A panel entitled “Let’s Break a Taboo” was organised by the Panetteria Occupata collective on Saturday, 20 June, in Milan, Italy.
The panel opened with a speech by the organisers. The following is an excerpt from their introduction:
“In response to prisoner uprisings and struggles against prison conditions and the neoliberal policies of Alan García, a brutal crackdown took place in Peruvian prisons on 19 June 1986, resulting in the killing of nearly 300 comrades. Over time, this date acquired international symbolic significance. Remembered as the day of the massacres at El Frontón and Lurigancho, it has become dedicated to revolutionary prisoners throughout the world.
We have chosen this date both to emphasise its international character and because the resistance of prisoners belongs, within the conflict between the exploited and the exploiters, the oppressed and the oppressors, to a broader revolutionary and class movement.
We remember the struggle of Irish revolutionaries in maximum-security prisons against the H-Block system; the struggle of RAF comrades in Stammheim Prison and their deaths, which in the 1970s sparked a powerful solidarity movement, including major demonstrations on the streets of Italy; the fierce repression directed against mobilisations supporting prisoners held in the ‘death wings’ where members of guerrilla organisations were imprisoned; the uprisings in American prisons within the context of the African-American movement and opposition to war; the Japanese Red Army, which fought alongside the Palestinians for the liberation of prisoners; the struggles in Turkish prisons against F-Type cells and isolation; and the experience of prisoners in Israeli prisons and, more broadly, throughout the West, together with the solidarity movements that developed around them.
This experience teaches us that prisoners and political imprisonment cannot be separated from resistance. To remove them from their context is to empty them of meaning and, in doing so, to serve the enemy.”
This meeting seeks to contribute to finding forms and continuity for this reflection and to connect it concretely with social struggles and their movements, while strengthening their internationalist and anti-imperialist character.
It is also a contribution towards overturning the climate of distrust, fear, isolation, and defeat that suffocates struggles and prevents us from engaging with a history that belongs to us in all its expressions.
These prisoners, like the prisoners of today’s movements, are the expression of important and often courageous experiences. They must be part of our struggle; they must be defended and supported.
No one saves themselves alone. Together, we can do everything.”
Programme of the Panel
Historical and Contemporary Political Imprisonment: A Look at Prison Struggles
- Presentation of the appeal “Let’s Break a Taboo”
- Prisoners and Resistance in Palestine – GPI (Young Palestinians of Italy)
- “The SRY-Type Isolation Prisons and the Resistance” – representative of the Anti-Imperialist Front and IS4PP (International Solidarity for Political Prisoners)
- 41-bis, isolation, and the mobilisation for Alfredo Cospito – Anti-Repression Fund of the Western Alps and lawyers
- Yesterday and today: the same imprisonment, the same reasons – intervention by a comrade from Pisa
- Memory and Resistance – CPA Florence
- Si.Cobas – the right to strike in a wartime economy
- Collettivo Antudo – prospects for struggle and repression of dissent in times of war
- CALP Genoa – The war begins here: dockworkers’ struggle against war
- Ultima Generazione – mobilisations against war and rearmament
- Rete Liberi e Libere di Lottare – the wartime state and policing
The presentation by the representative of the Anti-Imperialist Front, entitled “SRY-Type Isolation Prisons of Turkey and the Resistance”, was attended by approximately 70 people.
Before the presentation began, the representative invited participants to observe a minute’s silence for the martyrs of revolution, during which he read the following lines:
OUR MARTYRS ARE OUR VANGUARD.
THROUGH THEIR LIVES, THEIR ACTIONS, AND THEIR CONVICTIONS, THEY PAVED THE WAY FOR REVOLUTION.
THEIR SACRIFICE IS OUR LIGHT; WE LEARNED FROM THEM.
THEY FELL IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST IMPERIALISM, FASCISM, AND ZIONISM.
WE SHALL FOLLOW IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS.
THIS IS OUR OATH AND OUR PROMISE.
THEIR MEMORY LIVES ON IN OUR STRUGGLE.
Following the minute’s silence, the presentation began in both English and Italian.
SRY-TYPE (PIT-TYPE) PRISONS OF TURKEY AND THE RESISTANCE
Fascism seeks to isolate the revolutionary movement from the people by cutting it off from the masses and confining it within Pit-Type Prisons. Its aim is first to force ideological surrender and drive revolutionaries into despair or madness, and then to physically destroy them.
