STATE REPRESSION IN “DEMOCRATIC” TURKEY For some time now there has been conflict between the thousands of political prisoners in Turkey and the state. Early in July there was a savage assault on left-wing prisoners in Burdur, and there was another attack in Bergama Prison towards the end of the month. The authorities in Turkey are attempting to force the politicals into the “F-Type” or cell-type prisons, but the latter are resisting fiercely. There is a struggle both inside and outside the jails. The prisoners have supporters outside the jails of Turkey – indeed, they have them in several European countries including the UK. It is an international and internationalist struggle. And as such, a delegation of journalists, lawyers, left-wingers and democrats went to Istanbul in the first week of August as part of the campaign against the F-Type prisons. The delegation consisted of Scots, English, Germans, Greeks and Belgians, and also included two translators born in Turkey but resident in England or Germany. Our hosts were the organisation TAYAD, which consists of the families and friends of prisoners, especially political ones. Most of us stayed in the left-wing Kucukarmutlu neighbourhood of Istanbul – a shantytown overlooking the Bosporus and the waterfront casinos and restaurants of the rich. Just before most of the delegation arrived, TAYAD members marched from Istanbul to Ankara but were subject to police attacks and arrests throughout. The first noteworthy thing to happen was on August 3, when delegation members and TAYAD people went to the justice building in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district to protest against the attacks that happened on the road to Ankara. As we emerged from the building, some slogans were chanted against the cell-type prisons and we were then set upon by the Cevik Kuvvetleri (Rapid Reaction Police), and a large number of people were arrested and forced onto police buses, most of them receiving some sort of injury in the process. The attack on the demonstrators was shown on a number of TV channels. No foreign delegation members were arrested, but among those who were detained were the two translators. After the arrest of the two translators, I took over as delegation translator. We tried to continue with our programme of visits to organisations concerned in one way or another with the prison situation, while at the same time seeking to ascertain the fate of those arrested. The following day we waited outside the justice department building in Sultanahmet. We had learned from lawyers that our arrested friends were being taken there. We saw them being taken back and forth by police. Our friends mostly seemed cheerful enough though many had facial bruises or bloodshot eyes as tokens of the beating they had received. We applauded them but were made to leave the building by police because we had engaged in a political demonstration by clapping, apparently. Our friends were not released on that occasion but were released later that night, and the following day we got our translators back. The programme continued – we met the former prosecutor of Istanbul Bayrampasa Prison who had been pressured to resign because he was thought to be too liberal. We also met TAYAD supporters in Kucukarmutlu. On August 7, we went back to the justice building in Sultanahmet to read out a declaration as delegation members protesting against the attacks and calling for the release of all political prisoners in Turkey. I read out the first half of the statement, while the German journalist Birgit Gaertner read out the rest. There was a fairly heavy media presence but a lot of police as well. On this occasion there was no police attack and we were able to leave without any arrests. The Turkish TV channels gave our protest a certain amount of coverage – I saw a 90-second item about it on CNN-Turk, and other TV channels also carried reports. After that the delegation broke up and returned to their homelands. I went to Istanbul Ataturk Airport on the afternoon of August 8. While I was waiting in the British Airways queue, two police approached me and told me to come with them. I was brought to the Customs area and made to open my suitcase. They searched it but all that was in it was some dirty laundry and a Guardian colour supplement. I was then allowed to go. I had been fairly high profile during the delegation and the search was probably only meant to intimidate me, but perhaps they hoped to find something dangerous – a newspaper or journal which could be used as proof of membership in an “illegal organisation”, or something of that nature. Turkey is being presented as a democracy fit for EU membership. Actually, the words of a prison prosecutor to some political prisoners describe the situation in Turkey perfectly: “If you want your rights, you must be prepared to die for them.” The political prisoners in Turkey are prepared to die for their rights. What will the left in Britain and Europe do? Stephen Kaczynski IKM (Committee for Struggle Against Torture Through Isolation) ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com _______________________________________________ Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list
