19:02 AEDT Saturday 23 December 2000 ninemsn

Turkish soldiers, tear gas force out prisoners

AAP -- Turkish soldiers lobbed tear gas grenades into a besieged prison today, forcing 430 inmates to surrender and ending an embarrassing four-day prison standoff that left at least 26 people dead. Turkey also began freeing hundreds of prisoners under an amnesty aimed at reducing overcrowding in prisons that is so severe that inmates live in wards with up to 100 people and sometimes have to share beds. The prison siege, which began Tuesday in 20 penitentiaries, was aimed at ending a two-month hunger strike by leftist inmates who said they would rather die than move from the wards to small cells, where they say fear they will be beaten or tortured. The government has said that leftist Kurdish and Islamist prisoners run their wards like indoctrination centres and are objecting to the move because it would reduce their power. Authorities have rushed hundreds of hunger striking inmates from the prisons to hospitals, but most of the inmates have refused treatment. Prisoners at 18 jails were overwhelmed by soldiers or surrendered on the first day of the siege. Another 158 inmates at Canakkale prison in western Turkey gave up on yesterday. Private NTV television reported that three more prisoners had died today but that report could not be officially confirmed. The Health Ministry ordered doctors today to treat inmates by force if necessary. Also today, authorities allowed reporters to tour one of the prisons where inmates surrendered. They showed captured weapons including a Kalashnikov assault rifle and 57 spent bullets, 4 pistols, 101 knives, and dozens of arrows tipped with the needles of syringes. The wards at Istanbul's Bayrampasa prison were controlled by militants from the Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, the main group involved in the prison siege. The group, which has claimed responsibility for the assassinations of generals, policemen and government officials, aims to create a Marxist state in Turkey. Black soot covered most of the living quarters of the ward which was littered with charred mattresses. Broken desks and chairs were scattered across the living area. Soldiers stormed those wards on Tuesday, entering for the first time in almost a decade. Inmates from radical groups had refused to let police or wardens enter their wards and bribed or threatened guards to allow them to smuggle in guns, medicines and computers. The inmates also had makeshift gas masks made of plastic soft drink bottles and a homemade satellite dish. "The prisons, which the state has not been able to enter for years, have been turned into the terrorist groups' training camps," the pro-Islamic Milli Gazete wrote. "So who is responsible for this disgrace?" Although the prison siege has been popular - the militants have little support in society - several commentators have questioned why the death toll in the raid was so high. "This is a total massacre," wrote Sevim Belli in the pro-Kurdish Yeni Gundem. "If their intention was to kill, they should have waited. Those on a hunger strike would have died anyway. Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said three inmates were killed today and that 24 inmates died in the four-days of sieges. Most of the inmates, he said, set themselves on fire. Two soldiers were also killed. "I hope these kinds of madness will not re-occur," Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said. Inmates in Istanbul's Umraniye prison were the last to hold out. They began surrendering after Turkish soldiers smashed holes into the roof with sledge hammers and lobbed tear gas grenades inside. The gas was so thick that 19 ambulances had to evacuate soldiers and inmates suffering from gas inhalation. At least 50 inmates were injured in today's clashes, private NTV reported. The government says its amnesty law would help give security forces a chance to regain control of the prisons. The law would free half of the country's 72,000 prisoners. The law, however, does not apply to prisoners who opposed the state, such as Islamic, Kurdish or leftist radicals. - AP

Turkish jail death toll reaches 28


Cells were burnt out at Canakkale jail, December 23, 2000
Web posted at: 7:45 AM EST (1245 GMT)

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Twenty-eight people are now known to have died in the crackdown on a prison protest in Turkey, a paramilitary police chief has said.

Officials said the four-day operation had thwarted plans by radical left-wingers to overthrow the state.

On Friday, troops bulldozed the walls of Istanbul's Umraniye jail and used tear gas to restore control at the prison, the last of 20 to hold out against raids aimed at ending mass protest hunger strikes.

Colonel Ali Aydin, a commander of the paramilitary troops who took part in the raids, said 26 prisoners had died -- 16 by burning themselves to death. Two police officers also died.

Officials at the prisons have displayed caches of homemade flamethrowers, makeshift rifles and bombs they say inmates used to fight off security forces -- claims disputed by human rights groups.

Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan said the raids had all but broken the grip of radical groups on the country's jails.

Security forces stormed the jails before dawn on Tuesday after the failure of talks to end rotating hunger strikes by over 1,000 inmates.

