>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >ISOLATION CELLS ARE AIMED AT KILLING THE MIND > >BULLETIN OF THE COMMITTEE FOR STRUGGLE AGAINST TORTURE THROUGH >ISOLATION > >Number 1 >June 2000 > > >EUROPEANS; >THOSE WHO ARE AGAINST TORTURE AND >MASSACRES > >PRISONERS IN TURKEY�S JAILS ARE CONFRONTING >A MASSACRE >LET US PREVENT THE MASSACRE > >Let us support the resistance of the prisoners and their families to >the cell-type prisons, and their just demands > >This is an announcement by Ozgur TAYAD, (Association for the Families >of Prisoners and Those under Sentence) the organisation in Turkey of >the families of prisoners. > >The Committee For Struggle Against Torture in Isolation Cells >Address: Kreuzweg 12 >20099 HAMBURG, Germany >e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Internet: WWW.hucreiskencedir.de >Tel/Fax: 0049 040 280 53 625 > >ISOLATION CELLS ARE TORTURE LET US TAKE A STAND AGAINST DEATH BY TORTURE > >The defenders of human rights, democrats, progressives, Marxists, >those who are against fascism; All Europeans who are against torture; >We are the families of the sons and daughters who are political >prisoners in Turkey's jails. > >Think about a country where defenceless prisoners are murdered behind >wire fences, doors with iron gratings and behind four walls in the >prisons. > >Think about a country where the state dresses up its role of >executioner as being extraordinary security precautions. > >In this country, mothers and fathers see their sons and daughters come >out of the prisons in coffins. Into their hearts are burned the >newspaper images of bodies of prisoners torn to pieces, burned, >perforated by bullets. > >In this country mothers and fathers receive the corpses at the morgue >of their children who were alive when they went into prison. > >In the prisons of this country, horrors are experienced that human >beings and humanity recoil from. > >Yes, this is the country that they tell you is "becoming democratic", >and is in fact Turkey under the rule of fascism. "Will there be an >operation again?" "How many of our sons and daughters will lose their >lives this time?" "Which mother will have her heart broken" > >While we think about such things, we do not get a wink of sleep, >because sleep is denied to us. We have been nervously watching the TV >news for information of new attacks and massacres. When our imprisoned >sons and daughters were on hunger strike or Death Fast for the sake of >a decent life, their bodies disintegrating slowly, we ourselves were >unable to swallow our food. While they were hungry, we did not set out >food on our own tables > >We lived through the pain of our sons and daughters during the Death >Fasts, the Buca massacre, the Umraniye massacre, the Ulucanlar >massacre, which took place on our soil". Our children, very much loved >by us, were savagely killed in the prisons which are under the >security and control of the state. There were no limits to the >savagery that was practised; they did things that would make a Hitler >seem compassionate. The images of bodies torn apart in Nazi >concentration camps were repeated in our country, where the deception >is practised that it is a "democracy". In our country the prisons have >been turned into a lake of blood. > >The pain that we have lived beside and the smiling eyes of our sons >and daughters, along with the deep love they feel for the people and >their warm hearts have also filled us with warmth. To us the sons and >daughters in prison live as human virtues, they embody honour in >resistance. Inside we wept tears of blood, but we also held our heads >high. Because they were the honour of humanity in the face of >oppression. They resisted with their revolutionary identity. They did >not bow down. For this reason every kind of cruelty to them was deemed >lawful" Wherever you are in the world, it is a right and a duty to >resist oppression. In our country, because the prisoners have made >use of their rights, THEY WANT THEM TO BE PUT IN ISOLATION CELLS. > >The defenders of human rights, democrats, progressives, Marxists, >those who are against fascism; All Europeans who are against torture; > >Once again the prisons are on the agenda in our country. The fascist >state in Turkey is once again preparing attacks on political >prisoners. Policies of carrying out new attacks to make the prisoners >surrender and annihilate them are being brought on the agenda. They >are impatient to reinstate the ISOLATION CELLS which were repelled by >the resistance