The article on page 12 of The Guardian on December 22, "400 inmates make last stand in Turkey" by Suzan Fraser, read like the pure product of a Turkish government press briefing. The article says soldiers shouted through megaphones to prisoners to get them to surrender, "Think of your parents waiting in front of the prison". Since these same soldiers and police have frequently assaulted the relatives of prisoners over the years, especially during prison visits, it is doubtful whether they enjoy much credibility. The government has done its best to stress its alleged lack of control in the prisons to justify its assault now, which a number of human rights organisations like Amnesty International have criticised. In fact, wardens could search prisoners' compounds when they wished to. The government's real problem is that thousands of highly politicised prisoners are concentrated together. In the end the government is targeting the political ideas the prisoners hold. That is why it wants to put the prisoners in isolation cells. The article claims the prisoners have little support. But hundreds of people have been arrested in Turkey for demonstrating against the assault by state forces, and it is in fact dangerous to be a supporter of the prisoners. In London, where the same degree of repression does not exist, protests and demonstrations, including the occupations on the 20th which attracted some British media attention, have involved a significant section of the Turkish-speaking community in this country. The article only mentions the DHKP-C, which stands for "Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front", not "Army-Front" as given in the article. In fact prisoners from the Communist Party of Turkey (Marxist-Leninist) or TKP(ML), and the Communist Workers' Party of Turkey (TKIP) were also on the Death Fast, and TKP(ML) prisoners are certainly among those known to have been killed. Incidentally, the death toll is far higher than the official figures given. You cite Turkish newspaper claims (hardly the most reliable source) that senior DHKP-C members live in Britain and Belgium. In both countries, there are active DHKC Information Bureaus. Our Bureau in London has publicised the state in Turkey's use of torture and disappearances for years and our office even has a sign and a flag outside. When the press in Turkey makes claims about our organisation in Europe, it often happens that European police forces then raid homes, offices and associations. We hope that so liberal a newspaper as "The Guardian" is not lending itself to such a shameful proceeding. We consider the US and European governments to be accomplices in the crime of the authorities in Turkey. DHKC (Revolutionary People's Liberation Front) London Information Bureau 97 Kingsland High Street, Dalston, E8 2PB. (0207) 254 1266 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------------------- 400 inmates make last stand in Turkey Government approves amnesty to cut overcrowding in jails as protests at all but one prison are crushed Suzan Fraser in Ankara Friday December 22, 2000 Soldiers pressed defiant inmates to end their standoff in the last Turkish prison holding out against authorities, after more than 150 left-wing inmates in another jail surrendered. Prisoners across the country had embarked on a two-month hunger strike to protest at plans to move them from huge, packed prison wards to small cells. After three days of raids on more than 20 prisons, 400 inmates remained barricaded in Istanbul's Umraniye prison. The standoff at Canakkale prison in western Turkey ended earlier yesterday, with the interior ministry saying that two more prisoners had been found dead, taking the official death toll in the raids to 19 inmates and two soldiers. NTV television showed some of the Canakkale inmates jumping out of a hole soldiers had smashed in a prison wall and crawling towards the heavily armed security forces. Earlier, soldiers shouted "Life is beautiful" and "If you are not thinking of yourselves, think of your parents waiting in front of the prison" through megaphones, the daily Milliyet reported. Parliament yesterday approved an amnesty that will nearly halve the country's prison population of 72,000 and help end overcrowding. Parliament passed the amnesty bill for the second time after President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had previously vetoed it. Turkish presidents cannot veto a bill twice. Officials have said it is vital for Turkey to reduce jail numbers as it struggles to regain control of prisons where inmates often live in wards that house up to 100 people. Political groups frequently run wards like indoctrination centres and bar warders from entering. Poorly paid guards are bribed and threatened and telephones and weapons smuggled in. Convicted murderers and thieves will benefit from the amnesty, but rapists, corrupt state officials, drug traffickers and those accused of crimes against the state, such as Kurdish guerrillas and leftwing and Islamic militants, will not. Although hundreds have demonstrated in the streets in support of the prisoners, the police raids appear to have been popular. The prisoners are mostly from fringe groups that have little support and many Turks have been critical of the government for not reining in the prisoners earlier. "It is ... a great shame that the state has allowed the current mess in the prisons to prevail for so long without taking effective steps," wrote Ilnur Cevik, editor-in-chief of the Turkish Daily News. The newspaper Radikal quoted the interior minister, Sadettin Tantan, as saying that the government had chosen to take the "slow road" and use psychological warfare to end the siege. At Umraniye prison shots were heard throughout the day, the independent Human Rights Association said. Security forces, throwing tear gas from holes drilled in the prison, were closing in on the prisoners who had barricaded themselves in, the news agency Anatolia said. The protesters . The Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, DHKP-C, which organised uprising, aims to replace government in Ankara with revolutionary republic . Up to 1,000 DHKP-C inmates said to be involved . Its gunmen have targeted generals, police officers, government officials and US military missions . Several senior members said by the Turkish press to live in Britain and Belgium
