First of all, many thanks to all who thought of me and called lawyers
on my behalf. I'm now home and doing alright. I want to write down
what I lived through; I just want everyone to know what happens in
police custody. I have no other aims; I want to make sure that's
clear. I will write down everything from the beginning, including the
vulgar insults, as clear as possible.

I was taken into police custody yesterday evening (on the 3rd of June)
around 21:00 in Besiktas close to the traffic lights on the Barbaros
Street, although I wasn't throwing stones or swearing. As soon as they
saw me, they bent my arm and took me in. Some friends have seen how I
was taken into custody on the television. After that hell
started. After we passed by the traffic lights on the shore and
arrived at the bus stops there, every normal and riot police started
punching and kicking me. For around 100 or 150 meters, until the
Kadikoy dock, everyone was kicking, punching and slapping me. Insults
like are you going to save this country you sons of bitches just would
not stop. I couldn't even count how many people hit me until we came
to the police bus. Just as we arrived at the buses, some people behind
the busses called out 'bring him here'. They took me behind the busses
and let this group punch and kick me. I later heard that they beat me
between a wall and the busses because the television cameras were
there. When we went inside the custody bus (actually a city bus), the
lights were turned off, and I could hear the begging cries of a girl
saying "I didn't do anything". Getting on the bus and once in there, I
couldn't even see who was hitting me. The only thing I could do in the
dark was hold my head. The insults and swears also continued. After I
sat down, everyone passing by hit me. I stood up and went to the
corner. They asked me to sit down, I told them that everyone was
hitting me there, they again insulted and punched me and made me sit
down. They were hitting this girl and choking her. A policeman named
Suleyman said exactly this to the girl: I will bend you down here and
fuck you. What the girl responded was painful to hear:all she could
say with a whimper was 'OK, brother'.

Afterwards, we were 3 people in the bus, they forced us to shout "I
love the turkish police, I love my country", many times in a row,
saying louder louder louder. The beating and swearing would not
end. It was starting to calm down, that's when they brought in another
young man. His nose was broken. I asked him why he didn't protect his
face; he said that two policemen held him, and a third one punched me
three times on my nose. They were bringing in new people every now and
then. One of them was a friend of mine from Bahcesehir University
named Mustafa. 20 riot police had attacked him, he didn't have the
strength to stay standing. Thet didn't stop at punching and kicking
with him, he was hit on the head with a helmet, even that wasn't
enough, his head was smashed to the windshield of the bus. They got im
the bus while still beating him up. His hand still cuffed in the back
and his head still bleeding, he was seated on the ground. I saw that
he was bleeding, and went to him with a piece of cloth (the bloodied
tshirt of the guy whose nose was broken) to hold it to his head and
stop the bleeding. The policeman named Suleyman swore at me again,
told me to get the fuck back to my seat. I told him he was bleeding,
he told me he didn't care. They still wouldn't take off his handcuffs
although he was bleeding, we told a number of policemen, at last one
of them took off his handcuffs. The really heartrending thing happened
in the police headquarters, as we talking to give a statement. Mustafa
asked me "What happened in the bus, did they hit me?". Our friend did
not even remember what happened inside the bus, as he wasn't
conscious. Also, we weren't allowed to go to the toilet while waiting
inside the bus, we were just given a bottle of water. We were later
token to the hospital for a medical report, and after that to the
police headquarters. There was an army of lawyers at the headquarters,
and the police were even saying please talking to us. Many thanks to
the lawyers, to the friends who called them, and the people who were
worried about us. There isn't one bit of exaggeration in what I wrote,
everything I told here has happened and what I want is everyone to
hear it first hand.

Resistance to this savagery must continue; this fascisct order has to
toppled.

Erkan Yolalan