The prisoners opposed plans to transfer them from dormitories to small cells which they said would make them more vulnerable to abuse by jailers.

Prisoners display their defiance following the raids But officials say the protesting inmates belong to a range of banned far-left groups.

A filmed presentation by the ministry shown on television said the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) had used Istanbul's Bayrampasa jail to direct operations throughout Turkey, relying partly on financing from Europe.

A narrator said: "They (DHKP/C) are active in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Syria, Germany and Greece. Regrettably, these countries have not responded appropriately."

On Friday officials at Bayrampasa, where 12 prisoners died early in the crackdown, allowed journalists inside a cell block virtually destroyed as troops took the jail.

Turkey defends the transfers to small "F-type" cells as necessary to take control of its teeming jails.

A limited amnesty which Turkey's president approved last week is also designed to reduce crowding in prisons, but is controversial for leaving political prisoners behind bars.

Turkish human rights groups dispute official accounts of armed resistance by prisoners during the crackdown.

Television stations have broadcast footage of troops beating and kicking prisoners dragged from the jails. Aydin said only the minimum force necessary had been used in the raids.

"The autopsies will bring out the truth of this matter, and it will become clear to our public, independent judiciary, press and exalted people," he said. (CNN)

Reuters

Turkish jail siege ends


Umraniye jail: Prisoners vowed "death or victory" December 22, 2000
Web posted at: 11:52 AM EST (1652 GMT)

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- A crackdown to end a two-month hunger strike in prisons across Turkey is over after the last inmates offering resistance surrendered.

More than 400 inmates at Umraniye prison in Istanbul had held out for four days, but the government has confirmed they have given themselves up.

On Tuesday soldiers stormed 20 prisons to end the hunger strike and all but Umraniye prison had been brought under control by Thursday.

Turkish officials say 24 prisoners and two paramilitary police officers have died during the raids aimed at regaining control of the prisons. Earlier, witnesses outside the jail said about 20 ambulances had left the prison on a snowy hillside outside Istanbul, heading for a city hospital. At least one hearse was also seen.

Paramilitary police with bulldozers had surrounded a meeting hall inside the jail where prisoners, said by authorities to be armed with makeshift flame throwers, had barricaded themselves in since the siege began on Tuesday.

Smoke rose from Umraniye after inmates burned their mattresses, blankets and belongings. Inmates had earlier said they would fight until "death or victory."

Prisoners have been on the hunger strike to protest against government plans to move them from dormitories to one-and three-person cells.

Officials say the new structure will allow prison officers to control radical groups which have formed strong political cells within the prisons, but the prisoners say the cells will make them more vulnerable to abuse from their guards.

The government has insisted on ending the ward system, which lets up to 100 prisoners live together.

CNN-Turk television, citing early post mortem reports, said five inmates were killed by gunfire and one choked to death from tear gas while seven others burned to death.

Turkish officials say the transfer plans are necessary to break the influence of leftist groups, crime gangs, radical Islamists and Kurdish separatists in the jails, where the guards are often not in control of the large dormitories.

Soldiers found guns, computers, and mobile phones in some recently captured prison wards.

Officials have said it was vital for Turkey to reduce its prison population as it changes the system.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer approved an amnesty bill on Thursday that will set free some 35,000 inmates and help authorities divide the wards.

The inmates covered by the amnesty are expected to be released within a month, but will not apply to prisoners deemed opposed to the state, such as Islamic, Kurdish or leftist militants.

Human rights groups say the raids have failed to end the hunger strike, during which some prisoners have consumed nothing but sugared water for over 60 days.

Health Minister Osman Durmus said on Thursday the Higher Council of Health had ruled that any doctor who refused to intervene in the cases of hunger strikers had violated the ethical standards of the profession. (CNN)

Reuters .

