Nedim Türfent, a reporter with the shuttered pro-Kurdish news agency DİHA, has complained of degrading prison conditions in a letter he wrote from Van Prison, where he has been incarcerated since March 12, 2016.
Dutch journalist Frederike Geerdink, who was deported from Turkey in 2015, wrote about the letter on the independent writing platform Byline. The letter was published on Byline on Jan. 10. It was received by Türfent in December, although it had been sent nearly two months prior.
Türfent was convicted on Dec. 15, 2017 on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization,” although some 20 witnesses for the prosecution said in court that they had testified against the journalist under torture.
The journalist was handed down a prison sentence of nearly nine years for the conviction. Türfent says he was targeted for his work uncovering a video showing mistreatment treatment of a number of suspects in Yüksekova, a district of the predominantly Kurdish populated district of Hakkari, by Turkish Special Operations officers, who can also be heard hurling racist insults.
Geerdink wrote that Türfent’s letter was written to a woman who asked to remain anonymous.
“Iron, mass of concrete, wire fences, iron banisters and walls. I can glance at the sky through only one-palm point of view,” Türfent described his conditions. “A twenty-four steps courtyard to walk in, for ten hours a day. Namely, a climate as dark as pitch.”
He also said his privileges of contacting his family were reduced or restricted. He also wrote: “Every prisoner has the right of chatting, sports and courses, except me!” Türfent also said he had been stripped search once during his ordeal.
“When they put me in this cell few months ago, I had nothing to read, even books. I read the writing on the detergents,” he said.
To write to Nedim Türfent, please use the following address.
Nedim Türfent
Van Yüksek Güvenlikli
Kapalı Ceza İnfaz Kurumu
Koğuş A53
VAN, TURKEY
