|
Home Page |
Publications |
Bulletins |
53 rue de Pavie - 1000 Bruxelles
Tél: (32-2) 215 35 76 - Fax: (32-2) 215 58 60
E-mail: editor@info-turk.be
Chief Editor /Rédacteur en chef:
Dogan Özgüden - Responsible editor/Editrice responsable:
Inci Tugsavul
|
|
L'Union européenne a finalement ajouté à sa liste des "organisations terroristes" l'ancien Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK) et le Parti-Front de libération révolutionnaire populaire (DHKP-C). Le gouvernement d'Ankara et les médias turcs avaient, même sans attendre la publication de la liste officielle, s'étaient déclaré victorieux contre le terrorisme.
Soumission européenne aux chantages de l'Etat turc
L'Union européenne a finalement ajouté à sa liste des "organisations terroristes" l'ancien Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK), qui vient de se muer en Congrès pour la liberté et la démocratie au Kurdistan (KADEK) après une lutte armée de 15 ans contre la répression nationale ainsi que le Parti-Front de libération révolutionnaire populaire (DHKP-C), une organisation de gauche radicale prônant la lutte armée contre la terreur d'Etat dont les membres mènent actuellement une grève de la faim contre le régime carcéral qui a déjà fait 90 victimes.
Le gouvernement d'Ankara et les médias turcs avaient, même sans attendre la publication de la liste officielle, s'étaient déclaré victorieux contre le terrorisme. "Les assassins sur la liste de l'Union européenne," titre à la une le journal à gros tirage Hurriyet. "L'UE a finalement réparé son erreur", titre pour sa part le journal Sabah.
Le ministre des affaires étrangères Ismail Cem a déjà annoncé à Ankara que cette décision communautaire constituerait un tournant dans les relations turco-européennes et les négociations d'adhésion pourraient commencer très prochainement.
Dans "la réparation de son erreur", Bruxelles a pris un autre pas pour satisfaire les dirigeants d'Ankara. Un porte-parole de la Commission européenne a annoncé hier que le président de la Commission européenne, Romano Prodi, se rendrait en visite officielle en Turquie les 18 et 19 juillet. La visite de Prodi à Ankara donnera l'occasion de faire le point sur la candidature turque à l'Union européenne (UE), a-t-il précisé.
D'ailleurs, le président de la Commission européenne, Romano Prodi, et le président du gouvernement espagnol, José Maria Aznar, ont pu se prévaloir hier de l'accord sur la liste lors de leur rencontre à Washington avec le président américain George W. Bush, qui exerçait une pression énorme sur Bruxelles pour que ces deux organisations soient incluses dans "la liste des groupes terroristes" et que les négociations d'adhésion avec Ankara se démarrent dans les meilleurs délais.
La contre-guérilla, les escadrons de la mort, les Loups Gris, ou sont-ils?
La soumission européenne aux chantages d'Ankara et aux pressions des Etats-Unis constitue un véritable scandale, car la violation des droits de l'Homme continue sans cesse en Turquie et le pays est toujours dirigé par une alliance militaro-fasciste qui se déclare souvent ennemi farouche des valeurs démocratiques européennes et impose tout ce qu'elle veut par le biais du Conseil national de la Sûreté (MGK).
Pour la violation des droits de l'Homme, nous conseillons aux dirigeants européens ainsi qu'à nos lecteurs de jeter un coup d'úil sur le rapport de l'Association des droits de l'Homme de Turquie (IHD) pour l'année 2001 repris sur Internet (http://www.info-turk.be/flash.htm). ainsi que sur les informations diffusées systématiquement par Info-Türk sur Internet (http://www.info-turk.be/bulletins.htm).
D'ailleurs, si l'Union européenne devait ajouter à sa liste quelques organisations terroristes de Turquie, elle pourrait y commencer avec l'inclusion des organisations paramilitaires comme l'Organisation de contre-guérilla, les unités spéciales et les protecteurs de village créés et soutenus par l'Armée turque avec l'appui des gouvernements successifs d'Ankara depuis afin d'écraser les mouvements démocratiques kurdes et de gauche.
Les organisations de "Loups Gris", responsables de plus de cinq mille morts et instigatrices du coup d'état militaire de 1980, elles aussi, méritent parfaitement une place privilégiée sur la liste de "groupes terroristes" de l'Union européenne, car elles se sont parfaitement implantées dans tous les pays européens y compris la Belgique et y ont commis plusieurs actes de violence.
Or, le parti politique des Loups Gris, le parti d'action nationaliste (MHP), en tant que partenaire principal du gouvernement actuel d'Ecevit, est un des interlocuteurs privilégiés des Etats-Unis et de l'Union européenne malgré toutes ses provocations anti-européennes.
Ce qui est le plus grave est ce que plusieurs terroristes et criminels
font partie du groupe parlementaire du MHP, notamment:
Les parlementaires du MHP oeuvrent actuellement pour que plusieurs
terroristes du MHP comme Mehmet Ali Agca, qui avait ouvert le feu sur Jean
Paul II en 1981, et Haluk Kirci, en prison pour le meurtre de sept militants
de gauche à la fin des années 70, soient également
libérés en bénéficiant d'une loi d'amnistie
cosmétique, alors que tous les prisonniers de gauche ou kurdes sont
maintenus dans la prison.
"A bas Heider, Berlusconi, Le Pen! Vive les militaristes turcs! Vive les Loups Gris!"
L'Union européenne accueille les parlementaires du MHP comme interlocuteurs "négociables" au sein de la Commission parlementaire mixte turco-européenne. Les ministres du MHP, notamment le ministre de la Défense Cakmakoglu, sont très fréquemment à Bruxelles ou dans les autres capitales européennes comme des hommes d'Etat crédibles qui s'y prononcent sur les mesures à prendre contre le terrorisme!
Ce sont "loups Gris" qui, il y a quelques années, ont incendié les locaux kurdes tout en brandissant les drapeaux du MHP au centre de la capitale européenne, et ce sous la tolérance sans précédente de la police bruxelloise. Malgré le fait que ces agresseurs et des drapeaux du MHP étaient clairement identifiés dans les documents des télévisions turques retransmis par les chaînes belges, personne n'est condamnée ou mise en état d'arrestation jusqu'ici pour ce crime horrifiant.
Les responsables des associations de "Loups gris" sont toujours interlocuteurs privilégiés non seulement de l'Ambassade de Turquie mais également de certains dirigeants communaux de Bruxelles.
Les dirigeants européens se révoltent tout justement contre la montée de Berlusconi en Italie, de Heider en Autriche et de Le Pen en France.
Quand il s'agit de la Turquie, ils préfèrent de se taire
devant les chantages du pouvoir militaro-fasciste d'Ankara, de tolérer
la ramification des "Loups Gris" en Europe et suivent à la lettre
les exigences "anti-terroristes" imposées par les notoires "terroristes"
d'extrême-droite.
La 91e mort dans la résistance des prisonniers politiques
La grève de la faim contre la réforme des prisons turques a fait une 91e victime le jeudi 23 mai, avec le décès d'un prisonnier politique. Okan Kulekci, 19 ans, est décédé dans un hôpital d'Istanbul après avoir jeûné pendant 240 jours.
Il était jugé pour appartenance à une organisation clandestine de gauche, l'Union des communistes révolutionnaires turcs (TIKB) après avoir été interpellé il y a deux ans lors d'une manifestation.
La grève a été lancée en octobre 2000 par un millier de prisonniers politiques de gauche pour protester contre l'entrée en service de prisons dites "de type F" où des cellules pour 1 ou 3 détenus remplacent le système des vastes dortoirs. Ils estiment que ce régime d'isolement les expose aux mauvais traitements et les désocialise.
La résistance des prisonniers politique s'est soldée par la mort de 51 détenus ou leurs proches décédés des suites de leur privation.
En décembre 2000, un assaut des forces de gendarmeries pour réduire le mouvement dans une vingtaine de prisons avait fait 32 victimes dont deux gendarmes, et le gouvernement avait alors ouvert quatre de ces nouvelles prisons dites "de type F".
Quatre prisonniers se sont en outre immolés par le feu en soutien aux grévistes et quatre autres personnes ont été tuées lors d'une intervention de la police en novembre dernier contre une maison d'Istanbul occupée par des grévistes.
La grève de la faim des proches de détenus contre le régime carcéral à isolement a pris fin le 22 mai, mais 55 détenus poursuivent toujours le mouvement dans leurs prisons, selon l'Association turque des droits de l'Homme (IHD). "Les derniers grévistes de la faim en dehors des prisons ont mis fin à leur mouvement il y a quelques jours estimant qu'ils ont suffisamment payé de prix pour faire entendre leur voix", a dit à l'AFP le président de l'IHD, Husnu Ondul.
Les grévistes de la faim ont considérablement abaissé leurs exigences pour mettre fin à leur grève et sont prêts à accepter un compromis avancé par les chefs des 4 principaux barreaux du pays. Ce compromis, résumé sous la formule, 3 clefs 3 portes, permettrait aux détenus de 3 cellules de 3 détenus (9 personnes), de pouvoir communiquer entre eux pendant huit heures par jour. Toutefois, le ministre de la justice, M. Hikmet Sami Türk, la refuse en invoquant des obstacles de nature technique et sécuritaire.
Actuellement quelque 10.000 des 55.000 détenus que compte la Turquie sont des détenus politiques accusés de terrorisme ou d'appartenance à un parti ou une organisation politiques illégaux.
Etant donné que quelque 200 prisonniers poursuivent toujours la grève de la faim, le nombre de victimes peut s'élévér dans les jours qui viennent au plus de 100.
Le premier ministre Ecevit (DSP), le chef de l'Etat-major des forces
armées le général Kivrikoglu --également l'homme
fort du Conseil de la Sûreté nationale (MGK)--, les vice-premiers
ministres Devlet Bahçeli (MHP, néo-fasciste) et Mesut Yilmaz
(ANAP, de droite) ainsi que le ministre de la Justice Hikmet Sami Türk
(DSP) sont les responsables principaux de la mort des dizaines des prisonniers
politiques dans ce pays au seuil de l'Union européenne. (Info-Türk,
23 mai 2002)
Eight organizations terminated death strike
Prisoners charged with membership of 8 different organizations announced that they had terminated the death fast action that started on 20 October 2000. The prisoners from the Revolutionary Communist Union of Turkey (TIKB), the Turkish Communist Party/ML (TKP/ML), TKP (ML), the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), Revolution Party of Turkey (TDP), Resistance Movement, the Marxist-Leninist Armed Propaganda Unit (MLSPB) and the Turkish Communist Party (Kivilcim) stated that they terminated the action as of 28 May and announced that their struggle against the cells and isolation would continue in other forms. The number of prisoners continuing the death fast action dropped to 31.
Only prisoners charged with membership of the Revolutionary Peopleís Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) are continuing the action.
So far 100 people died as a result of the hunger strikes, death fast
and other actions related to the protest against the F-type prisons. During
the operation against the prisons 30 prisoners (Haydar Akbaba and Muharrem
Buldukoglu allegedly were killed by members of illegal organizations) and
2 soldiers died. 32 participants of the death fast action died in prison,
outside 7 relatives of prisoners died and 11 of those died, who continued
the action after release. 5 people burned themselves to death (Kazim Gülbag
in Germany). Six people died as a result of suicidal attacks (two attackers,
three police officers and one tourist). During the police intervention
in Küçükarmutlu quarter 4 people died. In addition, Mustafa
Coskun died as a result of wrong treatment of cancer during his action
on 3 October 2001 and Hidir Demir died on 27 April because of tuberculosis.
In the Netherlands Cafer Dereli was beaten to death by right-wing militant,
while he was conducting a solidarity hunger strike on 9 December 2000.
(TIHV, May 30, 2002)
Sexual Abuse in Turkey: Why are the Victims on Trial?
Two years ago a conference was held in Turkey on sexual violence in the prisons there. Nineteen of those who participated have been on trial since last week, charged with defaming the Turkish military. Included among the defendants are attorneys for a Turkish legal aid project that, inter alia, offers legal assistance to women victimized by such violence.
The following is an interview with trial observer Wanda Lass:
Q: How did the first trial session go on Wednesday?
Three of the women charged were present; two of them only had their personal details recorded. The third, a 27-year-old student who lives in Athens, declared that she had taken part in the conference in order to tell about her own experiences with sexual abuse by police. She testified that she had not defamed the state, but had merely related what had happened to her.
Q: How much interest was there on the part of the public?
There were only five people in attendance, two of them trial observers and two others female journalists.
Q: Do you assume that the court will try to drag the trial out intentionally?
It's a normal procedure in Turkey that personal details are recorded during the trial, and then investigated. For that reason, it's quite normal for the trial to be adjourned again and again.
Q: The trial already began a year ago. The Turkish prosecutor's office has opened other cases in the meantime in which, among others, two attorneys from the legal aid project are accused. Why this wave of trials?
In the middle of the week we had the opportunity to speak with one of the women involved in the Turkish legal aid project. Even during our conversation, yet another prosecution case against attorney Eren Keskin arrived by fax. She is accused on the basis of a speech given on 8 March in Cologne. Note: on the basis of a speech in Germany! The woman working with the project takes it for granted that the Turkish state feels itself threatened by these public accusations. Rape is one of the worst methods of torture and is supposed to be kept quiet.
Q: This address by Keskin in Germany also led to a campaign against her in the Turkish media. The journalist Fatih Altayli cursed her vehemently, and even threatened sexual violence against her. What does that mean for her?
Eren Keskin also has a certain degree of support within the public.
There are journalists who have called repeatedly upon Fatih Altayli to
apologize to Eren Keskin. She gets a great many letters of support. In
addition, Claudia Roth, the Chairwomen of the Alliance 90/Greens [in the
German parliament] was recently in Istanbul and read a press statement
there on the topic. One has to understand that the military has a very
high status in Turkey. Fatih Altayli has in the meantime gotten himself
female support, in the person of Professor Nesle Arat. She is married to
a general and has attacked Eren Keskin for her engagement on the issue
of sexual violence. The situation for Eren Keskin has meanwhile become
quite difficult, since she can be taken into custody at any time based
on the new accusation. In that case it would become impossible for her
to work for the legal aid project. (Junge Welt-KurdishMedia.com, 17 May
2002)
Une loi d'amnistie qui profiterait à Mehmet Ali Agca
Le président turc Ahmet Necdet Sezer a saisi la Cour constitutionnelle pour demander l'annulation d'un article d'une loi d'amnistie très controversée qui pourrait profiter à Mehmet Ali Agca, l'homme qui a tenté d'assassiner le Pape, a annoncé jeudi son service de presse.
M. Sezer engage ainsi un bras de fer avec le gouvernement de coalition tripartite du Premier ministre Bulent Ecevit, hospitalisé depuis la semaine dernière, d'autant que deux jours auparavant, il avait déposé le même type de recours contre une loi qui restreint la liberté de la presse.
L'article incriminé par le président réduit les peines de prison de dix ans pour une série de crimes, ce qui assurerait la libération de près de 5.000 prisonniers.
Il a suscité une vive polémique car des condamnés tels que Mehmet Ali Agca, militant d'extrême droite qui a déjà purgé 19 ans de prison en Italie pour avoir ouvert le feu sur Jean Paul II en 1981, en bénéficieraient.
Ancien président de la Cour constitutionnelle et juriste très respecté, M. Sezer avait mis son veto à cette loi le 27 avril arguant de lacunes constitutionnelles.
Mais le parlement lui a renvoyé la loi sans changement et il a été obligé de la promulguer mercredi soir.
Le chef de l'Etat estime que les dispositions d'une loi d'amnistie doivent, selon la constitution, être adoptées à une majorité des trois cinquièmes à l'Assemblée nationale, soit 330 députés sur 550, alors que l'article incriminé n'a été adopté qu'à une majorité simple (174 députés).
M. Sezer réclame aussi la suspension de l'entrée en vigueur de la loi jusqu'à ce que la Cour tranche, souligne le communiqué.
L'Italie a extradé Mehmet Ali Agca, 44 ans, en juin 2000 après qu'il eut été pardonné pour cette tentative d'assassinat lors d'une apparition publique sur la place Saint-Pierre de Rome qui avait grièvement blessé le souverain pontife.
A son retour en Turquie, Agca a été condamné à Istanbul à dix ans de prison en liaison avec l'assassinat en 1979 d'un célèbre journaliste turc, Abdi Ipekci, ainsi qu'à sept autres années de prison pour vol à main armée.
Un autre militant d'extrême droite, Haluk Kirci, emprisonné pour le meurtre de sept militants de gauche à la fin des années 70, pourrait également bénéficier de cette loi.
Le flou juridique persiste sur la libération de ces deux hommes.
La nouvelle loi étend en fait le champ d'application d'une loi d'amnistie de 1999 accusée de pratiquer une discrimination parmi les condamnés susceptibles d'en bénéficier.
40.000 détenus en ont profité, selon le ministre de la Justice Hikmet Sami Turk, et 700 d'entre eux ont récidivé et sont retournés en prison.
Mardi, après un va et vient entre le parlement et la présidence, M. Sezer avait saisi la Cour constitutionnelle pour demander l'annulation de certains article d'une loi sur les médias, estimant qu'elle restreignait leur liberté et restait trop floue dans la définition des délits sanctionnés.
Cette loi introduit notamment des sanctions pour la propagation de fausses
informations sur l'internet. (AFP, 23 mai 2002)
La Cour constitutionnelle annule partiellement une amnistie controversée
La Cour constitutionnelle turque a annulé, après un recours du président Ahmet Necdet Sezer, un article crucial d'une loi d'amnistie très controversée qui aurait pu notamment profiter à Mehmet Ali Agca, l'homme qui a tenté d'assassiner le Pape, a annoncé mardi son vice-président.
La Cour a cependant rejeté une demande de la suspension de l'entrée en vigueur du reste de la loi, a ajouté Hasim Kilic, cité par l'agence Anatolie.
L'ensemble de la loi, y compris l'article annulé, restera en vigueur tant que les attendus de la Cour ne seront pas publiés dans le journal officiel, ce qui ne dissipe pas le flou juridique sur une libération de prisonniers entre-temps, a-t-il souligné.
L'article annulé réduisait les peines de prison de dix ans pour une série de crimes, ce qui aurait assuré la libération de près de 5.000 prisonniers.
De nombreux détenus ont déjà été remis en liberté aux termes de cette loi, sans même attendre que la Cour tranche, notamment un homme de main de l'extrême droite, Isa Armagan, qui avait mitraillé trois cafés d'Ankara en 1978, faisant 5 morts et 14 blessé, selon le quotidien Hurriyet.
Il n'aura purgé que sept ans de prison par le jeu des réductions
de peine et de l'amnistie, a précisé le quotidien. (AFP,
29 mai 2002)
The balance sheet of the controversial amnesty
"Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk has announced that 382,977 people have benefited from the Conditional Release Bill which introduces reductions in sentences.
As of April 25, 40,518 convicts have been released from prisons including 11,571 murderers, 11,371 thieves and robbers and 1,122 rapists. [Former ultranationalist activist] Isa Armagan, who was convicted of spraying a coffeehouse with bullets in Ankara's Balgat district in 1978 [in a major political case] was released from a jail in Bandirma on May 26.
Due to the latest change amendment made in the Conditional Release Bill,
a further 5,000 people, mostly murderers, are expected to be released as
well." (Milliyet, May 28, 2002)
3-month Human Rights violations in Turkey
The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) issued its Human Rights
Report of turkey for the first three months of 2002. Below are the 3-month
records of main human rights violations by the State forces.
According to the Amnesty International's Annual Report, released in London on May 27, 2002, the regime in Ankara, in spite of its promises to adapt itself to the Copenhagen criteria, continued to violate human rights during the Year 2001.
The report (covering events in 2001) documents extrajudicial executions in 47 countries; judicial executions in 31 countries; "disappearances" in 35 countries; cases of torture and ill-treatment in 111 countries and prisoners of conscience in at least 56 countries. However, the organization believes that the true figures are much higher.
Below we reprint the the Report's chapter concerning Turkey:
Thousands of prisoners were held in conditions of prolonged isolation which could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, while the debate surrounding the high security "F-type" prisons intensified. The pressure on human rights defenders increased: they faced harassment, death threats, arrests and prosecution, and branches of human rights associations were closed. Many people were imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression, particularly when they expressed opinions on the Kurdish question, the "F-type" prisons or the role of Islam. Torture in police custody remained widespread and was practised systematically, while the perpetrators were rarely brought to justice. Two Kurdish politicians "disappeared" in gendarmerie custody. Dozens of political killings were reported, some of which may have been extrajudicial executions. The de facto moratorium on executions was upheld.
In March, Turkey outlined a national program of steps to be taken to meet the conditions set out in December 2000 for starting negotiations to join the European Union. Turkey decided to give priority to a review of the 1982 Constitution, which was adopted when the country was under military rule. While some restrictions on fundamental human rights were lifted, new restrictions were introduced that fell short of Turkey's international obligations. The amendment did not include significant safeguards against torture, and the death penalty was abolished for some offences only. A number of promised legal reforms were initiated. New governmental human rights bodies were established. However, there was no major improvement in the human rights record.
The armed conflict between government forces and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) effectively came to an end in 1999, but there were still some clashes between the Turkish army and PKK groups. Repression of political parties and organizations in the mainly Kurdish southeast continued. Numerous representatives of the legal pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HADEP) were arrested and put on trial. People were restricted from publicly expressing their Kurdish identity. Demonstrations, meetings and other public events were banned, increasingly so following the attacks in the USA on 11 September. Numerous media outlets were closed temporarily. The Islamic-oriented Fazilet Partisi (Virtue Party) was banned in June.
Torture and ill-treatment
Torture was widespread and practised systematically. There were numerous reports of torture and ill-treatment of men, women and children, mainly from western cities, the southeast and the region around Adana in the south. Many of the victims were political activists including supporters of leftist, pro-Kurdish and Islamist groups. Despite intimidation and fear of reprisals, several allegations of torture were made by people arrested on criminal charges. Other alleged victims of torture and ill-treatment included Kurdish villagers, relatives of political activists and trade unionists. Allegations were also received from people alleged to be leading figures in organized crime. Reports indicated that those suspected of theft and burglary - among them many children - continued to be systematically beaten in detention. In some cases torture appeared to be linked to discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation or ethnicity.
Torture and ill-treatment occurred mainly in police and gendarmerie stations during the days immediately after arrest. The most frequently reported methods included severe beatings, blindfolding, suspension by the arms or wrists, electric shocks, sexual abuse, and food and sleep deprivation.
Eleven villagers who were held by the gendarmerie in the western province of Usak during the night of 23/24 January reported that they were beaten while blindfolded and handcuffed from the moment of their arrest. At the gendarmerie station they were forced to sit on a cold concrete floor, having been stripped of their lower clothing. Two of them also reported that they had been subjected to falaka (beating on the soles of the feet), and that their genitals had been squeezed. The villagers reported that when they were taken to the local state hospital on the morning after their arrest, still blindfolded and handcuffed, the doctors did not examine them properly and did not note their complaints. After their release the men filed formal complaints against the gendarmerie officers and the doctors. The men had been arrested following an anonymous complaint that they had stolen sheep five years earlier.
An 11-year-old Kurdish girl, Gazal Berü, was attacked by dogs in front of the gendarmerie station in Yigitler village, in the southeastern province of Bingöl, on 19 March and bitten to death. Her sister reported that the soldier standing next to the girls ordered the dogs to "get them". Villagers testified that the dogs belonged to the gendarmerie and that there had been repeated but unanswered complaints about them since 1994.
High security prisons
Isolation in prisons continued to be a subject of intense debate. The authorities continued to build 11 "F-type" prisons and new wings to existing prisons in which dormitories were replaced with smaller cells. Thousands of inmates of six "F-type" prisons already in use were kept in prolonged solitary confinement or small group isolation which could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Although Article 16 of the Anti-Terror Law was amended in early May to allow prisoners to receive unobstructed visits and to participate in communal activities, the law did not ensure that prisoners spent adequate time in communal areas. AI received numerous reports of ill-treatment in "F-type" prisons, but they were difficult to verify because of the restricted access to these prisons. By the end of the year, 42 people had died as a result of a hunger strike against these prisons.
Rape in custody
Reports of rape and sexual assault by members of the security forces continued. During incommunicado detention in police or gendarmerie custody, women and men were routinely stripped naked. Methods of sexual abuse reportedly included rape, electric shocks and beating on the genitals and women's breasts. By the end of 2001, 147 women, 112 of them Kurds, had sought help from a legal aid project in Istanbul set up in 1997 to bring perpetrators to justice. Fifty-one of the women alleged they had been raped; the rest reported other forms of sexual torture. The suspected perpetrators were overwhelmingly police officers, although allegations were also made against gendarmes, soldiers and village guards. Only one was convicted.
After a demonstration on 1 May, several women were taken to police headquarters in Izmir. Two of them gave similar reports that police officers tried to recruit them as informers.
During the night each woman was reportedly taken to a separate room and blindfolded, beaten, stripped naked and sexually abused. Both were reportedly raped by police officers. The women were released the following day without having seen a prosecutor or a judge.
Prolonged police custody
There were increasing numbers of reports about police and gendarmerie detention of political activists in Diyarbakir for several weeks or months, although the maximum permitted in Turkish law was seven days (10 under the state of emergency). Alleged members of the armed Islamist organization Hizbullah, and from October alleged PKK supporters, were returned to custody after having been remanded in prison.
* Tekin Ülsen was taken to the anti-terror branch of the police headquarters in Diyarbakir on 23 June and questioned about alleged links with Hizbullah. While in unacknowledged detention Tekin Ülsen reported that he was tortured with electric shocks, hosed with cold water, had his wrist cut and his testicles squeezed. Despite a judge's order on 19 July that Tekin Ülsen be remanded in prison, he was returned to police headquarters and was finally moved to Diyarbakir prison on 20 July.
Impunity
Officers accused of torture were rarely suspended from duty, and in some cases received promotions. Detainees who alleged that they had been tortured were almost invariably blindfolded. Medical evidence of torture was frequently suppressed. Doctors who documented torture were often harassed. The intimidation of victims and witnesses and a generalized climate of fear also contributed to impunity, as did prosecutors' reluctance to investigate security officials. Statements reportedly extracted under torture were placed in court records and judges often refused to investigate allegations of torture.
Sait Dönmüs and Mehmet Ali Kaplan were arrested in Diyarbakir on 30 June 2000 on suspicion of supporting the PKK and held at Silvan gendarmerie headquarters for six days before being brought before a prosecutor and released. They were reportedly stripped naked and blindfolded, and were then tortured with electric shocks, beaten and had their testicles squeezed. The following day they were examined at Diyarbakir State Hospital where doctors recorded that their injuries were consistent with torture. After the gendarmes complained about the medical report, the deputy health director attempted to persuade the doctors to change it. When they refused to do this, the gendarmes reportedly destroyed the original report and obtained a substitute which stated that no signs of torture had been found.
Following a successful appeal against attempts to prevent prosecution proceedings, the deputy health director was convicted of abuse of his professional role in November 2001, but his sentence was suspended. In a second trial, two gendarmes accused of having tortured Mehmet Ali Kaplan and Sait Dönmüs were acquitted on 27 April 2001. According to the statements of the plaintiffs, the accused were not the officers who had tortured them. The court ruled that the prosecution should reopen the case to identify the perpetrators.
Two HADEP politicians 'disappeared'
Serdar Tanis and Ebubekir Deniz, both representatives of HADEP, "disappeared" after being summoned on 25 January to the gendarmerie station in Silopi, Sirnak province. After initially claiming that the two men had not been detained, the authorities later stated that they had been released after 30 minutes. In March the authorities announced that they had confiscated a letter indicating that the two men had been abducted by the PKK and were being held in a camp in northern Iraq. There were grave doubts about the authenticity of the letter and its account of events. Before his "disappearance", Serdar Tanis had been threatened repeatedly by the local gendarmerie commander and warned to give up his party activities.
Increased pressure on human rights defenders
Human rights defenders continued to face harassment and intimidation. On 7 September the authorities raided the Diyarbakir office of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, one of five treatment and rehabilitation centres for torture victims around the country. Items confiscated and held for a month included all patient files, computers and details of doctors who supported the Foundation. It was suspected that the reason for the raid was the work carried out by the Foundation in preparing documentary evidence of torture.
AI's application to open a branch in Turkey was rejected by the Council of Ministers in November.
Branches of the Human Rights Association (IHD) remained forcibly closed indefinitely and others were closed temporarily. Members of staff were detained for short periods.
Lawyer and human rights defender Eren Keskin, head of the IHD branch in Istanbul and a founder of the Legal Aid Project for sexually tortured women, went on trial for "insulting the Turkish army", after her description of the sexual torture suffered by members of a Kurdish women's group known as the Peace Mothers was published in the newspaper Yeni Gündem (New Agenda). The death threats made against Eren Keskin increased after she travelled to Silopi as part of the delegation investigating the "disappearance" of the two HADEP representatives (see above).
