Poyraz

Poyraz

Poyraz

13 August 2011Feature

When on 14 October 1996, Osman (Ossi) Murat Ulke began to serve his sentence in the military prison of Mamak in Ankara, a flood of protest and solidarity letters soon poured in. His case shows how effective letters to Prisoners for Peace can be. Ossi's imprisonment had been expected and partner organizations in Western Europe (including many sections of the WRI) and in Turkey were prepared.

During his first days of imprisonment, Ossi received up to 100 letters a day. He felt that the prison walls were tumbling down. He was in a cell and still he was in contact with so many people nationally and internationally. “This motivated me very much. I tried to answer all letters and I was spending my whole day in the cell writing letters. Fortunately I knew from my lawyers and from replies that my letters had actually been dispatched”.

Many people write short postcards or…