Esra Aydın-Ceylan Eraslan/JINHA

MÊRDİN – Call for sensibility for two babies named Rojvan Çiya and Diyar, who are held in Mardin E Type Closed Prison with their mothers. Diyar was kept under detention for 10 days and then sent to jail with his mother even if he is just nine-month-old. Five-month-old Rojvan is breastfed and he is growing up in unhealthy environment in the ward for 44 people.

According to last year’s data of the ministry of Interior; more than 520 women are behind the bars with their children in the prisons in Turkey and Kurdistan. This number is estimated to become double with the operations carried out in Kurdistan in the recent year. Two of these babies are five-month-old Rojvan Çiya and nine-month-old Diyar Kömürcü in Mardin E Type Closed Prison.

Diyar’s mother Feride Kömürcü was taken into custody with her husband during a house raid in the Tepebağ (Tilbisim) village of Mardin’s Derik district on September 26. Diyar was also held under detention for 10 days in the basement of the police station because he was breastfed. Besides that, there were first degree burns in the body of Diyar and he was treated that time. Diyar met the prison when his parents were sent to jail. Diyar has been held in Mardin Prison in unhealthy environment and he cannot be treated very well.

Tens of young people, women, elderly people and children have been sent to prisons in operations against the Kurdish people. Mother of five-month-old Rojvan Çiya Banan, Leyla Eleftöz Banan, who has been held in Mardin E Type Closed Prison, spoke to JINHA.

Leyla, who stay in a ward of 44 people with her child, stated that her baby cannot live under prison conditions. She said the conditions of prison are not suitable for her baby and she stated that she couldn’t leave her baby out because she still gives him only breast milk. She also said she wears off the period of detention and continued, “I was taken to Diyarbakır and then to Kızıltepe. My child was taken with me because he is breastfed. And this situation made him unrestful.”

Leyla: I want to grow up my baby in healthy environment

Leyla said she didn’t have other way except take her baby with her when she was sent to jail and continued, “The conditions in the prison are very difficult for my baby. He is in the month to be fed with extra nutrients. I cannot feed my baby in the prison. Feeding my baby in the prison depresses me. I want to grow up my baby in healthy environment.”

The Human Rights Association (İHD) Mardin Branch demands Rojvan and Diyar and their mothers to be released immediately and issued a call reads, “It is clear that mothers cannot grow up their children as health in the prison. According to international conventions and Convention on the Rights of the Child which were signed by Turkey and national legislation, the children should use all their rights no matter where they are. Leyla Eleftoz Baran and Feride Kömürcü, who are in the Mardin Prison, should be released for growing up Rojvan and Diyar. We demand freedom for children, who are held in prison with their mothers, and for their mothers.”

(fk/gd)