Prisoners of conscience
Many people, including writers, journalists, trade unionists, local and national politicians, religious leaders and human rights defenders, continued to be imprisoned or tried for exercising their right to freedom of expression, particularly on issues related to the Kurdish question, the "F-type" prisons or the role of Islam. Some of them benefited from a law on conditional releases, but others were excluded.
Dr Fikret Baskaya, founder and chairman of the Turkey and Middle East Forum Foundation, began a 16-month sentence in Kalecik prison on 29 June. He had been convicted and sentenced under Article 8/1 of the Anti-Terror Act for "disseminating separatist propaganda through the press". The conviction followed the publication in June 1999 of an article he wrote in the daily newspaper Özgür Bakis questioning the validity of Turkey's approach on the Kurdish issue following the arrest of Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK.
Death penalty
The de facto moratorium on executions was upheld. However, at least
24 death sentences were passed in 2001; four were later commuted to prison
terms. The constitutional amendment on 3 October stated that the death
penalty "cannot be imposed except in times of war, imminent threat of war
and for terrorist crimes". Of the 117 prisoners whose death sentences had
been upheld by the Appeal Court and who can be executed upon parliamentary
approval, at least 73 were sentenced under "anti-terror" legislation.
Human Rights violations in brief
Investigation against IHD
The public prosecutor at Ankara SSC started an investigation against 24 board members of the Human Rights Association (IHD), including the chairman Hüsnü Öndül. They were called to testify on posters demanding "education in Kurdish". These posters put up in various branches of the IHD allegedly constitute "support for a terrorist organization". The IHD announced that this case had not been transmitted to them, but they had heard of the investigation through a news item by the semi-official Anatolian News Agency. (TIHV, May 2, 2002)
Diyarbakir IHD on Trial
On 1 May Diyarbakir Penal Court No. 3 heard the case of Osman Baydemir, chairman of the Diyarbakir branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and the board members Fikret Saraçoglu, Meral Danis, Reyhan Yalçindag, Abdulkadir Aydin and Pirozhan Dogrul on charges of violating Article 64/1 TPC in connection with Articles 6 and 77/1 of Law No. 2908 on Associations providing that the distribution of brochures, leaflets and written statements has to be in Turkish. The board of Diyarbakir IHD had written "Newroz" instead of "Nevruz", when on 14 March they decided to organize a reception on 20 March. Osman Baydemir stated that Newroz was a traditional name used by peoples in the Middle East and should not be changed. The Court adjourned the hearing to 6 June to establish whether the defendants had been board members on the date in question. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 2, 2002)
Lawyer on Trial
On 1 May the trial against lawyer Cem Alptekin, active in the so-called "16 March massacre" case, on charges of "insulting the secret service MIT and disclosing the identity of a staff member" resulted in acquittal. Istanbul SSC passed the same verdict as Istanbul Criminal Court No. 5 that had acquitted the defendants on 16 October 2000. The 9th Chamber of the Court of Cassation had quashed the verdict on 15 March 2001 and because of charges under the Law to Fight Terrorism Istanbul SSC had to look into the case. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 2, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
Veli Yildirim and Yakup Tosun, who had been detained in Adana on suspicion of membership of the radical Islamic organization "Hizb-al Tahrir", were arrested on 30 April. Ismet Erdem, distributor of the weekly "Yedinci Gündem" in Van, was detained in Çaldiran district on 30 April. In Antep Birsen Deniz, board member of the prisonersí relativesí association THAYD-DER, was detained after she visited her father Mehmet Deniz. Her mother Islim Deniz said that another woman from Diyarbakir and a teacher, who wanted to take her back, had also been detained. The chairman of HADEP for Adana province, Abdullah Ince, was detained on 1 May, reportedly on allegations of having taken instructions of the PKK to prisoners in Antep Prison. His detention followed the detention of Haci Özkal (40) and Birsel Deniz (20). Their testimony presumably led to the detention of Abdullah Ince. Further detentions were reported from Sehitkamil district (a major) and Sahinbey district (a teacher). On 30 April the police raided the offices of the HADEP in Baskale district (Van) and detained the executives Fazil Turan, Ömer Abi and the members Derman Özçimen and Seyfettin Saybak. (Evrensel-Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 2, 2002)
Torture in Tunceli
Party of Labour (EMEP) in Tunceli announced that its SG Ali Taman was beaten during the celebrations of International Labour Day. In addition, police dogs bit him. Some 20 members of EMEP had been detained and the member Ali Yildiz had been beaten severely at the central police station in Tunceli. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 3, 2002)
Trade Unionist on Trial
On 2 May Malatya SSC started to hear the case of Mehmet Nafiz Koç, chairman of the teachersí union Egitim-Sen in Elazig, in connection with a speech he held on Medya TV. During the hearing he stated that his speech had been held in connection with the right to education in the mother tongue. Mr. Koç had been detained on 28 February, but was released on 1 March on objection of his lawyer. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 3, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
Ayhan Dogru, editor?in-chief of the journal "Özgür Halk", who had been detained during a raid on the office of his paper in Istanbul on 29 April, was released on 2 May. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 3, 2002)
Torture in Istanbul and Tunceli
On 3 May Ahmet Uçar held a press conference at the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) stating that he and Murat Teker and Sezen Harnuboglu had been tortured. He said that he had been detained together with Murat Teker on 26 April. They had been tortured and put under pressure to become police informers. After their release they had been threatened with death, if they did not work for the police. Sezen Harnuboglu was detained on 28 April and tortured at Küçükçekmece Police Station. Meanwhile Ali Yildiz and Gökhan Gündogan, members of the Labor Party (EMEP), who had been detained in Tunceli on 1 May, were arrested. Reportedly Ali Yildiz has difficulties in walking because of the torture in detention. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 6, 2002)
House Raid, EJE
On 5 May Turan Çaliskan, who was hiding in the house of his elderly brother in Malatya, after he wounded Ayhan Toraman with a pistol, was shot dead by the police. Reportedly the police first threw tear gas into the house and when some officers entered the house Turan Çaliskan was killed and deputy chief of police, Abdülkadir Topaktas, was wounded. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 6, 2002)
Governor on Trial
The Supreme Administrative Court (Danistay) decided to put Orhan Tasanlar, the ex-governor of Bursa, on trial. The court found that during the investigation of the killing of Nesim Malki (28 November 1995) he neglected his duty, an offence according to Article 230 TPC. Earlier the governor had twice been charged under Article 240 TPC for misconduct of duty and twice had been acquitted. (Vakit,-TIHV, May 4, 2002)
Students under Scrutiny
In Mazidagi district (Mardin) an investigation was started by the director for national education against 74 students from the grammar school on the allegation that they participated in the Newroz celebrations. In Sivas an investigation was started against students from the Cumhuriyet University for their protest against the Law on Higher Education. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 6, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
On 4 May officers from the department to fight terrorism at Siirt Police HQ. detained Gülhan Akin, member of the youth wing of the HADEP. On 3 May the police in Batman raided various houses and detained the HADEP members M. Sah Öner, Muzaffer Tekin, Izzettin Tas and Gemgin Durak. On 3 May officers from the intelligence department of the gendarmerie (JITEM) raided Hasanova (Hesnave) village in Karliova district (Bingöl) and detained Zeki Kiliç and Osman Yilmaz. In Istanbul a worker, participating in the strike at the docks of Tuzla, was detained on 3 May. (Yedinci Gündem, Evrensel-TIHV, May 4-5, 2002)
Case against Politician
Erzurum SSC decided to send the file concerning charges for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chairman of the Party for Justice and Development (AKP) for a speech he held in Rize in 1992 to Ankara SSC. The investigation had been conducted under Article 146 TPC.. Ankara SSC decided that the speech might constitute an offence of Article 159 TPC and sent the file to the public prosecutor in Rize. (Hürriyet-TIHV, May 4, 2002)
Greenpeace Action
On 4 May members of Greenpeace staged an action against asbestos contaminated waste in Aliaga (Izmir). They were promised that the ship "Sea Beirut" would not be dismantled until the results of an analysis had been obtained and ended their action. The activists were detained, but released after testifying to a prosecutor. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 5, 2002)
Trade Unionists on Trial
The 8th Chamber of the Court of Cassation quashed a verdict against 10 trade unionists from the confederation Türk-Is. They had put down a black wreath in front of a monument of Atatürk. The Court of Cassation ruled that it was no violation of the Law on Demonstrations and Meetings, if people walked a distance of 300 meters to express their opinion. The initial trial had been held in Dalaman. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 5, 2002)
Refugees Detained
57 refugees were detained near Timar village (Van), when the gendarmerie controlled a lorry. In Çaldiran district another 10 refugees were detained near Beydogan village. In Ercis district 11 refugees were detained near Tekler village. During a road control in Havsa district (Edirne) 16 refugees were detained. Two refugees from the Iraq were wounded, when they tried to run away. Their situation is reported to be critical. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 5-6, 2002)
Torture in Mardin
The public prosecutor in Mardin started an investigation against 5 police officers, one of them female, on allegations of having tortured Hamdiye Aslan (35). On 5 March 2002 she had been detained in Kiziltepe district, together with another three suspects. After three days in detention at Mardin Police HQ. Hamdiye Aslan was taken to Mardin State Hospital. Dr. Ayhan Özden issued a report stating that there were no traces of blows or force. When Hamdiye Aslan complained to the prosecutor about torture, she was sent to the State Hospital again and Dr. M. Metin Çilgin certified widespread bruises under her right arm, an edema under her left ear and on the sole of both feet. The prosecutor requested another report and this time Opr. Dr. Ata Hitay, working at the same hospital, stated that there were no damages resulting from violence. While Hamdiye Aslan was imprisoned on charges of supporting an armed gang the public prosecutor in Mardin started an investigation against the commissioner Levent Birsel and the police officers Abdulkadir Özer, Bayram Ural, Nazim Ege and Hanife Sennur Pat. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 5, 2002)
Demonstrator beaten in Diyarbakir
The student Ahmet Turhan filed an official complaint against police officers in Diyarbakir. He alleged that he had been beaten and his clothes had been torn into pieces, when the Labour Platform tried to read out a press statement on 1 May, World Labour Day. He had been detained and the ill-treatment had continued in detention. He asked for an examination by the Forensic Institute to certify the traces on his body. (TIHV, May 6, 2002)
The Manisa Trial
On 6 May Manisa Criminal Court continued the trial against 10 police officers, charged with having tortured 16 juveniles between 26 December 1995 and 5 January 1996. Only defendant Levent Özvev and his lawyer Rüçhan Ayse Baygo had appeared. The lawyer asked for more time since she was new to the trial. The court announced that the defendants Turgut Demirel, Fevzi Aydogdu, Turgut Özcan, Musa Geçer, Ramazan Kolak and Halil Emir had been informed of the fact that their lawyers had withdrawn from the trial, but they had not replied yet. Lawyer Serhan Özbek, chairman of Manisa Bar Association, acting for the sub-plaintiffs, repeated his fear that the police officers may go without punishment, because of lapse of time. The court adjourned the hearing to 27 May. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 7, 2002)
Father of Hunger Strikers on Trial
On 6 May Istanbul SSC No. 4 started to hear the case of Ahmet Kulaksiz, father of Canan and Zehra Kulaksiz, who lost their lives during the death fast action of prisoners (Canan Kulaksiz on 15 April and Zehra Kulaksiz on 29 June 2001). Afterwards Ahmet Kulaksiz wrote a book entitled "The Life of two Sisters, Canan and Zehra". Together with Muharrem Cengiz, owner of Tavir Publishing House, he is accused of making propaganda for illegal organizations by means of a publication. During the hearing Ahmet Kulaksiz stated He had tried to convince them to stop their action, but was also opposed to the F-type prisons that had cost the lives of so many people and disabled many others. The hearing was adjourned to a later date. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 7, 2002)
School Guard Beaten
On 7 May Cengiz Yetkin, school guard in Karsiyaka district (Izmir), spoke at a press conference of the Izmir branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD). He said that on 30 April he had been stopped, while driving the car of a friend. Both of them had been taken to Bostanli Police Station and the police had accused his friend. When they objected saying that Mr. Yetkin had been driving, one of the police officers cursed at them. When Cengiz Yetkin asked him to correct his speech 5-6 police officers attacked Mr. Yetkin: "They beat me everywhere. I was punched into the face and on my eye and even, when I was lying on the ground, they kicked me. One blow to my chin resulted in a broken tooth and my lip split." Following a test for alcohol Cengiz Yetkin was taken to Bayrakli Hospital and from there to the hospital of the Aegean University, where he spent the night. He claimed that he could not afford the operation of his broken nose and did not receive a copy of the report by the Forensic Institute. On 2 May he filed an official complaint against 3 police officers and a commissioner. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
Events of Akkise
On 7 May Ahirli Penal Court continued to hear the case of 52 soldiers and 22 civilians in connection with the events in Akkise town, Ahirli district (Konya) on 9 August 2001. The court decided to combine another trial at Konya Criminal Court No. 2 with this trial. During the incidents in Akkise that started with an ID check of the gendarmerie Hasan Gültekin (21) was killed, Sami Tokmak, Kemal Candan and Ismet Tasbasi were injured. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
Right-Wing Attack on Students
On 7 May a group of extreme right-wingers attacked a group of 5 students from the Selçuk University in Konya, when they refused to buy tickets for a Caucasian night. Allegedly the right-wingers used a pump gun and injured Alaaddin Aktas, Ilhan Kiliç, Sedat Erol, Mehmet Zana Kibar and Ayetullah Güven. They were taken to the hospital of the medical faculty. Three of the attackers were identified as Zeki Zorlu, Yusuf Narin and Levent Akkus. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
On 7 May the police raided various houses in Igdir and detained the HADEP members Bilal Yerlikaya, Hüseyin Adigüzel and 7 students on charges of having distributed leaflets on 1 May, International Labour Day. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
Revised Verdict against the Yüksekova gang
The Panel of Chambers at the Court of Cassations partly accepted the objection by the chief prosecutor on the verdict against the so-called Yüksekova gang and overruled the decision by the 6th Chamber by confirming the conviction of Major Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, chief village guard Kemal Ölmez, Enver Çirak, member of a special unit and Bülent Yetüt. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
Death Fast Action
On 1 May the 8th group started the death fast action against the F-type prisons. According to a statement by lawyer Behiç Asçi from the Peopleís Law Office the number of death fastening people in the prisons and hospitals had been 50 before. The names of the new hunger strikers were given as: in Bakirköy Special Type Prison: Eylem Göktas, in Kocaeli Kandira F-type Prison: Nihat Palabiyik and Yavuz Ates, in Tekirdag F-type Prison: Ali Sahin, in Ankara Sincan F-type Prison: Yusuf Arici and Erkan Koncek, in Edirne F-type Prison: Mesut Akbul and in Izmir Kiriklar F-type Prison: Sinan Akbayir. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 9, 2002)
Torture in Kiziltepe
The teachers Yakup Basboga, Zübeyir Avci, Aziz Yücedag, Sermin Erbas, Lokman Koçhan, Mahmut Kuzu, Mahsum Bilen, Mikail Bülbül, Abdulkerim Kosar, Faruk Kiliç, Lokman Kuzu and the engineer Ahmet Ökten, who had been detained in Kiziltepe district (Mardin) on 7 May, were arrested on 10 May, apparently in connection with Kurdish books found at their homes. Hüseyin Cangir, chairman of the Mardin branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) alleged that the teacher Sermin Erbas had a miscarriage in the 3rd month of her pregnancy. The teachersí union Egitim Sen in Mardin announced that their members had been tortured in custody. They had been hosed with water under high pressure, their heads had been covered with plastic bags, they had been forced to sing military marches, had been beaten roughly, forced to walk like ducks, not been given anything to eat or drink for 3 days, their testicles had been squeezed, having been stripped naked they had been kept waiting and been insulted. Sermin Erbas had to be taken to the hospital of Dicle University in Diyarbakir on the day of her arrest and was in a serious condition. Despite legal provisions 25 to 30 police officers had been present during the interrogation of the prosecutor. (Radikal-TIHV, May 12, 2002)
Torture in Kahta
On 10 May Isa Demirci applied to the Adiyaman branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD). He alleged that he had been detained in Kahta district (Adiyaman) on allegations of having looked at the police headquarters in a "suspicious" way. Because of the beating he got a headache and bad stomach and went to Kahta State Hospital, from where he was sent to Adiyaman State Hospital. Allegedly the staff refused to treat him. Even when executives of the IHD accompanied him he could not get a report, because of many police officers being present. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 11, 2002)
Medical Neglect
Reportedly Mehmet Kaya, imprisoned in Antep Special Type Prison, is not treated on inguinal hernia. His daughter Leyla Kaya appealed to the Justice Minister, the Health Minister and Diyarbakir IHD, asking for a treatment of the disease as a result of torture. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 11, 2002)
Akin Birdal on Trial
On 10 May Ankara Criminal Court No. 2 continued to hear the case of Akin Birdal, honorable chairman of the Human Rights Association (IHD) for a speech he delivered in Germany on 20 October 2000. During the speech he allegedly said that Turkey should apologize for the Armenian genocide. The hearing was adjourned to 27 June to establish the identity and whereabouts of the journalist of the daily "Gözcü", who had reported on this event. So far, the hearing was adjourned several times for the same reason. Akin Birdal is charged under Article 159 TPC with insulting the nature of being a Turk. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 11, 2002)
Attack by Right-Wingers
During the night of 11 May right-wingers attacked Sadiye Halisdemir, member of the trade union for health personnel (SES), her husband Hidir Halisdemir, member of the Freedom and Democracy Party (ÖDP), Seyran Ürembay, member of SES and her husband lieutenant Ali Ürembay in Akhisar (Manisa). Sadiye Halisdemir was injured to her head and face and Hidir Halisdemir had broken ribs. The attackers were released after testifying to the public prosecutor. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 13, 2002)
Event in Giresun
On 12 May Recai Zaim, Mayor of Espiye district (Giresun) for the DSP, Ibrahim Akgün, Mayor of Sogukpinar town, Ahmet Akbulut, Director of the Woodsí Department in Espiye and the driver Mehmet Külah were kidnapped near Yaglidere district (Giresun). Ibrahim Akgün was released shortly afterwards and the other persons around midnight. The kidnappers are said to be members of the Revolutionary Peopleís Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), who used the opportunity to make propaganda in a neighboring village. (Sabah-TIHV, May 13, 2002)
Trial against Hunger Strikers
On 13 May Istanbul SSC No. 6 started to hear the case of 19 defendants, 8 of them in pre-trial detention, who had been detained during a police operation against houses of hunger strikers in Küçükarmutlu quarter (Istanbul). The hearing was adjourned to 28 August. During the attack of the police on 5 November 2001 4 people were killed. In this trial the defendants Zeki Dogan, Sinan Tökü, Güzin Tolga, Eylem Göktas, Ahmet Güzel, Gamze Turan, Vedat Çelik, Selma Kubat (under arrest) and Dursun Ali Pekin, Halil Aksu, Haydar Bozkurt, Hakki Simsek, Hüseyin Akpinar, Serhat Ertürk, Özkan Güzel, Madimak Özen, Halil Acar, Serap Boyoglu and Engin Karagöz (not in pre-trial detention) have to expect sentences of between 5 and 22.5 yearsí imprisonment. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 14, 2002)
Clashes and Attacks
During a clash at the border between the provinces of Sivas and Tokat between the security forces and a group of militants, estimated to consist of 30 people, Cafer Özdemir, an alleged militant of the Turkish Communist Party/ML-Workersí and Peasants Liberation Army of Turkey (TKP/ML TIKKO), was killed. He is said to be the uncle of Bektas Özdemir, who had been arrested for supporting an illegal organization. Meanwhile, the kidnapping action in Giresun province (see item 05/083 of yesterday) was also attributed to TIKKO. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 14, 2002)
The Susurluk Scandal
The chief prosecution in Ankara decided not to prosecute retired generals and politicians, who had made statements in support of chief lieutenant Korkut Eken after his conviction in the so-called Susurluk case that resulted in a 6 yearsí prison term for him. Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bekir Selçuk argued that the retired generals including Dogan Güres, former chief of the General Staff, Necati Özgen, Teoman Koman, Hasan Kundakçi, Atilla Kurtaran, Cumhur Evcil, Veli Küçük and the MPs Kemal Çelik, Hayri Kozakçioglu and Ünal Erkan had carried out important tasks in the fight against the PKK. They had only commented on the success of Korkut Eken in this fight and is was impossible to link their statements to the fact that Istanbul SSC No. 6 had punished Korkut Eken. (Aksam-TIHV, May 14, 2002)
Verdict in the Bahçelievler Case
On 14 May Ankara Criminal Court No. 3 passed its verdict on Mahmut Korkmaz, one of the suspects for the so-called Bahçelievler massacre, during which seven students, members of the Turkish Workersí Party (TIP) were killed on 8 October 1978. He had appeared in court for the first time. Presiding judge announced the details of verdicts in the following manner. As participant in the killings Mahmut Korkmaz was sentenced to 15 yearsí imprisonment for each according to Article 450/4 TPC. The total of 105 yearsí imprisonment were commuted to the maximum penalty of 36 yearsí imprisonment. The case against the defendant Kadri Kürsat Poyraz, against whom an arrest warrant in absentia exists, was separated. On 1 November 1999 Ankara Criminal Court No. 3 had convicted Bünyamin Adanali and Ünal Osman Agaoglu and sentenced them to death seven times, but the 9th Chamber of Cassation had ruled on 14 July 2000 that it was wrong to sentence the defendants as actual murderers. When Ankara Criminal Court No. 3 resisted on the initial verdict, the Panel of Chambers at the Court of Cassations had finally confirmed the death penalties. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 15, 2002)
Devrimci Yol Trial
On 14 May Ankara Criminal Court No. 6 continued to hear the case of 23 defendants from the Devrimci Yol (Revolutionary Path) Trial that had originally started at Ankara Military Court on 18 October 1982. The verdict of 19 July 1989 had been quashed on 27 December 1995 for 23 defendants on the grounds that these defendants should have been sentenced to death. The hearing of 14 May was adjourned for two more defendants to prepare their final statements. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 15, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
The teachers Sermin Erbas, Aziz Yücedag, Nurettin Demir, Faruk Kiliç, Mahmut Kuzu and the engineer Ahmet Ökten, six of the 12 persons, who had been arrested on 10 May, were released on 14 May after their lawyers had objected against the arrest warrants. Reportedly the charges against them are based on Law 2911 on Demonstration and Meetings and on Law 3713 to Fight Terrorism. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 15, 2002)
Attack by Right-Wingers
The student Cihan Güngör, staying in a studentsí dormitory in Balikesir was attacked by five right-wingers in the night of 13 May. During a press conference at the Balikesir branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) fellow students stated that three of the attackers were not students. They named three of the attackers as Murat Yorganci, Deniz Kocaekiz and Oguzhan Kesici. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 15, 2002)
Medical Neglect
Fatma Yilmaz, mother of Abdullah Yilmaz, imprisoned in Batman E-type Prison, alleged that her son was not getting treatment for the last five months. He had been taken to Batman State Hospital in January. The doctors had discovered that his kidneys were no functioning and he was in urgent need of treatment. She feared that her son might die, if he is not treated. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 16, 2002)
Veli Saçilik on Trial
It was discovered that Veli Saçilik, who lost one arm during the operation in Burdur Prison on 5 July 2000, was put on trial for illegally collecting aid. Yasar Seyman had started a campaign to collect money for him so that he could get an artificial arm. Radio station "Ekin" had supported the campaign and the owner Servet Ünsal, the chief editor Abdülrezzak Oral and speaker Tuncay Karakis had been acquitted from the same charges by Ankara Penal Court No. 2. However, the testimony of the Yasar Seyman to the effect that the victim should open a bank account was reason for another trial. Veli Saçilik alleged that he was never informed about this trial that terminated already in March this year. His sentence of 3 monthsí imprisonment and a fine of TL 35 million was commuted to TL 248 million. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 16, 2002)
Trial against IP
On 15 May Ankara Penal Court No. 2 started to hear the case of Dogu Perinçek, leader of the Workersí Party (IP) and the deputy chairman Hasan Yalçin. They are charged with publishing the electronic mails of Karen Fogg, representative of the European Union in Turkey, which they had obtained by illegal means. The court decided to ask the Ministry of Justice for an interpretation of paragraph a1 in Article 525 TPC in connection with access to electronic mail and adjourned the hearing. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 16, 2002)
Killing of Hüseyin Duman
On 16 May Kadiköy Criminal Court No. 2 passed its verdict on Ihsan Bal, chairman of Küçükbakkalköy Idealistsí Union, for the killing of Hüseyin Duman (28), member of the Socialist Power Party (SIP) on 17 April 1999. The court sentenced him to 24 yearsí imprisonment according to Article 448 TPC, but ordered his release on the basis that he would benefit from the Law on Conditional Release and Suspension of Sentences. The case has started in December 2000 and the court has issued an arrest warrant for him. He has surrendered on 14 January 2001 after the release of the Law on Conditional Release and Suspension of Sentences. But he has been released on bail of TL 10 billion the same day. This was not the first trial of the right-winger Ihsan Bal. Kadiköy Criminal Court No. 3 had acquitted him in connection with the killing of Ali Güngör, follower of Kurtulus Socialist Journal (KSD) on 23 April 1983, because of lack of evidence. For the killing of Mete Yüksel, chairman of the Akincilar Association, on 23 February 1979 he was tried at Istanbul Military Court, but also acquitted because of lack of evidence. His only conviction had been announced for illegal possession of arms, but the prison term of one year had been commuted to a fine. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
The Akkise Event
Sergeant Ali Çaliskan was arrested in Izmir in connection with the events in Akkise town, Ahirli district (Konya) on 9 August 2001. The arrest warrant had been issued by Seydisehir Criminal Court. During the incidents in Akkise that started with an ID check of the gendarmerie Hasan Gültekin (21) was killed, Sami Tokmak, Kemal Candan and Ismet Tasbasi were injured. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
Trial against the Union of 68ers Foundation
On 16 May Beyoglu Judicial Court No. 1 started to hear the case of the Union of 68ers Foundation. The General Directorate for Foundation initiated the case with the demand of dissolving the Foundation and ordering that the 47 board members may not take official positions again, because they undermined the existing system. 25 executives including the chairman Gökalp Eren, Cüneyt Akalin and Namik Kemal Boya attended the hearing. The presiding judge did not take their testimony since they had not been invited officially and adjourned the hearing to a later date. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
Action of Türk-Is
The sit-in organized by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türk-Is) against the draft law on "work security" that had started in Ankara-Güvenpark on 15 May was terminated during the night of 16 May. Officials of Turk-Is beat a group of students, who wanted to visit the protesters. When the police did not allow the distribution of blankets a discussion between the workers and the police resulted in injuries of one police officer. Nurettin Kiliçdogan chairman of the trade union TÜMTIS for Ankara was detained. In the morning of 16 May the secretary of TÜMTIS, Abidin Kandeger, was detained. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
On 16 May Ahmet Korkmaz was detained in Bitlis. He is accused of having participated in an action in Bitlis-Hizan in November 1991 during which a sergeant and 7 village guards were killed. (Yeni Safak-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
Incident in Giresun
Giresun Governor Ali Haydar Öner announced that two soldiers died and two soldiers were wounded, when on 16 May different teams of the gendarmerie carrying out operation near Yaglidere district mistakenly shot at each other. (Milliyet-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
Eren Keskin on Trial
The prosecutor at Istanbul SSC indicted Eren Keskin, chairwoman of the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) for various press statements. She will be charged with supporting the PKK for the statements of 8 January 2002 "Call to the Universities", 14 February 2002 "Right to Mother Tongue ? Being left without it", 19 March 2002 "Human Rights Bulletin" and 21 March 2002 "Today, 21 March is Newroz Day". The prosecutor alleged that the statements were prepared according to the decisions taken by the PKK on its 7th Congress. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 18, 2002)
Torture in Torbali
