Journalist and former political prisoner Omer Cakir. Photo supplied.

The case of Omer Cakir brings renewed attention to the fate of political prisoners forced into exile. A Kurdish writer and former child prisoner, Cakir was arrested at the age of 15 for protesting Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish civilians. He spent 13 years in Turkish prisons on two separate occasions, where torture, sexual abuse, and deaths in custody were widespread. His imprisonment was not an exception, but part of a broader system that criminalizes Kurdish identity and political dissent through Turkey’s anti-terror laws.

Although Cakir ultimately escaped that violence, its consequences continue to shape his life. After a dangerous journey through Mexico and the United States, he arrived in Canada seeking safety, only to face homelessness, poverty, and an unresolved refugee claim. For more than three years, his application has been stalled by a security investigation alleging links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

As Turkey deepens its repression of journalists, writers, and activists, Cakir’s story shows how political imprisonment follows people beyond prison walls—and how exile can become another form of confinement.

A Kurdish childhood behind bars

Cakir’s ordeal began in the 2000s, long before his first arrest. As a child, he witnessed everyday racism against Kurds; at school, in the streets, and through the silence enforced at home in Adana. In an email interview with Canadian Dimension, Cakir said he learned early on that his Kurdish identity was regarded and treated as inferior by the Turkish state and its supporters. He saw his family and community pushed to the margins of society. These moments shaped Cakir’s understanding of injustice and power, opening his eyes and planting the first seeds of resistance.

The Turkish assaults on Iraqi Kurdistan in 2007 pushed Cakir and his high school friends into the streets to protest. What followed was far harsher than anything they had imagined. The demonstrations led to arrests, prison sentences, torture, and years of harassment.

“It was a cold December night,” Cakir recalled. “Three friends and I were walking in our neighbourhood when the police suddenly surrounded us. We were taken into custody without any explanation.

“At the police station, I was tortured for hours. Then I was transferred to Kürkçüler E-Type Prison in the city of Adana, where I spent two nights being systematically tortured while completely naked. I had never been detained before. I had never seen a prison. I had no idea how anyone could survive there.”

Inside the prison, “The guards wouldn’t let us sleep, talk, or eat. We weren’t allowed to raise our heads or look around. Even breathing had to be silent,” he said. “Everything was built on fear.”

Cakir added that guards threatened the children in custody. “They told us they would kill us because we were Kurdish, and make us regret being born.” “I was transferred to Adana Pozantı Children’s Prison for over three years,” Cakir said. “There, I witnessed dozens of children being raped, harassed, and subjected to severe torture.” He, too, was abused repeatedly. “At one point, my entire body was cut and bruised, and guards rubbed salt into the wounds. The torture lasted for days.”

The sustained physical and psychological violence pushed him to the brink. “There were many times I thought about ending my life,” he said, “because the torture never stopped.”

Kurds in Turkey, an estimated 20 million people, make up nearly one-fifth of the population. Their identity has long been denied and marginalized. For more than a century, Kurds have faced systemic repression rooted in the origins of the modern Turkish state. Beginning in the early 20th century, first under the Young Turks and later with the founding of the republic in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkish nationalism sought to create a single nation defined by one language, one identity, and one........

© Canadian Dimension