Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front
Date: December 21 | 2002 Statement: 289
The AKP, which claims to be Islamic and democratic, is continuing to murder!
The 103rd martyr in the resistance: Berkan Abatay
Who has ever seen such resistance?
Who has ever seen such cruelty?
More than a month and a half has passed since November 3.
The AKP has published its programme for an immediate action plan.
In what has been published, not one point deals with putting an end to misery and oppression. And since coming into government,the AKP has done nothing to oppose misery and oppression It has continued the hunger and tyranny policies of the oligarchy without fail.
On December 20, 2002 the revolutionary prisoner Berkan ABATAY fell: he started the Death Fast in Edirne F-Type Prison in opposition to isolation tyranny.
BERKAN ABATAY is the 6th death under the AKP government.
The 6th death in the one and a half months of the AKP government is clear proof that from the day it entered government it has continued tyranny and that in the matter of repression, bans, isolation and massacres it does not lag behind previous governments.
Just imagine a government which presides over an uninterrupted stream of coffins exiting from its prisons, and then does not even bother to place this matter on its agenda. That means that all its talk about rights, freedoms, the will of the people, Islam and democracy is so much empty chatter.
IN THE AKP THERE IS NEITHER ISLAM NOR DEMOCRACY.
The AKP’s entire policies conform to those of the MGK (National Security Council). Before the elections the AKP spoke constantly of understanding and cooperative arrangements. By that they meant understanding with the MGK.
The AKP only seeks understanding with the MGK and reaches agreements with it as well. On the matter of the economy, democracy, military questions, domestic and foreign policy, it only reaches decisions in the form of cooperative arrangements with the MGK. The AKP’s entire policy is one of putting trust in imperialists and proving that it does so. So in every sphere it continues the policies of the National Security Council and keeps its distance from the F-Type prisons!
EVERYTHING IS FOR TURKEY: WE ASK THE AKP, WHICH USED THIS AS A KEY SLOGAN: ARE THESE CRUELTIES AND BARBARITIES FOR TURKEY?
WHICH PROBLEMS WILL BE SOLVED BY SUCH CRUELTY AND TYRANNY?
By doing absolutely everything the IMF and the MGK want, the AKP would like to stay in power as long as possible. Before November 3 (election day) it said it would trust in the WILL OF THE PEOPLE, but after November 3 it was completely at the beck and call of the MGK.
The AKP should not forget that the oligarchy and imperialism will never completely trust it, no matter how many thousands of times it asserts its repentance and begs for forgiveness. The words,thoughts and beliefs you at least laid claim to in the past will not be forgotten by them. They will not trust you, and if for any reason you deviate from the line of the MGK, the USA or the IMF, they will try to put an end to you.
And then what will you have achieved with your current policies?
We would like to tell you: The only thing you have achieved is your murders!
The Refah government (Refah is the banned Islamist party from which the AKP is descended) was not even as subservient to the MGK as you are. But in principle it behaved the same way as you do. So it concluded a treaty with Israel. At the time of the 1996 Death Fast and the cruel massacre in Diyarbakir prison in which 22 people were massacred, it showed its approval ofwhat happened. They treated Susurluk (a suburb of Balikesir, western Turkey, where a car crash in 1996 exposed the corrupt connections at the heart of the system in Turkey) as so much stuff and nonsense.
Then they put their signature to the decisions of February 28. (These were decisions by the MGK opposing Islamic fundamentalism, which were used to put an end to the Refah government in what was described as a quiet coup carried out by the armed forces.)
And in the end,what good did it do them?
They concluded a repulsive agreement with Zionism, took on a contra-guerrilla role, committed massacres in the prisons and then displayed shameful cowardice in putting their signatures to the February 28 agreements.
And your road is even worse, even more humiliating, leading into an even deeper morass of anti-people policies. Together with the policy of cruelty in the F-Type prisons, which turns them into the MURDERERS of the people of this country, they want to involve this country in a ruthless war against another land and become the MURDERERS of a neighbouring people.
