Turkey: Government Backs Down After

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Turkey: Government Backs Down After 12 Die On Hunger Strike

Turkey: Government Backs Down After 12 Die On Hunger Strike

(The following article was written by a member of the Communist
Action Group in England.)

     On Saturday, July 27th, the 69 day old Hunger Strike in
Turkish prisons ended in complete victory. Just one day after he
had threatened to send in troops to end the Hunger Strike by
force, the Minister for Justice Kazan announced that the
government would meet all the demands put forward by the
prisoners.
     The Hunger Strike started in May in response to the
announcement of a new policy on political prisoners by the then
Minister for Justice Mehmet Agar. On May 6th, Agar, who is linked
to the death squads in Turkey, said that all political prisoners
were to be transferred to the notorious Eskisehir prison, known
in Turkey as The Coffin. Unlike most of the country's other
jails, where prisoners are kept in large "wards" where they can
freely associate, prisoners in Eskisehir are kept in solitary
confinement in individual cells. In the first month after the
announcement, over 100 political prisoners were placed in The
Coffin.
     The prisoners demands were simple: the withdrawal of the May
6th decision, and the closure of  Eskisehir and all other
isolation prisons in the country. In addition, they demanded  an
end to attacks on prisoners, proper medical treatment to
prisoners wounded in attacks, and the right for all prisoners to
attend their own trials without being subjected to torture and
mistreatment.
     Turkey has a terrible reputation for prison conditions and
for torture of suspects. The government is carrying on a brutal
war against the Kurdish people, who are fighting for national
liberation. In addition, many left groups are armed, and are
carrying out a guerrilla war to overthrow the fascist government.
There are some 9,000 political prisoners in Turkey, only one in
four of which has actually been tried. It is not unusual for the
accused to have to wait for years before they appear in court.
And when they do appear, justice is not on the agenda.
     As well as the widespread use of torture, Turkey has a
higher level of political "disappearances" than Latin America -
the government simply bumps opponents off and dumps their bodies
where they cannot be found. Family and friends of prisoners are
subjected to every form of harassment, including being arrested
and tortured themselves. Many female relatives and friends have
been raped when they go on visits.
     In addition to all this, the authorities have staged a
number of armed raids on prisons where political prisoners are
held. On December 13, last year, one prisoner was killed and 40
injured when special police units and soldiers attacked prisoners
at Umraniye prison. On December 21, three prisoners were killed
and 39 wounded in a similar attack on Buca prison. On January 4
of this year, another attack at Umraniye left three dead and many
more wounded. A number of the prisoners wounded in this attack
were on the verge of death, but refused medical treatment, which
resulted in a fourth death a short while after. Two others
remained in a critical condition for a long period, but were
denied access to the medical treatment they needed. Conditions in
the jails was so bad that even before the May 6th decisions on
political prisoners, a group of prisoners at Diyarbakir prisoner
had begun an indefinite Hunger Strike against the increased
torture and mistreatment of inmates. On May 16th, they were
joined by a large number of inmates from different groups, mostly
from the Kurdish liberation movement (PKK), who went on an
alternating Hunger Strike with two groups of prisoners refusing
food for five days at a time. On May 19th, a further 1500
prisoners went on protest from Communist groups, this time on a
permanent, indefinite Hunger Strike. On July 3, a group - to
begin with 161 - turned this into a Hunger Strike to the death.
     Right from the start, there were solidarity Hunger Strikes
all over Europe, as well as inside Turkey and Kurdistan. These
included people going on Hunger Strike for fixed periods,
alternating with others, as well as a smaller number who were on
indefinite Hunger Strike. In Brussels and London, six members of
the biggest Communist group involved in the Hunger Strike, the
Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKC), stepped up the
struggle in mid-July and themselves went on Hunger Strike to the
death. More and more prisoners joined in with them, including
some 4,000 Kurdish prisoners from the PKK who joined in the last
week.
     The Hunger Strikers were well aware of the Irish Hunger
Strike of 1981. In fact, the heroic stand of Bobby Sands and his
comrades was a direct inspiration for the Hunger Strikers of
1996, just as it had been for earlier Hunger Strikes in Turkish
jails. This was borne out when Aygun Ugur became the first Hunger
Striker to die, on Sunday, July 21st: the same day, a slogan
appeared in a part of East London where there is a large Turkish
and Kurdish population, which read: "1981 Bobby Sands, 1996 Aygun
Ugur".
     Twelve Hunger Strikers died on the protest. 100 more are in
a critical condition, and will only recover, if at all, as a
result of very intensive medical care. One veteran Hunger
Striker, Zeynel Polat, who survived after being on Hunger Strike
for 70 days in 1984 and who joined in this struggle in solidarity
15 days ago, knew fully what was involved: "A Hunger Strike is
the hardest method of protest. Every day, every hour, every
second, you are conscious of going to death. After 60 days,
irreparable damage appears in certain organs."
     The Hunger Strike unleashed a wave of protest and rebellion
throughout the state of Turkey. In much the same way as the 1981
Hunger Strike in Ireland, the protest strengthened the resolve of
the people to struggle against repression and injustice. The
Turkish state has been shaken to its foundations. The people are
on the rise, and they are not in a mood to give in.
     The twelve Hunger Strikers who gave their lives are listed
below, together with their organisations initials and full names
in English:

Aygun Ugur - TKP(ML) [Communist Party of Turkey
(Marxist-Leninist)]
Altan Berdan Kerimgiller - DHKC [Revolutionary People's
Liberation Front]
Olginc Ozkeskin - DHKC
Huseyin Demircioglu - MLKP [Marxist-Leninist Communist Party]
Ali Ayata - TKP(ML)
Mujdat Yanat - DHKC
Tahsin Yilmaz - TIKB [Revolutionary Communist League of Turkey]
Ayse Idil Erkman - DHKC
Hicabi Kucuk  - TIKB
Yemliha Kaya - DHKC
Osman Akgun - TIKB
Hayati Can - TKP(ML)

For more information, write to the DHKC Information Bureau, BM
Box 8253, London WC1N 3XX. Tel/fax: 0171-272-2621

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_________________________________________________________________
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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