The Kaşif Kozinoğlu enigma!

I was elected as the 24th Term Muğla Deputy in the elections held in June 2011. After the registration in Parliament, an oath crisis erupted in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). 

The crisis lasted for nearly a month. The reason for the oath crisis was that the imprisoned deputies were not being released. The National Will was being trampled upon. As CHP deputies, we took our oath on July 11, 2011.

The participation of those elected by the national will—Engin Alan (MHP), as well as CHP's Mustafa Balbay (CHP - İzmir), Mehmet Haberal (CHP - Zonguldak), Engin Alan (MHP - Istanbul), Hatip Dicle (independent - Diyarbakır) (whose parliamentary membership was revoked), İbrahim Ayhan (BDP-supported independent - Şanlıurfa), Gülser Yıldırım (independent - Mardin), Kemal Aktaş (independent - Van), and Selma Irmak (BDP independent - Şırnak)—in the TBMM was being blocked.

As CHP deputies, we attended the general assembly during this special oath session wearing special national will badges on our lapels that read "Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation" and featured the silhouette of the TBMM.

After the oath, the CHP-CK (CHP Prisons Commission) was established. We started our work rapidly. Our first visits were made shortly after the oath, towards the end of July, to the imprisoned journalists and deputies. Alongside our parliamentary duties, our work in our electoral districts and our work regarding prisons were proceeding in parallel. 

Letters were pouring in like rain to Deputy Chairman and Malatya Deputy Veli Ağbaba from the prisons. Among the commission members, Özgür Özel, the Chairman of the New Party and Manisa Deputy who was new to political life, and several of our fellow deputies were going, meeting, researching, and monitoring the problems, complaints, and reports in the prisons without making any distinction among the inmates, and without ever getting tired. 

In early 2012, our commission took a close interest in the allegations of sexual abuse, violence, and ill-treatment that children detained and imprisoned at the Adana Pozantı Prison were subjected to, and we brought the abuse to the public's attention. As is known, the subsequent investigations and the closure of the prison are still in our memories. 

The Marmara (Silivri) High-Security Prison was one of the prisons we visited the most. We frequently visited Prof. Dr. Mehmet Haberal, Mustafa Balbay, Tuncay Özkan, Soner Yalçın, Doğu Perinçek, and many other detainees to discuss the difficulties they were experiencing and bring them to the agenda in Parliament. 

I was able to closely discuss and talk about the troubles of Tuncay Özkan and Kaşif Kozinoğlu in particular. Because I am a physician, they were also talking about very specific torture incidents.

A high level of anxiety could be read on Kozinoğlu's face. During my meeting with Kozinoğlu, he conveyed to me: "My dear Professor, they are constantly messing with my medications. They are changing them. They are going to kill me. Do something, or something must be done."

As a commission and as deputies, we frequently brought what we learned to the agenda in Parliament. At the same time, we were conveying the problems we obtained through questions or personal meetings to the Ministries of Interior and Justice of that day. But unfortunately, we were not receiving sufficient responses. The ministers in question were not sufficiently interested in what we conveyed. They did not lift a finger. 

At the point we have reached today, the Minister of Justice says that he has opened the file on Kozinoğlu's suspicious death. He is having the prosecutors and some officials of that day arrested. Is it enough? They should look higher and not neglect it. The processes regarding Kozinoğlu, from the L-type Prison ward officers and responsible personnel to his transfer from the prison to the hospital by ambulance and his death, must be examined very meticulously. 

Whether Kozinoğlu, who did his daily exercise and appeared physically healthy, had a heart condition or not during his first health examination after being arrested must be investigated.

I do not think the Kozinoğlu incident is a simple heart attack or murder case. I believe the mystery he carried behind him is as huge as an iceberg. 

In particular, his reports regarding Afghanistan and Central Asia should be examined and investigated one by one. We hope a result will be obtained. 

Opening the file is better than nothing. But there are some facts; I have deep doubts about whether today's government and the Minister of Justice can resolve this mystery.

I see the reopening of the file as an initiative and a show aimed at the upcoming elections. Unfortunately, at the ministerial level, they do not have the power to solve this problem.

While I have started on this subject, what is the state of the prisons at the point we have reached today?

The living conditions in prisons in 2011 have not been corrected or improved by even an iota despite 15 years passing. I can even say that they have worsened. 

I would like to address the government and the Minister of Justice: before the "My Family is Safe" operation, fix the poor living conditions in prisons that have been going on for years and have increased even more in recent years. Improve the safety and living conditions of the "detainees and convicts" who are under state protection. 

A general amnesty seems inevitable to make prisons suitable for our age again. What do you say?