In your pre-election speeches, you said everything is for Turkey. If you continue the cruelty of the F-Type prisons, will you have staved off misery, will you have reduced the queues of people seeking help, solved the problems of pensioners, workers and employees, will you have solved the problem of prostitution and immorality or even dealt with the controversy over
Islamic headgear???
Put an end to tyranny! Do not murder your own people, or the people ofanother country!
SO LONG AS ISOLATION GOES ON, THE RESISTANCE WILL GO ON WITH THE SAME WILLPOWER!
Berkan Abatay was in the 4th Death Fast Team. The 4th Team started the Death Fast on May 11, 2001. Months, seasons, the 12 months of a year do not suffice to draw up a balance sheet of the strength of this willpower. Revolutionaries confront a tyranny and are resolved to live according to their thoughts and beliefs.
Berkan Abatay is a revolutionary who was arrested in 1997. He was severely tortured. One of the torture methods was to make him fall from a considerable height. As a result of torture he suffered from stomach bleeding for nine months. For months he could not walk and had lasting damage to his back and legs.
But that was not the only cruelty he had to contend with.
During the December 19 massacre Berkan was in Umraniye Prison. He was enveloped in the gas from canisters. Of the thousands of bullets fired, three hit him in the leg. He was brought to hospital with severe injuries.
But the tyranny was still not finished. He was thrown into the F-Type coffins. During cell searches and during daily roll calls he was subjected to various forms of torture. When he started the Death Fast, he was subjected to various forms of physical torture to make him come off the fast.
But they could not break his resistance. He was taken to hospital for force-feeding.
Berkan Abatay faced every kind of tyranny in the course of years and months of resistance. Now everybody should think about this.
WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY IS THIS? Think of the torture and cruelties experienced by a single individual AT THE HANDS OF THE STATE. This country is RULED BY TORTURERS! If it is not, then how is so much cruelty possible?
One should think carefully, particularly the Justice Minister, Cemil Cicek. Who can break a resistance that does not break even as a result of such cruelties?
No! Berkan ABATAY says it quite openly:
There is only one way out and that is to put an end to the barbarity of the F-Type prisons!
Our comrade Berkan ABATAY was born in 1975 in the Istanbul district of Sisli. He was the son of a Kurdish Alevi family, originally from Erzurum. He grew up in poverty. Two of his brothers died because they lacked the money to have lung inflammations treated. And Berkan was only able to attend elementary school (the only level of free education in Turkey). For years he lived in slums where there was no water and no electricity. After school, Berkan did various things and sought to overcome financial difficulties. His experiences were the same as those of many young people in the slum areas. For a time he was a fanatical football fan and was part of the Besiktas Carsi group. Sometimes after football matches they got involved in fights in the spectator stands of football grounds. At the same time he continued to be involved in various activities. He got a job as a security guard in a big factory. The pay was good but he did not like this work. He did not like being a bodyguard for the boss. At that point he got to know Yemliha Kaya, who was involved in organising the struggles of the people in the slums. (Yemliha is our comrade who later died in the 1996 Death Fast). Through Yemliha he got to know revolutionism, the struggle and Devrimci Sol (Revolutionary Left).
In the meantime the family moved to Okmeydani (a district of Istanbul). He took part in the struggle and in organising efforts in the area. He distributedthe newspaper, hung up banners, visited apartments, learned and also taught others. He constantly tried to do something.
At the end of this period he was organised. He developed his ties to the organisation. He took on responsibilities in an armed unit. On November 7, 1997 he was arrested and imprisoned.
From then on he lived in the prisons, defending his revolutionary beliefs and ideals in the face of oppression and cruelty. He determined his road a long time before. I would like to be a revolutionary, live as a revolutionary and die as a revolutionary he said.
He lived that way, died that way and became immortal.
Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front
Note:
The statement is available in German and French