Saturday, 23 December, 2000, 13:15 GMT

28 die in Turkish prison crackdown

The Turkish authorities have given more details of the casualties from this week's raids by security forces on a number of prisons across the country. A military official Ali Aydin said a total of twenty-six prisoners died during the operation -- sixteen of them after setting fire to themselves. Two security personnel were also killed. The raids, which ended yesterday Friday, were launched to end a hunger strike by inmates protesting against changes in prison conditions. Interior ministry officials said the operation had dealt a serious blow to extreme left-wing groups which they say masterminded the prisoners' action. From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

World: Soldiers seize Turkish prison, ending 4 days of rioting By LOUIS MEIXLER, Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey (December 23, 2000 7:08 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Turkish soldiers lobbed tear-gas grenades into an out-of-control prison Friday, forcing 430 inmates to surrender and ending an embarrassing four-day prison standoff that left at least 26 people dead. Inmates in Istanbul's Umraniye prison were the last to hold out after some 5,000 soldiers stormed 20 prisons on Tuesday. The prison siege was aimed at ending a two-month hunger strike by leftist inmates who had said they would rather die than move from the large wards to small cells, where they say fear they will be beaten or tortured. They began surrendering after Turkish soldiers smashed holes into the roof with sledge hammers and lobbed tear gas grenades inside. The gas was so thick that 19 ambulances had to evacuate soldiers and inmates suffering from gas inhalation. Also Friday, Turkey began freeing hundreds of prisoners under an amnesty law aimed at reducing prison overcrowding and helping security forces regain control of the prisons. Overcrowding is so severe, inmates live in wards with up to 100 people and sometimes have to share beds. The government has said that leftist, Kurdish and Islamist prisoners run their wards like indoctrination centers and objected to the move because it would reduce their power. Prisoners who oppose the state will not be among the 35,000 prisoners freed under the amnesty law. Authorities have rushed hundreds of hunger-striking inmates from the prisons to hospitals, but most of them have refused treatment. The Health Ministry ordered doctors Friday to treat inmates by force if necessary. Inmates at 18 prisons were overwhelmed by soldiers or surrendered on the first day of the siege. Another 158 inmates at Canakkale prison in western Turkey gave up Thursday. Private NTV television reported that three more prisoners had died Friday but that report could not be officially confirmed. On Tuesday, soldiers stormed wards controlled by Marxist militants at Istanbul's Bayrampasa prison, entering for the first time in almost a decade. The Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army Front, which has claimed responsibility for the assassinations of generals, policemen and government officials, wants to create a Marxist state in Turkey. A look inside the Bayrampasa prison showed living quarters covered with black soot, and littered with charred mattresses, broken furniture, medicines, makeshift gas masks and a homemade satellite dish. In a garden outside the ward, a cage held 30 pigeons that the inmates were raising. Though the cage was partly smashed open, the pigeons did not fly away. Raising pigeons is a popular hobby in Turkey. "The prisons, which the state has not been able to enter for years, have been turned into the terrorist groups' training camps," the pro-Islamic Milli Gazete wrote. "So who is responsible for this disgrace?" Although the prison siege has been popular -- the militants have little support in society -- several commentators have questioned why the death toll in the raid was so high. "This is a total massacre," wrote Sevim Belli in the pro-Kurdish Yeni Gundem. "If their intention was to kill, they should have waited. Those on a hunger strike would have died anyway.

Turkey shows off rebel wards equipped with guns, knives and pet pigeons

By BURAK BAKTIR
The Associated Press
12/23/00 12:27 AM

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Burned books, smashed chairs and charred mattresses litter the halls of the prison -- all remnants of a battle between police and Marxist inmates armed with pistols, homemade flame throwers and bows and arrows tipped with syringe needles.

After four days of fighting, the Turkish government's nationwide raid on 20 out-of-control prisons came to an end Friday with the surrender of 430 inmates in the last penitentiary holding out. And as soon as the violence had ended, Turkey began trying to explain why the raids were necessary in the first place.

Turkey brought journalists to Istanbul's Bayrampasa prison to illustrate its argument that the prison wards -- large areas that held more than a dozen prisoners each -- were being run by the inmates and had effectively degenerated into militant training camps.

Police showed reporters captured weapons, including a Kalashnikov assault rifle and 57 spent bullets, four pistols, 101 knives and dozens of arrows topped with the needles from syringes. The inmates also had makeshift gas masks made of plastic soft drink bottles, as well as a homemade satellite dish.

Authorities said 18 of the prison's wards were controlled by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, a small, militant Marxist group that has claimed responsibility for the assassinations of generals, policemen and government officials.

About 15 prisoners lived in each ward. Inmates from radical groups often refuse to let police or wardens enter the wards. They bribe or threatened guards to allow them to smuggle in material.

"I would like the Turkish nation to openly see how the terrorist organizations were dragging our young into a quagmire," Interior Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said.

