World: Europe (BBC)

Turkish police were accused of using excessive force

A court in Turkey has found five police officers guilty of beating a journalist to death and has sentenced them to seven-and-a-half years in prison. Six other policemen were acquitted; charges against more than 30 others are still pending.

The 27-year-old journalist, Metin Goktepe, was found dead in a park in Istanbul outside a temporary police station. After initial denials by the police, it emerged that he had last been seen alive while in police custody.

He was one of several hundred people who had been detained after the funerals of prisoners killed by police during jail riots.

Criticism from family

The family of the journalist criticised both the length of the sentence and the slow legal process. Their lawyers said that they will appeal against the sentence.

Under Turkish penal code, the police officers are likely to serve around three years in prison. The mother of the journalist said that this was far too lenient.

The trial, which was held in the provincial town of Afyon, about 250 kilometres south-west of Ankara, has been followed by hundreds of human rights activists and journalists.

The case had been postponed several times and was moved to Afyon, citing security concerns. Strict security measures were in place on the day of the trial.

Turkish human rights activists see the trial as a test of the authorities' resolve to act against what they say is widespread use of excessive force by the police.

After the verdict was announced, a group of demonstrators shouted slogans criticising the verdict.

Wednesday, March 11, 1998 Published at 20:41 GMT

World: Europe (BBC)

A Turkish court has acquitted 10 police officers accused of beating and sexually abusing teenagers who put up left-wing political posters.

The teenagers from the town of Manisa, in western Turkey, had said they were beaten, raped, and given electric shocks to extract confessions.

A public outcry and pressure from human rights groups triggered a high profile trial of the policemen.

Although the police officers were originally charged with torturing 15 students - eight of whom were under 18 - an appeal court reduced the charges to maltreatment in January.

On Wednesday, the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support either torture or maltreatment claims.

"Will you be able to sleep at night?" shouted Pelin Arda, a lawyer for the youths, as the police officers were escorted outside.

The lawyer said the case would be appealed.

Tension between security forces and supporters and relatives of the youths was eased when a local MP from the left-wing opposition Republican People's Party, Sabri Ergul, also called for an appeal of the decision.

Concern about Turkey's human rights record was one of the reasons given by the European union for delaying Turkey's membership of the EU

Turkish governor urges calm on riot anniversary

The governor of Turkey's biggest city has warned he would not allow memorial ceremonies this week for 17 people who died in riots in 1995 to get out of control.

"We do not intervene in functions that conform to religious customs or traditions. We intervene if there are attacks or transgressions," said Istanbul's governor Kutlu Aktas, according to the Anatolian news agency.

Angry demonstrators, many from Turkey's liberal Alevi Muslim community, clashed with police on March 12, 1995.

The demonstrations had been held after unknown gunmen shot dead two people in attacks on coffee houses in the run-down Gazi district of Istanbul.

The victims' families blame police tactics, including indiscriminate firing for the deaths during the riots.

About 20 policemen were arrested for their handling of the riots but their trial is still going on.

In recent weeks, Turkish police have used tear gas and batons to break up demonstrations by Kurdish activists, public workers and Islamic activists.

March is a historically tense month in Turkey. The Kurdish spring festival of Newroz, on March 21, is often an occasion for protest by Turkey's Kurdish minority.

Sunday, February 22, 1998 Published at 13:20 GMT

World: Europe (BBC)

Welfare Party supporters in happier times

The pro-Islamist Welfare party in Turkey - which led a government coalition for a year until June last year - has been officially dissolved for undermining Turkey's secular constitution.

The ban was ordered by Turkey's Constitutional Court five weeks ago, but came into effect on Sunday when the order was published in Turkey's Official Gazette.

It means that the Welfare Party's leader, the former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, loses his seat in parliament, along with several colleagues.

As a result, he now faces possible charges of sedition.Under Turkish law, the party's assets, which are already frozen, are liable for seizure by the Finance Ministry.

The ban came at the end of a long struggle between the Welfare Party and Turkey's military establishment, which accused the former of trying to subvert the country's secular ethos.

The party has said it will appeal against the ban to the European Court of Human Rights.

The US and the European Union have criticised the ban, saying it damages confidence in Turkish democracy.

Party members are believed to be considering regrouping under a new name and new banner without any reference to Welfare.

A Welfare Party official in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir said: "The shop signs are being taken down now, but tomorrow new ones will be put up.

"You cannot erase (our ideology) from the hearts and minds of more than six million voters," he said.

A BBC correspondent in Turkey says that national elections are due in the autumn or possibly sooner and any new party must have held a formal party conference six months before any national election.

