Turkish minister refuses to give in to hunger-striking prisoners

At a press conference at his ministry in Ankara, Turk said that the current ward-style prisons currently in use were the source of almost all problems in the Turkish penal system. "As long as this ward system continues, the prisons problem in Turkey will never end," Turk said.

Turk said that as of Friday, some 1,110 prisoners were taking part in the hunger strike, 249 of whom were on a so-called "death fast", meaning they had not eaten for more than 30 days. He said that a number of the prisoners on the death fast had not eaten for 57 days and that "dangerous events" may occur soon. "Because of this, we expect the protest to end soon," he added.

There have been reports that at least 12 of prisoners are suffering serious health problems. The hunger strikers, almost all left-wing political prisoners, demand that the new cell-based prison system be scrapped and that the new jails be converted so as to allow prisoners to be housed in wards of at least 20 people.

The prisoners fear that accomodating inmates in one- to three- person cells will lead to human rights abuses. Turk, however, said that the new prisons were built according to the minimum standards laid down by the United Nations and the European Union.

In addition, the inmates are calling for the scrapping of the state security court system, the repeal of anti-terrorism laws and the release of prisoners still experiencing health problems from the last major hunger strike in 1996, during which 12 people died.

(la/dpa)