The prison unrest was set in motion months ago when Turkey decided to dismantle the system of large prison wards and begin transferring prisoners to Western-style small cells. Militants said they feared that authorities would abuse them if they were separated from each other, and hundreds had begun a hunger strike that they vowed to continue until they died or the government backed down from its plan.

The hunger strikes forced the government to act, officials say. And on Tuesday it did, with hundreds of troops storming 20 prisons across the country.

Twenty-four inmates and two soldiers died in the sieges. Turkish officials say many of the inmates burned themselves alive. Private NTV television said three more prisoners were killed Friday, but that report could not be confirmed.

At Bayrampasa prison, soldiers burst in on Tuesday and fought their way into the wards -- the first time authorities had entered some of the areas in almost a decade. Twelve prisoners were killed in clashes or committed suicide by burning themselves alive.

Days later, bullet holes could be seen in the doors and walls of the wards. Black soot covered most of the living quarters of the two-floor wards, which were littered with charred mattresses.

The downstairs area was covered with broken desks and chairs. A smashed aquarium lay scattered in the corner of one ward.

In the garden outside one of the wards sat a large cage filled with some 30 black-and-white pigeons that the inmates were raising. The cage was partly smashed open, but the pigeons remained inside. Raising pigeons is a popular hobby in Turkey.

Most of the militants were pulled from the wards Tuesday and sent to prisons with small cells. Prisoners who had been on a hunger strike for almost two months were rushed to hospitals, where many are refusing medical treatment. Officials have said they will be treated by force if necessary.

In addition to the move to small cells, the Turkish government has begun freeing thousands of inmates to reduce overcrowding and make it easier to take control of the prisons. The government freed hundreds of prisoners Friday as the widespread amnesty began.

The amnesty will free half of the country's 72,000 prisoners but will not apply to prisoners who opposed the state. That includes Islamic, Kurdish or leftist radicals such as those at Bayrampasa.

Turkish police end final jail stand-off

The final resistance to Turkey's jail crackdown appears to be over. Prisoners at Umraniye jail near Istanbul had been holding out against security forces since Tuesday. But officers, using bulldozers and tear gas, have managed to penetrate the building. Some police went in through the roof.

It is the culmination of an operation in 20 jails across the country to end a hunger strike and restore control to the authorities. Black smoke billowed from the building as fire-fighters tackled blazes in the prison, which the government said were caused by prisoners burning their belongings.

Many of the prisoners surrendered. Others were rushed by ambulance to nearby hospitals, and some were brought out dead. 27 people are now thought to have died in the nation-wide operation, including two police officers.

The government launched the prison raids because it wants to transfer inmates to new jails, a plan which had provoked the hunger strike. Meanwhile, controversy is raging over a jail amnesty approved by Turkey's president.

Thousands of criminals are expected to be freed under the programme, which will cut the prison population in half and ease overcrowding. Relatives of the inmates waited outside the jails to greet their loved ones, but the move has been attacked by victims of crime. And thousands of political prisoners will remain behind bars.

Turkish press gets coup jitters

The Turkish Government's decision to use force to end the stand-off with striking inmates in the country's prisons has caused increasing unease in parts of the press.

A number of left-leaning papers expressed concerns about the government's handling of the prison crisis, with at least one commentator suggesting that the ground was being prepared for a military coup.

"Turkey is falling apart at the seams," a columnist wrote in the centrist mass-circulation Milliyet. "In the wake of the incidents over the amnesty bill, F-type prisons, and the hunger strikes, there is growing doubt about the strength of the government."

Writing in the liberal mass circulation Sabah, Cetin Altan said recent events were familiar.

"Casting an oblique glance around us, we too are coming to the conclusion that the ground is being prepared for the introduction of a military diktat," he wrote.

"It is always the same: first comes utter chaos and then a military diktat. Today's developments instill such a fear in our minds, whether we like it or not."

Global impact

Mr Altan said the Turkish state had been slow in coming to grips with the impact of globalisation.


"After the transition to a military diktat, a schism could be created in the country and after a bloody shock wave similar to a civil war, Nato and US forces could intervene to pacify the country. Then it would be easier for the country to change the status quo," he wrote.

"The new cadres to come to power would speedily solve the Cyprus and the Aegean problems, as well as the problem of the southeast, that is, the Kurdish problem."

"We should not have let the 20th century pass us by with such a shameful fiasco," Mr Altan concluded.

No conspiracy

A columnist in the mass-circulation left-wing Cumhuriyet appeared to agree.