of our sons and daughters. The fascist state in Turkey >is completing preparations for turning the prisons where our sons and >daughters are incarcerated into torture centres and put them into >isolation on account of the thoughts they harbour" > >With isolation which will last days, months, years, they aim to make >our sons and daughters surrender, to annihilate them through torture" >The fascist state in Turkey is preparing to commit the greatest crime >against humanity through the torture which will be practised in the >isolation cells. > >The defenders of human rights, democrats, progressives, Marxists, >those who are against fascism; All Europeans who are against torture; > >Our sons and daughters and we ourselves will resist while fascism in >Turkey commits this crime. In this struggle, we also want to see you >on our side. We want to see you on our side refusing to permit Nazi >measures like ISOLATION being implemented in our country. > >Fascism in Turkey and the European imperialists, with Germany at their >head, want to import into our country experiments with ISOLATION >CELLS; they want to kill our sons and daughters in isolation cells the >same way they killed RAF (Red Army Faction) prisoners in Germany. > >All the imperialists who are in agreement in saying that the fascism >of Turkey is "democratic" are telling a lie aimed at deceiving the >entire world. They turn a blind eye to Turkey's fascist practices, >they support them for the sake of their own interests in the Middle >East, the Caucasus and the Balkans. It is in these conditions that >fascism in Turkey finds even greater strength to put pressure on the >people and the opposition and on our imprisoned sons and daughters >above all. > >Will you remain silent in the face of this? European democratic public >opinion, will you find it convenient to remain silent while the >revolutionaries of Turkey and political prisoners are murdered? > >We, as the families of political prisoners, will wage a struggle >against isolation. We will be at the side of our sons and daughters >and will not let them be killed. > >We will not permit our sons and daughters to be savagely slaughtered >as happened in Ankara Ulucanlar Prison. We want to see you at our side >in this struggle. > >THE FASCIST STATE IN TURKEY WANTS TO TURN THE PRISONS INTO TORTURE >CENTRES > >The cell-type prisons, that is, isolation prisons, have been on the >agenda in Turkey for a long time. In the near future they will also >put them into practice. The cells and the prisons will be turned into >torture centres along with the cells. > >A police interrogation ending after a week is not the kind of torture >we are talking about; what we are talking about are days, months and >years of it inflicted on hundreds, even thousands of political >prisoners. > >Because isolation is a means to make revolutionary prisoners >surrender. > >Fascism in Turkey will insist on bringing in cells where every kind of >torture can easily be applied. > >IN THE CELLS THE PRISONERS WILL BE FORCED TO SURRENDER; this period >will be bloody and will be carried out openly " NEARLY 10,000 >PRISONERS ARE FACE TO FACE WITH THESE TORTURES AND MASSACRES > >THIS APPEAL, THIS CRY IS THE CRY OF 10,000 >PRISONERS. >THEY WILL TRY TO TRAMPLE ON THE HONOUR AND >HUMAN VIRTUE OF THE PRISONERS, MAKE THEM >ABANDON THEIR BELIEFS, THOUGHTS AND IDEALS >AND EMPTY THEIR MINDS, DESTROY THE LOVE OF >THE PEOPLE AND THEIR HOMELAND IN THEIR >HEARTS AND EXTINGUISH THE FLAME OF FREEDOM >IN THEM. THEY WILL ATTACK THE PRISONERS WHO >THINK, LIVE AND PRODUCE FOR THE PEOPLE , >AIMING WITH EVERY INHUMAN METHOD TO MAKE >THEM SUBMIT. > >For years, fascism in Turkey has tried to make the prisoners submit to >the fascist system. With bans, pressure and arbitrary practices they >have intimidated prisoners, with massacres they have aimed to drive >them back. Prisoners have resisted this. And in these acts of >resistance a large number of prisoners have lost their >lives. Massacres were carried out for this purpose. The cell-type >prisons have again been placed on the agenda; for years they tried to >put them into operation earlier but somehow they did not succeed. They >are seeking to transfer to our own country the experiments in >isolation carried out in European countries. At every point when the >isolation prisons have been put on the agenda, the prisoners have >repelled the attack, paying a heavy price. In the acts of resistance >to isolation, in the 1996 Death Fast, 12 prisoners lost their >lives. In Ulucanlar 