arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

A delegation of representatives from the Regional Council (Dr. Giovanni Barbagli from the Partito Rifondazione Comunista), from the Provincial Council (Dr. Targetti Sandro P.R.C and Renato Romei P.D.S) together with Dr. Antonella Sapio (University of Florence) and Dr. Paola Cecchi, a representative of W.I.L.P.F Italy, met with Temel Haklar Ozgurlukler Dernegi (T.H.O.D) (Association for Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms), with the TAYAD of Istanbul, with HALKIN HUKUK BUROSU (HHB) (People Public Lawyer), with the journalists of Ekmek Ve Adalet (Bread and Justice), IHD of Istanbul (Human Rights Association of Turkey) and with a representative of the Group YORUM, a group of musicians who have suffered brutal repression.

For many years thousands of political prisoners have been imprisoned in Turkey. This continues today. In 1984 left wing political prisoners carried out a Death Fast to protest against the uniform (which was then abolished) and for their fundamental rights. Four prisoners died. In 1996 there was another protest against the isolation cells where they risked being transferred. Twelve prisoners died in the Death Fast and others suffered permanent psychological and physical damage. The authorities did not open isolation cells. On the 20th of October 2000 the political prisoners and their relatives and sympathisers started a Death Fast against their imminent transferral to the “special” isolation prisons, (know as F-type prisons). It is necessary to underline that the F-type prisons were built with the financial support of the European Union. The Death Fast is still going on and the delegation was in Istanbul on the 20th of October for the third anniversary of the beginning of the Death Fast. A new team of eight men and women confined to the F-type jails have started a new Death Fast group. One hundred and seven persons have died during the past thirty six months. From the 19th to the 22nd December 2000, twenty prisons were assaulted. The police beat, used gas, and in some cases burnt the prisoners. Twenty eight died in terrible ways, almost one thousand were injured and some of them in very serious ways. The Turkish authorities called this operation “Return to Life”! and the prisoners were moved to the F-type isolation cells.

Another serious problem is that there are five hundred prisoners who have undergone forced feeding and as a result have contracted Wernike-Korsakoff, an illness which causes the loss of memory, and attacks the nervous system leaving some prisoners in a wheelchair. A representative of the associations of Istanbul told us that the exact number of cases of Wernike-Korsakoff is unknown, because they do not know how many people with this illness are still in prison and those five hundred people with the illness who are currently outside prison hold a limited permit of leave and risk returning to prison shortly. On the evening of the 20th October the delegation had another meeting with Talad (an ex prisoner) who has been on a hunger strike for 400 days, after which he was forced fed and now suffers from Wernike- Korsakoff . A long talk on the question of Wernike-Korsakoff was held with the President of the association TAYAD, Mr. Tekin Tangun, (an ex political prisoner) and Dr. Antonella Sapio. For many months the Tuscan Region has tried to bring some patients for check ups and treatment in Italian hospitals, but until now we have always come up against problems with the visas. Last year we also had the same visa problems with some women who have been left with terrible burns (including on their faces), following the December massacre and we hope that in future it will be possible for them to receive treatment in our hospitals.

It is important to highlight that a lawyer, Behic Asci of (HHB) informed us that on the 17th of December 2000, the group that negotiated with the government and the prisoners informed the journalists through a press conference that the government had agreed to not open F-type cells but to allow three or five people per cell. From one day to the next the plans failed and on the 19th of December the terrible massacre started. On the 21st of December democratic institutions such as the TAYAD and the IHD were raided.

The meeting on the morning of the 19th October with T.H.O.D. started late because there was a demonstration in Istanbul against the war in Iraq. The police attacked the demonstrators and some people arrived wounded and with red skin because the police attacked with an irritant substance.

The Italian delegation visited the editorial office of the weekly magazine Ekmek ve Adalet (Bread and Justice), a magazine which fights for a democratic and free Turkey, distributed in thousands of copies and also sold in the main streets of Istanbul. The journalists have suffered persecution numerous times and have been imprisoned in F-type cells. During the meeting Dr. Giovanni Barbagli proposed a monthly exchange of information to be published in the Tuscan regional magazine, distributed in the whole of Italy (80,000 copies).