Ilhan Selcuk said that in times of grave national events Turks always say that 'Our country is experiencing the biggest crisis of the history of the Turkish Republic'.

"When you start hearing this said over and over again, it is not a prophecy that something will happen... Turkey is experiencing a crisis as big as any in the past," Selcuk wrote.

"The hidden forces of the state swing into action... the urge to live takes over. Are we at that point again?"

But writing in Milliyet, Hasan Cemal took a less apocalyptic view.

"Is it a conspiracy? ... Please don't bother with conspiracy theories. We should well know that the cure for such poison is the transparency of a democratic regime and a government clearly under the rule of law," he wrote.

Confusion

A number of papers pointed to what they saw as confusion in leading government circles over the events leading up to the decision to launch the crackdown, as well as to discrepancies in the official casualty toll.

"For instance, Internal Affairs Minister Sadettin Tantan denied anyone was on a hunger strike while Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said the protests had reached a critical point and the operation was unavoidable," Melik Asik wrote in Milliyet.

Radikal newspaper reported that, according to Eren Keskin, the chairman of the Istanbul Human Rights Organisation, 54 prisoners had apparently "gone missing" during the course of the operations.

"We asked the chief prosecutor where these people were. He said he did not know," the paper quoted Mr Keskin as saying.

Source: BBC News

28 die in Turkish battle for jails

Militant prisoners are crushed after protest against smaller cells

Firdevs Robinson in Ankara and Burak Baktir in Istanbul
Sunday December 24, 2000

Burnt books, smashed chairs and charred mattresses littered the halls of a prison in Istanbul yesterday. The authorities displayed weapons they found inside - pistols, home-made flame-throwers, bows and arrows tipped with syringe needles.

After four days of fighting that left at least 26 inmates and two soldiers dead, with 133 injured, the Turkish government regained control of 20 jails across the country. The last to resist, Umraniye jail in Istanbul, was retaken on Friday when 430 inmates surrendered.

According to the Interior Ministry, 16 of the inmates who died over the four days burnt themselves alive. For an operation named 'Return To Life', it was a bloody legacy.

Yesterday the authorities began the task of explaining to their own people and the international community - long critical of a prison system riddled with corruption and violence - why the assaults had been necessary.

Interior Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said: 'I would like the Turkish nation to openly see how the terrorist organisations were dragging our young into a quagmire.'

The government has been under growing pressure to impose discipline on Turkey's jails. The latest bout of unrest began months ago, when the authorities decided to dismantle the large wards which, they said, were ungovernable and often no-go areas for staff, and replace them with smaller units.

Militants said that they feared the authorities would abuse them if they were separated from each other, and hundreds began a hunger strike that they vowed to continue until they died or the government backed down.

The government's offer to postpone opening the new jails had no effect. On Tuesday, hundreds of troops stormed 20 prisons.

Inmates who had been on a hunger strike for almost two months were taken to hospitals, where many were refusing medical treatment. Officials have said they will be fed by force if necessary.

The authorities took the media to some of the prisons involved. At Istanbul's Bayr-ampasa jail they said that the wards, holding more than a dozen prisoners each, were being run by the inmates and had, in effect, degenerated into militant training camps.

Bayrampasa housed the leaders of the militant left- wing Revolutionary People's Liberation Party Front, the Turkish Workers and Peasant Liberation Army, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party and the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, which had called off its hunger strike.

Police showed reporters captured weapons, including a Kalashnikov assault rifle and 57 spent bullets, four pistols, 101 knives and dozens of arrows topped with needles from syringes. The inmates also had makeshift gas masks made of plastic soft-drink bottles, as well as a home-made satellite dish.

On Tuesday soldiers burst in and fought their way into the wards - the first time the authorities had entered some of the areas in almost a decade.

Days later, bullet holes could be seen in the doors and walls of the wards. Black soot covered most of the living quarters of the two-floor wards, which were littered with charred mattresses.

The downstairs area was covered with broken desks and chairs. A smashed aquarium lay scattered in the corner of one ward.

In the garden outside one of the wards sat a large cage filled with 30 black-and-white pigeons that the inmates were raising. The cage was partly smashed open, but the pigeons remained inside. Raising pigeons is a popular hobby in Turkey.

In other jails, overcrowded wards housing 100 inmates were controlled by Stalinist organisations or by the extreme Islamist groups. If it wasn't one of the political organisations, it was mafia- type gangs that ruled the roost.

