DEMIREL ACCUSES EUROPE OF "CONSPIRACY"
President Süleyman Demirel said on May 9 that
"Turkey is faced with
a Western conspiracy to prevent the country from entering a customs
union with Europe."
"I am not saying we should tear Turkey away from
Europe. But Turkey
does not owe its existence to Europe either... I say this for a fact.
We are not a hunch on anyone's back. My country is not indexed to the
West either… My citizen should know that my state is standing upright
because of my nation," he said.
This declaration of the President openly contradicts
another
declaration of his Prime Minister Tansu Ciller who said on May 5, "I am
claiming that Turkey will become a full member of the European Union by
the end of the next three years."
Demirel made his remarks on live television while
being interviewed on the popular current-affairs program "32nd Day."
Demirel said that the Turkish state is responsible
for protecting
its flag, its nation, and that there were efforts underway to tear away
part of these lands and to raise a new flag there.
"Some people are looking upon Turkey's efforts
combating those
people trying to raise a new flag as if it were a case of oppression by
the Turkish Republic against some people and as if some other people
had taken up arms on behalf of these oppressed people," Demirel said.
"Am I supposed to applaud those who say, 'the state
of human rights
has reached such a level in Turkey that it should not be allowed to
conclude a customs union.' These are just efforts to prevent Turkey
from entering the customs union," Demirel added.
A week earlier, Demirel had told journalists that
some Western
circles were trying to subject Turkey to the conditions of Sevres.
Sevres is the district near Paris where an agreement
was drafted by
the allies at the end of World War I which divided Turkey and foresaw
the establishment of a Kurdish and an Armenian state in Anatolia.
The Treaty of Sevres, as it came to be known, became
a dead letter
following the Turkish War of Independence and the status and borders of
Turkey were determined later under the Lausanne Treaty.
Referring to his earlier remarks on Sevres, Demirel
said, "Turkey
has many enemies but is standing firm despite these enemies. The West
identifies Turkey's fight against terrorism with the Kurdish issue.
Under the Lausanne Treaty Kurds were considered equal citizens of
Turkey. We are telling them [the West] that these people [the Kurds]
are the owners of the whole of this country."
Demirel also said that the manner in which the
Turkey-Iraq border
was drawn up at the time was wrong. "This border is wrong. Let someone
come up and say it is right. I am saying this border is wrong, correct
it. But not unilaterally. Not by using force. Do it with the state
concerned. You could do it this year, you could do it 10 years from
now. This can be done perfectly well by peaceful means and in a
reasonable manner."
Asked whether "the matter had been settled" with
Turkey's
cross-border operation in northern Iraq against the PKK militants
camped in the region, Demirel conceded that it had not been. "No, it
has not finished. Five hundred and eighty-eight people [PKK militants]
have been found dead, but 2,000 of them have gone elsewhere," he said.
As for Ciller, she said, "The Turkish full
membership to the
European Union is feasible, and not as difficult as some people tend to
believe. There are substantive signs indicating that. No one could come
to terms with the members of the former Eastern bloc getting the
priority over Turkey for full membership. Europe would not dare leave
Turkey out. In this respect my [personal] image will be quite an asset
for Turkey. No one had believed it either when I said last year that
Turkey would enter into a customs union with the EU. Now I am making a
similar new claim. This [full EU membership] is an even more realistic
claim."
ANKARA'S HYPOCRISY ON NAZIM HIKMET'S CITIZEN RIGHTS
In the preceding issue, we reported that despite its
promise before the European Commission of Human Rights in 1993, the
Turkish Government has not yet officially recognised the citizen rights
of two Info-Türk editors, Dogan Özgüden and Inci Tugsavul, who had been
deprived of Turkish nationality in 1983 by the decision of the military
junta and that Turkish diplomatic missions launched a campaign for
discrediting their work in defence of human rights in Turkey. (See:
Info-Türk, March-April 1995)
Until now we have not received any explanation on
the matter from the Turkish authorities.
The Turkish government's hypocrisy concerning
citizen rights was confirmed this month on another occasion.
Culture Minister Ercan Karakas (CHP), on May 2,
called on the Prime Ministry to abrogate a 44-year-old decree that
stripped renowned poet Nazim Hikmet of Turkish citizenship. Noting in a
written request that "this decree has become an anachronism for various
reasons connected with the new developments in the world and in our
society," Karakas said international quarters and the great majority of
the Turkish people wanted the decree cancelled.
Nazim Hikmet, continuously persecuted by the police
for being a communist and imprisoned for more than 12 years, fled
Turkey in 1951 and settled in Moscow where he lived in exile until his
death on June 3, 1963. He was buried in Moscow.
This most internationally renowned poet of Turkey
was immediately stripped of citizenship after his flight.
After his request, Karakas said the posthumous
reinstating of Turkish citizenship to Nazim Hikmet would be an
important milestone in Turkey and claimed to believe that Nazim
Hikmet's citizenship would be reinstated and his rests be brought to
Turkey until June 3, 1995, the anniversary of his death in exile.
Contrary to his culture minister's expectation,
Prime Minister Tansu Ciller gave no heed to this demand and the 32nd
anniversary of Hikmet's death was commemorated in Turkey on June 3,
1995, as his rests were still buried in Moscow.
A LAW FOR CREATING TURKISH LOBBY
In the meantime, on June 5, the Turkish Parliament
adopted a law aiming to encourage Turkish migrants abroad to obtain
citizenship of European countries without losing their rights of
Turkish citizenship and to create by this means a powerful Turkish
lobby in Europe.
This law was prepared for Turkish citizens in
Germany, Austria, Denmark and Sweden where nearly 2.5 million Turkish
people live, who have had to give up their Turkish citizenship in order
to acquire the citizenship of the country where they live. The
authorities of these countries argue that any foreigner cannot be
integrated in their society unless they give up their Turkish
nationality.
According to the former law, those who give up their
Turkish citizenship could only benefit from the rights which are
granted to foreigners in Turkey. For this reason, many Turkish citizens
did not want to acquire another citizenship.
In a view to create a powerful Turkish lobby
defending Ankara's policies in Europe by the naturalisation of Turkish
citizens, the Turkish Government, by this new law, granted to those who
acquired Turkish citizenship by birth but gave up it for naturalisation
abroad the rights equal to those of the Turkish citizens living in
Turkey in terms of residence, travel, employment and acquiring movable
and immovable assets.
By the new law, they will no longer be required to
have completed military service before they seek permission to give up
Turkish citizenship.
However, the law stipulates that these rights will
be granted on the condition that the provisions regarding Turkey's
national security and public order were not violated by the applicant,
a pretext that has been used in the hypocrisy concerning the citizen
rights of Nazim Hikmet and Info-Türk editors.
After the adoption of the law, the Turkish press
started a big campaign for instigating Turkish migrants abroad to apply
for naturalisation in the countries where they live, arguing that this
is a national duty for defending the Turkish State's interests in
European countries which permanently show their hostility against
Turkey "under the pretext of defending human rights."
188,764 PEOPLE BANNED TO LEAVE TURKEY
The Interior Ministry announced on June 3, 1995,
that currently 188,764 citizens of the Turkish Republic are forbidden
to leave Turkey.
Of these people, 152,702 are prevented from going
abroad by the decisions of tribunals and 34,990 for not having paid
their taxes.
According to Interior Minister Nahit Mentese, 1,072
people are refused to get passport for "national security reasons."
TRADE UNION LEADER IN PRISON
The Chairman of the Aviation Workers' Union
(Hava-Is), Atilay Aycin was put in prison in Istanbul on May 16, 1995,
for serving his 20-month imprisonment.
Aycin had been sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to 20
months in prison and TL 21 million in fine by virtue of Article 8 of
the Anti Terror Law for having disseminated separatist propaganda four
years ago during a meeting against the Anti Terror Law. .
The verdict was ratified by the Court of Cassation
on April 3, 1995, and Aycin was arrested on May 16.
The Hava-Is Secretary General, Mustafa Yagci said
the arrest of the chairman just a strike was being carried out in Havas
company aimed to break down the workers' resistance.
99 INTELLECTUALS FACE IMPRISONMENT
The Istanbul SSC Prosecutor, on June 16, indicted 99
out of 1080 Turkish intellectuals who claimed to be the publishers of
the book Freedom of Thought and Turkey, a collection of 11 articles by
various authors including Yasar Kemal.
Kemal's article in the book, which had appeared
earlier in the German magazine Der Spiegel, accused the government of
suppressing Kurds in south-eastern Turkey. He was charged with
promoting Kurdish separatism following the article's publication.
1080 Turkish intellectuals consisting of artists,
writers, journalists and trade union leaders have also claimed to be
the publisher of the book and declared themselves responsible for
publishing the book in support of Yasar Kemal and Erdal Öz, the real
publisher of the book.
An additional 50,000 have signed petitions declaring
their support.
The prosecutor demand a prison term of not less than
four years against each of 99 intellectuals by virtue of Article 312 of
the Turkish Penal Code. They are accused of inciting racial hate and
hostility in the country.
ATAKÜRT VERSUS ATATÜRK
One of the distinguished journalists, Ahmet Altan
was dismissed from the daily Milliyet after his comment entitled
Atakürt (Father of Kurds), in an allusion to Atatürk (Father of Turks),
founder of the Turkish Republic.
In his article, Altan said, "Democracy is for the
demands of the Kurds to be accepted, the same demands that we Turks
would ask for ourselves if we were living in a country with the name of
Kurdiye [Country of Kurds]."
