>Subject: "[Ozgurluk.Org]" Report on delegation to Turkey - another try >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 > __________________________________ 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] ___________________________________
