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June 22, 2025 – Turkey –
Perihan Sevda Erkılınç, a journalist for the left-wing outlet Özgür Gelecek, is facing severe health risks in Bakırköy Women’s Prison due to the denial of essential medical treatment. Arrested during a police raid on April 29, 2025—days before May Day protests—Erkılınç was taken into custody without formal charges and remains detained over seven weeks later.
Erkılınç suffers from asthma and celiac disease, a serious autoimmune condition that requires a strict gluten-free diet. Despite this, prison authorities have failed to provide consistent medical care or appropriate food. Upon her arrest, she was denied access to her asthma inhaler and not permitted to use the bathroom without an escort. At Bakırköy Prison, she resisted a strip search and was placed in detention without undergoing a proper medical examination.
Inside prison, her health has sharply deteriorated. Gluten-free meals are reportedly served only once or twice a week, forcing her to survive mostly on cheese. This nutritional deprivation has led to noticeable weight loss and growing fatigue. Additionally, she has been denied access to both the infirmary and essential asthma medication.
Human rights groups have raised an alarm over her treatment. Eren Keskin, co-chair of Turkey’s Human Rights Association (IHD), has publicly condemned the inhumane conditions, stating that prison is unsuitable for someone with celiac disease and chronic illness. She called for Erkılınç’s immediate release, emphasizing that her continued detention amounts to punishment without trial and endangers her life.
This case underscores broader concerns about Turkey’s crackdown on independent journalism and its mistreatment of political detainees. Denying medical care and dietary accommodations violates international human rights standards, particularly for detainees with chronic health conditions. Erkılınç’s ongoing imprisonment without indictment, coupled with medical neglect, is emblematic of systematic repression.
Advocacy groups are urging Turkish authorities to either file formal charges or release her immediately, and to provide urgent medical care in the interim. The treatment of Perihan Sevda Erkılınç highlights the dangerous intersection of political repression and human rights violations in Turkey’s prison system.
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