10 revolutionary prisoners were tortured to death >with special cruelty. But once again they were unable to make them >surrender. They created a tradition rare in the world's annals of >captivity. This is a tradition of prisoners dying, facing torture, >having their bodies torn to pieces, and yet refusing to surrender. >Fascism in Turkey has prepared a long-term programme of attacks. The >centre of these attacks is once again the isolation prisons. And once >again the aim of these attacks is no different. "Surrender, all those >who do not surrender will be destroyed." While doing this they will >also practise another kind of torture, namely, WHITE DEATH. > >Today, an even more multi-faceted policy of repression is on the >agenda than was the case in the prisons of the 1980 fascist junta. >Rather than against one prisoner at a time, this will be the practice >of repression, torture and massacre directed against 10,000 human >beings. For this reason, the fascist authorities in Turkey, a land in >which 20 million people are hungry and 40 million are impoverished, >are spending millions of dollars on building isolation cells. The >Prime Minister of Turkey Ecevit has explained the attacks on our sons >and daughters with words like "in order to be able to carry out the >programmes of the government, the solution of the prisons problem is >vital", "without public order being guaranteed in the prisons, public >order in the country cannot be guaranteed". In our country, while the >gangs and the mafia are protected, the justification for attacking the >revolutionary prisoners is "maintaining stability". They plan to >guarantee this "stability" by making the blood of our sons and >daughters flow. > >The prisoners, who are behind four walls and in the hands of the >state, still make the state feel insecure. It is not enough to bring >onto the agenda the creation of prisons within the prisons in which to >carry on the torture of isolation. In our country in recent years, in >42 prisons alterations and repair work have been carried out and 4,000 >cells built. In six provinces contracts have been completed and >construction started on cell-type prisons to be finished by the middle >of 2000. Moreover, in 16 provinces contracts have been presented and >in several provinces they are talking about searching for funding to >build "F type", "Y type" and "H type" prisons. There is no law, no >law-governed state which has seen this form of mass torture. However, >this is only possible in fascist regimes. It is the duty of all human >rights defenders, democrats, progressives, Marxists to take a stand >against the repression, torture and massacres of fascism. Wherever >they are in the world, nobody with a conscience can remain silent in >the face of massacres and torture. Above all, it is more important to >stop massacres when, as is happening in our country, we have clues >months in advance that they will be carried out. In the cell-type >prisons of Europe, in time, those incarcerated develop psychological >and physical illnesses. The results of investigations and tests >available to us prove that cells damage the health of their inmates. > >Tinnitus: an illness resulting from blockage between the inner ear >blood vessels and the blood vessels in the brain. Scientific studies >in Germany have proved that isolation conditions and intense >psychological stress are the sources of this illness. There is an >official ban on making the existence of this illness public. >According to German law, it is forbidden to say that "tinnitus results >from solitary confinement". The prison cells are the reason why the >consequence of this illness is the destruction of brain cells. > >- A feeling of emptiness and nothingness >- Erosion of the psyche >- Inability to concentrate >- A feeling of being unable to go on >- Alienation from reality, a sense of abstraction >- Hallucinations >- Impairment of the capacity to think >- Sensory errors and erroneous perceptions >- Weight loss > >ISOLATION CELLS ARE TORTURE > >Isolation in cells is a form of burial alive > >The defenders of human rights, democrats, progressives, Marxists, >those who are against fascism; All Europeans who are against torture; > >Try to form an image in your minds of what a cell is like. A morgue in >which the prisoner will be pushed through a hole that is 50 X 50 >centimetres (that is the entrance to the cell). It is a coffin that is >2 X 3 metres square" (Note: the Turkish word "tabutluk" translated as >"coffin" actually means a