Thousands of hunger strikers in Turkish prisons declared victory July
28, after winning promises from the Turkish government that it would
improve prison conditions.
But the victory came at a heavy cost. Twelve of the hunger strikers,
who had taken only sweetened water for 69 days, died. Ambulances
rushed 170 more critically ill prisoners to hospitals after the
negotiations concluded.
The hunger strike began in May, when the government ordered prisoners
from various jails to serve time at the Eskisehir prison--known as
"the coffin" because of its tiny cells. Law yers for the prisoners
charged that in addition to the brutal conditions at Eskisehir,
authorities were trying to deny prisoners access to their families and
legal representatives.
The settlement between the hunger strikers and the government provides
that none of the current or future prisoners will be transferred to
Eskisehir.
The original hunger strike comprised thousands of prisoners--including
both Turkish militants opposed to the military regime and Kurdish
supporters of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a
12-year liberation war for a Kurdish homeland. Of the original
strikers, about 314 in 45 jails had declared a "death fast"--pledging
to starve unless their demands were met.
After the death July 21 of the first hunger striker, thousands more
joined the action. The July 29 New York Times reported that 4,000 PKK
supporters had joined, along with 2,000 other Turkish prisoners.
Widespread Solidarity
The hunger strike became a focus of struggle for Turkish workers and
students around the world.
In Turkey, anti-government protesters battled daily with police in
Istanbul, Ankara, and other major cities. Turkishowned properties in
Germany have been firebombed in solidarity with the movement in
Turkey.
The struggle was reported widely in European and U.S. news media. Most
often it was described as "the first crisis" for the new government of
Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and his Islamic-based Refahyol party.
While the hunger strike was launched before Erbakan took office, his
representatives brokered the settlement. In the days before the
agreement, the government had indicated that it might storm the prison
to quell the strike.
Imperialist powers in Europe, and the United States, had shown their
preference for a deal. All the major capitalist powers in Europe
"pressed Ankara to meet the hunger strikers' demands," according to
the July 29 New York Times.
Germany, Turkey's main European ally, had a particular interest in the
settlement. Over 2 million Turks live in Germany.
Two days before the settlement, the U.S. government issued a statement
leaving the door open to support for repression against the prisoners.
It recognized "repression and brutality" in the prisons. But the
statement also echoed Anakara's description of the strikers as
"hardened terrorists and extremists" who refused to accept the Turkish
government's "olive branch," according to a July 26 UPI report.
On July 26, the "olive branch" was the demand they end the hunger
strike unconditionally.
Beneath the mask of Erbakan's civilian government lurks the Turkish
military, infamous for its brutality against the people's movement
both in Turkey and in Kurdistan. In 1980, the military took over the
government, ruling with an iron fist.
During those years, Turkey came to be the third-biggest recipient of
U.S. mili tary aid, trailing only Israel and Egypt.
Five of the 12 fallen hunger strikers were members of the
Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKC). In a July 25 bulletin
distributed on the Internet, the DHKC declared that "the uprising of
the prisoners is the uprising of the people. It is a call for the war
for an independent, democratic and socialist country.
"Maybe we will lose many comrades," the bulletin continued, "but the
uprising will spread step by step over the whole country."
While the prisoners were able to force concessions from the government
in this struggle, the Turkish military continues its genocidal
campaign against the Kurdish people. Reuter reported July 25 that the
Turkish air force bombed Kurdish camps in northern Iraq--the "no-fly
zone."
On July 27, Reuter reported a series of clashes between the PKK and
the military, with 25 Kurdish fighters and 16 government troops
reported killed.
In its July 29 victory statement, the DHKC stated that "the 12
comrades who died did not only win the struggle in the prisons against
this most cruel and bloody government, they also used their bodies as
a barricade against the attacks of this fascist state against our
peoples."
Workers World, August 8, 1996
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
