Mehmet Ertürk has been released from a Syrian prison after almost 21 years in prison. He has sunken cheeks and half of his teeth are missing. “It was torture, constant torture,” he said in an interview. The guards hit him in the mouth with a bat.
Until recently, the 53-year-old Turk was in an underground dungeon in Damascus. Prison authorities did not care that his sentence for smuggling would end in 2019. The guards were brutal and ruthless, Ertürk said. “During the day it was strictly forbidden to talk, there were cockroaches in the food. It was damp, it smelled like a toilet.” Time and time again there were days “without clothing, water or food”.
Bodies “thrown in garbage bins”
115 to 120 were placed in a cell designed for 20 people. Many died of starvation and their bodies were “thrown into garbage bins.” “They poured boiling hot water on a prisoner’s neck. The flesh from his neck slid down,” Ertürk remembers.
“Our bones popped out of their joints when they hit our wrists with hammers.” He himself did not receive medication because of his nationality. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Syrian ruler Assad to step down at the start of the civil war. “We Turks have been tortured a lot because of this.”
Hoping for death
Ertürk’s hopelessness was so great that he wished for death. “They took us to a new prison wing and I saw a rope hanging from the ceiling and thought, Thank God I was saved.”
The night he was released, the father of four heard gunshots and began to pray: “We didn’t know what was happening outside. I thought this was the end of me.” Eventually he heard loud hammer blows and within minutes the Islamist fighters had broken open the prison gates and released the prisoners.
Now Ertürk has returned to his native village, to his family. This is only ten minutes from the Syrian border. “My family thought I was dead,” the 53-year-old said. “We had no hope,” confirmed wife Hatice. Etürk’s youngest daughter was only six months old when she ended up in prison.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