On 18 April civilian dressed soldiers from Torbali-Kapikaya Gendarmerie Station detained Ahmet Yildiz in Gediz quarter, Buca district (Izmir). Together with Zeki Kilavuz and Izzet Ensen he was accused of having stolen animals. During the same night lawyer Aykut Dikencik was able to talk to the detainees, who told him that they had been tortured. Lawyer Dikencik informed the lawyersí group for the prevention of torture at Izmir Bar Association. The following day lawyers Özlem Yilmaz, Nergiz Tuba Aslan, Bahattin Özdemir and Ata Türkgülü went to see the detainees, who had been tortured again for having talked about their experience. Zeki Kilavuz told them: "I was detained in the house of Ahmet Yildiz. After we arrived at the gendarmerie station three people covered my mouth with an adhesive tape. I was forced to walk for about one kilometer to the forest. They pointed a pistol to my temple, pushed me so that I was rolling over the ground and beat me with their truncheons on my body and my testicles. I was not allowed to go to the toilet and did not get anything to drink." Ahmet Yildiz said: "At the station they cursed at me. We were taken into a very small room, like a bathroom and stripped stark naked. After 10 minutes the others were told to dress and taken away. To me they said that I was guilty and had to undress again. I was forced to stand the whole time. For 5 to 6 hours I was forced to touch the walls to me left and right with my hands. I was not given anything to eat and not taken to the toilet." Izzet Ensen added that the officers threatened him to kidnap his child, if he did not confess. At 9am the lawyers called the public prosecutor in Torbali. On orders of the prosecutor Zeki Kilavuz was taken to Izmir Atatürk Hospital for Education and Research, accompanied by a lawyer. While the lawyers filed an official complaint against the commander of Torbali Gendarmerie Station, Serif Bek, Torbali Penal Court ordered the arrest of the suspects on charges of theft. The lawyers said that this was the first time that the so-called Istanbul Protocol (for the effective investigation and documentation of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment) was followed under the guidance of the Human Right Foundation of Turkey (TIHV). Even though the result of the medical examination at the Atatürk Hospital had not been satisfactory they had also made sure that a psychological examination was carried out. During the confrontation at the gendarmerie station the victims could identify one of the torturers. They added that this approach prevented further torture. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 18, 2002)
Police Brutality in Izmir
In Ahmetbeyli town, Menderes district (Izmir) Cem Çakabay (23), born in Bingöl, alleged that he lost his job, because he did not address the lance corporal from Ahmetbeyli Gendarmerie Station as "my commander". He had refused to do so during an earlier conversation saying that he had finished his military service. In the evening of 9 May Cem Çakabay was allegedly forced to enter a car of the gendarmerie: "Four officers including the lance corporal by the name of Sükrü took me to a lonesome place. All four of them started to beat me with boards and stripes. I tried to protect my head with my hands, but they took my hands down and beat me at my head. Later they dragged me to the side of the road. I was hardly able to walk home. When I fainted friends took me to the hospital of the Aegean University." Çakabay received a report certifying 3 daysí inability to work and filed and official complaint. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 20, 2002)
Zeki Genç on Trial
On 17 May Beyoglu Penal Court No. 12 continued to hear the case of Zeki Genç, who attacked the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) on 15 November 2001 and his accomplices Bülent Sat and Turgay Araz. The presiding judge presented the report by the Forensic Institute on the mental health of Zeki Genç. The report concluded that he was not mentally disturbed. At the end of the hearing the court decided not be responsible for the case, since the charges should be attempted murder. The file was sent to Beyoglu Criminal Court No. 1. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
Teachers on Trial
On 17 May Diyarbakir Penal Court finished hearing the testimonies of 1,032 teachers, members of the union Egitim-Sen in Diyarbakir, who had participated in the one-day no-work action on 7 June 2001 in protest against the draft law on trade unions that was on the agenda of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). On 17 May Marmaris Penal Court acquitted 120 teachers, who had participated in the one-day no-work action of the Labor Platform in 1 December 2000. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 18, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
On 16 May the police detained Kazim Bakis, chairman of the trade union for dockworkers "Limter-Is". Reportedly an arrest warrant exists against him for organizing an attack. On 17 May Limter-Is officials Haci Yapici, Hakki Demiral and the worker Sahmettin Yasa from the shipyard in Tuzla were detained. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 17-18, 2002)
Incident in Giresun
The names of the soldiers, who on 16 May were mistakenly killed near Yaglidere district (Giresun), were given as Erkan Dedeoglu and Hüseyin Demircan. The soldiers Murat Sucu and Ferdi Ovali were wounded. (Radikal-TIHV, May 18, 2002)
Police Brutality in Kiziltepe
During the celebrations of the National Youth and Sports Day (19 May) in Kiziltepe (Mardin) the police beat the student Tahir Can, when he did not stand up, when the national anthem was played. His brother, the teacher Erdal Can, was also beaten, when he tried to intervene. The brothers were detained, after Tahir Can was treated in hospital. He received a report certifying inability to work for one week. Erdal Can was released in the evening hours. He filed a complaint against the police officers and the police officers complained against the brothers. (Milliyet-TIHV, May 21, 2002)
Pressure in Prison
Reports from Malatya stated that political prisoners in the E-type prison were held under conditions of an F-type prison. In rooms designed for 4 people 8 prisoners were held. The prisoners complained that things brought by visitors were not given to them and the goods in the canteen were sold at high prices. They werenít allowed to speak Kurdish to the visitors and prisoners did not get the necessary medical treatment. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 21, 2002)
Disciplinary Transfer
An investigation has been started against 28 out of 100 teachers, who on 20 March sent telegrams to Hatay Governor Zeki Sanal in protest at the disciplinary transfer of executives of the teachersí union Egitim-Sen in Iskenderun district (Hatay), Coskun Selçuk (ordered to Kirikhan) and Yilmaz Vurucu (ordered to Hassa). (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 21, 2002)
Lawyer on Trial
On 21 May Ankara SSC No. 1 started to hear the case of lawyer Kazim Bayraktar, charged with supporting an illegal organization. The case is based on material that was found in his office and a speech he held in the United Kingdom. In his testimony Kazim Bayraktar stated that he had spoken on human rights. The book on the incidents in Ulucanlar Prison only presented facts reflected in the autopsy reports. Since no case could be filed under the Law on the Press the prosecution had resorted to Article 169 TPC. He asked for a further investigation against himself, since many more forbidden publications and documents could be found in his office. These documents were the background material for the political trials he followed as defense lawyer, but the police only had confiscated the file on the Revolutionary Communist Union of Turkey (TIKB). The hearing, being attended by 20 defense lawyers, was adjourned to 25 June. Kazim Bayraktar was asked to document the use of money coming from abroad. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 22, 2002)
Death of Süleyman Yeter
On 21 May Istanbul Criminal Court No. 6 continued to hear the case of the police officers Ahmet Okuducu, Mehmet Yutar and Erol Ersan, who are charged with killing the trade unionist Süleyman Yeter under torture on 7 March 1999. The court prolonged the arrest warrant in absentia against Ahmet Okuducu and adjourned the hearing to 17 July. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 22, 2002)
The Yüksekova Gang
On 21 May the Panel of Chambers at the Court of Cassations rejected the demand by the chief prosecutor to overrule the decision by the 6th Chamber on the so-called "Yüksekova Gang". The 6th Chamber had quashed the verdict by Diyarbakir SSC No. 4 on the grounds of insufficient investigation. On 22 March Diyarbakir SSC 4 had passed its verdict in this case. The 13 defendants included a PKK confessor, high-ranking members of the military and even one mayor. Being charged with drugs and arms smuggling, robbery and other offences the court acquitted Major Hamdi Poyraz, Ali Ihsan Zeydan, former mayor of Yüksekova (Hakkari), lieutenant Ali Kurtoglu, village guard Ismet Ölmez, Hasan Öztunç, Mustafa Koca, Oguz Baygünes and Captain Nihat Yigiter. PKK confessor Kahraman Bilgiç was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, Major Mehmet Emin Yurdakul to 25 years and 2 months imprisonment, Kemal Ölmez, leader of village guards received a sentence of 13 years and 4 months imprisonment, Lieutenant Bülent Yetüt 7 years' and four months' and special team member Enver Cirak 3 years and 8 months' imprisonment. The retrial will be conducted at Hakkari Criminal Court. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 22, 2002)
Refugee Died
The name of the refugee was given as Hidir Akay who died on 22 May as a passenger of the ship "Hayri Reis" with 233 refugees on board and which the border protection force tried to stop,. He reportedly was born in Mardin and died in Girne Hospital (Cyprus). The other refugees are being held at the Akkum Scout Resort in Narlikuyu town. They reported that they had not get anything to eat for three days. The captain of the ship, Ali Can, and four lorry drivers, said to be involved in this case, are under interrogation. In Erzurum province a lorry overturned near Köprüköy district. Of the 35 travelers from Northern Iraq Hiva Fazil Emin (32) lost his life. 13 refugees had to be treated and all of them were detained. (Zaman-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
IHD Executives on Trial
On 23 May Elazig Penal Court No. 1 concluded the trial against Cafer Demir, chairman of the Elazig branch of the IHD, Kenan Çetin, secretary in Elazig and Osman Baydemir, deputy chairman of the IHD headquarter, in connection with speeches during a "Solidarity Night" organized by the Elazig branch on 21 April 2001. The defendants were acquitted from charges of having violated the Law on Association. On 12 April Malatya SSC had also acquitted the same defendants from charges brought under Article 312 TPC. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Trade Unionists on Trial
On 23 May Ankara SSC started the retrial of Tekin Yildiz, chairman of the trade union of staff in the judiciary (Tüm Yargi Sen) and 16 board members of the trade union on charges of "aiding and bedding members of an illegal organization". On 6 September 2001 Ankara SSC had convicted Tekin Yildiz, Necdet Bekçi, Edip Binbir, Dursun Öztürk, Yildiz Çakmak, Hürriyet Pinar, Kutluay Öztürk, Ahmet Tanboga, Bekir Akkaya, Figen Öner, Fatma Akkus, Incehan Çaglayan, Erol Çavus, Kamur Emir, Nano Kaya and Ali Yücel Sahin under Article 169 TPC and sentenced them to 45 monthsí imprisonment in connection with a statement on the F-type prisons, but the 9th Chamber of the Court of Cassation had quashed the verdict stating that the defendants should be acquitted. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Demonstrators on Trial
The public prosecutor at Malatya SSC has indicted 26 people including Salih Gündogan, chairman of the Labor Party (EMEP) in Tunceli, Deniz Taçyildiz, executive of the Labor Party (EMEP) in Tunceli and the EMEP members Gökhan Gündogan, Gökhan Yilmaz, Hüseyin Dogan, Ali Tütmez and the trade unionist Hidir Demir. They were charged with supporting the PKK, since slogans such as "Long Live Peace" (in Kurdish) and "Education in the Mother Tongue cannot be prevented" were shouted during the demonstration on 8 March, World Womenís Day. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
In Sivas the students Veyis Sami Selek ve Seyhan Eryilmaz, who had been detained for their alleged membership of the Turkish Communist Workersí Party (TKIP), were arrested on 23 May. In Istanbul the police detained 6 students, who protested against the ban of headscarves in front of Kadiköy Anadolu Theological Lyceum on 23 May. (Evrensel-Yeni Safak-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Stop Warning
Mümtaz Özdemir, a truck driver, died when soldiers of the gendarmerie shot at his vehicle near Kizilca village in Baskale district (Van), allegedly because he did not follow the "stop order". The official announcement said that the soldiers shot at the tires and a ricochet hit the driver. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 25, 2002)
Death in Prison
Osman Aslan, imprisoned in Izmir-Urla died on 23 May. He was serving a 12 yearsí sentence of imprisonment for membership of the PKK and was under treatment in Yesilyurt State Hospital for a tumor in his brain. He would have been released on 24 July. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 25, 2002)
Police Brutality in Istanbul
On 23 May police officers beat Sevinç Çelenk, mother of a student at Kadiköy Anadolu Theological Lyceum, during a gathering in front of the school in protest at the ban on headscarves. She got a report from hospital and stated that she was beaten with a sharp tool and fists, when the police tried to detain her daughter. (Sabah-TIHV, May 25, 2002)
Attacks by MHP Followers
On 23 May Cem Uzunget, chairman of the studentsí association at the medical faculty of Ankara Gazi University, was attacked by a group of followers of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP). A statement from the studentsí association listed attacks by MHP followers since 20 May: on 6 students from the faculty for professional education, two from the faculty for education and one student from the faculty for technical education. On 23 May MHP followers injured the student Sultan Kara from Istanbul Maltepe Orhangazi Lyceum with a knife. She had to be taken to hospital. In October and November 2001 she had been attacked by MHP followers. ( Evrensel-TIHV, May 25, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
Akif Basaran, who had been detained on 19 May, when he came from Denmark and entered Turkey at Atatürk Airport (Istanbul), was released by the prosecutor at Ankara SSC on 24 May. He was said to be a member of the Kurdistan National Congress. In Elbistan district (Maras) the HADEP members Besey Ay, Oruç Ay, Mehmet Sah Alp, Ertugrul Yildiz, Ali Tas and Abbas Görür, who had been detained on charges of supporting the PKK, were arrested on 26 May. 8 people were released. In Kasrik town (Sirnak) Selahattin Ulas, Abdullah Güngör, Hasan Güngör and Ömer Sanli were detained. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 25-27, 2002)
The Susurluk Scandal
On 24 May Ali Fevzi Bir, who had been convicted in the so-called Susurluk case and sentenced to 4 yearsí imprisonment, was refouled from Germany to Turkey. On 25 May he was put in Kartal Prison (Istanbul) and will have to stay in prison for 467 days. He is currently on trial for bribery in football matches. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 25, 2002)
Isa Armagan Released
On 26 May Isa Armagan was released from Bandirma Prison according to the Law on Conditional Release and Suspension of Sentences. He had been convicted in connection with an attack on 4 coffeehouses in Balgat (Ankara) on 10 August 1978 and the killing of 5 and injuring 12 left-wing people. For this attack he and Mustafa Pehlivanoglu had been sentenced to death as leaders of the Sheria Command Army of Turkey (TÜSKO) and the attempt to establish a State according to the order of the síharia according to Article 149/2 TPC. 10 days after the verdict had been confirmed in 1980 both prisoners were rescued from Mamak Military Prison. Pehlivanoglu was captured after the military coup of 12 September and executed on 7 October 1980. Isa Armagan escaped to the Iran and fought against Iraq. On 27 August 1992 he was captured in Germany and on 30 May 1995 he was refouled to Turkey. According to the Law to Fight Terrorism (1991) his death sentence was commuted to 10 yearsí imprisonment and a sentence of 18 yearsí imprisonment for robbery was commuted to 45 monthsí imprisonment. Answering a question tabled by MP Ramazan Toprak from the Party for Justice and Development (AKP) Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Türk said that 382.977 people benefited from the Law on Conditional Release and Suspension of Sentences and 40.158 people had been released on the basis of this law. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 27, 2002)
Refugees Killed
Erzincan Governor Halil Ibrahim Altinok announced that three migrants, two from Afghanistan and one from Bangladesh, were killed near the village Aksu. He stated that the migrants had opened fire on the security forces and were captured dead together with their arms. Another 30 migrants were captured alive. Further detentions of people entering or leaving the country illegally were reported from Van (110), Edirne (50) and Gebze (8). (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 28, 2002)
Incident in Istanbul
Burak Yapici (26), who was injured on 22 May, when he tried to enter Bakirköy Police HQ. in Istanbul, died in Bakirköy State Hospital on 27 May. He had been shot in his leg and stomach and reportedly died because of poisoned blood. His brother Safak Yapici stated that his brother had been under treatment at Bakirköy Hospital for Mentally Diseases for the last six months. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 28, 2002)
The Manisa Trial
On 27 May Manisa Criminal Court continued the trial against 10 police officers, charged with having tortured 16 juveniles between 26 December 1995 and 5 January 1996. For three times the hearing had been adjourned giving the defendants time to appoint new lawyers, yet not all defendants have replied. Lawyer Serhan Özbek, chairman of Manisa Bar Association, acting for the sub-plaintiffs, repeated his fear that the police officers may go without punishment, because of lapse of time. The court adjourned the hearing to 17 June. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 28, 2002)
Stop Warning
On 27 May Ali Kalabay (26) was shot dead in Istanbul-Kadiköy. Allegedly he tried to enter the flat of his lover and shot at the police officers, which tried to prevent him. When he tried to run away he was shot dead. Officials stated that he was first hit into his leg, but continued to fire at the police officers. (Milliyet-TIHV, May 29, 2002)
The Devrimci Yol Trial
On 28 May Ankara Criminal Court No. 6 continued to hear the case of 23 defendants from the Devrimci Yol (Revolutionary Path) Trial that had originally started at Ankara Military Court on 18 October 1982. The verdict of 19 July 1989 had been quashed on 27 December 1995 for 23 defendants on the grounds that these defendants should have been sentenced to death. The hearing was adjourned to 27 June for a new judge to study the files. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 29, 2002)
Trial for Protesting the USA
On 28 May Bakirköy Penal Court No. 3 continued to hear the case of 50 people, who on 29 September 2001 had participated in a protest meeting against the US attack on Afghanistan. Eren Keskin, chairwoman of the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and Ahmet Mercan, chairman of the Istanbul branch of the human rights organization Mazlum-Der, are among the defendants. The hearing was adjourned to 11 September. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 29, 2002)
Detentions and Arrests
In Istanbul Selma Kaan, Derya Gökmen (staff of the journal "Devrim Yolunda Isçi Köylü") and Ilyas Ekinci, working for the Culture Center "Tohum", were detained, when they put up posters in commemoration of Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, who founded the Turkish Communist Party/ML-Workersí and Peasants Liberation Army of Turkey (TKP/ML TIKKO). (Evrensel-TIHV, May 29, 2002)
Refugees Drowned
Four out of 39 refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, who had crossed the border to the Iran illegally, drowned, when they entered reeds near Örtülü village in Dogubeyazit district (Agri). Officials stated that the unidentified persons tried to hide, but 35 had been captured. They will be returned, while the dead refugees will be buried in Dogubeyazit. (NTV-TIHV, May 29, 2002)
Death in Prison
In Bolu Closed Prison Müjdat Kanze committed suicide. His corpse was found on 29 May. He was imprisoned for raping his sister. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 30, 2002)
The "Egyptian Bazaar" Case
On 29 May Istanbul SSC No. 4 continued to hear the case of 15 defendants in connection with an explosion in the "Egyptian Bazaar" on 9 July 1998 that resulted in the death of 7 and injuries of 120 people. This time defendant Alaattin Öget stated that he did not want to be a confessor and claimed that earlier testimonies against Pinar Selek and other defendants had been extracted under pressure. He warned Pinar Selek, who was present as non-remanded defendant, to be careful, because she might be killed. Defendant Kadriye Sevgi Kübra, who earlier had stated that she wanted to benefit from the Repentance Law, said that she did not know Pinar Selek and the other defendants. In this trial the death penalty is demanded for the defendants Pinar Selek, Abdülmecit Öztürk (under arrest), Alaattin Öget (under arrest), Isa Kaya (under arrest) and Kadriye Sevgi Kübra (under arrest) according to Article 125 TPC. For the defendants Baran Öztürk, Heval Öztürk (under arrest), Ercan Alir, Masallah Yagin (under arrest), Delibas Arat, Menderes Öget, Erkan Öget, Hasan Kiliçdogan, Alican Öget and Suat Kaya the prosecutor has demanded sentences of between 3 and 31 yearsí imprisonment. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 30, 2002)
Incidents in Akkise
The case against officer Ali Çaliskan concerning the events in Akkise (Konya) on 9 August 2001 continued at Seydisehir Criminal Court on 29 May. The incident in Akkise started when two people could not identify themselves during a check by the gendarmerie. The officer Ali Çaliskan came with some 100 soldiers and Hasan Gültekin (21) was killed, Sami Tokmak, Kemal Candan and Ismet Tasbasi were injured. A trial against 52 soldiers and 22 civilians is continuing at Ahirli Penal Court. The soldiers are charged with "ill-treatment", while the civilians are charged with "damaging public property" and "resisting the security forces". (Evrensel-TIHV, May 30, 2002)
Teachers on Trial
On 29 May Eyüp Penal Court No. 2 continued to hear the case of 53 teachers, who had participated in the one-day-no-work action on 1 December 2000. 17 teachers were present and stated that they did not intend to delay their work and the decision for the action had been taken by the Labour Platform. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 30, 2002)
Attacks and Clashes
A clash between militants of the Turkish Communist Party/ML-Workersí and Peasants Liberation Army of Turkey (TKP/ML TIKKO) and the security forces was reported to have occurred on the Bektas Plateau on Dereli district (Giresun) on 28 May. Murat Akkaya, member of a special team, was wounded and taken to Bulancak State Hospital. From here he was taken to a hospital in Giresun (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 30, 2002)
Refugees Drowned and Frozen to Death
At Maydanoz shore in Menderes district (Izmir) the corpses of five migrants from Pakistan were found in the night of 29 May. One of them was identified as Hamid Mahmut. Major Feyyaz Alev, commander of the gendarmerie forces in Izmir, announced that since the beginning of the year 1,127 illegal migrants had been captured, the majority being from Iraq (454) and Turkey (234) followed by Afghanistan (130) and Pakistan (118). 21 persons, one of them from Greece, had been captured as organizers. Van Governor Durmus Koç declared that the corpses of 19 people had been found near Asagi Gülderen village in Çaldiran district (Van). Presumably the corpses belonged to illegal migrants from Afghanistan, who had frozen do death about one-and-half months ago, when the snow in that region had been 3 to 4 meters thick. Nine of the corpses were children. Seven corpses were buried in Çaldiran. Others will be buried after the autopsy. On 29 May 22 migrants from Iraq were captured in Çaldiran on a lorry. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 31, 2002)
Pressure in Prison
The human rights organization Mazlum-Der issued a 7-page report on the
situation in Kocaeli and Bolu F-type Prison. The report is based on observations
made by the lawyers Turgay Özdemir and Mustafa Ercan and was announced
by Ahmet Mercan, chairman of the Istanbul branch of Mazlum-Der. Prisonersí
relatives participating in the press conference of 30 May complained that
the prisoners often were wounded because of beatings by the guardians.
The prisoners were not allowed to pray and the time of visits was restricted
because the visitors were taken in one after the other. The report stated
that prisoners had been stripped stark naked for body searches and one
prisoner had been beaten, when he objected. The prisoners, who wanted to
pray, were disturbed by loud music. The prisoners are not allowed to watch
the TV station of their choice. Only little food is given and the food
in the canteen is very expensive. The water in the cells is not drinkable
and the prisoner can only take showers with warm water once a week. Communication
with other prisoners can only be done in writing and possibilities for
sports are not granted. The Ankara branch of the Human Rights Association
(IHD) published a 6-page report on the situation in Sincan F-type Prison.
Speaking for Ankara IHD Saadet Erdem stated that the prisoners Halil Koçyigit
and Hidir Demir had lost their lives not because of the death fast action,
but the bad prison conditions. The report claimed that systematic ill-treatment
was continuing. The complaints were not investigated. Most letters of the
prisoners were given back, because they commented on the death fast action.
Quoting from 55 complaints by the prisoners the report stated that prisoners
on hunger strike had forcibly been taken to hospital, newspapers and journals
were not handed over, visits of lawyers were restricted, documents for
the defense were not handed over, prices in the canteen were very high
and deposited money was not handed over to them. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 31,
2002)
POLITIQUE INTERIEURE / INTERIOR POLICY
La Turquie gouvernée depuis l'hôpital
Un Premier ministre qui gouverne depuis l'hôpital, un pays qui vit au rythme des communiqués de ses médecins : la Turquie est entrée dans une ère d'incertitude au moment où elle doit se colleter avec les problèmes cruciaux de son adhésion à l'UE et de sa crise économique.
"Cela rappelle l'ère soviétique, l'époque des maladies de Tchernenko, Andropov et les autres", déplore un diplomate occidental sous couvert de l'anonymat.
Bulent Ecevit, qui fêtera mardi ses 77 ans, a été hospitalisé à deux reprises en deux semaines. Il souffre officiellement d'une côte gauche cassée et d'une thrombophlébite à la jambe.
Mais sa santé "est bonne", ne cesse-t-il de répéter. Il refuse tous les appels à la démission et préfère gouverner depuis l'hôpital de Baskent, où il a convoqué mardi un sommet des dirigeants de sa coalition qui devait en principe se consacrer aux réformes à entreprendre pour que la Turquie puisse ouvrir des négociations d'adhésion avec l'Union européenne.
Pas question pour M. Ecevit d'abandonner le pouvoir ou même de passer le relais au sein de son parti de la Gauche démocratique (DSP). Il fait valoir que son départ serait catastrophique pour la stabilité du pays et par là même, pour la guérison de son économie en crise.
"On est de plus en plus dans une situation à l'italienne", commente un analyste économique occidental sous couvert de l'anonymat. "Il n'y a plus d'Etat, le gouvernement ne travaille plus depuis un mois et demi. Mais sans Etat, ça tient tout seul", remarque-t-il.
La question est de savoir combien de temps.
Les marchés, très nerveux lundi lorsque M. Ecevit a été de nouveau hospitalisé pour "au moins une semaine", se sont entre-temps calmés. La livre turque a perdu du terrain face au dollar, mais les analystes notent que cette correction était bienvenue dans la mesure où elle était surévaluée.
"Il faudrait que l'on se retrouve avec une perspective et des visibilités, il faudrait organiser des élections anticipées", avant la date prévue de 2004, souligne cet analyste, selon qui "leur effet ne serait pas catastrophique et il n'y aura pas de fuite massive de capitaux comme en 2001", moment où avait éclaté une grave crise économique déclenchée par M. Ecevit.
Il avait alors annoncé qu'une "crise" l'opposait au président Ahmet Necdet Sezer, détruisant toute confiance dans la stabilité du gouvernement alors que la Turquie se relevait à peine d'une crise financière.
Déjà à l'époque, les appels à la démission d'un Premier ministre visiblement inconscient des effets que sa déclaration devait provoquer s'étaient multipliés.
Entre-temps, son gouvernement a mis en oeuvre une série de réformes structurelles sous la houlette du Fonds monétaire international (FMI) et avec une aide record du Fonds de 16 milliards de dollars, qui ont posé des gardes-fous.
Mais la précarité de plus en plus évidente de la santé de M. Ecevit, parfois incapable de marcher seul ou tenant des propos confus --plusieurs fois ces derniers mois, devant la presse, il a appelé son homologue israélien Ariel Sharon "Monsieur Sheraton"-- a fait ressurgir les appels à la démission.
Pourtant, les autres dirigeants de sa coalition, Mesut Yilmaz du parti de la Mère patrie (ANAP, centre-droit) et Devlet Bahceli du Parti de l'Action nationaliste (MHP, ultra-nationaliste), freinent des quatre fers, et la situation menace de durer.
"Aucun d'entre eux ne veut d'élections anticipées", souligne
un analyste occidental. "Yilmaz a peur de disparaître du parlement
en obtenant moins des 10% des voix nécessaires. Et Bahceli craint
de se faire déborder sur sa droite car il a oublié ses engagements
antérieurs, notamment sa campagne pour faire pendre Ocalan (le chef
de la rébellion kurde condamné à mort en juin 1999)",
note-t-il. (Florence Biedermann, AFP, 23 mai 2002)
The sick man of Turkey isn't Ecevit, but the system itself
In 1566, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Lawmaker set out with his army to lay siege to the fortress of Zigetvar despite his ailing health and advanced age. His troops were on the verge of victory when he suddenly died in his tent. Desperate to keep the news secret, his chief minister, Mehmet Sokullu Pasa, arranged for his body to be embalmed, propped up on the back of a horse and ridden back to Istanbul, where eventually the sultan's death was formally announced.
Recalling that incident in the newspaper Yeni Safak, Turkish columnist Fehmi Koru wrote: "Tricks played on sick or elderly statesmen are a familiar part of our history."
They remain so in modern Turkey ? republican, "democratic," secular Turkey ? and in the age of transparency and globalized mass media from which no secrets can be kept.
A case in point is what happened to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit after he was taken seriously ill on May 4 and rushed to hospital, reportedly suffering from severe stomach and back pains. Within 26 hours, it was announced that the premier had recovered and been sent home.
In the following days, no official medical report revealing the truth about Ecevit's condition was published. But the prevailing conviction in Ankara is that this time, the illness of the prime minister, who prior to his hospitalization relied on steroids to give him some energy and vitality, is no ordinary matter. Everyone views it as signaling the final demise, in political terms at least, of a statesman and leader who has left a powerful mark on Turkish politics over the past three decades.
The illness of a political leader would not be of such major import, or arouse such intense concern, had Turkey's political and economic health not been in such critical shape, and so intimately bound up with the survival of a single man.
Ecevit was resurrected politically after Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan was forced out of office in June 1997. Indeed, Ecevit was virtually reinvented. The left-wing pro-labor politician of the 1970s became the enforcer of policies from the International Monetary Fund and head of a coalition government under which Turkey witnessed the biggest financial corruption scandals it has ever known. He is now the key to the stability of both the government and the party political system. His absence would turn many things on their heads and could lead to a complete reformation of the country's internal political dynamics, and perhaps its external relations as well.
There is no doubt that Ecevit is "the army's man" in the political echelon. His coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the National Movement Party (MHP), whose far-right credentials would cause problems in Turkey's foreign relations, cannot fill his shoes.
