Turkish journalist Hüseyin Aydın who cried for his profession says I am about to drown, I want a little oxygen

Turkish journalist Hüseyin Aydın, who has been held in the notorious Silivri Prison in İstanbul for more than 2 years, has expressed his feelings in prison in a written reply to a questionary and stated that “I’m about to drown. I want a little oxygen.”

Jailed journalist Aydın, who has deprived of his freedom for 755 days (as of August 20, 2018), was born in Giresun prison in 1984. Aydın, the father of 2 children, was sentenced by a Turkish court to 6 years and 3 months imprisonment. Aydın has been one of the journalists who has been most affected psychologically by the dire prison conditions.

“How many times have I prayed Allah to take my life,” said journalist Aydın during his last hearing before the court on March 8, 2018, and added that “I suffer each and every breath. My memories with my wife stab like nails. I want to resist my guardian who pulled me out of meeting with my wife and my daughter.” Aydın also stated as he requested his acquittance from the prison that “The decision that you will now give is a death for the people in prison. My wife has been suffering dearly. Save me from this dungeon.”

Answering a written questionary of press freedom organization P24 in May 2018, Aydın had stated that “I’m about to drown. I want a little oxygen.”

Hüseyin Aydın started journalism in 2007 as a reporter in Cihan news agency, which was closed in 2016 over its affiliation with the Gülen movement. After working in İstanbul for many years, he was assigned to the Ankara bureau in 2012 and worked as a reporter at the Turkish Parliament. He returned to İstanbul in 2015 and worked for Cihan news agency and later for Samanyolu Haber TV.

Turkish people recognized him as he was dragged by security officials from a meeting organized by the GSM operator Avea on April 20, 2015. On that date, Avea had a sponsorship program to introduce the “Daylight Project” for children with disabilities. The guest of honor for the meeting was President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s wife Emine Erdoğan. Hüseyin Aydın had also come to the same hall to cover the meeting as a reporter.

Since President Erdoğan had launched a witch-hunt campaign against certain media organizations in the wake of the corruption scandal on December 17, 2013, which exposed Erdoğan, his family and his cabinet members, Avea’s officials had tried to remove journalist Aydın from the hall. They did not want a reporter from Cihan News Agency to appear at a meeting where the President Erdoğan’s wife is present.

Hüseyin Aydın, while was pulled out from the hall together with his cameraman Mehmet Küçük, had shown his press card and shouted that “What a pity!.. I am a journalist!.. It’s so embarrassing!” Nevertheless, Aydın, who could not digest the removal from the hall forcefully, threw away his press card. He could not control his tears, sat on and cried.

Journalist Aydın, who worked as a reporter for Samanyoluhaber.com as his last duty, went to  Görele district where his family was on vacation on July 18, 2016, just three days after the controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016. On July 25, as detention warrants were issued about him together with numbers of journalists, journalist Ayrdın went to Görele Police Department to give his testimony. However, he was detained there and sent to the İstanbul Police Department. He was arrested by an İstanbul court on July 29, 2018, and sent to Silivri Prison.

In an indictment written for 29 journalists, of whom 25 imprisoned and 2 wanted, at the beginning of March 2017, namely after 7 months of his imprisonment, Hüseyin Aydın was accused of ‘membership in an armed terrorist organization. Only some tweets, retweets and his bank account in Bank Asya, a legal bank, were shown as only evidence.

The indictment has also given place to journalist Aydın’s forceful removal from the program attended by First Lady Emine Erdoğan and claimed that “Despite he was not invited by the officials of the organizer firm, the suspect has tried to enter the program and he was defused by the officials. Thus, he had discussed with the company’s officials. According to the reports in the media, the organizing company began to not give ads to the propaganda organs (the indictment refers to the media organizations affiliated with the Gülen movement) within the scope of the organization starting from a year ago. It is also known that the Cihan news agency, where the suspect used to work for, was handed over the trustees over its affiliation with the organization. A black propaganda had been done in this media organization by claiming that media have been censored and the brand of the sponsor firm was tried to be defamed because it did not give ads to this news agency.”

Some of the tweets posted by journalist Hüseyin Aydın shown as criminal evidence in the indictment are as follows:

“They have not been satisfied! What kind of stomach is this..?”, “Fatih University has been the last bite in your throat inşallah!!!!.” (09.06.2016)

“The trial of (journalist) Hidayet Karaca and the jailed police officers was delayed to the last week of Ramadan…” (03.06.2016)

“When will this society show reflex (reaction) against the persecution to Hizmet (Gülen movement), against the rocket sent to Kilis province, the martyrs who fell every day, t against the rapes and the harassments?” (04.05.2016)

“Neither leaving people unemployed nor putting them into dungeons satisfy you! When you have become such crazy?” (29.4.2016)

“Last minute! 7 people, who were detained in Kırıkkale as part of the hate operation, were released.” (29.4.2016)

“They have also appointed trustees to the schools affiliated with the Gülen movement in Ordu province. There is no stop!” (4/26/2016)

He retweeted a tweet posted by Samanyolu Haber TV’s official Twitter account @shaber  “The trustee fired journalists in Zaman daily and Cihan news agency.” (29.04.2016)

Hüseyin Aydın’s personal bank account in Bank Asya was also described as a crime in the indictment by saying that “While there was 4,446 TL in his account in December 2013, it was understood that following the instructions of the leader of the organization (Fethullah Gülen) the amount of money in his account in July 2015 has been 25,506 TL.”

The first hearing of 27 journalists, including 25 arrested and 2 released journalists before the court was held on March 27, 2017, at the İstanbul’s 25th High Criminal Court. Journalist Hüseyin Aydın made his first defense there and refused the charges. At the end of the five-day trial, the court had ruled to release 21 out of 25 journalists. One of the released journalists was Hüseyin Aydın. However, following the social media campaign and direct intervention of the government to the judicial process these 21 journalists were re-detained before they were released from the prison.

