The 'Three Doors, Three Locks' Proposal



There follows some information on the '3 doors, 3 locks' resolution proposal supported by famililes of prisoners, lawyers groups and human rights defenders in Turkey. It has been rejected by the Justice Ministry.



11 January 2002 - Turkish Daily News

Solidarity with Political inmates committee calls on UN to urge Turkey to stop death fast protest
The Solidarity with Political Inmate Committee sent a letter to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights asking it to urge Turkey to end death fast protests, the Anatolia news agency reported on Thursday.

The Committee also asked the U.N. to send a delegation to Turkey to watch the more than one year old death fast protests.

A group of leftist inmates started a hunger strike more than a year ago and then turned it into a death fast in order to protest the opening of maximum security F-type prisons.

Controversial F-type prisons consist of one or three inmate rooms, inmate families and human rights associations are saying that inmates are isolated in this cell system and they would be vulnerable to human rights abuses.

Meanwhile, the state seemed adamant not to take a step back in F-type prisons playing host to political inmates and those who are convicted on charges of being a member of organized crime. The Justice Minister said that overcrowded wards were used as "doctrine" centers by terror organizations and the state had lost control of the prisons.

The death fast has claimed the lives of 45 people since its beginning. According to figures from Justice Ministry, there are currently 142 death fasters.

Despite domestic and international calls from a number of nongovernmental organizations, Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk refused to accept the demands of protestors to close down the F-types.


Adapted from the statement of the Platform for Rights and Freedom

HIKMET SAMI: "TO KEEP OPEN THREE DOORS WOULD MEAN TO RETURN TO THE DORMITORY SYSTEM"

Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said that there were legal obstacles to the proposal by four Bar Associations' chairmen "to leave the door locks in corridors with three rooms open during the daytime".

Hikmet Sami also stated that "Article 16 of the Anti-Terrorism Law permits those imprisoned only to come together in the social areas". Turk, who explained that it is the "possibility of coming together during common beneficial activities" which is accepted within the law, further said "The corridors aren't a common living area. The aim of the corridors is it to provide access. Those are not places where prisoners can come together".


Is the comment by the Minister more important than human life?
January 9, 2002 / Milliyet

The chairman of the Bar Association Yucel Sayman warned Minister Turk, who had commented on the proposal "open three doors and three locks, the deaths must end" with "there's a legal obstacle". Sayman stated: "People are dying, following this interpretation.

BELMA AKCURA Istanbul
The fact that Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk sees Article 16 of the Anti-Terrorism Law as an obstacle to the proposal of the four Bar Associations' chairmen in order to end the death fasts in the F-type prisons, was seen by the jurists as "a false interpretation of the law". Turk, who doesn't welcome the proposal of the chairmen of the Bar Associations of Ankara, Izmir, Istanbul and Antalya which would put an end to the death fasts, declared 'Article 16 of the Anti-Terrorism Law just permits those in the F-type prisons to come together at the social areas'.

The jurists recalled that Article 16 has been changed in order to guarantee humane living conditions in the prisons and to put an end to the death fasts and expressed the view: "Now, after removing a legal barrier, you cannot defend the prisons that were established by you according to Article 16 of the law."

The chairman of the Istanbul Bar Association, Yucel Sayman, said that a legal commentary which leads to the death of people cannot be made, and stated: "As a government they are obliged to ensure that the death of people is prevented. Even if the Minister were right in his commentary, even if he were the best jurist ever, people are dying as a result of such a commentary. And in our opinion the minister is making a false interpretation of the law." Sayman further stated that Article 16, which has been given as a reason by the minister in its previous form didn't permit people to come together, but that this would be possible with the amendment made to it.

Also, the lawyer Fikret Ilkiz made the following comment: "The minister says ‘the proposal does not conform to Article 16’. But the basic aim of the amendment to Article 16 was to put an end to the hunger strikes, to create an atmosphere that guarantees life in humane conditions and to create prison conditions which are in accordance with human rights and freedoms. Now is it possible to see a law which was made for this purpose as an obstacle to continuing life in the prisons in the best possible way and to end the death fasts?"


Support for 'Three Doors Three Locks'
January 8, 2002 / Yedinci Gündem

ADANA - Chairman of the Adana Branch of the Association of Contemporary Jurists (CHD), Lawyer Siar Risvanoglu, declared that the state remains indifferent to the proposal of "Three Doors, Three Locks", and said that the Minister of Justice is not concerned about finding a solution.

Lawyer Siar Risvanoglu, who gave a press statement before the Adana Branch of the CHD yesterday said that prison problems are increasing day by day, and that the institutions concerned still haven’t found a solution to the question despite a long time elapsing. Risvanoglu expressed the view that the proposal 'Three Doors Three Locks' which has been developed by the chairmen of four Bar Associations to solve the problems of the death fasts and the F-type prisons, were wrongly interpreted by the Minister of Justice, and said that this proposal for a solution has to be receive a response.


'THREE DOORS, THREE LOCKS' - Artists support the Bar Association

Cumhuriyet 26.12.2001 Istanbul News Service - The proposal 'three doors three locks' by the Presidents of the four big Bar Associations, in order to put an end to the death fast action, found support from prisoners' families, death fast activists, civil society organisations and artists.

The Prison working group of the Human Rights Center of the Istanbul Bar Association organised a panel with the subject "From the dormitories to the cells - the Operations of 19th December and the Prisons". The deputy chairman of the Saadet Partisi (Party of Prosperity, an Islamist party) Mehmet Bekaroglu, who participated in the panel, stated that he found the proposal "three doors, three locks" to be positive, adding that "in a secure prison, it can't cause any problems to the security of the state, when nine people can come together".

25 artists and intellectuals, among them Suavi, Derya Alabora, Cezmi Ersöz, Tuncer Necmioglu, Orhan Alkaya and Bilgesu Erenus held a meeting at the Nazim Hikmet Cultural and Art Foundation concerning the death fast action. Suavi, who issued a statement in the name of the artists' initiative, expressed their fear that the action would cause new deaths. Suavi said that they would support the proposal which was put on the order by the presidents of the Bar Associations to "open the doors of three cells for three persons and bring together nine people".


Appeal to support "Three Doors - Three Locks"

Cumhuriyet 28.12.2001

Istanbul News Service - In a statement at the Istanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD), political parties such as EMEP, ÖDP and HADEP, civil society institutions such as the Association of Contemporary Jurists, the Peoples' Houses, The Association of the IETT Workers and a large number of trade unions called to the public opinion to support the proposal "Three Doors, Three Locks". In the statement it was said "We call upon the Ministry of Justice and all those responsible to use their willpower to achieve a solution".


F-type appeal - Three Rooms for three persons should be united

Cumhuriyet 30.12.2001 ANKARA (Cumhuriyet Office) - The IHD, TIHV, Turkish Medical Association and TMMOB called for the unification of three rooms for three, and to those on hunger strike and death fast to end their action. In a common statement by the TIHV (Human Rights Foundation) President Yavuz Önen, in the name of four civil society institutions, it was stated that during the actions which have continued for a period of more than one year, 82 people have died and more than 350 have impaired their health.

In the statement which recalls that the presidents of the Bar Associations of Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and Antalya called for the unification of three rooms each for three people in the F type prisons on the 29th of November, it was also mentioned that this appeal was supported by IHD, TIHV, TBB and TMMOB.

Women who sent postcards in solidarity with fellow human beings lodged a complaint against the Chief of the Rapid Reaction Police Forces and policemen who had violently arrested them last week at Galatasaray. The place in front of the Galatasaray high school in Istanbul is a popular scene of protests, which are often broken up by the police.