Nor could Ecevit be replaced by junior partner Mesut Yilmaz of the Motherland Party (ANAP), whom the army generals do not fully trust and with whom they are at odds over relations with the European Union, which he enthusiastically champions.
Above all, it is on Ecevit that the military relies in its self-proclaimed "1,000-year war" against the Islamists. Both Bahceli and Yilmaz are reluctant to carry that war all the way, in deference to the conservative and religious components of their respective parties' constituencies.
Since the April 1999 parliamentary elections, it is Ecevit who has held the coalition together. The MHP (which currently has the same number of legislators ? 127 ? as Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP), would not countenance allowing the premiership to pass to ANAP (which only has 78 lawmakers) under Yilmaz's leadership.
Indeed, Bahceli would also be unlikely to accept any DSP head of government other than Ecevit. This is not only because there is no one of real stature in Ecevit's party to succeed him. It is also because his most likely successor, his wife Rahsan, is at loggerheads with Bahceli's followers ? whom she famously described as thugs who wrought death and havoc on the streets in the 1970s.
Thus, the demise or retirement of the premier, 76, would certainly cause a coalition crisis that would damage the "centers of power" that stand behind the government, above all the military establishment.
"What do you do when the prime minister falls ill in a country in which nothing is healthy?" asked commentator Bekin Coskun in the daily Hurriyet. "In democracies, such conditions are remedied by holding elections."
But in the current circumstances, early elections ? the next parliamentary polls are not due until 2004 ? are a nightmare that no one in the government, or in the centers of power, wants to see come true.
So long as Ecevit survives, they can be avoided. But his absence would make the survival of the coalition untenable and early elections unavoidable. That's why the political and military powers that be are bent on keeping Ecevit as prime minister, irrespective of the state of his health and the cortisone injections he needs. Hence also his speedy discharge from hospital, to signal that it is business as usual on the political and economic fronts, and that there is no cause for concern seeing as the prime minister has recovered and is well.
But the "trick" the regime has resorted to this time is not convincing. Its options are few, and things seem set to become increasingly complicated.
"Turkey, which is a candidate for accession to the EU and which the US administration holds up as a 'democratic model' for the Islamic world, should change its political parties and election legislation, prepare for national polls and renew the political class in a way that reflects the popular will," says leading analyst Cengiz Candar.
"But Turkey isn't doing that. Consequently, the political system is extremely fragile and prone to rapid collapse," he explains.
So why doesn't Turkey, which claims to be a democracy and a model for others to emulate, simply hold early elections?
The answer is simple and doesn't require profound analysis: For over a year ? i.e., nothing to do with Ecevit's illness ? all the public opinion surveys have indicated that none of the three coalition parties ? the parties, that is, of the centers of power ? would be able to muster enough votes to even cross the 10 percent threshold required to gain seats in Parliament.
Moreover, the public opinion surveys show that the party that would win the most votes is the Justice and Development Party, whose Islamist leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been reaching out to all sectors of Turkish society ? advocating a democratic state that respects individual liberties and human rights and opposing the establishment of a state based on religious foundations.
If Ecevit were to depart the scene before the coalition parties manage to regain a modicum of public trust, the military and economic centers of power would face what for them would be the appalling prospect of Erdogan emerging as unassailable head of government.
Accordingly, their game plan is to keep Ecevit alive and in office by whatever means that takes, while seeking to wreck Erdogan's political future, even if that involves his political "assassination." That is the motive behind the attempts to put him on trial, and thus have him banned from leading his party or standing for election, enabling the regime to call parliamentary polls in which Erdogan does not participate.
Commentator Hassan Cemal remarked in the Milliyet daily that Ecevit has become the mainstay of Turkish politics. "Nothing is clear after Ecevit," he wrote. "The entire political structure could collapse."
But one thing is certain. The "sick man" of Turkey is not Bulent Ecevit,
but the political system itself. (Mohammad Noureddine, Daily Star ? Beirut,
May 18, 2002)
PM's illness puts Turkey on the brink of collapse
The coalition government in Turkey held a summit meeting in a hospital ward yesterday as the increasingly frail Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, faced growing calls to step down due to ill health.
The country's political and economic future may well hang on Mr Ecevit's health, and his illness has set alarm bells ringing in Ankara and abroad. Newspapers have speculated for several months that Mr Ecevit suffers from a disease of the nervous system that also impairs his motor skills. He has appeared shaky and made several public blunders. But the ruling elite is desperate to keep Mr Ecevit, a staunch secularist, in power because he has no natural successor and there are fears that his departure would lead to a return to power for Islamists.
"Nothing is clear after Ecevit," said a commentator in the Milliyet daily, Hasan Cemal. "The entire political structure could collapse."
The 76-year-old veteran leader was admitted to the hospital on Friday - the second time in 10 days. He is being treated for an infection in his leg and a cracked rib sustained in a fall, apparently off a chair. As the country struggles to climb out of its worst recession since the Second World War, the sight of Mr Ecevit inching his way up hospital steps sent the Turkish currency to its lowest point since last autumn, and the stock market plummeted.
The leaders of the three-party coalition met at the Ankara Baskent hospital where Mr Ecevit is being treated. They issued a statement afterwards ruling out an early election. "An end to the debate about early elections would be good for the country and the economy," they said.
But political opponents demanded medical proof that Mr Ecevit was fit to govern. "We want the results of a full medical inquiry to be disclosed to the public," said the leader of the opposition True Path Party, Tansu Ciller, in the daily newspaper, Hurriyet.
Mr Ecevit's resignation would almost certainly upset the delicate left-right coalition, leading to early elections, and could derail an economic rescue plan backed by the International Monetary Fund.
Early elections are a nightmarish prospect for Ankara's strictly secularist establishment and military - a powerful force behind the scenes - as all opinion polls indicate voters would overwhelmingly return the pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party to power. None of the three current ruling parties looks likely to even cross the 10 per cent threshold needed to win seats in parliament.
Economic hardship, the tough IMF programme and politics as usual have not been popular.
Mr Ecevit was resurrected as a viable political alternative after the former Islamist prime minister Necmettin Erbakan was forced out of office in a "soft coup" in 1997.
A pro-labour leftist in the 1970s, he has led Turkey's IMF-backed economic recovery plan since taking office in 1999. His brand of old-school secularism does not resonate as much with his coalition partners, Devlet Bahceli of the far-right Nationalist Action Party, and Mesut Yilmaz of the liberal Motherland Party, who are more concerned not to alienate their religious and conservative constituencies. Neither is there an heir apparent in his Democratic Left Party, which Mr Ecevit and his wife, Rahsan, have led with an iron fist for the best part of three decades.
Public opinion polls show the Islamist leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan would almost certainly lead if early elections were to be held this year.
Mr Erdogan, former mayor of Istanbul, was jailed for 10 months in 1998
on sedition charges. He now says he advocates a model of Islamic democracy.
But the generals are deeply sceptical of Mr Erdogan's rhetoric and are
unlikely to allow the party back in power.(Independent, 22 May 2002)
Ceylan resignation upsets DSP-MHP parliamentary equality
The resignation of Sivas deputy Mehmet Ceylan from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has upset the equality of the number of seats the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the MHP were having in Parliament.
With the resignation of Ceylan, now the MHP has 126 seats, while Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's DSP has 127 seats. The difference between the two parties is expected to increase to two with Bulent Ersin Gok, who had resigned from the DSP a while ago, returning to his party in the days ahead.
Ceylan was having some problems in the MHP for sometime and political observers close to the nationalist party have been speculation for quite some time that he would quit the party. Ceylan is expected to act together with Abdulhaluk Cay, the MHP state minister who after holding a convention of Turkish speaking countries, despite opposition of MHP leader Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli, was sacked from his post by Ecevit at the request of Bahceli. Cay is anticipated to quit the MHP in the next few weeks and form a new nationalist party. Political observers claimed that several other MHP deputies would resign from the nationalist party together with Cay.
Speaking at a press conference in Parliament after he quit the MHP, Ceylan denied claims that he could join the Great Unity Party (BBP), an outside of Parliament nationalist party. He said "We are after a greater unity in nationalist front."
Ceylan, who bitterly attacked both his party and the three-way coalition government, said he had a 90-minute telephone conversation with MHP leader Bahceli, Tuesday evening. He said Bahceli requested him not to resign, but he had already made up his mind.
The nationalist deputy said he resigned from the party in order to make the voice of the nationalist masses heard. "I hope my resignation will help efforts of establishing union of nationalist movement," Ceylan said and accused the MHP of abandoning its ideals and party platform after joining in the three-way coalition government.
He charged that the three-way coalition government and leaders of the
three parties were committing a crime, by unlawfully keeping the death
file of separatist Kurdish chieftain Abdullah Ocalan at the Prime Ministry
and not submitting it to Parliament for approval. (Turkish Daily News,
May 17, 2002)
Murat Karayalcin establishes new SHP
Former state minister and deputy prime minister veteran social democrat Murat Karayalcin and his colleagues has set up a new left-wing party namely Social Democrat People's Party (SHP) on Friday.
Karayalcin, former culture minister Fikri Saglar and some founders presented the foundation petition to the Interior Ministry. Karayalcin said that the SHP had 176 founding members, adding that the party was open to all people.
Murat Karayalcin, who served as foreign minister between 1993-1995 after a successful earlier spell as mayor of Ankara, formed the new Social Democrat People's Party together with 175 other founders.
Karayalcin was the only candidate for the leadership of the new party, and was elected unanimously at a congress in Ankara. Fikri Saglar, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, was elected the party's general secretary.
Karayalcin said his party would look after the interests of "workers, poor people, and unemployed." The new party is expected to compete for left-of-center votes with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party and the opposition Republican People's Party.
Fikri Saglar said that the party emblem would include a green olive branch with a red human figure on a white background. He added that their slogan would be, "Enough, vote for humans." Holding a founders board meeting at the Park Hotel on Friday afternoon, Karayalcin was elected as the party leader while Saglar was elected as the secretary general of the party.
Elections in Turkey are due in 2004, but there is speculation that Ecevit's health problems will force some kind of change in the government before then.
Ecevit, who is seen as the force holding the three-party coalition together, is undergoing treatment for a broken rib and a vein infection at an Ankara hospital.
A devastating economic crisis last year, which brought massive layoffs and saw the currency lose half its value, has seen support for existing parties slump - particularly those in the government.
Analysts believe that new parties have a good chance of winning public
support at the next election. (Turkish Daily News, May 24, 2002)
Ecevit souffre de Parkinson, mutisme des médecins
La presse turque a affirmé vendredi que le Premier ministre turc Bulent Ecevit, convalescent, souffrait de la maladie de Parkinson et s'est fracturé une vertèbre ces derniers jours, informations auxquelles ses médecins n'ont pas réagi.
Une équipe de spécialistes, dirigé par le neurologue Turgut Zileli, qui examine quotidiennement M. Ecevit depuis qu'il a quitté l'hôpital lundi dernier après un séjour de dix jours pour une côte cassée et une thrombophlébite, a continué de rester silencieux malgré l'insistance des journalistes.
Le chef du gouvernement, 77 ans, avait déjà une première fois été hospitalisé le 4 mai pour, officiellement, une infection intestinale.
M. Ecevit est actuellement au repos médical à sa résidence privée.
Selon le journal Milliyet, les médecins ont dignostiqué chez M. Ecevit la maladie de Parkinson dont il montre les symptômes classiques: le tremblement. Selon le Sabah, M. Ecevit souffre de cette maladie depuis près de trois ans.
Ce quotidien affirme en outre que le chef du gouvernement est obligé de porter un corset de fer pour lui redresser la colonne vertébrale en raison de la fracture de l'un de ses vertèbres.
L'ossature du chef du gouvernement est devenue fragile en raison d'un traitement à la cortisone qu'il suit contre la myasthénie, une maladie musculaire liée à un dysfonctionnement dans la transmission des impulsions nerveuses vers le muscle, affirme de son côté le quotidien à gros tirage Hurriyet.
Un responsable du DSP (Parti de la Gauche nationaliste), dont M. Ecevit est le président, a vivement dénoncé vendredi une attaque "primitive" de la presse contre son leader. "Le Premier ministre est convalescent, il va revenir en force à son travail", a indiqué Emrehan Halici, député ilfluent du parti, lors d'une conférence de presse au parlement.
Interrogé sur la maladie de M. Ecevit, il a estimé que c'est uniquement aux médecins de se prononcer à ce sujet, sans démentir ou confirmer les information de presse.
La santé défaillante depuis des années de M. Ecevit est suivie de près en Turquie, où il dirige une coalition tripartite à un moment où le pays s'efforce de sortir depuis février 2001 d'une des pires récessions de son histoire, avec une aide massive du Fonds monétaire international (FMI).
M. Ecevit avait admis mardi souffir de problèmes neurologiques, sans plus de précision, lors d'une conférence de presse au cours de laquelle il avait une nouvelle fois rejeté les appels à la démission et exclu la tenue d'élections législatives avant la date prévue de 2004.
Jeudi, il a été déclaré inapte par ses spécialistes
à participer à une importante réunion du Conseil national
de sécurité (MGK), organe politico-militaire qui trace les
grandes lignes de conduite du pays, provoquant une nouvelle chute de l'Indice
de la Bourse d'Istanbul. (AFP, 31 mai 2002)
Fin à l'état d'urgence dans deux provinces kurdes
Le Conseil national de sécurité turc (MGK) a décidé jeudi de recommander au parlement de mettre fin à partir du 30 juillet à l'état d'urgence en vigueur depuis 14 ans dans deux provinces de l'est et du sud-est à majorité kurde du pays, celles de Hakkari (sud-est) et Tunceli (est).
Le MGK, organe dominé par l'armée et qui réunit chaque mois les plus hauts responsables civils et militaires pour tracer les grandes lignes de conduite du pays, a décidé en outre de recommander la prolongation à partir du 30 juillet "pour la dernière fois" pour quatre mois de l'état d'urgence dans les deux autres provinces où cette pratique reste en vigueur, celles de Sirnak (sud-est) et Diyarbakir (chef-lieu du sud-est anatolien), souligne un communiqué publié à l'issue de la réunion de mai.
Le parlement suit à la lettre les recommandations du MGK.
La levée de l'état d'urgence dans les provinces de l'est et du sud-est qui étaient le théâtre de la rébellion armé du Parti des Travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK) faisait partie des mesures politiques réclamées à "moyen terme" à la Turquie par l'Union européenne (UE) pour ouvrir des négociations d'adhésion.
Le gouvernement turc s'était engagé à le lever, mais sans donner de date, dans son "programme national", vaste catalogue de mesures devant mettre la Turquie en conformité avec les normes européennes en matière de politique et d'économie, adopté l'an dernier.
La réunion du MGK, à laquelle le Premier ministre Bulent Ecevit, convalescent, n'assistait pas pour la première fois de l'histore de ce conseil, a par ailleurs demandé l'accélération des réformes pour l'ouverture des négociations d'adhésion à l'UE. Le MGK a aussi appelé les Quinze à fixer avant la fin de l'année une date pour ces négociations, réclamée avec insistance par Ankara.
Le gouvernement tripartite de M. Ecevit est divisé sur ces réformes, dont l'abolition complète de la peine capitale la création d'une chaîne de télévision ainsi qu'une éducation en kurde. Son partenaire ultranationaliste, le MHP de Devlet Bahceli, les freine.
Le PKK a mis fin officiellement en septembre 1999 à sa rébellion armée, lancée en 1984 dans le but d'obtenir la création d'un Etat kurde indépendant dans le sud-est, à la demande de son chef Abdullah Ocalan, condamné à mort en juin 1999 pour trahison et séparatisme.
Depuis, les combats ont quasiment cessé dans la région. Mais l'armée turque s'est déclarée déterminée à pourchasser jusqu'au bout les rebelles.
Les violences entourant le conflit ont fait quelque 36.500 morts, selon un bilan officiel.
Le PKK vient récemment de se muer en KADEK (Congrès pour la liberté et la démocratie au Kurdistan).
M. Ecevit, qui a fêté mardi ses 77 ans, est actuellement
au repos médical après avoir été hospitalisé
dix jours pour une côte cassée et une thrombophlébite.
(AFP, 30 mai 2002)
PRESSIONS SUR LES MEDIAS / PRESSURE ON THE MEDIA
La guerre anti-ONG de l'Armée turque
Le gouvernement turc a dénoncé avec colère le 8 mai une manifestation de l'organisation non-gouvernementale Reporters sans frontières (RSF) présentant son chef d'état-major comme un "prédateur de la liberté de la presse" et a demandé au gouvernement français de "punir" ses responsables, selon l'AFP
Selon l'agence de presse semi-officielle Anatolie, l'Etat-major turc a menacé de réviser l'ensemble de ses relations militaires avec la France si ce pays ne réagit pas dans un délai "raisonnable" au traitement infligé à son chef par l'organisation de défense de la liberté de la presse.
RSF avait confectionné une carte du monde géante, exposée sur le sol de la gare Saint-Lazare à Paris, apposant sur la Turquie une photo du général Huseyin Kivrikoglu, le désignant comme l'un des "prédateurs de la liberté de la presse". Le général turc voisine avec les présidents irakien Saddam Hussein et syrien Bachar al-Assad sur cette mappemonde déployée depuis le 3 mai, à l'occasion de la journée mondiale de la liberté de la presse.
Outrage supplémentaire aux yeux des médias turcs: cette carte étant collée sur le sol, les passants peuvent piétiner les portraits des 38 dirigeants épinglés par l'organisation.
Les autorités turques ont demandé à la France d'"empêcher les attaques et d'en punir les responsables" après avoir convoqué l'ambassadeur de France à Ankara, Bernard Garcia, au ministère des Affaires étrangères, a indiqué le président turc Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
Le Premier ministre Bulent Ecevit a qualifié la manifestation d'"irrespectueuse et injuste", soulignant que la Turquie suivrait l'affaire "avec une grande attention" et attendait de la France qu'elle "prenne les mesures appropriées pour que les relations historiques entre les deux pays ne soient pas affectées".
L'attaché de défense de l'ambassade de France avait été informé dès mardi par les militaires turcs de leur "fort mécontentement".
Reporters sans Frontières a justifié son action le même jour en rappelant dans un communiqué que "plus de cinquante représentants de la presse, de toutes tendances, ont comparu devant les tribunaux pour leurs écrits en 2001 en Turquie".
"Au cours des cinq premiers mois de l'année 2002, de nouveaux procès ont été intentés contre des journalistes", poursuit RSF en citant Erol Ozkoray (obligé d'arrêter la parution de sa revue), Fikret Baskaya (incarcéré depuis juin 2001 pour un article sur le problème kurde).
"Dans une lettre adressée le même jour au chef d'état major Kivrikoglu, Robert Ménard, secrétaire général de RSF, a rappelé ces différents éléments et demandé aux autorités turques de respecter, dans les faits, les engagements pris vis-à-vis de l'Union européenne en matière de droits de l'homme et de respect de la liberté d'expression", indique le communiqué. (AFP, 8 mai 2002)
Offensive également contre plusieurs autres ONGs européennes
Ankara s'apprêterait à soumettre aux Etats membres de l'Union européenne un rapport détaillé sur 17 organisations en Europe, soupçonnées par les autorités turques de "soutenir le PKK", selon la presse turque, Parmi les organisations citées figurent rien moins que Médecins sans frontière, prix Nobel de la paix 1999, Reporters sans frontières, qui lors de sa dernière campagne qualifie le chef d'état-major turc, Huseyin Kivrikoglu d'"ennemi de la liberté de presse", la Fondation France-Libertés, la Fédération mondiale des cités-unies, le comité Helsinki danois ainsi que plusieurs personnalités et parlementaires européens.
L'information issue des services de renseignements turcs précise que la Turquie lancera une offensive diplomatique pour demander "un arrêt des soutiens au PKK et au KADEK" par ces organisations citées. Le rapport en question épinglerait quelque 450 organisations en Europe, qualifiées "d'organe ou de soutien du PKK" et demanderait leur fermeture. (NTV, 6 mai 2002, Milliyet, 7 mai 2002)
L'Union européenne qui est restée longtemps aveugle face au terrorisme d'Etat turc coupable de la destruction de plus de 4000 villages kurdes, de l'assassinat par des escadrons de la mort des forces de sécurité turques de 4.500 civils suspectés de "nationalisme kurde", avait, il y a quelques jours, pour complaire à Ankara et à Washington, placé sur sa liste noire d'organisations terroristes un PKK qui, depuis trois ans, a renoncé à la lutte armée en Turquie et à toute action violente en Europe.
Ce n'est assurément pas assez pour Ankara qui veut étendre
sa conception du terrorisme et du soutien au terrorisme à l'Union
européenne en incriminant des grandes organisations européennes
de droits de l'homme. Si malgré tous ses efforts, l'Union européenne
ne parvient pas à européaniser la Turquie, on peut craindre
dans le climat sécuritaire actuel qu'Ankara finisse par turquiser
progressivement ses partenaires européens, dit dans un communiqué
du 7 mai le Comité International pour la Libération des Députés
Kurdes Emprisonnés en Turquie (CILDEKT).
Le communiqué du RSF sur la mappemonde à Paris
Les vives réactions provoquées en Turquie par la présence du portrait du chef d'état-major des armées turques, Hüseyin Kivrikoglu, sur la carte de la liberté de la presse dans le monde présentée dans le hall de la gare Saint-Lazare à Paris, appellent les éclaircissements suivants.
Les portraits de 38 chefs d'Etat, responsables militaires, ou groupes paramilitaires considérés par Reporters sans frontières comme responsables de graves atteintes à la liberté de la presse dans leurs pays respectifs, ont été disposés sur une carte géante de l'Institut géographique national (IGN) de 200 m2, disposée, à l'occasion de la Journée internationale de la liberté de la presse le 3 mai, et pour une durée de quinze jours, dans la salle des pas perdus de la Gare Saint- Lazare à Paris. Sont également présentées les images du photographe Yann Arthus-Bertrand, extraites du nouvel album de photographies mis en vente au profit de Reporters sans frontières, et des panneaux de présentation de l'action de l'organisation. Le communiqué de RSF annonçant cette exposition, le 2 mai 2002, invitait les visiteurs à "faire la connaissance" des "Prédateurs de la liberté de la presse" dénoncés par Reporters sans frontières, et non à venir "piétiner" leur portrait comme l'ont indiqué certains médias en Turquie.
Les prises de position de Reporters sans frontières recueillent rarement l'assentiment des Etats mis en cause par l'organisation, mais sont étayées par des faits précis sur les atteintes à la liberté de la presse dans ces différents pays. Les seize pages consacrées à la Turquie du Rapport annuel 2002 de Reporters sans frontières "La liberté de la presse dans le monde", rendu public le 3 mai dernier, peuvent être consultées sur le site de l'organisation www.rsf.org.
RSF rappelle que plus de cinquante représentants de la presse, de toutes tendances, ont comparu devant les tribunaux pour leurs écrits, en 2001, en Turquie. Les journalistes ayant mis en cause l'armée, d'une façon ou d'une autre, ont été systématiquement inquiétés. Au cours des cinq premiers mois de l'année 2002, de nouveaux procès ont été intentés contre des journalistes. L'un d'eux, Erol Özkoray, rédacteur en chef de la revue trimestrielle de science politique et de relations internationales Idea Politika, doit faire face à au moins trois procès, notamment pour un numéro de la revue ayant accusé l'armée de vouloir freiner le rapprochement de la Turquie avec l'Union européenne. Ce harcèlement judiciaire a finalement contraint M. Özkoray à arrêter la publication de sa revue. Le journaliste Fikret Baskaya est incarcéré depuis le 29 juin 2001 après avoir été condamné à un an et quatre mois de prison pour un seul article, publié le 1er juin 1999, critiquant la gestion du problème kurde par les autorités civiles et militaires.
RSF rappelle, par ailleurs, que le Haut Conseil de l'audiovisuel (RTÜK) maintient un contrôle étroit sur les médias audiovisuels. Si la majorité des soixante chaînes de télévision et cinquante radios qui ont été suspendues par RTÜK, en 2001 ne l'ont pas été pour des raisons politiques, la durée des suspensions est néanmoins particulièrement longue dans les cas plus politiques. Elle peut aller jusqu'à un an de suspension pour diffusion de musique kurde ou "mise en cause de l'ordre constitutionnel". Dans ces derniers cas, le RTÜK est souvent saisi par les autorités militaires elles-mêmes.
Ce rejet brutal de toute mise en cause et de toute critique est évidemment la marque d'un régime ne respectant pas pleinement la liberté d'expression. Les réformes législatives amorcées dans le cadre des engagements pris vis-à-vis de l'Union européenne n'ont toujours pas donné les résultats escomptés. Les dispositions du code pénal sanctionnant les délits de presse demeurent particulièrement répressives.
Dans une lettre adressée, ce jour, au chef d'état major
des armées turques, Hüseyin Kivrikoglu, Robert Ménard,
secrétaire général de RSF, a rappelé ces différents
éléments et demandé aux autorités turques de
"respecter, dans les faits, les engagements pris vis-à-vis de l'Union
européenne en matière de droits de l'homme et de respect
de la liberté d'expression". (RSF/IFEX, 9 mai 2002)
La mappemonde de RSF maculée de peinture
Une trentaine de personnes, pour la plupart turques, ont maculé jeudi à la peinture rouge une mappemonde des "prédateurs de la liberté de la presse" installée sur le sol de la Gare Saint-Lazare à Paris par Reporters sans frontières (RSF), a indiqué cette organisation non-gouvernementale à l'AFP.
Cet incident est survenu alors que la Turquie avait vivement dénoncé la veille l'initiative de RSF qui a fait figurer le chef d'état-major turc, le général Huseyin Kivrikoglu, parmi ces "prédateurs", demandant au gouvernement français de "punir" ses responsables.
L'état-major turc a menacé pour sa part de réviser l'ensemble de ses relations militaires avec la France si elle ne réagissait pas dans un délai "raisonnable".
Selon Jean-François Julliard, l'un des responsables de RSF, la police a interpellé trois des manisfestants turcs avant de les relâcher une heure plus tard.
Les manifestants, qui étaient accompagnés d'une dizaine de journalistes turcs, ont recouvert à la bombe les portraits des 38 dirigeants des pays épinglés par RSF, celui du chef d'état-major turc étant entièrement recouvert de peinture, a précisé M. Julliard.
RSF, a-t-il indiqué, a porté plainte et remis en état la mappemonde déployée depuis le 3 mai, à l'occasion de la journée mondiale de la presse.
Le général Kivrikoglu y voisine aux côtés des présidents irakien Saddam Hussein et syrien Bachar al-Assad, parmi les dirigeants des 38 pays représentés.
Reporters sans Frontières a justifié son action en rappelant
dans un communiqué que "plus de cinquante représentants de
la presse, de toutes tendances, ont comparu devant les tribunaux pour leurs
écrits en 2001 en Turquie". (AFP, 9 mai 2002)
L'exposition de RSF retirée de Saint-Lazare
Une exposition à Paris sur les "prédateurs de la liberté de la presse", qui avait provoqué la colère du gouvernement turc, a été démontée vendredi avec un jour d'avance sur le programme annoncé.
L'exposition à la gare Saint-Lazare, organisée par l'association Reporters sans frontières (RSF) à l'occasion de la journée internationale de la liberté de la presse, avait été inaugurée le 3 mai et devait s'achever samedi.
RSF, dans un communiqué, a affirmé que l'exposition avait été démontée par mesure de sécurité en raison des "actions répétées de groupuscules violents".
Jeudi, une trentaine de personnes avaient notamment maculé à la peinture rouge la mappemonde représentant les pays où la liberté de la presse est bafouée et qui comportait les portraits de 38 "prédateurs de la liberté de la presse", dont le chef d'état-major turc, le général Huseyin Kivrikoglu.
Le gouvernement turc avait vivement protesté contre cette exposition et demandé au gouvernement français de "punir" ses responsables, tandis que l'état-major turc menaçait de réviser l'ensemble de ses relations militaires avec la France si elle ne réagissait pas dans un délai "raisonnable".
L'exposition relève de la liberté d'expression, avait déclaré vendredi le porte-parole du ministère des Affaires étrangères, François Rivasseau.
"Il s'agit d'une initiative privée d'une Organisation non-gouvernementale qui relève du domaine de la liberté d'expression. La France ne doute pas que la Turquie puisse le comprendre", avait-il ajouté.
M. Rivasseau a précisé que son ministère avait informé la Société nationale des chemins de fer (SNCF) de la colère du gouvernement turc.
"La déclaration du porte-parole du ministère français, selon laquelle la protestation de la Turquie concernant l'attitude de Reporters Sans Frontières envers le général Huseyin Kivrikoglu a été transmise à l'administration des chemins de fer, est inacceptable", a indiqué pour sa part le ministère turc des Affaires étrangères dans un communiqué.