We, in turn, transform every place into a new Kızıldere and resist with the same determination shown by Mahir Çayan and his comrades in the adobe house. We remember Mahir Çayan and the nine revolutionaries martyred on 30 March 1972.
Just as the prison uniform policy was defeated during the post-12 September period through the resistance of the Four Carnations;
Just as Cell-Type Prisons were closed through resistance in 1996;
Just as the F-Type isolation policy was bankrupted through the resistance of the 122 martyrs following the prison massacres of 19–22 December 2000;
Today, resistance continues against Pit-Type Prisons.
Imperialism argues that, in order to implement its policies of exploitation, it must first solve what it calls the “prison problem”.
Its belief is simple: if revolutionary prisoners can be forced into submission, resistance in Anatolia can be broken.
The goal is to turn Anatolia into a garden of roses without thorns.
As Nihat Erim once declared, “The leftists have been crushed; the American fleet can now come,” today’s rulers pursue the same objective.
In 1988, NATO’s Anti-Terror Committee adopted a policy calling for the “isolation and rehabilitation of those with political connections in prisons”.
Former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit openly explained the rationale behind the prison massacre of 19–22 December 2000 and the opening of F-Type prisons when he stated:
“In order to implement IMF policies, we must solve the prison problem.”
However, fascism’s policies of forced submission failed in the face of revolutionary prisoners’ resistance.
Today, fascism seeks to impose surrender through Pit-Type Prisons, where isolation is implemented in its most extreme form. These prisons were introduced quietly, with little public attention, in the hope of minimising resistance and securing public acceptance.
Transfers of revolutionary prisoners began only three years later.
Prisoners were moved one by one, in small groups.
Officially designated as High Security Prisons, Pit-Type Prisons are a new prison model imported from the United States. They are designed to break the will of revolutionary prisoners through extreme isolation, where there is no sunlight, no fresh air, and no human voice.
The people of Turkey first became aware of these prisons when revolutionary prisoners were forcibly transferred into them.
Pit-Type Prisons represent the confiscation and burial in concrete of rights won through decades of struggle and sacrifice.
From the first day of their transfer, revolutionary prisoners launched indefinite hunger strikes and death fasts under the slogan:
“We Will Not Stay Here!”
Through this resistance, they have frustrated fascism’s attempts to force surrender.
Forty-Two Victories in Three Years
In three years, revolutionary prisoners have emerged victorious from Pit-Type Prisons forty-two times.
These victories were won through three years of continuous hunger strike resistance.
In Antalya Pit-Type Prison, the transfer demands of Tahsin Sağaltıcı, Hüseyin Özen, and Gürkan Türkoğlu were accepted on the 276th day of their indefinite hunger strike.
When the resistance began, prison authorities reportedly told them:
“Who is going to hear your voices?”
Their aim was to suffocate resistance in the darkness of the pits and extinguish hope.
But fascism was defeated.
The darkness of the pits was illuminated by the sun of resistance.
Where there is resistance, there is hope. Where there is resistance, victory follows.
Even when Gürkan Türkoğlu lost consciousness and was subjected to forced medical intervention, the first thing he did after regaining consciousness was remove the intravenous line.
He remained unconscious for more than three weeks and spent that period in a coma. During this time, he was reportedly handcuffed to his hospital bed.
Eventually, the authorities yielded under public pressure and released him to his family for three months.
He remains in intensive care at Antalya City Hospital, although encouraging improvements have been reported.
- His consciousness has fully returned.
- He has passed the critical stage.
- His bone marrow has begun producing blood cells again.
- However, blood transfusions continue to be administered periodically.
- Brain scans have shown no abnormalities.
- He continues to suffer kidney-related complications.
- His muscles remain severely weakened. Due to weakness in the diaphragm, he cannot remain disconnected from a ventilator for more than five minutes at a time.
- His lungs continue to develop infections, and fluid accumulation remains a serious concern.
The prisoners followed the footsteps of earlier generations of resistance fighters.
Through hunger, patience, and determination, they built the wall of resistance and prevailed.
The authorities continue to deny Hüseyin Özen and Tahsin Sağaltıcı their prescribed dietary meals.
Yet these attacks cannot overshadow victory.
The resistance continues.
Expanding the Pit-Type Prison Policy
Today, the state seeks to transform every prison containing revolutionary prisoners into a Pit-Type Prison.
The offensive is no longer limited to architecture.
By extending the logic of isolation into every sphere of prison life, fascism seeks to impose submission and eliminate resistance.
