Turkey : Number of students in Turkish prisons hits 2,824

There are currently 2,824 students in Turkish jails, recent numbers declared by the Ministry of Justice have revealed.

Ankara / NationalTurk – Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin recently released data in response to Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Manisa parliament member Özgür Özel’s parliamentary question regarding how many convicted high school and university students currently jailed were under arrest on the charge of “being a member of an armed terrorist organization.”

2,824 students have been arrested since Jan. 31, 2012, is the number according to Sadullah Ergin.

Within this number 1,778 students were arrested while the remaining 1,046 were charged but not arrested. Out of those arrested, 609 were arrested for “being a member of an armed terrorist organization,” while 178 students were charged without arrest for the same crime.

Have you ever been to a Turkish Prison, student ?

The Turkish Justice Ministry had no statistical data about the number of students alleged to have relations with more than one illegal organization, Ergin said.

CHP deputy Özel stated the number of arrested and convicted students was “terrifying.”

“It is above our estimations. Even the students unfurling banners about free education are charged with having relations to the armed terrorist organizations. The Turkish prosecutors trying to create criminals seemed to have achieved that,” Özel said.

Galatasaray University student Cihan Kırmızıgül was arrested for wearing a “poshu” scarf in Kağıthane in Feb. 2010 and was kept under arrest for more than 2 years. “Since the piece of cloth called poshu was used for the intention of a crime, it is decided on his confiscation according to the Article No: 54 of the Turkish Penal Code,” the court’s verdict for Cihan Kırmızıgül shown.

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