----- Original Message ----- From: "Press Agency Ozgurluk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Soldiers, prisoners battle in Turkish > prisoners; at least 17 dead > > By HARMONIE TOROS > The Associated Press > 12/19/00 3:13 PM > > ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's attempt to regain control of its > prisons ended in bloodshed Tuesday, with two soldiers killed while > storming the prisons and at least 15 inmates dead -- many from > choosing to burn themselves alive rather than surrender. > > The government, pressing to break up wards controlled by inmates, raided > the prisons to prevent more than 200 hunger strikers from starving > themselves. > > Inmates linked to outlawed leftist groups launched the hunger strike more > than two months ago to protest government plans to transfer them from > their wards to new prisons equipped with small cells, where they fear they > will be more vulnerable to abuse by authorities. > > The government says the only way it can regain control of its prisons -- > often rocked by riots and hostage takings -- is by breaking up the large > wards, which it says political groups run like indoctrination centers. > > "From now on the state's sovereignty ... will be realized ... in prisons," > Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said. > > After intense fighting, soldiers forced inmates out of the wards in 18 of > the 20 prisons they stormed, and brought 143 hunger strikers to > hospitals. Clashes persisted in Istanbul's Umraniye prison and in a prison > in the western city of Canakkale. > > Transfers to the new prisons began after soldiers secured the wards. > Across Turkey, hundreds of people were detained for demonstrating > against the prison raids. Scores of people were injured in the protests in > Istanbul. > > Turk said the inmates in Istanbul's Bayrampasa prison were armed with > AK-47 assault rifles, a claim disputed by Ozgur Tayad, a prisoners' > support group. In two prisons, authorities broke holes through the walls > of the wards and in at least one case soldiers were dropped onto a prison > roof by helicopters. > > Turk said 15 inmates died Tuesday, most after setting themselves on fire. > Ozgur Tayad said at least eight had been killed by soldiers. > > One soldier was killed in clashes in Umraniye and another in a prison in > Canakkale, Turk said. The government gave no details on how the soldiers > died. Ozgur Tayad said the soldiers were killed in cross fire. > > Turkey's independent Human Rights Association disputed Turk's figures, > saying that up to 17 inmates had been killed or committed suicide by > setting themselves ablaze, with 12 apparently committing suicide in > Bayrampasa alone. Ozgur Tayad said 20 were killed. There was no > immediate explanation for the discrepancies. > > The government and radical, armed political groups have long been > fighting over control of the wards. Last year, 10 leftist inmates were killed > when soldiers stormed an Ankara prison to put an end to a riot. Also in > 1999, Islamic militants injured 54 soldiers and took more than 100 prison > guards hostage to protest plans to move them from their ward. > > To political prisoners, remaining in the wards is not only a question of > tecting themselves from abuse, some analysts say. Human rights > groups say that torture is common in Turkish prisons and that leftists and > Kurds are often singled out for abuse. > > Most senior members of leftist organizations such as the Revolutionary > People's Liberation Party-Front -- the group that most of the hunger > strikers are linked to -- also are in jail and the wards are one of their main > sources of power. > > Prisoners follow party discipline in the wards, and there are even cases of > ward leaders killing followers who are not obedient, according to Human > Rights Watch. > > The People's Liberation Party has more than 1,000 followers in prison, a > number that some experts say exceeds their membership outside of > prison. > > Dogu Ergil, political sociology professor at Ankara University and an > expert on leftist groups, said the inmates' refusal to surrender could also > be seen as an attempt by the group to prove that they are still strong. > > The battle with the soldiers "is a message to the group that they are very > much alive and can continue," said Ergil. "But this is also a sign of > desperation because they can do nothing else but annihilate themselves." > > Turkey has pledged to reform its judicial system, including abolishing > numerous freedom-curbing laws, in its effort to join the European Union, > which accepted Ankara as a candidate last year. > > -- > Press Agency Ozgurluk > In Support of the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey > http://www.ozgurluk.org > DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc >
