A report from the members of the IRSP on the delegation to Armutlu, Istanbul, Turkey 16th- 23rd
September, 2001.
Delegation
Terry Harkin- International Department,
Paul Little- Ard Comhairle,
Micheal og Devine- Derry IRSP.
The IRSP delegation was part of an nine person delegation from Ireland those
who also travelled were Alec McCrory, Robert Russell, Patrick McCotter, Jim
McVeigh. (Belfast Committee). James O,Sullivan (Dublin Committee). Alex
Maskey (Sinn Fein MLA). Rory O’ Driscoll (London IKM) co-ordinated the
visit.
The first part of the delegation travelled to Turkey and was arrested and
held for an hour in Istanbul when they were released, they were then
followed throughout the remaining days. They managed to lose the Turkish
police on a number of occasions by splitting up and at different times
during the week they all got into Armutlu for short periods to see the
deathfasters.
The second part of the delegation, which included the IRSP representatives,
was met at the airport and brought directly into Armutlu were they stayed
for the duration of the visit.
ARMUTLU
Armutlu is the district of Istanbul were the TAYAD deathfasters live, it is
essentially a shanty town carved into the side of one of the seven mountains
that comprise the ancient city of Istanbul. The district has a population of
6-8000 and was established over twenty years ago by the DHKC who seized the
land from the rich capitalists who intended to build holiday hotels etc. the
DHKC handed the land over to local people and the shanty town emerged over a
number of years. When we arrived in Armutlu we found a community under seige
from the Turkish military and police but it was a community unbowed and
unbroken.
In the week prior to our arrival in Armutlu the DHKC had lost two
volunteers- one in a bombing in Taksim Square police head quarters, and one
deathfast volunteer, the area had been attacked during the funeral of Umus
Sahingoz, a 32-year old member of the Marxist group Revolutionary People's
Liberation Party-Front -DHKC-P who died on deathfast, the area had been
attacked by Turkish government forces using different types of CS gas
produced and supplied by the US. We spoke to victims of the gas attack
including at least one deathfaster, the gas is a special gas that does not
damage clothing but causes extreme acid type burns on the skin. We took
photographs of empty cartridges and samples for scientific examination in
Ireland we also have the address of the manufactures in America.
Following the state attack on the funeral of Umus Sahingoz the local
resistance had barricaded the Armutlu district to keep the state forces out
and it was into this tense atmosphere that our delegation were welcomed by
the people of Armutlu.
The agenda and itinerary for our delegation was severely disrupted by the
state security forces and the difficulties with getting interpreters due to
the threat to them by the Turkish state cannot be over stated but by the end
of the week between the delegation in Armutlu and our colleagues who were
staying outside we met all the groups that we were supposed to meet.
DEATH OF ABDULBARi YUSUFOGLU - TAYAD
In the early hours of Thursday 20th September Abdulbari Yusufoglu a member
of TAYAD the relatives solidarity group died after 137 days on deathfast in
Armutlu. Abdulbari was twenty one years old and came from the Izmir area of
western Turkey and we had the honour of speaking with him two days before
his death. The delegation took part in the burial rights for the deathfaster
before he was removed for interment in is home town. Overall it is the
opinion of the delegation that the people of Armutlu, the deathfasters and
their families are of the highest integrity, their dignity in the face of
such oppression is a salutary lesson for us all. It is worth a special
mention that all members of the delegation have been deeply affected by
their time spent amongst the deathfasters in Armitlu and that Micheal og
Devine although it was extremely difficult for him coped well when faced
with the full horror of what is being allowed to happen in Turkey. It was
an honour to be able to pay our tribute to Abdulbari Yusufoglu in person.
Over the week of our delegation visit we spent the most of our time with the
DHKC-P in Armutlu and had a number of meetings with the TAYAD (Solidarity
hunger strikers outside the prisons and families and supporters) deathfasters.
We also met with deathfast representatives from the
TKM(ML) Turkish Communist Party, and a delegation of Turkish Human Rights
Lawyers. We also had a visit and interview with the editorial staff of the
left wing human rights magazine VATAN that has been raided and suppressed on
a number of occasions by the Turkish state. On the Friday we held a press
conference outside the main deathfast house in Armutlu, approximately 10
television crews attended the press conference which was given by Paul
Little (Belfast Committee), James O’Sullivan (Dublin Committee), Micheal Og
Devine (Derry Committee), Terry Harkin (IRSP International Department).
It is our considered opinion that both the prisoners and their supporters
will continue on hungerstrike until the situation inside the prisons is
resolved. The first step on the road to a resolution will be to initiate
dialogue between the Turkish state and the prisoners representatives, the
prisoners and their supporters would welcome this dialogue.
We recommend that all International pressure that can be garnered together
is brought to bear on the Turkish government to initiate this dialogue.
The prisoners demands are we believe legitimate and and just and constitute
basic human rights