"Is it worth shedding so much blood and dragging our
country into an insolvable situation, just so as not to give the rights
that we would demand for ourselves, to people that we consider equal to
us?
"Whoever answers this question negatively and says,
'no, it is not worth it' is the people who want democracy."
After the publication of this article Altan was told
that his services were no longer wanted at the newspaper. The order of
dismissal reportedly came directly from the owner of Milliyet and
Hürriyet, Aydin Dogan, but the unpleasant job of implementing the
decision fell on the shoulders of Ufuk Güldemir, the paper's bright new
editor-in-chief.
Altan's dismissal was followed by the resignations
of Güldemir and two other journalists, Can Dündar and Alev Er.
On the other hand, the Istanbul SSC prosecutor
opened a court action against Altan on May 15 with the demand of
imprisonment of up to two years.
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS ON TRIAL
On June 20, 1995, four Turkish conscientious
objectors will have to stand trial again in front of Ankara military
court. Mr. Ülke, Mr. Iyidogan, Mr. Demirkiran and Mr. Fersal after
having held a press conference together in Istanbul on May 17, 1994,
criticising the war in Kurdistan were charged on article 155 of Turkish
penal code, "alienating the people from the army."
In a press release, the European Bureau for
Conscientious Objection, reports that the case of the four is followed
with a vigorous interest by many human rights organizations in Western
Europe. There will be an international delegation monitoring the trial
recruited from six European countries.
"Turkey does not recognise the right to
conscientious objection. But instead of persecuting conscientious
objectors on ground of their objection to military service, the Turkish
state takes them to court for reasons like criticising the armed
forces. This is not to give to much publicity to conscientious
objection in general. Turkey already encounters enormous problems in
recruiting enough of its citizens for the army as young people often
try to avoid their military service by not answering to the call up.
About 200,000 recruits are estimated to evade the draft at the moment,"
says the organization.
(For more information: EBCO Brussels, Tel 648 52 20,
Fax 640 07 74).
CILLER FAMILY IN MAFIA CONNECTION
Allegations of involvement by Mafia groups in
illegal construction contracts in tourist resorts in the Aegean and
Mediterranean have mounted after the murder of Lütfi Suyolcu, a former
mayor of Kusadasi, who was known for his efforts to combat illegal
construction in the area under his jurisdiction.
Following the former mayor's death on May 16, 1995,
allegations about involvement by the Mafia, and some ultra-nationalist
groups said to have dealings with the Mafia, have become more
persistent. Local officials from the governing Correct Way Party (DYP)
and the Republican People's Party (CHP) as well as the husband of Prime
Minister Tansu Ciller are mentioned in connection with the alleged
illegal dealings.
When the Police Chief in Kusadasi, Salah Coral, and
the regional governor Ekrem Özsoy, announced that the allegations of
corruption were correct, the rumours gained momentum. These two
officials had been transferred from their posts on May 18 — two days
after Suyolcu's murder.
Angered by their dismissal, these two public
officials said at the a press conference that there was a "war of land
speculation" in the area. They said the people of the area were talking
about involvement by two key persons in these dealings, namely Orhan
Özbas and Zeki Kücükberber, both of them known to be close to Özer
Ciller, the husband of Prime Minister Ciller.
After the dismissal of Özsoy and Coral, Özer Ciller
was seen in Kusadasi with Orhan Özbas, who was accused of acting as an
unofficial town governor. Ciller also reportedly met with Kusadasi
Mayor Engin Berberoglu.
In another well-known Kusadasi case, the former
manager of Kusadasi Marine, Hadar Mengi, and Ciller's son Mert, were
accused of firing weapons from the Ciller's yacht in January. After an
investigation, several policemen who accused Mert Ciller were
reportedly transferred out of town
A statement by Aydin Governor Kadir Uysal that "the
Mafia exist in Kusadasi, but we cannot do anything," has added new
dimensions to the case.
Kusadasi locals are increasingly at the mercy of
criminal syndicates who were attracted to the city by the huge amount
of foreign currency and tourism income, some TL 3.5 trillion in 1994.
There have also been claims not only in Kusadasi,
but throughout the whole region, including Bodrum and Fethiye, of
cooperation between DYP, CHP and some ultra nationalist Grey Wolves
groups in an illegal construction business.
The daily Cumhuriyet of May 22 reports that the Grey
Wolves have been organized in Kusadasi with the assistance of Engin
Berberoglu, the present mayor of Kusadasi elected from the CHP.
A KURDISH TV DESPITE ANKARA'S PROTEST
Parallel to the opening of the Kurdish
Parliament-in-exile, a Kurdish TV station in Europe started
international broadcasts from Britain on March 30, 1995.
The Turkish Government has failed in its diplomatic
efforts in Britain to ban the MED-TV which is widely regarded not only
by the Kurdish migrants in Europe but also in the Turkish Kurdistan.`
According to the Turkish Daily News of May 16, 1995,
sales of satellite dishes have been boosted in southeastern provinces
after MED-TV started its broadcast from Britain.
Spectators in Turkey may receive MED-TV,
broadcasting mainly in Kurdish, from the Inter-Sat satellite by
mounting dishes on balconies, an operation that costs about TL 11
billion ($250).
Since its establishment, MED-TV has covered the
creation of the Kurdish Parliament-in-exile in Europe and the Turkish
Armed Forces' military campaign in northern Iraq.
The Reuters news agency gave on May 15 the following
report on the Kurdish television:
"Despite the ponderous — some would say boring—
nature of the broadcasts, British-based MED-TV has its intensely loyal
viewer, and all because the language of choice is Kurdish. 'Every night
from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. you can find me right here, chuckling as
children draped in the red, yellow and green colours of Kurdish
nationalism danced across the screen. Imagine, for the first time in
history, we have our own television, which is being broadcast to Kurds
all over the world.'
"Turkish officials are less than pleased about the
British-licensed MED-TV, which uses satellite technology to beam from
London into Turkey and evade Turkish laws forbidding broadcasts in
Kurdish.
"Turkey, worried MED-TV is being used by the PKK to
promote demands for Kurdish autonomy or independence in Turkey, has
asked Britain's licensing agency to monitor broadcasts. 'I think this
goes against the European conventions on television and human rights,
because it stirs up racial hatred and is against the territorial
integrity of Turkey,' said an official with Turkey's Supreme
Broadcasting Board.
"Whether it is linked to the PKK or not — MED-TV
officials say a wide variety of groups and businessmen are financing
the channel — the broadcast certainly gives the PKK another route to
spread its message.
"The television tension is more than a spat over
programming. It reflects both the problems Turkey has in suppressing
Kurdish identity in the age of technology and open borders, as well as
the growing role of the usually wealthier and better educated Kurdish
diaspora in Europe.
"Kurds in Europe, of whom many say they fled
repression in Turkey, are becoming a powerful lobby against Ankara's
attempts to deny Kurdish cultural rights at home.
"Kurds set up a 65-seat parliament-in-exile in The
Hague in April which includes members of the PKK and the non-violent
Democracy Party (DEP) banned in Turkey last year.
"Kurdish-language education is not allowed in Turkey
and books about Kurdish history are often banned under the charge of
disseminating separatist propaganda.
"MED-TV officials acknowledge the broadcasts are
aimed to develop a sense of identity among Kurds and say it's about
time Kurds had their own TV show."
BAN ON KURDISH AGGRAVATES HEALTH PROBLEM
Turkish-speaking health personnel face difficulties
providing health services in the predominantly Kurdish speaking
Southeast, the Turkish Medical Association (TMA) said in a report it
published at the beginning of May 1995.
"Answers to a survey given on this matter by the
physicians, midwives and nurses working at the health centres in the
provincial centre of Diyarbakir are interesting," the report said.
"Physicians mostly believe that they cannot be effective enough as most
of the patients do not know Turkish, they know only Kurdish. Midwives
and nurses face difficulties with vaccinations, family planning,
maternal and child health care and in health education because of the
language problem."
The report also said that midwives and nurses who
knew Kurdish said that they were more successful in rendering services.
The TMA said that more than half of the physicians
needed a third person to communicate with patients and more than half
of the physicians believe that they cannot be helpful enough to their
patients because of the communication problem/
As a result of the survey, the TMA suggested that
physicians working in the region should know socio-economic conditions
and learn the patient's language so that they could communicate.
According to the TMA, third persons also should be
employed for communication with the patients in the region.
PKK LEADER CALLS FOR A CEASE-FIRE
According to a Reuters report from Lebanon's Bekaa
Valley, PKK Chairman Abdullah Öcalan called on May 23, 1995, for
a cease-fire in the war with Turkey and said he was ready for peace if
Ankara was ready for a political solution.
"I am saying if the Turkish state stops operations
against us and if they are ready for a political solution, the we are
ready for a cease-fire or peace as an organization," Öcalan said.
"If Ankara continues its campaign against the
Kurdish people, the Kurdish people will fight. The Turkish state should
stop all military destruction against us and be ready for a political
solution," he added.
Asked if a 1993 threat he made to wage all-out war
on Turkey, including attacks on tourist sites, was still on the PKK
agenda, Öcalan replied:
"Since the Turkish state declare a whole war against
us, we are having a whole war against the Turkish state… We are having
a war to hurt the Turkish economy and to let it be known
internationally that there is a war in Turkey and that the Turkish
state is not a tourist area."
Öcalan, with the PKK red banner behind him, said
Turkish forces had destroyed all economic potential in Kurdistan. "They
even burn horses and homes… not even Kurdish names are allowed in
Turkey," said Öcalan, speaking in Turkish.
