In the history of Turkish fascism, the massacre of prisons has been implemented as a continuous policy. This policy, inherited from the Ottoman Empire, was implemented in the most ruthless way, especially against revolutionary–democratic and patriotic movements. In order to suppress the voices raised against exploitation and injustice and the fascist dictatorship in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the paramilitary forces established by the state carried out terrorist attacks on the people, and the revolutionary will was sought to be taken over by all methods from crude torture to isolation against those they took captive. The struggle that could not be suppressed outside and the revolutionary will that could not be surrendered in prisons revealed the helplessness of Turkish fascism every time. In this case, the state attacked the revolutionaries and patriots held captive in prisons with all its power and carried out their massacres. No matter which government came to the head of the state, this policy did not change, on the contrary, it was continued by systematizing it even more.
The dungeon massacres that took place in September and on different dates revealed the simple reality of Turkish fascism. A total of 24 revolutionaries and patriots were murdered in Buca on September 21, 1996, Amed on September 26, 1996 and Ankara–Ulucanlar on September 26, 1999. These dates are also the massacres carried out during the periods when the resistances grew and the state became most helpless.
By 1996, the growing resistance against fascism in the society and the struggle developed by the Freedom Movement in Kurdistan put Turkish fascism in a great difficulty. The Turkish state had previously wanted to intimidate the society with its genocidal policies in Kurdistan and the Gazi massacre in 1995. However, the struggle against this policy of the state has not stopped either in Kurdistan or in the metropolises of Turkey, on the contrary, it has continued. They were slaughtered. For this purpose, the state massacred 14 revolutionaries and Kurdish patriots in Buca and Diyarbakır prisons within a week. In the Diyarbakir dungeon; 11 PKK prisoners, along with dozens of soldiers, police and prison guards, were surrounded in Malta and the corridors of the network, lynched to death under the slogan “human dignity will triumph over torture“.
What happened was a reflection of the delusions of the desperate state in the dungeons. These massacres could not end the resistance in the dungeons, and the Turkish state could not dominate the dungeons. The torturers have succumbed to the revolutionary will. As a result of the economic crisis that the Turkish bourgeoisie has been in, the pressures on the masses have gradually increased towards the end of the 90s. Governments have been changed, one coalition has been followed by another, and the war in Kurdistan has deepened. Since the Type F dungeons were met with reactions from all segments of society, this project of the state exploded in its hands. The state has put all the means of repression into use, has become ineffective from the steps it has taken, and in the face of social resistance, it has engaged in massacres and arrests, and the prisons have been overcrowded. The Ecevit government of the period once again put into effect the traditional policy of the state in a more comprehensive way. As a pre–rehearsal for this large and comprehensive massacre of prisons, an attack was launched on September 25, 1999 in Ulucanlar prison, and 10 of the revolutionary prisoners who responded to this attack with resistance were immortalized.
This attack was a massacre that took place at a time when the insidious attack of the state and the preparations of the revolutionaries for resistance could not be made. The prison massacre policy, which was rehearsed in Ulucanlar, would be implemented in all prisons on December 19, 2000, and a dungeon war would be started against the revolutionary–democratic and patriotic forces. While the state had all the means and weapons at its disposal, the revolutionaries would have no weapons other than their will and body. Of course, the fate of these massacres, which took place in the dungeons of Buca, Amed and Ulucanlar, was as expected. Lawsuits have been stalled for years, time–barred, families intimidated, and reality distorted. And those who carried out the massacre were never revealed, and those who took part in the massacre themselves were either promoted or exonerated. As a traditional policy, those who commit massacres continue their massacres against the people when they are promoted.
In the face of dungeon massacres, which is a traditional state policy, the revolutionary will has continued to this day. The crises experienced by the Turkish bourgeoisie, attacks in prisons and resistance continue today. Resistance continues in the face of attacks on the people. As a reflection of this, fascist practices such as isolation in prisons, executions, impositions of repentance, torture, leaving sick prisoners to die, etc., continue. What happened in the dungeons of Buca, Amed and Ulucanlar is not an isolated one, it is the backbone of the prison policy of the fascist Turkish state, and the same mentality is at work today. This proved itself in the massacres of December 19
The coalitions of the period, which were at the head of the Turkish state, could not overcome their own crises and threw in the towel in the face of the resistance of the revolutionary and patriotic forces. Turkish fascism has faced bigger crises. And those who sacrificed themselves left a great legacy of resistance for the future. This heritage has been the leaven of our united struggle.
As HBDH, while bowing respectfully to the memory of those who were slaughtered in the dungeon resistance; We shout once again that we will continue the tradition of resistance that they maintained, that we will continue their struggle and that we will keep their memories alive. By expanding our united revolutionary struggle, this account will definitely be asked from the Turkish state. It will stay for tomorrow, but it will not stay next to TC!
We‘re going to smash through dungeons inside and out!
Dungeon resisters are immortal!
Long live our united revolutionary struggle!
HBDH Executive Committee – 26 September 2024