SANSARYAN HAN AND SULEYMAN CIHAN AS A TORTURE!
Türkçe English Deutsch Italiano Français Ελληνικά Kurdî Español SANSARYAN HAN AND SULEYMAN CAHAN AS A TORTURE CENTRE! After it was confiscated, it was used as the Istanbul Police Headquarters for many years. used historical Sansaryan Han, Nazım Hikmet, Ahmet Arif, Ruhi Su, Hikmet Kıvılcımlı, Aziz Nesin, Mihri Belli (and of course Sevim Kalkavan Belli etc.), Deniz Gezmiş, Vedat Türkali and Alparslan Türkeş were tortured. 'coffin houses'. Yesterday, I read a news item about Sansaryan Han in the newspapers: "Historical decision for Sansaryan Han after 92 years." Under the title, in summary, the following was quoted "The building was endowed to cover the educational expenses of poor Armenian children, but was cancelled in 1930. The Sansaryan Han, which was confiscated by the state in 1949 and used as the Istanbul Security Directorate for many years, will be returned to the Armenian foundation after 92 years with the decision of the Constitutional Court."[1] First of all, I must state that, of course, the Constitutional Court's decision, albeit belated, to return this property, which was seized by state force, to its owners, is positive and important. The special importance of this decision lies in the fact that the direct tyranny and usurpation of the Turkish State and the destruction of the capital and property of minorities has been recognised by the Constitutional Court, which is itself a state institution. It can be said that, although it is by no means a singular example, the 'special story' of Sansaryan Han is a striking example of the Turkish state's character. You will seize and usurp the property of a foundation, which serves to "meet the educational expenses of poor students", without recognising any rights-laws, without any conscientious value, and then you will put it into the service of the state as an official torture house of the state, in the service of the "supreme aim" of "the survival of the state"!... This is the essential character of this tyrannical, blood-sucking fascist state, which has continued uninterruptedly since its foundation!... With this judgement, the Constitutional Court confirms this by confessing it from the "official mouth". In this respect, it is of particular importance. When you do a short search on the Internet by typing "Sansaryan Han", you come across the following titles and comments: - "Sansaryan Han, whose name is synonymous with torture..." - "...The famous Sansaryan Han (....) was later used by MIT, has been the name that comes to mind when it comes to torture." - "After it was confiscated, it served as the Istanbul Security Directorate for years. the historical Sansaryan Han, Nazım Hikmet, Ahmet Arif, Ruhi Su, Hikmet Kıvılcımlı, Aziz Nesin, Mihri Belli (and of course Sevim Kalkavan Belli etc.), Deniz Gezmiş, Vedat Türkali and Alparslan Türkeş were tortured. It was known for its 'coffin houses'..." - "Atilla İlhan, in his poem 'Diary of a Prisoner', describes Sansaryan Han He describes it as follows: "... / Don't typewriters scrutinise your freedom in the interrogation rooms with cloudy windows / in Sansaryan Han / a copper pewter of mouldy water accumulates in your mouth / even though you may think of killing yourself a thousand times / it never once crosses your mind to die without finishing the song." Yes, just as it never crosses our minds to die before finishing the song, we will keep in mind that the expression "historic decision for Sansaryan Han" used by the newspaper in its headline in reference to the Constitutional Court's decision is in fact not the final "last word", that this is a decision limited to "violation of the right to property", that the real story of Sansaryan Han has been carefully omitted, and that a decision in which this real account that needs to be asked is not asked can never be a "historic decision". And only when this account is asked, a "historical judgement" on Sansaryan Han will be established. And then the wider public will know that not only the above-mentioned prominent politicians, artists and revolutionary/leftist personalities, who are well known and recognised by the public, were tortured in the Sansaryan Han torture house; thousands, yes thousands, of dissidents, thousands of labourers, thousands of left-socialist-communist revolutionaries and even hundreds of thousands of suspects of 'criminal cases' were tortured. The person has always been subjected to brutal tortures lasting for days, weeks and sometimes months. Hundreds were maimed and dozens were tortured to death in one way or another... Without being held to account for these, the Sansaryan Han torture house will never be able to get away from its bloody-gruesome past of 'famous history', whether with the Constitutional Court's decision or with its labelling as a 'five-star hotel'. To date, the accounts of the torture at Sansaryan Han mainly refer to the period before 1975. However, especially after the 1980 Military Fascist Coup, this place continued to be used as an active official torture centre of the state for many years. The torture and murders committed during this period are too important to be overlooked. in the narration of the history of the house. The first political murder in the history of Sansaryan Han torture centre was committed during this period: SULEYMAN CİHAN was murdered... The year was 1981... The month was July... The director of the torture