Our correspondent says Welfare activists will have to move fast if they want to regroup politically.

Thursday, November 6, 1997 Published at 16:24 GMT

World: Europe (BBC)

A Judge in Turkey presiding at a trial of nine police officers accused of murdering a journalist has resigned citing unacceptable pressures.

The Judge, Kamil Serif, said he could no longer put up with the intereference of national and international organisations and politicians siding with the police officers.

The policemen are accused of beating to death a twenty-seven year-old journalist, Metin Goktepe, while covering the funerals in Istanbul of two left-wing militants.

The BBC correspondent in Ankara says human rights groups believe this case is a test for the Turkish legal system and for the government's commitment to protect human rights.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

Wednesday, March 11, 1998 Published at 20:41 GMT

World: Europe (BBC)

A Turkish court has acquitted 10 police officers accused of beating and sexually abusing teenagers who put up left-wing political posters.

The teenagers from the town of Manisa, in western Turkey, had said they were beaten, raped, and given electric shocks to extract confessions.

A public outcry and pressure from human rights groups triggered a high profile trial of the policemen.

Although the police officers were originally charged with torturing 15 students - eight of whom were under 18 - an appeal court reduced the charges to maltreatment in January.

On Wednesday, the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support either torture or maltreatment claims.

"Will you be able to sleep at night?" shouted Pelin Arda, a lawyer for the youths, as the police officers were escorted outside.

The lawyer said the case would be appealed.

Tension between security forces and supporters and relatives of the youths was eased when a local MP from the left-wing opposition Republican People's Party, Sabri Ergul, also called for an appeal of the decision.

Concern about Turkey's human rights record was one of the reasons given by the European union for delaying Turkey's membership of the EU

Turkish governor urges calm on riot anniversary

The governor of Turkey's biggest city has warned he would not allow memorial ceremonies this week for 17 people who died in riots in 1995 to get out of control.

"We do not intervene in functions that conform to religious customs or traditions. We intervene if there are attacks or transgressions," said Istanbul's governor Kutlu Aktas, according to the Anatolian news agency.

Angry demonstrators, many from Turkey's liberal Alevi Muslim community, clashed with police on March 12, 1995.

The demonstrations had been held after unknown gunmen shot dead two people in attacks on coffee houses in the run-down Gazi district of Istanbul.

The victims' families blame police tactics, including indiscriminate firing for the deaths during the riots.

About 20 policemen were arrested for their handling of the riots but their trial is still going on.

In recent weeks, Turkish police have used tear gas and batons to break up demonstrations by Kurdish activists, public workers and Islamic activists.

March is a historically tense month in Turkey. The Kurdish spring festival of Newroz, on March 21, is often an occasion for protest by Turkey's Kurdish minority.

Tuesday, 12 December, 2000, 16:45 GMT

The parliament faces serious disruption

Turkey's top court has begun a final round of deliberations on whether to ban the pro-Islamic Virtue Party, the country's largest opposition group.

Virtue stands accused of exploiting religious beliefs and inciting protests against a ban on headscarves in universities.

But the party is optimistic that it will not be outlawed, believing that the government does not want to face the political trouble such a ban would cause.

Chief Prosecutor Vural Savas says Virtue was established illegally as a successor to the Welfare Party, which was banned in 1998.

Mr Savas says they are "vampires spreading across the country, promoting subversive Islamic activities in an effort to overthrow the secular state".

Tough time

The toughest possible ruling - a ban on the party and the removal of all of its 103 MPs from office - could lead to a general election.

Elections would pose further trouble for the three-partner coalition government of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit at a time when it is battling a severe financial crisis and striving to introduce drastic reforms for European Union membership.

The Virtue Party strongly disputes the charges, and says it wants to take its place in mainstream Turkish politics.

BBC Ankara correspondent Chris Morris says the court's decision, which is expected within a few weeks, will set the political tone in Turkey for some time.

The issue has split the Turkish establishment. Most politicians have spoken out against party closures.

But military leaders are still concerned about what they regard as the serious threat posed by political Islam.

World: Europe (BBC)

Merve Kavakci was evicted from parliament for wearing headscarf

Turkey's chief prosecutor has begun moves to ban the Islamic Virtue Party on grounds that it is trying to overthrow the country's secular constitution.Opening his case against the party in the constitutional court, Prosecutor Vural Savas said Virtue was trying to replace the constitution with Islamic law.

The move follows the resignation of the Virtue Party's chairman, Aydin Menderes, in a growing row over the wearing of a banned Muslim headscarf in parliament by a party deputy.

