3 - 9 May 2001
Issue No.532
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 3 - 9 May 2001 Issue No.532 |
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Further hunger, no reform
The death toll climbs in Turkey's prisons while economic and political reforms remain without a champion, Gareth Jenkins writes from Istanbul
The deadly battle of wills between the Turkish government and hunger-striking leftist prisoners claimed its 20th victim on Saturday with the death of Fatma Hulya Tumgan, a 32-year-old member of the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C). Another 250 inmates remain on hunger strike. On Monday doctors reported that many are now so weak that there is little hope of saving them even if they immediately agree to receive sustenance and medical attention.
Imprisoned members of the DHKP-C and other banned leftist organisations first went on a starvation diet in October 2000 to protest government plans to move them to newly built "F-type" prisons, in which they would be housed in 2-3 person cells rather than traditional dormitory-style wards. The prisoners claimed that the relative isolation of the new cells would leave them more vulnerable to torture and murder.
On 10 December Turkish Justice Minister Sami Turk promised to suspend the introduction of the F-type prisons pending legal amendments to prevent prisoners being isolated. But one week later, when the leftist organisations increased their demands to include the abolition of the State Security Courts, which try political offences, Turk sent security forces into the prisons and forcibly transferred inmates to F-type prisons in what he termed "Operation Return to Life." Two soldiers and 30 prisoners were killed and the number of hunger strikers increased.
Relatives of the inmates claim that incidents of torture and ill-treatment have increased since the transfer to the new prisons. On 24 April, Amnesty International published a report accusing the Turkish government of refusing to allow independent observers access to the prisons to verify the allegations.
The Turkish government claims that leftist groups had regularly used the old dormitory-style prison wards for indoctrination and that the organisations' leaders have coerced or brainwashed inmates into joining the hunger strike. Although sources close to DHKP-C admit that peer pressure plays a significant role in persuading members to join the hunger strikes, they claim that most do so willingly.
"Our friends are being tortured every day," said a DHKP-C source. "Our bodies are all we have left to draw attention to what is happening."
Some of the relatives of the inmates have demonstrated their solidarity by joining the hunger strike, though many hold both the government and the leftist organisations in equal contempt. Of the 11,000 inmates convicted of political offences, only 2,000 have been proved to have handled firearms or explosives. Umit Kanli, who was imprisoned in 1996 for suspected membership in an illegal organisation, is now in the final stages of his hunger strike.
"He didn't attack anyone, kill anyone, or help others to do so," wrote his mother Gulter Kanli. "He was convicted without any attempt to find evidence. All he had done was play songs and lead folk dances. I do not care whether it is the government or an illegal organisation, anyone who plays with my son's life for political purposes is my enemy."
Last week the government presented two draft laws to parliament to lift the ban on independent observers entering the prisons and to allow inmates to join in group cultural activities. But even if the laws are passed, the government remains adamant that it will not bargain with the hunger strikers. "Nothing can be achieved by more people dying," said Sami Turk.
The rising death toll in the country's prisons is likely to damage still further the Turkish government's already battered international reputation. Last week the World Bank released a report which claimed that the winners of Turkish state contracts paid an average of 15 per cent of the contract value to the governing political parties in the form of "donations," which were then channelled into the pockets of leading party officials.
The report coincided with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank promising a further $10 billion in emergency funds to help Turkey overcome its latest economic crisis. The first $3 to $4 billion is expected to be released in June. But privately IMF officials have made it clear that the money is conditional on radical reforms to combat corruption.
On Friday Energy Minister Cumhur Ersumer resigned, having been implicated in a number of scandals involving bribes paid to secure state energy contracts. His resignation was welcomed by international and domestic markets, but no one doubts that the problem goes much deeper than the venality of a single official. The latest promise of IMF funds is the third such disbursement in less than 18 months. The US government has already made it clear that Turkey cannot expect any more.
"Three strikes and you're out," said a US Treasury official.
"This is our last chance. We have to reform," admitted Economics Minister Kemal Dervis.
But there is still no sign that Turkey's ailing 76-year-old Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit understands the need for either economic reform or greater democracy. On Sunday, at the party congress which re-elected him chairman of the Democratic Left Party (DSP), Ecevit assured his supporters that the DSP would sweep to power in the next elections and dismissed the ongoing economic crisis as the product of a conspiracy by political opponents.
Unusually, Ecevit had faced a challenge for the leadership from Sema Piskinsut, a 49-year-old mother of three who has been a vigorous advocate of greater democracy and a harsh critic of Turkey's appalling human rights record. Not only was Piskinsut defeated in the vote for the leadership, but she was also forbidden from addressing the congress and her son was roughed up by Ecevit's supporters. "The party has its rules," explained Ecevit.
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