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