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On
October 20, 2000, about 100 prisoners in the jails
of Turkey started a Death Fast to oppose the isolation
cells designated as F-Type prisons. The resistance
met with a great response in the whole of Turkey.
As broad sections of our people began to protest against
the F-Type prisons, operations were begun whose aim
was to destroy the resistance. State terror was particularly
directed at those who carried out protest actions
against the F-Type prisons. The aim was to intimidate
all those forces of the people which showed solidarity
with the prisoners.
As
a second step against the resistance, an assault was
carried out on December 19 with the aim of massacring
prisoners. In this massacre, which lasted until December
22, 28 prisoners were murdered with gunfire, burned
alive or beaten to death. But this massacre too failed
to destroy the resistance. The resistance became even
greater as hundreds more prisoners joined the Death
Fast.
While
friends and relatives of the prisoners took part in
the resistance outside the prisons, the struggle against
the F-Types attained a dimension both inside and outside
the prisons which extended as far as death. No terrorist
methods were able to break the resistance. So the
state banned any news about the Death Fast and imposed
strict censorship. But as one death after another
occurred, the wall on censorship proved to be inadequate.
The publicity for the resistance started by relatives
of prisoners centred in Istanbul/Kucukarmutlu became
greater with every passing day. When people here died
as well, this was a sign that the resistance could
not be stopped despite the wall of censorship.
The
state, which could not crush the resistance, tried
to bribe the prisoners with the most precious possession,
namely freedom. It began releasing numerous prisoners
who were at death's door. But released DHKC prisoners
continued their resistance in Kucukarmutlu, Izmir,
Mersin and Ankara (a majority of the revolutionary
organisations in Turkey took part in the resistance.
All the prisoners from organisations taking part in
the resistance decided to continue the resistance
after their release. But only the DHKC Prisoners'
Organisation stuck to this decision after release.
Even if some prisoners from other organisations resisted
for a short time, they did not pursue this to the
end).
Kucukarmutlu
became the particular place where family members and
released Death Fast fighters continued their struggle.
On November 5 and 14, 2001, the state carried out
a massacre in Kucukarmutlu in which four of our people
were murdered. In this way it sought to undermine
support for the resistance among the people.
The
state, which could not break the resistance with massacres,
repression, censorship and extortion, now banned the
right to resist. It was forbidden to carry out a Death
Fast and this ban was enshrined in law. In addition,
the torture of forced feeding, which was practised
since the December 19 massacre, was legalised. This
also amounted to a ban on the right to resist.
The
resistance continued with martyrs inside the prisons,
outside the prisons and abroad. In this, the broadest
such resistance ever conducted in the prisons against
isolation, nearly half of our martyrs who have fallen
have been outside the prisons.
Moreover,
more than 500 prisoners have been left with permanent
damage as a result of forced feeding, they have lost
their memory and become like the living dead. Besides,
so far hundreds of our people have been wounded in
the prison and Kucukarmutlu massacres or in attacks
on mass protests in support of the prisoners' resistance.
The resistance is still continuing today.
In
the course of the resistance, four governments have
taken office and there have been three Justice Ministers.
The
only thing that has not changed is the existence of
the F-Types, and the complicity of all governments
in the F-Type massacre.
The
common, shared characteristic of all the new right-wing
governments, irrespective of whether they have a left-wing
or an Islamist appearance, is that they all pursue
a murderous policy in relation to the F-Type prisons
and have our blood on their hands.
What
all governments in Turkey have in common is that they
collaborate with EU and US imperialism.
So
no government that comes to power in Turkey has hesitated
to shed our blood, in order to put into practice the
F-Type prisons, a joint project of the EU and the
USA. The EU, USA and the oligarchy in Turkey are trying
to isolate and destroy the revolutionary struggle
in our country.
The
attempt to introduce the F-Types under the slogan
of European standards comes from the fact that isolation
practices were used in Europe and America against
opponents of the system and were successful.