Dismissing Ankara's recent campaign launched with
35,000 troops against his guerrillas in northern Iraq as a failure,
Öcalan said he suspected Turkey might repeat the operation. "Our
presence in northern Iraq is strong… They [Turkish troops] feel the
need to enter northern Iraq to be successful," Öcalan said. "They are
preparing a bigger operation. The PKK presence in northern Iraq became
larger as a result of the operation. We established many important
strategic places. We managed to draw people's attention to us."
Turkey declared the northern Iraqi campaign, which
ended on May 2, as a complete success, saying 555 PKK fighters and 61
soldiers died. Öcalan said Ankara reversed the actual casualty figures.
Öcalan also warned the Kurdistan Democratic Party of
Massoud Barzani against joining Turkish forces in the war against PKK,
saying they would be finished if they did.
TENSION WITH GREECE ON TERRITORIAL WATERS
After the ratification by the Greek Parliament, on
June 1, of the 1982 International Treaty that gives Greece the right to
extend its territorial waters, tensions re-emerged between Turkey and
Greece.
Turkey has not signed the 1982 Treaty, which gives
states the right to extend their territorial waters to 12 miles, on the
grounds that the accord makes no reference to the special status of the
Aegean Sea. But it went into force last November, one year after being
ratified by the required 60 signatories.
Ankara maintains that any Greek attempt to extend
its territorial waters beyond six miles, which is the present
situation, would be reason for war. Turkish diplomats say that any
extension of territorial waters would turn the Aegean Sea into a Greek
lake and make it necessary for Turkish vessels to ask for Greek
authorisation for virtually every voyage in the area.
The debate intensified last year between the two
Aegean neighbours and NATO allies when Greece submitted the accord to
its Parliament. However, Greece assured Ankara that it had never said
that it will extend its territorial waters at a certain date.
At the parliamentary debate on the accord, Deputy
Foreign Minister George Mangakis refrained from saying that they will
actually enforce the treaty. "Greece will exercise its rights whenever
its interests dictate," he added.
Tension rose between the two countries when Turkish
government announced same day a series of military exercises which it
said were pre-planned.
Greece called the Turkish military exercises in the
Aegean "provocative."
"It seems Turkey is repeating the usual practice of
artificial tension and provocation against Greece," government
spokesman Evangelos Venizelos told reporters.
A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry,
however, dismissed the Greek accusation of provocation, saying the
operations were routine and had no relevance to the Greek ratification.
LAST TANGO IN THE NEVER-ENDING CYPRUS TENSION
After the European Union confirmed its intention to
deal with Cyprus' demand for full membership and hard-liner Turkish
Cypriot leader Rauf Denktas was reelected president of the so-called
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, this chronical problem between
Turkey and Greece has gained a new dimension.
In an article published by the daily Sabah on April
25, 1995, foreign affairs commentator Mehmet Ali Birand says:
"The last tango is about to be danced in Cyprus. For
the last time Denktas has been elected president and will remain in
office until the year 2000. And, by that time, the fate of the island
will have been finally determined, this way or that. We have entered
the finale stage of the 'game.'
"Curiously, to finish that 'game' the [Turkish]
Cypriot people have elected - in a somewhat stubborn manner - the very
person who started it in the 1950s.
"The Cypriot people now want a solution? They are
fed up with the lack of solution. With the way they have voted in the
presidential election they have shown that only Denktas can bring about
a solution to the Cyprus problem regardless of how rigid his attitude
may be. In the final stage of his political career, Denktas is at a
historic cross-roads. And the picture he is faced with hardly inspires
hope.
The United States has all of a sudden started making
moves to have Turco-Greek disputes solved as soon as possible and
dispel the dangerous clouds casting a shadow on relations between
Turkey and Greece. Washington, which supports Turkey significantly in
all areas, wants us, in return for that, to speed up developments in
Cyprus. Washington believes that Turco-Greek disputes can be solved
easily if progress can be achieved in Cyprus.
"Europe too wants the Cyprus problem definitely
solved by the year 2000 when Cyprus's full membership in the EU will be
realised. The EU is warning both the Turks and the Greeks. Their
message to the Turkish Cypriot community is, 'Unless you came to terms
with the Greek Cypriots you will be left out of the EU while the Greek
Cypriots become a full member.' And to the Greek Cypriots they are
saying, 'Your full membership in the EU may be delayed if you fail to
display flexibility to reach an agreement with the Turkish Cypriots.'
"Thus the United States and Europe do not hide the
fact that they will exert pressure to bring about a solution by the
turn of the century. The most important card in their hands is the one
which involves full membership in the EU. The wheels will start turning
during the coming weeks.
"Denktas sees himself pushed into a dead alley.
Never in the history of the Cyprus problem has he been in such a
difficult negotiating position. The smallest mistake could mean defeat
for the Turkish Cypriot community.
"Everything must be completed by the time the full
membership timetable starts to function at the turn of the century. The
Greek Cypriots will try to make sure that negotiations continue until
that moment in an effort to portray the Turkish Cypriot community as
the 'intransigent party harbouring bad intentions.' Their interests
require them to act in that manner.
"The Turkish side will take initiatives aimed at
rendering that Greek Cypriot tactic ineffective and say that the Greek
Cypriot side is mainly responsible for the inability to reach a
solution. That will be a negotiating process which requires
fine-tuning, great flexibility and skill.
"Cooperation between Lefkosa (Nicosia) and Ankara
will be needed, as well as the kind of leadership capable of solving
crises when required and making major concessions when required. What
will happen in the end? The Turkish side may manage to make the Greek
Cypriot side accept a federative state structure and enter the EU as an
equal part of Cyprus. In that case they will have gained a lot.
"Another possibility is that the EU will admit Greek
Cypriot Cyprus as a full member before the Turkish side manages to make
the Greek Cypriots accept the status they seek. In that case the
Turkish Cypriots will be reduced to a minority and will be eroded over
the years.
"If the EU takes such a decision there would also be
the possibility of Turkey, as a last resort, annexing northern Cyprus."
A GREENPEACE PROTEST ACTION IN TURKEY
Greenpeace protesters dammed a stream carrying
industrial and human waste into a filthy by on Turkey's Aegean coast on
May 16, 1995. "At the moment we are blocking the Meles stream — it is
so polluted it is actually bubbling. It stinks," spokesman Adam Woolf
told Reuters.
Some 20 activists from Britain, Australia, Israel,
Portugal, the Netherlands and Turkey blocked the stream in the western
city of Izmir with a dam of metal poles and wood.
The United Nations said in a 1993 report that
pollution in the bay would "reach a critical point" in two years and
lead to the breakdown of the local ecological system.
Greenpeace scientist David Santillo said it was one
of the most polluted bays in the eastern Mediterranean area, and was in
danger of worsening from an expected 50 percent increase of Izmir's
three million population by the early 2000s.
Environmental experts say the alarming increase in
pollution of the inner bay could soon spread to the outer bay — where
they say some 50 percent of Turkey's Aegean fish catches are made — and
eventually contaminate the already polluted Mediterranean.
Greenpeace demanded the immediate completion of
Izmir's sewage treatment project, begun in 1969 but showing little
progress.
More than 300 registered industries and companies
discharge toxic waste products into the Meles, Greenpeace said in a
statement. Sewage from the city's population is discharged into the sea
virtually untreated.
$15 BILLION WORTH TURKISH CONTRACTS ABROAD
According to an official report issued on April 17,
1995, Turkish contractors have had a total of $ 33,130 million worth
contracts abroad of which $ 15,095 million are currently underway.
The report, released by the Prime Ministry, revealed
that on-going construction projects in Libya are worth $4,256 million,
28.1 percent of all current projects abroad. Turkey's second largest
market is the Russian Federation with ongoing contracts worth $3,897
million
The other countries where Turkish contractors
currently are operational and the worth of their contracts with them in
million dollars are given below:
Belarus 32.6, Ukraina 260, Estonia 43.6, Azerbaijan
348.4, Kazakhstan 1,184.1, Kyrgyzstan 99.2, Uzbekistan 699.4,
Tajikistan 53.5, Turkmenistan 1,166.8, Armenia 7.2, Georgia 56.9,
Germany 132.8, Iraq 788.4, Israel 12.6, Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus 35.7, Kuwait 387.9, Lebanon 100, Malaysia 53.1, Egypt 24.7,
Pakistan 324.1, Romania 163.7, Syria 3.2, Saudi Arabia 958.6, Others 5
million dollars.
TWO MISSING MILITANTS FOUND KILLED UNDER TORTURE
The discovery of two cases of death under torture in
Istanbul has led to a public protest in Istanbul.
Two left-wing militants, Hasan Ocak and Ridvan
Karakoc who were among the leading persons of the Alevi resistance
against the police in the Gazi district in March 1995, had disappeared
after being taken into custody on March 21.
Hasan Ocak's body was found buried at the Altinsehir
Cemetery and Karakoc's body at the Ikitelli cemetery at the end of May
1995.
The exhumation of the body of Hasan Ocak on May 19
drew several thousand people who protested the murder. Among the
mourners were representatives of all the left-wing organizations, human
rights associations as well as the families of other missing persons or
the victims of unsolved murders. He was buried to the Gazi Quarter
Cemetery.
Karakoc's lawyers said that they had begun the legal
work necessary to remove the body from the Ikitelli cemetery and to
bury it according to traditions.
The Human Rights Association (IHD), at a press
conference on May 31, held the government responsible for the killings
under torture.
On June 6, the IHD, launching a campaign against
killings under torture and disappearances, disclosed that 412 people
have disappeared under custody since the September 12, 1980 military
coup. 328 of these cases occurred in 1994 and 77 in the first three
months of 1995.