In the new prisons, called F-type, individual cells or rooms house two or three people. The authorities showed journalists around, pointing to the better personal space and modern facilities.

But human rights groups say the problems go much deeper than the accommodation. They include corrupt warders and systematic violence against prisoners.

'If you want to measure the value of human life in a society, look at the prisons,' says Yilmaz Ensaroglu, president of the human rights group Mazlum Der. 'The scene at the end of this latest crackdown is the glorification of death by the militants and the scant disregard for human life by the officials. What I see in this mirror horrifies me.'

In addition to the move to small cells, the Turkish government has begun freeing thousands of inmates to reduce overcrowding and make it easier to take control of the prisons.

The government freed hundreds of prisoners on Friday as the widespread amnesty began.

The amnesty will free half of the country's 72,000 prisoners, but will not apply to prisoners who opposed the state. That includes Islamic, Kurdish or left-wing radicals such as those at Bayrampasa.

Funeral for dead Turkish inmates

The protesting inmates belong to a range of banned far-left groups

Funerals have taken place in Turkey for some of the 28 people killed in a bloody four-day prison crackdown.

Turkish authorities have released video of some of the prison protests that sparked the heavy response by police and paramilitary forces.

There was heavy security in Istanbul as police gave permission to the families of two prisoners killed in the raids to bury them in Istanbul's Gaziosmanpasa district.

Gaziosmanpasa was the scene of the ambush on the riot police and many violent clashes with leftists over the years.

Freezing rain lashed the funeral processions, while hundreds of police clad in riot gear formed a perimeter around a graveyard where mourners chanted leftist slogans.

Turkish government officials have confirmed that 28 people had died in the four-day prison crackdown which officials said had dealt a crushing blow to jailed radical leftists bent on violent overthrow of the state.

Turkish paramilitary troops bulldozed holes in the walls of Istanbul's Umraniye jail and bombarded its inmates with teargas to subdue the prison, the last of 20 to hold out against raids aimed at ending mass protest hunger strikes.

Officials at the retaken prisons have displayed caches of homemade flamethrowers, makeshift rifles and bombs they say inmates used to fight off security forces.

Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan said the raids, in which two soldiers also died, had all but broken the grip of radical leftist groups on the country's jails, often effectively run by inmates in large communal dormitories.

Security forces started storming the jails before dawn last Tuesday after the failure of talks to end hunger strikes by over 1,000 mainly leftist inmates.

The prisoners opposed plans to transfer them from their dormitories to small cells which they said would make them more vulnerable to abuse by jailers.

The protesting inmates belong to a range of banned far-left groups, which Turkey holds responsible for killing two riot policemen in an ambush in Istanbul earlier this month, and 186 people over the last decade.

Turkey defended the transfers to small cells as necessary to take control of its teeming jails, and Aydin said transferred to facilities with the small cells.

A limited amnesty which Turkey's president approved last week is also designed to reduce crowding in prisons, but is controversial for freeing many common criminals while leaving political prisoners behind bars.

The state-run Anatolian news agency said hundreds of prisoners, mainly convicted of assault or theft, had been released from jails across the country on Saturday. ITN

Turkish troops close in on jail

 

Inmates have ignored calls to surrender, shouting "Either death or victory".

 

More than 400 prisoners are refusing to surrender to Turkish troops three days after taking over a jail in Istanbul.

The inmates at Umraniye prison are the last group holding out after thousands of Turkish soldiers assaulted 20 prisons to end a two-month hunger strike.

Security forces subdued all but two of the jails on the first day of the operation.

At least 21 people - 19 of them prisoners - have died since attempts to retake the jails began, according to Turkish television.

A prisoners' support group says the death toll is much higher.

On Thursday, troops regained control of Canakkale prison in western Turkey, smashing holes in the walls of the prison blocks to force their way in.

inmates had barricaded themselves inside a gymnasium where they ran a live wire to the door to electrocute soldiers trying to open it.

The prisoners began their hunger strikes in protest against plans to move them into prisons with one- or three-person cells, where they say they would be more vulnerable to abuse by prison guards.

Inmates resisted the soldiers' assault with guns and flame-throwers made from gas canisters and rubber tubing.

Military helicopters have been circling over Umraniye prison and paramilitary police have been lifting off tiles and opening the roofs of several prison blocks there.

Inmates, who have barricaded themselves inside a conference room, have ignored calls to surrender, shouting "Either death or victory".

