VAN - Women who were subjected to strip search that is denied by AKP Group Deputy Chairperson Özlem Zengin, said it haunted them for months.

 

Discussions about the strip search brought to the agenda after the claim of the women detained in Uşak by Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Kocaeli MP and Human's Rights Investigation Committee member Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu continue. AKP Group Deputy Chairperson Özlem Zengin claimed that there is no such thing as strip search in Turkey and accused Gergerlioğlu of terrorizing the parliament: AKP's other Group Deuty Chairperson Cahit Özkan demanded a document proving people are being subjected to strip search. Uşak Security Directorate where the women are strip searched, filed a criminal complaint against Gergerlioğlu. Scores of people subjected to strip search on the other hand, told what happened to them on social media.

 

Nujin Yıldız and Aycan Altan who were detained on August 19, 2019 during protests against the appoinment of trustees to the HDP  municipalities, are among those who were subjected to strip search. Yıldız and Aycan explained what happened to them for our agency.

 

STRIP SEARCH IN A ROOM WITH CAMERAS

 

Explaining that she was taken into custody with 6 more women, Nujin Yıldız said they were subjected to strip search in counter terrorism unit in a room with cameras. Sharing that the female police told her she will undress her herself if she doesn't obey, Yıldız said: "I had to comply. One of our friends had a discussion with the police. When she said she did not accept to be strip searched, male police officers came into the room to intervene. They stripped searched us all. We were all effected by it both  physically and psychologically." Underlining that strip search must be brought to agenda, Yıldız told that it was even harder for her that the person who imposed this on her was female.

 

'I WAS HAUNTED BY THIS FOR MONTHS'

 

Aycan Altan also told that she was strip searched while she was under police custody.  Altan said: "They took us to the room where people speak with their attorneys. There was a glass wall and male police officers were watching us. We were strip searched twice. Except two of us, everyone were wearing scarves. I couldn't shake the feeling of being strip searched for months. I thought everyone was able to see me naked on the street. It is very degrading.  

 

Protesting Özlem Zengin for denying the fact that people are being strip searched in Turkey, Altan said: "They are lying. Strip search in fact is a very common thing in Turkey. There is no explanation for this. A person shouldn't be belitted like this even if they are criminals. They already use X Ray machines. They can see if you have something on you. Strip search denigrates and pressures people.  This is a policiy of oppression against women to silence them and confide them into their homes."

 

 

MA / Özlem Yayan