Mr Savas was behind last year's closure of a previous Islamist party, Welfare, which briefly led the Turkish Government.

Most of the Welfare party's deputies regrouped in the Virtue Party behind a new leadership and investigations have been under way for some time to establish whether Virtue is a direct continuation of the banned party.

The party won more than 100 seats in last month's general election.

The role of religion

On Sunday, Merve Kavakci, a newly-elected woman Virtue Party deputy, re-ignited debate over the place Islam holds in Turkey when she wore the Muslim headscarf in parliament.

Turkey, which is officially secular, regards the wearing of the Muslim headscarf as a political, pro-Islamic statement and has banned them in public institutions.

Ms Kavakci and party leader, Recai Kutan, have refused to back down.

Dividing the country

Announcing his resignation as Virtue chairman on Thursday, Mr Menderes said he felt that Virtue - the third biggest party in parliament - was bent on self-destruction over the issue.

He said both sides of the political and religious fence were using the issue to divide the country.

"If I thought Virtue could take a fresh and wiser path I would have continued my job," he said. The son of a former prime minister, Mr Menderes, was seen as a moderate voice in the Virtue Party.

Party faces investigation

Prosecutors are examining whether Ms Kavakci's actions amount to incitement to racial or religious hatred.

Angry MPs forced the newly-elected deputy to leave the parliament building before she could take her oath of office.

Since then the issue has dominated Turkey, with newspapers probing her past.

Reports in the country's mainstream media have attacked her for allegedly calling for an Islamic holy war in Turkey and opposing Turkish plans to join the European Union because it is composed of mainly Christian nations.

Monday, November 30, 1998 Published at 15:05 GMT

World: Europe (BBC)

Mesut Yilmaz's government was ousted by parliament

The Turkish military has warned political leaders not to drag it into the debate over the formation of a new government.A brief statement from Turkey's general staff said politicians must "show the necessary care and sensitivity" and should not speculate publicly about which party the armed forces would favour.

BBC Ankara Correspondent Chris Morris says that when the military issues a public warning of this kind, everyone sits up and takes notice.

The statement said the armed forces did not favour one party over another. However, it is common knowledge that the High Command distrusts the Islamist movement and sees itself as the guardian of Turkey's strict secular system.

Pressure from the military, which traditionally prefers secular government, led to the fall of the country's first Islamist coalition last year.

Building a new government

The statement came as leading military and political figures prepared for a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss recent developments.

Politicians are in the process of negotiating a new coalition to replace the minority anti-Islamist alliance which collapsed last week.

The pro-Islamist Virtue Party is currently the largest party in parliament and it could perform well again if an early election is held next year.

Most political parties favour an early election and parliament has already set a date in April, but the military is thought to favour postponing the election until 2000.

The armed forces have been frustrated at the inability of Turkey's secular politicians to work together in an effective government.

Our correspondent says the statement is another reminder of the real source of much of Turkey's political power - in times of crisis, many people look to the military whether it likes it or not.

Sunday, October 11, 1998 Published at 18:20 GMT 19:20 UK

World: Europe

One killed in Turkish Islamists demo

Demonstrations took place in more than 20 Turkish towns and cities

One person has been shot dead and hundreds of others arrested during demonstrations in Turkey to protest against a ban on Islamic headscarves in the country's universities.The shooting occurred in the eastern town of Elazig when a group of protestors tried to break away from a demonstration.

Reports say an argument developed and troops opened fire, killing a 25-year-old man and wounding two others.

Mass rallies

Tens of thousands of Turkish Islamists took part in the nationwide protests on Sunday.

In some places, protestors blocked traffic. In the capital Ankara, men and women wearing headscarves joined hands in a human chain that stretched for 3km (2 miles) along a busy road.

Despite the killing and some other reports of violence, most of the protests passed off peacefully.

The demonstrations were in response to a decision by the rectors of 50 universities to bar female students from wearing Islamic headscarves on university premises.

The ban provoked large demonstrations earlier this year, prompting Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz to call for restraint in enforcing the dress codes.

'Violation of freedom'

The BBC's Chris Morris: "The Virtue Party are making big political capital from the headscarf issue" Islamic Virtue Party member, Mehmet Elkatmis, told a rally in Ankara: "The ban represents a violation of the constitution which guarantees basic freedoms."The restriction is one of a number imposed by the state and backed by the army which wants to limit the influence of Islam in politics and public life.

Other anti-Islamic measures include the closure of hundreds of state-run religious schools.

