THE death toll in Turkey's two month old prison hunger strike jumped to six yesterday - with more deaths expected - turning the spotlight on the country's human rights record.
The six were part of a group of more than 300 left wing prisoners in some 30 jails who have pledged to fast to death to demand the closure of Eskisehir prison - dubbed The Coffin, by inmates - and to protest against general prison conditions.
Dozens of hunger strikers were reported by lawyers to be in a critical condition. So far there has been little discussion of, force feeding the prisoners - in part out of fear of sparking widespread prison unrest.
Human rights workers said that 37 year old Mujdat Yanat died in Aydin prison, where he was serving an 18 year sentence for armed left wing activities. Earlier, Ali Ayata died in Bursa prison, and Huseyin Demircioglu starved to death in Ankara Central Prison, according to lawyers and rights activists.
Three other hunger strikers died earlier this week.
Prisoners and their lawyers have claimed that prison officials have dispersed left wing prisoners across the country, depriving them of family visits and legal counsel.
The Justice Minister, Mr Sevket Kazan, criticised by prisoners' families for an apparent lack of will to stop the protest promised that jails would soon be back to normal. "We will bring peace to the prisons as soon as possible," Mr Kazan said at a municipal ceremony in Istanbul. He did not say what measures would be taken.
Mr Kazan, a member of the Islam based Welfare Party, has so far refused to close Eskisehir, saying that conditions there exceeded western standards and arguing that its use of individual cells kept left wing prisoners under firm control.
Most Turkish prisons rely on large open wards, which officials say are difficult to monitor.
Mr Kazan told the state run Anatolian news agency that prisoners had weapons and were trying to draw the security forces into a retaliatory operation.
Turkey's Security Council, chaired by the prime minister and dominated by the security chiefs, was expected to discuss the mounting crisis later in the day.
France on Tuesday called for Ankara to improve jail conditions in response to the hunger strike. Investigators in Germany have linked recent arson attacks' against Turkish owned targets to hunger strike sympathisers.