>Which Burdur Prison Inmate Lost an Arm That Was Later Discovered Being >Chewed On By a Dog in Isparta? > >In order to take prisoners who were demanding protection to their hearing, >the gendarmerie was called in and poor Sacilik's arm was torn off. It >could not be stitched back into place nor was it buried. The 'tragicomic' >incident in Isparta unequivocally shows the mentality with which the >state deals with incidents like the one in Burdur prison If they pursue >the same methods to transfer the 10,000 political prisoners and remand >prisoners to the new F-type prisons rather than the soft approach used at >Bayrampasa, it does not look likely that Turkey will be able to walk the >path towards EU membership with a broken leg and a torn-off arm > >Hasan Ustun > >Antalya - Turkish Daily News > >Two separate riots broke out in Bayrampasa and Burdur prisons last >Wednesday. Some 500 inmates and remand prisoners at Bayrampasa took six >prison guards hostage, protesting their transfer from another prison and >"unfurled the flag of rebellion." The inmates barricaded their cell-ward >doors and set fire to their beds. A gunfight between men belonging to >mafia bosses Alaatin Cakici and Hakan Cillioglu had broken out a while >earlier, resulting in the deaths of two men and eight injured including two >guards being wounded. Tahsin Esme was determined to have been implicated >in the clash and was said to be one of Cakici's men. The riot broke out >when he was taken out of his cell ward and transferred to Manisa's Alasehir >Prison. The riot in Burdur started when 11 political prisoners belonging >to the "Turkish left," accused by the Izmir State Security Court (DGM) of >distributing separatist propaganda and who were refusing to be taken to the >court hearing, saying they had been systematically beaten, barricaded >themselves into their cell wards to prevent the gendarmerie from taking >them to the hearing. > >In the first incident, Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Ferzan Citici, on >orders from the Justice Ministry "not to allow the incident to become a >bloodbath," negotiated with the inmates and succeeded in quickly defusing >the situation. In the second incident, gendarmes from Burdur, Antalya and >Konya, in an operation coordinated by Burdur Governor Kaya Uyar, assaulted >the cell wards with tear gas rifle-grenades and put down the riot in that >way. During the assault, the arm of prisoner Veli Sacilik was torn off, >one tear gas grenade hit prisoner Sadik Turk straight in the head, some >prisoners suffered broken legs as a result of jumping from the second floor >and others suffered broken ribs from being beaten. Sacilik, Asiye Guden, >Osman Ozarslan, Kadir Agbaba, Neriman Sayli, Birsen Dermanli, Yusuf Timur, >Kazim Ceylan, Nuray Ozcelik, Ali Aycan, Ozgur Sahin, Ahmet Gun, Mehmet >Leylek and Tuncay Yildirim were all given medical reports stating they >were in a life-threatening condition. An additional 32 prisoners were >given reports excusing them from duties for between two and 30 days. Some >59 prisoners, including those in a life-threatening situation, were kept in >their cells for a few days before being transferred to prisons in Usak, >Bursa, Nigde, Aydin, Ceyhan, Gebze and Nevsehir. > >Some 20 lawyers from the Ankara, Antalya, Istanbul and Izmir bar >associations interviewed 18 of the 61 prisoners involved in the incident at >Burdur before they were transferred and announced their findings in a >report. According to the report, the prisoners informed prison >administration they would only go to their hearing if they could be >guaranteed protection for their lives. Despite their pleas, prison >governor Katip Ozen told them something like, "There are people here who >want to start another Ulucanlar massacre. My recommendation is go to the >hearing. If you don't, I'll make myself scarce." > >The next morning (July 5), no prison staff came to do a head count of the >cell wards, and the guards were not at their posts. The water and >electricity was cut off, the windows to the cells were smashed using >grapples and tear gas grenades were fired into the cells together with >nerve gas. The completely bewildered prisoners found themselves drenched >in a sticky, blue liquid that stank of diesel and faced the real danger of >asphyxiation from the smoke resulting from fires started by >flame-throwers. The report states that the gas bombs were carefully >aimed, and this is why Turk, who had been transferred from Ulucanlar to >Burdur, had a gas bomb explode against his head and why Sahin Gecit, also >from Ulucanlar, had his hand blown to pieces. > >Those seriously injured were taken to Suleyman Demirel Hospital in the >former president's native Isparta. When Sacilik's blown-off arm was found >being chewed by a street dog in Isparta, it added a whole new dimension to >the Burdur incident. The Isparta governor glossed over the incident, >calling it "tragicomic" and said, "Obviously some hospital worker did not >bury it deep enough or simply left it in a graveyard." Veli's mother >Kezban wrote to the president in desperation and told TV cameras: "When I >left my son in the hands of the Justice Ministry, he was in fine shape. I >want my son to have his arm back." > >Judges Union representative Ismail Karabul announced that the weapons used >in the Bayrampasa incident of June 16 and the prisoners responsible for the >incident were still at the prison. Despite this, he praised the way the >Justice Ministry handled and defused the Bayrampasa incident without >bloodshed, citing it as a good example. However, the course of action >chosen by the same Justice Ministry is all too evident. In order to take >prisoners who were demanding protection to their hearing, the gendarmerie >was called in and poor Sacilik's arm was torn off. It could not be >stitched back into place nor was it buried. The "tragicomic" incident in >Isparta unequivocally shows the mentality with which the state deals with >incidents like the one in Burdur prison. > >Currently, preliminary investigations are under way into both the >prisoners and the authorities that dealt with the incident. The inmates >will be charged with "opposing public officials," "causing damage to state >property" and "causing a riot in a prison." Lawyers representing the >inmates have announced they will be indicting prison governor Ozen, his >deputies and guards together with the security forces on charges of >torture and rape. > >While all this was happening, Turkey was hosting European Commissioner for >Enlargement Guenther Verheugen. This visit was crucial for Turkey's EU >accession process. However, Verheugen saw a bloody riot and the incident >of an inmate's arm being found in the jaws of a street dog in the last >president's home town. Without doubt, the parliamentary investigation >commission will show the same sensitivity it did over the Ulucanlar Prison >riot that left 10 prisoners dead when it investigates the Burdur incident. >If they pursue the same methods to transfer the 10,000 political prisoners >and remand prisoners to the new F-type prisons rather than the soft >approach used at Bayrampasa, it does not look likely that Turkey will be >able to walk the path towards EU membership with a broken leg and a >torn-off arm. > > > >-- >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] ___________________________________