The army played a vital role in overthrowing an Islamist-led government last year.

Police clamp down on prisoners in Ankara
ANKARA, Dec 12:

At least five people were injured and 66 were detained on Tuesday when Turkish riot police violently clamped down on two rival groups of protesters demonstrating here over controversial prison reforms, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Violence erupted when police refused to allow some 300 protestors to march from Kizilay square in downtown Ankara to the nearby justice ministry to protest planned prison reform, which has prompted a nationwide hunger strike in the country's troubled jails.

When the group, mainly prisoners' relatives, refused to disperse, truncheon-wielding police officers moved in on the protestors and used water cannons and tear gas to end the protest, Anatolia said.

Footage broadcast on the all-news NTV channel showed riot police hitting and kicking protestors, including women, who had fallen down during the melee.

Two journalists, two police officers and an unspecified number of protestors were injured during the clashes, Anatolia added.

Meanwhile, a second group of protestors, making the signs of the infamous extreme-right "Grey Wolves" youth movement and chanting slogans in favour of the prison reform, attacked the anti-reform protestors, who retaliated.

The two groups threw stones and attacked each other with metal bars for two hours, after which riot police, helped by dogs, moved in to separate them, the agency said.

The windows of some shops, public buildings and cars were also smashed during the fighting, while some shopkeepers opted to close their business for the day, Anatolia said.

NTV said that officers once again resorted to water cannons and even fired shots into the air to restore calm.

Once police had arrived, the anti-reform protestors took refuge in the buildings of two minor left-wing parties, whose windows were stoned by the other group.

Police later searched the party buildings and detained 66 people, the report said.

Tension over the government's much-disputed prison reform has been increasing since more than 200 prisoners went on a hunger strike 54 days ago to protest the plans.

The plan involves the opening of new jails with cells for up to three people, replacing the existing large dormitories that sleep up to 60 prisoners.

The prisoners fear that being split up will socially and physically isolate them and may lead to maltreatment and torture.

Source: AFP

December 13, 2000

Web posted at: 1:18 PM EST (1818 GMT)

ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkey's most prominent jailed human rights activist has joined scores of prisoners who have been on hunger strike for more than 50 days, rights workers said on Wednesday.

Esber Yagmurdereli, who is blind and in poor health, began fasting three days ago in support of more than 200 prisoners on hunger strike to protest against government plans to transfer inmates to new jails, an official at the Human Rights Association (IHD) told Reuters.

The prisoners are jailed under laws limiting political activity and freedom of expression.

The protest has brought attention to EU candidate Turkey's much criticised jails and human rights record. The hunger strike has also sparked street protests and violence between police and demonstrators.

Authorities say many of the protesters are in danger as a result of a "death fast," now 55 days old.

The protesters and rights workers oppose moving inmates from dormitory-style wards in their current prisons to jails with cells, saying the new system leaves prisoners vulnerable to police abuse.

"Yagmurdereli began the hunger strike three days ago to support inmates on death fast," the IHD official said.

Yagmurdereli, 60, was jailed in 1998 for 22 years, despite his deteriorating health and harsh criticism from Europe. He was convicted of "spreading separatist propaganda" in a speech about the Kurdish rebel conflict in southeastern Turkey.

The European Union says Turkey must improve its human rights performance if it is to join the bloc.

The Council of Europe's Committee to Prevent Torture, which visited the hunger strikers this week, has said mistreatment and torture in police custody are commonplace.

"We invited this delegation to come and see what actually is happening with their own eyes," a Foreign Ministry official, who declined to be named, said. "The conditions in new prisons are humane. This type of jail exists in Europe too."

A member of parliament's human rights commission said on Wednesday he was hopeful an end to the hunger strike was near.

"I hope we will resolve this today," Mehmet Bekaroglu told reporters before meeting protesters at Istanbul's Bayrampasa prison.

Meanwhile police, outraged by the killing of two policemen in an attack on Monday that they blamed on left-wing guerrillas, staged protest marches in Turkish cities for the second day running on Wednesday.

Newspapers said the police force was also angry at the exclusion of policemen convicted of torture in an amnesty law passed by parliament last week

December 15, 2000
Web posted at: 6:55 AM EST (1155 GMT)

ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- About half the 200 hunger strikers protesting in Turkish jails against reforms have ended their fast, but leftists have refused to join Kurds in halting their protest, Anatolian news agency reported.

A total of 26 Kurdish rebel prisoners, convicted of links to the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group, accepted food on Thursday night in the western Aydin prison, the agency said.