"La violence des réactions à l'exposition de RSF témoigne de ce que nous dénonçons depuis des mois : toute mise en cause de l'armée turque provoque une réaction brutale des autorités," a affirmé pour sa part Robert Ménard, secrétaire général de RSF, cité par le communiqué.
"Les journalistes turcs qui s'y risquent sont immédiatement traduits
en justice et l'un deux, Fikret Baskaya, est maintenu en prison depuis
près d'un an pour un article critique envers l'armée", a-t-il
ajouté. (AFP, 10 mai 2002)
Le secrétaire général de RSF indésirable en Turquie
Les autorités turques ont interdit l'accès au territoire de la Truqie à Robert Ménard, secrétaire général de Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), a annoncé mercredi l'association de défense des journalistes.
Cette décision a été signifiée à Robert Ménard par la conseillère de presse de l'ambassade de Turquie à Paris qui lui a indiqué : "les autorités compétentes ont décidé de vous interdire l'accès au territoire de la Turquie. Cette décision prend effet immédiatement".
Cette réaction, selon un communiqué de l'organisation, fait suite à la demande formulée par RSF de rencontrer des autorités civiles et militaires et d'organiser une conférence de presse à Istanbul, pour expliquer pourquoi le chef d'état-major turc, le général Huseyin Kivrikoglu, a été inclus dans la liste des trente-huit prédateurs de la liberté de la presse. Leurs portraits étaient affichés sur une carte du monde exposée sur le sol à la gare parisienne de Saint-Lazare à l'occasion de la journée internationale de la liberté de la presse, le 3 mai dernier.
RSF juge "affligeante" l'attitude de la Turquie et ajoute qu'elle n'empêchera
pas l'association "de continuer à dénoncer les manquements
réguliers à la liberté de la presse en Turquie". (AFP,
15 mai 2002)
Le parlement adopte une loi très controversée sur les médias
Le parlement turc a adopté tôt mercredi une loi très controversée introduisant des sanctions pour la propagation de fausses informations sur l'internet et aggravant les pénalités pour les infractions aux lois sur la radio et télédiffusion.
Sur 292 députés présents (sur 550), 202 ont voté pour, 87 contre et 4 se sont abstenus, après un débat houleux de dix heures durant lequel les députés d'opposition et du gouvernement en sont presque venus aux mains, selon l'agence Anatolie.
Le président Ahmet Necdet Sezer avait opposé son veto en juin à cette loi, faisant valoir qu'elle est contraire aux normes démocratiques que la Turquie s'est engagée à respecter dans le cadre de sa candidature à l'Union européenne, et qu'elle ouvrait la voie à des ingérences politiques et à la formation de monopoles et cartels.
Le président a comme ultime recours possible de demander son annulation à la Cour constitutionnelle.
La loi stipule que la diffusion de fausses informations et de diffamation sur l'internet sera désormais passible de lourdes amendes allant jusqu'à 100 milliards de livres turques (environ 72.000 USD).
Les autorités ne pourront plus suspendre la diffusion des chaînes de radio et télévision, pratique courante à l'heure actuelle, et l'organisme de contrôle des médias, le RTUK, leur demandera seulement de s'excuser.
Mais le RTUK pourra annuler la licence des chaînes qui s'en prennent à "l'unité de la Turquie" et diffusent "de la propagande subversive et séparatiste".
Créé en 1994, le RTUK a suspendu des centaines de chaînes de radio ou télévision nationales et locales.
Depuis la fin du monopole d'Etat en 1990, les radios et télévisions
se sont multipliées en Turquie, où l'on compte 13 télévisions
nationales et 200 locales, et environ 2.500 stations de radio. (AFP, 15
mai 2002)
RTUK: RSF dénonce la dérive répressive du régime turc
Révision de la loi sur les médias Reporters sans frontières dénonce la dérive répressive du régime turc
Les autorités turques sont parvenues à faire adopter par le Parlement, le 15 mai 2002, une révision de la législation sur les médias qui aggrave encore ses aspects les plus répressifs.
Reporters sans frontières dénonce les dispositions permettant la mainmise renforcée du pouvoir sur le Haut Conseil de l'audiovisuel (RTÜK), la présence de l'armée en son sein, l'aggravation des amendes à l'encontre des médias, la remise en cause de la liberté d'expression sur Internet et la poursuite du mouvement de concentration des médias.
"Ces dispositions vont exactement à l'encontre des engagements pris vis-à-vis de l'Union européenne en matière de liberté d'expression. Nous dénonçons une véritable dérive répressive du régime turc en matière de liberté d'expression", a déclaré Robert Ménard, secrétaire général de Reporters sans frontières.
Première réforme du fonctionnement du RTÜK depuis sa création en avril 1994 (loi 3984), les nouvelles dispositions votées, le 15 mai 2002, aggravent encore les aspects les plus attentatoires à la liberté de l'information de ce dispositif :
- La composition du Conseil se voit modifiée en faveur du pouvoir. Désormais seront notamment représentés en son sein le Conseil National de Sécurité (MGK), présidé par le chef de l'Etat et dans lequel siègent les hauts responsables militaires, le Haut Conseil de l'enseignement (YÖK), contrôlé par l'Etat, le Premier ministre et des membres du gouvernement. La représentation des deux grandes organisations de presse ne contrebalance pas le renforcement évident de la mainmise du pouvoir sur le RTÜK.
- Les nouvelles dispositions élargissent encore les compétences du RTÜK et son rôle de véritable police des médias. Le Conseil de l'audiovisuel voit élargie la palette de sanctions dont il dispose contre les stations de radios et les chaînes de télévision :
avertissements, amendes, censure de certaines émissions, et suspension du média. Les amendes prévues dans la loi 5680 relative à la presse ont leur montant multiplié par 1000 en moyenne. Les responsables de médias qui continueraient à émettre malgré l'interdiction du RTÜK seront passibles de six mois à deux ans de prison, et de très fortes amendes. La planification des fréquences est confiée à un autre organe, le Conseil des télécommunications.
- L'espace de liberté que représente Internet pour les journalistes est menacé. Le RTÜK voit son champ d'intervention élargi au contrôle de l'Internet, notamment sur les portails d'information sur le réseau. La diffusion de "fausses informations" et la diffamation sur l'Internet seront désormais passibles de lourdes amendes allant jusqu'à 100 milliards de livres turques (environ 70 000 euros). RSF rappelle que la cour correctionnelle no. 2 d'Istanbul a engagé, en décembre 2001, des poursuites contre le site ideapolitika.com (site de la revue Idea Politika) et ordonné sa fermeture pour "insulte contre les forces armées". Par ailleurs, en février 2002, Coskun Ak, coordinateur d'un forum sur Internet, a été condamné à 5 000 euros d'amende pour "moqueries et insultes envers les institutions de l'Etat" pour n'avoir pas retiré du forum le texte d'un internaute sur les atteintes aux droits de l'homme dans le sud-est du pays.
- Enfin, de l'avis de nombreux observateurs, les dispositions du projet relatives aux règles de propriété des médias risquent d'accentuer la concentration du paysage médiatique en Turquie.
Reporters sans frontières demande à l'Union européenne
de signifier aux autorités turques que cette dérive répressive
en matière de liberté d'expression met désormais sérieusement
en cause le processus de rapprochement avec l'Union européenne.
(RSF/IFEX, 16 mai 2002)
EU to raise objections to RTUK, Article 159
The European Union political directors' meeting, taking place in Madrid, will provide the ground for the union to voice its objections to two main laws.
An EU ambassador in Ankara told the Turkish Daily News (TDN) that the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK) law will be the first issue to be raised at the Madrid meeting.
The Reprieve law is the second concern for the union, since it was considered insufficient for meeting the requirements for the freedom of expression.
Turkish Penal Code Article 159, and particularly the trial involving Burak Bekdil and TDN Responsible Editor Mine Cevik, are being closely monitored by the union, and they are among the possible topics to be raised by the political directors, according to top EU officials in Ankara.
"We have been following the case opened against Burak Bekdil and Mine Cevik, which will be a clear sign of how Turkey acts vis-a-vis freedom of expression," an EU Ambassador said.
"We will continue raise Article 159, and specifically this case, at every ground," he continued. Spanish Ambassador Manuel De La Camara, during a seminar on Turkish-EU relations, referred to the Cevik/Bekdil trial and stated that they would also continue to cover the case.
A higher criminal court in Ankara sentenced TDN columnist Burak Bekdil to a one year, eight month suspended prison term on Friday for writing an article that criticized the judiciary.
TDN Responsible Editor Mine Cevik, was given a suspended fine of TL 1.4 billion for allowing the publication of the article.
At the fifth hearing of the trial, held on Friday, the 2nd Higher Criminal Court found Bekdil and Cevik guilty under Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code. Another EU ambassador stated that the Reprieve law was another area of concern for the EU.
"It is not enough for the release of the prisoners of thought," said the official, evaluating the Reprieve law.
The meeting in Madrid is being attended by Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary
Akin Alptuna. (Turkish Daily News, May 18, 2002)
Le président tente d'annuler la loi sur les médias
Le président turc Ahmet Necdet Sezer a saisi la Cour constitutionnelle pour demander l'annulation de certaines dispositions d'une loi très controversée sur les médias, estimant qu'elle va à l'encontre de la liberté de la presse, a annoncé mardi son service de presse.
M. Sezer réclame aussi la suspension de l'entrée en vigueur de la loi jusqu'à ce que la Cour tranche, souligne un communiqué.
Le chef de l'Etat avait été obligé de promulguer la loi lundi soir car le parlement l'avait adoptée sans changement, après de houleux débutas, malgré un premier veto présidentiel en juin.
M. Sezer avait alors estimé qu'elle était contraire aux normes démocratiques, alors que la Turquie ambitionne d'adhérer à l'Union européenne.
"Des dispositions sont contraires aux principes sur le droit à l'information et à la liberté de presse", estime M. Sezer.
Il critique le flou entourant la définition des délits sanctionnés par la loi, qui ouvre selon lui la voie à l'arbitraire dans les décisions de l'organe de contrôle de l'audiovisuel, le RTUK.
"Les chaînes de radio et télévision seront forcées de respecter des principes subjectifs et pas clairs, ce qui les empêchera de faire des émissions impartiales et justes, et de ce fait, le droit du public à s'informer en sera affecté", souligne M. Sezer, ancien président de la Cour constitutionnelle et homme politique le plus populaire du pays pour son intégrité et son respect du droit.
M. Sezer estime également que la loi ouvre la voie à des
ingérences politiques et à la formation de monopoles et cartels.
(AFP, 21 mai 2002)
Dr. Fikret Baskaya retried
We received the following message from human rights defender Sanar Yurdatapan on the trial of the distinguished Turkish scholar Dr. Fikret Baskaya.
Dr. Fikret Baskaya was retried at Istanbul 2. SSC on May 10, 2002 due to the amendments on Turkish Constitution and some articles of Penal Code and Anti-Terror Law. His lawyer, Mr. Aydin Erdogan had already applied to SSC, demanding that Baskaya should immediately be released due to the amendments, be retried and acquitted. His first demand was rejected but the court accepted to retry. (Baskaya is in Ankara-Kalecik prison for one year and he will have finished his sentence within a month)
In this hearing, lawyer Mr. Erdogan had 2 demands:
1. Baskaya had sent his defence in his own handwriting and his signature was appoved by the prison administration. This should be accepted and the court should give its decision NOW.
2. After the amendments on the constitution and the Anti-Terror Law, the contradiction between them has been clearer.
The court should send the subject to the "Constitutional Court" with the demand of abolishing concerning articles of the Anti-Terror Law.
What was the contradiction?
The "Preface" of the Constitution was changed. (with the law no.4709) to eliminate the contradictions with European Union's criterias "Copenhagen criterias". The fourth paragraph of the Preface, starting with the phrase "No idea or interpretation contradicting with Turkish national interests, wealth, unity... etc. could be legally protected...." was changed as "no action contradicting with Turkish national interests, wealth, unity... etc. could be legally protected".
This is very clear. Expression and Action are two different things and the Constitution prohibits only the Action. Then came the so called "Mini Democracy Package", amendments on existing legislation, to fit them to the Constitutional amendment. But here came the trick! You can simply expect that the laws should be changed to be fitted to the Constitution. NO, JUST THE CONTRARY: The text of article 8 of Anti Terror Law was prohibiting "Written or verbal propaganda". Now a new word was added: "Written, verbal or visual propaganda". None of them can be accepted in the frames of an ACTION, can they?
In addition to all, the reason for these amendments were connected to "European Human Rights Concention" in the "Justification" paragraph of the official text.
The prosecutor demanded that the case should be delayed to give him enough time to prepare his answer. (As if he was living in another country and he did not hear about the Constitutional and other amendments before) The court gave him this chance. The case was delayed to June, 7th, 2002, 09:00 AM
Baskaya is still in prison, he is as free as can be. In addition to
all: Baskaya was awarded by HRW (Hellman-Hammett Award-2002).
Journalist Burak Bekdil receives 18-month suspended sentence
Burak Bekdil, a journalist for the "Turkish Daily News" and several western publications, has been found guilty of "insulting the judiciary" and sentenced to an 18-month suspended prison term. International PEN considers the conviction to be a direct breach of the right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 10). The organisation calls for a review of Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code, under which Bekdil was convicted.
Bekdil was convicted for an article published in the English-language "Turkish Daily News", entitled "Turkey's de jure Untouchables". The article takes a humorous approach on the issue of corruption within the judiciary and appeared in Bekdil's regular "Equilibrium" column in the 28 August 2001 edition of the "Turkish Daily News". The article begins by expressing the need for close relatives in the judiciary in order to have "a peaceful life in Turkey", and goes on to list necessary steps for those "brave (or crazy) enough to seek justice at a Turkish court". He recommends, for example, making friendly overtures to the court clerk and advises never filing a complaint against a judge.
Following the publication of the above article, Bekdil was summoned
to the State Prosecutor's Office on 25 September 2001 under Article 159
of the Turkish Penal Code, that penalises "insult to the state and its
institutions", carrying a maximum sentence of six years. The trial opened
on 21 December 2001 and several hearings were held before the 18-month
suspended sentence was announced on 20 May. It is thought that Bekdil will
appeal the sentence.(WiPC/IFEX, May 21, 2002)
Turkey tightens controls on the net
Controversial new controls on the internet in Turkey have provoked protests from websites which fear they may be driven out of existence.
The new measures are part of a new wide-ranging broadcasting law which place the internet under the same legislation as the rest of Turkey's media for libel and an offence called "lying news".
Under the new law, websites could face having to be officially registered and send copies of their material to the authorities.
The measures have been condemned by much of the internet sector, from service providers to users, who warn that the whole future of the net in Turkey could be at stake.
Impact on internet sector
"There's not going to be a certain direction, no freedom of speech and this is going to impact the local content and local hosting services and eventually the whole internet sector," he said.
"They might easily put me and my chairman out of business."
With around a million subscribers, Superonline has been part of the country's rapidly growing internet sector.
Many burgeoning Turkish internet websites carry criticism of ministers, including material newspapers dare not publish.
But Dr Oktay Vural, Minister of Transport and Communications, insists the measures are not intended to stiffle sites.
"There are no restrictions. It is only that there have been several things which have been forbidden by the law," he said.
"So if these actions were taken through the internet, then the regulations will cover for those actions only. We cannot be an eye in the chatrooms; that is not the aim of that law.
"Let's see what happens. I don't think it will affect the internet. I think time will show the truth," he said.
Media controls
The new law puts the internet under the control of Turkey's Supreme Radio and Television Board.
According to Savas Unsal, that opens the door to the internet facing the similar restrictions as the rest of the country's media.
"A judge can tell you to bring a copy of your website whenever you update it to be approved by the local authorities," he said.
The law is unclear what it actually covers. According to Fikret Ilkiz, media lawyer for the Turkish daily newspaper, Cumhuriyet, internet providers could be liable for prosecution for anything written, even in chatrooms.
He also argues that the notion of "lying news" is too ambiguous.
"The biggest problem is that the law is very unclear. The law forbids fake or lie news. But what is this?" he asked.
"The law doesn't define what it is. It just says it's forbidden. And this could apply to chatrooms.
"The way the law is now, it will be defined by many court cases. For now, there is great uncertainty. No one knows what is legal and what is not. It is chaos."
'Ambiguous law'
Reaching a definition of the law by court cases could well be an expensive process for internet providers and users, with fines of up to $195,000 for each offence.
But some critics of the law argue it is deliberately ambiguous. Much of Turkey's legislation governing the control of the media is characterised by catch all phrases.
The internet until now has been largely exempt from such legislation. Such freedom has allowed it to become a powerful forum for criticising politicians.
Many journalists publish articles on the internet which neither television nor newspapers dare print, due in part to existing legislation.
The European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, has strongly condemned such legislation. This latest law has also drawn the ire of the EU, with officials calling for its repeal.
That could well happen because Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has sent the law to the Constitutional Court, accusing it of breaching the constitution.
The court could take up to a year to make a ruling. In the meantime, the law remains in force.
Internet slowdown
The uncertainty created by the new legislation could prove most damaging of all to Turkey.
Professor Haluk Sahin, who teaches media studies at Istanbul's Bilgi University, warns that Turkey risks repeating the mistakes of the past
"A lot people in Turkey realize that Turkey must not make the mistake of 200 years ago," he says.
"Some 200 years ago, the Ottoman Empire missed the Industrial Revolution. Now, we believe that the internet, and computers in general, provide us with a second chance.
"A new train has arrived. Whether we embark on that train or not is up to us and the younger generations seem determined to do that.
"Unfortunately, the older generations and the politicians do not seem
to be of the same mind," he said. (BBC, May 28, 2002)
Violations of thought freedom in brief
Publisher on Trial
On 2 May Istanbul SSC started to hear the case of Fatih Tas, owner of Aram Publishing House in connection with a book by Selçuk Sahan. Fatih Tas is charged with support for an illegal organization. The hearing was adjourned to 18 July. At Istanbul SSC Fatih Tas is being tried for other seven books. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 3, 2002)
Attack on Paper
A man named Murat Ayaz attacked the offices of the local newspaper "Dogus" in Batman on 2 May, causing material damage such as broken windows. Murat Ayaz was detained, but released after testifying to the prosecutor. In Elazig Hasan Kaya, working for the monthly "Özgür Halk", who had been detained on 2 May, was arrested. Reportedly an earlier arrest warrant exists against him. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 5, 2002)
Writer on Trial
The prosecutor at Istanbul SSC indicted the writer Ömer Asan for his book "The Culture of Ponthos". He will be charged with separatist propaganda. Charges against the deceased publisher Ayse Nur Zarakolu from Belge Publishing House were dropped. The book had first been published in May 1996. The second edition dates April 2000. The case was launched after a program on ATV on 12 and 19 January 2002 during which Ömer Asan's book was criticized. Afterwards Istanbul SSC ordered the confiscation of the book. The prosecution turned down an objection arguing that the period of one year, during which cases against books have to be filed, had not expired, because he could not find any notice that the printing house had forwarded a copy to the prosecution office in question and he had received a copy only on 16 January 2002. If convicted Ömer Asan has to expect a sentence of between 14 months and 4 yearsí imprisonment. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 5, 2002)
Teachers on Trial
On 6 May Diyarbakir Penal Court started to hear the case of 1,042 teachers, members of the union Egitim-Sen in Diyarbakir, who had participated in the one-day no-work action on 7 June 2001 in protest against the draft law on trade unions that was on the agenda of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). 100 of the defendants had appeared. The hearings will continue on a daily basis until 23 May so that the defendants can testify in groups of 100. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 7, 2002)
Writer on Trial
On 7 May Istanbul Penal Court No. 2 started to hear the case of Enis Batur, writer of the book "Apple" and Irfan Sanci, owner of Sel Publishing House. Both are charged with publishing a book against the general morality. In January the book had been confiscated. The hearing was adjourned to a later date. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
Journalist on Trial
Bural Bekdil, writing for "Turkish Daily News" and the editor-in-chief Mine Çevik appeared at Ankara Criminal Court No. 2 on 7 May. They are being charged under Article 159 TPC for an article of 28 February 2001 entitled "Stop Justice, Someone wants to get out". The hearing was adjourned to 17 May. (Radikal-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
MKM Artists on Trial
On 7 May Beyoglu Penal Court No. 10 continued to hear the case of artists from the Mesopotamian Culture Center (MKM). They are charged with violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations, when before New Yearís Eve they walked towards Taksim Square in regional costumes playing drums and flutes. The police officers Coskun Algan, Kemal Teksen, Murat Konca and Atik Ihtiyar had come as witnesses and stated equally that the group of 25 people had shouted slogans such as "we donít want wars", "we want freedom and education in the mother tongue". Lawyer Erol Memis presented a videocassette to court stating that the police officers were lying, because nobody had shouted any slogans. The court adjourned the hearing to 25 June to listen to three more witnesses and to inspect the cassette. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
"Freedom of Thought" Trial
On 8 May Istanbul SSC No. 4 continued to hear the case of 65 intellectuals charged for the booklet "Freedom of Thought - For Everyone". At the hearing the defendants Mehmet Sanar Yurdatapan, Emine Senlikoglu, Ahmet Sisman, Erdogan Turan and Veli Tollu were present. Ahmet Sisman stated that he had willingly and knowingly signed the booklet as a publisher. The other defendants had testified earlier in the same manner. The court adjourned the hearing to 31 July in order to listen to other defendants and to complete the files. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 9, 2002)
Journalists on Trial, Confiscation
On 8 May Istanbul SSC No. 6 started to hear the case of Gülcan Kaya, owner of the journal "Özgür Halk" and the editor-in-chief Ayhan Dogru. They are charged with disseminating separatist propaganda by an article in the 123rd edition of the journal, said to have been written by the leader of the Freedom and Democracy Congress of Kurdistan (KADEK) Abdullah Öcalan. At the hearing Ayhan Dogru stated that the article had been published as news. The court decided to ask Abdullah Öcalan, currently in Imrali Prison, whether he had written the article or not. The court ordered a ban for the defendants to leave the country and adjourned the hearing to 16 August. Istanbul SSC ordered the confiscation of the last editions of the journals "Yeniden Atilim" and "Özgür Gençlik". (Evrensel-Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 9, 2002)
Fine for e-mails
Ahmet Çakmak, who had been fined TL 47 million for throwing a cash register towards the Prime Minister on 4 April 2001 trying to get attention for his poor economic situation, now was fined TL 56.3 million for annoying the Prime Ministry by permanent e-mails stating that after one year his economic situation had not improved. In addition, bureaucrats from the Prime Ministry had him examined at the psychiatric department of Ankara Numune Hospital. Reportedly Ahmet Çakmak receives medical treatment a mental disease. (Zaman-TIHV, May 9, 2002)
Fikret Baskaya on Trial
On 10 May Istanbul SSC started the retrial of Dr. Fikret Baskaya, chairman of the Turkey and the Middle East Forum Foundation. Being imprisoned in Kalecik Prison (Ankara) Dr. Fikret Baskaya did not participate in the hearing. His lawyer Aydin Erdogan stated that Article 8/1 of the Law to Fight Terrorism contained more restrictions than the constitutional amendments of October 2001 allowed for. He asked to stop the execution of the sentence of Dr. Baskaya and an application to the Constitutional Court. The Court adjourned the hearing to 7 June for the prosecutor to react to the demand and for Fikret Baskaya to be able to testify. Dr. Baskaya went to prison on 29 June 2001 after the Court of Cassation had confirmed a sentence of 16 monthsí imprisonment on 26 January 2001 for an article in the no longer existing daily "Özgür Bakis" of 1 June 1999 entitled "Historic Trial?". Istanbul SSC had ruled that this article contained separatist propaganda. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 11, 2002)
Journalist and Press Staff on Trial
On 10 May Diyarbakir Criminal Court No. 1 continued to hear the case of Hasan Özgün, representative of the no longer existing daily "Özgür Gündem" in Diyarbakir. The hearing was adjourned to 7 June to wait for an expertise report on a petition he had sent the various prosecutors and the Minister of Justice asking for a retrial according to the governmental report on the so-called "Susurluk Scandal". In January 1996 Diyarbakir SSC had sentenced Hasan Özgün to 12.5 yearsí imprisonment for membership of the PKK. Now, he is being charged with insulting members of the security forces. On 10 May Istanbul SSC started to hear the case of Ekrem Erdem and Bagdat Mizrak, staff members of the journal "Alinteri". They had been detained on 29 November 2001 during a raid of the offices in Istanbul. The hearing on charges of supporting an illegal organization was adjourned to 3 July. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 10, 2002)
Journal Confiscated
Istanbul SSC ordered the confiscation of the 10-23 May edition of the bi-weekly "Isçi Köylü" on the grounds that some articles contained propaganda for an illegal organization. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 11, 2002)
Journal Confiscated
The 8 May edition of the journal "Odak" was confiscated on orders of Istanbul SSC on the ground that an article on the election in France contained propaganda for an illegal organization. Editions 23, 24, 25 and 26 of the journal "Alinteri" were also confiscated on orders of Istanbul SSC. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 15, 2002)
Friendly Settlement for Ahmet Altan
The complaint by the writer and journalist Ahmet Altan to the European Court of Human Rights resulted in a friendly settlement after the Turkish government had promised to make the necessary changes to bring Article 312 TPC and provisions of the Law to Fight Terrorism in line with Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights (freedom of expression). The government also agreed to pay EUR 4,500 in compensation. The case had been filed after Ahmet Altan had been convicted for an article in the daily "Milliyet" on 17 April 1995 entitled "Atakürt". (Milliyet-TIHV, May 15, 2002
Fine for Press Statement
Ayten Kiran, chairwomen of the Association of Help for Prisonersí Relatives (THYY-DER) in Van and the board members Felemez Keskin, Haci Aslan, Musa Aslan, Sadullah Kaya, Nihat Avci and Evin Aslan were fined TL 142 million each for a violation of Law 2908. Last year they had announced a press statement against the disciplinary transfer of 5 members of the teaching staff at the 100 Year University in Van. Further board members are supposed to testify today facing the same punishment. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 15, 2002)
Freedom of Thought-2000 Trial
On 15 May Üsküdar Criminal Court No. 2 continued to hear the case of 16 intellectuals, who had signed the booklet "Freedom of Thought ? 2000" as publishers. The defendants Vahdettin Karabay, Salim Uslu, Siyami Erdem, Hüsnü Öndül, Yavuz Önen, Cengiz Bektas, Atilla Maras, Yilmaz Ensaroglu, Zuhal Olcay, Lale Mansur, Sanar Yurdatapan, Ali Nesin, Erdal Öz, Ömer Madra, Etyen Mahçupyan and Sadik Tasdogan asked for a suspension of the trial until the decision of the Constitutional Court on Article 162 TPC. The court adjourned the hearing to 10 July for the prosecutor to prepare his final statement. (TIHV, May 16, 2002)
Journalists on Trial
On 16 May Istanbul SSC No. 2 acquitted Aydin Dogan, owner of the daily "Radikal" and the editor-in-chief Hasan Çakkalkurt from charges of having presented the Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Türk as a target for illegal organization. The case had been opened for an article of 14 January 2001 on the hunger strikes entitled "Deaths can be avoided". In summing up the case the prosecutor argued that the article had remained within the borders of criticism. The court followed his arguments and acquitted the defendants. (Radikal-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
Trial on Festival
On 16 My Tunceli Penal Court started to hear the case of 25 people in connection with incident during the 2nd Munzur Nature and Culture Festival in July 2001. During the hearing 12 defendants including Salih Gündogan, chairman of the Party of Labour (EMEP) in Tunceli, testified. The hearing was adjourned to 27 July. The defendants are charged with resisting the security forces and damaging public property. During the festival that started on 27 July Murat Bozlak, chairman of the HADEP was prevented from speaking. The police also prevented some 10,000 people from holding a protest march against this and the fact that a poster of the MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli had been put up in the stadium. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
Writer on Trial
On 16 May the period of postponement of the execution of a 20 monthsí prison term for the writer Emine Senlikoglu expired. She went to prosecutor and was informed that the execution of the sentence was suspended until the case had been reviewed due to the changes of Article 312 TPC. The case will be conducted at Izmir SSC, where she had been convicted for a speech she held on Klas TV in Antalya on 15 May 2000. (Zaman-TIHV, May 17, 2002)
Journalists on Trial
On 17 May Ankara Criminal Court No. 2 convicted Bural Bekdil, journalist for the Turkish Daily News, and the editor-in-chief Mine Çevik for having insulted the judiciary. Bural Bekdil was sentenced to 20 monthsí imprisonment and Mine Çevik to 10 monthsí imprisonment. Both sentences were suspended. The court acquitted them for "insulting the security forces". (Radikal-TIHV, May 18, 2002)
Journalist Beaten
On 23 May Eraydin Aytekin, reporter for the news agency DHA, was beaten by the bodyguards of Hüsnü Yusuf Gökalp, Minister for Agriculture and Villages, when he visited Sivas. Allegedly he took a photograph of the minister, when he took some medicine. (Milliyet-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Journalist on Trial
On 22May Diyarbakir SSC No. 2 started to hear the case of Irfan Aydin, representative of the weekly "Yedinci Gündem" in Batman. He stated that he had been detained on 15 February this year during a demonstration in Petrolkent quarter that he had observed as a journalist. The police detained me under beatings and accused of having harmed their car and leading the demonstration. He and his lawyer Ayla Akat asked for his release. The court ordered the release on the grounds that the evidence mostly had been collected. The hearing was adjourned to 2 July to listen to the testimony of the police officers. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Cartoonist on Trial
On 22 May Boyabat Criminal Court continued to hear the case of the cartoonists Askin Ayrancioglu and Seyit Saatçi on charges of having insulted the police. Due to legal changes the court decided that the penal Court in Boyabat should look at the case. (TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Books Confiscated
Istanbul SSC No. 2 ordered the confiscation of the book by the author-researcher Malmîsanij, living in Sweden, on a legal Kurdish studentsí association, founded in 1912. The confiscation order for the book, published by Avesta Publishing House, was based on the allegation that pages 11 to 187 contained separatist propaganda. Istanbul SSC also ordered the confiscation of a book by Ibrahim Cihan on "Abdullah Öcalan and the Way to Imrali". Umut Publishing House published the book. Umut Publishing House declared that shortly before another book on resistance against torture had also been confiscated. The Freedom for Publication Committee in the Union of Turkish Publisher issued a report on the developments in the first four months of the year. The Committee stated that 40 books, written by 39 authors and published in 31 publishing houses had either been confiscated or resulted in court cases during the first four months of this year. The report reminded of a statement by Interior Minister Rüstü Kazim Yücelen, who had stated that in 2001 a total of 1.309 periodical or unique publications had been confiscated. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Posters Banned
Mersin Judicial Court No. 4 ordered a ban for posters prepared by the Labor Party (EMEP) with the title "Lift the State of Emergency for Equality, Freedom and Brotherhood". The police in Mersin went to the partyís office and confiscated the posters. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Theater Plays Banned
The governor of Diyarbakir banned three plays by the group "Teatra Jiyana Nu" (New Life Theater) to be performed in Kurdish during the 2nd Culture and Artsí Festival of Diyarbakir Municipality. The decision was based on the Law on A State of Emergency. On 24 May Yüksel Tunca was detained, when he presented a slide show on "Four Seasons in Hakkari" in the theater of Diyarbakir Municipality. He was released after testifying. (Cumhuriyet-Milliyet-TIHV, May 25, 2002)
Poster Banned
In Manisa the posters prepared by the Party of Labour (EMEP) with the title "Lift the State of Emergency for Equality, Freedom and Brotherhood" were confiscated due to a decision by Mersin Judicial Court No. 4. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 28, 2002)
Journalist on Trial
Cumhur Kiliççioglu, owner of the local newspaper "Mücadele", published in Siirt, was indicted for an article of 14 January under the title "A judge, who takes presents, will do what you want". He is charged with insulting the judiciary. The trial will start on 4 June at Siirt Penal Court. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 29, 2002)
Slides Confiscated
On 24 May the photographer Yücel Tunca was detained in Diyarbakir
during his slide show entitled "Hakkari My Sweetheart". The police suspected
that some armed people shown in the picture might be PKK militants. During
his two hoursí testimony he told them that he had taken this photographs
in 1994 and the armed men were village guards from the Jirki and Pinyanis
tribe. These photographs had been published in the journals Panorama and
Turkuaz. As proof these pages were sent to Diyarbakir Police HQ. by facsimile
and the original editions were sent by cargo. Subsequently Yücel Tuna
was released. On 27 May he went to testify to the prosecutor at Diyarbakir
SSC. The prosecutor ordered the confiscation of the 83 slides and said:
"We believe you, but someone has to be convinced." (Radikal-TIHV, May 29,
2002)
QUESTION KURDE / KURDISH QUESTION
Le 1er mai interdit dans les villes kurdes
Les manifestations du 1er mai en Turquie, interdites dans plusieurs provinces kurdes où l'on signale trente arrestations, se sont déroulées en présence de forces de police à Ankara et à Istanbul, où quelques 15.000 policiers étaient déployés. Aucun incident n'y a été signalé et des milliers de manifestants se sont rassemblés sur des places désignées à l'avance. Les slogans évoquaient la grave crise économique à laquelle est confronté le pays, mais aussi le conflit israélo-palestinien, la question kurde ou les droits des homosexuels.
