Ankara - Two more hunger striking left-wing inmates have died in the Turkish prison protest, bring the total number of deaths to 22, a human rights group said in Ankara yesterday. Huseyin Kayaci (32) died on Sunday and Cafer Tayyar Bektas (25) died yesterday, an official at the Human Rights Association said.
Turkey has been condemned for its failure to end the months-long protest in which 800 hunger strikers are protesting against the transfer of prisoners to small-cell, maximum-security jails. The EU said last week that further prisoner deaths could harm its relations with Turkey, a candidate for EU membership.