Some 65 other prisoners linked to the PKK had quit their hunger strike earlier on Thursday.

They were among more than 200 inmates, most of them members of extreme leftist groups, who stopped eating to protest against plans to replace their dormitory wards with small cells, which they say will make them vulnerable to abuse by jailers.

The agency said talks with leftists to try to persuade them to end their hunger strike had broken down.

Most are drinking sugared water for the fast, which some began 57 days ago. Officials and human rights activists warn that some strikers have become very weak.

It was not immediately clear if the PKK inmates had ended the protest for an official undertaking they would not be sent to the new jails, some of which are ready to receive prisoners.

Justice Ministry officials were not available for comment.

A group of intellectuals and officials negotiating with the prisoners for an end to the hunger strikes on Friday said they were withdrawing from the talks.

"Unfortunately we could not get the outcome we expected from the negotiations," the agency quoted Ankara chief prosecutor Ferzan Citici saying as he left Istanbul's Bayrampasa jail.

"There is nothing we can do," said parliamentary human rights commission member Mehmet Bekaroglu. He did not say what had blocked an agreement.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Friday that the inmates' demands for jail reforms to be scrapped were something that "no state could accept." He said any deaths would be the responsibility of the leaders organizing the hunger strikes.

Most of the prisoners, apart from the PKK inmates, have been jailed under tight laws restricting political activity and freedom of expression.

Turkish officials defend the prison reforms as necessary to break up the influence of organized crime gangs, as well as far-left, Kurdish and Islamic militant groups. Prisoners and human rights activists oppose the cell-type jails saying inmates would be subject to solitary confinement there.

Friday, 15 December, 2000, 13:46 GMT

ISTANBUL, Turkey, December 5, 1999 (AP) Radical Muslim inmates resisting a search of their prison ward clashed with security forces Sunday, injuring 36 soldiers, the Anatolia news agency reported. The prisoners -- members of the banned Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front -- tried to prevent an unannounced search by guards in a ward that houses the group's leader, Salih Mirzabeyoglu, the report said. In Turkey, political prisoners are housed together and often run their own wards. There were few details on the clash, but Anatolia said one soldier was hospitalized with stab wounds. Several ambulances were called into the jail and armored personnel carriers were waiting outside, the report said. The banned Muslim group aims to replace Turkey's secular government with Islamic rule. It has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on left wing and Western-oriented pro-secular targets

the Irish News
founded in 1891 6.12.1999

From AP
16dec00

06:15 (AEDT) A STRONG earthquake shook quake-prone central Turkey today, causing injuries to 11 people who threw themselves from windows and balconies in panic.

Damage reports in the first hours after the quake were limited to power and telephone poles downed and a minaret toppled.

Soldater stormade fängelse i Turkiet
ISTANBUL . Turkiska soldater stormade på tisdagen ett fängelse i Istanbul där internerna satt eld på sina sängar i protest mot att deras ledare skulle föras till domstol.
Den militanta gruppen Storösterländska islamistiska angriparnas front, IBCA-C, kämpar för ett islamiskt statsskick i Turkiet och har tagit på sig ansvaret för en rad attentat.
Fångarna satte ett utrymme mellan två avdelningar i brand och barrikaderade sig sedan i sin egen avdelning.
Polisen använde tårgas för att tvinga ut ett fyrtiotal av upprorsmakarna, men 19 andra inklusive ledaren Salih Mirzabeyoglu höll fortfarande stånd, enligt den officiella nyhetsbyrån Anatolia.
För tre veckor sedan dödades en medlem i gruppen och tio skadades vid ett uppror i ett annat fängelse. AP

December 15, 2000
Web posted at: 1:28 PM EST (1828 GMT)

ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkey's president on Friday vetoed a limited prison amnesty, while over 1,000 inmates continued a hunger strike aimed at blocking plans to take control of the country's teeming, chaotic jails.

The veto was a fresh blow to Turkey's fragile coalition government, which has had many of its decisions blocked by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a former top judge backed by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit for the presidency earlier this year.

In a six-page statement accompanying his decision, Sezer said the amnesty, which could have halved Turkey's prison population of over 70,000, would have damaged respect for law and undermined the notion of justice.

"Using the authority of an amnesty to reduce prison numbers...reduced public trust in justice and laws," he said.

His veto sends the law back to parliament for fresh debate, adding to an agenda already crowded with reform bills demanded to back Turkey's $4 billion anti-inflation plan. If it clears parliament unchanged, he is obligated to sign it.

The amnesty was intended in part to support plans to ease crowding in the country's jails, where large dormitory-wards allow leftist political prisoners, mafia convicts and accused Kurdish separatists to organize and sometimes clash violently with their jailers.

