Bilen Ceyran, the Belgian of Turkish origin, was arrested in Turkey last Friday (and not Saturday) as previously indicated. She “was slapped in the face during her detention and threatened with torture,” her mother Meryem Sasmaz indicated yesterday (Tuesday). This was on the basis of information reported by the young 24 year old’s Turkish lawyer.
Bilen Ceyran landed in Istanbul on August 22nd and should have returned to France on Friday.
She took a coach to Dikili (in the province d'Izmir), where a friend took her in a car to Edremit, near Balikesir. There they hired a holiday home with three other friends (of German, English and Dutch nationality).
They were all arrested on Friday and placed in detention, being unable to have any immediate contact with their lawyer owing to the state of emergency, which was then operative.
Bilen’s mother explained her concerns, “She [Bilen] should take vitamins for her health but was not given them. Moreover they removed her glasses despite her being short-sighted.”
Her mother went on, “They asked her questions which had nothing to do with her detention. On the first day, they slapped her in the face and next threatened to torture her.”
Bilen’s mother had taken a plane for Turkey on Monday. Bilen Ceyran is the Vice-President of Young Struggle, which is a Socialist youth organisation.
Some Turkish media outlets have accused Ceyran of being a member of the KGÖ (the Communist Youth Organization) which is affiliated to the MLKP (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party) in Turkey.
The KGÖ is considered a terrorist organization by the regime.
Meryem Sasmaz says that her daughter was arrested with her friends and assimilated into another group of eight young Socialists from the SDGF (the Turkish Youth Organization), which was arrested last Wednesday and suspected of “terrorism offences”.
The Turkish lawyer who saw Bilen with a policeman present, indicated that she would prepare the case to present today (Wednesday) before the Public Prosecutor.
Meryem Sasmaz indicated that the Public Prosecutor authorised her to see her daughter but the superintendent in charge of the case refused.
The Brussels Times
