The decree edict­ed on Decem­ber 24th impos­es the gen­er­al­ized use of a uni­form inside jails and when appear­ing in court for pris­on­ers accused of ter­ror­ism. Here is a dec­la­ra­tion by Sela­hat­tin Demir­taş against this addi­tion­al ignominy, known in Turk­ish as the “sin­gle out­fit” in jails.

Co-Pres­i­dent of the HDP, Sela­hat­tin Demir­taş, incar­cer­at­ed in a type F prison in Edirne since Novem­ber  2016, made a dec­la­ra­tion via his lawyers on Decem­ber 24, in reac­tion to the decree with force of law impos­ing the uni­form in prisons.

Let no one play with fire any further…

We will nev­er accept the gov­ern­men­t’s ini­tia­tives aimed at trans­form­ing fas­cism into a durable regime, through the use of an end­less state of emer­gency, and gov­ern­ment by decree. Hav­ing already lost the inde­pen­dence of the judi­cia­ry along withh con­di­tions for a fair tri­al, with the tyran­ny of the uni­form, we are in a true state of lawlessness.

Impos­ing the uni­form is a heavy vio­la­tion of the pre­sump­tion of inno­cence, of the prin­ci­ple of equal­i­ty and of the right to a fair tri­al. It is also the impo­si­tion of a dis­hon­or­able practice.

Whether putchists wear or don’t wear the uni­form is indif­fer­ent to us. But we will nev­er accept this dis­hon­or which puts tens of thou­sands of polit­i­cal pris­on­ers on the same foot­ing as the putchists.

Should we be giv­en uni­forms, we will tear them up and throw them in the garbage. Just imag­ine: rapists in suit and tie will receive reduced sen­tences. But the thou­sands of chil­dren in this coun­try, the poor, the work­ers, the ones with dig­ni­ty, the jour­nal­ists, politi­cians, aca­d­e­mics, will be forced to wear the uni­form. We will safe­guard the dig­ni­ty of our peo­ple and absolute­ly refuse the despo­tism of the uniform.

To those who remind us of Guan­tanamo, we recall in turn the resis­tance in the pris­ons of Diyarbakır, Mamak, Metris, Ümraniye, Ulu­can­lar. Here, we are not in Amer­i­ca, nor in Abou Ghraib. Let no one play with fire any further.

Rather than dress­ing in the uni­form, we pre­fer to wear a shroud. We call on pub­lic opin­ion to work as one in the face of fascis­tic oppres­sions, to stand togeth­er and seize the future.

1- The inter­ven­tion against the judi­ci­airy must cease imme­di­ate­ly, and the right to a fair tri­al be insured for all of the accused.

2- The state of emer­gency must be lift­ed and all the decrees with force of law tak­en under the state of emer­gency must be recalled.

3- Except for those direct­ly involved in the coup d’é­tat, every­one must be rein­stat­ed in their pre­vi­ous employment.

4- Ongo­ing tor­ture and dis­hon­or­able treat­ments in the pris­ons must cease, and their authors must be prosecuted.

5- In the name of Peace, of lib­er­ties and of the right to live togeth­er, the ille­gal iso­la­tion in Imrali must end.1

6- No to the impo­si­tion of the uni­form and SEGBIS.2

In the con­text of these expec­ta­tions and demands, we call on all polit­i­cal par­ties with­in Par­lia­ment or with­ought, orga­ni­za­tions with­in civ­il soci­ety, cor­po­ratist ones, unions and the entire Turk­ish soci­ety to come togeth­er and raise a voice against fas­cism everywhere.

As polit­i­cal pris­on­ers held hostage, we will resist with every means at our dis­pos­al against fascis­tic impo­si­tions. Not for our own sake, but for the dig­ni­ty of soci­ety and its lumi­nous future, we will take the risk, no mat­ter the price, and stand upright.

Sela­hat­tin Demirtaş
Edirne Ceza­e­vi
Decem­ber 24 2017

When tak­ing stock of the arti­cles in the lat­est Decem­ber decrees, one can only note they are a fur­ther step tak­en to stoke ten­sions and polar­ize Turk­ish soci­ety, open­ing the door even wider to the hunt against so-called ter­ror­ism, includ­ing brand­ing and stig­ma­tiz­ing with­in the jails and in pub­lic opinion.

These lat­est ten­sions denote a regime con­fi­dent in the face of even­tu­al “demo­c­ra­t­ic” con­dem­na­tions from the out­side, but gripped by haste at the domes­tic lev­el, as it faces pure­ly polit­i­cal dis­sen­sions, and an unfa­vor­able, over­heat­ed finan­cial envi­ron­ment. Over the years, we have become accus­tomed to the way the AKP leader revives fear, divi­sions and provo­ca­tions with the approach of deadlines.

From this revival of ten­sions by the AKP regime, we can expect resis­tance that may lead to new hunger strikes in the prisons.


Français : Sela­hat­tin Demir­taş : “Plutôt le linceul que l’u­ni­forme” Cliquez pour lire

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