Having been arrested for two years and changed his prison three times, Harun Karateke, an English Language Teacher lost his sanity. Sorrowful story of a young teacher who hits himself jail’s walls, hasn’t known his parents and speaks as if he is a three-year-old child was sent to his ward back as Bakırköy Hospital was dense. …
SEVİNÇ ÖZARSLAN
BOLD- Harun Karateke (27), who was arrested in March 2017 and sentenced to 7.5 years imprisonment due to Cemaat investigations, lost his mental condition in the prison. At first, he had diagnosed as Bipolar disease then he was diagnosed as Schizophrenia in the Hospital of Mental and Nervous diseases in Bolu.
Having stayed in T-Typed closed prison for 8 months, Harun Karateke was taken the Hospital of Mental and Nervous Diseases in Bakırköy on the 29th of May, Monday by the prison management. As the hospital was dense, he was sent to the prison back on the same evening.
The young teacher who is expected to be sent Bakırköy Hospital again within this week has been trailed for two years instead of evacuation while his health status is unstable.
The young teacher who is expected to be sent Bakırköy Hospital again within this week has been trailed for two years instead of evacuation while his health status is unstable.
WE FILED A PETITION TO THE PROSECUTOR AND CIMER (PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION CENTER)
Karateke family is quite worried about their son Harun who has graduated from University recently and he had been arrested after working as a teacher for a short time period.
His sister Sümeyra Karateke Çetin said ‘we cannot get accurate information about him and everybody says different things’ Also she says ‘’We gave an application letter to the prosecutor of the prison.
We have stated that our brother has lost his sanity, he gives harm both himself and environment. he should be treated. They said they could evaluate our application immediately and inform us on the 21st of May, on Tuesday but they didn’t. We also gave an application letter to CIMER”.
Graduated from the Department of Teaching of English in Konya Erbakan University in 2014, Karateke was prepared for the KPSS exam for one year.
In this time, he worked as a teacher in a private school which was terminated by AKP. He was arrested when he joined the army in January 2017. He was on trial in Konya Main Case with 400 people as his name was issued by a witness who gave the names of 100 other people.
Harun Karateke advocated himself in Fatih Sultan Mehmed Sports Hall in Meram, Konya on April 2018 at his last trial with these words: “I didn’t use bylock I think the reports of bylock is contradictory.
In the first report from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, it was stated that ByLock could not be identified, however, the opposite opinions were in the dictum. The young teacher’s file is now in the Court of Appeal.
Speaking like a three-year-old child and giving himself harm, Harun Karateke couldn’t recognize his parents sitting near him.
Sümeyra Karateke Çetin, whose husband Süleymen Çetin stays in the same prison with Harun and met him, said “they met last Friday. He said Harun is better now to diminish our worries. They talked about half an hour, Harun asked the date.” We got information from the infirmary. They said: “we vaccinate him every day and give his medicine”.
IT’S ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER!
Harun Karateke’s health condition improved slightly after he was transferred to Bolu T Type Closed Prison. The main reasons for losing his mental health suddenly are considered as sufferings of family and severe conditions of the Konya Prison, where the disease began.
Housewife Hatice and retired Veli Karateke, who have been married for 35 years, have 4 children. Raziye (32), Hüseyin (30), Sümeyra (28) ve Harun (27). Six people in the nuclear family, 14 people in the extended family, including uncles had held an enquiry without a legal basis for an investigation. Sümeyra Karateke Çetin, the maths teacher, told what they experienced so far as:
Bolu T-Type Prison is again the subject of a very scandalous case. A person who has been imprisoned for almost 2 years and has been detained in very poor conditions is still under arrest. Harun Karateke has psychiatric illness in prison because of stress-related issues and his situation is very critic within the last 20 days!
MY BROTHER IS SENSITIVE PERSON, HE USED TO ALWAYS SUPPORT US
My brother would support us when he was healthy. He has a sensitive personality. It’s one thing after another! April 24, 2019, my litigation process is over, then my brother’s began. My brother was taken into custody two days ago before my trial day. My brother was an assistant at Malatya Turgut Özal University. He finished his master’s degree and started his Ph.D.
FACTORY GLASS FELL ON MY BROTHER
He was out of work when the university was closed. He found a job in a factory, but the factory glass fell on him. His spine was broken. He was operated, platinum and screw were inserted to his spine. Then He spent six months in hospital, but he couldn’t pull it off completely. Now he’s fine, but he can’t work.
The doctor said ‘you have to take rest, pains may occur occasionally, you can have these disorders a lifetime.’ My brother’s accident happened because the university was closed and he was unemployed. They say it’s a miracle he survived that accident.
