arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Turkish hunger-striker takes fight to heart of Europe


KING: . . . He has chosen death:
Refusing to eat or drink, that he may bring
Disgrace upon me; for there is a custom,
An old and foolish custom, that if a man
Be wronged, or think that he is wronged, and starve
Upon another's threshold till he die,
The Common People, for all time to come,
Will raise a heavy cry against that threshold,
Even though it be the King's.

-- W.B. Yeats, The King's Threshold




Hasan Subas, an editor with the Turkish newspaper ‘Kerbela’, is currently on his 29th day of hunger strike - the ultimate demonstration of his determination to let the world know about the Turkish government’s continued repression of political prisoners – who can be anything from arms smugglers to students with banners against the IMF!





Subas’ decision to pitch a tent in the heart of European governance was intended as a message to governments around Europe that they are ignoring human rights abuses in Turkish prisons. Subas' protest is in reaction to the continued national policy to move prisoners into isolated confinement, in small groups or on their own – the so called ominous type F prisons – a strategy which has been employed since December 2000.





Not only does Subas deem isolated confinement a form of psychological torture as it attempts to break the human spirit but also prisoners in isolated areas are more vulnerable to abuse by prison staff. Human Rights Watch have also expressed concern that the cell-based system is accompanied by an isolation regime that provides prisoners with no access to educational or recreational activities or other sources of mental stimulation and the system may itself amount to ill-treatment.



Such prison conditions are therefore in contradiction to EU principles. As the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, 2nd General Report in 1991 stated; ‘Prisoners cannot simply be left to languish for weeks, possibly months, locked up in their cells, and this regardless of how good material conditions might be within the cells.’

Subas' willingness to die for his beliefs follows an assault on October 20th 2000 -known ironically, as ‘operation return to life’, led by 9,500 soldiers in 20 prisons across Turkey. The assault was launched in an attempt to break a 61 day hunger strike by Turkish inmates protesting against the government strategy of isolated confinement. The assault was brutal and left 28 prisoners dead.




In an interview with Ali Suat Ertosun, the director of prisons and penitentiaries, on January 16, 2003, when asked why there was such a brutal attack on December 19th, his response was: “It had to be done. It was necessary to eradicate the [terrorist] organizations…. They [the six women] had to be burned…yes, I am an assassin.”[1]

Four years after the 2000 attack, and after 107 prisoners (including 48 women), have died from waves of hunger strikes, Subas is part of the 10th hunger strike movement. What is more, there have allegedly been an additional 500 cases of permanent incapacity resulting from forced feeding.




Prisoners are allowed extra facilities, but only after denouncing their political beliefs. This, according to Subas, amounts to blackmail and the loss of the personal dignity and the right to political expression.

Subas is adamant that people must know what is going on: “the fundamental rights of political prisoners are essential to questions of democracy in Turkey ”. He further added; “there is a conspiracy of silence as the European Institutions are ignoring the situation of Turkish political prisoners because they are scared of jeopardising relations with this potential future EU member.”





Generation Europe is pleased to supply Mr Subas with electricity as everyone must enjoy the right to warmth and basic utilities. We also hope that the EU governments acknowledge Mr Subas' grievance and act to ensure that the Turkish Ministry of Justice comply with international standards on the treatment of political prisoners. It is, however, ironic that fighting for the rights of the isolated, he finds himself confined to a small square in the only part of Brussels that will accept his protest!





For further details concerning Mr Subas' struggle, contact: Bahar Kimyongur +32 (0) 494 91 70 80. Alternatively, visit Mr Subas behind the Etterbeck municipality building on Chaussee St. Pierre.




Links:

There are currently two other hunger strikes in Europe at the moment, one in London the other in Berlin. For further details contact: http://www.tayad.de – an association of mutual aid of prisoners' families.


Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/turkey/ and http://www.hrw.org/prisons/


Center of Independent Media: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2001/10/14760.html


The Guardian: ‘Full horror of jail raids revealed’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,419027,00.html


The BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1086621.stm


Amnesty International: http://www.geocities.com/humanrightstoday/amnestydec20


Human Rights groups: http://www.geocities.com/humanrightstoday/links.html



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[1] Interview with Ali Suat Ertosun, the director of prisons and penitentiaries and Niyazi Agirman, member of the association of mutual aid of prisoners' families (TAYAD), January 16, 2003. http://brasil.indymedia.org/pt/blue/2003/01/45967.shtml