A TURKISH DELEGATION AT THE "TORTURE FAIR"
The chairman of the Workers' Party (IP), Dogu
Perincek, on June 8, 1995, showed State Minister for Human Rights Algan
Hacaloglu some video cassettes of Turkish police officials touring
"Covert Operations Tools Exhibition" in Britain — dubbed the "torture
fair" by the Turkish press.
Perincek asked the minister whether the government
knew of the dispatch of officials to the fair and asked whether Turkey
had made purchases of torture apparatus from the fair, and if so, at
what cost.
The left-wing leader also censured Britain for
allowing the exhibition.
After the meeting, Hacaloglu said he would seriously
study the allegations but said he could not grasp whether a baton
shown on the film was described as a torture instrument or a defensive
weapon.
BLACK CELEBRATION OF APRIL 5 ECONOMIC MEASURES
"The Turks are celebrating today a long year of
pain, suffering, failure, lies, political greed and indecency. An
invisible hand—certainly not Adam Smith's—has been stealing from their
economic welfare for a year now. And it appears that it will be doing
so for at least the next 12 months."
The analyst on economic matters of the Turkish Daily
News, Burak Bekdil, in his article of April 5, 1995, qualifies in
these terms the one-year result of the April 5, 1994, economic measures
taken by Prime Minister.
The article goes on as follows:
On April 5, 1994, there was economic dynamism, high
inflation, unfair income distribution, excessive (foreign and domestic)
borrowing and unstable financial markets.
On April 5, 1995, there is economic slump,
hyper-inflation, worse income distribution, larger domestic borrowing
but a forced curb on foreign borrowing, more jobless people around but
seemingly stable financial markets.
Only few people will believe that so much pain in
terms of economic well-being is worth piling up some international
reserves, which may disappear in a fortnight in case of another foreign
currency turmoil; or worth reporting a record high surplus on the
current account when this is of no practical use to the suffering
masses.
At the end of the first year of what Turkish Prime
Minister Tansu Ciller refers to as a comprehensive economic recovery
program, the national economy is trapped by possibly the worst
combination of economic evils; triple digit inflation with rapidly
shrinking economic activity. The latest figures are a 144.3 percent
year-on-year inflation rate (March), six percent drop in gross national
product (1994) and 27 percent fall in per capita income (1994).
On April 5, 1994, the prime minister, herself a
professor of economics, argued to 60 million Turks that what her
coalition government was unveiling that day was a miracle tonic which
would cure Turkey's macro-economics disequilibria "from the second half
of 1994." For this to happen, she said, there was some sacrifice to be
made but the future was theirs, things would eventually come up roses.
If the April 5 set of decisions was a recovery
program, as the Professor claimed, their final objective must be price
stabilisation and economic growth, none of which has been attained so
far. It therefore appears that "the package" was nothing more than a
wave of price hikes serviced with a number of seemingly serious policy
decisions, which were in fact a tentative policy option with no
practical applicability. There is the "ethics" aspect of the entire
controversy. The prime minister's presentation of the April 5 rescue
plan reveals that her true intentions were not to correct the
macro-economics disequilibria but to "draw a fake picture which would
maximise her chances of being re-elected when time came for elections."
"...An improvement in the Turkish economy will be seen in the second
half of 1994. Inflation will drop sharply and economic balance will be
re-established," she told a news conference on April 5, 1994. What was
actually seen in the second half of last year was stagflation pure and
simple.
She further argued when presenting the program, "We
will not stop the economy. An export-based growth will continue." No,
"they" did not stop the economy, it was probably the "Greek
provocateurs" who pushed the Turkish economy into six percent plunge...
She explained what would happen if "they" did not
take those measures. "...If we don't take these measures, inflation
will surge over 100 percent and we will be heading towards a Latin
American experience with shrinking economy and thousands of jobless
people..."
How accurate! Not the beginning of the sentence, but
the part which starts after "if we don't take these measures." Yes, the
Turkish prime minister was perfectly accurate in that... Having
recalled what her textbooks said in the United States, Ciller said an
expected decline in domestic demand for consumer goods as a result of
the measures would deter producers from raising prices further.
She also promised freezing public sector price hikes
at least until the end of the year (1994).
So, one could conclude, if none of the private
sector and the public sector price makers would raise prices, inflation
would diminish sharply. But it did not. Then, one wonders, was it the
PKK, the ERNK, or the notorious provocateurs from a hostile state, who
have been pushing up the general level of prices in Turkey?
Ciller was smiling with confidence while announcing,
on April 5, that the Central Bank would be granted full autonomy and
that it would be freed gradually from the burden of financing the
budget deficit.
Turkey's "fully autonomous Central Bank" has
recently been subject to tough bargaining between the two partners of
the coalition government for its control. Ciller's understanding of
autonomy is probably different from a global criteria. Perhaps, Ciller
is right, that an autonomous central bank can sometimes be "shared" by
political parties, that the global understanding is wrong. After all,
she was trained in a respected college of the superpower...
The Turks must not only feel concerned over their
loss of economic well-being in the past and most likely in the near
future. What they must feel most betrayed is the political greed that
even the charming smile on the face of their prime minister cannot hide
from the public.
EP MEMBERS CALLED "PROSTITUTES" BY A TURKISH MINISTER
Three leading women members of the European
Parliament have been called "prostitutes" by Turkish State Minister
Ayvaz Gökdemir after their mission to Turkey.
The three — Pauline Green, leader of the
Parliament's Socialist Group, Green Group leader Claudia Roth and
European Radical Alliance leader Catherine Lalumière, dubbed by the
Turkish press as Euro-Amazons — visited Turkey in May for talks on
human rights and customs union issues.
The minister was reported to have told an election
meeting that he rejected calls for the release of jailed Kurdish MPs in
Turkey. He was reported to have said: "We are not going to release
these traitors for the sake of the prostitutes of Europe who have come
to us, I do not even know as what. May God have mercy on us and save us
from these coalition partners."
Thereupon, the three EP members lodged a formal
protest with Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller. In a letter on June
8, the three told Ciller: "Our visit to Turkey had the aim of
increasing understanding between Europe and Turkey. Unfortunately, such
inflammatory and personally insulting remarks can only serve to destroy
such efforts and have no place in normal democratic relationships."
They called on Ciller to dissociate herself from the
remarks. "We expect a personal apology from the Minister concerned,"
they added.
As a sign of protest, they refused to attend a
reception given by Turkish Foreign Minister Erdal Inönü during his
visit to Brussels.
Turkish Premier Ciller, in a reply to the three,
disassociated herself from the remarks and said, "I am extremely
distressed by what has happened. I thought that none of my Ministers
would make such remarks and that I was extremely pleased with our
recent exchange of views. In any case, such derogatory views, if
uttered, are extremely distasteful and certainly can not represent the
opinion of neither my government nor myself. I am truly saddened by
this regrettable incident and look forward to the strengthening of our
dialogue."
As for Gökdemir himself, he has continued to insult
the Three despite a press release issued on June 9 for calming the
reaction.
In his news release, Gökdemir said, "Although I have
not made any statements that would denigrate the honour and pride of
those persons, I am dismayed that they were hurt by an erroneous and
misguided report. I apologise for this result stemming from a
misunderstanding if it will assuage their feelings. However, I would
like to underline the responsibility incumbent on the press as regards
reporting, as well as the necessity for our European friends to be as
sensitive in the attitude and statements concerning Turkey."
Despite the grudging nature of this apology, Ciller
has not taken any concrete measure to leave this minister out of his
cabinet.
According to the daily Cumhuriyet of June 14, 1995,
Gökdemir, at his talk with Ciller on the matter, said, "I did not say
'orospu' (prostitute) for them, but I said 'kahpe' (harlot)." So,
Ciller considered this explanation sufficient and kept the minister at
his post.
The Speaker of the Turkish National Assembly,
Hüsamettin Cindoruk, in a press declaration, defended the Minister and
accused the European deputies of provoking justifiable reactions by the
Turkish part.
Moreover, as if rewarded, State Minister Gökdemir
was taken by President Süleyman Demirel to Kazakhstan during his
official visit there.
Gökdemir is known as one of the most hawkish figures
of the Turkish extreme-right movement and called "Commando Ayvaz."
Prior to the 1980 military coup, he had been the General Director of
Secondary Education and placed many Grey Wolves in educational
institutions. After the coup, he became the director of a private
college owned by the brother of Demirel. Later on, he was welcomed by
the DYP and, after the last election, entered the Government.
TURKEY'S TRADE IN ARMAMENT
Turkey has recently come out as one of the biggest
dealer of armament in the world.
According to official US figures provided by the
Defence Security Assistance Agency (DSAA), Turkey was the second
largest buyer of US "defence articles and services" for the fiscal year
1994, which ended on September 30, 1994.
According to the DSAA, Turkey bought $2.194 billion
worth of Foreign Military sales (FMS) items, following Israel which
purchased $2.447 billion worth of US arms in 1994.
On the other hand, Turkey has increased its sale of
arms in recent years.
In addition to the sale of 40 F-16 fighters produced
by Turkish War Industry to Egypt and F-16 spare parts to Kuwait, Qatar
and Pakistan, the State-owned Machinery and Chemicals Company (MKE) has
boosted sales of a wide range of arms from artillery pieces and
mortars, to machine guns, infantry rifles and ammunition to 38
different countries. MKE's exports exceeded $15 million in 1994, and
the company officials said this year's target was to export arms and
military equipment worth $20 million.