I’ve been unemployed since 2016 too. Together with my husband, we were mathematics teachers at the same school. But I worked from time to time because of my newborn child.
My husband was later arrested. He was sentenced to 9 years and 4 months with similar accusations. Even though there was no other evidence, they sentenced me to 2 years and 1 month of punishment because of my teaching insurance. We both have a file at the Court of Appeal at the moment.
My brother is sick and operated, he has a child, my condition is certain. Because of all these problems, he was under very deep stress. `He thinks about you all the time’ said the ward friends. When I ask `how are you? ’ He always answers, `I think of you.‘
ARRESTED WHEN HE WAS 25 YEARS OLD
My brother was only 25 years old when he was arrested in March 2017. After a few months, he became sick between Jun and July. He had no such sickness before. Suddenly, the tremors come, he awakes, and then he gets stuck. At first, the doctor said it could be epilepsy. He was then diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He had bipolar treatment in prison.
HE CAN HURT HIMSELF
Bipolar Disorder has a depression period and mania period. In the mania period, my brother is very energetic, he can hurt himself. He doesn’t sleep, he talks all the time, he runs, and he throws himself. He can be in depression five minutes ago, later he can live the energetic period. So it’s not clear what he can do.
LIKE A 3-YEAR-OLD CHILD
First, he was in Konya E Type Prison. The severe conditions of the prison were also effective in his sickness. 45 people were living in his first ward. There was one toilet, one bathroom. You could have a right to take fresh air to that little place like a little garden every two days. It was for several minutes.
You have to go to the bathroom in order, the list was being made. There was hot water on certain days. Non-contact visitation was 15 minutes. Contact visitation was once every 2 months. A lot of nuisance. We could talk for 1-2 minutes. I ask: ‘Harun! Have you eaten something?’ he replies: ‘Harun ate something.’ he speaks like a 3-year-old child.
WE HAVE ADDED THE DISEASE REPORTS TO THE COURT FILE…
My elder brother had a car accident after my brother`s sickness began. He had surgery. Then my spouse was arrested. We couldn’t visit him. I think because of his distress and other troubles in the family I think his sickness increased.
When the trial process began, we added the reports of the sickness, the medication, and the other documents. At that time, a pilot scheme began in Konya. They confiscated a few wards, then they put ordinary criminals and other prisoners in the same ward. He stayed with ordinary prisoners for 3-4 months. Then they changed the wards again.
When they penalized my brother, they sent him from Konya to Kayseri Prison. Konya was very crowded, they were sending the penalized people to other places. He stayed in Kayseri until August. It was hard for us to visit Kayseri because my parents were with me.
That’s why we requested a change of the prison to Bolu T-Type Prison for my brother after his trial was over. He’s been here for eight months. Actually, Harun had been good for eight months. Doctors said he didn’t need to take medication. But his condition has been getting worse and worse for a few weeks.
HE SAT NEXT TO US, BUT HE DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE US
On May 19, he was good at our contact visit. He was administered medicine. His hand and his eyebrow was a little purple which was turning to green. His eyebrow was hurt, it must have been hit somewhere. He was staying with us for 5-10 minutes, then he was leaving. We last visited him on Tuesday. He was not good at all.
He wasn’t sane. We didn’t expect anything like that. He sat with us, he didn’t even notice us. At one point he said, ‘welcome sister’, then he started talking to himself, then he said again ‘sister! You are here’
HE FAINTED AND HIT THE WALL
Then he fainted and hit the wall. I asked the guards, ‘what happened? My brother wasn’t like that’. They said he had fallen and he had not seen by the doctor yet. When he realized we were talking about him, he said ‘I’m going’ then he got up and started to run.
7-8 people tried to hold him in case he would harm himself. They took him to the ward. She needs to be taken to the infirmary. “There is no doctor, no psychiatrist, and there is no one in the infirmary, we’ll wait until tomorrow!” they said. They only took him to the ward.
EVERYONE SAYS SOMETHING ELSE
We went to get information last week. ‘We regularly give his medicines and take him to the doctor, he is going to the doctor tomorrow, we cannot give any more information’, they said. The infirmary says that we give his pills, we make him taken the medicine.
The doctor at the hospital says, they give him the medicine, but Harun doesn’t take them. The ward friends of him say that ‘they don’t give any medication, he takes the medicine when the give the medication. So everyone says something else. Appeals have been done to receive reports that he cannot stay here. However, if the Forensic Medicine approves, he may be released.