centre was Mehmet Ağar, the famous "thousand bricks" man. Süleyman Cihan was one of the tens of revolutionaries whose posters were pasted on the walls with a "shoot order" by the Turkish State. And he was also wanted with an arrest warrant as the Secretary General of TKP / ML. I think I was the last person to see him alive in the Sansaryan Han torture house, not counting the torturing mob... *** In January 1981, after being imprisoned and subjected to a total of three months of severe torture, one month of which was uninterrupted, in Istanbul Gayrettepe Security Directorate, the most popular torture centre of that period, I was subjected to days of "welcome" torture in Selimiye Barracks and Sultanahmet Prison, respectively. However, this did not last long; I was taken out of the ward and taken to the Sansaryan Han Torture Centre, known as "Branch 2", with a piracy as if I had been kidnapped, saying "you have a meeting with the administration". While I had not yet learnt what this piratical treatment entailed, I was taken to the top floor of the torture centre and crammed into a small empty room... The only 'furniture' in the room was a red bench and a steel cupboard. I was made to sit on the bench, spread my hands and feet to the sides, and placed on the legs of the bench. handcuffed me. In other words, they nailed my body to that bench with four handcuffs. Then, they covered my eyes with a very dirty and disgusting piece of cloth with blood and pus, and not content with that, they also covered my ears. With such 'abnormal' practices that would create a shock effect, it was obvious that they wanted to intimidate and I guess they wanted to have some fun... Since I was aware and conscious of this, and since I knew my enemy personally and directly from the five months of actual practices in my personal life; I was standing there unresponsive. Then a different mobility started. They put something on my shoulders, passing it over my head. But how heavy it is, it collapses my body. I just stood there... After a while, I could feel my body swelling from the handcuff irons embedded in my wrists and ankles. As the saying goes; 'it penetrates into your lungs', a great pain... I don't know how many hours passed, but I think it was early morning. A loud, commanding voice: "Who the hell is this? Why is he tied up like that? Why did you put that huge ladder around his neck, man?" (I realised that the thing that collapsed my body was a ladder!) "Chief," says one of them, with the 'respect' required by the obligation of 'officialdom', "this is the famous TIKKO proletarian..." and tries to answer his superior's questions. "Haaa!..." says their superior. "But son, even if he is a proletarian, is he a biological man (whatever that means) that the four handcuffs you put on him are not enough and you have also fixed him with that ladder!... Remove that ladder immediately... The handcuffs are also embedded in his wrists, do you want to give him gangrene?... Loosen them quickly!... Take off the handcuffs on his feet and the cloth tied round his ears!" he said: "Do you know me, Proletarian? I am Ahmet Ateşli, whom you want to kill by calling him 'torturer/murderer police chief'... The God who doesn't kill doesn't kill; look, I've recovered, I'm back on duty again... You can forgive our boys too, they overdid the precautionary measures a bit too much and got you into a lot of trouble. You know what it's like, they are under orders, they do what they are told." (Of course, I knew Ahmet Ateşli very well in absentia. He was a famous police chief. He owed his fame to his skilful use of torture as an interrogation method, which was a 'sacred patriotic duty' assigned to him by the state. He was also a fierce anti-communist and was one of the main members of the operations in which many revolutionaries were murdered... Most recently, in mid-1980, in Istanbul, he took part in the massacre of revolutionaries of the MLSPB... The MLSPB militants, using their legitimate right of retaliation, ambushed and shot him... This is what he meant above). Those who 'did as they were told' did as they were told again; they removed the ladder, the handcuffs they had put on my feet and the ear-tie. And of course I was quite relieved... The state of being tied to the bench with both arms and blindfolded, which Ahmet Ateşli had approved, remained unchanged for the 37 days I was detained there. Even when they gave me food, only one they would open the handcuffs. In the scorching heat of the summer, they often left me without water for long periods of time. Even though the small jerry can of water they had brought for me was lying under the bench, no one would come and give it to me despite all my shouting. Only when a few "overlooked" left-leaning and democratic people were on guard, my water and toilet needs were met relatively easily. Only a thin wall separated the room where I was kept in solitary confinement from the room where they tortured me. The doors were close to each other as if they were next to each other. As such, I was directly in the position of "eavesdropping" on the torture of dozens of people: Those screams, those bitter cries and moans, the torturers' abusive swearing, their vulgar/vile jokes, their role-playing and the laughter they laughed with the pleasure they got from what they did, all kinds of abominations that humiliated people, the pleading and begging of people from judicial cases, the