In the evening of the 19th October, after three years of Death Fast many members of the TAYAD association of Istanbul took a special bus to take part in a national demonstration in front of the Ministry of Justice in Ankara.

Before we left, International TAYAD sent us some names of prisoners locked up in F-type cells in the Edirne, Tekirdag and Kandira prisons. Two people on Death Fast had been transferred to a hospital in Tekirdag because of their serious medical condition and we came to know that one of these (Erkan Bulbul) was force fed while we were in Turkey. Some days before our departure, the Tuscan Region had made a request to visit the prisoners, but the Italian Embassy had said that it was the responsibility of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mrs. Umit Efe (IHD), has visited Ercan Kartal and Ali Osman Kose in the prison of Tekirdag in F-type cells She told us that Eran used to be a strong man, but now he is very thin and has lost his hair and has serious eye problems, and he is not on Death Fast. Ali Osman Kose is in isolation and despite the fact that around him all the cells are empty and there is a permanent noise of mechanical instruments night and day. We were also informed that some prisoners have been raped. The delegation met Mrs. Gulten of the TAYAD Istanbul, who spent nine years in prison, two and a half of which in isolation. She told us that very early every morning fifteen prison guards would come and provoke her asking her questions like “How many people are there in your cell?” and would then kick her.

Dr. Paola Cecchi was hosted in Kucuk Armutlu, a district inhabited by many left wing people as well as relatives and sympathisers who died during Death Fast. In the Autumn of 2001 Kucuk Armutlu was under constant police supervision and on the 5th of November 2001 a massacre took place in which twelve people lost their lives and some of them were in serious conditions due to the Death Fast. The authorities of Istanbul have now changed the name of Kukuk Armutlu and the new name of the district is Sahil Hassan Uzun Sk. Dr. Paola Cecchi was hosted in the house named the “House of Life” for people with Wernike-Korsakoff or wounded in the massacre like Oktay Karatas who has a fractured skull and a shoulder. He is forty years old but due to this trauma he has become completely deaf.

A special thank you goes to the young Eylul Iscan, a member of the young left wing university movement who together with other young people was arrested four days before our arrival in their office. She was beaten and tortured and was released but all her possessions were confiscated. She helped us with the translations from Turkish into English. We know that the day after we left, Eylul and dozens of other young people were arrested while they were walking from Istanbul to Ankara. We fear they are still imprisoned. We were welcomed warmly by a lot of relatives of prisoners or people who have lost relatives in the Death Fast. One woman was particularly close to us. She is the sister of Gulsuman Donmez who died on the 9th of April 2001 and whose husband and son are in prison.

TAYAD and the International Platform against Isolation are organising an International Symposium - with the support of the Region of Tuscany, the Province and Municipality of Florence together with the help of other left wing organisations who have been supporting the cause- in Florence Italy on the 19th -20th-21st December 2003, in memory of the massacre in Turkey. These days have become International Days Against Isolation. Last year a Symposium against Isolation was held near Rotterdam in the Netherlands and this year on the same days a second Symposium will take place to discuss the fact that isolation practices cannot be accepted on humane, medical, legal and political grounds, that isolation is torture and we are against torture. It will also discuss isolation prisons, F-type prisons in Turkey, Control Units in the USA, FIES in Spain, and QHS in France, etc.. On the 21st of December on the last day of the Symposium, there will be a concert in Casa del Popolo di Grassina near Florence, with some Italian musicians and the GROUP YORUM from Turkey. They sing in Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Georgian and Greek. From 1984 they have played for a society without exploitation, free and equal. The group members were arrested, tortured and censored dozens of times, three female members of the group have died. One was murdered by the police and two died during a Death Fast in prison. The group has become very famous including in Europe and has released 17 albums.

Florence 2nd November 2003

For further information contact:
Dr. Paola Cecchi (W.I.L.P.F)
Via Rinuccini, 24 - 50144 Firenze
Phone: 0039-055-331501
Mobile phone: 0039-347-1380980
e-mail : ristori@tin.it