Ecevit said he was "saddened" by Sezer's decision, which he said would be a heavy blow to thousands of families who had been hoping for prison releases before a religious holiday that starts at the end of next week.

"But my sadness is not important... For a long time people have had their hopes locked on an amnesty. Their family and friends have been longing for the amnesty, for it to happen before the holiday. I am very sorry on their behalf," Ecevit told reporters.

"We will discuss with our coalition partners what to do."

The justice minister said he would not back down from plans to move inmates from large dormitories to smaller cells despite pressure from more than 1,000 prisoners now on hunger protests.

Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk told reporters that 1,110 inmates, most of them leftists, were taking part in the protests against a cell system, which they say will make them vulnerable to abuse by jailers.

He said 249 of the protesters were on "death fasts" under which they take little or no nourishment. Of those, 34 were in the 57th day of the protest in jails across the country.

Others are taking sugared water or fasting intermittently.

Turk said ambulances were poised near prisons to treat those weakened by starvation but health officials could not act against the will of prisoners.

"The government has done all it can to end the hunger strikes and death fasts. The death or handicapping of a single person will sadden us all," he said.

Turk said the protesters demanded that Turkey scrap plans to introduce smaller cells, repeal articles of an anti-terrorism law under which many leftists and Kurdish separatists were jailed, and pledge to close the strict State Security Courts at which such crimes are tried.

The government has delayed transfers to new cell-type jails but Turk said it could go no further to meet demands he called unacceptable and tantamount to a threat to state authority.

"For as long as the dormitory system continues, no solution to the problem of Turkey's prisons can be envisaged," he said.

Some 100 prisoners linked to Kurdish rebels have abandoned the hunger strike protest, but leftist inmates are continuing.

Most of those leftist prisoners have been jailed under tight laws restricting political activity and freedom of expression.

Turkish officials defend the prison reforms as necessary to break up the influence of organized crime gangs, as well as far-left, Kurdish and Islamic militant groups. Prisoners and human rights activists oppose the cell-type jails saying inmates would be subject to solitary confinement there.

A group of intellectuals and officials negotiating with the prisoners for an end to the hunger strikes on Friday said they were withdrawing from the talks.

The Associated Press
12/16/00 9:54 PM

The Associated Press
12/17/00 4:44 PM

The Associated Press
12/16/00 9:54 PM

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Fifteen prisoners have burned to death and two paramilitary police officers have been killed after Turkish security forces moved into 20 prisons to crush a national hunger strike.

Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said the dead prisoners had set themselves on fire, while 57 other inmates were injured.

He said Tuesday's raids to restore control and end the two-month protest had been successful in 18 prisons where the "minimum possible harm" had been done.

Fifteen died after setting themselves on fire, 57 were injured, most of them having set themselves on fire and two of our soldiers were martyred," Turk said.

He said he hoped security forces would be in control of all 20 prisons by Wednesday.

In Istanbul, prisoners being removed from Bayrampasa prison said at least six of their number had died there.

CNN correspondent Tayfun Ertan in Turkey said security forces had been forced to drill through the walls of one dormitory at the jail to reach hunger strikers who had barricaded themselves in.

Turk said 1,139 prisoners were taking part in the hunger strike, with 284 of them on a "death fast," having taken only sugared water for about the last 60 days.

"It is unthinkable for the state to stand by and watch as people bring themselves face to face with death," Turk said. "The goal of this operation is to save people's lives.

"I want to give a message to the families, the fathers and mothers of inmates: 'Trust the state. The goal of this operation is to save your children.'"

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said: "This operation is an effort to save the terrorists from their own terrorism."

Earlier, Turk revealed how soldiers who were dropped by helicopter onto the roof of Bayrampasa prison came under fire from inmates.

Prisoners began the hunger strike in protest against plans to transfer them from large communal rooms to small cells, which they said would make them vulnerable to abuse by jailers.

Twenty inmates are said to be in critical condition after refusing food for 61 days. Other hunger strikers have been transferred to six prisons around the country.

"You cannot expect the state to watch people being left to die, that is why an intervention in 20 prisons was inevitable," the justice minister said.

Officials say the transfers to small cells are necessary to break the influence of organised crime gangs, far-leftists, Kurdish separatist and militant Islamic groups in the jails.

Support for the hunger strike came in Switzerland, where about 12 Turks barricaded themselves in the parliament building in Berne and shouted slogans in support of the prisoners.

