Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turks Try To Control Two Prisons
by The Associated Press - December 20, 2000
Posted: Thursday, December 21, 2000 08:22 pm CST

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Soldiers trying to regain control of Turkey's prison wards broke holes through the walls of a prison, but inmates barricaded inside were still evading the troops Wednesday. As the clashes entered a second day, at least 18 people had died and human rights activists feared the toll was higher.

Soldiers were still battling inmates in two prisons after storming 20 facilities across the country the day before. Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk urged inmates in Istanbul's Umraniye prison and in the western city of Canakkale to surrender.

``Time has come to end this meaningless action,'' Turk said, adding that the inmates would achieve nothing through their actions.

In Canakkale, authorities deployed more soldiers and broke two large holes into the first floor of the prison, but had still not reached the prisoners, who were continuously moving throughout the penitentiary. Soldiers realized Tuesday that they had been firing tear gas canisters into empty wards.

There were at least 20 buses of soldiers and police, along with heavy machinery for drilling, at Umraniye prison. Some 300 leftists are being held at the Istanbul prison, according to Ozgur Tayad, a prisoners support group.

After intense fighting, soldiers succeeded in forcing inmates out of the wards in 18 prisons to put an end to a two-month hunger strikes by leftist inmates. The prisoners were protesting government plans to transfer them to small cells, where they fear they will be more vulnerable to abuse by guards.

The government says the only way it can regain control of its prisons -- often rocked by riots and hostage-takings -- is by breaking up the large dormitory-like wards, which it says political groups run like indoctrination centers.

``We have saved our jails from these nests of terrorists,'' said Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. ``This is an important success,'' he told reporters, adding that the operations had proved that the leftists could not ``succeed against the Turkish state.''

Transfers to the new prisons began after soldiers secured the wards, with close to 500 leftist inmates placed into cells.

The most violent battles took place in Istanbul's Bayrampasa, where at least 14 inmates died. Daily Hurriyet said that inmates used makeshift bombs and flame-throwers against soldiers. Turk said the prisoners were also armed with AK-47 assault rifles, a claim disputed by Ozgur Tayad.

Turk said 16 inmates and two soldiers were killed Tuesday. Several of the prisoners chose to burn themselves alive rather than surrender, he said. Another inmate later died in the hospital of burns, private television NTV reported.

At least 78 inmates were injured in clashes, and an additional 821 prisoners on hunger strike were hospitalized, officials said.

Doctors said Wednesday that several were still refusing food and medical treatment.

Turkey's Human Rights Association disputed official death toll, saying that up to 18 inmates had been killed or committed suicide by setting themselves on fire. Ozgur Tayad said as many as 37 inmates had died, most of them killed. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancies.

New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the assault, saying the deaths were ``entirely avoidable,'' and the European Commission said Wednesday that Turkey's heavy-handed raids did nothing to improve Ankara's already-slim chances of starting EU membership negotiations soon.

Turkey has pledged to reform its judicial system, including abolishing numerous freedom-curbing laws, in its effort to join the European Union, which accepted Ankara as a candidate last year.

The government is also trying to empty Turkey's overcrowded prisons by passing an amnesty law that would release half of the country's 72,000 prisoners.

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