Turkey increases prison budget
The Turkish Government had increased the resources allocated to the prison sector from the public budget to approximately $1 billion, exceeding budget lines allocated to the Ministries of the Environment, Industry and Energy; all that despite the serious financial situation facing the nation, with a totally devalued Turkish lira and high inflation.
The Turkish Minister of Justice, Abdul Hamit Gul, confirmed this in response to a question from a member of parliament from the People's Republican Party (CHP), the largest formation within the Turkish opposition.
According to opposition media, the minister stated that almost 7 billion Turkish liras were allocated for the year 2019, the aforementioned 1 billion dollars for the change. The budget allocated to the prison sector exceeded the money set aside for certain matters concerning six ministries, including the Environment, Industry, Energy, according to Al-Ain News.
On July 20, the same minister said that over the past five years his country had established 94 prisons, bringing the total to 355. Gul noted that there are 94 penal institutions of various types that have been built and put into service over the past five years, reaching 355 prisons last year.
The large weight of the prison sector in public resources is a concern; in addition to the diversion of funds at a time of national economic crisis, there is a worrying need for increased prison facilities in the country. It is not unnoticed that detention under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's regime has increased exponentially in Turkey.
Internally, there is considerable pressure on opposition sectors, such as the Kurds. In the Eurasian nation, several arrests of political representatives attached to the People's Democratic Party (HDP) were recently carried out for alleged links with the guerrilla of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The latter is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, which has accused it of being responsible for several attacks in the south of Ottoman territory.
There have also been arbitrary arrests of members of the Turkish army in recent months on charges of links to the controversial 2016 coup d'état and collaboration with opposition cleric Fethullah Gülen, a great rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
