A chronically ill female inmate at Elazığ Women’s Closed Prison has been arbitrarily denied parole by the prison’s Administration and Observation Board, the BirGün daily reported.
Besra Erol, 66, suffers from multiple health problems such as thyroid nodules carrying the risk of cancer, herniated disc, sciatica, goiter, high blood pressure and glaucoma. She has undergone three surgeries for her herniated disc, has difficulty walking and constantly suffers from pain.
Erol has been eligible for parole since December 2024; however, the board postponed her release by six months, saying she had been socializing with prisoners convicted on terrorism-related charges and had not expressed remorse for her alleged crime. Erol was recently brought before the board again, but her release was once more postponed for another six months.
In a letter from prison, Erol said she had been arbitrarily denied release from prison. “I’m not a prisoner; I am a hostage, and everyone should know it,” she said. “The injustice needs to be exposed!”
Erol was arrested on April 30, 2019 on charges of disseminating “terrorist propaganda” because of a speech she made at her child’s grave. She was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
Erol’s son Evrim Deniz Erol was one of 33 victims of an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) suicide attack that took place in the Suruç district of Urfa on July 15, 2015.
A group of university students who were traveling to the Syrian town of Kobani — officially known as Ayn-al Arab — on the Turkish border to help with reconstruction efforts gathered outside the Amara Cultural Center to make a press statement. The city of Kobani was recaptured from ISIS by a coalition of Kurdish forces supported by the US in January 2015, but it was in ruins as a result of intense fighting.
A suicide bomb that went off during the gathering in front of the cameras claimed the lives of 33 people and injured more than 100. Most of the victims were members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) youth wing and the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF). ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack the next day. Relatives of the victims blamed the police for failing to take the necessary precautions.
Ever since her son’s death, Erol has demanded justice from the authorities through letters sent from prison. Like others who lost their loved ones in the blast, Erol said the people who were responsible for the attack had not been punished.
The trial concerning the Suruç bombing began 18 months after the attack, on May 5, 2017. Initially, the Şanlıurfa Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into 15 suspects, but the case proceeded with only three. The indictment sought 104 aggravated life sentences for each, on charges of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order,” “membership in an armed terrorist organization” and “premeditated murder using means such as fire, flooding, explosives or chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.”
The only detained defendant in the case was Yakup Şahin. Despite being the sole incarcerated suspect, Şahin was never brought to court during the trial. On October 22, 2021, the court sentenced Şahin to 34 aggravated life sentences. The trial is still ongoing for the two other fugitive suspects, Deniz Büyükçelebi and İlhami Balı.
Lawyers have argued that the failure to conduct an effective investigation into the Suruç massacre paved the way for subsequent ISIS attacks in Ankara, Istanbul and Gaziantep.
