Veli Saçılık: The AKP completed their predecessors’ half-finished dream

Sociologist Veli Saçılık, who was in detention in Burdur Prison at the time the operation was carried out and had his arm torn off in the operation, says of the project to expel civil servants, “Ecevit brought out a decree with the force of law, but President Ahmet Necdet Sezer did not sign it and sent it back, because he was at odds with Ecevit. That was the end of it, but the AKP has brought his dream to life.”
 
 
In 2000, political detainees, opposing the cell-type system whose introduction was sought in F-type prisons in place of bunkhouses, embarked on an unlimited hunger strike in prisons, voicing nineteen demands. The hunger strike, starting on 20 October, turned into a death fast on the 45^th day. In response to the decisive resistance taking place in jails, the Justice Minister of the day, Hikmet Sami Türk, staged a simultaneous raid on twenty prisons branded the “Return to Life” on 19 December 2000 so as to establish state authority with what he termed “a compassionate hand.” Following the massacre of three days’ duration, thirty people lost their lives and 237 were injured according to official figures. It was later established in the ensuing forensic report that two soldiers also died from bullets which were fired from gendarmerie officers’ guns and “came from behind.”
 
THE RESULT OF THE OPERATION WAS HARSH
 
In the death fasts that were kept going following the operation and lasted for years, ninety more people lost their lives. More than 500 people succumbed to Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome and lost their memories. Having gained bloody entry to the F-types, the “oppressive” leg of the Return to Life massacre ended and its “solitary confinement” stage began, continuing in a harsh manner in prisons today.
 
In the period in 2000-2001 over which the operation lasted, the 259 detainees participating in the death fast prior to 19 December rose to number 357 in the aftermath of the political operation. With 1656 people on hunger strike and within a social engineering project based on a climate of fear, 2145 people were arrested on protests held outside, 58 people were detained and raids were staged on eighteen culture centres, societies and political parties. Two societies were placed under seal. A large number of claims about rape with truncheons were aired.
 
Yüksel resister and sociologist Veli Saçılık, who was being held in detention in Burdur Jail at the time the operations were staged and had his arm torn off in the operation, spoke of his experiences to Meryem Yıldırım of İleri Haber.
 
Saçılık indicated that the operation was conducted for the purpose of stifling social opposition. Saçılık, recalling that government officials at the time made such pronouncements as, “Those not in control of prisons cannot be in control of the street,” stated that the operation was staged both to intimidate in a way that would resonate out from within and to bring the cell arrangement into implementation.
 
“I FOUND MY TORN OFF ARM IN THE NEWSPAPER”
 
Saçılık, summing up the operation as being “a massacre to destroy life and not a Return to Life,” described how his arm was torn off in the operation: “With absolutely nothing happening in Burdur Prison, they stoked up tension. They started the operation at eight in the morning. They brought in the Bolu Commando Brigade, having previously got them ready. They came into the prison with bulldozers, crushers, gas canisters, stun grenades, bullets ... the lot. They came into the bunkhouse and tore off my arm. I waited for hours in the bunkhouse, wounded. The friends were able to get me to hospital after eight hours. They also took my arm and they threw it in the rubbish and it was found in a dog’s mouth. Citizens reported it as a murder and it made its way into the papers, and it turns out it was my arm.”
 
“THE ECEVIT GOVERNMENT TORE OFF MY ARM AND THE AKP COMPLETED ITS HALF-FINISHED DREAM.”
 
“I was acquitted on the charges that had put me inside and I entered exams and became a civil servant after getting out. Then, the AKP government expelled me on terrorism accusations. The Ecevit government tore off my arm and the AKP completed what they had left half done. The awarding of the state exceptional service medal to Ali Suat Ertosun shows that they are also the supporters and continuation of this and have brought it to completion.”
 
“THOSE WHO DESIGNED THEM FOR US CALLING THEM “FIVE-STAR HOTELS” ARE NOW IN THOSE F-TYPES”
 
Saçılık, saying, “It was a project for making people isolated in prison and unorganised and unaware of one another outside,” stressed the following: “The Ecevit government laid the foundation for this and the AKP government put up the building. The tragic side is that the generals who designed these places for us calling them “five-star hotels” are now in these prisons charged with being “coupists” or “Ergenekonists.”  Many of them have come to the brink of suicide and there are also those who have committed suicide.”
 
THE 2000S WERE A TRANSITIONAL PERIOD OF INTIMIDATION
 
Saçılık, noting that the 2000s were transitional years for Turkey, said, “Faced with relations with the IMF and the approaching economic crisis, they embarked on the liquidation of revolutionary politics in the sense of seeing no opposition up against them.”
 
Saçılık, also speaking of the heavy weapons that were used on 19 December, said, “The 26 September 1999 Ulucanlar massacre was the most bloodthirsty massacre, followed by the 5 July 2000 Burdur Prison operation in which my arm was torn off, and then six months later by 19 December. The reason it was so bloody was that it was meant to intimidate society. Intimidation saying you would be destroyed in prisons. It was a massacre signifying that centres of revolution would also be bloodily massacred.
 
