Attacks on the prisoners` rights increase
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The attack on the political prisoners is an effort, to intimidate and weaken the social opposition in total. The answer to that could only be the united struggle of all progressive and revolutionary forces inside the prisons and outside on the streets for freedom and justice.

 

01 May 2008 / International Bulletin / No: 69

The history of the resistances in the Turkish prisoners has a long history. The prisons have always been a place of struggling and resistance against all violence and torture since the foundation of the republic, especially during the period of the military coups and the dirty war against the Kurdish people. The oppressing apparatus of the bourgeoisie were in fact changed to fortresses of the resistance due to the uncompromising will and the determined stance of the prisoners not to give up and to defend their revolutionary identity. Living together as a collective, the common education and strong disciplinary made the prisoners even stronger and let them become more determined revolutionaries.
The bourgeoisie began to introduce solitary confinement as system in the beginning of the 90ies, in order to break the resistance in the prisons as well as to keep the prisoners off the movement outside so that the movement in general would be weakened. The political prisoners answered this attack with a determined resistance that even led to death fast s in 1996 and 2000. Despite important victories achieved by the prisoners, the fascist dictatorship finally introduced solitary confinement most extensively. The prisoners in the f-type prisons are detained in isolation cells for one or three people and are subjected to deep isolation. However, this attack of the bourgeoisie was in vain! Those in power did not manage to isolate the detained prisoners from the struggle outside the prisons or to destroy their revolutionary identity. The prisoners` voice still makes its way through the soundproof walls and is heard outside; and it has still been a part of the social struggle. Solitary confinement could not break the revolutionary spirit of the political prisoners and resistance has been shown with different means.
Due to the continuing fights the state had to make a step backwards in January 2007 and abolished the isolation partially. Especially the death fast of lawyer Behic Asci and broad publicity forced the state to issue a decree loosening the isolation. This decree of the ministry of the interior contains the right that prisoners could meet for 10 hours a week. This was a big success in the struggle against the isolation torture.
However, the period since the decree was issued has shown that for its realisation, a determined and permanent struggle is needed. The rights of the prisoners in many prisons are still violated such as the prisoners` right to meet and talk is arbitrarily limited. In the f-type prison Kiriklar, this decree has not been applied arbitrarily for the last 5 months. The prisoners can't make use of their use to talk among each other, water supply is not ensured and the meals are very bad. On April 16, 7 prisoners of the f-type prison Kiriklar No. 1 did not appear in front of Court no. 10 for Heavy Penalties in Izmir, because they were protesting against the inhuman way of putting them hand cuffs on. The court then decided to let them taken to the next hearing, if necessary by using violence. This is a direct order to attack the prisoners.
Whenever the prisoners are demanding their rights, disciplinary actions are taken against them.
In the isolation prison Tekirdag no. 2 there is only twice a month hot water and for only one hour. Speaking Kurdish results in disciplinary actions and the prisoners do not get any newspaper and magazines in Kurdish or other foreign languages. There are still cases of torture and the prisoners are harassed and sexual assaults happen very often. The prisoners` letters are censored to a large extent or even not sent.
On April 10, Akin Birdal, MP of the DTP , raised a question to parliament. He asked the minister of justice to answer why the director of the radio channel Fusun Erdogan and the chief editor of the newspaper Atilim Ibrahim Cicek were not allowed to see each other although being married. The two had been arrested in September 2006 together with 21 other communists and were only taken to court twice since then. Furthermore, Akin Birdal said that he had received more than 100 letters of complaint from prisoners.
Particularly since the anti-terror law was launched in June 2006, arbitrary imprisonments and the attacks on the prisoners` rights as well as the repression outside the prisons have increased. Today more than 10.000 political prisoners are behind bars in Turkey, and often without any sentence. .
The attack on the political prisoners is an effort, to intimidate and weaken the social opposition in total. The answer to that could only be the united struggle of all progressive and revolutionary forces inside the prisons and outside on the streets for freedom and justice.

