Silivri's changing sign, unchanging memory

That year, YouTube, the internet world's largest media platform, was founded. A massive earthquake struck Pakistan, claiming the lives of 75,000 people. Zülfü Livaneli resigned from the CHP, emphasizing the principles he believed in. Deniz Baykal was once again elected chairman. I am talking about the year 2005. That year, another event occurred that would leave its mark on the years to come; the foundations of one of the world's largest dungeons, 'Silivri Prison,' were laid.

We were only in the third year of the first elections the AKP participated in. In other words, we were still at the very beginning of the road. Millions of liras had been spent on a dungeon. We were competing with the world, but we were not competing with exemplary practices such as universities, health institutions, or scientific developments; we were bringing our competition to life through prisons. It didn't take long; three years later, this massive dungeon opened its doors to prisoners.

Who hasn't passed through the Silivri dungeon...

Academics, writers, journalists, politicians...

The country's former Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ, Generals; Çetin Doğan, Şener Eruygur, Hurşit Tolon and others; then journalists and writers; Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Ahmet Şık, Barış Terkoğlu, Can Dündar, Fatih Altaylı... Politicians; Tuncay Özkan, Enis Berberoğlu, Doğu Perinçek, Mehmet Haberal and nowadays Can Atalay, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Rıza Akpolat and others.

The Gezi, KCK, Ergenekon, and Balyoz trials...

The tents set up in front of Silivri, the justice vigils held, those resisting chest-to-chest against the barricades, Tarık Akan, Levent Kırca and others..

I never forget. Kuddisi Okkır, who was kept in prison as the 'treasurer' of Ergenekon, lost his life after being taken to the hospital due to health problems. He was the so-called treasurer of the organization, but due to a lack of money, his funeral was transported by a municipal vehicle. His wife, Sabriye Okkır, had said in those days that her husband had been kept in prison despite suffering from severe health problems for a year and was practically sent to his death. Her words were searing: “They took my husband from me without his medication, and returned him in a coma,” she had said. How could one not remember Ali Tatar, who was released nine days after being arrested on charges of plotting to assassinate admirals? After a re-arrest warrant was issued for him, Lieutenant Colonel Tatar placed himself in the stead of a torch and ended his own life. In his suicide note, he recalled the process of lawlessness carried out in the name of law, saying, “I am ending my life to be a light to this darkness.” and added: “If you continue this way, you will find neither an army to manage, nor a republic to live in, nor a country.”

Seventeen years have passed since those words. Silivri is still as we know it. Once again, names we know in the public eye as dissidents, politicians, journalists, and political figures are inside. For some reason, the paths of those close to the government rarely cross with Silivri. Apparently, journalists close to the government are doing their jobs in the best way possible; they neither write fake news, nor incite the public, nor commit crimes that would tarnish their profession. Dissidents are constantly and regularly subjected to all these accusations.

Well, are politicians any different?

Look, we have been talking about the operations carried out against CHP municipalities for months, but there is not a single municipality from the ruling party among them. In other words, they do their jobs so properly, so in accordance with the law, that let alone operations, they are not even called to the prosecutor's office. Merit, competence, public interest, they have it all; they are spotless. Moreover, even CHP municipalities that were accused of corruption until yesterday are suddenly cleared once they switch to the ruling party. One must take their hat off to such a miracle. What was Saadet Party Chairman Mahmut Arıkan saying, isn't it 'Ak Matik'? When things are like this, we cannot see the politicians of the party in question in interrogation rooms, in custody, or on the roads to Silivri.

The law does not see because the judiciary does not make a decision in this direction; the scales of justice always leave this side empty. However, as Erdoğan said, “one must recognize the court's decision,” because taking a stance in the opposite direction, in his own words, means “challenging the state.” But wait a minute, didn't that same Erdoğan say in 2016 regarding the Constitutional Court's (AYM) decision on Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, “I do not comply with this decision, nor do I respect it”? Similarly, wasn't the decision made by the AYM regarding Can Atalay also clear? Despite the decision regarding his parliamentary membership, wasn't Atalay still being kept in the dungeon? And let us not pass without mentioning a striking statistic: According to World Justice Project data, wasn't our country in 118th place out of 143 countries in the 2025 Rule of Law Index?

By the way, what exactly are all these data and the law telling us, how are they expressing the truth, do you hear it?

Let this question rest for a moment, and let us continue with the newspaper headlines identified with Silivri. If you remember, since the day this court was established, we have learned the allegations of the case and even the defenses of the defendants moment by moment from the press. From Taraf newspaper to Zaman and other media outlets close to the government, the case was practically tried in public. Most of the news did not reflect the truth and was retracted, but what of it? Similarly, the principle of the confidentiality of the investigation was constantly reminded, but who was listening? Most recently, the aforementioned media kept telling the story that there was an organization in the Aziz İhsan Aktaş indictment and that crimes were committed in line with the instructions of this organization. In the last hearing, the prosecutor requested the acquittal of the defendants, especially Rıza Akpolat, from the organization charges. A year went by with such accusations. Reputation was forgotten, the presumption of innocence, families, rights, law, and conscience were forgotten.

It was 2022, Silivri's MHP Mayor Volkan Yılmaz wanted the name of the prison to be changed. He said, “The district's reputation is being damaged.” The Ministry found the request appropriate and changed the name of the prison to “Marmara.” Thus, Silivri's reputation was saved. The name of the prison had become so notorious that a district did not want to be identified with it. But what about the discussions held about this prison from yesterday to today, the allegations voiced in the name of law, judiciary, and justice, the trials held from Türkan Saylan to İlhan Selçuk, from Gezi to today, the screams of rebellion of the prisoners; do they not cast a shadow over the name, history, and reputation of the country? What will we do about that? Do the events pass by with a sign order? Do the lost days come back? Will the signs give us the answer to these questions too?

One must not forget this: You can take down the sign that says “Silivri” and replace it with “Marmara.” You can paint the walls, renovate the corridors, and change the names. But you cannot erase a country's memory with signs. Because the issue is not the name of a prison, but the wound opened in people's sense of justice.

If we are still talking about the same problems today, if different segments of society, from journalists to politicians, from academics to young people, are still afraid of finding themselves in front of that door one day, there is not just a legal debate at hand. At hand is the question of how much a country trusts its own citizens.

And history has shown time and again:

Where justice is silenced, first people become lonely, then society becomes silent, and finally, the state loses its own conscience. This is the real danger. Because what everyone will need one day is not power, strength, or position, but a truly functioning legal order.