Turkey: Fascist pigs and prisonriots

[english at ozgurlluk.xs4all.nl]

14 October,1997, Copyright © Turkish Daily News
  
	Ankara marks 74th anniversary as Turkey's capital

  * _President Demirel: _'Ankara is the symbol of the Turkish people's
 independence struggle and its resurrection after years of war'
 
  _________________________________________________________________
  
Turkish Daily News

Ankara - Ankara on Monday marked the 74th anniversary of becoming
Turkey's capital with various celebrations and ceremonies
commemorating the Turkish Liberation War, which culminated with the
establishment of the modern Turkish Republic and Ankara being declared
as its capital, the Anatolia news agency reported.

In a message released for the occasion, President Suleyman Demirel
stated that Ankara was the symbol of the Turkish people's independence
struggle and its resurrection after years of war. Ankara has been
rapidly developing since 1923 and has become an important center of
culture, education, industry, commerce and health, Demirel said.

In a separate statement, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said that the
citizens of Ankara would sustain their efforts to maintain the capital
as a modern and contemporary city, following Ataturk's example.

Defense Minister Ismet Sezgin, in his message to mark the occasion,
noted that Ankara was the pivot of the unique Turkish revolution and
of Turkey's orientation to the West.

Ankara Governor Erdogan Sahinoglu and Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek,
together with Forth Army Corps Commander Tamer Akbas, visited
Anitkabir early in the day, laying wreaths and signing the memorial
book.

Sahinoglu and Gokcek later attended a ceremony at the Ataturk Monument
in Ulus. As Sahinoglu called on the Turkish people for integrity and
solidarity, Gokcek pledged better services for Ankara residents,
including a healthier environment, improvement in transportation and
acceleration of the construction of natural gas lines.

Other ceremonies, attended by high-level officials, were held at the
Ankara Citadel, Anitpark, Kalaba Anatolian High School and the Zafer
Bazaar.
  _________________________________________________________________
  
  Magic Solution to the Prison Riot

  * The riot which resulted in a fire in the B 10 ward of Bayrampasa
 Prison was stopped by the magic prosecutor, Necati Ozdemir.
 
  _________________________________________________________________
  
 By Hakan Aslaneli / Turkish Daily News
 
Istanbul - The gendarmes went into the wards of Bayrampasa Prison to
make their routine search over the weekend. A riot broke out early on
Sunday morning because of the harsh treatment which the gendarmes
meted out to the B 10 ward prisoners convicted of murder, theft and
drug dealing.

The 64 prisoners in the ward set the beds and the quilts on fire after
locking the doors from their side. The fire which grew bigger because
the gendarme and the wardens were unable to cope with it brought the
64 people inside face to face with death.

Necati Ozdemir, known as the magic prosecutor of Bayrampasa Prison,
went into the B 10 ward to speak with the prisoners after the gendarme
and the guardians left. Ozdemir took Hasan Malkoc and Siddik Gunduz,
the leaders of the 1,000 prisoners being housed Block B, to the ward
which was on fire. The prosecutor risked death to speak with the
prisoners but managed to persuade them to halt their riot after a
45-minute bargaining session. Ozdemir and those accompanying him were
saved from being burned by a hairpin and rushed out of the B 10 ward
with the 64 prisoners. The fire was extinguished when the firemen
arrived.

  Prior to the event
  
The riot the Bayrampasa Prison was started by the death of prisoner,
Mustafa Keskin in a heroin coma in the special section of the prison
two days previously. The death from a heroin crisis caused events that
led to violent fightingbetween the gendarme and the prisoners.

The first spark to the flame was given when the gendarme beat the
prisoners with their rifles, claiming that heroin was being sold
inside. Later the same gendarme men started beating the prisoners with
their rifles while the 64 prisoners in Block B were being transferred
normally to other prisons. This caused the riot that brought the fire.

Thus smoke rose from the prison where the winds of amity had been
blowing for one year because Bayrampasa Prison's magic prosecutor,
Necati Ozdemir, who was the responsible civil servant of all those
serving there had not had the authority to to interrupt the soldiers.
  _________________________________________________________________

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
The Struggle for justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan
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