It is reported that Peru and Ecuador have used light
arms imported from Turkey in their border clashes earlier this year.
MKE's biggest export deal worth $13 million over
four years has been concluded with Norway and includes the sale of
5,250 MG-3 machine guns.
To protest Turkish Army's incursion into northern
Iraq Norway had put an embargo on arms sales to Turkey. Ankara
retaliated by putting Norway in the "Red List" barring Norwegian
companies from entering Turkey's future arms deals. However, a MKE
spokesman said on May 23, 1995, "The arms embargo Norway recently
imposed against Turkey has not affected our sales. We have received no
orders from the related Turkish authorities to stop the sales."
US CHOPPERS USED AGAINST KURDS
Amnesty International, in a new report on May 18,
1995, criticised the Turkish Government for using US-made Sikorsky and
Super Cobra helicopters against Kurdish guerrillas.
"Recent reports indicate that some types of US.
military equipment supplied to Turkey may have been used by Turkish
security forces to commit human rights violations against innocent
civilians, "the report said.
In addition to one case of "Ali Karaca" who was
reportedly "tortured by the local gendarmerie and then placed in a
helicopter," AI said it "also received other reports indicating that
helicopters were used to ferry troops in village raids in which
'disappearances' occurred."
Turkey will receive in 1996 a $450-million loan from
the United States according to the Foreign Military Financing (FMF)
program as well as $100 million from the Economic Support Fund and $103
million for an Excess Defence Article grant.
The AI report asks Turkey to send a public statement
from the highest authorities stating their "absolute opposition to
torture," to eliminate incommunicado detention, to investigate the
outlined charges according to international standards, to prohibit the
use of statements extracted under torture, to repeal Article 8 of the
Anti-terror Law and to provide adequate compensation to victims of
human rights violations.
The report, "Human Rights and US. Security
Assistance," also detailed "grave human rights violations" committed by
the PKK. The AI report mentions that "in December 1994 the PKK
committed to abide by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of
1949, which forbids ill-treatment or killing of civilians or prisoners
of war. In January 1995 the PKK reaffirmed this pledge. Despite these
assurances, however, the PKK continues to violate human rights."
The Turkish Government refuses to acknowledge or
discuss the PKK's commitment to the Geneva Convention since it does not
recognise a "terrorist group" as a legitimate interlocutor in any legal
process.
US REPORT CONFIRMS THE USE OF ARMS
The Clinton administration said on June 2 that it
was highly likely that US-origin equipment had been used in support of
Turkish operations to evacuate and/or destroy villages in Southeast
Anatolia, but upheld Turkey's right to use those weapons for
"self-defence and for internal security."
In a report submitted to the Congress appropriations
committees, the US State Department maintains that Ankara has not, so
far; been able to address its "internationally recognized obligation to
provide for those who are displaced."
The report notes that more than 4,000 applications
claiming torture were filed by human rights organizations between 1991
and 1994, but adds that Turkey had taken a number of steps to stop the
practice.
It also notes that extrajudicial killings, known as
"mystery killings," occurred at a high rate until the end of 1994 — the
total exceeding 2,000 over the past three years — but subsequently had
decreased.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) immediately criticised
the US State Department report on Turkey, for its failure to admit that
burning villages was "a policy of the Turkish government."
"The Human Rights Watch regrets the State
Department's statement that it has no clear idea of how villages came
to be evacuated," a press release from the organization said. "The
State Department's lack of precision about the evacuation campaign
suggests a desire to avoid giving offence to the Turkish government
which denies employing such tactics.
The HRW claimed that the precise circumstances of
individual evacuation are very clear. "Field research conducted by HRW
in Turkey on forced evacuations and statements by Turkish government
officials document that the majority of the estimated 1400 villages and
hamlets forcibly evacuated in southeastern Turkey were the result of a
government-sponsored counterinsurgency campaign," the NGO said.
It also said that it held the Turkish government
responsible for the majority of forced evacuations and destruction of
villages, usually carried as a punishment for refusal to join the
village guard system or for a pro-PKK village that provides the PKK
with logistic or personnel support.
While the PKK has killed civilians and committed
extensive human rights violations, their attacks on settlements are
usually targeted against so called "village guard" villages, a minority
of villages in the area, it said.
The HRW called on the State Department to continue
its investigation into this matter and to update this report concerning
the use of US manufactured weapons in all deployments in southeastern
Turkey, especially in village evacuations.
TURKEY PLACED SOUTH AFRICA ON RED LIST
In a response to the decision by South African
Government to suspend arms sales to Turkey, the Ankara Government has
placed this country on a "red list" of arms suppliers.
South Africa had suspended at the beginning of May
1995 arms sales to Turkey because of Ankara's military incursion into
northern Iraq.
"We consider this an outrageous decision and
attribute it to the past links with the African national Congress
(ANC)," a Turkish diplomat said to the Turkish Daily News of May 23,
1995.
This comment on a past link with the ANC is regarded
as a thinly-veiled reference to Turkey's belief that the ANC,
particularly in its days as a resistance group, had ties with the
outlawed PKK. When Nelson Mandela, prior to the all-race elections that
installed him as president, declined to accept the Atatürk Award
offered to him by Turkey in 1992, some Turkish circles attributed this
to the influence of the PKK on the ANC.
The "red list" is a Foreign Ministry euphemism
meaning that the country in question is "black listed" as an arms
supplier. A red-listed country is not allowed to enter arms tenders in
Turkey nor sell any military equipment to Turkey.
Although the arms trade between Turkey and South
Africa is negligible, Turkey has considered this country as a potential
supplier and has sounded out some South African arms suppliers on the
sale of Reoivak helicopters and cluster bombs.
REPORTS ABOUT TURKEY FOLLOW ON ANOTHER
"Turkey's relations with the Western world are
nearing an abyss with each passing day. We are playing with fire," said
foreign affairs commentator Mehmet Ali Birant in his June 5, 1995,
article in the daily Sabah.
We reprint below the main parts of this article:
"The only thing the western countries want from us
is to keep our pledges and comply with the international agreements we
have signed. In other words, they want us to respect fundamental human
rights and democratic principles. They are not asking anything else
from us.
"They are not demanding concessions or trying to
teach us how to govern our own country. Even the people who as a rule
perceive a conspiracy behind every door, now seem to have begun to see
this fact.
"In international relations, at first, seemingly
insignificant statements are made. Then the tone and content of the
statements change. Then reports get issued. When the international
wheels start to turn, the country against whom these statements are
being made, either moves immediately to prevent these wheels from
turning or finds itself in a humiliating position caught between the
wheels.
"Turkey is rapidly moving towards these cross-roads.
Reports about the country follow on another. These reports signal
serious preparations ahead. When such reports get issued, after a while
they are used as the basis for the moves to be made. Turkey's
'appointment' with the West is scheduled for the autumn. According to
the 'scenario' Turkey will be debated at various international forums
from September to the end of the year.
"The European Parliament will debate, as of
September, whether the European Union-Turkey customs union arrangement
should be ratified. The decision on this issue will be taken during the
November-December period at the latest.
The Council of Europe will debate during its next
session, which begins in the autumn, whether to accept the credentials
of the Turkish parliamentarians. During the same period, the issue will
also be raised of whether Turkey should be placed under scrutiny.
"The Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe will discuss matters such as whether Turkey should be placed
under closer scrutiny and whether more frequent delegations should be
sent to Turkey.
"The United States Congress will debate during the
September-November period whether military credits to Turkey should be
suspended, or even whether an embargo should be imposed on arms
shipments to Turkey.
"And the reports, which those arguing in favour of
Turkey or against Turkey will use during these debates, are ready. The
United States' State Department and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe have published their reports on Turkey. The
European Parliament and the Council of Europe are currently preparing
their own reports. This is the way the mechanism is operating.
"Only Turkey can abort this plan. The only thing
Turkey should do is to complete the reforms which the government has on
so many occasions promised to make, the very reforms which are cited in
the government program. These are the reforms the government has
promised to its own people as well as to the representatives of all
these foreign countries and international organisations."
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT WARNS AGAIN TURKEY
The European Parliament, which previously froze its
joint parliamentary committee with Turkey, passed a resolution on June
15, 1995, saying it would not ratify the EU-Turkey Customs Union if
their terms were not met.
The parliament, in its resolution which will be
submitted to the Cannes summit of the European Union , "…renews its
opposition to the customs union with Turkey while Kurdish members of
parliament are imprisoned and the rights of the Kurdish people are not
recognized."
The Turkish Government rapping the resolution
maintained that linking the lucrative deal with other factors would not
benefit any of the sides.`
"It is sad that the European Parliament keeps this
issue on the agenda despite our repeated statements that under the
principle of separation of power, neither the Turkish Parliament nor
the government can influence the judiciary," Foreign Ministry spokesman
Ömer Akbel said.
However, it is well known that the legal proceeding
against DEP deputies was started on the provocative declarations by
Prime Minister Tansu Ciller treating them as "traitors" which openly
influenced the judiciary.
OSCE AND WEU REPORTS ON TURKEY
Recently, the parliamentary assemblies of the West
European Union (WEU) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) have prepared highly critical reports about the
situation of human rights in Turkey.
The WEU report concludes:
"A solution to the Kurdish Question is only possible
by the recognition of a kind of political and administrative autonomy
within the framework territorial integrity of Turkey. Otherwise, this
question will continue to threaten the security and stability in Turkey
and to limit the possibilities of Turkey to apply balanced
security and defence policies and to be integrated in European
institutions.
