Volume 2, No. 6-7, June-July 2001

Imperialism attacks brutally even the smallest opposition to the economic and political measures of imperialist institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and their subordinates. It attacks any opposition towards exploitation and oppression regardless of which part of the world they might be in. The most severe of these attacks are carried out against revolutionaries and communists, the most progressive and organized section of the society.

Every day, tens of communist and revolutionaries who are fighting against imperialism, fascism and world reaction are massacred and those captured alive are locked away in dungeons and subjected to the most brutal tortures.

Every day, our country’s dependency on imperialism is getting deeper and deeper. The measures imposed by the IMF, and the World Bank are being fully applied by the various authorities of the fascist state. All classes and strata of society, primarily the working class, are driven into extreme poverty and hunger.

The fascist Turkish state, one of the most obedient servants of imperialism, has carried out the most brutal operation against political prisoners in the prisons of Turkey. The aim behind this operation was to pacify the working class and to bring the intensifying struggle waged by the working class and toiling people into submission. Imperialism is trying its best to bring people into submission and turn them into chained servants of imperialism.

Imperialism aims to pacify those who were captured while actively carrying out the revolutionary struggle and bring them into a mental submission by physically locking them in solitary confinement. The ultimate aim of the fascist state is to pacify the whole society. The state has been building single cells under the name of F type prisons since the last ten years in order to fulfill their aims. The fascist state has carried out numerous attacks and several massacres to transfer political prisoners into these isolation cells. But each time they tried, they were faced with irreconcilable resistance of the political prisoners and therefore could not succeed in their aims.

The F type prison offensive is not only directed against the political prisoners but it is against the whole of the society and the future generations of the people. The fascist state is not only trying to isolate political prisoners in the prisons but they are trying to isolate the whole society. Political prisoners have always viewed the F type policy in this regard and therefore have powerfully opposed it and have paid immense costs.

It is because of this reason that the fascist state has never abolished the idea of F type prisons despite the fact that they have had to withdraw it a few times. The fascist state is trying very hard to bring the communist and revolutionary prisoners, the vanguards of society, into total submission and to break their organized struggle within the prisons. The fascist state is trying to abolish the organisation of, and the solidarity between the prisoners, to destroy the collective consciousness and revolutionary will through isolating them in isolation cells.

Another aim behind the F type offensive is to destroy the political, social and intellectual productivity of political prisoners and destroying them ideologically, psychologically and physically. What the fascist state is aiming to create is a human without honour and pride devoid of a personality. The aim is to kill the political prisoners by isolating and putting them alive into death cells.

Despite the fact that the fascist Turkish State has carried out a number of operations in the prisons in order to fulfill their aims over the last 20 years they have not succeed. The communist and revolutionary prisoners have paid heavy costs but have never given in to the mental and ideological captivity. Each time they have used their bodies to build the barricades and have repulsed the attacks, without ever asking for mercy.

Political prisoners have used their bodies with their consciousness and their will to build shields against all kinds of torture, massacres and inhuman living conditions. They have gone on death fasts, and indefinite hunger strikes in order to defend humanity and their honor.

The following are only the massacres carried out by the fascist state in the last five years: 21 September 1995 Buca prison (the city of lzmir), 4 January 1996 Umraniye (Istanbul), 24 September 1996 Diyarbakir, 26 September 1999 Ulucanlar (Ankara) and the most recent one which was carried out at the same time against 20 prisons on 19 December 2000 at 4 am.

Similar to the other massacres, the most recent one was also approved by the IMF, World Bank, European Committee, European Parliament. It was carried out by the fascist Turkish State, National Security Council, Interior Ministry, Justice Ministry, Health Ministry, the military, police forces and other fascist institutions.

The fascist state has created every kind of provocation and scenario to prepare the grounds for this massacre. The puppet media took a big role in this play to carry these scenarios to the public and to manipulate large sections of society. The media that exclusively serves the ruling classes, created scenarios like "the state has not been able to enter the prisons for the last ten years", "the prisons have become the bases for the terrorists", "many events outside are planned by the prisoners from inside the prisons."

Political prisoners have gone on indefinite hunger and death strikes in order to protect the basic human rights that they have earned by paying very heavy costs and to protest the new aggressive policies. The focal point behind the death fast and indefinite hunger strike was to eliminate F type prisons that are the basis for getting the whole society into submission, and to depersonalize, isolate, and destroy political prisoners. The following were the demands of the political prisoners:

1. Closing down all F type prisons and withdrawal of F type policy;

2. Abolishing the "Counter Terrorist Law";

3. Closing Down the State Security Courts;

4. Re-allowing the defendants rights which have been taken away with the "three protocol" (Interior Ministry, Health and Justice Ministry); and

5. Bringing to trial all those responsible for the massacres carried out in Ulucanlar, Umraniye, Diyarbakir etc. prisons.

But the state was determined to put F type prisons into use regardless of the cost and to attack political prisoners who were on death fast and indefinite hunger strike as it had received specific orders from its imperialist masters. The state deceived and misused all the intellectuals, representatives of civilian mass organizations who had been acting as mediators between the state and political prisoners.

On December 19, 2000, at 4.5 am, the state carried out the attacks that it had planned for more than a year, against the political prisoners in 20 prisons, completely leaving out the mediator’s committee.

These outrageous attacks were carried out at a time when about two thousand political prisoners were extremely weak as some of them had been on a death fast for 61 days and some of them were on indefinite hunger strike for a month. The massacre was carried out using tear gas and flame-throwers. 10,000 troops including gendarmes, special branch police, and specially trained robo-cops were deployed in these operations.

