Political rows sheds light on MP’s torture tragedy

ISTANBUL

BDP MP Kışanak reveals that she was tortured in a prison in the 1980s. DAILY NEWS photo

Attention was brought to the torture cases seen in the infamous Diyarbakır prison in the 1980s thanks to a recent row between Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Gülten Kışanak.

In response to remarks from Deputy Prime Minister Arınç yesterday, BDP co-chair Kışanak said Arınç should sympathize not only with her, but also with the arrested defendants of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case, including those who saw their villages evacuated and with those who were victimized in prisons. On Dec. 16, Arınç said he too would “go up into the mountains” to join the ranks of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) if he faced torture similar to that experienced by a pro-Kurdish BDP deputy in Diyarbakır Prison. It was claimed that Arınç was referring to BDP co-chair Kışanak with these words. Later, Kışanak said “He should sympathize not only with me, but also with the arrested defendants of the KCK case, those whose villages were evacuated and those who were victimized in prisons.”

“I was very angry at a woman deputy from the BDP who is still in Parliament. But since I’ve heard about an incident that happened to her I don’t feel angry anymore. When she was only 17 she was exposed to such an immoral torture in Diyarbakır Prison that I would go up to the mountains if I were her.” Arınç said on Dec. 16. Kışanak, who was arrested while she was a 19-year-old student at Dicle University, served a prison sentence in Diyarbakır prison between 1980 and 1982. “They put out cigarettes on my arms and the scars left from the beatings of soldiers’ bandoliers on my ankles are still visible,” Kışanak said.

Diyarbakır prison became one of the most lasting symbols of the 1980 coup due to the reports of torture and execution.