Four Dead in Police Attack on Kucukarmutlu
Solidarity with Hunger Strikers in Turkey
URGENT ALERT
URGENT ALERT
URGENT ALERT
URGENT ALERT
5th November 2001
We have just heard that the police have launched a sustained armed attack on the left-wing shanty town of Kucukarmutlu in Istanbul. Fighting is ongoing.
To date Four people - a death-faster and three helpers - have been confirmed killed in the attacks.
Here are breaking news reports of the attacks and at the end addresses for protests. Please also contact your TDs and human rights groups condemning the attacks.
It is essential that we break through the censorship imposed by the Turkish state and the silence in the Western media on the hunger strikes in Turkey.
LATEST: ABOUT THE KÜÇÜKARMUTLU MASSACRE!
November 5, 2001
21.35
ÖZGÜRLÜK-
Everything became crystal clear with what was happening in Kucukarmutlu. The evidence proves that today's massacre is a new "massacre of December 19, 2000"
Following the operation in which CS and blast bombs, machine guns, tanks and bulldozers were used, the duty police chief Turan Tuna claimed that those who were injured are in hospitals because of setting themselves on fire and gas poisoning. And Istanbul Police Chief Hasan Özdemir repeated Tuna's press statements.
They had said the same thing on December 19!
On the other hand eyewitnesses said that since the beginning of the operation, 14.30 (local time), they heard gunshots for at least a period of two hours. Hundreds of police officers supported by police armoured vehicles who gathered at Küçükarmutlu's main entrance started to advance into the centre of the neighbourhood at around 14.30. The barricades on roads were moved away with bulldozers and armoured cars and they attacked some houses with CS bombs. At the same time many people were arrested. Because of the operation, the police denied access to the area. Eyewitnesses said that the police used an excessive amount of CS gas and entered the houses with weapons. Also the TV channels broadcast the raid on the Senay Hanoglu Resistance House. The same weapons were clearly seen during this broadcast. The media claimed that "some people opened fire from the house"
They had said the same thing on December 19!
The special teams with masks and heavy machine guns were also involved in the operation. A police armoured car was brought in front of the Senay Hanoglu Resistance House where Death Fast resisters were staying. During the operation one of the people aiding the resisters said that "this is very similar to the attack on December 19, they are using automatic weapons," referring to the operation called "return to life" in which 28 political prisoners were killed by the state security forces.
The streets of Kucukarmutlu were terrorised for hours.
20.35
We have difficulty determining the names of those who lost their lives. The injured and the corpses were taken to Sisli Etfal ve Istinye State hospitals and the authorities are refusing to inform the press and public.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul police detained the TAYAD (Solidarity Association of Families & Friends of Prisoners) secretary Betül Gökoglu, Çayan Güner, Ali Haydar Demir and Sema in Taksim, Istanbul. The Istanbul police HQ deny detaining these people.
Latest News Reports
*** Halkin Sesi TV***
Turkish Languauge Site but includes first pics to come out of Armutlu - showing protesters being beaten and dragged away and Turkish 'Special Forces' in action. Click Here
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