honorable peace, without a real democracy coming to this country.''

Aysel Tuğluk's imprisonment

Aysel Tuğluk was arrested on December 29, 2016, when she was the deputy chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

On March 16, 2018, the Ankara 17th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Tuğluk to 10 years in prison for "managing a criminal organization." The 16th Chamber of the Court of Cassation upheld the verdict.

A court ordered her arrest in the case concerning the 2014 Kobanî protests, where 108 HDP members are facing aggravated life sentences for having allegedly organized the deadly protests by orders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

On March 15, 2021, the Seka State Hospital in Kocaeli diagnosed Tuğluk with dementia.

At the hearing of the Kobanî trial on August 1, Tuğluk was forced to defend herself. "I don't know what happened and when it happened. I don't know what I'm on trial for."

At the hearing on August 5, the court ruled for her release, but her imprisonment continued because of her previous sentence.

The Constitutional Court on August 12 rejected an application for Tuğluk's release.

Aysel Tuğluk is still kept at the Kandıra Prison in Kocaeli.

About Aysel Tuğluk

Politician and lawyer.

She was the founding member and Co-Chair of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and elected Diyarbakır MP in 2007-2009. She became the Van MP of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in 2011-2015. She served as the Vice Co-Chair of the HDP responsible for Law and Human Rights.

Aysel Tuğluk was also a member of the Society and Law Studies Foundation Executive Board, a member of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and the founder of the Patriotic Women's Association.

Born in Elazığ in 1965, she graduated from the Faculty of Law of İstanbul University and worked as a self-employed lawyer.

(AEK/WM/VK)