Parliamentary request for Hunger striking prisoners by Istanbul Deputy

Regarding Hüseyin Özen, who is on a hunger strike to demand the fulfillment of his transfer requests from a high-security prison, DEM Party Istanbul Deputy Celal Firat submitted following petition to the Turkish Grand National Assembly’s Human Rights Investigation Commission on April 3, 2026:

TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATION COMMISSION

Hüseyin ÖZEN has been on a hunger strike at the Antalya Prison for 230 days; he is 56 years old and has dropped to 38 kilograms.

At the Antalya Prison, there are others like Tahsin Sağaltıcı and Gürkan Türkoğlu who have been sustaining their hunger strike for 250 days. Their health is deteriorating day by day; they even have to use wheelchairs to go to phone calls.

Hüseyin Özen’s 80-year-old mother and his siblings, along with other relatives of prisoners, have been sitting in protest on Yüksel Street in Ankara for 20 days to save their children and make their voices heard.

According to WHO reports, in so-called pit-type cell prisons, a detainee can stay for a maximum of 20 days. Here, however, they are expected to spend the rest of their lives there.

In these cells, there is no fresh air, no sunlight, no human voices, and not even a glimpse of the sky.

If a person has been sentenced, they are trying to serve their time in prison. But to isolate and confine someone for life is torture. These detainees are simply asking to be transferred to a prison that is not of the pit type.

I hereby request that the Turkish Grand National Assembly’s Human Rights Investigation Commission exercise its authority to visit the aforementioned prison on-site, take the necessary steps to ensure that the demands of the detainees—who are continuing their indefinite hunger strike due to the failure to grant their requests for transfer from Antalya Prison to another facility—are met before it is too late and before any deaths occur, and that I be informed of the actions taken.

April 3, 2026

Celal FIRAT

DEM Party Istanbul Deputy