Soldiers Storm Turkish Prisons; 17 Dead

Dec. 19 -- Turkish forces raided 20 prisons around the country today to end a hunger strike by more than 1,000 inmates, and in the ensuing clashes two soldiers were killed and 15 prisoners burned themselves to death, the justice minister said.

“Fifteen died after setting themselves on fire, 57 wereinjured, most of them having set themselves on fire, and two of our soldiers were martyred,” Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk told reporters outside the Justice Ministry in Ankara.

“Security forces carried out successful operations with the minimum possible harm in 18 prisons,” he said.

The deaths came after Turkish soldiers stormed the prisons throughout the country in an effort to end a 2-month-old hunger strike that prisoners launched to protest plans to transfer them from dormitories to small prison cells, where they fear abuse by guards.

The operation was launched around 5 a.m., Turk said.

Authorities said the raids were necessary in order to save lives, since many of the hunger strikers were on the brink of death after living on sugared water for two months.

The inmates include members of organized crime gangs, far leftists, Kurdish separatists and members of militant Islamic groups.

Armed Resistance

At the Bayrampasa jail, prisoners were firing on soldiers with semiautomatic weapons, Turk said. Soldiers were being dropped by helicopters onto the roof.

Inmates of Umraniye were also putting up an armed resistance, Turk said. Soldiers reportedly were breaking through the walls to overpower the inmates and at least five soldiers were said to be injured.

A fire was also reported in the prison of the southern town of Ceyhan and several injured prisoners were taken to hospital in the western city of Aydin.

Past raids in the dormitories of political prisoners have led to deaths and violent clashes with inmates armed with smuggled guns and makeshift flame-throwers.

Inmates refused to be transferred to new prisons with cellsdesigned to hold one to three prisoners, arguing they would be more vulnerable to abuse. Human rights groups say torture is common in Turkish prisons.