À Diyarbakir, capitale politico-culturelle du Kurdistan turc, les policiers ont rapidement étouffé les tentatives de rassemblement et dix personnes ont été arrêtées, selon des sources policières.
À Tunceli (Dersim), autre ville kurde, des heurts ont opposé les forces de l'ordre à 1.500 manifestants. Une vingtaine de personnes dont le dirigeant local du parti pro-kurde Hadep, Alican Unlu, ont été arrêtées après avoir tenté de faire une déclaration publique.
Diyarbakir et Tunceli figurent parmi plusieurs provinces à majorité
kurde dans lesquelles les manifestations sont interdites dans le cadre
de l'état d'urgence décrété en 1987. (CILDEKT,
3 mai 2002)
Rappel sévère de la délégation de l'UE en Turquie
Une délégation de sept membres de l'Union européenne dirigée par le Néerlandais Joost Lagendijk s'est rendue le 9 mai en Turquie pour une mission de trois jours afin d'examiner la situation du parti de la démocratie du peuple (HADEP). Lors d'une conférence de presse donnée, le 10 mai Joost Lagendijk a déclaré : " Si le HADEP est fermé, ce sera un sérieux revers pour les relations entre l'UE et la Turquie ".
Le HADEP est menacé d'interdiction pour " liens organiques " avec le Parti des Travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK), récemment inclus par l'UE sur sa liste des organisations terroristes. M. Lagendijk a souligné que les autorités turques n'avaient pas pu fournir à la délégation de " preuve concrète " d'un lien entre ce parti et le PKK. " Notre conclusion est que le HADEP est un parti politique autonome qui défend les intérêts et les droits des Kurdes avec des moyens non violents ", a-t-il déclaré.
Le député néerlandais a pressé les autorités
turques de s'abstenir de toute action contre des groupes kurdes légaux
après la reconnaissance par l'UE du PKK comme une organisation terroriste.
" Nous insistons auprès des autorités turques pour qu'elles
ne profitent pas de l'inclusion du PKK sur la liste des terroristes pour
réprimer des organisations ou partis politiques légaux d'origine
kurde ", a-t-il souligné. (CILDEKT, 17 mai 2002)
Le Conseil de l'Europe demande un nouveau procès pour 4 ex-députés
Le Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe, s'appuyant sur une décision de la Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme, a demandé à la Turquie de réviser le procès de quatre anciens parlementaires, condamnés en 1994 à de lourdes peines pour séparatisme kurde, a-t-il indiqué dans un communiqué.
Dans une résolution adoptée mardi, le comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe "invite" les autorités turques à remédier "rapidement à la situation" des parlementaires, dont Leyla Zana, ex-députée du parti de la démocratie (DEP, dissous, pro-kurde), condamnée à 15 ans de prison.
Il lui demande également de prendre "les mesures nécessaires pour rouvrir les procédures incriminées par la Cour dans cette affaire ou d'autres mesures ad hoc effaçant les conséquences pour les requérants des violations constatées", a-t-il indiqué dans un communiqué.
Le 17 juillet 2001, la Cour européenne avait condamné
la Turquie pour "procès inéquitable", considérant
notamment que la cour de sûreté, avec la présence d'un
juge militaire, ne saurait être considérée comme "un
tribunal indépendant et impartial" au sens de l'article 6 de la
Convention européenne. (AFP, 3 mai 2002)
Mobilisation kurde à Strasbourg contre le jugement de l'UE sur le PKK
Une cinquantaine de Kurdes, selon les organisateurs, ont entamé une grève de la faim de cinq jours à Strasbourg pour protester contre la décision des Quinze d'inclure l'organisation séparatiste kurde PKK - récemment rebaptisée KADEK - sur la liste des organisations terroristes.
L'UE cautionne ainsi l'Etat turc coupable de violations systématiques des droits de l'Homme au Kurdistan, estiment les grévistes de la faim, installés sur le parvis de la gare sous une grande tente, décorée de drapeaux kurdes et de portraits de leur leader emprisonné Abdullah Ocalan.
Un des points forts de cette mobilisation sera un meeting dimanche après-midi, ont indiqué les organisateurs. Selon eux, des mouvements de grèves de la faim ou des rassemblements ont été organisés simultanément dans 150 autres villes d'Europe.
Les manifestants strasbourgeois, revêtus d'une casaque blanche
avec l'inscription "gréviste de la faim", distribuent des tracts
aux passants en diffusant de la musique kurde à fort volume. (AFP,
11 mai 2002)
Accroissement de la repression Contre le peuple kurde
LíArmée turque, les forces de sécurités, ont augmenté la répression à líégard du peuple kurde depuis que líUnion européenne a inclus le PKK (Parti des Travailleurs du Kurdistan) dans la liste des organisations terroristes.
Les opérations militaires:
Le jour même de líannonce de la décision de líUnion européenne, le 3 mai 2002, les troupes turques ont commencé de vastes opérations qui se poursuivent encore à SIRNAK, BEYTUSABAB. Díautres opération militaires de grande envergure ont commencées le 7 mai 2002 dans les régions de DERSIM , BINGOL, ERZURUM, DIYARBAKIR ET SIIRT .
Le même jour lí armée turque a commencé une opération contres les dans la régions de Zaxo au Sud du Kurdistan (irakien. Díautre part, on a appris que le 8 mai 2002, líarmée turque a envahi les régions de Batufa et Kanimasi situées également au Kurdistan Sud (nord díIrak).
Díaprès les informations fournies, actuellement des dizaines de milliers de soldats turcs participent à ces opérations appuyées des hélicoptères et des avions de combats . On sait déjà que beaucoup de gens ont péris.
Après une période de trois ans les forces turques ont ordonné aux protecteurs de villages de se tenir prêts pour participer à de plus vastes opérations.
Tortures et arrestations:
Les forces de sécurités turques encouragées par la décision de líUnion Européenne ont arrêté et mis en garde à vue 11 personnes membres de " EGITIM-SEN " syndicats des enseignants à Kiziltepe, district de Mardin. Díaprès une déclaration faite par Egitim-Sen de la section de Mardin, ces 11 personnes furent arrêtées et torturées pour le seul fait de se réunir pour apprendre le Kurde à leurs domiciles. Ces enseignants ont subi différentes sortes de tortures: mettre sous haute pression de líeau, passage à tabac, insultes mise des têtes dans des sacs en plastiques et 3 jours sans eau ni nourriture etc.Ö. Une enseignante enceinte nommée Sermin Erbas a perdu son bébé suite à ces tortures, elle a été emmenée díurgence à líhôpital militaire et se trouve dans un état grave.
Les attaques fascistes:
A líuniversité de Konya Selçuk une cinquantaine de personnes armées venues de líextérieur ont attaqué un groupe díétudiants kurdes assis devant le campus de líuniversité en criant " les terroristes sont là ". Lors de cette attaque menée par ces groupes fascisants six étudiants kurdes ont été blessés, et deux autres Sedat Erol et Zana Kibar ont été gravement touchés à la tête. La situation de ces deux étudiants est très critique. De telles attaques ont aussi lieu contre les civiles et les commerçant kurdes.
Liste des "Organisations Civiles" terroristes
Díaprés une dépêche de la chaine de télévision NTV, le Ministère turc des Affaires Etrangères réclame à líUnion Européenne, qui vient de publier la nouvelle liste des organisations considérées comme terroristes en Europe, líinterdiction de 450 organisations civiles et associations européennes (entre autre Reporters sans Frontières, France Libertés, La Fédération Mondiale des Cités Unies et les associations de solidarité avec le Kurdistan). Ainsi ne se contentant pas de líinterdiction des organisations civiles kurdes de Turquie, le Gouvernement turc attend de líUnion Européenne que des associations européennes soient intégrées à cette fameuse liste des organisations terroristes ou poursuivies pour avoir des relations avec ces organisations.
Depuis 3 ans les combats ont totalement cessé au Kurdistan, mais
une semaine seulement après la publications de cette liste, un regain
de violence síest fait sentir dans la région. Sans aucun doute cette
liste est la cause première de cette nouvelle montée de répression
au Kurdistan. Cette décision doit être annulée
au plus tôt. La répression contre le peuple kurde ne cessera
et la paix, la Démocratie et la stabilité ne pourront être
obtenues si cette décision maintenue et si les
revendications légitimes du peuple ne trouve trouvent une réponse
adéquate. (Comité du Kurdistan, 13 mai 2002)
Une campagne contre l'interdiction du PKK en Europe
Les personnalités kurdes et européennes ont lancé une campagne de protestation contre l'inclusion du PKK dans la liste des "groupes terroristes" de l'Union européenne. Nous reproduisons le texte de l'appel à la participation à cette campagne:
Le 3 mai, líUnion Européenne maintenait le PKK (Parti des Travailleurs du Kurdistan) sur la liste des organisations terroristes sans justification politique ou légale.
Pourtant, les dirigeants du PKK ne cessent díaffirmer, depuis 1993, que le conflit qui líopposait à la Turquie ne pourrait être résolu dans la violence. Les kurdes ont pour ce faire abandonné leurs revendications indépendantistes, lesquelles ont été remplacées par des aspirations à la liberté díexpression de leur identité kurde au sein même de la Turquie. En effet, en 1998, Abdullah Ocalan quitta le Moyen-orient afin de faire la promotion de son projet de paix en Europe. Il fût établi que líidée díune libération nationale par le moyen de la guérilla avait été historiquement dépassée et devait être remplacé par líaction citoyenne et le dialogue. Líunité kurde armée síest retirée de Turquie il y a maintenant 3 ans. Enfin, le processus de normalisation du mouvement kurde trouva son aboutissement le 10 avril 2002 lors du 8ème congrès du PKK où il fût décidé de dissoudre entièrement le parti et de réorganiser son action en utilisant des moyens pacifiques et démocratiques, et en adoptant le nom de KADEK, " Congrès du Kurdistan pour la liberté et la Démocratie".
Ce changement stratégique mis en úuvre díune manière aussi soutenue que crédible, vérifiable dans les faits, fût souligné par une renonciation sans équivoque à toutes actions violentes, par guerre ou actes terroristes. Ceci síappuyait sur líespoir díune compréhension et díun respect mutuel, comme sur celui díune construction de la société civile par la négociation et le dialogue ce qui aurait permis à la Turquie de surmonter son déficit démocratique dans son processus díintégration à líUnion Européenne.
Les kurdes ne représentent pas un danger. Il níy a, en Europe comme en Turquie, ni bombe, ni acte terroriste provenant des kurdes. Mais líironie du sort veut que les kurdes soient punis et placés sur la liste européenne des organisations terroristes. En profonde contradiction avec le but supposé de combattre le terrorisme, les kurdes sont toujours privés de leurs droits à líautodétermination, leurs efforts demeurent vains et les leaders politiques européens persistent à considérer le PKK selon des critères politiques révolus.
Du point de vue díAnkara, ce changement significatif implique non seulement que líinitiative kurde représente la menace díun plus large soutien et reconnaissance des revendications kurdes, mais contraste aussi sensiblement avec le fait que comme toujours, la Turquie rejette toute volonté de démocratie et de respect pour le droit des minorités.
Bien que discréditées díun point de vue démocratique, les autorités turques ont maintenant, avec líaide de líEurope, essayées de se restructurer, en síassurant que le mouvement politique kurde se retrouve enfermer dans la catégorie de terrorisme à travers le PKK (ou, comme il líest à présent demandé, le KADEK)
Comment se passent les choses en réalité ? 4500 villages kurdes ont été détruits et près de 3 millions de personnes expulsées de leur terre natale. A présent que le PKK est placé sur la liste européenne des organisations terroristes, líutilisation díarmes européennes contre les kurdes, la torture et les menaces de mort sous couvert de raison díEtat, ne vont pas síarrêter mais au contraire se multiplier.
Conséquences
Court européenne: Les jugements dénonçant le bafouement par la Turquie des Droits de líHomme peuvent se retrouver bloqués ou annihilés ; de même, dans le futur, toute atteinte aux Droits de líHomme pourra se justifier comme partie prenante díune lutte contre le terrorisme.
Lois díasile: Sous couvert de líapplication de la liste européenne et de sa conception obsolète du PKK, la Turquie va soumettre à líEurope une liste de suspects arbitrairement désignés en demandant leur extradition, ceci faisant des ministères européens de la justice et de líintérieur les antichambres des prisons díAnkara.
ONG: la liste européenne des organisations terroristes fera jurisprudence auprès des ONG, des organisations pour les Droits de líHomme, pour le Développement ou líEnvironnement qui la suivent à la lettre. Le même processus sera appliqué aux banques, fondations, universités, collèges et écoles.
Associations culturelles kurdes: Toutes seront qualifiées de terroristes si elles sont associées ou non avec le KADEK, et pourront donc síattendre à être fermées ou à avoir leurs fonds confisqués.
Liberté díexpression: Tous les citoyens européens seront mis en cause síils supportent des activités démocratiques et non violentes menées par les kurdes, et seront désormais considérés désignés comme soutien à " la terreur ". La presse et la télévision kurde doivent síattendre à être fermées sans préavis aucun.
Langue kurde: Lorsque les étudiants, parents et professeurs kurdes de tous les horizons sociaux en Turquie exprimeront leur désir de reconnaissance de leur langue à travers des campagnes publiques, pour la Turquie comme pour líUnion Européenne, il síagira aussi de terrorisme et les sanctions seront lourdes.
Paix au Moyen-Orient: La Turquie va enfin pouvoir se référer à la définition du terrorisme de líUnion Européenne pour justifier ses invasions militaires permanentes au nord de líIrak, qui constituent pourtant une violation des lois internationales. La constante remise en cause du processus de paix dans cette région sera fortement encouragée par cette décision européenne .
Líexemplaire projet díémancipation des kurdes qui repose sur la paix et une fédération démocratique des Etats du Moyen-Orient sera complètement contraint au silence.
Face à la gravité de la situation, nous disons NON!
Nous déclarons notre ferme opposition, ainsi que notre inébranlable détermination à suivre les voies de la négociation pour la résolution des conflits en excluant tout recours à la violence.
Nous ne sommes pas des terroristes mais des citoyens du monde, qui réclamons le droit à la reconnaissance de notre existence.
En conséquence, nous demandons une révision immédiate de la liste de líUnion Européenne dans laquelle nous níaurions jamais dû être inclus.
Personne ne peut nous prendre notre liberté, personne ne peut nous éloigner de nos aspirations à la Paix et à la Démocratie.
Les Kurdes díEurope et du Monde.
Notre cause a besoin du soutien solidaire et de la reconnaissance de líopinion démocratique, de ses médias, partis politiques, organisations, associations et de toutes les personnes libres, dans le monde.
Signez notre pétition et demandez avec nous la révision
immédiate de cette liste scandaleuse. (E-mail: info@veto-liste.org)
AI: Risk of torture and ill-treatment (1)
Twelwe members of the Egitim-Sen teachers' trade Union were detained by police in southeast Turkey on 7 May, reportedly because they had been involved in a campaign for education in the Kurdish language.
Yusuf Basboga, Ahmet Ökten, A. Kerim Koçhan, Mikail Bülbül, Mahsun Ilen, Faruk Kiliç, Nurettin Demir, Zübeyir Avci, Mahmut Kuzu, A. Aziz Yücedag, Lokman Koçhan and Sermin Erbas are being held at the Anti-Terror Branch of Mardin Police Headquarters, where they are at risk of torture and ill-treatment.
They were detained in the town of Kiziltepe, in the province of Mardin, at 10pm. Since November 2001, hundreds of people have been arrested after they began campaigning by submitting petitions to their schools or universities, asking either for courses on the Kurdish language, or for their education to be delivered in Kurdish.
Although a recent constitutional amendment guarantees the right to submit petitions like this, many have been detained by police or gendarmerie and arrested. Some have reportedly been tortured or ill-treated in detention, or been expelled from their schools or universities.
A woman from Kiziltepe was reportedly detained on 5 May, and held for 3 days at Mardin Police Headquarters. She was allegedly tortured by five police officers. The Mardin Chief Prosecutor has opened an investigation into torture allegations against the five officers.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Torture is rarely reported from prisons, but in police stations it appears to be regularly used to extract confessions or information about illegal organizations. It is also used to intimidate detainees into becoming police informers or simply to punish people who are believed to support illegal organizations.
Torture Methods in Turkey documented by Amnesty International include severe beatings, being stripped naked and blindfolded, hosing with pressurized ice-cold water, suspending by the arms or wrists bound behind the victim's back, electric shocks, beating the soles of the feet, death threats and sexual assault.(Amnesty International Index, May 10, 2002)
AI: Risk of torture and ill-treatment (2)
Salih Yilar, a youth member of the legal pro-Kurdish party HADEP, was reportedly tortured by police on 14 May, after he was detained in Diyarbakir, in southeast Turkey. After he told his lawyers what had happened, police detained him again and told him that the next time they took him into custody he would not be seen again.
Amnesty International believes he is in grave danger of being tortured again, or killed. Salih Yilar was detained at his home on 14 May, and taken to the Anti-Terror Branch of Diyarbakir Police Headquarters. He had been detained six times before, but had been well treated in custody.
This time, however, officers blindfolded him, interrogated him about his activities with HADEP, and asked him to act as an informer. He refused to sign a statement and was taken into an adjoining room.
There, he told his lawyers, "They sat on my shoulders, another person started to give me electric shocks to my toes. For about half an hour they did this. They put out cigarettes on my cheeks and my left knee. Whilst I was being taken to another place they dumped a bucket of cold water on me from behind. Around this time I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes I was in the Diyarbakir State Hospital."
At the hospital, doctors treated him for injuries including deep cuts to his left arm, where it appeared he had been cut with a razor blade. Razor cuts were also visible on his chest and abdominal region, and he had a swelling at the back of his head. As soon as he regained consciousness, while he was still in hospital, the police pressured him again to sign a statement, telling him that whoever had assaulted him had been drunk, and repeatedly suggesting that it was HADEP members who had attacked him. The police then took him and his brother, who had come to visit him, to another police station.
Officers there reportedly saw that he had been tortured, and refused to accept him as a prisoner. The police therefore took him back to police headquarters, where they told him that if he did not sign the statement they would take him into custody again the next day. He refused to sign, and was released.
Later on, lawyers came to his home to take a statement. Fifteen minutes after the lawyers left, the police arrived and arrested Salih and his brother, and took them to police headquarters. The police allegedly threatened that the next time they would take both the brothers and their lawyers into custody, and "then you'd really see what we can do." Again they pressured Salih to sign a prepared statement, telling him that the next time he was taken into custody he would not be heard from again. They were then released.
On May 16, Salih Yilar was taken to the Prosecutor's Office by his lawyers,
where a prosecutor reportedly refused to take Salih Yilar's statement about
the torture he had suffered. The police may have cut Salih with a razor
blade to make it look as if he had attempted suicide, and to disguise the
fact that they had tortured him. His lawyers noted when they interviewed
him that he had ink on his fingers, indicating that his fingerprints had
been taken. (Amnesty International Index, May 17, 2002)
Kurdish Kids Get Justice from European Court
London-based rights campaigners Tuesday welcomed a European court judgment requiring Turkey to pay compensation to a family of Kurdish orphans whose parents and a sibling were killed in front of them by armed men.
The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) said that last week's ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that the Turkish government should pay US$160,000 in damages to the 10 surviving members of the Onen family was a "major victory."
"It is a victory not just for the children, but for the entire Kurdish community," said Sally Eberhardt, a spokeswoman for KHRP, which has been strongly critical of Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish community, which makes up 12 percent of the population.
The European Court ruled last Tuesday that two articles of a regional human rights treaty had been violated when armed men, who were initially identified as Turkish soldiers, raided the Onen's family home, in southeastern Turkey, and killed Ibrahim and Mome Onen and their son, Orhan Onen.
The victims of the 1993 attack were deprived of the right to life and the right to an effective remedy, guaranteed under Articles 2 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Strasbourg-based court found.
While the Turkish government denied responsibility for the attack, saying that members of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were behind the killings, the court rejected that claim. However, it ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove the assailants were government soldiers.
Judicial authorities held a series of fact-finding hearings in Turkey's capital Ankara during 1998, five years after the case was first filed in September, 1993. They concluded that the government's version of the attack was "unsubstantiated and contradicted by substantial evidence."
The court also uncovered a number of "grave deficiencies" with the police investigation into the case--which was conducted without photographs of the crime scene or recordings of eye-witness statements--and ruled that it was "undisputed" that the deaths were the result of a premeditated plan to kill Orhan Onen. The motive behind the killings was not established.
The ruling comes at the end of a nine-year battle waged on behalf of one of the Onen daughters, Semse Onen, by lawyers working with KHRP, which campaigns for the rights of Kurdish populations living in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the former Soviet Union.
According to KHRP, over 30,000 Kurdish people have been killed since
1984 when the PKK began an armed insurgency against the government for
increased self-determination in the southeast of the country. (OneWorld.com,
May 21, 2002)
PKK and DHKP-C in US terrorist report
Three outlawed groups active in Turkey have been included in the US State DepartmentÇs 2001 annual report on global terrorism, with references made to attacks staged by all three in the past year.
Cited in the State DepartmentÇs report, released late on Tuesday, were the separatist PKK, the extreme leftist Revolutionary PeopleÇs Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C) and the radical Islamist group Turkish Hizbullah. Currently, the DHKP-C and Hizbullah were the most active terrorist organisations in operating in Turkey, according to the report.
The State Department document praised AnkaraÇs fight against terrorism at the domestic level and its international contribution to the struggle against global terrorism. However, the report said that Turkey has been softer when comes to Chechen terrorists who use Turkey as a country to stage protests.
Ambassador Francis Taylor, the head of the State DepartmentÇs anti-terror
desk, said that the recent move by the PKK to change its name would not
alter the character of the organisation, adding that it had been on the
USÇs list of terrorist groups for years and would remain so. (NTV/MSNBC,
May 22, 2002)
Turkey battles Kurd rebels in north Iraq
Fighting broke out between the Turkish military and armed Kurdish rebels in a remote region of northern Iraq at the weekend with conflicting reports of casualties on both sides.
Some 700 Turkish soldiers battled late on Sunday with more than 500 Kurdish guerrillas of the People's Defence Force (HSK), an armed wing of Turkey-based Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK), the HSK said in a statement to the Mezopotamya News Agency.
"The Turkish armed forces last night attacked the People's Defence Force in the Haftanin province (of northern Iraq). One militant was killed and five seriously injured. Fifteen Turkish soldiers were killed," the statement said.
Military sources in southeast Turkey confirmed the clashes, but said the army had suffered no casualties while some Kurdish militants had died.
KADEK is a new group formed by members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who said last month they would regroup under a new name, a move denounced by Ankara as meaningless.
The European Union recently added the PKK to its list of "terrorist" groups.
The Kurdish insurgency started in 1984, but has been reduced to sporadic clashes since the 1999 capture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, now on death row.
Ocalan has ordered his followers to withdraw from Turkey and seek cultural rights for the country's 12 million Kurds through political channels.
Turkey is pursuing several thousand PKK guerrillas it says are now based
in a Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq. (Reuters, May 27, 2002)
"Nazi Formula" for the execution of Ocalan
A report has been prepared by security circles in the framework of debates on the execution of Abdullah Ocalan, the chieftain of the separatist terrorist organization Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) which was flamed with the latest statements of Deputy Prime Minister and MHP leader Devlet Bahceli.
The condition of that Ocalan will never be able to benefit from any possible amnesty until he dies, is demanded in this plan by taking Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess.
In the report which was also presented to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the suggestions were listed in the case of the abolishment of the death penalty.
Hess whose case was taken as a model in the report had been captured during World War II and he had been imprisoned until his death alone in a prison.
It is stated in the report that "If the death penalty is abolished,
amnesty should be avoided. In respect of satisfying the public conscience
and in order to prevent any freedom campaigns for the release of terrorist
Ocalan after 4-5 years, the condition of that the leader of terrorist organization
will never be pardoned should be put into the laws or as a temporary article
in the Constitution." (Turkish Daily News, May 28, 2002)
Chasses aux nom kurdes
Alors que le tribunal de Dicle rejetait la veille une demande similaire, un procureur d'Izmir a lancé une poursuite le 23 mai contre neuf autres familles kurdes d'Izmir accusées d'avoir donné des prénoms kurdes à leurs enfants. Les prénoms incriminés sont Zozan (Alpage), Medroj (Soleil de Mèdes), Rojhat (Aurore), Siyar (éveillé), Helin (Nid) et Baran (Pluie), les deux derniers pourtant communément utilisés par les Kurdes aussi bien que les Turcs. Au moment où l'Union européenne demande à la Turquie d'entamer de sérieuses réformes pour le respect des droits culturels des Kurdes, le procureur qualifie de "désobéissance civile" le fait de donner des prénoms kurdes aux enfants.
