Dad took 9, mom took 8 years. Two little children were entrusted to their grandparents, and the third, Bedirhan, as already spent a year of his life in dungeon. He is one of the hundreds of imprisoned babies.
SEVİNÇ ÖZARSLAN
The number of babies in prisons is increasing day by day. According to the latest figures released in January 2019, 677 infants are sentenced together with their mother. This figure is around 700 with the new admitted ones.
Bedirhan Halim Kaya (2) has been staying with his mother in Balıkesir Burhaniye T Type Closed Prison for a year. His mother, Zinnet Kaya, was sentenced to 8 years and 9 months imprisonment as her name was mentioned in one of the statements despite that the person who had given the statement had retracted his statement by saying ”I was under pressure” in court. The father, Babahan Kaya, is also in the same prison. His father, whose file is currently in the court of appeal, was sentenced to 9 years and 4 months of imprisonment.
The couple, who got married in Balıkesir in 2009, was a newly graduated educator who stepped into life with the excitement of teaching.
Babahan Kaya -born in Van- started to work at the FEM teaching institution, situated in central Balikesir, after graduating from the Department of Physics in Balıkesir University. Zinnet Kaya of Erzurum graduated from Uşak University and became a guidance teacher at the same school. They resided in central Balikesir in the first two years of their marriage, spending the next 8 years in Edremit.
The couple settled in İzmir after July 15 and were detained at their home in İzmir on 4 February 2018. They were arrested because their names were mentioned by a confessor and they allegedly used Bylock. The confessor who connected to the court with the sound and video information system (SEGBİS) said, “I gave this statement when I was under custody, with the pressure of the police,” but this situation does not mean anything in the court of Turkey anymore.
KIDS GOT WEARY OF LIFE
The Kaya couple has three children. Kamil Yusuf (9), Nihal (7), Bedirhan Halim (2). Kamil Yusuf and Nihal have been living with their grandmother and grandfather for a year (they are with their uncle in the photo above). After the collapse of their family and after they were separated from their parents, the children are left with the influence of the shock. They won’t succeed in forgetting this trauma for the rest of their life.
According to A. Kaya (their uncle), the mouth of Kamil Yusuf – who was once a talkative and cheerful child – is sealed with grief. He is back into the corner, one finger is in his mouth and the other in his hair. He doesn’t communicate with anyone. Nihal’s grandmother and grandfather try to comfort her when her crying crises break out.
WET NURSES FED HIM
Bedirhan Halim, whose mother was arrested when he was at the age of 1, entered the prison in June 2018 – 4 months after his mother was jailed. During this time, the wet nurses from the neighborhood and relatives fed him.
Bedirhan now lives with 16-17 women in a 8-9-person ward, playing with brooms. He gazes at the windows which filter light and wishes to go towards there. His mother tries to console him with what she finds in the prison canteen.
PICTURES OF BEDIRHAN HALIM IN THE PRISON
PICTURES OF BEDIRHAN HALIM BEFORE ENTERING THE EPRISON