The political prisoners resisted despite the fact that they were physically very weak due to the hunger strike that had been continuing for months. Thousands of tear gas bombs, fire guns that burnt tens of the prisoners alive, were unable to stop the resistance of the political prisoners. This resistance horrified the fascist state. Then the heavy duty machines such as bulldozers, and other construction machines were despatched to demolish the walls of the prisons to get in.

Nobody, including Human Rights Organizations, relatives of prisoners, press etc. was allowed to come close to the prisons. Everybody was kept at least three kilometers away from the prisons. The aim behind this was to carry out the massacre as they wanted and to be able to lie about the circumstances of the murders such as they claimed that "the prisoners replied by guns". One week after the operation the state controlled media was invited and by then all the setting for the lies had already been arranged.

The fascists, shamefully and purposefully broadcasted the lies that prisoners who were burnt alive with flame guns in fact burnt themselves following the instructions of their organizations. That sort of behavior matches perfectly with the disgraceful and deceiving character of fascism. They also, in the same shameful and deceitful manner, called this operation "return to life" whereas this Hitler like operation killed so many people.

The Turkish media applauded the massacre carried out by the fascist state and once more proved that they are the servants and the puppets of the state and they are the voice of their owners. They even went beyond the state and broadcasted that "the state should have carried out this massacre long before". The media did everything that they could to distort the facts, and manipulate the lies.

Political prisoners demonstrated a unique resistance an example of which is rarely seen in the history of the revolution. They did not surrender despite the fact that they were physically very weak as a result of the hunger strike which had been going on for months. They fought on despite the fact that they were being suffocated by the thousands of tear gas bombs, which were being thrown over their heads. They continued heroically to the end despite the fact that they were being burnt by the flame guns and were bleeding heavily by the bullets that were fired on them. Their heroism has created a new legend in the history of resistance.

Political prisoners boldly resisted without any weapons other than their conscious for four days and nights in a limited space surrounded from all corners by world reaction. They used their bodies to put up shields against imperialism, fascism, and world reaction.

They did not have any weapons but their own conscious to use against the fascist state and received heavy wounds as a result of these encounters. However, they have opened a new page in the history of struggles and world revolution. Their heroic resistance has been suppressed with a brutal massacre for now but the resistance is continuing resolutely. Although the definite number is not known, 35 communists, revolutionaries have been killed and hundreds have been wounded.

Almost all of the political prisoners who fainted or were half conscious were transferred to arranged F type prisons with single and triple cells. They were subjected to all kinds of abuse and attack during the transfer but they did not stop their heroic resistance.

Political prisoners continued with their death fast and hunger strike refusing any kind of interference and treatment even though they were half dead and tied to the beds. Currently, the political prisoners’ death fast and indefinite hunger strike is continuing in the hospitals and in the isolation cells. The resistance against imperialism and fascism and the struggle between the classes is continuing intensely.

During the recent massacres, prisoners from the PKK showed similar reactions as they did in Ulucanlar. They have one more betrayed the resistance. These prisoners obeyed the instructions of the fascist state one by one. In this sense they helped to create suitable conditions and opportunity for the massacre to be successful at this level. The state was encouraged by this treacherous attitude of prisoners from the PKK and attacked the political prisoners.

On the one hand there was the PKK’s stand which has submitted to the enemy and has betrayed all aspects of revolutionary tradition and honorable life by completely accepting the policies of imperialism and the fascist Turkish State; and on the other hand the stand of communists and revolutionaries who have raised even higher the banner of honorable life and the tradition of revolutionary resistance against imperialism and its subordinate the fascist Turkish State. The resistance and the betrayal stood side by side. Betrayal was made more discredited, whereas resistance got raised higher than ever.

The relatives of prisoners and the communist and revolutionary organizations prepared intensive activities against this shameful attack and the massacre. These activities are continuing intensely. The fascist state, using its gendarme force and police force is attacking brutally against these activities. Hundreds of people who took part in these activities have been wounded and thousands of people have been detained.

As we have mentioned above that the fascist Turkish state is the most obedient and the sworn servant of the imperialist powers (especially USA). Turkey has a big importance and value in the eyes of the imperialist powers because of its geo-strategic situation. Therefore advancing and intensifying of a revolutionary struggle in this country would put the interest of all imperialist powers in danger. That is why the class struggle in this country is very harsh. This situation matches with the socio-economic structure and the character of the country. And that is why the attitude of the ruling classes towards the working class and toilers is very ruthless and oppressive. The attacks carried out against the communist and revolutionary forces are very violent. Torture is a part of every day life. Often mass murders are aimed at creating fear among the mass opposition.

It is true that we have received very serious wounds in this latest massacre carried out in the prisons. It is also true that the conditions in the dungeons are worse and our tasks are heavier. But we, communists, are people who know how to struggle under these hard conditions and who know how to heal our wounds. We pay heavy costs in revolutionary struggle but we also know how to make our enemies pay heavier costs. Our history of struggle has witnessed this many times in the past.

We will intensify the struggle against imperialism, fascism, comprador capitalism, feudalism, and world reaction as a whole by spreading the spark of people’s war every day. Blood will not drown the revolution but it will advance it.

Even on such a sad day, we, the communists from Turkey, are sending our red regards to the international proletariat and oppressed peoples of the world, fraternal parties and organizations. We expect your support in advancing the revolutionary struggle against our class enemies and your revolutionary solidarity to protest this brutal massacre.

Our wound is deep and our pain is huge. But we have a task to make the enemy pay more. Our struggle will receive many blows and taste many defeats but our revolutionary march will continue ceaselessly. Our enemies might enjoy spells of happiness from time to time but these do not last long.

With the historical experiences and the tradition of resistance that we have created and the strength that we draw from being right, we will win. Victory will belong to our people and our will. Victory will belong to the international proletariat and the peoples of the world. Victory will belong to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

5th of January 2001

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