MINUTES OF THE MEETING BETWEEN THE DELEGATION FROM THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
AND SADI ÖZBOLAT
The following are the minutes of the meeting between the
delegation from the European
Parliament, which publicized the results of
their engagements in the F-type
prisons on June 7, 2001, and one of the
representatives of the
prisoners in Kandira F-type prison, Sadi Ozbolat who
is from the DHKP-C
trial. Also we present Sadi Ozbolat's letter to his lawyer
which was
sent through the attorney of the prison concerning the same
issue.
Besides the European delegation, there was also a person who attended
the
meetings as an "authority from the justice ministry". The sub-titles
are
belonging to us.
TAYAD Families
"A solution can only be
drawn out of a meeting between the authorities
from the ministry and the
representatives of political prisoners"
DANIEL COHN-BENDIT
: How can the Death Fast finish? Has there been
any
changes to your demands? What are your demands? We want to know
your
opinion as a person.
SADI ÖZBOLAT: It is wrong to ask for my
individual thoughts. This
meeting should be conducted with the council of the
representatives, which
presents all of the captives. It is not possible for me to answer
your
question about our demands without coming together with the
other
representatives. You did not notify me about your visit before
hand.
This is not the way to do things. You should have notified me first.
Besides I must have
access to the other representatives so I can talk to them
and then, as
representatives, we can meet with you. Our demands cannot be
discussed
in a non-serious way like this. This is a serious matter. If
the
representatives can come together, within an hour we can give you
the
written demands.
DANIEL COHN-BENDIT: If the representatives
come together, will your
demands become more flexible?
SADI
ÖZBOLAT: How can a solution be found, if bringing the
representatives
together becomes a matter of negotiation? There is no flexibility
in our
demands and there cannot be. A solution can only be found if there is a meeting
between the authorities from the ministry and the representatives of
political prisoners.
DANIEL COHN-BENDIT: Who are these representatives
who need to come
together?
SADI ÖZBOLAT: First bring us together,
we will announce our
representatives after talking to each other.
(Those
who participated in the meeting stated that they have no
authority to bring
the representatives together.)
DANIEL COHN-BENDIT: There is a dialogue
blockage between you and the ministry. Do
you accept us as
mediators?
SADI ÖZBOLAT: We can only answer this question of yours if
the other representatives
are able to come together. But my personal opinion is that
those who talk
to us must have the authority to speak on the
state's behalf. The problem is
not you being a mediator. You should be
able to meet with us and give your
word on the behalf of the ministry. Also
if you come here on the ministry's
behalf, a bureaucrat from the
ministry must be present as a witness. But we
can only give our final
decision if we are allowed to come together with the
other representatives.
DANIEL COHN-BENDIT: If the meetings begin and
come to a feasible point,
would you consider giving a break in the death
fast. Even when states are at war
they give similar gestures when the
negotiations begin.
SADI ÖZBOLAT: Under no condition will we give a
break in the death fast. If the
state accepts that it is fighting us, that it
is at war with us, then it should announce
that that is the case and our
legal status should be rearranged according to this. We will give no such
gesture after the operation that massacred tens of our friends and made them
martyrs. In
Bayrampasa prison six of our woman friends were burnt
alive.
DANIEL COHN-BENDIT: There should be mutual flexibility in the
demands.
"It is clear that the F-type application in Turkey was mutually planned
between the USA and the EU countries."
SADI ÖZBOLAT: Our demands are right,
legitimate and democratic and
they must be discussed. If these demands
are right and democratic, then
asking for flexibility does not make
sense. It should stop making demagogy
out of our demand of "abolition
the DGMs (State Secutrity Courts). Many
circles want the abolition of
the DGMs. The USA the EU and the IMF are all
responsible
for the F-type prisons, the operation and the massacre on December
19, and
for those who lost their lives during the death fast and for those who
have
became handicapped because of the forcible medical intervention. It is
clear
that the F-Type application in Turkey was planned mutually by the
USA
and the EU countries. The USA in it's the annual "terror report" in
1998
stated that, "In Turkey prisons are terror centres". The EU’s entry
programme for Turkey's
membership, put the "abandoning of the dormitory system
in prisons" as a
high priority and under the title of "contemporary
prisons". The current
structure of the F-type prisons was "proposed" and
finally the existing
F-type prisons and Article 16 were approved.
The policy of the F-type prisons
and their construction coincide with the
mentioned report of the USA and the
constraints of the EU.
DANIEL COHN-BENDIT: We are not here to discuss
imperialism. This
resistance will not continue until the end of imperialism,
will it?
