18 July 2005

Stop the killings in Turkey!

As different groups participating in the ILPS (International League of People?s Struggles) in Vancouver, we would like to express our utmost concern over the increased repression, extrajudicial killings and mass arrests occurring in Turkey?at the hands of the Turkish government. The main work of the ILPS is to advance the peoples' solidarity and struggle for liberation and democracy against imperialist war plunder. The ILPS and member organizations work in areas that directly deal with fighting for the freedom of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, as well as fighting against the violation of human rights.

We know of the recent arrests of many Turkish activists recently, including Numan Bozer, chief of staff of the paper Ýþçi-Köylü as well journalist Dilek Kömpe of the same paper. Through a campaign from TAYAD (the association of the families of political prisoners in Turkey), we also know that more than 110 people have died in Turkish prisons, and that hundreds more have been detained, for speaking the truth and fighting for justice in Turkey.

We are especially concerned for the health and well-being of the following political prisoners, many of whom are in danger of dying due to lack of proper medical care and the torture inflicted on them in the prisons: MESUT DENIZ, BAYRAM KAMA, ZEYNEL KARABULUT, HASAN RÜZGAR, KAMÝL TURANLIOÐLU, HAKKI ALPAN, KADÝR AKTAÞ, BAYRAM SARITAS, ERKAN TEPELI, YUSUF POLAT, ERSIN SEDEFOGLU, SAMÝ ÖZBÝL, FÝLÝZ GÜLKOKUER, ERSÝN EROÐLU, SAVAS KÖR, KÜÇÜK HASAN ÇOBAN, ONUR ÖZTANRIVERDÝ, HASAN GÜLBAHAR, HÜSNÜ TURAN, BÝNNAZ DEMÝRBAÞ, Erol Zavar, Ýnan Gök, Ali Osman Köse, Hasan Tahsin Akgün, Hacý Demir, Kenan Günsel, Mustafa Gök, Ufuk Keskin, Sevgi Saymaz, Türkan Özen, Ýhsan Cibelik, Kemal Ertürk, Haydar Ceylan.

We call upon Turkish authorities to stop these attacks on social activists, members of the Kurdish community, political prisoners and those who continue to struggle against all forms of oppression within Turkey and beyond. We call for the release of all Turkish political prisoners. We stand in solidarity with the people of Turkey and those who struggle to speak the truth; especially those at the paper Ýþçi-Köylü and TUYAB (the association of the families of political prisoners in Turkey). We will keep informed and continue to be in active solidarity with fellow social activists in Turkey, for we cannot stand silent in the face of the human rights violations and atrocities that occur in Turkey.

ILPS participating organizations in Vancouver, Canada:
BC Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
Filipino Nurses Support Group
SIKLAB (Filipino migrant workers' group)
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance
Bus Riders' Union
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy
Grassroots Women
Group of Relatives and Friends of Political Prisoners in Mexico