"The Turkish Government, refusing to recognise
ethnical identities, aggravates the question as to threaten the
security of the State.
"It is the right and task for the Turkish Government
to defend its people against terrorism. However, Turkey should admit
that the question of Kurdish nationalism cannot be solved by military
operations.
"Turkey is carrying on violence against civilian
people and discriminating them during its operations against Kurdish
separatists in the Southeast. Torture, murders and other violations of
human rights conduct the people to separatist movement and even to the
PKK.
"The continuation of the Turkish Army's occupation
in Cyprus constitutes one of the biggest obstacles before the solution
of the Cyprus problem."
The OSCE report concludes:
"Turkish authorities are approaching to the Kurdish
Question by the claim that there was no Kurdish Question, but the
question of terrorism.
"Turkey undergoes big suffer and economic losses
because of the PKK terrorism. Therefore, all OSCE member countries
should help Ankara against terrorism and for the defence of the
territorial integrity of Turkey.
"There are allegations about the use of violence and
torture in the fight against terrorism. Security forces are held
responsible in a part of these allegations.
"Although the Turkish Government takes measures for
preventing torture and ill-treatment, it also should be vigilant in the
application of these measures."
TURKEY SANCTIONED IN STRASBOURG
The European Court of Human Rights, delivering its
first ruling in complaints against Turkey, ordered Ankara on June 8 to
pay damages and legal costs, totalling to $6,000 for each, to two
Turkish politicians.
The Chairman of the defunct Unified Communist Party
of Turkey (TBKP), Nihat Sargin, and the Secretary General, Nabi Yagci
(alias Haydar Kutlu) had been unnecessarily kept under detention for
two and a half years as they underwent trial to be acquitted eventually.
The two were arrested on their return to Turkey in
November 1987 after years of self-exile. During their trial, widely
followed abroad, they complained of maltreatment under police custody.
They were charged with a series of crimes including
advocating rule by a social class, inciting public hostility and
harming Turkey's reputation.
The European court said it had rejected the Turkish
Government's grounds for not releasing the two men earlier, which was
that they could escape.
"The court pointed out that the danger of an
accused's absconding could not be gauged solely on the basis of the
severity of the sentence risked," it said in a statement.
In a second case, the European court ordered damages
of $6,000 to Sadi Mansur, an Iranian convicted of drug-trafficking who
spent nine a half years in jail during lengthy trial proceeding.
The cases were among several against Turkey moving
through Europe's rights watch-dog system, which includes the European
Commission of Human Rights.
In the first six months of 1995, the Commission
declared admissible a total of 27 cases presented by Turkish nationals
with the assistance of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (IHD) and
the Kurdistan Human Rights Project (KHRP).
The allegations concern issues of extra-judicial and
arbitrary killings, a "disappearance" in custody, torture and the
destruction of villages.
AN AMNESTY OFFICIAL DEPORTED
An Amnesty International representative, Helmut
Oberdiek, was deported from Turkey at Istanbul's Atatürk Airport on
June 7 on the grounds that he was declared "persona non grata" by the
Turkish government in December 1994.
Oberdiek was appointed by Amnesty International to
look into the events leading to the deportation of Jonathan Sugden, the
previous chief of Amnesty's Turkey desk who has been "accused" of
providing support to the outlawed PKK.
Oberdiek was allegedly conducting investigations for
the past 10 days before he was picked up by police in Adana on June 5
and sent to Germany two days later.
In an interview by telephone to the Turkish Daily
News from Germany, on June 10, Oberdiek said he was taken away by three
plainclothes policemen from his hotel room in Adana to be interrogated.
"They did not say I was being detained. They just
said 'you have to come with us.' Then they took me to the police
department dealing with aliens," Oberdiek said.
"There they told me that it was illegal for me to
enter Turkey and I asked them which authority had taken this decision.
They did not want to tell me at first but later said it was the
Ministry of Interior."
Indicating that he received privileged treatment
while in detention Oberdiek said he was not put into prison. "I was
just made to wait in a room and later taken to the department dealing
with terrorism. For eight hours we argued with the policemen there. In
other words it was not like a questioning. But they held me responsible
for all the mistakes made by European governments. My personal
belongings and notes were gone through separately by every policeman
there. My real concern is that those whose names are in my notes may be
under some threat," he said.
Oberdiek who has entered Turkey on many occasions
and who lived in Ankara for a year in 1991 with an official residence
permit, said that his numerous requests to contact a lawyer or to use
the telephone to make a call had been denied.
He was later sent to Istanbul by bus under police
guard. Two policemen brining him to Istanbul remained with him until he
boarded the plane at the airport to leave the country.
CILLER: ENEMY OF THE PRESS
Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller takes part among
the 10 "enemies of the press" announced by the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day on May
3, 1995.
The other nine "enemies of the Press" are reportedly
Abu Abdul Rahman Amin, leader of the GIA in Algeria; Radovan Karadzic,
Bosnian Serb "president"; Emomali Rakhmanov, President of Tajikistan;
Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria; Than Shwe, Prime Minister of Myanmar
(Burma); Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire; Hafez al-Assad,
President of Syria; Fidel Castro, President of Cuba and Lee Kuan Vew,
former Prime Minister of Singapore.
In a press release, the CPJ says that collectively
they are responsible for the deaths of nearly 100 journalists and are
holding more than 100 others in jail. "Some of these individuals are
notorious for their ruthlessness and violence, while others have
championed legal restrictions on press freedom," said CPJ executive
director Bill Orme.
For Tansu Ciller, the CPJ says: "Turkey holds more
journalists in prison than any other country in the world. CPJ
documented 74 such cases at the end of 1994. Most were imprisoned for
reporting allegedly sympathetic to the Kurdish separatist cause. Prime
Minister Ciller has yet to act on her stated commitment to reform vague
yet draconian statutes that prohibit open press coverage of the Kurdish
conflict and of Kurdish culture."
DAY OF ACTION ON TURKEY
The Writers in Prison Committee (WIPC) of
International PEN held an international day of action on Turkey on May
5, spotlighting the case of writer Yasar Kemal, who went to trial that
day.
PEN centres around the world sent letters to the
Turkish Government, lobbied Turkish embassies and publicised the
situation of writers in Turkey.
Kemal was charged with "disseminating separatist
propaganda" for an article, "Campaign of Lies, which was published in
the German magazine Der Spiegel in January.
Kemal also faces charges for the reprinting of the
article in an anthology entitled Turkey and Freedom of Expression, and
for another article, The Dark Cloud over Turkey, also featured in
the anthology and in Index on Censorship. The charge in the latter case
is said to be for "inciting racism."
PRESSURES ON CHRISTIAN VILLAGES
The Assyrian Democratic Organisation (ADO) announced
on June 6 that four Christian Assyrians from the village of Geznag
(Cevizagac) in Tur Abdin, native region of this Christian minority of
Turkey, were arrested on May 9 by the Turkish Army on pretext that they
collaborated with the PKK.
These Assyrians, Eprim Diril, Mesih Diril, Ishak
Diril and Metin Yaramis, are native of village of Mehre (Kovankaya),
destroyed by the Turkish Army in June 1994, and had to migrate to the
village of Geznag.
The sons of Eprim and Mesih Diril, Zeki and Ilyas
have disappeared since May 1994. The brother of Ishak Diril was the
mayor of the village of Mehre and has been in prison since June 16,
1994.
In the village of Geznak remain only seven Assyrian
families composed of women and children alone.
The ADO also reports that the Christian village of
Marbobo is under permanent pressure of pro-government Islamic
fundamentalist group of Hizbullah and the villagers are not allowed to
work in on their cultivated fields.
By these practices, the Turkish Army and the
Hizbullah aim to force the remnants of the Assyrian community to leave
the country by abandoning their properties to local Muslim landowners.
ADO together with other Assyrian organizations
called on the Turkish Government to stop the destructive practices of
the Turkish Army and the Hizbullah in Tur Abdin.
TWO-MONTH STATE TERRORISM
1.5, HADEP Elbistan chairman Hüseyin Koku, kidnapped
on October 20, 1994, by unidentified assailants, is found assassinated
at the district of Pötürge in the province of Malatya.
2.5, a group of parents of prisoners carrying on a
sit-in at the CHP headquarters in Ankara in solidarity with
hunger-strikers of the Yozgat Prison are taken into police custody.
2.5, the villages of Gevrik, Gazikusagi and
Nanikusagi in the province of Tunceli which had already been evacuated
on September 17, 1994, are destroyed by security forces by burning
houses.
3.5, the villages of Aydinlik, Yeni Cakmak and Cagli
in the province of Batman were reportedly evacuated by security forces
and many houses in the villages destroyed by setting fire.
3.5, in Istanbul, HADEP member Muzaffer Kizilgedik
claims to have been tortured for eight days at a police station after
his detention on April 17. The torture traces are certificated with a
medical report issued by the Capa University Hospital.
3.5, the Ankara SSC sentences 17 Dev-Sol defendants
to different prison terms of up to 36 years.
3.5, in Pasinler, 9-year old Ercan Görme falls
victim of an explosion as playing with a hand-grenade he found near to
a military barrack.
3.5, at the Elbistan Prison, gendarmes and guards
raid wards of political prisoners and wound ten inmates. In protest
against this brutality, 180 political prisoners start a hunger-strike.
4.5, security forces detain HADEP deputy-chairmen
Hikmet Fidan and Sahabettin Özaslaner as well as four other party
members in Ankara and Hatay on charges of being members of an illegal
organization.
5.5, in Samsun, a penal court sentences 13 trade
union officials to 18 months in prison and TL 780,000 each for a
meeting they organized on November 13, 1994.