Hüseyin Aydın stated on his third hearing on August 17, 2017, that “This is the 389th morning that I passed apart from my children. I ask you to understand me. After the court’s rule for release, they said that ‘you are going out from prison 20 minutes later.’ We did not know if a new investigation was being written at the moment. And that night I lost my passion for life. We begged them to take us to Silivri Prison. We were held in custody for several days as a torture. We were forced to lay on the floor. Was I seen in a tank? Was I seen with a gun? How can I be accused of bein putschist? How could I commit a crime by working for the Cihan news agency as a reporter? Do not charge me with this heavy crime, I can not carry it. I’ve been held in jail for 13 months. I want you to differentiate between the guilty and the innocent. I want to be acquitted.”

In his last hearing at the court on March 7-8, 2018, he defended himself for the last time by saying that “When I read the deliberation, I see that the claims can not go beyond doubts. I do not agree with the accusations of membership in the organization. It was not explained how, where and which motivations that I committed this crime. I have waited for 20 months to get an answer to these questions. I did not get an answer. I did not do anything other than journalism. The state received tax from my salary until I left the job. My 11 tweets were taken into the indictment. The prosecutor accuses me of making perception on the behalf of the organization. My Twitter account was not secret. The latest number of followers was around 7,000. The number of retweets of my posts does not exceed 5. How can I make perception?

With 5-10 tweets that you pick up selectively, you can put anybody that you want behind the bars for two years. We should not accept this. I have never tended to make the exploitation of emotion. But I have prayed many times that ‘God to take my life.’ I suffer each and every breath. My memories with my wife stab like nails. I want to resist my guardian who pulled me out of meeting with my wife and my daughter. I have committed no crime and there is no evidence that I committed a crime.”

At the end of the trial, one journalist was acquitted and 25 journalists were sentenced with penalties ranging from 2 years and 1 month to 7 years and 6 months in prison. Hüseyin Aydın was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison. Now, Hüseyin Aydın stays with Mustafa Ünal, the former Ankara bureau chief of the closed Zaman newspaper, and Abdullah Kılıç, the former columnist of the closed Meydan newspaper, in the same ward in the notorious Silivri Prison.

Journalist Aydın, who answered a questionnaire on May 24, 2018, as part of an investigation conducted by the P24 Independent Journalism Association in order to expose the conditions of the prisons and the difficulties experienced by jailed journalists, stated that:

“I am staying in a three-person isolation cell. I am here for 670 days as of May 24, 2018. I did not meet anybody except two people in the cell. I was not let to have any social or cultural activities. It is forbidden for me even to encounter anybody else.

“There is a mini football field. Other prisoners who are from various organizations could use this field. We are not allowed to use. (…) The meals in the prison are not good at all. They gave us ready-to-eat kind of foods, like ready-made meatballs. They give diet meals to sick prisoners, but they are not eatable. Therefore, we have to buy our foods from the canteen and that is, of course, a financial trouble for us.

“There is an infirmary in the prison. It’s a big problem not to be able to go to the hospital in case of an emergency. There is no doctor in prison at night. I am still waiting for an appointment for my tooth problem for months. Sending and receiving letters were prohibited for more than a year. The court eventually removed this ban, but it still takes too long time to get our letters.

“We could not get the newspapers that we want. We could get only what’s on the list of the prison. Many books and periodicals are forbidden. For example, Ahmet Altan’s books are forbidden.

“I have no lawyer. The visits of my relatives are forbidden. The visitors are not permitted except for the spouse, child, and parents. We have 1-hour closed visit per week, bi-monthly open visits. I have been not allowed to sit side by side with my wife. Visits by my friends are forbidden.

“None of the parliamentarians visited me. They have been visiting only some well-known journalists to benefit from their fame. I have been visited by neither a lawyer, a civil society representative nor a parliamentarian.

“As we were taken to the prison, a group of guardians maltreated a group of journalists, including me, at 2:00 pm on July 30, 2016. There were journalists who were held from their arms and dragged on the floor. Some of us were slapped in the locker, etc. It’s hard to complain. Wherever you apply to, they decide against you. We have been under great pressure.

“None of my requests have been met. I requested the sports facility and cultural activity, but the court rejected all. They did not even give me a second towel. They have not even changed the time of my visiting time. Only the prison administration’s decisions determine all here. They do not even assure a channel that we want on TV. Shooting photograph is forbidden. Sitting side by side with one’s wife is forbidden during the open visits. Sports and having talked with anybody is forbidden. Musical instruments (guitar, flute, etc.) are forbidden. Most of the books are forbidden. Only 10 minutes on every two weeks are allowed to make a phone call. We are searched by hand arbitrarily. We can not watch the TV channel that we want. We can not read the newspapers that we want. I am about to drown. I want a little oxygen.”

Turkey is ranked 157th among 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). If Turkey falls two more places, it will make it to the list of countries on the blacklist, which have the poorest record in press freedom.

Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. The most recent figures documented by SCF show that 237 journalists and media workers were in jail as of August 15, 2018, most in pretrial detention. Of those in prison 169 were under arrest pending trial while only 68 journalists have been convicted and are serving their time. Detention warrants are outstanding for 145 journalists who are living in exile or remain at large in Turkey.

Detaining tens of thousands of people over alleged links to the Gülen movement, the government also closed down some 200 media outlets, including Kurdish news agencies and newspapers, after a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016.

The post Turkish journalist Hüseyin Aydın who cried for his profession says I am about to drown, I want a little oxygen appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.

from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-journalist-huseyin-aydin-who-cried-for-his-profession-says-i-am-about-to-drown-i-want-a-little-oxygen/