DEM Party Mersin MP and Social Freedom Party (TÖP) spokesperson Perihan Koca visited members of Muamma LGBTI+ and the Mersin 7 Renk Association who were arrested in the “Ailem Güvende” (“My Family Is Safe”) operations.
Koca told Velvele about the rights violations and alleged torture that LGBTI+ prisoners were reportedly subjected to at Mersin E-Type Prison:
- Mersin E-Type Prison, which has a capacity of 1,000; currently holds more than 3,000 people.
- A single ward is being used to house the 18 people arrested as part of the “Ailem Güvende” operations. The ward has a capacity of ten, and eight people are sleeping on the floor.
- Prisoners living with HIV are being held in solitary cells. They are reportedly being treated as though they were in disciplinary segregation. They are unable to access their medication and are being deprived of their rights to phone calls, mail and visits.
Koca said she had met with the prison administration to discuss improving these conditions and shared with us messages that some of the imprisoned activists had sent her.
Crackdown on the LGBTI+ community in Turkey