Imperialism
does not just use isolation to destroy the extra-parliamentary
struggle.
It
uses the practice of isolation against all struggles
opposing the imperialist system. The embargo against
Cuba, the encirclement of Arafat, the Black Lists,
the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the attempt
to turn the whole world into a Guantanamo is the current
politics of imperialism.
OUR
APPEAL TO ALL LEFT-WING AND REVOLUTIONARY FORCES IN
THE WORLD: While embargoes, wars and occupation are
practised against countries; the Black Lists against
organisations and the practice of isolation against
prisoners are a common policy of imperialism.
Neither
national nor international law is heeded when it comes
to putting this policy into practice.
So,
just as the law has been used in Turkey to ban the
right to resist, an attempt is being made on a world
scale to legitimise this policy through UN resolutions
and US aggression.
Just
as it is unthinkable for the Iraqi people not to resist
the occupation of Iraq, or for Cuba not to resist
the embargo, or for the Palestinians not to resist
the siege of Arafat, it is also unthinkable that there
will be no resistance to isolation practised in the
F-Type prisons.
The
resistance unto death in the F-Type prisons is at
the same time resistance to the policies of war, occupation,
bans and embargoes conducted by imperialism against
the peoples of the world.
The
Death Fast is a struggle in which the right to resist,
the right to sovereignty in one's own land and democratic
rights and freedoms are being defended.
All
organisations, associations and persons which stand
for national and class struggles should also feel
the responsibility to support the Death Fast resistance
in the struggle against prison isolation.
In
the same way that imperialism jointly attacks the
peoples of the world on all fronts, all anti-imperialist
forces should unite to conduct joint resistance.
THE
STRUGGLE AGAINST ISOLATION CONTINUES DESPITE 107 DEATHS
ISOLATION, BLACK LISTS, WARS AND OCCUPATIONS ARE THE
POLICIES OF IMPERIALISM LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
October
20, 2003
DHKC International
Statement by the DHKP-C Prisoners’ Organisation:
We
are entering the 4th year of our resistance! The Gultekin
Koc Death Fast Team is our banner bearing the slogan
“Either victory or death!”
We
greet our people in the fourth year of our resistance
with the dignity and pride of maintaining our beliefs
while in the isolation cells of the oligarchy and
resisting for the sake of our beliefs.
In
these three years, we have given 107 martyrs inside
and outside the prisons. 85 of them have been cadres,
fighters and sympathisers of the Cephe (Front), that
is, people who have made their stand for the Cephe.
We started the resistance on October 20, 2000 together
with two other political movements.
The
number of political organisations which took part
rose following the December 19 (2000) massacre. Since
May 1, 2002, we are the ones who have actually continued
the resistance (a prisoner from the TKEP/L * is still
continuing his Death Fast).
Our
comrades have recorded major deeds of heroism under
a hail of bombs and bullets, alone, isolated in their
cells or in hospitals in the midst of vultures who
waited for them to faint so that they could use “forcible
medical intervention”.
They
have held aloft our banner of resistance up to today.
The
story of each and every one of our martyrs is an epic
of heroism in itself. All of them have shown great
heroism.
All
the methods employed to break our resistance have
been frustrated by the willpower of our resistance
fighters.
But
next to these major deeds of heroism, what gives us
the greatest sense of dignity and pride is fulfilling
our tasks and responsibility towards our people.
That
is also what gives each and every one of them their
place in history.
In
the meantime, everyone has been able to see that this
resistance is not simply about “prison conditions”.
From
the very beginning, it was more than that.
The
F-Type assault is an assault by imperialism and the
oligarchy aimed at suppressing and liquidating the
people’s struggle.
It
is an assault aimed at destroying the idea and the
hope of socialism.
For
three years we have lived, holding onto our beliefs
while in isolation conditions.
We
are still defending independence against imperialism,
democracy against fascism and socialism against capitalism.
