Human Rights Association (IHD) Mersin Branch organized a panel titled "Prisons from Past to Present and the 19 December Prison Massacre" at the Yenişehir Municipality Academy Hall within the scope of human rights week. IHD Honorary President Akın Birdal, IHD Prisons Commission co-spokesperson Nuray Çevirmen Aykol, Mersin Tabip Chamber's former president Mehmet Antmen, IHD Mersin Branch Secretary and 19 December Massacre witness Bekir Sıtkı Keçeci were speakers at the panel.

'We either bowed or resist'

Bekir Sıtkı Keçeci, a witness of the 19 December 2000 Massacre, said that the government of the period carried out the massacre in order to end the death fasts and intimidate the society. Keçeci said: "They made a massacre plan in order to separate the prisoners into single cells and to isolate society. 8,500 gendarmes and 1,500 plainclothes police brutally attacked everyone in this massacre. They dropped bombs from above and opened fire. Many of our people lost their lives or were injured. They burned people alive. The Minister of Justice of the period said in a statement on television that the aim was not to end the death fasts, but to show the authority of the state. They killed people in an operation they called 'return to life'."

Keçeci said: "We had no choice but to resist with our bodies. We either bowed or resist."

İHD Honorary President Akın Birdal pointed to the AKP government and said: "Turkey has turned into a prison country." Referring to the hunger strikes launched in prisons against the isolation, Birdal said that the isolation of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan should end and added: "There was a similar hunger strike 3 years ago. Leyla Güven and thousands of prisoners went on hunger strike. During that period, 7 prisoners lost their lives. Then isolation increased again. Currently, Öcalan has not been allowed to meet with his family and lawyers for 3 years. Today, the hunger strikers are fasting for the same demands. Do people have to die for these demands to be taken into account? Let's be the voice of those on the hunger strikers so that we can contribute to the solution of the Kurdish question."

Drawing attention to the situation of journalists in prisons, Birdal underlined that a voice should be raised against the arrest of journalists who do not allow those who want to cover up the truth.

'Prison regime’

IHD Prisons Commission co-spokesperson Nuray Çevirmen Aykol conveyed the rights violations suffered by prisoners in jails. Underlining that human rights violations are increasing day by day and that a torture system is being implemented in prisons, Çevirmen noted that the deaths in prisons have been hidden. There are 405 open and closed prisons in the country and 12 more prisons will be opened soon, said Çevirmen, adding: "Building so many prisons means that more people will be arrested. It must be said that there is a prison regime in Turkey. Isolation is a form of torture."

Çevirmen pointed out that prisoners with disabilities, serious illnesses and those who cannot live alone are persistently kept in jail, and underlined that the health rights of ill prisoners are violated.