Strasbourg, 18/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - A few weeks before the visit that a European Parliament delegation is to make to Turkish prisons, the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council and the European Commission briefed MEPs on Wednesday on their latest contacts with the Turkish authorities over the hunger strike in prisons and the repression that, for some months now, has already led to twenty-two deaths. The Council, said Lars Danielsson, had asked the Turkish authorities, in the framework of the in-depth EU/Turkish dialogue, to take immediate steps to put an end to this crisis and to follow the recommendations of the Council of Europe's Committee Against Torture. At the same time, the President of the Council launched an appeal on the hunger strikers to put an end to their action. Prisons conditions are among the priorities of the Accession Partnership, Danielsson recalled. As for the Commissioner responsible for enlargement, Gunter Verheugen, he said that he had raised this serious matter, in Brussels on Tuesday, with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, who reminded him that the Turkish Parliament was soon to vote on new bills that should allow for improvements to prison conditions, including a bill providing for a monitoring body, of which NGO representatives would be part. Mr. Verheugen hoped for the cooperation of all interested parties so that there would be no more deaths in Turkish prisons. We expect of a country that wants to join the Union that it respects human rights everywhere, including in prisons, Verheugen affirmed.
Alain Lamassoure, (French, UDF), EP rapporteur for relations with Turkey, made a point of stressing that the European Parliament did not want to "intervene at an untimely moment" in this crisis, while denouncing both "the particularly bloody repression" of the movement by the Turkish authorities and the attitude of the leaders of this movement, "fanatic extremist organisations which do not hesitate to play with the lives of their followers". Noting that, even in the most developed countries, prisons were always "the weakest link in democracy", the Chair of the EP Delegation for relations with the Turkish Grand National Assembly, German Green Daniel Cohn-Bendit, considered that "a solution could be found quickly", as the demand of the hunger strikers to put an end to their actions were not difficult to satisfy - notably, dialogue with the authorities, facilitation of family visits and visits by lawyers. British Liberal Andrew Duff, who recently went to Turkey, also spoke in favour of concrete "confidence-building measures", precisely like improving the conditions of visits to the detainees, the protection of lawyers, the training of prison staff, adequate medical assistance, etc.. As for Austrian Social-Democrat Hannes Swoboda, he launched an appeal on both parties and raised a question of substance: that of a country that "day after day, continues to produce political prisoners", not because there are attacks, but because of the criminal law in force. It is a question of not only improving the penitentiary situation, but also the political system that engenders such a penitentiary system, Mr. Danielsson acknowledged, agreeing with Mr. Swoboda. Two German MEPs of Turkish origin spoke in the debate: Feleknas Uca, of the United Left Group, who was scathing at the laws that prevent certain detainees from participating in collective activities in prisons, and Ozan Ceyhun, member of the Socialist Group, who said that Turkey had to understand that the EU was interested in the conditions of its prisons as it "took it seriously". Dutch Christian-Democrat Johanna Maij-Weggen raised the problem of the situation of the Christian minority in Turkish prisons, stating that the Armenian Christian minority was suffering "permanent attacks". "I shall continue to protest against Turkey's membership of the EU", she added.