by Steve Sweeney
International editor

FEMALE political prisoners held in Turkey issued an urgent appeal for solidarity today following an escalation of human rights violations that has seen seven people die in suspicious circumstances in recent weeks.

“Coffins have been coming out of prisons one after the other for years,” said a statement by 28 inmates of Bakirkoy Women’s Closed Prison.

“In December, Garibe Gezer, Halil Gunes, Abdulrezak Suyur, Ilyas Demir, Vedat Erkmen and Salih Tugrul were killed,” they added.

“These suspicious deaths are worrisome for all political prisoners.”

The women ended a three-day “warning hunger strike” today, saying that it had aimed to draw attention to the systematic violation of political prisoners’ rights.

They expressed concern that sick detainees are left untreated and at risk of death.

“We commemorate all the prison martyrs with respect and declare that we will honour their legacy of resistance and struggle,” the women said.

But they added that without international support and a “strong reaction … it is obvious the executions won’t end.”

As their action ended today, a friend of Ms Gezer who claims to have witnessed her death started an indefinite hunger strike in Kandira F-Type Women’s Prison.

Deniz Tepeli accused the authorities of trying to cover up the truth about Ms Gezer’s death, which has been attributed to suicide.

The Kurdish political prisoner was found dead in her cell, where she was held in solitary confinement after raising allegations of systematic rape and sexual abuse by prison guards.

Ms Tepeli said that she had been rejected as a witness to the incident and wanted to prevent further deaths in Turkish prisons.

Human Rights Association lawyer Nuray Cevirmen told the Morning Star that the violation of rights in Turkish prisons was continuing to escalate.

Incidents include “torture and ill-treatment, the increased periods in isolation and refusal of medical treatment,” she said.

Women prisoners are often subjected to humiliating strip-searches and made to stand to attention in military roll calls, Ms Cevirmen explained.

“We call on all human rights institutions and opposition political parties to call for an end to the violation of rights in prisons,” she said. 

The number of women held in Turkish prisons has rocketed under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule. 

According to government statistics, the number increased from 6,289 in 2015 to 11,392 in 2019, an 81 per cent rise.

The Turkish state has built 131 new prisons between July 2016, when there was a failed military coup, and March this year. 

The £960 million expansion of prison capacity has increased it by some 70 per cent, from 180,000 in 2016 to 320,000 in 2021. 

Turkey has the highest imprisonment rate of the 47 Council of Europe member states, with 357 detainees per 100,000 people.