Ayşe Berktay Speaks Up on Her Prison Days

“We are out now, but it is very possible that we might be jailed for the same charges. Anti-Terror Act must be abolished. Otherwise, democratic politics is impossible. Because they can consider anything legal in Anti-Terror Act as illegal,” said Ayşe  Berktay. 

Ayşe Berktay, an acclaimed translator, writer and BDP Party Assembly member, has been jailed in Bakırköy Women’s Prison for 27 months. Now she is released. Jailed on 7 October 2011 within KCK case, Berktay was released pending trial on 20 December by Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court 

Ayşe Berktay spoke up to bianet on her prison days as well as the peace process.

“I never ceased to hope until the day I was released,” she said. “Even though people had appropriated the peace process, there are serious obstacles on the way.” 

“Inappropriate process makes one ponder”

Were you expecting to be released on Friday’s hearing? 

I was expecting that the court would release few people. But I had no idea who these people would be.

What did you feel when you were arrested on 7 October 2011? Did you think that you would be released soon? Did you imagine that you would be jailed for this long? 

I wasn’t even at all expecting to be detained. When they did though, I wasn’t expecting to be released soon. When they detained everyone and transferred to police headquarters on October 3, I knew that it was going to take a long to be released.  

What do you think about the charges you faced?

It takes a long time to know what you were charged with. You only know that you are charged with being a KCK member in the beginning. We learned about the case details and so-called evidences after 6 months. Until then, we didn’t know anything. Our lawyers had no idea either. 

When I have heard the charges, I didn’t think how long it would take. I was rather furious. I thought what kind of absurdity I was in. It was a political operation, however the indictment was so unserious and absurd that you realized anybody could accuse anyone with anything. 

There are always political operations and there are always political attacks. But this was far way worse and inappropriate. It makes one ponder. It could happen to anybody. They can charge anyone with being an xxx organization member. They can just pick you up out of nowhere. Everybody should know that whatever happened to us could have happened to anybody.  

“Proving the whiteness of white”

How do you see the public response to the arrests?

I don’t think the public has any idea on what has happened so far. People only know about the general things. In order to grasp what is beneath the surface, one needs to know about the matter a bit. 

For example, the indictment considers Dicle News Agency as “the news organ of the terrorist organization”. What kind of an absurdity is that? Then you must close it down. It considers the one who does the bombing with those who bought the timer clock and nails of the bomb. It can be understood but who is going to prove that nails were purchased for the bomb? They don’t have such problems. This case has details and these details have very weird aspects. 

For example, I have been abroad several times. The indictment claims that I was travelling abroad within PKK activities since 1998. There are also many strange things happening in the court. 

Like what?

Two hearings ago, a defendant submitted a motion about charges that he was previously convicted. “This shows that you are inclined to crime,” the court responded. “This is why they added that to your file.” 

The worst case scenario is when you are captured for being a secret organization member. They consider all your legal activities as illegal then. One defendants said he was forced to prove the whiteness of white. I think he was right. 

“Even though I wasn't alone..."

What did you experience in the prison? Even though you received a lot of support messages from Turkey and worldwide, did you ever feel lonely and desperate? 

No, I never desperate. I received countless letters from people I know and I don’t know. This touches you, of course. Feeling alone is a strange feeling. Even though you know that you are not alone, you can sometimes feel that way. 

How was your typical prison day?

We got up at 7.30 am in the morning. We had a watcher at all times and we would rotate that. The watcher would go early in the morning and buy the bread, then prepare the breakfast, make tea and wake others.

As we were having breakfast, guardians would come and count everybody in the cell. We never had to declare it ourselves, they would come and count everyone.

Some would watch the morning news and others would listen to programs on Açık Radyo and Özgür Radyo. We would always feel the lack of internet. After 9 am, our solitary hours would begin. While some would patrol around the courtyard, others would just read.

This would continue until lunch at noon. Then solitary hours again. We would have our dinner at 8 pm while watching evening news. After 10 pm, it is the solitary hour again. Sometimes we would watch a nice movie on TV and other times we would chat about what was going on in our lives. 

How many were you?

The cells were for 24 people but sometimes the toll rose to 35. It was a matter of new arrivals and departures. Sometimes it even went down to 15 to 16. There were mothers, there were university students and there were women from party assemblies.  

“They don’t get you involved in politics anyways” 

During your imprisonment, a process has been launched on the Kurdish problem. How do you see that? 

There are obviously issues. These issues are raised not only by BDP, but also Qandil authorities and Öcalan himself. There is a high demand that this issue must be resolved within democratic means. This process has raised expectation on such means and people have in large appropriated the process .

People started to say that there is a Kurdish problem and that it must be resolved. 

Even though there are pressures from the people, the process doesn’t unfold very well. For instance, one of the basic issues is the enlargement of democratic politics. They say that the guns will silence and people will do politics. However, people are not allowed to do politics.

If you only mean to decrease the electoral limits by doing politics, this is not the main issue. This means that negative aspects will remain but guns will keep silent. 

Why don’t we call these guns “armed rebellion movement” instead of terrorism? Justice Minister claims that they would abolish the Anti-Terror Act when guns will be silent. 

We are out now, but it is very possible that we might be jailed for the same charges. Anti-Terror Act must be abolished. Otherwise, democratic politics is impossible. Because they can consider anything legal in Anti-Terror Act as illegal.

I think Gezi showed people’s determination on not to continue this injustice. However, we need to demonstrate this in every aspect of life. If we think that democracy is not only about showing up at elections every 5 years or so, we need to create a public pressure. Instead of submitting official inquiries, we need to create this pressure by strengthening the public opposition. 

It is us who will push the government to a further step. This is what democratic struggle is all about…

“Is this a prank?”

How do you read the rejection of release for BDP deputies despite the constitutional court verdict for Balbay? 

The rejection made me wonder whether Kurdish people are mandate people in Turkey. It is as if Turkey’s 8^th region is like the prisons, there are parallel lives here.

It was the same situation but two different decision were issued for jailed deputies. And they recklessly said that deputies didn’t make a personal application. So both ECHR and Supreme Court decisions are personal. Is this a prank? (EKN/BM)