Dans la série de la chasse aux noms kurdes, la presse turque annonce le 30 mai qu'une autre famille d'Ardahan de même que l'officier d'état civil responsable, sont également traduits en justice pour le choix et l'inscription du prénom kurde Berivan (trayeuse). L'affaire est si burlesque que Berivan n'est autre que le titre d'une des séries télévisées les plus regardées en Turquie.
"Alors que l'on parle des critères de Copenhague, on régresse au point de poursuivre nos prénoms centenaires. J'ai pitié de l'Union européenne. Il parait qu'ils vont nous accepter parmi eux. À quoi donc serviraient à l'Europe ces têtes? On va tout simplement perturber la tranquillité de ces gens aussi" écrit Fatih Altayli le 30 mai dans son éditorial du quotidien Hurriyet. (CILDEKT, 30 mai 2000)
Kurdish Question in Brief
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
The Diyarbakir branch of the Association of Contemporary Jurist (ÇHD) alleged that the post offices PTT open letter addressed to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) to identify people sending petitions for an education in Kurdish. In Karliova district (Bingöl) the chairman of HADEP in Karliova, Zeki Firat and the board members Ferit Karabag, Ismet Dilsiz, Tuncay Bingöl, Servet Karabag and Mehmet Emin Seven were detained on 30 April. Another 40 people are being wanted. The students Sinan Arga, Özer Çaglak and Fatih Aykaz were dismissed from Balikesir University for two terms, because of petitions asking for eduction in Kurdish. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 2, 2002)
Trial against HADEP executives
On 2 May Nusaybin Penal Court started to hear the case of the board of the HADEP in Nusaybin district (Mardin) in connection with a press conference on the "disappearance" of the HADEP executives Serdar Tanis and Ebubekir Deniz. The hearing was adjourned to 30 May. In this trial Hasan Bozkurt, HADEP chairman in Nusaybin and 7 board members are being tried for staging an illegal demonstration. In Antep Haci Özkal and Birsel Deniz were arrested on 2 May. HADEP chairman for Adana, Abdullah Ince, the secretary Vakkas Dalkiliç, Veysi Gül and Birsel Deniz and the mayor of Aydinlar quarter were released. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 3, 2002)
Court Case against HADEP in Istanbul
Nazmi Okumus, public prosecutor at Istanbul SSC, terminated the investigation started after a raid of the offices of HADEP in Istanbul province on 29 November 2001 and charged the chairman Dogan Erbas, the executives Halil Salik, Yusuf Çirik, Ali Uçan, Nizamettin Öztürk, Nurettin Kaplan, Sabahattin Halli, Erengül Akçora and Necmettin Çeçen and Gülcan Kaya, owner of Mem Publishing House with supporting the PKK. He argued that HADEP was following the policy of the PKK that had adopted a non-violent strategy on civilian disobedience. For the defendant Gülcan Kaya he alleged that the books published by her contained intense propaganda for the PKK. As a consequence he wants the 10 defendants be convicted under Article 169 TPC that requires sentences between 3 and 5 yearsí imprisonment. According to Article 5 of the Law to Fight Terrorism these sentences have to be increased by 50%. The trial will be held at Istanbul SSC. ( Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 5, 2002)
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
In Mersin the police prevented members of the HADEP to send facsimiles to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) asking for an amendment of Article 42 of the Constitution. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 5, 2002)
Kurdish Institute in Trial
On 3 May Istanbul Penal Court Nr. 4 started to hear the case of Hasan Kaya, chairman of the Kurdish Institute in Istanbul that was closed down on 29 January and Esref Doganer, owner of the company "Zend". The hearing on charges of violating the Law on Private Schools was adjourned to 15 May. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 4, 2002)
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
On 6 May Istanbul SSC No. 6 started to hear the case of 92 defendants, on trial for having forwarded petitions for education in Kurdish to the director for national education in Ümraniye, Bagcilar and Küçükçekmece districts. 65 defendants were present including the remanded prisoners Mehmet Salih Anli, Alican Babahan, Mehmet Orhan, Abdullah Akinci, Ali Dinçer and Mehmet Meriç. The defendants pleaded not guilty of supporting an illegal organization and demanded their release and acquittal. The court did not lift the arrest warrants and adjourned the hearing to 5 August. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 7, 2002)
PKK trial on Village Guards
On 7 May Diyarbakir SSC No. 1 passed its verdict on 12 defendants, 6 of them village guards, from Uludere district (Sirnak). The defendants had been charged with assisting 4 PKK militants. In their final statements the four village guards on remand rejected the charges and said that there had been no clashes before they were detained. Their lawyer Ejder Talay also asked for acquittal. However the court sentenced all four of them, Mustafa Ürek, Kerem Bilen, Ömer Yaman and Hamdullah Salman to death according to Article 125 TPC, but commuted the death penalties to life imprisonment. Kerem Ürek, Ramazan Yaman, Süleyman Yaman, M. Salih Ürek and Mahmut Ender were sentenced to 45 monthsí imprisonment according to Article 169 TPC. The village guard Mustafa Ürek and the relatives Gevher Ürek and Naime Ürek were acquitted. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
Campaign on Education in Kurdish
Reports from Malazgirt district (Mus) state that 20 persons -including HADEP executive for Malazgirt Ahmet Erdogan-, who signed letters addressed to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) requesting an amendment of Article 42, were detained. In Varto district (Mus) eight people were detained on 7 May, because they sent letters to TBMM asking for an amendment of Article 42 of the Constitution. Seven of them were later released, but Behçet Özen, chairman of HADEP for the district, was arrested. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 8, 2002)
Clashes and Attacks in the Southeast
According to a statement by the governor for the region under a state of emergency (OHAL) military operations in Siirt (Eruh district) and Hakkari province resulted in the killing of one militant. Another militant of an unnamed organization reportedly surrendered to the security forces. (Hürriyet-TIHV, May 9, 2002)
HADEP members beaten
Reports from Antep stated that three members of the HADEP were beaten, when they went to police headquarters in order to testify on events of 21 April. On 10 May Abdullah Ince, chairman of HADEP for Antep and another 4 members went to Antep Police HQ. to testify. Reportedly the members Vakkas Beran, Masallah Uçar and Abdullah Vural were beaten by police officers. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 10, 2002)
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
In Diyarbakir the students Abdurahhim Demir, Resat Bagci and Ömer Kaçmaz were dismissed from Dicle University for six months, because they signed petitions for Kurdish to become an elective course at universities. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 11, 2002)
Campaign on Education in Kurdish
On 14 May Erzurum SSC acquitted 22 defendants from charges of making propaganda for and supporting the PKK. While being imprisoned in Erzurum E-type Prison they had signed petitions asking for education in Kurdish. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 15, 2002)
Military Operation in Tunceli
Following the kidnapping of the Major of Espiye town and three other persons in Giresun province the military is conducted an operation in the Alibogazi region in Çemiskezek district (Tunceli), believed to be a stronghold of the militants from the PKK and TIKKO. Officials from the military suspect about 100 militants to be in the region that has been closed for civilians on the length of 75 kilometers reaching from Çemiskezek to Erzincan-Kemaliye and Tunceli-Ovacik according to Article 9 and 11 of the Law on the State of Emergency. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, May 15, 2002)
Kurdish Institute acquitted
On 15 May Sisli Penal Court No. 4 passed its verdict in the case against the Kurdish Institute in Istanbul, charged with having opened an institution without the permission required for private institutions for education according to Law No. 625. In summing up the case the prosecutor stated that there was not sufficient evidence for a conviction of the defendants Hasan Kaya, chairman of the Institute and the board members. The court followed the arguments of the prosecutor and acquitted the defendants. After the hearing lawyer Mehmet Emin Kaya stated that the same charges had been brought at Sisli Penal Court No. 10. Here, the defendants had been acquitted on 28 December 2001, so that this was a repetition and should have been turned down. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 16, 2002)
Campaign on Education in Kurdish
In Karliova district (Bingöl) Halit Karabag, Idris Karabag, Orhan Karabag, Salahattin Kiliç, Mehmet Erdem, Hanifi Özmen, Nimet Tiryaki, Enver Baran, Mehmet Araz, Nurettin Özen, Harun Tiryaki, Abdurrahman Karagöz and Hamdullah Öge, went to the public prosecutor on 13 May after arrest warrants had been issued against them for sending letters to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) asking for the amendment of Article 42 of the Constitution. The arrest warrants were executed and they were taken to Karliova Prison. On 14 May Ankara SSC No. 4 acquitted the students Ali Demir, Burhan Yesilbas, Ersin Urman and Ömer Afsin from Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University from charges of supporting the PKK by signing petitions for Kurdish as an elective course. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 16, 2002)
Police Brutality in Diyarbakir
On 18 May Tahsin Gündüz entered a minibus to go to Seyrantepe quarter in Diyarbakir. When the driver stepped on the brakes he fell on other passengers since he was standing on his feet. The same people left the minibus with him and beat him with a sharp tool. All of them were taken to Güven Police Station. When it was discovered that the civilians were police officers, they were released. Tahsin Gündüz alleged that he was taken to an unknown place and threatened with a pistol not to complain about the incident. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 20, 2002)
Case on Kurdish Names
On 21 May Dicle Judicial Court (district in the province of Diyarbakir) continued to hear the case of 7 families, who had given 23 of their children Kurdish names such as Zilan (name of a river on southeastern Anatolia), Berivan (herdswoman), Rojda (dawn), Baver (belief), Velat (motherland), Serhat (border), Kendal (hillside), Zinar (peak), Hebun (existence), Baran (rain), Zelal (limpid water), Zozan (plateau), Rojhat (the day has come), Agit (brave) and Azad (free). The judge Sirvan Ertekin read out the statement by the Turkish Language Institute that argued that the names "Baver", "Serhat" and "Baran" were of Persian background and could be used, while the other names could not used, since they were not Turkish. Defense lawyer Firat Anli, deputy chairman of Diyarbakir Bar Association, asked that the case should be dropped for procedural reasons, since the names reflected a reality in Turkey. The prosecutor asked for an expertise report on the meaning of the names. At the end of the hearing the judge Sirvan Ertekin dropped the case for procedural reasons. The case was based on Article 16 of the Law No. 1587 on Registration. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 22, 2002)
Campaign on Education in Kurdish
On 21 May Ankara SSC started to hear the case of 14 students, who had forwarded petitions for education in Kurdish to the rector of Ankara University. After the hearing the only defendant in remand Selma Güzel was released and the hearing was adjourned to 4 July. In this trial Selma Güzel, Nazim Duman, Eylem Tuna, Tuba Atakan, Mesut Çaglan, Gözlem Güleç, Kahraman Elaltunkara, Durmus Doguates, Özen Meral Uç, Serkan Erdogan, Melih Gülgösteren and Derya Cangöz are charged under Article 169 TPC with supporting an illegal organization. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 22, 2002)
Newroz Trial in Adana
On 22 May Adana SSC No. 1 started to hear the case of 50 defendants, 8 of them in pre-trial detention in connection with the Newroz celebrations in Tarsus district (Mersin) on 21 March. The remanded defendants Mehmet Güler, Cumali Bayram, Nurettin Topçu, Mehmet Salih Çelik, Tahsin Temel, Hasan Takir, Ismail Karuç and Latif Uluyazi were present. The defense argued that their status was no different from the other defendants and asked for their release. The court, however, ruled that the charges brought under Article 8/1 of the Law to Fight Terrorism (separatist propaganda) might change to Article 169 TPC (support of an illegal organization) and did not lift the arrest warrants. The hearing was adjourned to a later date. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
On 22 May Istanbul SSC No. 6 started to hear the case of Ahmet Korkmaz, chairman of branch 4 of the teachersí union, Egitim-Sen, and the unionist Cafer Polat. Both had been detained on 4 March 2002, after participating in a program on education in the mother tongue in Medya TV over the phone. After three days in detention Ahmet Korkmaz had been remanded, while Cafer Polat was released. Both are being charged under Article 169 TPC with supporting an illegal organization. Defense lawyer Ergin Cinmen stated that the indictment had not recognized that Article 22 of the Constitution had been changed. He added that the statute of Egitim-Sen included the right to education in the mother tongue. At the end of the hearing Ahmet Korkmaz was released. The trial will continue at a later date. The students Kasim Kanan and Mehmet Tanrikurt were dismissed from Dicle University (Diyarbakir) for one week for having disturbed the order (by signing petitions on education in Kurdish). Earlier the students Abdurahhim Demir, Resat Bagci and Ömer Kaçmaz had been dismissed from Dicle University for six months. On 23 May Adana SSC No. 1 acquitted 19 students from the Mustafa Kemal Pasa University in Hatay. They had been charged with supporting the PKK by forwarding petitions on education in Kurdish to the rector of the university. On 21 May Adana SSC had continued a trial against 16 students, who had forwarded petitions to the rector of Çukurova University. After the hearing the remanded students Emek Ulas Aslan, Rojin Aslan, Hasan Kiliç, Ceyda Çetin and Serok Kasimoglu were released on bail. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 24, 2002)
HADEP Trial
On 23 May Ankara SSC No. 1 continued to hear the case against 41 defendants, charged in connection with events during the 2nd Ordinary Congress of the HADEP in Ankara in 1996, when the Turkish flag was torn down. The court adjourned the hearing to 18 June for the final words of the defense. This is a retrial, after the Court of Cassation quashed the first verdict on the grounds that defendants in the same situation received different sentences. (TIHV, May 24, 2002)
Incident in Sirnak
Reports from Sirnak stated that village guards in Beytüssebap district killed Mehmet Serif Acar. In an announcement by the Governor for the Emergency State Region (OHAL) of 5 May it had been said that "a PKK militant had been captured dead in Beytüssebap district". On 12 May Kerim Acar applied to the Van branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and informed them that village guards had killed his son Mehmet Serif Acar 45 days ago, when he went to visit his brother Haci Acar in Ilica village. The prosecutor in Beytüssebap had no knowledge of such an event, when representatives of Van IHD asked him. Kerim Acar added that his son had served a sentence of 9.5 yearsí imprisonment for membership of the PKK and had been released about 6 months ago. (Yedinci Gündem-TIHV, May 27, 2002)
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
On 26 May the HADEP members and executives Behçet Özen, Mehmet Özçelik and Semsettin Aydemir, who had been arrested on the grounds that they sent letters to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) asking for a change of Article 42 of the Constitution, were released on objection of their lawyers. ( Evrensel-TIHV, May 27, 2002)
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
Two court cases were opened in connection with a press statement in Van on 11 January that had been conducted after the detention of 526 students, who had signed petitions for education in Kurdish. Van Judicial Court will hear the case against Sevket Akdemir, secretary of the coordination council in Van province of the Union of Chambers of Architects and Engineers in Turkey (TMMOB), Cevdet Altindag, branch leader of the Chamber of Agricultural Engineers, and the branch executives Seref Demir, Mustafa Demiroglu, Suna Gökdele Akyol and Mehmet Necip Altayli with the demand to strip them of their duties. The hearing will start on 26 June. Van Penal Court will hear the case on charges of conducting an illegal demonstration. The defendants are: Kadir Çiftçi, former board member of Van IHD, Kadir Mean, chairman of the trade union of office employees (BES), Mehmet Selim Bozyigit, chairman of the trade union of staff in municipalities (Tüm-Bel-Sen) and the board member Gülcihan Simsek, Hasan Çiftçi, former chairman of the teachersí union (Egitim-Sen), former board member Seyfettin Özkaçmaz, Nihat Avci and Evin Aslan, from the Association of Solidarity with Prisonersí Families, the HADEP officials Hasan Güven, Ali Kalçik, Ümit Keser, Sevket Akdemir and Cevdet Altindag. The administrative court in Antep stopped the implementation of an order to dismiss the student Sezai Karatay from Antep University. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 28, 2002)
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
On 28 May Van SSC No. 2 acquitted the teachers Hasan Çiftçi, Seyfettin Özkaçan, Lezgin Bozkurt and Aysel Duran, members of the teachersí union Egitim-Sen from charges of supporting the PKK. The case had been opened after the general assembly of the Van branch of Egitim-Sen on 2 February 2002. During the assembly banners asking for education in the mother tongue had been shown and speeches on education in Kurdish had been held. The teachers had been detained on 27 March, but the court did not issue arrest warrants, as the prosecution had demanded. On 28 May Ankara SSC No. 1 continued to hear the case of 25 students, six of them remanded, who had forwarded petitions for education in Kurdish to the rector of Hacettepe University. The court ordered the release of Erdal Yildiz, Necdet Yigit, Veli Ay, Nihat Avci, Haydar Karaca and Zelal Özgökçe and adjourned the hearing to 9 July. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 29, 2002)
HADEP Official on Trial
On 28 May Malatya SSC continued to hear the case of Dogan Erbas, chairman of the HADEP for Istanbul province in connection with a speech he held at a meeting of the party in Malatya. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 29, 2002)
Problems with Kurdish Names
About one week ago Kocalak Koç from Bayramoglu village went to the registry office in the provincial capital Ardahan. He wanted IDs to be issued for a son under the name of Rojhat (dawn) and a girl under the name of Rojin (face of the day), but was informed that this was impossible. When he insisted the police was called and detained him. Some time later Tufan Akcan from Bagdesen village came to the registry office in Ardahan to register a daughter under the name of Berivan. He received an ID, but the director of the registry office, Kadriye Aksu, informed the public prosecutor. He started an investigation also interrogating the civil servant Sengül Gök. The file was later sent to Erzurum SSC, since the charges would relate to Articles 7 and 8 of the Law to Fight Terrorism and Article 169 TPC. The prosecutor at Erzurum SSC concluded that there was no need for prosecution since a connection of Akcan and Koç to the PKK could not be established. In Nusaybin district (Mardin) Hasan Bozkurt, chairman of the HADEP for the district, was indicted at the penal court, because he gave a daughter the name of Rojin. In Malatya Kadir Bilgiç was detained when he wanted to register a daughter under the name of Jiyan. He was later released, but will be tried on charges of supporting an illegal organization. (Radikal-TIHV, May 30, 2002)
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
On 29 May Istanbul SSC heard the case of Supiye Demir, Menaf Bulut, Gül Aydogdu, Nedret Balin, Muazzez Koç, Emine Tekin, Iffet Uygur and Mehmet Bulut. They are charged with supporting an illegal organization by presenting petitions for education in Kurdish to the director for national education in Kadiköy. Emine Tekin and Iffet Ugur needed an interpreter for their testimony. Espender Demir from the cleaning staff at Istanbul SSC acted as interpreter. In summing up the case the prosecutor demanded that the defendants be convicted according to Article 169 TPC, because they had followed the instructions from the 6th National Conference of the PKK. The court adjourned the hearing to 4 July for the defense to prepare the final statements. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 30, 2002)
Trial on Kurdish Education
On 30 May Istanbul SSC continued to hear the case of Hasan Kaya, chairman of the Kurdish Institute in Istanbul, on charges of disseminating separatist propaganda. The hearing was adjourned to 27 August for the prosecutor to sum up the case. This trial follows two acquittals for the Kurdish Institute for conducting courses in Kurdish. Sisli Penal Court No. 10 acquitted Hasan Kaya on 28 December 2001 and Sisli Penal No. 4 acquitted him on 15 May, but the first court had sent the file to Istanbul SSC to look into it for offences falling under the jurisdiction of state security courts. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 31, 2002)
Campaign for Education in Kurdish
During operations of the police in Istanbul over the last days the students
Ruken Buketisik and Ali Turgay, spokespersons of the "Initiative of Kurdish
Students for Education and Lessons in Kurdish" and the students Ali Dogan,
Sahin Tüccar, Mürsel Sargut, Nurettin Firat, Hasim Güler
and Ferhat Azizoglu. Reportedly they are still in detention. On 30 May
Istanbul SSC No. 4 started to hear the case of 20 students, who had signed
petitions for education in Kurdish. The remanded students Düzgün
Bilgin, Meryem Yilmaz and Hozan Saatçioglu were released and the
hearing was adjourned to 9 August. Istanbul SSC No. 2 heard the case of
13 parents, 6 of them in pre-trial detention. The remanded defendants Nevzat
Gülmez, Ali Göregen, Hasibe Mengirkaon, Saize Sincar, Havne Sagman,
Ali Kiliç and Gülbahar Kiliç, Rabia Aslan, against whom
arrest warrants had been issued, plus the non-remanded defendants Safiye
Orak and Cemal Oktan participated. Being charged with supporting an illegal
organization the remanded defendants were released and the hearing was
adjourned to 27 August. (Evrensel-TIHV, May 31, 2002)
MINORITES / MINORITIES
La persistance du problème assyro-chaldéen en Turquie
L'Association des Assyro-Chaldéens de France (A.A.C.F.) a participé à la 8ème session du Groupe de Travail sur le Minorités de Nations-Unies (Palais des Nations, Genève, Suisse). Cette session a eu lieu du 27 au 31 mai 2002. A cette occasion les deux délégués assyro-chaldéens ont présenté un rapport intitulé " La persistance du Problème assyro-chaldéen en Turquie ".
Nous reproduisons ci-après le texte complet de ce rapport qui a été lu le mercredi 29 mai 2002 à 11h30.
La question des minorités régulièrement débattue aux Nations-Unies et dans díautres organisations, internationales fourni une myriade de textes, conventions et déclarations, ratifiées par de nombreux Etats. Force est de constater quíen dépit de ces efforts internationaux, le problème minoritaire nía non seulement pas été résolu, mais il persiste et a tendance à síaccroître dans de nombreuses régions du globe. La représentation minoritaire insuffisante ne peut influencer telle ou telle disposition, tel ou tel article des dits textes.
Ces derniers ratifiés par de nombreux Etats restent lettre morte et inappliqués ; ils sont, dans certains cas, violés par ces derniers notamment au Proche et Moyen-Orient, en ce qui concerne les droits des chrétiens en général, et des Assyro-Chaldéens en particulier. Ces Etats refusent toute forme de reconnaissance implicite ou explicite de leurs minorités, malgré des engagements internationaux. Toute initiative en faveur de ces derniers est interprétée par les Etats comme une ingérence dans leurs affaires intérieures. Le droit díingérence semble dans leur cas síessouffler.
I] LE PROBLEME MINORITAIRE ET SA PERSISTANCE EN TURQUIE
LíIslam, religion dominante, malgré la laïcité affichée par certains régimes, est plus que jamais utilisée à des fins politiques. La Turquie, qui se proclame officiellement " laïque " síen sert comme alibis contre ses diverses minorités. Au nom de Dieu et de la religion dominante, on tue, on massacre, on déporte, on inflige des souffrances atroces à ses minorités ; le présent ne faisant que rejoindre le passé, pour continuer une úuvre destructrice des peuples chrétiens de Turquie, afin de les marginaliser après les avoir anéantis. Les Assyro-Chaldéens sont victimes de ces deux facteurs dans les divers pays du Proche-Orient où ils vivent. Ils sont privés de leurs droits les plus élémentaires, considérés comme des citoyens de seconde zone, tolérés de temps à autre, mais sans cesse victimes désignées des divers régimes régionaux successifs.
En dépit des dispositions du traité de Lausanne qui devait assurer la protection des minorités non musulmanes en Turquie, aujourdíhui les Assyro-Chaldéens sont laissés à líabandon et leurs droits les plus élémentaires guère respectés par les autorités. A présent, ils ne représentent quíà peine 25.000 personnes toutes confessions confondues (Chaldéens catholiques, Syriaques catholiques et orthodoxes, dits " Jacobites "). Les autres ayant pris le chemin de líexil en direction de líEurope depuis trois décennies.
De la naissance de la République turque à nos jours, la politique suivie à líégard des Assyro-Chaldéens se caractérise par la permanence du nationalisme intégral. Aujourdíhui comme hier, la pression assimilatrice pèse sur eux et líensemble des minorités, soixante-dix-neuf ans après la signature et la ratification du Traité de Lausanne ( 24 Juillet 1923), par la Turquie Kémaliste. Ils ne sont pas reconnus par les autorités turques en tant que minorité couverte par le-dit Traité malgré leur présence historique en Turquie. Ils ne bénéficient donc pas des droits díune minorité religieuse, mais leurs fidèles doivent, en principe, être couverts par les garanties constitutionnelles relatives à la liberté de religion et de culte.
Concernant líorganisation religieuse, la communauté qui ne dispose pas de séminaire de formation (ce qui constitue un problème sérieux pour le renouvellement du clergé) doit composer avec líinterdiction qui lui est faite par les autorités de remplacer tout religieux décédé par un autre venant de líétranger. Cette disposition pose la question de la survie de cette communauté dans son identité religieuse du fait de líextinction progressive de son clergé, souvent âgé.
Concernant les lieux de culte, notamment dans le sud-est du pays, des restrictions empêchent la rénovation impérieuse des églises et autres monastères. La conséquence de ces mesures discriminatoires est un état de délabrement avancé de toutes les églises et monuments assyro-chaldéens, notamment dans líAnatolie orientale. Lorsque des étrangers courageux visitent ces monuments épars et laissé à líabandon, ils sont unanimes à constater leur état de délabrement avancé. Les églises sont utilisées par les populations kurdes comme des bergeries, sans égard à líimportance religieuse dont ils sont porteurs, quand elles ne sont pas transformées en mosquées. Des documents photographiques détenus par des journalistes et universitaires occidentaux sont là pour en témoigner, si besoin en était.
Pour aller plus loin, rappelons líinterdiction faite aux Assyro-Chaldéens de Tour-Abdin (montagnes des Serviteurs [de Dieu]) díagrandir le monastère Dayre-El-Zaafaran, non loin de Mardin ; le monument, un fleuron de líarchitecture syriaque orthodoxe, en pierres de taille, nía obtenu quíun permis de rénovation par béton brut. Outre la mise en valeur des églises existantes, se pose le problème de la confiscation des lieux de culte " à líabandon " par la Direction générale des fondations, et leur transformation, quasi-systématique en mosquée, insulte suprême pour ces chrétiens.
À Istanbul, principal lieu díémigration intérieure, les Assyro-Chaldéens ? malgré leur nombre important - qui ne disposent que díune seule église, sont contraints díutiliser des églises díautres communautés chrétiennes ; les demandes formulées par les responsables Assyro-Chaldéens, aux autorités (y compris au niveau gouvernemental) sont restées lettre morte. La communauté est, dans les faits, privée du droit de construire des lieux de culte à Istanbul et ailleurs, malgré des besoins évidents, urgents et légitimes.
Relativement aux autres biens, ces derniers, faute díagrément des autorités, se trouvent démunis díinstitutions à vocation sociale, charitable et hospitalière. Les requêtes adressées en ce sens aux autorités, níont pas abouti à ce jour. Il en est de même pour les établissements scolaires. La culture assyro-chaldéenne, y compris religieuse (langaue liturgique et les traditions), ne peut être transmise aux enfants que dans le cadre de cours organisés au sein de lieux de culte. Cependant, il a été précisé quíil síagissait, en fait, díécoles " non officielles ". En 1998, à Mardin, le maire avait interdit arbitrairement líenseignement religieux assyro-chaldéen.
II] LES ATTEINTES REPETES AUX DROITS DES ASSYRO-CHALDEENS
Concernant les cours de religion et díéthique au sein des écoles publiques, les enfants Assyro-Chaldéens peuvent officiellement en être exemptés. Cependant, dans le sud-est du pays, on constate que deux situations coexistent: des parents ne demandent pas díexemption par crainte díostracisme et certains établissements scolaires ne la respectent pas dans les faits, alors même quíelle a été formellement et préalablement approuvée.
Le départ massif de cette minorité de son foyer ancestral (régions sud et sud-est de la Turquie) síexpliquerait, aux yeux des autorités, exclusivement par des considérations économiques. Alors que tous les observateurs reconnaissent la difficulté pour ces chrétiens de survivre dans un environnement social et politique de plus en plus pesant et hostile. Cette situation de survie síest traduite par les atteintes suivantes : non-reconnaissance religieuse et culturelle assyro-chaldéenne, interdiction dans les faits de la langue araméo-syriaque, interdiction de posséder des institutions sociales et scolaires, politique systématique de "turquisation" des noms des derniers villages, des noms patronymiques. Cette dernière mesure des plus discriminatoires, puisquíelle vise à gommer líidentité des minoritaires chrétiens, a eut, malgré tout, un effet bénéfique dans les années 1970 ; elle empêchait que les chrétiens appelés au service militaire ne soient des victimes potentielles, du fait de leurs noms et prénoms chrétiens. Les quelques malheureux qui avaient voulu porter des prénoms typiquement chrétiens, dont la plupart sont réfugiés en Europe, níont cessé díêtre líobjet díagressions et brimades répétées de la part de leurs camarades ou supérieurs de régiment.