dishonourable fawning of some, etc. etc. Unfortunately, I was obliged to listen to each and every one of these and thus became a compulsory witness. (I guess they either wanted me to go crazy or there was nothing abnormal about it for them; so, not only did they not go crazy themselves, on the contrary, they enjoyed it). The reaction of a forensic person from the youth they captured and brought in made me smile, albeit bitterly, under the circumstances: When they brought him into the room, he kept repeating that he was innocent and had nothing to do with what he was said to have done. When someone scolded him and told him to shut up and immediately undress and take off all his clothes, including his underpants, the young man panicked and was stunned: "What are you saying, man, what undressing, what nakedness..." and the torturer scolded and interrupted him, saying: "Stop blabbering like a bitch and do as you are told!". In the meantime, the sounds of punches and kicks and involuntary verbal reactions to them started to come. Then they moved on to another phase, while I was trying to understand what exactly was going on; "Abi, what is this, you crucified me like Jesus", What are you going to do like this?", the crowd said with their 'animalistic' laughter, "When you see your mother's ... in a little while, you will understand what you are and what we are doing, you bastard. You don't understand goodness, you asked for it yourself, we have sinned." and they made a move. Then they said, "We're leaving, when you decide to talk, call out and we'll come get you." They opened and closed the door and footsteps were heard. I don't know if it was a trick or if some of them left and some of them stayed there. After the young man had moaned bitterly for a while (and I could understand the young man's bitter moans, as I knew very well how indescribably painful the torture of hanging on a cross, which I had been subjected to hundreds of times, was, especially when extra weights were tied to your feet while you were hanging, and when you were electrocuted, the pain increased many times over). Suddenly, in a hoarse but painful voice: "Help!... Help!... They are killing men here!"? It was a situation just like "we laugh and cry". This naive plea for mercy, which was certain that he could not announce it to anyone and anywhere he could get help, made me smile bitterly in the dilemma of "whether you laugh or cry"... I could only say, "Hang in there, don't be afraid, don't let him die; they will come and get you soon." I don't know if he heard, but he waited in silence, and then he saw a and after a while they came and took it down. *** We were now in the "last straight" of July; two thirds of the month had passed... The days of severe torture of a group of 45-50 people taken from the organisation's Istanbul structure and kept in cramped, narrow cells had finally ended and their written statements were being prepared. Among them were my friends with whom I had carried out organisational activities outside. It turned out that they had brought me here for this reason too... However, if a confrontation was necessary, the court would have done it anyway. Let's say they wanted to do it at the police station; this was a one-day job... And what was the point of keeping me in this state for days? Until that day, there had not yet been a member of the Central Committee among those arrested, and in a way, of course, this was pleasing... But on that day, the torturers must have received some 'good news' because they were in a very cheerful and excited mood. The atmosphere became quiet for a short while. Then all of a sudden, like a 'pack of dogs', they filled the corridor noisily. It was obvious that they were returning from the 'hunt' and they were not empty-handed... As a matter of fact, it was clear that they were not empty-handed... When they mentioned his name, it became clear that the person they had taken was Brutus, a member of the CC, who they knew and recognised very well, and who was one of the famous agitators of the rallies and marches of that period. "Brutus, while we were looking for you in the sky, we found you on the ground, at the Kabataş Pier. Have we overestimated you, don't you think? Like a grasshopper.... Although you jumped a bit too much, I'll give you that. Anyway, the film is over and now we have you; you know the rules here: Either you choose to be smart and tell everything in a gentlemanly manner, without letting yourself be crushed for nothing; or again, the schemes you know very well will work for you and you will end up in your mother's arse. I'll give you two minutes to think," said one of the chief torturers. Brutus gave his answer immediately: "I have nothing to tell you about my organisational activities." and he fell silent. "Is that so?" said the torturer. "Son, wherever your bollocks are, call him to come here at once; his client is in a hurry." Torturers also had such special 'specialities' for which they became famous... Bollock buran was one of them. He was a former night watchman labourer from Kars. When he was promoted to the 2nd Branch's team of torturers, he must have wanted to develop his own unique method of torture, probably inspired by village life. When they castrate bulls, they twist and crush the animal's testicles by squeezing them between a specially developed clamp. The animal's suffering is indescribable. To restrain it, they tie it