‘DEMOCRATIC ACTION CANNOT BE TAKEN AGAINST THIS LOT. THEY MOW PEOPLE DOWN AND KILL THEM.’
 
Saçılık, saying, “A large number of killings were conducted on the outside following the 2000s,” gave the following eye witness account of the period: “These bloody images continue in the AKP’s destruction targeting cities. A step aimed at silencing society. When we come onto the street, people do not come near us. When we ask, ‘Why don’t you come?’ they reply, ‘Democratic action cannot be taken against this lot. They mow people down and kill them.’
 
The aim was to leave the impression that, ‘If you ask for rights the state will kill you.’ This was also the reason for the 19 December massacre. To immerse in blood and silence with blood.”
 
“PEOPLE LOST THEIR MEMORIES: CAN A PERSON WITH NO MEMORY BE SAID TO BE LIVING?”
 
Saçılık, recounting how, as a result of the death fasts in which hundreds participated following the operation, 122 people lost their lives, continued: “Hundreds of people succumbed to Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome. People lost their memories. How much can a person be said to be living when they have lost their memory? They are physically alive but have no memory.”
 
“THEY WILL HAVE TO SEW THAT UNIFORM ONTO REVOLUTIONARIES”
 
The uniform dress implementation that the AKP government is planning to introduce in prisons remains on the agenda. Saçılık, assessing developments which leave you wondering if a fresh attempt at Return to Life can be attempted, says, “The AKP is seriously contemplating this but is afraid.” Saçılık substantiated this by saying: “They are very afraid thanks to the 1984 death fast attempt. Four people died in the 84 death fast. Revolutionaries appeared in court in their underwear and would in no way wear those clothes. The AKP thinks that it can move to uniforms today, but to do this, it will have to sew that uniform onto revolutionaries.”
 
“UNIFORM DRESS ON THE INSIDE, STARS OF DAVID ON THE OUTSIDE”
 
“A single state, a single people, a single flag, a single language, a single religion, a single party. Single, single, single. They want to create a single type of society. They want this and a society in which those who do not vote for the AKP are terrorists and everyone wears standard attire. The AKP is planning something similar for those on the outside, something like the Stars of David pinned on Jews in concentration camps. But there is something that they are afraid of: They have kept on saying, ‘A decree with the force of law will come out and uniform dress is on its way,’ but they somehow do not dare do this. Perhaps they think that there will be an all-out struggle over this and it is unfeasible to dress people using bare force. It is biding its time over the assault for fear of facing defeat.”
 
“THEY WILL DRESS THE FETHULLAHISTS FIRST AND THEN COMMON CRIMINALS”
 
Saçılık, saying, “I say this as a former captive and candidate for captivity,” went on as follows, “The AKP cannot dress us in uniform dress. It lacks the power to do this. To this end, it must first fully silence society and eliminate the revolutionary will. This is also impossible. The conditions for this do not exist in Turkey. Turkey has a revolutionary tradition. They cannot succeed in this. But, they may start like this: They may first start with the Fethullahists and then with common convicts. I think they will all wear it at first but, over time, in conjunction with the revolutionaries’ resistance, refusal will also set in among them.”
 
“UNIFORMS ARE SLAVERY”
 
“This is because uniform dress is a very dishonourable thing. It harks back to slave society. There is a quote from Hacer Arıkan: “They buried us alive.” They buried people alive in jail and called it ‘Return to Life.” The architects of this were Hikmet Sami Türk, the Ecevit government, Ali Suat Ertosun and the National Security Council.”
 
IT WAS INITIALLY ECEVIT’S PROJECT TO SACK CIVIL SERVANTS UNDER DECREES WITH THE FORCE OF LAW
 
“There are people who perceive the Ecevit government to have been left-wing and democratic. They implemented the IMF policies of that period so rapidly that the soil that nurtured the AKP was a product of the ANASOL-M government. New generations must know this. The Derviş policies that have today led to our enslavement and the AKP’s sovereignty were the soil that nurtured the prison implementations, the court systems and the AKP. The first project to expel civil servants under decrees with the force of law was down to Ecevit.
 
I very well remember Ecevit saying at that time, “There are many terrorists in the public service and are we obliged to employ them?” These are the self-same words as Tayyip Erdoğan’s. They created a foundation for politics that was tyrannical enough to tear off my arm and throw it to the dogs and was devoid of humanity.
 
Ecevit brought out a decree with the force of law, but President Ahmet Necdet Sezer did not sign it and sent it back, because he was at odds with Ecevit. That was the end of it, but the AKP has brought his dream to life.”
 
THE BASIC AIM: TO CREATE A SOCIETY WITH NO MEMORY
 
Sociologist Veli Saçılık wound up as follows: “They basically set out in this to destroy a generation of revolutionary tradition, to create a youth with no memory and to create a mass of young people who would believe the lies of the current pool media. But, they were unable to succeed in the face of the opposing will of revolutionaries.”