Kurdish hunger strikers "close to death"

The Turkish justice minister, Oltan Sungurlu, has said dozens of separatist Kurdish prisoners on a seven-week-old hunger strike will not be allowed to die.

He said if they refused to stop they would be taken to hospital by force.

The minister's remarks came after a meeting with the head of the Turkish Human Rights Association , Akin Birdal, who told reporters that six hunger strikers were close to death.

The prisoners, most of whom are members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, are protesting against poor prison conditions.

In 1996, twelve left-wing prisoners died after fasting for more than sixty days in several prisons.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service