DİYARBAKIR - Semra Özkan, daughter of Mehmet Emin Özkan who was not released despite having many diseases and having five heart attacks, said: “We cannot communicate with my father in any way. On the day of visit, we just looked at each other.”

 

Mehmet Emin Özkan, who was detained in Mersin in 1996 and later arrested on charges of being involved in the assassination of Brigadier General Bahtiyar Aydın in 1993 in Lice district of Diyarbakır, was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment based on the statements of two confessors. Later, in the testimonies of an anonymous witness in the Ergenekon Case, although Brigadier General Bahtiyar Aydın was confessed to be killed by JİTEM (Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization), Özkan has been sentenced to 26 years despite his serious health problems and his advancing age.

 

Mehmet Emin Özkan, who is currently 83 years old and held in Diyarbakır Type D Closed Prison, had 5 heart attacks during his detention. At the same time, he has health problems like blood pressure, goiter, osteoporosis, hearing-vision disability and memory loss. Özkan, who was not released despite  his illnesses, is getting worse by the day. Özkan's son Ahmet Özkan is also in the same prison.

 

His daughter Semra Özkan and his wife Emine Özkan gave information about the health status of Mehmet Emin Özkan, whom they met on April 17.

 

'HE DOESN'T RECOGNISE US ANYMORE'

 

Stating that her father came to the visiting room with a wheelchair, Semra Özkan said, “My brother and his friend helped my father come to the room. My father can no longer communicate in any way. We just looked at each other. He no longer recognises us or feels anything. He did not recognise his grandson. My father's health is not good at all."

 

'HE HAS TO TAKE 11 PILLS A DAY'

 

Özkan said: "My father was taken to the hospital for goitres and given some medication. But it did not work for him so they changed it. He has to take 11 pills a day. He has to be released immediately."

 

'ILL PRISONERS MUST BE AT THE AGENDA'

 

Stating that a solution should be found for all ill prisoners, Özkan said: “Something should be done before the ill prisoners die in prisons. No one cares about them when they're dead. ATK says that ill prisoners can 'be held in prison', but then the prisoners die. This is not acceptable. We want my father to live his last days with us. If he is going to die, he should die at home in peace."

 

'THERE IS NO JUSTICE'

 

Mehmet Emin Özkan's wife, Emine Özkan, spoke about the health status of both her husband and her son Ahmet Özkan, who is held in the same ward with his father in order for him to help Özkan. Informing that her son Ahmet Özkan also had lung surgery, mother Emine Özkan said: “Government says there is justice but that is a lie. My son is wasting away. He never had the chance to live his youth. I can't stand the this anymore. If he is not released, I will protest in front of the prison. Enough of this persecution." Özkan also protested the fact that her husband is taken to prison in handcuffs.

 

'I WILL NOT GET OUT EVEN IF I AM RELEASED FROM PRISON'

 

Emine Özkan said that her son Ahmet Özkan's sentence will be over in a year, but his son told her he will not get out of the prison even if he was released, to take care of his father and that he can not leave him alone like that. Emine Özkan said: "“Ill prisoners are living their last days in prison. If they're going to die, they should die at home. Prisoners die in prisons every week. Enough is enough."

 

MA/ Mehmet Gules