We are continuing to resist in order to hold these
beliefs high.
Through
the use of isolation, imperialism and the oligarchic
state have sought to compel us to do the following:
“You will change your beliefs, you will think
as we wish and you will live the way we want you to”.
Our
resistance will last as long as it takes to make this
attempt at coercion fail in practice.
The banner of resistance is in the hands of our Gultekin
Koc Death Fast Team!
As
an expression of our resolve, our 10th Death Fast
Team has taken up the banner of resistance on the
third anniversary of October 20, 2000, when our resistance
has entered its fourth year.
The
Death Fast fighters of the (10th ) Gultekin Koc Death
Fast Team are:
-
Selami Kurnaz, Vedat Duskuner (Tekirdag F-Type Prison)
- Muharrem Karademir (Kandira F-Type Prison)
- Huseyin Cukurluoz, Bekir Baturu (Sincan F-Type Prison)
- Selma Kubat (Bakirkoy Women and Children’s
Prison)
- Raziye Karabulut (Kutahya Closed Prison)
- Gunay Ogrener (Usak Prison)
Our
eight comrades will start the Death Fast resistance
on Monday night, October 20.
We
have named our 10th Death Fast Team after our comrade
Gultekin Koc, who, immediately after the December
19-22 massacre, on January 3, 2001, carried out a
sacrificial action against the police headquarters
in Sisli, Istanbul to demand a reckoning for the comrades
who had been murdered in prison.
Gultekin
Koc is the first sacrificial fighter inside the revolutionary
movement.
So,
with our 10th Death Fast Team we are once again declaring
that, however great the price may be, we will resist
isolation and all attempts to force us to change our
beliefs and we will continue to live with our hope
for revolution and belief in socialism. The name Gultekin
Koc stands for self-sacrifice.
We
will not even hesitate for a moment to sacrifice ourselves
for revolution and socialism and the liberation of
our people.
All
DHKP-C prisoners are on a 10-day hunger strike!
All
our prisoners in different parts of Turkey have started
a solidarity hunger strike on October 20 to mark the
start of the fourth year of resistance and in support
of the 10th Death Fast Team.
The
Gultekin Koc Death Fast Team is a repeat of the calls
we have been making for the past three years!
If
the F-Types are a threat for the entire people, if
isolation aims to coerce the entire opposition, then
resistance to it is the task of all those who are
on the side of the people, who call themselves revolutionaries,
democrats, progressives and opposition forces and
oppose imperialism and fascism.
Neither
the Kurdish nationalists, who in prison keep their
distance from the resistance, nor the revolutionary
groups and parties and democratic mass organisations
who do not put the resistance on their “agenda”
outside prison have a just and valid excuse for behaving
in that way.
The
incoherence of all the excuses they have been using
so far has been shown in practice.
Nothing
stands in the way of them supporting the resistance.
No
current problem can be the reason for not putting
the resistance on the agenda.
We
see these as backward steps that are not even worth
discussing.
Everyone
has tasks to carry out in line with their beliefs
and strategies.
All
our appeals that we have issued in the course of the
three years of resistance are not yet “history”,
they are not yet buried in the “archives”,
they are current and valid.
The
workers, civil servants, peasants, small businesspeople,
organisations of freelance workers and political movements
at all levels of life bear responsibility towards
this resistance.
On
such a day, when it is the turn of our 10th Death
Fast Team to tie on the red headbands, we remind all
circles of their responsibility.
Once
again we announce that the banner of revolution and
socialism will wave in the hands of the DHKP-C prisoners
despite our continuing encirclement and isolation.
Our people should have no doubt of that.
There
is no force on this earth that can overcome our beliefs,
convictions and willpower.
ISOLATION
IS DIRECTED AGAINST THE ENTIRE PEOPLE!
LET
US JOIN TOGETHER AND BREAK DOWN THE ISOLATION CELLS!
* TKEP-L: Communist Labour Party of Turkey-Leninist
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