Survivor of 19 December 2000 prison massacre, Birsen Kars, dies in Germany

Birsen Kars, who suffered serious burns in the massacre carried out by the Turkish state against the prisoners who went on an indefinite hunger strike against the F-type jails, on 19 December 2000, has died in Germany. Halkın Sesi TV announced that Kars, who had been treated for cancer in Stuttgart for years, passed away.

‘They burned us alive!’

Kars was detained during an action in 1992 when she was an Industrial Engineering student at Istanbul University and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Kars shouted while she was put in the ambulance after the attack on the prison: “We were six women, they burned us alive.” Kars was seriously injured in that massacre. Most of Birsen Kars’ head, hands and back were severely burned.

Background

Between 19 and 22 December 2000, the Turkish military and police carried out a massive and brutal operation against revolutionary prisoners. The prisoners were protesting against plans to change the structure of the prison system from one where prisoners are able to freely associate within the confines of their dormitories to a cellular system (F-Type prison), whereby they will be subject to lengthy periods of solitary confinement.

20,000 grenades, gas and incendiary bombs were dropped on 20 prisons and 10,000 military and police personnel were deployed. Thirty-three people were killed and hundreds wounded.