5.5, in Diyarbakir, Vehbi Deniz is assassinated by
unidentified gunmen.
6.5, the security forces raiding the village of
Büyükyurt in the province of Tunceli destroy all houses by setting on
fire. Besides, the inhabitants of the village of Büyükyurt are given a
15-day deadline for leaving their houses.
7.5, a HADEP founder, Tahir Tan claims to have been
tortured by police after his detention on April 29 in Ankara.
9.5, in Diyarbakir, Hasan Ezer is shot dead by
unidentified gunmen.
10.5, IHD Adana Chairman Metin Celik accuses the
security forces of carrying out arbitrary arrests and raids on the
houses of Kurdish families.
11.5, neo-fascist MHP militants stab to death
Muharrem Saritepe and wound his son, Ünal Saritepe.
11.5, in Bingöl, 8-year old Ercan Bingöllü falls
victim of the explosion of a mine laid by security forces. Same day, in
Hozat, four children are seriously wounded at a mine explosion.
14.5, unidentified gunmen shoot dead Haci Semsettin
in Nusaybin.
15.5, in Mardin, 60-year old Abdülkerim Kaya who was
kidnapped on May 13 is found assassinated near to the village of
Isikdere.
15.5, the Malatya SSC sentences a member of the
Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), Mustafa
Karaagac, to life-prison and 11 other members to different prison terms
of up to 18 years. Same day, the Istanbul SSC sentences two members of
the Revolutionary Communists' Union of Turkey (TIKB) to 12 years and
six months in prison each.
16.5, in Dargecit, a tractor driver, Yusuf Celik
falls victim of the explosion of a mine laid by security forces.
18.5, the Court of Cassation ratifies the sentence
against IHD Deputy-Chairman Sedat Aslantas for his speech at a meeting
of the association on October 24, 1992. Aslantas was sentenced by the
Ankara SSC to three years in prison and TL 150 million in fine.
Arrested on December 5, 1994, he is already in the Ankara Central
Prison.
18.5, in Silvan, the village of Kurucayir is raided
by security forces and the inhabitants are forced to leave their
village in one week. In Cukurca, the villages of Caglayan and Cinarli
are evacuated by force.
21.5, in Adana, a pregnant woman named Saniye Özkaya
claims to have been tortured and sexually harassed at the Police
Headquarters. She also claims to have witnessed a 11-year old boy,
R.Ü., being tortured by police.
21.5, in Nusaybin, the villages of Dogus, Yandere,
Kuskaya, Kuru, Tandir and Kücükkardes have reportedly been evacuated by
security forces in last ten days. During the operation, two houses are
burnt. Besides, the inhabitants of the villages of Acik, Yavru and
Ilkadim of the same district as well as the village of Yaprak of the
Lice district are ordered to leave their villages in two weeks.
22.5, a police team raiding a house in Adana shoots
dead two youths, charged with preparing a political action.
23.5, IHD Bursa chairman Muhammed Aydin and six
other officials of the association are tried by a military court of the
General Staff Headquarters in Ankara for a meeting they organised on
January 10, 1993. Each faces a prison term of not less than three
months.
23.5, in Elazig, IHD official Fevzi Kazim Sökmen and
his two friends are taken into police custody.
23.5, in the Elazig Prison, 95 political detainees
start a hunger strike in protest against bad prison conditions and
pressures.
24.5, two IHD top officials, Günseli Kaya and Dervis
Altun are indicted by the Izmir Public Prosecutor for having organized
a press conference in Izmir on March 11, 1995. Each faces a prison term
of up to three years.
24.5, in Istanbul, a building occupied by the local
offices of the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Correct Way Party
(DYP) and the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) is destroyed by the
explosion of a bomb placed by unidentified people.
25.5, security forces arrest 12 members of the
Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP) in Adana and 17 members
of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party/Foundation (MLKP/K) in Istanbul.
25.5, in Batman, four children named Mehmet Emin
Olcay, Halil Geyik, Abdurrahman Aktas and Mehmet Emin Ergin, and four
people, Hüseyin Olcay, Medeni Isikli, Hasan Simsek and an unidentified
person, fall victim of a bomb explosion.
25.5, at the village of Özdemir in Igdir, the house
of Mehmet Aras, a PKK defendant in Erzurum prison, is raided by six
gunmen. The assailants also shoot dead his wife, Songül Aras, and his
four children.
27.5, the Diyarbakir SSC Prosecutor indicts 26
alleged members of the Hizbullah for having participated in 88 armed
attacks resulted in the death of 54 people. Eleven of the defendants
face capital punishment.
28.5, in Antalya, HADEP member Nevzat Sagnic claims
to have been tortured after his detention on May 14. In Ankara, HADEP
Deputy-Chairman Sahabettin Özaslaner, detained on May 4, claims that he
was tortured at police centre.
28.5, in Bursa, 740 Post Administration employees
are tried by a penal court for participating in a protest action on
November 24-25, 1994. Each faces a prison term of up to one year.
28.5, in Midyat, Süleyman Kaplan who was kidnapped
two days earlier by unidentified assailants is found assassinated.
28.5, in Bismil, the hamlet of Horozlu is evacuated
by security forces and all of the houses are destroyed by fire.
29.5, in Sivas, 24 people including IHD members Musa
Demir, Cevdet Aktas and Fahri Sener, are detained on charges of taking
part in an outlawed organization.
29.5, in Diyarbakir, unidentified gunmen shoot dead
Firat Acar and Hakki Akbalik.
29.5, in Nusaybin, Süleyman Yalcin who was kidnapped
in the village of Bakacak by unidentified assailants is found killed
near to the village.
29.5, the Ankara SSC sentences six members of the
Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP) to prison terms of up to
12 years and six months.
30.5, in Istanbul, Recep Coban claims to have been
tortured at the Üsküdar Police Station to where he was taken as the
suspect of a theft.
30.5, the trial of the IHD Istanbul Chairman Ercan
Kanar and six other officials of the association, Seref Turgut,
Salahattin Okcuoglu, Zeynep Baran, Kamber Erkocak, Tonguc Aslan and
Cevriye Aydin began at the Beyoglu Penal Court N°5. The defendants face
a prison term of up to three years each for separatist activities. The
prosecutor also demands the closure of the IHD Istanbul section for an
indefinite period.
30.5, HADEP Izmir office is attacked by unidentified
assailants throwing a Molotof cocktail. HADEP officials accuse Grey
Wolves of the attack.
31.5, in Ankara, 52-year old Ali Yilmaz,
hospitalised after his five-day detention at a police station, dies in
the Numune Hospital. The family of Yilmaz accuses the superintendent of
having tortured him to death.
31.5, in Söke, eleven people are detained by police
on charges of leading MLKP-P activities.
1.6, in Adana, two unidentified gunmen wound HADEP
member Izzettin Görnü. His son Ekrem Görnü had been assassinated on
August 24, 1992, at another armed attack.
1.6, in Siirt, gendarmes opening fire on a bus wound
the driver, Metin Cetin. When the driver loses the control, the bus
overturns causing to the death of three women and wounding nine women.
2.6, in Istanbul, Ridvan Karakoc who disappeared
after his detention on February 20, 1995, is found killed and buried in
a graveyard. His family accuses the police of having killed Karakoc
under torture. The funeral of the victim is held with the participation
of more than 5 thousand people. After the ceremony, security forces
detain more than 20 people.
3.6, the prosecutor of the Diyarbakir SSC indicts
six people for participating in PKK activities. Each faces a prison
term of up to 15 years.
4.6, three HADEP officials, Mehmet Zeynettin Ünay,
Melik Aygül and Abdullah Akin are detained by police during a raid on a
house in Diyarbakir.
4.6, in Elbistan, the detention of two married women
by police leads to a popular reaction and more than 1000 people stone
the police headquarters and put police cars on fire.
5.6, in Mersin, Abdullah Önen is shot dead by
unidentified gunmen.
5.6, security forces have detained more than 40
HADEP members during a series of repressive operations in Izmir.
6.6, the Workers' Party (IP) Chairman Dogu Perincek
is sentenced by the Ankara SSC to two years and four months in prison
and TL 58 million in fine for his electoral speeches prior to
legislative elections. Perincek had earlier been sentenced by the same
tribunal to a 2-year imprisonment and a fine of TL 50 million, but the
Court of Cassation considering the penalty insufficient ordered to try
again him.
7.6, security forces raiding the village of Dedeagac
in Tunceli destroy many houses by setting on fire.
7.6, the Istanbul SSC sentences five persons to
life-prison for having participated in Dev-Sol activities.
7.6, in Kozluk, farmer Hadi Baran, kidnapped earlier
by unidentified assailants, is found killed and his eyes picked out.
9.6, a convoy of 100 cars carrying HADEP Chairman
Murat Bozlak and hundreds of party members to Batman for a meeting is
stopped twice by security forces. Gendarmes opening fire into the air
search all cars and interrogate all the passengers.
9.6, in Kiziltepe, a special security team raiding a
house shoots dead two alleged PKK sympathisers and wounds some other
people.
10.6, the Minister of Interior, Nahit Mentese, in
reply to a question in Parliament, says that security forces have
evacuated 213 villages and hamlets entirely and 42 partially in
Diyarbakir.
11.6, in Siverek, shepherd Haci Ali Kemik is shot
dead by unidentified gunmen.
12.6, the Military Prosecutor of the General Staff
Tribunal indicts two officials of the Anti-War Association (SKD) for
the press conference they held in Izmir on January 16, 1993. Ayse
Tosuner and Nazmiye Zencir will be tried by the military tribunal on
charges of leading campaign against military service.
