10.10.1996

Fatherland torture centre

Andrew MacKay spoke to Mehmet Osman (not his real name) in Istanbul, Turkey

“The police came at 6.30 in the morning. My children opened the door. The police immediately stepped inside. They asked if I was in, and then I was taken to the dining room and they asked me questions about people I did not know.

They insisted that one person in particular lived here and that if I did not give that person away, I would get 15 years in prison. I did not give in to this threat, so the police took me to a car. There were 20 police, three in uniform and the rest in plain clothes. On the way to the car, I was threatened and beaten. 

In the car, on the way to Vatan (‘Fatherland’) interrogation centre I was badly beaten by them and I could not walk when we arrived in Vatan because I was too weak. They forced me to keep my head bowed. If I raised my head, a policeman struck a blow at me. In Vatan, four policemen beat me when we were in the lift.

In a torture chamber, the policemen squeezed my throat. One of them put his legs round my neck and squeezed. They swore at me. Then I was put in a coffin cell.

A doctor came and examined me. He said, “He will die. Release him.” For three days after seeing the doctor, I was allowed to sleep and rest. The police kept me under observation to see if I would die. Then they told me that if I did not reveal the name of the person in my house they would kill my child. I answered that I did not know anything. After three days they let me go.

The police feared that I would die in custody, like Metin Goktepe [a journalist beaten to death by police while under arrest]. I am still ill. I look after four children. The policemen said they would drop by my house for a cup of tea. It was their idea of a joke.

The police asked if I was a regular purchaser of the newspaper Kurtulus [a leftwing weekly], and I was arrested on suspicion of supporting the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front [DHKC].

The police said that if I described to anyone else what had happened to me, I would be taken to Vatan again.”