Report on Boycott Turkish Holidays protest in Dublin

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday January 29, 2002 17:48 by Mags - Solidarity with Hunger Strikers in Turkey thsireland at hotmail dot com - -

Report on Protest at Holiday World Travel Fair. Attempted intimidation of activists. Text of leaflet.

Report on Boycott Turkish Holidays Protests in Dublin on weekend of January 26/27th 2002.

On Saturday 26th January the campaign group 'Solidarity with Hunger Strikers in Turkey' held a picket at the Holiday World Experience travel fair at the RDS in Dublin. The travel fair is a major event and 50,000 people attended it over the weekend. The travel fair had advertised two Turkish stalls, from the Turkish Tourist Board and Turkish Airlines (both based in London).

17 activists attended the protest and the two pedestrian entrances were leafleted, banners and placards displayed, etc. The focus was calling for a Boycott of Turkish Holidays until the hunger strike of political prisoners (death toll now 45) was resolved. The reaction from the general public was very positive - large numbers took leaflets and many stopped to ask what the campaign was about. Some volunteered to bring up the matter at the Turkish stalls inside.

About 20 minutes after the protest started a group of 8-10 Turkish men emerged from the RDS in an aggressive manner and took leaflets. These were staff from the stalls mentioned above. They told the activists that we knew nothing about Turkey and that there were no human rights abuses there. They demanded to know if we had been to Turkey, etc. We explained what the protest was about. They said we had no right to protest about Turkey and that torture, etc. did not take place. One man said we were 'communists' and should be hanged. It was obvious to the activists that the men were more than just 'tourist reps'. A Turkish man in a suit seemed to be directing operations and rounded the men up and they went back into the RDS.

Five minutes later they returned for another shorter row and then moved up to a nearby gate where another group of activists were leafleting. Here they gave up denying human rights abuses and openly said that if this was Turkey the activists would be in jail or dead and made hanging gestures with their hands. A female activist was called a 'prostitute'. They demanded that we leave as the travel fair was not 'an appropriate place' for such a protest. By this stage ordinary passers by were arguing with them and they eventually went back into the RDS. The protest continued until 3pm.

Consequent on this incident, and because of the good public response, it was decided to hold another protest on Sunday. This time some of the Turkish staff stopped in a car and looked at the protest for a few minutes, but did not approach and no further incidents took place.

Overall the two protests were very successful, with a lot of interest from holiday makers and the reaction from the Turkish reps revealed their panic about the damage to their tourist industry. They did seem genuinely shocked that a campaign group was active in Ireland and was aware of what is going on in Turkey.

Solidarity With Hunger Strikers in Turkey
www.geocities.com/turkishhungerstrike
[email protected]

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Leaflet distributed at travel fair

Cheap Holidays in Turkey

Come to Turkey and enjoy our good climate and beautiful beaches all at low cost.

While most of the population live in abject poverty, the Turkish government go to great lengths to ensure that you will not see the true Turkey - but only the nice bits set aside for tourists.

The press is so carefully controlled that even possessing political newspapers can mean in years in prison. Journalists and lawyers who step out of line are also imprisoned or shot. Giving out leaflets or putting up posters will also result in several years in prison. So there is no chance of your holiday being spoilt by anyone trying to let you know what its actually like to live in Turkey.

Any sort of protest that might upset this happy arrangement is strictly dealt with. When 43 children aged 9-10 tried to fly kites outside the women's prison in Istanbul, in protest at their mothers’ imprisonment, they were arrested and taken to the local police station.

If you are unfortunate enough to be arrested you can be expected to be tortured. If you are a woman you may be raped. Over 130 women have made official complaints of rape whilst being 'questioned' by the police, one was only 16 years old. These are only the ones who have come forward. Some of these women are now being prosecuted for making these allegations. Not all women are raped however. One woman was arrested with her 2-year-old son, the police gave him electric shocks and stubbed cigarettes out on his hands to get her to confess.

In December 2000 the Turkish army attacked political prisoners with tear gas, nerve gas, blast bombs and gunfire. 28 prisoners were killed, 6 of them women who were burnt to death, many more were mutilated. Today prisoners are still being tortured and mutilated. Many prisoners have gone on hunger strike as the only means of protest they have. Some of their relatives are on hunger strike in support of the prisoners. To date 45 hunger strikers have died opposing the isolation prisons. The Turkish government has rejected many settlement proposals from human rights groups and relatives of the prisoners.

Going to Turkey on holiday and buying Turkish goods gives the Turkish government the money they need to oppress their people. Only by boycotting Turkey can we stop these horrors.

Don’t go to Turkey on Holiday. Don’t buy Turkish goods.