In Kırıkkale F-Type Prison, for example, block isolation is imposed by housing prisoners in separate blocks and denying association rights. Prisoners can spend years in the same prison without seeing one another.
In Şakran Women’s Prison, prisoners who refuse to carry the imposed “offender identity card” are denied family visits, telephone access, meetings with lawyers, and parcel deliveries. Through this policy, the political identity of revolutionary prisoners is directly targeted.
Revolutionary prisoners transferred to L-Type Prisons are subjected to humiliating practices including single-file movement through corridors, compulsory roll-calls, the removal of socks during searches, and constant camera surveillance.
Letters signed by two prisoners are blocked.
Photographs sent by friends and supporters are confiscated because the sender is “not a relative”.
All these practices form part of the Pit-Type Prison offensive.
The Role of TAYAD
The darkness of the pits has been broken not only by the resistance of prisoners but also by the support of TAYAD — the Association for Solidarity with Prisoners’ Families.
TAYAD families visited bar associations, medical chambers, newspapers, and television stations.
Leaflets were distributed street by street.
Every wall became the people’s printing press.
Through posters, door-to-door campaigning, public demonstrations, and constant presence outside prisons and hospitals, they carried the resistance from the pits across Anatolia like a wind.
Prisoners wrote letters and petitions from every prison.
They explained the conditions of the pits and the reasons for their resistance.
Families raised their voices from outside prisons, hospitals, and government institutions.
Those who had once asked, “Who will hear your voices?” eventually responded by arresting three TAYAD members after a symbolic coffin was placed in front of the Ministry of Justice.
TAYAD families marched from Istanbul to Ankara three times.
If the pits are everywhere, then the resistance that will destroy them must be everywhere as well.
Current Resistance in the Pit-Type Prison Offensive
Today, resistance continues in different prisons against various aspects of the Pit-Type Prison policy.
In Şakran Women’s Prison, Tuğçenur Özbay continues her resistance against the imposition of the so-called “offender identity card”.
In Marmara No. 6 L-Type Prison, Hasan Basri Yıldız, Can Kaba, Cem Dursun, and Taceddin Erol Şahin are carrying out indefinite hunger strikes against 24-hour camera surveillance and the installation of cameras inside their ward.
The current list of resistance prisoners is as follows:
1. DEV-GENÇ Member Tuğçenur Özbay
On 29 January 2026, she began an indefinite hunger strike against the imposition of identity badges.
As of today, she is on the 143rd day of her resistance.
2. DEV-GENÇ Member Taceddin Erol Şahin
On 29 April 2026, he began an indefinite hunger strike against 24-hour camera surveillance and prison repression.
As of today, he is on the 53rd day of his resistance.
3. Grup Yorum Activist Cem Dursun
On 29 April 2026, he began an indefinite hunger strike against 24-hour camera surveillance and prison repression.
As of today, he is on the 53rd day of his resistance.
4. Grup Yorum Activist Can Kaba
On 18 May 2026, he began an indefinite hunger strike against 24-hour camera surveillance and prison repression.
As of today, he is on the 34th day of his resistance.
5. TAYAD Member Hasan Basri Yıldız
On 18 May 2026, he began an indefinite hunger strike against 24-hour camera surveillance and prison repression.
As of today, he is on the 34th day of his resistance.
6. Revolutionary Özgül Emre
On 6 May 2026, she began an indefinite hunger strike against the imposition of a prison uniform in Cologne Prison, Germany.
Four days ago, positive news was received: she was transferred to Bielefeld Prison and her own clothes were returned to her.
As a result, she achieved victory on the 38th day of her resistance.
These struggles are concrete expressions of the determination to defend rights, dignity, and political identity to the very end.
Conclusion
The presentation concluded with the following remarks:
We have not allowed fascism’s attacks to succeed, and we shall not allow them to succeed.
We shall resist for our rights.
We shall not surrender to Pit-Type Prisons.
If fascism seeks to turn everywhere into pits, then we shall turn everywhere into fields of resistance.
The only undefeated commander is resistance.
Just as the F-Type prison policy was defeated through the seven-year resistance of the 122 martyrs, so too shall the Pit-Type Prison policy be defeated through resistance.
We are right, and we shall win.
Long live solidarity.
Long live resistance.
Following the presentation, a discussion and question-and-answer session took place. Participants expressed particular interest in the structure of the SRY-Type Prison system, the ongoing hunger strikes, and the broader relationship between prison struggles and anti-imperialist resistance.
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