Selçuk Mızraklı and Selçuk Kozağaçlı. The similarity between these two men is not limited to their first names. Both remain in prison despite having completed their sentences and becoming eligible for conditional release. It’s a story of Turkey. Let’s tell it.
SAME CELL AS DEMİRTAŞ
Selçuk Mızraklı. A doctor. He worked for many years at the Diyarbakır Medical Chamber and served as its president. He also served as a member of Parliament.
In 2019, he was elected Diyarbakır Mayor. But he remained in office for only six months. After being removed from his post and replaced by a government-appointed trustee, he was put on trial and convicted of membership of the PKK.
Since February 2022, Mızraklı has been sharing a cell in Edirne with Selahattin Demirtaş, the former co-chair of the HDP.
Placing Mızraklı alongside Demirtaş—who had been kept in isolation since 2016—was described by supporters outside as “perhaps the best and only good thing Demirtaş experienced during his nine years in prison.”
Then, in 2025, when Selçuk Mızraklı applied for conditional release after completing his time under the existing sentencing rules, the unthinkable happened.
Completing your sentence does not mean you can simply walk out of prison. There is a Prison Administration and Observation Board.
This board decides whether a person will be released, even after the sentence has been fully served.
And indeed, the board rejected Mızraklı’s application on the grounds that “he did not make a statement indicating that he had renounced the terrorist organization during his time in prison.”
In other words, even after completing his sentence, release is conditional on a declaration. Mızraklı remains in prison.
Together with Demirtaş, they are watching with keen interest the Kurdish peace process they strongly support.
ONE DAY OF FREEDOM IN EIGHT YEARS
Selçuk Kozağaçlı. A lawyer. Honorary President of the Progressive Lawyers Association. He, too, is imprisoned on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization.”
In April 2025, after eight years of imprisonment, he was released. He reclaimed his freedom on April 16.
Minutes later, an objection to his release was filed—of course. After spending just one night at home, only 24 hours, he was re-arrested and sent back to prison.
Once again, opposing his release requests was a report by the Prison Administration and Observation Board.
The report states that Kozağaçlı should “remain in prison” on the grounds that he is “not in a condition to reintegrate into society.”
Kozağaçlı is now counting the ninth year of his imprisonment in Silivri Prison.
The stories of the two Selçuks have, sadly, become a reality of Turkey. Serving your sentence is no longer enough to be released from prison. Sometimes, the unbelievable turns out to be real.