Turkish Justice Minister Hikment Sami Turk said: "The operation could be completed even in one hour but security forces are acting carefully so as not to harm anybody."

Protests against the Turkish Government have also erupted in European cities, including in London where Kurds briefly seized two pods on the London Eye. ITN

Amnesty deal as prison sieges end

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 at the prisoners.

More than 158 left-wing prisoners surrendered to soldiers Thursday as Turkey turned to psychological warfare to try and press hundreds of defiant inmates to end their three-day holdout in two prisons.

Meanwhile, parliament approved a prison amnesty that would nearly halve the country's prison population and help end overcrowding in penitentiaries.

The surrender ended a stand-off at Canakkale prison in western Turkey but some 400 inmates remain barricaded in an Istanbul prison.

Television reports said three prisoners died in the standoff, but Interior Ministry officials could not confirm the report.

Seventeen inmates and two soldiers have died in the fighting since Tuesday.

Many of the inmates burned themselves alive.

NTV television showed some of the Canakkale inmates, wearing white tops, jump out of a hole that soldiers smashed into a prison wall.

The inmates then crawled toward heavily armed security forces who had taken up positions in a ditch.

Earlier, police helicopters hovered over the prisons and soldiers with megaphones urged prisoners to think of their families and surrender rather than fight.

Meanwhile, Turkey's parliament on Thursday overrode a presidential veto and approved a prison amnesty bill that will halve the number of prisoners.

Officials have said that it is vital for Turkey to reduce the number of prisoners as it struggles to regain control of overcrowded prisons where prisoners often live in wards that house up to 100 people.

Political groups often run their own wards like indoctrination centres and bar wardens from entering. Turkey has some 72,000 prisoners.

Seventeen inmates and two soldiers have died in the fighting.

Many of the inmates burned themselves alive.

Radikal newspaper quoted Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan as saying that the government had chosen to take the "slow road" and use psychological warfare.

"We are constantly calling on them to surrender," Tantan is quoted as saying. Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said that Turkey "could finish the operation in an hour, but the security forces are being careful so that there is no loss of life."

The confrontations began on Tuesday, when soldiers stormed the penitentiaries to end a two-month hunger strike by prisoners protesting moves from Turkey's huge, packed prison wards to small cells. ITN

World: Order restored in Turkish prisons after clashes, officials say

By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (December 23, 2000 4:00 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - After a four-day siege of prisons that left 28 dead, Turkey's government said Saturday it has shattered a radical leftist group operating from inside the facilities.

The riot's leaders have all been thrown into solitary confinement, officials said.

Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan said the government has restored its authority in prisons, where leftist groups had the run of their wards, training new recruits, smuggling in arms and equipment and planning attacks and other operations by members on the outside.

"From now on, the organization will have difficulty in finding finances and recruits without receiving orders from leaders in prisons," Tantan said.

Two regional leaders of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, were moved from communal wards and placed in solitary confinement in new high security prisons.

Some 1,000 other members of the DHKP-C and other radical leftist groups were also moved out of wards, which can house up to 100 inmates, to small one- or three-member cells.

The two leaders, Sadi Ozpolat and Ercan Kartal, were moved from Istanbul's Bayrampasa prison to a new prison in Edirne, further west. Ozpolat was the DHKP-C leader in charge of training in prisons, while Kartal planned and directed attacks throughout Turkey, Turkish officials said. Both of them were acting on orders from abroad.

"It is a very big loss for the organization," said Nihat Ali Ozcan, a terror expert with Ankara's Eurasia Strategic Research Center. "But it does not mean that it is finished. The group's real leadership is in Europe."

Col. Ali Aydin, an army spokesman, told a news conference that government forces had not been able to enter the wards controlled by the leftist inmates in Bayrampasa for a decade. The inmates, armed with rifles, handguns and makeshift flame throwers, fought soldiers in Bayrampasa and 19 other prisons. One prison, Istanbul's Umraniye, held out for four days.

"This operation has cleaned the state's shame," said Tantan. He said the DHKP-C may increase its attacks as a show of strength after the crackdown.

The militants used bribes and threats to smuggle a virtual arsenal into the prisons. In Bayrampasa, police found an AK-47 assault rifle, pistols, homemade flame throwers and a laptop computer. They also found mobile phones and a satellite phone that the leaders apparently used to communicate with followers outside of the prison.

