At the event in the famous Frankfurt Gestapo Prison of the Tenkil Museum, the panel on ‘Judiciary and Media in the Tenkil Catastrophe’, moderated by another exiled journalist Yüksel Durgut, with exiled journalist Cevheri Güven and torture victim lawyer Mustafa Özmen as speakers, attracted great interest.
Cevheri Güven, one of the journalists who was imprisoned in the past for his reporting, discussed the genocide and Tenkil process that started after July 15th, the difficulties he and his family endured, the current state of the Turkish media, rights violations against journalists and journalism in exile.
Underlining that the Turkish media is almost completely under the control of the Erdoğan regime, journalist Güven said that more than two hundred journalists in exile have an important role to play in restoring the democratic climate in Turkey.
Journalist Cevheri Güven pointed out that what was done to Kurds and Alevis in the first years of the Republic continues with the genocide and Tenkil process after July 15th and emphasized that torture and persecution must be recorded and insistently told. Güven also reacted to the recent increase in journalist arrests.
The moderator of the panel, journalist Yüksel Durgut, Foreign Relations Coordinator of International Journalists Association e.V., talked about his experiences during the Tenkil process and his imprisonment. Journalist Durgut stated that he had to undergo bypass surgery in prison but was in danger of death due to unfavorable conditions and inhumane treatment:
“They declared us terrorists overnight. The prosecutor did not ask anything about me in court. The trial was so short that even the 15-year police officer next to me was surprised. I had bypass surgery. They even took away the pillow I was pressing against my chest so that my stitches wouldn’t burst when I coughed. During the process, they even confiscated the house I bought from TOKİ. Despite this, I went and paid the last installment. Would a terrorist behave like this?”
Lawyer Mustafa Özmen also spoke at the panel. After July 15th, he was kidnapped in a black Transporter and tortured for months:
“I was thrown into a van by the police. They put a sack over my head. They started kicking and slapping me. They took me to a place called Çiftlik in Ankara, which journalist Cevheri Güven also mentioned in his publications. I was kept in a 3 square meter place for 92 days. I was subjected to all kinds of torture. They broke my teeth, electro-shocked me, kicked me, slapped me. Those who tortured me cursed my wife a lot. Because my wife tried very hard to save me. While I was being tortured, my wife left no place or door unturned. They were very disturbed by this. The torturers did not want this to be heard and told. That is why we must publicize the torture as much as we can. Their biggest fear is that one day their torture will be revealed.”
Torturers’ children will change their surnames out of shame
“Those who tortured me will be held accountable before the law. Even their children will change their surnames. Those children will be ashamed of their fathers. The head of intelligence in Kosovo was tried and sentenced. Those in Turkey will also be tried and held accountable.”