And in Paris, about 100 activists stormed the offices of Turkish bank Is Bankasi, before dispersing after about three hours.

Hunger strikes started two months ago at 20 prisons

An estimated 1,139 prisoners were taking part in the protests, with most on a limited hunger strike

284 inmates are said to be on a "death fast"

The protest is over plans to transfer prisoners from communal rooms to small cells

Inmates say the move would make them vulnerable to abuse by jailers.

Officials say the transfers are necessary to break the influence of organised crime gangs, far-left groups, Kurdish separatist and militant Islamic groups

Soldiers storm Turkish prisons

More Turbulent Trouble In Turk Prisons
Two Soldiers, 15 Inmates Dead, Dozens Injured Soldiers Raid More Than 20 Jails To End Hunger Strike Earlier Protests Came On the Heels Of Transfers To Smaller Cells

ISTANBUL, Dec. 19, 2000

Turkish soldiers stormed 20 prisons Tuesday to force more than 200 inmates to end a hunger strike, prompting violent clashes. Two soldiers were killed and at least 15 inmates died, most after setting themselves ablaze.

Prisoners launched the hunger strike two months ago to protest plans to transfer them from large dormitory wards to small cells where they fear abuse by guards.

Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said that 15 prisoners died and 57 others were injured. He said that most of the prisoners who died set themselves on fire and that most of the injured suffered from burns. Turk said that two soldiers were killed in clashes and three were injured.

Turkey's independent Human Rights Association and Ozgur Tayad, an association of prisoners' relatives, said that 17 prisoners had died. Officials could not confirm the two additional deaths.

The Human Rights Association said at least 25 inmates were seriously injured.

The government has long sought to break up large prison wards run by leftist, Kurdish or Islamic groups like indoctrination centers. Guns and mobile telephones are routinely smuggled into the wards, and inmates riot, strike or take hostages to push for demands.

"From now on the state's sovereignty ... will be realized ... in prisons," Turk said.

Turkish prisons, which house some 72,000 inmates, are overcrowded with inmates in some prisons having to share beds. Human rights groups say torture is common in Turkish prisons and leftist and Kurdish inmates say they are often singled out for abuse.

The government is trying to pass an amnesty bill that would release almost half of the prisoners in a bid to reduce the overcrowding, but has excluded political prisoners from the amnesty.

The hunger strikers have been demanding that the government drop its plans to break up the wards. But Turk said Tuesday that the transfers have begun and there were reports that prisoners were moved to two different prisons that have small cells.

"From now on, the ward system in Turkish prisons will be absolutely out of question," Turk said.

Inmates in Bayrampasa prison in Istanbul were firing on soldiers with semiautomatic weapons, Turk said. Soldiers dropped from helicopters onto the roof, and clouds of gray smoke could be seen billowing from the prison.

Inmates in another Istanbul prison, Umraniye, also put up armed resistance, Turk said. Soldiers were reportedly breaking through walls to overpower the inmates.

Relatives of leftist prisoners gathered outside Bayrampasa and denounced the raids, the transfer plan and the amnesty law.

"The goal is clear: they want to kill my children," one woman said. Witnesses said police detained many relatives.

Turk said: "I want to give a message to the families, the fathers and mothers of inmates: Trust the state. The goal of this operation is to save your children."

Past raids in the dormitories of political prisoners have led to deaths and violent clashes with inmates, armed with smuggled guns and makeshift flame-throwers.

The Interior Ministry said 571 inmates have been hospitalized, including 434 who have been on a rotating hunger strike.

"You cannot expect the state to watch people being left to die, that is why an intervention in 20 prisons was inevitable," Turk told reporters.

Many hospitalized prisoners were refusing treatment, said Fusun Sayek, head of the Turkish Physicians' Association. The association, which includes many of the country's doctors, says it is unethical to treat people against their will.

The raids were launched after mediation failed to end the hunger strikes and the health of fasting prisoners was rapidly deteriorated.

At least 20 inmates were said to be in critical condition after refusing food for 61 days.

Twelve leftist inmates starved themselves to death in 1996 before the government abandoned a similar transfer plan.

Istanbul, Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish security forces raided prisons around the country to stop hunger strikes by inmates, sparking violence that left at least 15 prisoners and two soldiers dead, the Interior Ministry said.

At least four inmates burned themselves to death during the dawn raids to end the protests against the government's attempts to increase its control over the prisons, the ministry said in a statement. The circumstances of the other 11 inmate deaths weren't immediately known. Two soldiers were killed when prisoners returned fire.

