OVER 2000 political prisoners in Diyarbakir prison, Turkey, went on hunger strike on 3 January 1984 in protest against the retraction of the limited rights gained after their September 1983 hunger strike.
Diyarbakir, a town of 400,000 inhabitants, is the capital of the Kurdish nation whose larger part the borders of the Turkish state. There are million Kurds Turkey, about one-fifth of the total population.
Immediately trials in. volving the prisoners were suspended family visits stopped so that no. one could find out exactl what was happening within the prison walls. On January fire was started in the wing of the prison where most of the leaders of the Kurdish national liberation movement are held Some 5,000 people are reported by Kurdish sources to have gathered outside the prison in militant protest against the authorities. Apparently twenty prisoners were badly burned and wounded in this fire and transferred to military hospital.
On January, relatives four prisoners were told to come and collect the bodies OI their relatives from the military hospital, allegedly victims of the fire. While all news of the incident is banned from the press and radio the information filtered the Diyabakir elves prisoners that among the dead Najmeddin Byukkaya, a leader of the Association for Freedom for Kurdistan; Yilmaz Derim, leader of the Socialist Party of TurkeyKurdistan; Khalil Charpakh, a leader of the Kurdish Workers Party, Reports Mehdi Zana, Mayor of Diyafive year sentence, was among the victims appear to be unfounded.
This is surely one of the vile atrocities yet committed by the Turkish now wearing its civilian clothes-since the sham elections four months ago! It is an urgent priority that the 'civilian government Turgut Oza be forced to accept a fact-finding mission to the prison the Committer Red Cross Amnesty International.
Meanwhile we should note that alone duropean councillors, "was the British Tories who engineered the readmittance of Turkey to the Council of Europe by a which, despite a walk out councillors ha ensured by a constitutiona that Turkey's bloody dictatorship will once again be seated at the council An opportunity to unify develop the solidarity work on Turkey and Turkey-Kurdistan will come with the Movement Conterence Or Turkey called by a number MPs for Make sure your sends olzallisaliul delegates • For more information the Turkey Cortlull Solidarity Campaign BM Box 5965, London WCIN 3XX.