From: Press Agency Ozgurluk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 00:43:48 +0100 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: "[Ozgurluk.Org]" Correct Version: Turkey: Full horror of jail raids revealed Hello, The last message that went out here with the Subject: Guardian: Full horror of jail raids reveiled, was completely mallformed and broken. It was ment to be an excact copy of the url mentioned in the beginning of the message. Somehow it went wrong This is the correct tekt of an article in the Guardian originating from: http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,419027,00.html Full horror of jail raids revealed Amnesty alarm as hunger strikers near death in wake of assault on Turkish prisons dominated by leftwing factions Chris Morris in Istanbul Monday January 8, 2001 The black smoke hanging over Turkey's prisons has gone, and the gunfire has stopped. But more than two weeks after security forces stormed prisons across the country to regain control of dormitories run by leftwing inmates, the problems continue. Hundreds of prisoners are on hunger strike, with many reportedly prepared to die for their cause. While the government is trumpeting the triumph of the law, human rights groups have received reports of the torture and beating of prisoners transferred to smaller cells. Negotiators who tried to mediate between the state and the prisoners before the violence say they have been used. "We were deceived by the government," said Mehmet Bekaroglu, a member of the parliamentary human rights commission. "Now there is a frightening silence." Thirty prisoners and two soldiers were killed in four days of clashes at the jails just before Christmas. The prisoners were devoted members of violent far left factions. Many of the security force members who intervened used excessive force. It was a lethal combination. Operation Return to Life began on December 19 after more than a year of preparation. Detailed plans had been made to move thousands of inmates into new jails where they are housed in small cells rather than large dormitories. At Bayrampasa prison in Istanbul, armed paramilitary police and soldiers took up positions on the roof, and began trying to force their way into dormitories by smashing holes in the walls and ceilings. Accounts from surviving inmates have been brought out of prison by lawyers. They cannot be independently confirmed, but their stories are consistent. "They saw us stand up and they started firing at us," said Hamide Ozturk, a convicted member of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), who was in the women's ward. "After the shooting they started to bombard us with all kinds of bombs. They threw smoke bombs, sound bombs [an explosion where the main by-product is noise], nerve gas and pepper gas. We constantly answered them with slogans and insults. "They kept shouting: 'Surrender or we will kill all of you.' We said: 'Come and kill us all if you like, but we will never surrender'." What happened next is the subject of bitter debate. The government says that after several hours of clashes the prisoners refused to give in and began setting themselves on fire. The survivors say they were deliberately burned out of their dormitories with incendiary devices, and that several inmates died in the flames. "The fire quickly spread all over the dormitory," said another DHKP-C prisoner, Suna Okmen. "Beds and furniture began to catch fire. The people could not breathe because of the gas bombs and the smoke. It was like being in an oven. "Our hair began to catch fire, and because we had barred the door we were unable to get out. We forced the door open...and those who were still able to stand up had to drag us out. [The soldiers] had water cannons, if they had wanted to they could have put the fire out. All they did was watch." The paramilitary police have given a different account. <They say:> There is evidence that in some prisons the DHKP-C ordered its members to practise self-immolation rather than surrender. "What terrified us most was seeing the leaders pouring flammable liquids on to the militants and setting them on fire with their own hands," said a gendarme quoted in the local press. "We were too far away to be able to intervene...we were under fire from makeshift bombs and guns." One television image showed a woman handcuffed to a wall with her flesh on fire, but it is impossible to give a full account of what really happened. Eventually the security forces achieved their objectives, and at Bayrampasa the prisoners were forced into the open. "They surrounded us, attacked us and tried to pull us apart," Suna Okmen said. "They took us to other parts of the prison, beat us, kicked us, slapped us, swore at us and then collected us together." The authorities insist they used no more force than was necessary. They have displayed an armoury of a criminal offence. Meanwhile, there have been running battles between leftwing demonstrators and the police, and yesterday police arrested 34 people after they tried to lay a black wreath outside the building of Mr Ecevit's Democratic Left party, according to the state-run Anatolian news agency. Last week a man walked into an Istanbul police station and blew himself up, killing a police officer and injuring bystanders. The bomber's fingerprints identified him as a DHKP-C member. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk In Support of the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey http://www.ozgurluk.org DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc ________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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