Troops stormed the 20 prisons Tuesday to prevent hundreds of inmates on hunger strikes from dying. The prisoners launched the fasts to protest government plans to move them from the wards to small prison cells. Militants said they feared authorities would abuse them if they were separated from each other. The government said that what militants really feared is that they would lose their power if they were separated from each other.

The raids ended Friday with the surrender of 430 inmates in Umraniye. Authorities said the group resisted so long because some 45 militant leaders killed at least one prisoner who attempted to surrender and threatened others.

The Interior Ministry said that 16 inmates burned themselves alive and that several of them were ordered to do so by their leaders.

The DHKP-C and its predecessor, Dev Sol, have claimed the killings of a former premier, a justice minister, generals, businessmen, and scores of policemen and soldiers. The group operates only in Turkey. Nando Times

Turkey appeals to hunger strikers


A funeral procession underway following prison protests December 25, 2000
Web posted at: 3:33 AM EST (0833 GMT)

ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkey's justice minister has appealed to hundreds of hunger-striking leftist prisoners to take nutrition and end their protest against jail reforms.

At least 28 people died last week in a bloody four-day prison crackdown.

Officials had said their actions were aimed at ending the hunger strikes and dealing a crushing blow to radical leftists they say are bent on overthrowing the state.

Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said that despite the raid, which took control of the last resisting jail on Friday, 353 prisoners in jails and hospital across the country were on still on "death fasts" under which they take only small amounts of sugared water.

"I want to call on the protesters and their relatives. The protesters are on a dead-end street. They have to see this and put an end to their protest," Turk said.

He said more than a thousand other prisoners were also taking only small amounts of food in support of the protests against plans to replace large jail dormitories with smaller cells.

The inmates say the cells will leave them vulnerable to abuse but government officials say the changes are necessary to break the influence of radical leftist and other groups over the large wards.

Official figures say at least 26 prisoners were killed in the crackdown last week, 16 of them burning themselves to death.

Two soldiers were also killed. In 1996, 11 inmates starved themselves to death in protest against jail transfers CNN

Dec 26 News Turkish Statistics Institute Says Imports, Trade Deficit Up in First 10 Months BBC Monitoring European - Economic Anatolia news agency, Ankara December 25, 2000 Excerpts from report in English by the Turkish news agency Anatolia Ankara, 25 December: Turkey exported 22,079,100,000 dollars goods and imported 43,867,500,000 dollars products in January-October period of 2000. The exports increased by 0.8 per cent compared to same period last year while the increase in imports reached 35.4 per cent. The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) said that in parallel to the 10-month increase in imports, the foreign trade deficit rose 107.6 per cent to 21,788,300,000 dollars, and the rate of exports meeting imports decreased from 67.6 per cent to 50.3 per cent. In the same period last year, the total exports were 21,908,000,000 dollars, the total imports were 32,334,000,000 dollars and the foreign trade deficit was 10,496,200,000 dollars... According to the State Institute of Statistics (DIE) data, the imports of capital goods, which were 6,835,000,000 dollars in the same period in 1999, increased to 8,936,000,000 dollars. The imports of intermediate goods rose from 21,328,000,000 dollars to 28,956,000,000 dollars. In the same period, the imports of consumer goods increased from 3,430,000,000 dollars to 5,816,000,000 dollars. The imports of consumer goods rose by 47.6 per cent and its share in total imports became 13.3 per cent. As of the January-October 2000 period, the exports of agricultural and forestry products increased 6.5 per cent, the exports of mining and quarry products rose 1.5 per cent, and the exports of manufacturing sector products rose 91.7 per cent while the exports of fishery products decreased 42.4 per cent. Turkey's exports to the European Union (EU) countries decreased 0.7 per cent in the first 10 months of 2000. Turkey's exports to the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries dropped 13.3 per cent. Turkey's exports to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries increased 3 per cent. In the same period, exports to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) countries rose 6.9 per cent; exports to Economic Cooperation Organization countries climbed 0.3 per cent; exports to the Turkish republics increased 0.6 per cent and exports to the Organization for Islamic Conference (OIC) countries rose 14.1 per cent. In the January-October 2000 period, Turkey's imports from the EU member countries increased 25.9; her imports from the EFTA countries rose 25.74 per cent; her imports from the CIS countries increased 57.9 per cent. In the same period, Turkey's imports from the Turkish republics increased 55 and her imports from the BSEC countries rose 60.8 per cent. (C) 2000 BBC Monitoring European - Economic. via Bell&Howell Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved