Derry Journal 6 July 2001 Derry man visits Turkish 'deathfast' prison by Eamonn Houston TWENTY YEARS after Derry INLA hungerstrikers Patsy O'Hara and Michael Devine died on hungerstrike, thousands of miles away in Istanbul dozens of political prisoners have already faced a similar fate. In the first year of the new millennium, one of the ancient forms of political protest is again being used as a last resort to force changes within a system. Twenty-eight Turks and Kurds, members of anti-government left-wing groups, have met their deaths since the 'Deathfast' began in November 2000. The latest hungerstriker to die last week - 22-year-old Zehra Kulaksiz - had been presented with the Starry Plough flag which flew over the Derry grave of Patsy O'Hara on the 20th anniversary of his death. Just a day later she passed away. She died at home after fasting for 221 days. A vitamin B and sugar solution is imbibed by the prisoners each day to prolong the length of their fasts. Many of them have lasted over 200 days. Like their counterparts in the North in 1981 they have a steely determination to see their protest through to the bitter end. A delegation from the IRSP, including Derry man Terry Harkin, have just returned from Istanbul to visit prisoners on the ongoing 'deathfast' over prison conditions. Each person on the fast to the death marks it by wearing a red bandanna. Now Terry Harkin is urging the people of Derry, with their own experience of a hungerstrike, to weigh in behind the plight of those incarcerated in isolation in Turkish prisons. The best way to hurt a government which tolerates dozens of deaths in its prison institutions is to boycott the country as a holiday destination, Terry says. "These people, men and women are involved in a working class struggle, just like two of Derry's finest young men, Patsy O'Hara and Michael Devine were in 1981. "The Turkish people supported their struggle then and now it is time to give them something back and deprive their government in power of the vital foreign currency which they so desperately need." Mr. Harkin appealed for local holidaymakers to boycott a country which has a questionable human rights track record and which is currently seeking membership of the European Community. Several women - following in the footsteps of suffragette Emiline Parkhurst - have joined the death fast. "This is all about human rights and human dignity and any organisation should do anything that they can especially because of the support that many off the Turkish people gave us during our own hunger strike," Terry said. "In our own areas people should be going into travel agents and tell them to take these holidays off sale. "Five of these hungerstrikers have died in their own homes having been sent out by the authorities. For these people Derry should do all that they can and they shouldn't be having 'craic' on holiday in a country where this is going on. "Derry has two of its finest young men buried in the City Cemetery - therefore the city has a massive link with these hungerstrikers in Turkey. We are asking prisoners' families to think about it, and even if it's a case of talking a sister or a brother out of a holiday in Turkey then that's doing something. "The more foreign currency going into this country the more the authorities are able to persecute," Terry added. The IRSP have 'black flagged' their Website in solidarity with those on the deathfast in Turkey. The prisoners are protesting against being held in prisons in isolation in institutions called F-types. Their demands include the abolition of the relatively new 'isolation' prisons and the shelving of draconian anti-terror laws in Turkey. The government in Turkey is extremely influenced by the military and has demonstrated an iron will comparable to that apparent during the Irish fasts in the Thatcher era. Female prisoners on the death fast today make a personal appeal to 'Journal' readers. Resit Arzu Guler, her sister Ayfer and Serpil Donmez, all young women aged between 19 and 23 gave this message: "Our Death Fast attack against the F-types is not only for the Turkish people, it is for all the world. We cannot separate our struggle from the world's. We know about the struggles of Patsy O'Hara and Michael Devine and we support their cause. We greet you from the depths of our hearts." Terry Harkin recalled the most poignant moment of his visit: "We were sitting drinking Turkish tea outside one of the death houses. When we looked up the Starry Plough star constellation was right above it."
