>Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 04:43:58 +0100 >From: Press Agency Ozgurluk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sunday, 24 December, 2000, 23:34 GMT >Turkish prison strike continues > >Anti-prison reform protesters clashed with the police The Turkish >Government says more than 350 prison inmates are still refusing food, five >days after the security forces launched raids on jails across the country >to end the protest. > >Troops regained control on Friday of the last of 20 prisons, leaving a >total of 26 prisoners and two police officers dead. > >The inmates want to stop transfers to new maximum security prisons where >they say they will exposed to attacks by guards, who are often accused of >committing abuses. > >Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk warned that the government would not back >down from the transfer plans. > >Dead end > >Mr Turk said that following the storming of the jails, 1,005 prisoners were >transferred to three of the new prisons and that nearly 400 had quit their >hunger strike. > >He said the jails had been raided to "rescue the prisoners" - many of whom, >he insisted, had been forced to fast by extreme left-wing groups. > >Mr Turk said that 353 continued their two-month long "death-fast", and that >more than 1,600 others were carrying-out a hunger strike of solidarity, >taking just minimal amounts of sugar. > >"Some inmates continue their acts in the trap of fanaticism into which they >had fallen," he said. > >Condemnation > >The minister urged the strikers to put an end to their protests and to >realise that they had reached a dead end. > >"If their condition deteriorates we will do whatever is necessary for >medical intervention," he warned. > >The European Commission has expressed concern over the crackdown. > >Turkey's attempt to gain membership of the EU depends on improving its >human rights record and democratic institutions. > >Human rights groups have also condemned the assault. > >Amnesty International has called for a full and independent inquiry into >the raids. > >-- >Press Agency Ozgurluk >In Support of the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey >http://www.ozgurluk.org >DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for geopolitics. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
