Subject: AN UNS: Mainstream News On Uprisings In Turkish Prisons (fwd) mail von : "DHKC Informationbureau Amsterdam" Arm The Spirit absendedatum: Sat, 6 Jan 1996 20:54:08 met + Sat, 6 Jan 96 11:18:39 -0800 At Least Three Dead, 35 Wounded In Turkish Prison Riot Istanbul, Turkey (Reuter - January 4, 1996) At least three Turkish prisoners were killed and 35 injured on Thursday in rioting in an Istanbul prison, the Anatolian news agency said. But a lawyer who went to the Haydarpasa hospital where the dead and wounded were taken said told Reuters at least five prisoners were killed in the clash at Umraniye prison. "Police did not let us into the hospital but we were told by health workers that the number of dead had risen to five", said Levent Tuzel, who represents many of the prisoners. The prison commission said the prisoners involved in the clash were accused leftist militants or Kurds allegedly from the separatist Kurdish rebel group fighting for self-rule in southeast Turkey. Not all have been tried yet. The Human Rights Association of Turkey said the clashes in Umraniye prison, located on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, broke out when authorities tried to relocate some of the inmates to other jails. The association's prison commission and Tuzel accused soldiers of attacking the prisoners. A police spokesman said he did not yet have any information to release. Last month about 70 prisoners, guards and soldiers were wounded in Umraniye jail when leftist and Kurdish prisoners rioted to protest against poor conditions. Tension has remained high in the prison since then with prisoners demanding better treatment such as an end to searches of lawyers entering the jail and an increase in personal visits. Leftist Riots Spread At Turkish Prisons Istanbul, Turkey (Reuter - January 5, 1996) Militant leftist Turkish prisoners held more than 30 guards hostage on Friday in riots at five jails in which at least three people have died, Anatolian news agency said. Inmates at Istanbul's Bayrampasa jail became the latest prisoners to join the unrest when they seized 12 wardens on Friday afternoon, it said. Prisoners at jails in Ankara, the coastal city of Izmir and Yozgat in central Turkey were also holding hostages or had barricaded themselves in their cells to protest at the killing of three prisoners at Istanbul's high-security Umraniye jail on Thursday, the agency said. Most of the prisoners involved in Izmir and Umraniye were either found guilty or are on trial for membership in the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C), a militant leftist group blamed for a series of bombings and killings in Istanbul. Anatolian said about 60 prisoners barricaded in their cells at Umraniye had demanded via lawyers that jail and military officials be sacked for their part in Thursday's clash. "They say their other demands can only be discussed once these conditions are met", it quoted lawyer Levent Tuzel as saying. Prison authorities and police were unavailable for comment on any of the incidents. Istanbul's Umraniye prison, which was opened last July, was the site in December of two days of rioting in which about 70 prisoners and security force members were wounded. Prisoners said they were protesting at poor prison conditions. Tensions have been running high since then with some of the prisoners refusing to allow guards and others into their cells. Prisoners in a jail in the capital Ankara held seven guards while inmates in the western coastal city of Izmir took 17 wardens hostage. Four former Kurdish MPs found guilty of ties with separatist Kurd rebels are being held at the Ankara jail but it was unclear which prisoners were involved in the incident. Turkish Targets Attacked In Germany And Greece Bonn, Germany (Reuter - January 5, 1995) Arsonists attacked Turkish targets in the Cologne and Hamburg areas overnight in incidents German police said on Friday were likely to be linked to a wave of violent prison revolts in Turkey. The deaths of three prison rioters at an Istanbul prison on Thursday also sparked protests in Greece, as 14 Kurds were arrested in Athens after they hurled rocks at Turkish Airlines offices in protest at the action of Turkish police, a Greek police spokesman said. He said a group of 50 Kurds smashed the windows of the offices in the centre of the Greek capital with rocks and other objects on Friday before they were chased away by police. There were no injuries. At the heart of the German city of Cologne, firebombs were thrown at two Turkish banks and a travel agency, while a travel agency in the nearby suburban town of Bruehl was also hit, police said. They found a flag of "Revolutionary Path", a militant group banned in Germany, near one of the banks. In Hamburg, the window of a Turkish travel agency was broken and the premises set on fire. Investigators have blamed the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for a series of firebombings of Turkish properties in Germany in the past few years. The PKK is fighting a guerrilla war against the Turkish government for independence or autonomy in southeastern Turkey. Police said they suspected all five of the German attacks were an attempt to draw attention to revolts at Turkish prisons, including one where Kurdish politicians found guilty of ties to separatist Kurd rebels were being held. Prisoners in a jail in Ankara took nine guards hostage on Friday while prisoners in a western coastal city, Buca, held 18 guards seized in an uprising on Thursday. Three prisoners died and another 35 were injured in the prison unrest in Instanbul. The Human Rights Association of Turkey said the rioters at the Umraniye prison were leftist militant prisoners or Kurds from the PKK.