Security forces successfully gained control of 16 prisons, with 571 hunger strikers hospitalized, the ministry said. Clashes, including gunfights, were continuing late in the day in Umraniye and Bayrampasa prisons in Istanbul, in Canakkale prison, about three hours west of Istanbul, and in Gebze, an hour east of the city. Some 500 hunger strikers are still resisting in those prisons.

``This is a struggle to save terrorists from their own terrorism,'' Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said during a televised news conference. ``We've tried our best to avoid such an armed conflict in recent weeks, but we couldn't get any results. The security forces are doing their best not to cause casualties.''

New Prisons Opposed

About 1,400 hunger-striking inmates had refused to end their protest even after the government bowed to their main demand last week and indefinitely postponed the opening of a new type of prison that would remove inmates from common areas.

The inmates, led by left-wing prisoners, stuck to other demands, including the abolition of state security courts, special tribunals that try those charged with crimes ``against the state,'' typically political crimes.

Political prisoners -- especially members of outlawed left- wing groups -- have opposed the new, higher-security jails comprised of cells built for one to three people. They prefer the current dormitory system that allows them to engage in organized activities such as guerrilla-style training.

Raids

Police officers and soldiers raided 12 prisons at 5 a.m. Operations in eight others came later during the day. Hunger strikes are continuing in 28 other prisons that have not been raided, the interior ministry said.

Hundreds of demonstrators protesting the raids clashed with police in the capital, Ankara, and in Istanbul. Club-wielding police disbursed the protesters in front of Istanbul University. In Ankara's main square, the demonstrators were seen throwing rocks at officers and breaking windows.

A total of 284 strikers were on the ``death fast'' for 60 days, and 1,139 inmates were supporting them with intermittent hunger strikes, Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said earlier today.

The government has been pushing for the higher security jails to regain control of the prisons, where inmates regularly riot as well as use mobile phones and fax machines to deal drugs and carry on intra-prison feuds.

Local television stations broadcast an audiotape leaked by the police, which was said to be a phone conversation between prisoner leaders today. In the recording, one of them ordered his subordinate in another prison to have an inmate burn himself to death as a show of force against the raiders

The two soldiers were killed during "interventions" in Umraniye jail in Istanbul and a prison in the western city of Canakkale, Mr Turk was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying.

He had earlier said that two prisoners died by self-immolation during the dawn raid on Istanbul’s Bayrampasa prison carried out by hundreds of police and paramilitary troops.

A third inmate was shot dead by security forces in Umraniye jail after setting himself ablaze and walking towards the troops.

Mr Turk said the operations were continuing in seven jails, including the Bayrampasa prison, from where authorities say the hungers strikes have been directed. The raids on the 13 other jails had ended, he said.

Prisoners in 20 prisons in Ankara, Istanbul and other parts of Turkey were protesting about plans to move them out of their crowded dormitories into small single cells. Officials say the move was necessary to break the influence of mafia convicts, leftists, Kurdish separatists and militant Islamic groups in the jails.

By Adrian Foreman, Europe News Editor

The current crisis in Turkey's prisons is a problem that has been brewing for many years.

Much of the country's recent past lies locked up in its prisons.

Inside you will find the left and right wing extremists, who violently clashed 30 years ago, the Kurdish hit-squads, the Islamic militants and the organised criminals.

Living alongside them are the human rights activists, jailed for their beliefs, who are the subjects of international campaigns.

Powerful prisoners have established enclaves which, in effect, they rule.

Recipe for disaster

Turkish prison governors readily admit that there are often parts of their jails which are no-go areas, even for them.

It was already an explosive situation.

The growing internationally backed campaign of complaint at prison conditions, and concerns raised over the kind of political crimes for which people were being put in jail, has simply added to the dangerous mix.

Relatives anxiously await news The latest crisis happened when the Turkish authorities, responding in part to international human rights concerns, enacted a number of prison reforms, including moving inmates to smaller cells.

Many inmates said that this would make them more vulnerable to attack from rival groups.

Then as it became clear that hunger-strikers could die, the Turkish authorities felt obliged to intervene.

The authorities have claimed that it was an action aimed at saving lives.

But it was also to restore control.

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 some 250 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 succeeded in forcing inmates out of the wards in 18 of the 20 prisons they stormed. Armed inmates were still resisting in Istanbul's Umraniye prison and in a prison in the western city of Canakkale.

The Interior Ministry said 78 inmates were injured in the clashes, and another 821 inmates on a hunger strike were hospitalized.

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 through the walls of the wards, and in at least one case soldiers dropped onto a prison roof from 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.

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.

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 protecting 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