[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Inside Turkey's prisons > >'Midnight Express' doesn't begin to tell true story. > > Turkish Pm Bulent Ecevit Attends Press Conference At Eu Summit In Helsinki >Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit at the last European Union Summit in >Helsinki. Turkey's ambition to join the EU is dependent on turning around >its harsh reputation on issues like prisons. > >By Nicole Pope >MSNBC > >ISTANBUL, April 27 - Those who saw the controversial movie "Midnight >Express," which related the trials of a young U.S. drug smuggler in a >Turkish jail, remember mostly the brutality and sadism of the jailers it >portrayed. An encounter with members of the Prison Guards' Union >(Tum-Yargi-Sen) reveals a different reality behind Turkish bars. > >THE GUARDS GATHERED in the dingy office, in a working-class neighborhood of >Istanbul, are upset and eager to tell their story: The head of their >Istanbul branch, Ali Yazici, has just been shot in the leg after publicly >denouncing the growing influence of mafia gangs in Turkish jails. >"We are frightened," a jailer says. "They know our home address. They know >where our children go to school. Even the jail director is scared." >Prison conditions, the guards complain, are almost as bad for the personnel >as they are for the detainees. "I am alone 12 hours a day, unarmed, in >charge of 80 to 100 men living in one dormitory," says a soft-spoken young >man, who earns just more than $200 a month at Istanbul's Bayrampasa jail. >"How do you expect me to intervene if a fight breaks out?" >The jailers say they can no more secure the safety of the detainees than >they can guarantee their own. > >IN AND OUT >Because Turkish prisons are notoriously porous, inmates often have access >to weapons. Raids into the wards always produce a rich inventory: from guns >to drugs, from cellular phones to fax machines, almost anything can be >found in a prison ward. > >"From the early days of the Republic, there was an unwritten policy to >leave daily discipline to the prisoners," says Yucel Sayman, head of the >Istanbul Bar Association. "In effect, the state was privatizing discipline. >A few tough prisoners were given privileges, so they could do the job." >This situation produced inevitable excesses, but the system appeared to >work. After the 1980 military coup, this fragile balance was lost. The >prison population swelled with the addition of thousands of political >prisoners, while economic liberalization produced growing corruption, >organized crime and a new generation of wealthy and powerful inmates. > >POLITICAL PRISONERS ABOUND >Today, of 65,000 prisoners detained in Turkey's jails, 11,000 are held for >political crimes. Some of them, fighters for the Kurdish PKK or members of >radical leftist or religious organizations, committed acts of violence, but >many were sentenced for membership in an illegal group or for expressing >views perceived as threatening the state. >"There are rules about detention," says Eren Keskin, head of the Istanbul >branch of the Human Rights Association. "But they are implemented in an >haphazard way." >Powerful mafia bosses, who command almost as many column inches in the >Turkish press as politicians, have their cells refurbished when they move >in and buy favors with money or threats. In a recent incident reported by >the local media, Alaattin Cakici, one of Turkey's best-known underworld >leaders, whose links with politicians brought down the government in late >1998, ordered "lahmacun," a kind of Turkish pizza, late at night. When he >found the topping unsatisfactory, a second delegation was sent into town to >buy the one he wanted. >'The solution is not in the prisons, it is in the society and the political >system.' >- ATTORNEY IBRAHIM ERGUN >Ordinary convicts, on the other hand, often live in squalid and overcrowded >wards. "All jails are very dirty. There is not enough water, no cleaning >materials," says Eren Keskin, who served six months in jail in 1995 for an >article she had written. "The meals are so bad that only the poorest, those >who cannot get anything else, eat them. You can find anything from mouse >droppings to stones in your food." >In such an environment, diseases such as hepatitis are rife and prisoners >rarely get adequate health care. Although convicts complain that they are >at times ill-treated by guards, former inmates say the torture and abuse >documented by international human rights organizations tend to happen >mostly during the interrogation phase. > >REBELS WITH A CAUSE >Political prisoners are the most restive. Often toughened by the violence >they have experienced, fired by their ideological beliefs and backed by a >solid structure, they are willing to resist pressure from the authorities, >to the death if necessary. According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, >in their wards, "political organizations exert tough party discipline to >the extent that they have sentenced and 'executed' many supposed spies and >informers." Illegal political groups, which may find it difficult to meet >in the outside world, can turn their dormitories into indoctrination and >training camps. > >The Turkish authorities believe the solution lies in dividing the prisoners >and holding them in smaller cells designed for up to six people - the >so-called F-type jails. Several penitentiaries under construction are based >on this model. But the convicts, who prefer the relative safety of crowded >dormitories, see the cell system as an attempt by the state to isolate and >break them, and they believe it makes them more vulnerable to abuse. Human >Rights Watch says the cell regime already implemented in some jails, such >as the one in Kartal near Istanbul, "appears to be one of extreme isolation >... and may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." >In recent years, attempts to transfer inmates to such establishments >against their will have resulted in riots, hostage takings, hunger strikes >and deaths. One of the worst incidents happened in September at Ulucanlar >prison in Ankara. Clashes between the prisoners and the security forces, >apparently brought in to quell a riot, left 10 inmates dead. The >authorities said firearms were discovered in the wards and charged 86 >convicts for the accidental killing of their comrades. > >DEEPER TROUBLES >But testimony from other prisoners and investigations at the scene by >lawyers and members of Parliament suggest another version of events. > >"It is clear from the statements that the operation was planned at least >three weeks in advance," says lawyer Ibrahim Ergun, pointing to several >thick folders. The attorney, who is part of the defense team, believes the >trial is a coverup. He produces gruesome pictures of the bruised bodies of >two of his former clients, bearing marks of cuts and blows to the head, >which, he claims, show that the men were beaten to death by the security >forces. >Whatever the truth behind the Ulucanlar tragedy, few people believe Turkey >has seen the last of such violent incidents. "The solution," lawyer Ibrahim >Ergun says, "is not in the prisons. It is in the society and the political >system." >Several new F-type prisons will open in May, and prison guards are already >bracing themselves for further unrest. "What is important is not the type >of prison but the basic approach to detention. There is no project to win >these people back to the society," says Tekin Yildiz, president of the >Prison Guards' Union. >The jailers say smaller rooms would indeed make their job easier, but they >believe cells can be used successfully only in conjunction with other >facilities such as workshops, libraries and large common areas. "We need >fundamental changes to the system," Yildiz says. "Prisoners need to be >treated with dignity, and their safety is the responsibility of the state." > >Nicole Pope reports from Turkey for MSNBC.com. > > >--- >Press Agency Ozgurluk >In Support of the Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey and Kurdistan >http://www.ozgurluk.org > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