up and many people collapse on it. So he introduces this kind of torture method and soon the title of "the ballsucker". I don't know exactly what kind of treatment he gave Brutus, but he certainly added to his fame with a few minutes of short work: "He made Brutus, the big CC member, sing like a nightingale." It was also certain that he would receive a substantial bonus. Yes, he could have made the torturers more reckless as a means of enabling them to do so, they also rewarded them with monetary rewards for their success. Brutus had unfortunately succumbed to the pain. From now on, he was going to act in accordance with his preference of 'telling what he knew or what he was asked to tell, master to master, without letting himself be crushed'. In the meantime, an operation was organised in his house and his life partner woman was brought in. However, they knew very well that she had no active organisational activity. But this did not matter to the torturers; the only thing that mattered was to turn everything into a torture apparatus and use it. Since they had their 'master talk' with Brutus elsewhere; I do not have any information about what he told them. However, they must have got what they were going to get, because the only subject they dwelt on was Süleyman Cihan: "Son, there is no way, you will give Süleyman Cihan to us; otherwise there is no salvation for you!" said the chief interrogator. Brutus, after a little fuming; "I don't have an appointment with Süleyman these days. I don't know where he is. my wife has a contact, if she knows, she knows." (As they are close relatives, There was such a 'familial' relationship between them). But the woman friend must have denied what Brutus had said, for the chief interrogator said to Brutus: "Your wife denies what you have said. Convince her, let her go home." I don't know whether Brutus persuaded her and they let her go home. At a later time, one noon, there was a stir again. They were excitedly asking for information from Brutus: "From where and by which route this man would come, if you only knew," said the official in charge of the operation. It was obvious that they had received some information. It was probably information that the woman and Süleyman Cihan had met that day. But where they met must have been unknown; they wanted to find out from Brutus. In a very cold-blooded manner, his response was exactly as follows: "He will probably come to Istanbul from Thrace by coach." And so, in this environment where torture was used as the main and only method of interrogation as a state policy, people were imposed the dishonour of betraying others in exchange for saving their lives, and the misery of carrying a black mark on their foreheads for a lifetime... To Brutus This is what was imposed and accepted... This was how the system was set up and how it worked. And of course, as a great example of hypocrisy, the clichéd first sentence of the written statement report always and invariably began with the following: "Without any pressure, of my own free will..." With this response from Brutus, they left. With their departure, the place fell silent again... I think at around 15:00, they returned again, but with a greater uproar of enthusiasm... It was clear that they had taken Süleyman Cihan. Addressing him by his name on a fake identity card issued in the name of a teacher: "Welcome," said the interrogator. "For years you had all the officers of the state chasing you. We even pasted your posters on street corners and railway stations. You gave us a lot of trouble, but now we finally have you..." he said with an arrogant air. After remaining silent for a while in the face of such provocative rhetoric, I heard him say: "Stop playing games, stop calling me by a fake name. You know very well that I am Suleyman Jahan. Yes, I am Süleyman Cihan... Apart from this statement, I have nothing to say to you!" and fell silent. I don't know if the head (or heads) of the interrogator was expecting this, but with the calmness of a professional, he said: "Alright!... OK, have it your way, Süleyman Cihan." The team playing the role of "priest" quietly withdrew, leaving the stage immediately to the physical torture team who were to play the role of "executioner". With the ambition of having been confronted with a very clear and decisive restraint, they were loaded very, very heavily and intensely. Certainly at that moment they were torture robots disguised as real human beings. In a word, their ego was occupied by sadism and they were They were "working" breathlessly, with zeal. From Süleyman Cihan, I could only hear heavy moans from time to time. Interestingly, they had the Secretary General of an organisation such as TKP/ML, which is very important for the state, but the only question they asked him was this: "You have a green suitcase full of German Marks; you will give it to us." Apparently, this was the reason for all the heavy and intense torture... This disgusting and dirty labour and monetary 'work' lasted about four or five hours. They must have been tired and hungry, because they took a break. After a while, one or two people came up to me: "Have you heard, Proleter, we have your officer Süleyman Cihan; we have him now? Would you like to see him?" said one of them. "I know he is here and that you are torturing him... Yes, of course I would like to see him." Then they uncuffed him and took him to the next room. There they