We have not forgotten the massacre of 19 December and we will always remember!
19 December 2024
At its General Assembly on 16-17 November 2002, the Human Rights Association passed a resolution recognizing December 19 as the “Day of Struggle and Solidarity for Human Rights in Prisons.” The Human Rights Association will continue to demand the prosecution of the perpetrators and those responsible for the massacre.
24 years ago on December 19, a simultaneous operation was launched in 20 prisons against prisoners who were on hunger strike to protest the F-Type Prisons that imposed severe isolation conditions. In this operation, which lasted 3 days and was broadcast live on television, 32 people, including 30 prisoners and 2 public officials, lost their lives and nearly 300 prisoners were injured. A total of 2,145 people were taken into custody during the protests against the massacre and 58 of them were jailed. Prisoners who survived the massacre were subjected to severe torture and isolation, and lawsuits were filed against them.
Neither the perpetrating public officials on duty during the operation nor those responsible for ordering this massacre, in which chemical gases were used, stood trial; the lawsuits filed were obstructed. Requests for an investigation into the nature of the chemical gas used remained inconclusive. The state, which is obliged to protect human life, not only failed to fulfill this obligation but also became responsible for it.
In the intervening 24 years, the system of isolation has been further aggravated and violations of rights have been increasing in all prisons. In the system of incarceration, which has turned into an apparatus of force on society, the new type of prisons and the system of isolation today cause great damage to both the physical and mental integrity of human beings. In addition to the F-type prisons, a new system has been initiated especially with the newly opened high security, S-type, and Y-type prisons while prisoners held in these are subjected to quite severe isolation methods.
Particularly in high-security prisons, all prisoners, whether they are convicted or on remand, are held within the scope of a system applied to prisoners sentenced to aggravated life in prison. Prisoners, most of whom are held in solitary confinement, are only taken out for 1 hour to 1.5 hours a day for fresh air in another unit, and spend the remaining 23 hours of the day alone, without talking to, contacting, or seeing anyone. Prisoners are restricted from accessing books, television, and newspapers and are subjected to absolute isolation. However, this system of incarceration involves grave human rights violations for all prisoners and must be abolished.
Prisons have turned into “human rights violation centers” where many problems have become permanent with practices that threaten prisoners’ lives. There are many violations of the right to life such as isolation and incommunicado detention, torture and ill-treatment, strip searches, prevention of social rights, forced transfers and exiles, prevention of treatment rights of sick prisoners, prevention of releases by administrative observation board decisions, and deaths under suspicious circumstances. It is the responsibility of the state to respect the rights of prisoners and to ensure that they do not face discriminatory policies in the exercise of their rights. States are obliged to ensure that prisoners are treated with human dignity regardless of their political views, ethnic identity, gender, and other differences.
As of 1 December 2024, there are 378,657 prisoners and convicts in a total 406 open and closed prisons. In addition, there are 759 children between the ages of 0 and 6 who are held in prisons with their mothers. According to our findings in April 2022, there are 1517 ill prisoners in prisons in Turkey, 651 of whom are seriously ill. We know that this number is much higher than we have identified because the Ministry of Justice does not share data on prisons with the public. Right to probation and conditional release of prisoners are prevented by the decisions of the Prison Administration and Observation Boards. According to information provided by the Ministry of Justice to the MP Gülistan Kaçmaz Sayyiğit on 28 November 2024, a total of 709 prisoners lost their lives in prisons in the first 11 months of 2024. This number in itself, is very significant in terms of the stage reached in the violation of the right to life.
State and government officials have no policy to solve the problem of sick prisoners, which is the most serious problem in prisons in Turkey and ill prisoners in critical condition as well as elderly and disabled prisoners are not being released even though they cannot stay in prison. Prisoners’ right to life is violated and sick prisoners in critical condition who are prevented from being released lose their lives especially through eligibility the reports issued by the Forensic Medicine Institution stating that “they can stay in prison”
On the occasion of the Massacre of 19 December, we call on the authorities;
- To prosecute all perpetrators responsible for the massacre and bring them to justice,
- To close F-type, high security, S-type, and Y-type prisons by putting an end to severe isolation and incommunicado detention,
- To abolish the Administrative and Observation Boards that prevent the release of prisoners,
- To put an end to torture and ill-treatment and initiate effective investigations into those responsible,
- To ensure that prisoners have access to a fair trial, access to health care, adequate nutrition, hygiene, cultural and social rights, and the right to meet with their lawyers and families without discrimination,
- To protect the right to life and prevent deaths,
- To release sick prisoners in critical condition, disabled and elderly prisoners who cannot live in prison.
As human rights defenders, we inform the public that we will not let those responsible for the December 19 Massacre be granted impunity, that we will stand against all ongoing violations of rights, and that we will continue to struggle for prisoners to live a life of human dignity.
Human Rights Association
Central Prisons Committee