ANOTHER DELEGATE: We visited Bayrampasa prison. The mafia is
in charge
of the dormitory system. The non-political prisoners are very
much
disturbed because of this situation..
SADI ÖZBOLAT: There was
no such thing in our dormitories. If that was the
case why have we been
brought here? The mafia should have been be brought here instead.
ANOTHER
DELEGATE: The state is claiming that you established an
organisational
pressure. This is also our opinion.
SADI ÖZBOLAT: This is nonsense and
a comical question. The people were
isolated, they were left handicapped with
forcible medical intervention,
they have fallen martyrs but the resistance is
expanding and continuing.
No such organisational pressure can make people
march to death. (Here
Daniel Cohn-Bendit intervened and silenced the delegate
who asked this
question)
THE MINISTRY'S REPRESENTATIVE: Let's be
honest, your demands are
changing continuously. E-mail messages were received
from Brussels
concerning changes in the demands.
SADI ÖZBOLAT: When
we started the death fast we had announced our
written demands. None of the
demands have been changed.
THE MINISTRY'S REPRESENTATIVE: We have been
receiving statements from
Brussels signed by DHKC. Are these statements not
binding you? Who
is directing the organisation?
SADI ÖZBOLAT: I am
speaking here on the behalf of the resisting captives,
not the organisation.
I represent the resisting captives.
DANIEL COHN-BENDIT: Is DHKC in
Brussels not binding you?
SADI ÖZBOLAT: This resistance and the
problem is concerning and affecting the entire
people both inside and outside
prisons. TAYAD and the other
institutions also have a role in this
resistance. All these people have the right
to talk about the resistance. The
DHKC in Brussels has never said "come and
negotiate with us".
DANIEL
COHN-BENDIT: Who is making the decisions? The prisoners?
SADI
ÖZBOLAT: These are the mutual decisions of all the prisoners.
THE
MINISTRY'S REPRESENTATIVE: I am a law practitioner. Your father
is also a
law practitioner.
SADI ÖZBOLAT: What is your name?
THE
MINISTRY'S REPRESENTATIVE: I do not want to reveal my name.
SADI
ÖZBOLAT: In that case Mr X, I am not speaking with you.
THE MINISTRY'S
REPRESENTATIVE: We shall try to obtain permission from
the ministry to
bring you, and the other representatives, together.
SADI ÖZBOLAT: We
have no such demand. This is only so we will be able to
answer your
questions. But if you come again, notify us beforehand. We
should also have
the ability to come together and discuss.
ANOTHER DELEGATE: Why do you
stay on your own like this? Is this what
you want? Or do your friends not
want to be with you? Or did the state
put you here on your own?
SADI
ÖZBOLAT: What do you think we are resisting for? (Here the
meeting was
terminated and the delegation left after 2 hours.)
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT: The following letter is belonging to Sadi
Naci
Özbolat. He sent the letter to his lawyer through the prison
attorney
concerning his meeting with the EU delegation.
SADI ÖZBOLAT'S
LETTER
Date: June 11, 2001
Dear Lawyer Behiç Asci
A
delegation from the EU wanted to meet with me on Thursday, June 07,
2001.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit issued a press release concerning the meeting
including
also some allegations targeting me. In order to defend my
legal rights I
found it necessary to inform you about the meeting. The
delegation stated
that their aim was to find out whether there had been any
changes to our
demands and to see what my personal view is on how to cease the
resistance.
Also they said that they wanted to know what our demands were.
Briefly, my
answers regarding these questions were as follows: I told them
that it would
be wrong to know my personal view, it would be better to
meet with the
council of representatives which represents all of the
prisoners and only
then can we reply to their questions through this way. Progress in finding
a solution is dependant upon meetings between the council
of
representatives and the authorised officials of the state, and this
depends
on seeking solutions to the demands. The demands of the
resistance have not
changed. And they will not either. The demands
are democratic and rightful.
And if they do not think the same way, then
they should explain which demands
are not and why. A solution can not be
sought with the intention of finding a
mid-way. A solution can only be made possible
by evaluating the democratic
and rightful nature of our demands. I also
said that our demands could be
given in writing if I could meet with
the other representative friends for an
hour. This is a serious matter and
it would be wrong to tell them the demands
in any other way, without having a
chance for preparation. But roughly, I
told them that the demands
concerning the F-type prisons were; changing their
physical structure and
management, Article 16 should be lifted, the DGMs
(State
Security Courts) should be abolished, the release of our friends
whose
health is not permitting them to stay in prison, abolish the
tripartite protocol, those who are responsible for the operations
in
prisons are to stand trial etc. They responded negatively to my wish of
seeing the other
representatives by saying that they have no such
authorisation. They said they
will try to obtain the permission from the
ministry but the ministry
might come out with the suggestion that "only if
the demands become flexible".