also removed the blindfold. There was a dim light in the room... Süleyman Cihan was in a very exhausted state; he was slumped on the floor, like an ashtray, supported by the wall against which he leaned his back. "Hello comrade. How are you?" He always called me "Esmer". "Hello, Esmer. Don't worry, I'm fine." he said with all the warmth in his eyes and voice, the light of which was barely visible. Whatever the people who arranged this meeting wanted to see or understand with her, they said, "OK, that's enough" and took me by the arm and took me out of the room. I don't know exactly what happened that night (if my memory serves me correctly, it was the night connecting 28 July to 29 July). When I woke up in the morning, there were only the sounds of the doors of the cells opening and closing, and the footsteps and conversations of the friends who were taken to the toilet. Apart from that, there was no shouting, no sound of torture... I asked the officer who came to take me to the toilet where Süleyman Cihan was. "The people from Gayrettepe came and took him. So we don't have him anymore." I didn't say anything because his answer made sense, because it was possible. After all, the Gayrettepe Security Directorate was the main centre for political interrogations in Istanbul. The possibility that they had taken Süleyman Cihan was therefore quite high. A few days later they took me back to Sultanahmet Prison. In the meantime, various rumours were circulated. Some people had heard that Süleyman Cihan was in Gayrettepe. Supposedly he called out his name several times and said he was there... In mid-September it was rumoured that he was killed in torture. As a result of the long efforts of us prisoners, his family and lawyers, it was accepted that he had died; however, the information about where his body was kept was concealed as a 'state secret'. As a result of the intensive efforts of his family and lawyers, it was found out that his body was buried in the Feriköy cemetery for orphans. In other words, they were a murder network professional enough to plan to cover up their murders by not even handing over the body of a person they had murdered under the open identity of Süleyman Cihan to his family, but by quietly taking it away and burying it in the 'Cemetery of the Unknowns' as if it was an 'unknown person'. The information that the body was in the Feriköy Cemetery of the Unknowns was, of course which was important, but it was not enough information to find the body. After long efforts, through the morgue records, the body was finally found. And it was only then that the truth began to come to light. The body, which was recorded as "unknown person" in both the crime scene prosecutor's report and the autopsy and morgue records, actually belonged to the person who was said to have jumped to his death from the corridor window of an apartment building on 29 July. According to the report of the prosecutor's office at the scene of the incident and the autopsy report, the cause of death was not a fall from a height. In both of these reports, it is clearly and unambiguously recorded that he was already dead before the fall. And much later, the report written by the bloody murderer Mehmet Ağar to the higher authorities is reached: "When Süleyman Cihan was taken to be shown a place in Göztepe, he fell from a momentary gap. He committed suicide by throwing himself out of the window". However, the apartment in Göztepe, Istanbul, to which he was said to have been taken to show him a place, was an empty flat which had already been raided as an "organisation house" and the door had been sealed afterwards. While a report is being written to the higher authority stating that "he committed suicide by jumping from there", the prosecutor's office is being treated as if "an unknown person committed suicide". In short, what happened is this: In order to reach the suitcase full of German Marks that they assumed Süleyman Cihan had, he was tortured uncontrollably that night, and as a result of this, Süleyman Cihan was, so to speak, left in their hands... In their panic, they immediately organised such a scenario to cover up the murder. In other words, the murderer Mehmet Ağar was so reckless as to give a false report even to his superiors. Because otherwise, he would have to account for the fact that a very key figure such as Süleyman Cihan had been 'deactivated' in a very short period of time, such as one day, without any attempt to get him to talk and get information. And as a way of avoiding this accountability, he decided to present a fake report to the base, to lie to us that he was taken to Gayrettepe, and to make us believe that he was in Gayrettepe by saying "I'm here" game was preferred. But as the saying goes: "The truth can never be hidden forever, it will come out sooner or later." The incident of Süleyman Cihan's brutal murder in the Sansaryan Han Torture House in a period of 9-10 hours and his burial in the "cemetery of orphans" as if he was an "unknown person"; In fact, it is a picture of exactly what kind of character this state and the Sansaryan Han torture house in particular have. And of course, there are hundreds of "pictures" that reveal the essential character of this state much more; but while we are talking about Sansaryan Han; we prioritised to give it its "right", that's all. http://halilgundogan.blogspot.com/2022/12/bir-iskencehane-olarak-sansaryan-han-ve.html