room in a mosque where coffins are stored, >and is also a colloquial term for a room in a police station set aside >for torture.) In a rather narrow area, where there is nothing else >except a toilet, a bunk bed, a table and a chair it is cold, airless >and even a view of a piece of sky is denied within its four >walls. Thick walls which make the prisoners remember that they are in >a grave at every three metres. The world ends at a distance of three >paces" > >No other human beings, no air, no sound. It is a cemetery which in a >conscious way seeks to destroy everything that involves life. A thick >iron door, locked for 24 hours, into which is built a viewing slit >which a pair of eyes can peer through but which makes it difficult for >even light to penetrate into the cell. That viewing slit is opened >from time to time to count the prisoners and check whether or not they >are still alive. Once a day a foot pushes a food tray under the door, >in the same way you might give food to a dog. Everything will be >planned and organised for the implementation of torture. Nothing >involving humanity, nothing beautiful is permitted within these >coffins. A cell 2 by 3 metres square IS SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FROM >WITHIN AND WITHOUT AIMED AT INSULATING PEOPLE FROM CONTACT WITH THE >WORLD. IT IS AIMED AT ISOLATING THEM. They are planning to condemn >prisoners to be left on their own for days, for months in such >coffins. In such coffins human voices and sounds are banned" > >Chatting, smiling, expressing pleasure, being able to share with >friends a sense of anger to their faces will be forbidden" The >pleasure of drinking a glass of tea or smoking a cigarette with a >comrade or friend will be forbidden. > >"How are you?", "Are you well?", "Is something bothering you?", "Do >you need anything?" - these are questions nobody will be able to ask, >or answer" > >A cemetery in which you will not be able to discuss or share with >anyone something you might have read in a newspaper or book or seen on >TV. > >You will not be able to sing folk songs and marches with a loud voice >alongside your comrades, while walking back and forth in the prison >courtyard you will not be able to read poems aloud to your >comrades. Nor will there be walking back and forth in the >courtyard. You will take three steps and thick and high walls will >confront you. > >For nearly 24 hours a day they plan to put a prisoner in these coffin >cells, for an hour or a few hours they might get out into the exercise >area. The light of the sun will not dazzle your eyes when you lift >your head. You will not see the clouds passing swiftly across the >sky. Your eyes will not be able to perceive how blue the sky is" >Because in these coffins the walls of the exercise area are raised in >such a way that only a tiny piece of sky can be seen. The sun is >forbidden, the sky is forbidden" > >THERE IS LONELINESS IN THE CELL, THERE IS LONELINESS IN THE EXERCISE >AREA. THE CELLS ARE TO DESTROY ANYTHING HUMAN, NO MATTER WHAT > >The prisoner will be constantly in the shadow of and observed by the >warden and every step he or she takes will be checked. In this coffin >a human being will not be left able to think for a week or even a >day. However, prisoners will have to reckon with staying for years in >these cells. > >NO PUNISHMENT CAN BE TURNED INTO TORTURE. THERE IS NO LAW IN WHICH >PUNISHMENT CAN BE TURNED INTO TORTURE. i > >The fascist state which is the architect of these cells plans as its >aim the wearing down of the prisoners psychologically and making them >submit. > >The defenders of human rights, democrats, progressives, Marxists, >those who are against fascism; All Europeans who say you are against >torture; It is the imperialists who are the architects and masterminds >behind the isolation cells. America and the imperialist countries of >Europe. The USA, which has carried out psychological experiments in >laboratories, has given the findings of such experiments to countries >like Turkey. "Despite being told they would be paid extra, it was seen >that the subjects were in such a situation that the experiments could >not be extended another two or three days. For some subjects the >experimental conditions were even so unbearable that it was necessary >to end them before a psychological analysis could be carried out." >(Gross and Schwab, "Evaluation of Sensory Deprivation Experiments", >cited in "Silent Death", p55, by Umit Kazan) > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
