On torture and imprisonment in Turkey: Author Asli Erdogan
Holger Heimann
April 24, 2019
For four months, Turkish author Asli Erdogan sat behind bars in an Istanbul prison. Now living in exile, she spoke to DW about the political situation in her homeland, and the long-term trauma inflicted by torture.
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After the failed military coup in Turkey in 2016, writer Asli Erdogan was arrested along with hundreds of others, including journalists who have spent years in prison in the country. In Turkey, which jails more journalists than any other nation, Erdogan remains accused of promoting "propaganda" and "incitement of the people." Today, the winner of the 2018 Simone de Beauvoir Prize lives in exile in Germany. She spoke with DW's Holger Heinmann about her time in an Istanbul prison.
Deutsche Welle: Your novel The Stone Building and Other Places tells the story of people who were tortured in prison and are forever marked by fear. Had you talked to prisoners about their experiences?
While I was writing the book, I had never been in prison myself. I had had a bit of experience with the Turkish police, but nothing more. I had read reports, though, and spoken to many people who had been tortured. When I listened to those people, I realized there was more to read between the lines. A great, absolute silence around this trauma. It was my intention as a writer to find a language that could say the unspeakable. Some things cannot be said. Even if you have experienced torture yourself, that part of you remains silent or screams. Such a tortured person is not a good storyteller. A trauma does not tell stories.
Can the words of a novel express this extreme suffering?
That's an open question. There is the famous saying that after Auschwitz no more poems could be written. It is an eternal, unanswerable question. There are always only temporary answers, new attempts and failures. Well, as a former prisoner, I have been confronted with this question once again. My task now is: "Come, you are the writer, tell me about your prison experience." But that's much more difficult than I had imagined it to be.
In the detailed foreword of your novel, you write about your own incarceration in 2016. How difficult was it to return to that time?
It took me several months to write that essay. I had to put it off over and over again. When I started, an eczema formed on my skin. I could hardly touch the pen. I had two psychological breakdowns. I burst into tears while writing. But at the end, I thought it was a necessary step that I had to take. If you just keep silent, you can't get out of the cell.
In the preface you write: "It is quite natural that one day what I said and wrote would happen to me myself." What do you mean by that?
Whatever I write happens, either to myself or to others. This sense of prophesying frightens me. For negative things are often associated with this prophecy. I was not surprised when I was imprisoned. I knew it would come.
At the center of your writing, both in your journalistic work and in your novels, are the victims. Where does this focus come from?
It is a conscious choice. The story of the victims is essential for humanity, for the world in which we live. Otherwise there would be a great emptiness, a lack of meaning. But on the other hand, this is not a completely conscious choice. I am, of course, like all other people, a product of my own past, especially my childhood, which was very difficult. I'm probably still trying to protect my mother from my violent father. But I am behind this choice. I am on the side of the victims. I am also a victim. Why should I show solidarity with the winners?
You came to Germany in 2017. What is life for you here like?
For me, life here is a transition, a bridge. I have not settled here. The perpetrators in Turkey are taking their time. My case is not closed, not even after two and a half years. I am trying not to take too firm a root here in order to be ready to pack my suitcase again. It is not easy to live like this.
Do you want to go back to Turkey?
No, I will probably go somewhere else. The hope of being able to return to Turkey is getting dimmer. Realistically, I should plan to stay abroad for at least the next ten years. There are very severe penalties for those people who are on trial in Turkey these days.
Does that mean you have little hope that the situation in your home country will change?
There are more than 300,000 people in prison at the moment. When I was arrested there were 160,000. Turkey is breaking one record after another: 170 journalists are in prison, many members and officials of the Kurdish party have been imprisoned. They are building new prisons; by 2021 the capacity is to increase to half a million. The situation is very sad, much sadder than what the German press reflects.
Charting Turkey's slide towards authoritarianism
Turkey's shift towards authoritarianism has been over 10 years in the making. However, in the aftermath of the failed 2016 military coup, President Erdogan and the AKP have accelerated their consolidation of power.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O.Weiken
July 2007: Abdullah Gul becomes Turkey's first Islamist president
After years of free market reforms, Turkey's transition slowly begins to reverse. Islamist Abdullah Gul's candidacy as president in 2007 marks a clear shift away from secularist policies, and strains relations between the ruling AKP and the military. However, with broad support from both conservative Muslims and liberals, the AKP wins the parliamentary elections and Gul is elected president.
Image: A.Kisbenede/AFP/GettyImages
September 2010: Constitutional reforms take hold
Then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tables a constitutional reform increasing parliamentary control of the judiciary and army, effectively allowing the government to pick judges and senior military officials. The amendment, which is combined with measures also aimed at protecting child rights and the strengthening of the right to appeal, passed by a wide margin in a public referendum.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Tumer
May 2013: Dissent erupts in Gezi Park
Pent-up anger directed by young people at Erdogan, Gul and the Islamist-rooted AKP hits a boiling point in May 2013. The violent police breakup of a small sit-in aimed at protecting Istanbul's Gezi Park spurs one of the fiercest anti-government protests in years. Eleven people are killed and more than 8,000 injured, before the demonstrations eventually peter out a month later.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca
July 2015: Turkey relaunches crackdown against Kurds
A fragile ceasefire deal between the Turkish government and the Kurdish rebel PKK group breaks under the weight of tensions aggravated by the war in Syria. Military forces resume operations in the mostly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. In early 2016, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) — a breakaway PKK faction — claim responsibility for two bombings in Ankara, each killing 38 people.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/M. Coban
July 2016: Military coup attempt falls short
A military coup attempt against the government shakes Turkey to its core and briefly turns the country into a war zone. Some 260 civilians die in overnight clashes with the army across five major cities. Erdogan, however, rallies supporters and the following morning rebel soldiers are ambushed by thousands of civilians on the Bosporus Bridge. The troops eventually drop their guns and surrender.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T.Bozoglu
July 2016: President Erdogan enacts a state of emergency
In the aftermath of the failed coup, Erdogan announces a state of emergency, leading to arrests of tens of thousands of suspected coup sympathizers and political opponents. Among those detained are military and judiciary officials and elected representatives from the pro-Kurdish HDP party. The purge is later expanded to include civil servants, university officials and teachers.
Image: Reuters/U. Bektas
2016: Crackdown on the press
As part of Erdogan's crackdown against supposed "terrorist sympathizers," Turkey becomes one of the world's leading jailers of journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders. The government shuts down around 110 media outlets in the year following the coup and imprisons more than 100 journalists, including German-Turkish correspondent Deniz Yücel.
Image: Getty Images/S.Gallup
March 2017: AKP officials try to stoke support in Western Europe
With a referendum on expanding Erdogan's presidential powers set for April 2016, AKP officials look to galvanize support among Turks living in Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands. However, the Netherlands forbids Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from landing in the country, while Germany opts to cancel two rallies. Erdogan accuses both countries of Nazi-style repression.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/AA/S.Z. Fazlioglu
April 2017: Erdogan clinches referendum vote
Erdogan narrowly wins the referendum vote expanding his power. As a result, Turkey's parliamentary system is abolished in favor of a strong executive presidency. Erdogan is also allowed to remain in power potentially until 2029. However, international election monitors claim that opposition voices were muzzled and that media coverage was dominated by figures from the "yes" campaign.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
June 2018: Election wins secure Erdogan's power
Erdogan secures a new five-year term and sweeping new executive powers after winning landmark elections on June 24. His AKP and their nationalist allies also win a majority in parliament. International observers criticize the vote, saying media coverage and emergency measures gave Erdogan and the AKP an "undue advantage" in the vote.