 

 

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Attacks on the prisoners` rights increase
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The attack on the political prisoners is an effort, to intimidate and weaken the social opposition in total. The answer to that could only be the united struggle of all progressive and revolutionary forces inside the prisons and outside on the streets for freedom and justice.

 

01 May 2008 / International Bulletin / No: 69

The history of the resistances in the Turkish prisoners has a long history. The prisons have always been a place of struggling and resistance against all violence and torture since the foundation of the republic, especially during the period of the military coups and the dirty war against the Kurdish people. The oppressing apparatus of the bourgeoisie were in fact changed to fortresses of the resistance due to the uncompromising will and the determined stance of the prisoners not to give up and to defend their revolutionary identity. Living together as a collective, the common education and strong disciplinary made the prisoners even stronger and let them become more determined revolutionaries.
The bourgeoisie began to introduce solitary confinement as system in the beginning of the 90ies, in order to break the resistance in the prisons as well as to keep the prisoners off the movement outside so that the movement in general would be weakened. The political prisoners answered this attack with a determined resistance that even led to death fast s in 1996 and 2000. Despite important victories achieved by the prisoners, the fascist dictatorship finally introduced solitary confinement most extensively. The prisoners in the f-type prisons are detained in isolation cells for one or three people and are subjected to deep isolation. However, this attack of the bourgeoisie was in vain! Those in power did not manage to isolate the detained prisoners from the struggle outside the prisons or to destroy their revolutionary identity. The prisoners` voice still makes its way through the soundproof walls and is heard outside; and it has still been a part of the social struggle. Solitary confinement could not break the revolutionary spirit of the political prisoners and resistance has been shown with different means.
Due to the continuing fights the state had to make a step backwards in January 2007 and abolished the isolation partially. Especially the death fast of lawyer Behic Asci and broad publicity forced the state to issue a decree loosening the isolation. This decree of the ministry of the interior contains the right that prisoners could meet for 10 hours a week. This was a big success in the struggle against the isolation torture.
However, the period since the decree was issued has shown that for its realisation, a determined and permanent struggle is needed. The rights of the prisoners in many prisons are still violated such as the prisoners` right to meet and talk is arbitrarily limited. In the f-type prison Kiriklar, this decree has not been applied arbitrarily for the last 5 months. The prisoners can't make use of their use to talk among each other, water supply is not ensured and the meals are very bad. On April 16, 7 prisoners of the f-type prison Kiriklar No. 1 did not appear in front of Court no. 10 for Heavy Penalties in Izmir, because they were protesting against the inhuman way of putting them hand cuffs on. The court then decided to let them taken to the next hearing, if necessary by using violence. This is a direct order to attack the prisoners.
Whenever the prisoners are demanding their rights, disciplinary actions are taken against them.
In the isolation prison Tekirdag no. 2 there is only twice a month hot water and for only one hour. Speaking Kurdish results in disciplinary actions and the prisoners do not get any newspaper and magazines in Kurdish or other foreign languages. There are still cases of torture and the prisoners are harassed and sexual assaults happen very often. The prisoners` letters are censored to a large extent or even not sent.
On April 10, Akin Birdal, MP of the DTP , raised a question to parliament. He asked the minister of justice to answer why the director of the radio channel Fusun Erdogan and the chief editor of the newspaper Atilim Ibrahim Cicek were not allowed to see each other although being married. The two had been arrested in September 2006 together with 21 other communists and were only taken to court twice since then. Furthermore, Akin Birdal said that he had received more than 100 letters of complaint from prisoners.
Particularly since the anti-terror law was launched in June 2006, arbitrary imprisonments and the attacks on the prisoners` rights as well as the repression outside the prisons have increased. Today more than 10.000 political prisoners are behind bars in Turkey, and often without any sentence. .
The attack on the political prisoners is an effort, to intimidate and weaken the social opposition in total. The answer to that could only be the united struggle of all progressive and revolutionary forces inside the prisons and outside on the streets for freedom and justice.