Turkey Prison Strike Victory

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From: NY Transfer News Collective <nyt at blythe.org>


-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 8, 1996
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------

TURKEY: PRISON HUNGER STRIKERS SET BACK REGIME

By Andy McInerney

Thousands of hunger strikers in Turkish prisons declared 
victory July 28, after winning promises from the Turkish 
government that it would improve prison conditions. 

But the victory came at a heavy cost. Twelve of the hunger 
strikers, who had taken only sweetened water for 69 days, 
died. Ambulances rushed 170 more critically ill prisoners to 
hospitals after the negotiations concluded.

The hunger strike began in May, when the government 
ordered prisoners from various jails to serve time at the 
Eskisehir prison--known as "the coffin" because of its tiny 
cells. Law yers for the prisoners charged that in addition 
to the brutal conditions at Eskisehir, authorities were 
trying to deny prisoners access to their families and legal 
representatives.

The settlement between the hunger strikers and the 
government provides that none of the current or future 
prisoners will be transferred to Eskisehir.

The original hunger strike comprised thousands of 
prisoners--including both Turkish militants opposed to the 
military regime and Kurdish supporters of the Kurdish 
Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 12-year liberation 
war for a Kurdish homeland. Of the original strikers, about 
314 in 45 jails had declared a "death fast"--pledging to 
starve unless their demands were met.

After the death July 21 of the first hunger striker, 
thousands more joined the action. The July 29 New York Times 
reported that 4,000 PKK supporters had joined, along with 
2,000 other Turkish prisoners.

WIDESPREAD SOLIDARITY

The hunger strike became a focus of struggle for Turkish 
workers and students around the world.

In Turkey, anti-government protesters battled daily with 
police in Istanbul, Ankara, and other major cities. Turkish-
owned properties in Germany have been firebombed in 
solidarity with the movement in Turkey.

The struggle was reported widely in European and U.S. news 
media. Most often it was described as "the first crisis" for 
the new government of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and 
his Islamic-based Refahyol party.

While the hunger strike was launched before Erbakan took 
office, his representatives brokered the settlement. In the 
days before the agreement, the government had indicated that 
it might storm the prison to quell the strike.

Imperialist powers in Europe, and the United States, had 
shown their preference for a deal. All the major capitalist 
powers in Europe "pressed Ankara to meet the hunger 
strikers' demands," according to the July 29 New York Times.

Germany, Turkey's main European ally, had a particular 
interest in the settlement. Over 2 million Turks live in 
Germany.

Two days before the settlement, the U.S. government issued 
a statement leaving the door open to support for repression 
against the prisoners. It recognized "repression and 
brutality" in the prisons. But the statement also echoed 
Anakara's description of the strikers as "hardened 
terrorists and extremists" who refused to accept the Turkish 
government's "olive branch," according to a July 26 UPI 
report.

On July 26, the "olive branch" was the demand they end the 
hunger strike unconditionally.

Beneath the mask of Erbakan's civilian government lurks 
the Turkish military, infamous for its brutality against the 
people's movement both in Turkey and in Kurdistan. In 1980, 
the military took over the government, ruling with an iron 
fist.

During those years, Turkey came to be the third-biggest 
recipient of U.S. mili tary aid, trailing only Israel and 
Egypt.

Five of the 12 fallen hunger strikers were members of the 
Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKC). In a July 25 
bulletin distributed on the Internet, the DHKC declared that 
"the uprising of the prisoners is the uprising of the 
people. It is a call for the war for an independent, 
democratic and socialist country.

"Maybe we will lose many comrades," the bulletin 
continued, "but the uprising will spread step by step over 
the whole country."

While the prisoners were able to force concessions from 
the government in this struggle, the Turkish military 
continues its genocidal campaign against the Kurdish people. 
Reuter reported July 25 that the Turkish air force bombed 
Kurdish camps in northern Iraq--the "no-fly zone."

On July 27, Reuter reported a series of clashes between 
the PKK and the military, with 25 Kurdish fighters and 16 
government troops reported killed.

In its July 29 victory statement, the DHKC stated that 
"the 12 comrades who died did not only win the struggle in 
the prisons against this most cruel and bloody government, 
they also used their bodies as a barricade against the 
attacks of this fascist state against our peoples."

                         - END -

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