AP on the struggle in Turkey

[schism at schism.antenna.nl]

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"DHKC informationbureau Amsterdam" <ozgurluk at xs4all.nl> writes:

By SUZAN FRASER 
Associated Press Writer 
Monday, July 22, 1996 12:55 pm EDT 


ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Stone-throwing demonstrators battled police
outside a prison Monday in a widening protest led by hunger striking
inmates demanding better treatment. 

The pressure for prison reforms in the often criticized Turkish prison
system is one of the first major tests for the new government, led by
the Islamic-inspired Welfare Party. 

The clash outside Buca prison in Izmir followed the death Sunday of an
inmate in Istanbul who was refusing even sugared water as part of a
``death fast.'' One police officer was injured in the Aegean port, the
Anatolia agency said. 

About 1,500 leftist inmates in 33 prisons are staging a hunger strike
-- entering its 65th day. It began after the previous government
carried out large-scale transfers of prisoners to remote parts of the
country, canceled visiting rights to families of political prisoners
and imposed strict rules on the daily lives of prisoners. 

The hunger strikers also want an end to alleged harassment and torture
in prisons and prompt medical treatment for sick prisoners. 

On Sunday, 20-year-old Aygun Ugur died in his cell after being in coma
for almost a week, said Husnu Ondul, spokesman for the Human Rights
Association, which often alleges government abuses. Ugur was among 217
inmates on ``death fast'' -- refusing the sugared water taken by the
others. 

The hunger strikers are not accepting medical treatment, but it was
not clear why prison officials did not intervene after Ugur fell
unconscious. 

Human rights groups say four other inmates were in serious condition
and more deaths were expected. 

Turkey's new government eased some of the restrictions in an effort to
end the hunger strikes, but the protesters were not satisfied. 

``Transfers to other prisons still continue and inmates face torture
to repent and denounce their organizations,'' said Ondul. 

Meanwhile, about a half dozen parents have started a hunger strike in
support of their children jailed in Ankara and Istanbul. 

Two mothers and a father laid in separate beds in a room at the
leftist Freedoms and Democracy Party headquarters in Ankara. They have
been on hunger strike for 20 days, and were too weak to speak to
journalists. 

Some 50 other relatives of prisoners on hunger strike gathered with
them. 

Sevgi Yamac, 46, said he supports her son ``so much so that I have
even instructed my relatives to chose a plot for his grave.'' 

Her son, Mert, was arrested four years ago when he was at high school
for hanging a leftist banner. He was sentenced to seven years for
membership of an illegal leftist group. 

``If he dies he'll die as a martyr for the country,'' she said. 
----------------------------------------------------------
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