Sinan Sütpak, who was detained in Curnê Reş (Hilvan) district of Riha (Urfa) and arrested on May 3, 1993 and sentenced to life imprisonment after the trials, was released after 31 years and 4 months. Sütpak, whose release was postponed 5 times for 3 months each on the grounds that he was not in “good behavior” by the decision of the Execution Observation Board, was held in Riha, Semsûr (Adıyaman), Bursa, Mereş (Maraş) and most recently Yozgat Type T Closed Prisons. Sütpak, who was illiterate when he entered prison, first learned to read and write with the help of his friends, and then started writing in the Kirmanckî dialect of Kurdish, his mother language. Sütpak's poetry book “Jûtenya”, written in Kirmanji, was published by Aram Publishing in 2016. After his release, Sütpak settled with his family in the Sêwereg (Siverek) district of Riha, where he was born and raised, and is currently preparing his works, which he wrote in prison, for printing. 

 

'I WAS PUNISHED FOR NOT COMPROMISING MY IDENTITY'

 

Sütpak spoke to Mezopotamya Agency about the rights violations in prisons, literature in prison and the pressure on the mother language. Sütpak said that being out of prison does not cause joy in him, “Coming out of the four walls after 31 years causes joy in people, but because we are Kurds, we cannot fully experience this joy. It is an incomplete joy, because our friends are still behind four walls. We are outside now, but our brains are still inside the four walls. We cannot rejoice because of this. In order for us to rejoice fully, we need to liberate our brains. I feel my friends who I had to leave inside with me in spirit. When it comes to prisons in Turkey, everyone thinks of Kurds. Real arrests are for Kurds. Arrests outside the Kurdish community are nothing more than a formality. Laws are made and changed for Kurds. Because we are Kurds, because we protect our language, we are punished. But Kurds are stubborn and defend their identity by risking heavy penalties. I paid the price for this. I was kept in prison for more than 31 years despite the lack of any concrete evidence. If an impartial lawyer looks at my file now, he will see that I was arrested on charges of 'aiding the organization' and sentenced to life imprisonment. The punishment given to me was because I did not compromise. As a patriotic Kurd, I defended my language, identity and honor. The price for this was 31 years and 4 months.” 

 

'FREE WILL COULD NOT BE CAPTURED'

 

Referring to the struggle against rights violations in prisons, Sütpak stated that words would not be enough to describe the resistance he has witnessed in 31 years. Sütpak said: “Everything is used as a weapon against prisoners. Even the air inside is used against us. Even the rights that are humanly obligatory are being used as a weapon against the prisoners. Various kinds of bullying are being used to surrender the will of the prisoners. This has given birth to a resistance of its own. Kurds are stubborn, their dough is kneaded with resistance. This is defeating itself every hour of every day in the dungeon. At every step, this will grows stronger. No matter what steps are taken to surrender them, the free will against them deepens even more. Prohibitions bring new opportunities with them. Even though it is not physical, there is a big war going on inside. In this war, the free will is getting stronger every day. Free will can survive because it can renew itself in terms of history, philosophy and culture. Forensic prisoners surrender with everything they have after a while in prison. Those with free will, on the other hand, do not surrender even for a second. Where does the power that grows this will day by day between four walls come from? What creates this spirit? Scientists need to think about this scientifically and conduct research.” 

 

'WE RESISTED FOR OUR LANGUAGE'

 

Pointing out that they have crossed many thresholds in the 31 years they have been in prison, Sütpak said that the resistance of the people was one of the factors that kept them alive. Stating that although they were physically in prison, they were spiritually outside, Sütpak said the following: “For 31 years, I searched for the answer to 'what can I do for the people after I get out of prison'. I asked myself 'what can we do for our culture, history and language'. We wanted to respond to the banning of our language and the assimilation. We rolled up our sleeves to ensure that our truth, which had been covered up and buried in deep recesses, was brought to light again. We could write poems and songs in our own language and we did so. Kurmancî and Kirmanckî are getting closer to extinction every day as a result of assimilation policies. Kirmanckî is in a worse situation. What kept me going was that I would go out and serve my mother language.” 

  

INSISTENCE ON MOTHER LANGUAGE AND THEIR WORK

 

Sütpak noted that prisoners had turned prisons into training grounds and said: “Many of our friends didn't even know how to speak Kurdish when they came to us in prison. This is a wound. The only cure to heal this wound was to teach them Kurdish, and we did so. Recently, our friends who could not speak, write or read a single letter of Kurdish have reached the level of writing books. This was not easy, it happened as a result of resistance. When I went to prison myself, I had only attended primary school. I couldn't even read what I wrote myself.” 

 

Sütpak said that he identified his deficiency in writing in his mother language and decided to work in this field, and eventually produced this work. 

 

THE BOOK'S ORIGIN STORY

 

Stating that he utilized prison for writing in his mother language and wrote many works even though they have not yet been published, Sütpak said the following about the writing process of his book “Jûtenya”: “Our bodies are taken to the morgue of Malatya Forensic Medicine. This morgue is the Kurdish morgue. Our bodies are kept there and not given to the families. The mothers were waiting there for days. One day I read an interview of those mothers in the newspaper. One mother said, 'We have our children in the morgue. We want to take them, but they laugh at us. We came to get our bodies, but they laugh at us'. At that time 13 friends had lost their lives and were brought to Malatya. His mother was saying 'Ew yekê tenê bû / he was the only one'.  Kurmanji means 'Ew yekê tenê bû' and Kirmanji means 'Jûtenya'. My work was written in the name of those resistant women. Jûtenya contains the names of all the resistance fighters who lost their lives. Kurdish literature is a deep sea that has not yet been revealed. Kurdish literature is bigger and infinite than the sky.” 

 

Stating that he lacked a lot of information about the outside while he was in prison, but he had the chance to observe it when he got out, he said: “Young people listen to Kurdish songs, but they speak Turkish. It is good that they listen to Kurdish songs, but it upset me that they speak Turkish. I have 6 grandchildren, but 4 of them do not speak their mother language, Kirmancî. I have to speak Turkish and Kurdish with them. I will do my best to solve this. Everyone should do their best to make Kurdish a spoken language. We need to self-censor ourselves. Mothers are the sworn protectors of our language. They should teach this language to their children.” 

 

'A NEW PAGE IN THE HISTORY OF RESISTANCE'

 

Stating that the Execution and Observation Boards are unlawful in postponing the execution of prisoners, Sütpak continued as follows: “Prisoners adapt themselves to 30 years. They say to the prisoners 'I will not release you unless you say this'. This is a great unlawfulness and has no precedent in the world. There is nothing like this, and this lawlessness is only seen as a punishment for the Kurds. This can be eliminated with the resistance of the people. There is no such example in prison history. This was applied to us for the first time. We have opened a new page in the history of resistance. We are honored because of this.”  

 

MA / Emrullah Acar