The Turkish justice minister, Hasan Denizkurdu, says Kurdish and left-wing prisoners who staged a nationwide protest against jail conditions have ended their action.

Lawyers and human rights activists helped to negotiate the release of more than thirty warders seized by inmates at Istanbul's Umraniye prison, where one of the biggest protests took place.

Besides improved conditions, the protestors have demanded an end to the practice of holding prisoners in isolated cells, which human rights activists say increases the likelihood of torture.

Five prisoners have also burned themselves to death this week to show their support for the Kurdistan separatist guerrilla group, the PKK, following the signing of an agreement between Turkey and Syria to co-operate against it.