I said that this is not be a matter for
negotiation and that we have
no such demand and I explained that it would be
necessary for us to produce
our demands in writing. The EU delegation said
"there is a dialogue problem
between you and the ministry, would you accept
it if we offered ourselves
as the mediators?" My response was, "I can only
answer this question if I can meet
with the other representatives but my
personal opinion is that the
delegation should have the authority to decide
on the ministry's behalf and
our final answer could only be given after
meeting with the other
representatives".
Because the general director of
the prisons, A. Suat Ertosun claimed that
during the talks before December
19, the delegation of mediators had
given their own views and that these were not those of the ministry's and
also
that they had given promises which were not approved by the ministry.
The
subject concerning the "thoughts of the Stone Age" claim of
Daniel
Cohn-Bendit are as follows: In the beginning I had stated that "The
USA, the EU
and the IMF are all responsible for the current F-Type prisons, the operation
and massacre
of December 19, for those who lost their lives during the death fast and for
those
who have become handicapped because of the forcible medical intervention. It
is clear that the
F-type application in Turkey had been planned mutually by
the USA and the EU
countries. They are experimenting with Turkey and if they
succeed, they
are planning to use the same policy in other colonies. The USA
in it's
the annual "terror report" in 1998 stated that, "In Turkey the
prisons are terror
centres". The entry programme for Turkey's membership to
the EU,
put "abandoning the dormitory system in prisons" as a high
priority
and under the title of "contemporary prisons". The current structure
of
the F-Type prisons was "proposed" and finally the existing F-Type
prisons
and Article 16 were approved. The policy of the F-Type prisons and
their
construction coincide with the mentioned report of the USA and
the
constraints of the EU. Also in response to the recent credits of the
IMF
to Turkey, new legislation was passed through the parliament. The
IMF
officials are stating that "Turkey is an experiment on this issue and
if
it is a success then this will be a general policy". All of this is
showing
the attitude of these countries towards Turkey.
Their attitude towards Turkey as a whole is no different than their
attitude
towards the prisoners in the F-Type prisons. During this discussion a
European
delegate was trying to prove the necessity of F-Type prisons by
saying "we
visited Bayrampasa prison, the mafia is in power there, the
wardens cannot
enter the dormitories". My response was "There was no such a
problem in
our dormitories, together with Article 16, the F-Type prisons
are
targeting us, in general they are not for non-political
prisoners,
therefore it is obvious that these prisons are not aiming to solve
these
problems they mentioned." The same person said "there was internal
pressure by the
organisations in the dormitory system and this is not only
the ministry's
opinion, we share it as well." I said "This claim is nonsense
and
comical. On the contrary, even the pressure of the F-Type prisons could
not
make them to quit their action, they are trying to stop the death
fast
resistance by leaving the prisoners handicapped because of
forcible
medical intervention in hospitals. No organisational pressure can
make
people march to death." I said "the women prisoners were burnt
by
gassing their dormitory in Bayrampasa prison. This is very
obvious,
there is almost not a single person who did not receive burns." They
said fax
messages are sent from the DHKC information bureau in Brussels. I
said
"This resistance and the problem of the F-Type prisons are concerning
the entire
people. All these people have the right to take a stand but the
decision on
the resistance in the prisons can only be made by the prisoners
and their representatives
only, only they can take part in the meetings on
their behalf. Daniel Cohn-Bendit asked "In
the statements sent to newspapers
from Edirne the demand of
"lifting the isolation" was mentioned, what does
this mean, what
should be done to lift the isolation" I said, this is a
precondition
to begin the meetings rather than a demand. I said that I cannot
answer the
question of "what should be done to lift the isolation"
without
meeting with the other representatives. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, said
"lets
say the meetings had begun, could you not give a break of 3-5 days
in
the death fast" I said that this is not possible. He said we needed to
make
our demands amendable. I said the problem is not amending the
demands,
the problems cannot be solved through this approach and we want a
reply
to our demands. In general, this is the outline of the meeting.
The
claim of Daniel Cohn-Bendit's that "if 6-9 prisoners could be
brought
together the death fast would cease" is not realistic and such
a conclusion
should not have arisen from the meeting.
Sadi Naci
Özbolat
