WRI Statement on the actions of the Turkish Government against prisoners.
On 19 December at 5am in the morning, Turkish special police and the Turkish army stormed 20 prisons, using pneumatic hammers, building machines, and firing at the prisoners with tear gas and guns. With this attack, cynically called "Return to Life", and which so far left more than 30 people dead, the Turkish authorities aimed to break the hunger strike until death ("death fast") of 280 political prisoners, who were supported by 800 prisoners in a solidarity hunger strike.