Betul Aygun (28), a Turkish national in prison diagnosed with breast cancer three weeks ago, will have surgery tomorrow. As it took 6 months for the test results to come up, Aygun’s tumor grew and surgery has become imminent.
BOLD – Turkish Prisons continue to be “torture centers” for the sick detainees imprisoned due to the crackdown in Turkey. Betul Aygun (28) went to a hospital in April 2019, and the physicians diagnosed her with breast cancer three weeks ago. The tumor in Aygun’s body, due to the lack of treatment during a six months wait for the test results, grew quickly in a month.
“A guard had her by the arm and brought her to me”
“My wife had gallbladder surgery a year ago. Nobody had informed us of this surgery. I found out when I went to the penitentiary for the visiting day, which was four days after the surgery. A guard had her by the arm [she was not able to walk alone] and brought her to see me,” Abdurrahman Aygün, the husband of Betül Aygün, stated.
He went on by saying, “She went to hospital six months ago. The doctor asked for a biopsy and we found out the result three weeks ago.”
Facing a burdensome, paperwork-heavy process as a result of being imprisoned, Mr. Aygün explained that she had to follow the due process in the hospital even when she was in a dire state, and the preparation of the required documents took longer and longer.
Hospitalized for surgery, Betül’s petitions to be released from prison fell on deaf ears.
“We do not know the exact stage of the disease”
Abdurrahman Aygün said that the arduous journeys Betül had to endure with the prisoner transport vehicle worn her out.
“When my wife came from the hospital, she couldn’t recover herself, she couldn’t eat, she was exhausted, she wasn’t even able to talk. She was ruined due to the long ride,” said Aygün.
“When she went to receive her test results, she got car sick. She became very ill again and was taken back to the hospital. She is going to have an ultrasound scan, scheduled for the 1st of November. Her doctor told me that the bulk had grown faster than usual in the last month,” Betül’s husband went on.
“The stress and other environmental factors often induce these abnormalities. We do not know the exact stage of the disease, it needs to be checked frequently. I can’t get the reports from the hospital, because she’s imprisoned,” Aygün pointed out.
She got married three days before the July 2016 putsch-bid
Graduated from the Department of Geography in 2010, Betül got arrested on October 12, 2016. Aygun was sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison over her alleged ties to the Gulen movement. A higher court reduced the sentence to seven and a half years. The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the latter ruling about a year ago. Betul Aygun, who got married on July 12, 2016, was arrested while her marriage was just two-month old.