12.6, the Ankara SSC sentences seven people to
different prison terms of up to 28 years for pro-PKK activities.
13.6, IHD Adana Chairman Metin Celik and 11 IHD
members are taken in custody for having putting on walls a poster
concerning disappeared persons.
13.6, in Siirt, a woman named Meclise Tegen is
killed at the explosion of a mine laid by security forces.
15.6, a penal court of Istanbul starts to try
lawyers Aysegül Sentürk, Mukaddes Alatas, Kerime Gökdemir and Ali
Kaplan, all members of the IHD, for having held a press concerning bad
prison conditions conference in front of the Bayrampasa Prison in
Istanbul. Each faces a prison term of up to three years on charges of
unauthorised meeting.
16.6, in Batman, Mahmut Yildiz and Hasan Ilter are
assassinated by unidentified assailants.
17.6, in Bitlis, Enver Özcan falls victim of the
explosion of a mine laid by security forces.
18.6, in Adana, Süleyman Ciftci whose house was
raided on June 16 by police claims to have been tortured during his
police custody.
18.6, the former mayor of Hakkari, Sükrü Calli, and
DEP member Hüseyin Ümit are taken into police custody.
19.6, the Ankara SSC prosecutor opens a court action
against two HADEP deputy-chairmen, Hikmet Fidan and Sahabettin
Özaslaner as well as two party officials, Seyhmuz and Ferhan Türk.
Accused of being PKK members, the four face each a prison term of up to
15 years.
19.6, prior to a workers' action for a democratic
constitution and trade union rights, police detain, on the order of the
Interior Minister Mentese, seven trade union officials, Yildirim Kaya
(Egitim Sen chairman), Selami Cicek (Turizm Sen chairman), Cengiz
Baydali (Yapi Yol Sen chairman), Aziz Yildirim, Alper Öztürk, Kemal
Ünal and Hasan Hayir.
TWO-MONTH PRESSURE ON THE MEDIA
3.5, Tunceli correspondent of the dailies Cumhuriyet
and Milliyet, Ferit Demir is reportedly kidnapped by PKK militants on
April 30 on the road Tunceli-Pertek. [He is freed on May 12].
3.5, the Court of Cassation ratifies the sentences
against writer Yalcin Kücük and publisher Hikmet Kocak given by the
Istanbul SSC. The latter had sentenced Kücük to two years in prison and
TL 250 million in fine for his book entitled Talks in the Kurdish
Garden, and Kocak, the director of Basak Publishing House, to six
months in prison and TL 50 million in fine.
4.5, a two-year imprisonment and a fine of TL 400
million against Medya Günesi editor Nurettin Yüksekkaya is ratified by
the Court of Cassation. The higher court also ratifies a 30-day ban on
the periodical's publication.
4.5, the publication of the periodical Jiyana Nû is
banned by the decision of a penal court in Istanbul.
6.5, IHD Gaziantep Chairman Imam Özharat is indicted
by the public prosecutor for his declaration published by the local
newspaper Özgür Gaziantep. To be tried by a penal court, Özharat faces
a prison term of up to one year for having criticised Turkish Army's
operation in Northern Iraq.
10.5, in Adana, two 12-year old children, S.A. and
E.P., claim to have been tortured after their detention on May 6 for
having distributed Kurdish review Welate Me.
12.5, the Elazig office of the daily Yeni Politika
is raided and searched by police who also detain two correspondents,
Songül Zengin and Nurcan Turgut.
15.5, the periodical Devrimci Emek, N°30 is
confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
15.5, cartoonist Ertan Aydin is jailed in Salihli
for purging his ten-month imprisonment. He had been condemned by a
criminal court for one of his cartoons published by the daily
Özgür Gündem on December 15, 1992.
16.5, the publisher of the defunct daily Özgür Ülke,
Hasan Kücükoba is sentenced by a criminal court of Istanbul to one-year
imprisonment by virtue of Article 159 of the Penal Code.
17.5, police authorities refuse to deliver a
passport to writer Edip Polat who was invited by the International PEN
to attend a meeting in London on the poets and writers in prison. Polat
purged a 18-month imprisonment for his book entitled To Newroz We
Turned Dawns and was released on January 20, 1995. Polat was honoured
as a PEN member as he was in prison.
17.5, the Istanbul SSC sentences two journalists,
Hidir Göktas and Metin Gülbay, to 20 months in prison and TL 333
million in fine each for their book entitled The New World Order and
Turkey, published past year. The publisher of the book, Hasan Basri
Ciplak too is sentenced to 5-month imprisonment and a fine of TL 42
million. The book contains a series of interviews with political party
leaders.
18.5, three periodicals, Partizan Sesi N°17, Özgür
Halk N°55 and Hedef N°43 are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for
separatist propaganda. A book entitled The Resistance of Gazi: Stone,
Hart and Barricade too is confiscated by the same court.
21.5, a responsible editor of the defunct Özgür
Ülke, Murat Sarac is taken into police custody in Adana.
23.5, the publisher of the dailies Yeni Günaydin,
Süper Tan and Ekonomik Bülten, Bekir Kutmangil is shot dead by three
gunmen.
26.5, the last issues of the periodicals Atilim,
Dayanisma and Sosyalist Kadin are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC by
virtue of Articles 6 and 8 of the ATL and Article 312 of the Penal
Code.
27.5, the Court of Cassation ratifies a sentence
against the chairman of the Bandirma Popular House, Mehmet Özdemir. He
had been sentenced to 20 months in prison and TL 208 million in fine
for an interview he gave to the daily Özgür Gündem in June 1993. After
the ratification of the sentence, Özdemir is put in the prison of
Bandirma.
27.5, the first issue of a new Kurdish review,
Ronahi, published in the place of the banned periodical Denge Azadi, is
confiscated by the Istanbul SSC.
28.5, in Istanbul, a new popular cultural house
opened at the Gazi Quarters is raided by police who also detain four
members of the musical group Yorum, Kemal Sahir Gürel, Ufuk Lüker,
Hakan Atak and Özcan Sahver.
31.5, the issue N°2 of the periodical Ronahi is
confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
1.6, in Istanbul, the former secretary of the IHD
Istanbul Section, lawyer Eren Keskin is jailed to serve his two-year
imprisonment that was ratified by the Court of Cassation. Eren was
sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to two years in prison and TL 250 million
in fine for one of his articles published by Özgür Gündem on June 14,
1993.
2.6, a Yeni Politika editor, Mehmet Sanli Ekin is
taken in custody by police raiding his house. Same day, four
correspondents of the same newspaper, Mustafa Sav, Adil Denk, Bahattin
Yildiz and Metin Dag as well as the defunct Özgür Gündem's Mardin
correspondent Nezahat Özen are detained in Diyarbakir.
3.6, the periodicals Partizan Sesi N°18 and Atilim
N°34 are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda and
praising outlawed organizations.
4.6, the Istanbul SSC confiscates the periodical
Ronahi N°3 by virtue of Article 312 of the Penal Code.
6.6, two journalists of the Kurdish review Welate
Me, Editor Mehmet Gemsiz and Publisher Aynur Bozkurt is tried by the
Istanbul SSC by virtue of Article 8 of the ATL. During this first
sitting, Mehmet Gemsiz refuses to answer the judge's questions in
Turkish and talks only in Kurdish. Thereupon, the tribunal decides to
place under arrest.
6.6, the editor of the periodical Atilim, Aslihan
Yücesan is placed under arrest by the Istanbul SSC for some articles
and photos published on May 27, 1995.
8.6, a former editor of the periodical Kizil Bayrak,
Ayse Öztürk is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to six months in prison
and TL 50 million in fine. The tribunal also decides to ban the
publication of the review for one month.
8.6, the Izmir office of the Mesopotamia Cultural
Centre is raided and closed down by police. During the operation, 25
people inside are interrogated and three persons taken into custody.
9.6, the editor of the weekly Express, Yücel Göktürk
is indicted by the Istanbul SSC Prosecutor for a report about torture
practice that he published on April 22, 1995. He is accused of having
contravened Article 6 of the ATL.
10.6, the first issue of a new Kurdish newspaper,
Roj, is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
12.6, two periodicals Ronahi N°4 and Hedef are
confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
13.6, it is reported that since the beginning of its
publication on April 13, 54 out of 61 issues of the new daily Yeni
Politika have been confiscated by the Istanbul SSC by virtue of
articles 6 and 8 of the ATL and article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code.
14.6, Assistant Professor Fikret Baskaya, after
having served a 15-month imprisonment for his book entitled The
Bankrupt of Paradigm - Introduction to the Criticism of the Official
Ideology, is released from the Haymana Prison.
14.6, the Istanbul SSC starts to try two journalists
of the periodical Cagdas Zülfikar, publisher Gülnur Aslan and editor
Ali Yegin by virtue of Article 8 of the ATL. Each faces a prison term
of up to five years.
15.6, the daily Evrensel is confiscated by the
Istanbul SSC for having reprinted an article about the PKK originally
published by The Military Review in the USA.
16.6, the program director of Interstar TV, Ardan
Zentürk, and three program producers, Nafiz Akyüz, Bahri Kayaoglu and
Seyda Acikkol are taken into police custody for having broadcast some
revelations about political murders by unidentified persons.
19.6, the periodical Ates Hirsizi N°7 is confiscated
by a penal court of Istanbul on charges of insulting the Turkish
Republic. Ronahi N°5 is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist
propaganda.