Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turkey Seeks Peace in Last Prison
by Louis Meixler - Associated Press Writer - December 21
Posted: Saturday, December 23, 2000 10:34 am CST

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ?Left-wing prisoners defied a call to surrender Thursday,vowing to fight until ``death or victory'' as soldiers lobbed tear gas grenades through holes drilled in the roof in an attempt to end a three-day prison siege.

The 435 prisoners in an Istanbul prison are the last group to hold out after 158 prisoners in another penitentiary gave up Thursday afternoon.

Soldiers found guns, computers and mobile phones in some recently captured prison wards, and some Turks began to question how their country allowed radical inmates so much power inside prison walls.

Also Thursday, parliament overrode a presidential veto and passed an amnesty bill that will free half of Turkey's 72,000 prisoners. The amnesty will not apply to prisoners who opposed the state, such as Islamic, Kurdish or leftist militants.

Turkey mobilized 5,000 soldiers and assaulted 20 prisons Tuesday to end a two-month hunger strike by left-wing inmates and regain control over the communal wards.

Inmates launched their hunger strike to protest plans to move them into prisons with one- or three-person cells,where they say they would be more vulnerable to abuse.

The bodies of two prisoners were discovered after the surrender at Canakkale prison in western Turkey. Another inmate died at the hospital, raising the three-day death toll to 18 prisoners and two soldiers. Ozgur Tayad, a prisoners' support group, said the toll was much higher but gave no figures.

CNN-Turk television, citing early autopsy reports, said five inmates were killed by gunfire and one choked to death from tear gas while seven others burned to death. Authorities were not available to confirm the televisionreport.

Prisoners resisted the soldiers' assault with guns and flame-throwers made from gas canisters and rubber tubing. At Canakkale prison, inmates had barricaded themselves inside a gymnasium and ran a live wire to the door to electrocute soldiers who tried to open it.

Thursday morning, helicopters hovered over Canakkale prison and Istanbul's Umraniye prison. Through megaphones, soldiers tried to persuade prisoners to surrender, shouting, ``Life is beautiful'' and ``If you are not thinking of yourselves, think of your parents waiting in front of the prison,'' the daily Milliyet reported.

Soldiers used sledgehammers to smash
through the prison roof and fired tear gas canisters inside. Firefighters poured foam onto the inmates to prevent them from setting themselves ablaze or using makeshift flame-throwers.

Some 158 prisoners surrendered, ending the standoff at Canakkale.

At Umraniye, security forces fired tear gas into holes through the roof and were apparently closing in on 435 prisoners who had barricaded themselves inside of a conference room, Anatolia said. Inmates ignored calls to surrender, shouting ``Either death or victory.''

Political groups frequently run their own prison wards which house up to 100 inmates. Prisoners smuggle in cellular telephones and weapons by bribing or threatening guards, some of whom earn only $250 a month.

Turkish newspapers have been filled with pictures from before the assault showing prisoners living in wardsdecorated with rebel banners. In some cases, rebels wearing red headbands were seen lining up and giving clenched-fist salutes to their leaders. In one instance, rebels tore down the walls of a ward so that male and female prisoners could live together.

Many of the leftist inmates are linked to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, a group that aims to establish a Marxist republic in Turkey. The group has claimed responsibility for the assassinations of generals, policemen and government officials and has targeted U.S. military and diplomatic missions.

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