IT BEGAN WITH THE 1st TEAM AND THEN THE 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th AND 6th TEAMS, AND NOW THE 7th TEAM IS STARTING …
THERE IS A NEW DEATH FAST TEAM IN THE ISOLATION PRISONS OF TURKEY
The struggle against isolation prisons by the revolutionary prisoners and their relatives has to date claimed 72 deaths and crippled more than 200 people.
In a statement by the revolutionary prisoners it said, “We will never accept the isolation cells. We will fight until the isolation prisons are closed. The fight will go on, even if it takes four years. The winners are those who resist. And in the end, we will be the winners”.
18 men and women from DHKP-C, 7 from TKP(ML), 5 from TKP/ML, 4 from TIKB and 4 from MLKP, from various different isolation prisons throughout Turkey, declared their fight against the new F-type cells.
The minister of justice, Sami Turk, recently stated with joy: “their numbers are declining”, but the places which are left by the martyrs are being filled by new ones! The prisoners’ fear of being exposed to torturers in the individual cells has been proven justified. In the past, before the individual cell system was introduced, the government carried out numerous attacks against the political prisoners. Remember the 10 victims in Ankara, two years ago, the 10 victims in Diyarbakir five years ago, 4 in Buca, 4 in Istanbul… And we don’t even know the exact number of the wounded and crippled.
In the new isolation prisons, the prisoners are helplessly subjected to systematic torture by the state. Families are only informed about the condition of their relatives through the short visits, which last no longer than 15 minutes. One family only recently heard that their son had been severely burnt when they turned up to a jail for a visit. When they protested at the fact that they had not been told before the answer was:
“Why should we? He isn’t dead!” Other reports about the inhuman treatment in these cells mention how prisoners have to stand to attention for the military , rape, degrading and arbitrary searches, being left crippled, beatings… But the resistance continues. Forced feeding is not just applied to stop prisoners dying. Recently, again two death fast prisoners, in Edime,
lost their memory because of this forced treatment.
The prisons are not the only places where there is torture. On the outside, people who are arrested at burial ceremonies and commemorations are exposed to the torturers during police detention. In Ankara and Istanbul, more than 60 people, among them two journalists, were arrested during the burial ceremonies of the deceased. And they have not been released yet, which means that they are in the hands of specially trained units of the police. Entire neighbourhoods in Istanbul and Ankara are under military siege. The military awaits the orders of the government to storm these neighbourhoods. Two weeks ago, the military launched an attack in Istanbul against residents and participants of a burial ceremony. The neighbourhood was attacked with tear gas grenades and fire bombs. Tanks and military vehicles crushed and injured the residents.
In a country without democracy, where human rights are trampled upon, where people are not allowed to pay their respect to the dead, there is no other way other than to fight for your right and your freedom. Our solidarity goes out to those who have put their lives at stake for freedom and justice. We are in solidarity with the thousands of families and relatives of the political prisoners, all over the world.
We say that all deserve a dignified life!
Contact us! Support our solidarity with the hunger strikers!
TAYAD SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE – BIELEFELD
TAYAD SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE – LONDON