La situation des Assyro-Chaldéens en Anatolie orientale, nía cessé de síaggraver, selon les représentants Assyro-Chaldéens, dans le cadre du conflit interminable entre les autorités turques et les mouvements séparatistes kurdes, dont le PKK. La position de neutralité adoptée par les Assyro-Chaldéens a été interprétée, tant par les autorités que par les mouvements kurdes, comme un soutien à líennemi. Ils ont subi régulièrement des attaques díindividus isolés et de bandes armées les dépossédant de leurs biens, pratiquant le rapt de jeunes filles, forcées à la conversion à líislam ainsi que líassassinat (voir communication du Rapporteur spécial citée dans E/CN.4/1995/91). Ce climat de violence a contraint la plupart des Assyro-Chaldéens à quitter le sud-est de la Turquie. Il faut ajouter la pression de la société, en général qui dans les régions orientales, níaccepte pas la population assyro-chaldéenne perçue comme une exception intolérable à la devise nationaliste " une nation, une race, une culture " ; cette attitude níépargne pas certaines autorités locales, qui manifestent souvent sous différentes formes un rejet de cette communauté. Soulignons que líensemble des plaintes formulées auprès des autorités relatives aux violations graves des droits de líhomme sont restées, comme on pouvait síy attendre, sans suite. La plupart du temps, les autorités centrales nient une telle situation, et expliquent le départ des Assyro-Chaldéens par des facteurs "économiques". Elles accusent même les Assyro-Chaldéens de "fabriquer" des plaintes pour obtenir plus facilement le statut de réfugiés en Europe. Dans díautres cas, lorsque les preuves díoppression sont plus que manifestes, la responsabilité est alors entièrement rejetée sur le PKK, sans toutefois mettre en question celle des autorités locales. Díoù la remarque lucide de líuniversitaire français et spécialistes des relations internationales, le Professeur Jean-Pierre Ferrier qui écrivait : " On rappellera, pour mémoire, et malgré le caractère mixte plus marqué, les exactions des Kurdes contre les Assyro-Chaldéens en Irak et en Turquie : les Kurdes prétendent que ces vieux chrétiens originaires de Mésopotamie sont des leurs et nient donc le caractère ethnique des meurtres qui se sont succédés jusquíà contraindre la majorité de la population (presque toute en Turquie) à líexil ".
Concernant la situation de la communauté assyro-chaldéenne díIstanbul, on constate quíune partie de ses membres se sentent en quelque sorte protégée par líanonymat, que procure une grande agglomération, tout en persévérant à adopter un profil bas. Une autre partie des Assyro-Chaldéens, apparemment majoritaire, souhaite quitter la Turquie, notamment en raison de la montée de líislamisme et des obstacles qui les empêchent de répondre à leurs besoins communautaires légitimes (maintien de leur identité religieuse, culturelle et "nationale").
Tout en déclarant comprendre certaines lacunes de líÉtat et notamment le besoin de temps pour líétablissement díune démocratie, en particulier dans le cadre du conflit armé dans le sud-est du pays où la guerre nía cessé de faire rage les dernières années, les représentants de cette communauté ont formulé une requête significative, visant à obtenir pour les leurs, le statut de citoyens turcs à part entière et non, celui actuel, proche de simples étrangers.
Líensemble de la communauté assyro-chaldéenne, semble progressivement síéteindre. Cette communauté cumule, en premier lieu, líensemble des problèmes exposés plus haut. Finalement, les Assyro-Chaldéens qui se sentent traités même pas comme des étrangers (puisque ces derniers ont droit à une certaine protection), quittent progressivement leur terre dans líespoir notamment de préserver leur identité culturelle et religieuse. Espérons, M. le Président, que le Groupe de travail que vous présidez, pourra aider cette minorité rejetée, en lui ouvrant des portes qui sont toujours malheureusement fermées.
III] LES REMARQUES ET SUGGESTIONS
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, called on Turkey Monday to allow the reopening of an Orthodox theological school, which was closed three decades ago.
The Anatolia news agency quoted Bartholomew as saying he "hoped and believed" that he could soon reach an agreement with Turkish authorities to reopen the school on Istanbul's Heybeli Island, known as Halki in Greek, which trained many church leaders including Bartholomew.
"It's our right to expect this," Bartholomew said during a visit to Cappadocia, a province in central Turkey that was once home to one of the most ancient Christian communities.
Turkey closed the seminary under a 1971 law requiring that higher religious and military education be placed under state control.
Bartholomew, a member of the country's tiny Greek minority who directly controls several Greek Orthodox churches around the world, said that the school was necessary for training future church leaders.
In an interview with Turkey's pro-Islamic Yeni Safak daily, he added the school had never acted against Turkey's interests, as some Turkish nationalists and Islamists have claimed.
"Its (the school's) past was clean," Yeni Safak quoted him as saying Monday. "We find the reason (for its closure) hard to understand."
He also told Yeni Safak that the Patriarchate's location in this predominantly Muslim country helped to promote understanding between the world's two largest religions.
"It's a bridge between Islam and Christianity," Bartholomew said.
Bartholomew is also considered the spiritual leader of 14 autonomous Orthodox churches around the world, including those of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Russia and Serbia.
"For all those who have lived the path of love on this land - be they
Turks, Greeks, Christians, Muslims - let them see heaven," Anatolia quoted
Bartholomew as saying on Sunday in Cappadocia during a liturgy attended
by some 150 people, including a former head of the country's Muslim community.
(Associated Press, May 27, 2002)
Turkey condemns Armenian genocide film at Cannes as 'propaganda'
Turkey's culture minister on Wednesday denounced as "propaganda" a new movie, shown at the Cannes film festival, about the mass killings of Armenians in eastern Turkey.
Istemihan Talay said the film "Ararat," which recalls the plight of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey, was "aggressive" and hurt relations between Armenians and Turks.
The film by director Atom Egoyan opened in Cannes on Monday. "It's wrong to use a universal art such as cinema in a way to distort the truths of history and to create animosity between societies, nations, and countries," Talay said.
Armenians say a 1915-1923 campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey amounted to a genocide and some 1.5 million people were killed. Turkey, which denies the genocide, says the figures are inflated and says Armenians died during civil unrest.
State Minister Yilmaz Karakoyunlu, the government spokesman, also spoke out against the film. "This is one example of a campaign waged against Turkey," Karakoyunlu said.
Some Turkish civil groups have called for a boycott against Miramax, which released the film, and the Walt Disney Co., its parent company.
The film leaps between 1915 Turkey and present-day Canada and shows
how history affects two Canadian families. The characters are struggling
to come to terms with the loss of loved ones and look to the past for answers.
(Associated Press, May 22, 2002)
SOCIO-ECONOMIQUE / SOCIO-ECONOMIC
Des militants de Greenpeace interceptent un navire présumé toxique en Turquie
Des militants de l'organisation de défense de l'environnement Greenpeace ont intercepté samedi un navire soupçonné d'avoir à son bord des éléments toxiques au large des côtes occidentales de la Turquie pour protester contre la mise à la casse de tels bateaux, a annoncé un porte-parole de l'organisation.
Six militants sont montés à bord du bateau, le Sea Beirut, qui avait été remorqué de France, jusqu'à la côte de la mer Egée, a indiqué par téléphone à l'AFP Erdem Vardar, l'un des membres de Greenpeace participant à l'action de protestation.
Plusieurs militants sont montés à bord du remorqueur alors que d'autres ont fixé une banderole sur laquelle on pouvait lire "Arrêtons le commerce des navires toxiques" sur le flanc du Sea Beirut, a ajouté M. Vardar.
Greenpeace a indiqué dans un communiqué que le bateau --vendu par la France à une compagnie allemande puis soupçonné d'avoir été vendu à une compagnie de démolition de navires turque-- avait de l'amiante cancérogène à bord, citant une déclaration écrite provenant d'une compagnie néerlandaise de désamiantage.
La déclaration accuse la france de violer les règlements internationaux en omettant de désamianter les navires avant de les exporter et de ne pas informer les responsables turcs sur la présence d'amiante à bord.
"Aux termes des règlements internationaux et nationaux, la Turquie a le droit de refuser l'entrée sur son territoire des navires toxiques et de contraindre la France à les reprendre", précise la déclaration.
M. Vardar a indiqué à l'AFP que Greenpeace avait mis fin à l'occupation du bateau et du remorqueur au bout de six heures et demie, les autorités locales s'étant engagées à faire des prélèvements sur le navire et à ne pas le laisser entrer sur les chantiers de démolition avant que ces prélèvements aient été analysés.
Greenpeace indique dans son communiqué que près d'une
centaine de navires, dont la moitié viennent d'Europe occidentale,
sont envoyés à la casse en Turquie chaque année. (AFP,
4 mai 2002)
250 thousand children did not go to school
National Education Ministry (MEB) informed that there are 250,360 children are not going to school although they are at the age of obligatory education.
According to the information obtained in a research made all over Turkey in order to determine the children who are not attending obligatory education. Research results shows that 250,360 children that have to be educated are not attending any schools. These children's 152,703 of them are girls and 97,657 of them are boys. Moreover it is estimated that a huge percentage of these children's are living in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia.
Meanwhile it was found that in this education year the number of children who are not going any schools has decreased than in previous years.
According to the MEB statistics before the eight year education system, 782,332 children were not going to school. However this number in the 1998-1999 education year decreased to 600,580, in 1999-2000 education year it decreased to 473,969 and last year this decreased to 298,422.
In the primary education there are 4,821,795 girls, 5,520,935 boys totalling
10,342,73 students that are continuing their educations. (Turkish Daily
News, May 28, 2002)
100.000 Turcs cessent de fumer en mai, un paysan empoche 3.000 euros
Près de 100.000 personnes ont participé à une campagne lancée par le ministère turc de la Santé pour arrêter de fumer au cours du mois de mai, et l'un d'eux, un paysan de Bartin (nord), a empoché une récompense de 3.000 euros, rapporte l'agence Anatolie.
Le ministre de la Santé Osman Durmus a remis cette récompense à l'occasion de la Journée mondiale sans tabac au vainqueur d'un tirage au sort parmi les quelque 98.845 volontaires qui ont renoncé au tabac depuis le début du mois de mai, indique Anatolie.
En fait, l'heureux gagnant doit maintenant se soumettre à un contrôle de santé pour attester que son corps n'a effectivement aucune trace de consommation de tabac, méritant bien le prix qui, sinon, sera reversé à l'un des dix lauréats suppléants au cas où il y aurait eu fraude, précise l'agence de presse.
M. Durmus a rappelé que les participants à cette campagne ayant vraiment abandonné la cigarette étaient désormais débarrassés de toute nicotine et verraient leur fatigue générale diminuer et leur état de santé s'améliorer.
Il a estimé à 25% d'entre eux la proportion de ceux qui
renonceraient définitivement au tabac, dans un pays connu pour son
tabagisme élevé: selon l'OCDE, la Turquie est le premier
pays le plus consommateur de la planète avec 67,6% de fumeurs au
sein de la population adulte, devant la Corée du sud. (AFP, 31 mai
2002)
AFFAIRES RELIGIEUSES / RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS
Une députée prie à la mosquée avec les hommes
Une députée turque a rompu avec la tradition islamique en participant publiquement à la prière du vendredi à la mosquée de l'Assemblée nationale turque dans le même espace que les hommes, a constaté une correspondante de l'AFP.
Les femmes et les hommes prient dans des endroits séparés à la mosquée.
Gonul Saray Alphan, députée DSP (parti de la Gauche démocratique, gauche nationaliste) du Premier ministre Bulent Ecevit, s'est présentée avec une mantille à la mosquée, accompagnée d'un député de sa formation.
C'est la première fois qu'une députée participe à un service religieux avec les hommes dans la mosquée du parlement, ce qui devrait constituer un exemple pour de nombreuses croyantes en Turquie, pays à 99% musulman mais à l'Etat laïque.
La Direction des Affaires religieuses, organisme dépendant de l'Etat, avait récemment annoncé que les femmes pourraient désormais participer avec les hommes aux prières funéraires et aux prières quotidiennes.
La Direction avait estimé que "les hommes et les femmes sont des êtres complémentaires", rejetant une discrimination des sexes.
Ces dernières années, des femmes avaient défrayé la chronique en participant spontanément à des prières funéraires de leurs proches dans les grandes villes, provoquant une vive controverse.
Mme Alphan a indiqué aux journalistes après la prière qu'elle avait accompli son devoir religieux "comme tout le monde".
Un député ultranationaliste du MHP (parti de l'action
nationaliste), Huseyin Akgul, l'a cependant accusé de "faire du
spectacle" alors qu'un député conservateur du DYP, Fethullah
Gultepe, a estimé que la prosternation faite pendant la prière
montrait les lignes de son corps. "C'est laid", a-t-il commenté.
(AFP, 24 mai 2002)
Theological students fail their classes because of headscarf
Some 150 headscarved students from Ankara University's Theology Faculty failed their classes, because they could not attend them because of the headscarf ban.
Issuing a written statement on Monday, the students said that the faculty completed 2001-2002 education year with the headscarf ban.
"We tried to display our positive stance against the headscarf ban on every platform since Sept. 17, 2001. We neither led to any slightest markedly unrestrained behavior; nor involved in any illegal act. We tried to in favor of law and justice," the students said.
Asking for more freedom, the students noted that a total of 150 students
failed their classes, as they could not attend them because of the headscarf
ban. The students called on people to show sensitivity to the issue, stressing
that they would continue their struggle against this unfair practice. (Turkish
Daily News, May 28, 2002)
Fermeture en Russie d'un lycée turc accusé de propagande islamiste (FSB)
Un lycée turc accusé par l'ex-KGB de faire de la propagande islamiste a dû fermer ses portes dans la république caucasienne russe de Karatchaïevo-Tcherkessie, a rapporté mardi l'agence Itar-Tass.
Fondé il y a quatre ans, le "lycée international turc de Karatchaïevo-Tcherkessie" était dirigé par des membres de la mouvance islamiste sunnite turque "Nurjular", interdite dans ce pays, ont affirmé les services de sécurité russes (FSB, ex-KGB).
Début mai, le FSB avait expulsé un homme d'affaires turc, Aldermaz Nekjati, pour ses liens présumés avec cette secte. Celle-ci prône l'instauration d'un Etat islamique des Balkans jusqu'à la Sibérie, sous domination turque.
Son chef, l'imam Fetullah Gulen, vit aux Etats-Unis. Accusé par les autorités turques de chercher à instaurer un Etat islamique en Turquie, il fait l'objet dans ce pays d'un procès par contumace depuis deux ans.
Selon le FSB, des organisations et des fondations liées à Nurjular ont ouvert une vingtaine d'écoles dans des régions et des républiques russes à majorité musulmane.
La mouvance sunnite radicale du wahhabisme est également présente
en Russie, notamment au Tatarstan et dans les républiques musulmanes
du Caucase, en particulier la Tchétchénie où certains
combattants rebelles se réclament de ce mouvement originaire d'Arabie
Saoudite. (AFP, 28 mai 2002)
Le "calife" de Cologne reste en prison
Le chef islamiste turc Metin Kaplan, surnommé "le calife de Cologne" (ouest), qui purge une peine de quatre ans de prison ferme en Allemagne, restera derrière les barreaux, sa demande de libération conditionnelle ayant été rejetée, a-t-on appris vendredi de source judiciaire.
Kaplan avait déposé à la mi-mai cette demande auprès du tribunal de grande instance de Duesseldorf (ouest), ville où il est est détenu.
Condamné en novembre 2000 à quatre ans de prison pour avoir lancé en septembre 1996 une fatwa mortelle contre un rival, "le calife de Cologne" a effectué les deux tiers de sa peine, ce qui lui permettait éventuellement de bénéficier d'une libération conditionnelle.
La victime, un jeune médecin turc, avait été abattu
à son domicile de Berlin par trois hommes masqués le 8 mai
1997, mais le meurtre n'avait jamais été élucidé.
(AFP, 31 mai 2002)
Le maire islamiste d'Istanbul poursuivi pour corruption
Le parquet d'Istanbul a lancé vendredi des poursuites pour corruption contre le maire d'Istanbul, Ali Mufit Gurtuna, et son prédécesseur Recep Tayyip Erdogan, des hommes politiques islamistes qui risquent de lourdes peines de prison, rapporte l'agence Anatolie.
M. Gurtuna, membre du parti islamiste du Bonheur (Saadet, 48 députés sur 550 au parlement) et M. Erdogan, chef du parti islamiste de la justice et du développement (AK, 53 députés) sont notamment accusés dans l'acte d'inculpation de fraude dans des offres d'appels publics, précise l'agence.
M. Gurtuna risque jusqu'à 30 ans de prison alors que M. Erdogan est menacé d'une peine de 3 à 9 ans d'emprisonnement selon l'article du code pénal sur les adjudications publiques, selon l'agence.
Leur procès doit s'ouvrir dans les jours prochains devant une cour d'assises de la métropole, la plus importante de Turquie avec plus de dix millions d'habitants.
M. Erdogan, grand espoir du mouvement islamiste en Turquie et leader charismatique, est déjà dans le collimateur de la justice turque pour "insulte envers les forces armées" et "incitation à la haine religieuse".
M. Erdogan, 48 ans, ex-maire populaire d'Istanbul, avait fait son retour
sur la scène politique en 2001, après avoir été
emprisonné 4 mois et interdit de politique en 1999 pour des raisons
similaires. (AFP, 31 mai 2002)
Religious affaires in brief
Headscarved Students
Habibe Ustacik and Sibel Kodakoglu were dismissed from the Bosphorus University (Istanbul) for two terms. At the beginning of this semester they had not been allowed into the classes, because they did not take of their headscarves. On 7 March an investigation was launched against them and they testified on 22 March. On 9 April they wanted to attend a conference with the Prof. Dr. Luzius Wildhaber, President of the European Court of Human Rights. On intervention of the Turkish judge at the Court, Dr. Riza Türmen, they and another 2 students had been allowed in and reported on the restrictions concerning headscarved students. The parents Gürsoy Erol, Memis Eksi, Oguzhan Turgut and Zekeriya Çelik, who had been detained on 30 April, when students from Kadiköy Theological Lyceum wanted to lay down a black wreath in front of ATV station, were released by the public prosecutor in Sisli on 1 May. (Zaman-Yeni Safak-TIHV, May 2, 2002)
Headscarved Students
The director for national education in Malatya province, Ilhan Faydaver, announced that 70 students from Malatya Theological Lyceum had been dismissed, because they insisted on wearing headscarves during the lessons. He added that they could come back to school, if they agreed to take off their headscarves. One month ago, 293 students had been excluded from the lessons for three days, because they were wearing headscarves. On 3 May 4 persons were detained when they protested against the ban on headscarves in front of Eyüp Mosque (Istanbul). (Yeni Safak, Milliyet-TIHV, May 4-5, 2002)
Headscarved Students
The police intervened, when on 8 May students protested in front of Istanbul Kadiköy Theological Lyceum against the ban on wearing headscarves. Esra Can and Seyda Kahvecioglu were allegedly beaten, because they carried a banner saying, "Hear our Voice". (Yeni Safak-TIHV, May 9, 2002)
Hezbollah Operation
On 20 May M. Salih Kölge, who had been detained on 16 April, was presented to the media in Diyarbakir. He was remanded by Diyarbakir SSC on 22 April, but has been taken out of prison according to decree 430 for repeated interrogations. He apparently confessed to 100 acts of killing, 39 acts of injuries, 7 armed attacks, 5 bomb attacks and 12 acts of damaging. On the assassination of former Chief of Diyarbakir Police, Gaffar Okkan, and 5 police officers, he reportedly confessed to have taken the decision, which was carried out by the militant Hasan Sariagaç, who was killed in Diyarbakir. (Yeni Safak-TIHV, May 21, 2002)
Hezbollah Militant Killed
Columnist Savas Ay reported on the killing of ex-chief of Diyarbakir
Police, Gaffar Okkan, and 5 police officers on 24 January 2001. Relying
on information provided by the security forces he claimed that Hasan Sariagaç,
said to be the responsible person of the military wing of the radical Islamic
organization Hezbollah in Diyarbakir, planned and carried out the assassination.
Hasan Sariagaç was killed in the night of 29 to 30 March. According
to information by the police in Diyarbakir they made a call to surrender,
but he stepped on the balcony and started to shoot. At that moment four
snipers shot at him aiming above his left chest. Apparently none of the
other 9 people in that flat including his wife and five children and no
police officer were injured. (Aksam-TIHV, May 31, 2002)
RELATIONS AVEC L'OUEST / RELATIONS WITH THE WEST
Stoiber strongly against Turkey's EU membership
Edmund Stoiber, the conservative challenger to become German chancellor, warned of the danger of excessive enlargement of the European Union on Thursday evening, and spelt out his strong opposition to Turkey becoming a full member, Financial Times reported.
In a blunt speech at the German embassy in London, Mr Stoiber warned that the cohesion of the union would be endangered by continual enlargement.
"I believe that there must be geographical borders for the EU," he told an audience of leading politicians, diplomats and business people. "We are of the opinion that Turkey is an important partner in Nato, and should have particularly friendly relations with Germany. But that does not mean it must be a member of the EU."
"Europe cannot end on the Turkish-Iraqi border," he added, in the most forthright criticism of Turkish membership to be made by a European political leader since Turkey was formally declared a candidate for EU membership in December, 1999.
According to the Financial Times, he said that if Turkey joined the EU, there would be calls for Morocco and Tunisia to become members as well. "Whoever wants that endangers the cohesion of Europe," he said.
Stoiber, who is prime minister of the state of Bavaria and leader of the Christian Social Union, is front runner to defeat Gerhard Schroder, the Social Democrat chancellor, in Germany's September general election. His conservative alliance with the Christian Democrats has a 10-point lead in the polls.
Although he has long been seen as relatively Euro-sceptic in Germany,
he said that a more closely integrated EU was the only answer to the challenges
of globalisation - and urged the UK to play a full part in that process.
But he also called for greater transparency in EU decision-making. (Turkish
Daily News, May 18, 2002)
Lynchage médiatique contre la réprésentante de l'UE
On ne sait pas ce que l'Union européenne compte faire pour défendre l'honneur bafoué de sa représentante à Ankara. Un véritable lynchage médiatique est lancé contre la représentante de l'UE depuis déjà quelques mois en Turquie. Après une campagne de dénigrement suite à la publication de son courrier électronique dans la presse turque, voilà que les éditorialistes connus pour être proche de l'armée menacent ouvertement la diplomate européenne qui, pourtant, est restée très prudente, voire indulgente vis-à-vis d'Ankara sur des sujets "sensibles" comme la question kurde. Cette fois-ci c'est le président du comité des journalistes de Turquie, l'inusable éditorialiste en chef du quotidien turc à grand tirage Hurriyet quid donne de la grosse artillerie contre celle qui est devenue la "tête de Turc" des media et politiciens nationalistes turcs. Extraits de cet éditorial au vitriol publié à la Une de Hurriyet du 8 mai:
"Les propos les plus forts que l'on peut employer à propos d'un ambassadeur est de lui dire "dégage!" "Mme Fogg a affiché une performance aussi sale et grossière au cours de sa période de représentation (en Turquie) qu'aucun égard diplomatique n'est nécessaire pour elle maintenant. Elle mérite ainsi de la part de l'opinion publique turque une réaction violente et intense jusqu'alors jamais manifestée contre un représentant diplomatique" poursuit-il appelant ainsi ouvertement à riposter contre Karen Fogg.
La raison de cette attaque ouverte est due pour cette fois-ci aux propos
que Mme Fogg auraient tenus en privé et en petit comité au
sujet de Chypre. Selon Hurriyet, elle aurait "appelé les Chypriotes
turcs à la révolte en les invitant à se libérer
de la tutelle de la Turquie et de celle de Rauf Denktas". L'autre grief
retenu contre elle est son souhait de voir un civil au poste de secrétaire
général du Conseil national de sécurité (MGK).
"Elle se mêle de tout!" s'insurge l'éditorialiste qui affirme
qu'il faudrait "la tenir par l'oreille et la mettre dehors" et qu'"il faudrait
qu'elle fasse attention. Elle peut vraiment sortir perdante" conclut-il.(CILDEKT,
17 mai 2002)
"Comment le Turcs se vengent de leurs ennemis européens"
Bekir Coskun, journaliste au quotidien Hurriyet, dénonce d'une plume caustique la conservation et l'encouragement de l'esprit guerrier cultivé par les autorités turques qui reconstituent presque dans toutes les grandes villes la guerre de l'indépendance où les employés municipaux très démunis sont déguisés en ennemis et passés à tabac. Voici de larges extraits de cet article publié le 16 mai :
" Je connais les festivités de la journée de l'indépendance. On déguise les employés municipaux chargés de nettoyage des rues en " soldats ennemis français " avec une espèce d'uniforme bleu ciel de très bon marché que l'on peut situer entre un pantalon bouffant et une salopette.
D'après ce que l'on raconte, c'est le tailleur chargé de les coudre qui leur flanque les premiers coups et puis le chapelier le cordonnier
Puis le jour de la fête arrive.
Les notables de la ville
déguisés en glorieux soldats turcs se placent avec leurs épées, bottes et jumelles et les employés municipaux déguisés en ennemis
commencent alors à trembler. Et la guerre est déclenchée.
Les soldats ennemis en uniforme bleu bon marché faisant leur apparition, le préposé au micro crie alors " salopards d'ennemi " repris par les spectateurs de la tribune
Puis les soldats turcs avançant accompagnés de coups de feu en l'air, tout ce que l'on peut compter de spectateurs s'approchent des employés municipaux à coups de bâtons et de pieds.
Finalement, le groupe ANAP a présenté une proposition de loi pour interdire le passage à tabac des soldats ennemis au cours de la journée de l'indépendance
Quand les forces d'occupation d'alors, les Français, les Italiens, les Anglais, arrivent aujourd'hui, la Turquie se met à la danse du ventre. Alors pourquoi devrons-nous tabasser nos employés municipaux déguisés en ennemis ?
Pourquoi les tabassez-vous ? " (CILDEKT, 17 mai 2002)
Le président de la CE en Turquie les 18 et 19 juillet
Le président de la Commission européenne, Romano Prodi, se rendra en visite officielle en Turquie les 18 et 19 juillet, a-t-on annoncé officiellement jeudi à Bruxelles.
La visite de Romano Prodi à Ankara donnera l'occasion de faire le point sur la candidature turque à l'Union européenne (UE), a précisé un porte-parole de la Commission européenne.
La Turquie a le statut de candidat à l'Union européenne mais n'a pas engagé les négociations d'adhésion.
L'annonce de cette visite de Romano Prodi intervient au moment où les pourparlers entre Chypriotes grecs et Chypriotes turcs sur l'avenir de leur île divisée sont dans une impasse. Les deux parties souhaitent aboutir avant juin.
La République turque de Chypre du Nord (RTCN, reconnue par la seule Turquie et dont le président est M. Denktash) et la Turquie veulent la création d'une entité regroupant deux Etats souverains alors que Chypre et la communauté internationale penchent en faveur d'une fédération.
Romano Prodi et les responsables de la Commission européenne ont souvent déclaré qu'un échec éventuel des pourparlers inter-chypriotes ne remettrait pas en cause une adhésion de Nicosie à l'UE.
Ankara est résolument opposé à l'entrée
dans l'UE de la seule partie grecque de Chypre. (AFP, 2 mai 2002)
La Turquie renvoie vers la France un bateau contenant de l'amiante
Le ministère turc de l'Environnement a ordonné le renvoi vers la France d'un bateau envoyé à la casse en Turquie, des analyses ayant démontré qu'il contenait de l'amiante, a annoncé vendredi un communiqué officiel.
"Au vu du résultat des tests effectués, le ministre de l'Environnement Fevzi Aytekin a annoncé qu'il ne pouvait autoriser le démantèlement du Sea Beirut en Turquie et a ordonné le renvoi du navire dans son pays d'origine", a souligné le ministère dans un communiqué.
Le Sea Beirut avait été intercepté samedi dernier par des militants de l'organisation écologiste Greenpeace à son arrivée sur le chantier d'Aliaga, sur la côte égéenne (ouest).
Un groupe de 15 manifestants avaient occupé le navire et son remorqueur pendant plus de six heures puis mis fin au mouvement sur la promesse du ministère de l'Environnement que le navire n'irait pas à la casse tant que des analyses ne seraient pas effectuées.
Greenpeace avait alors accusé la France de violer les règlements internationaux en omettant de débarrasser les navires de l'amiante, substance cancérigène, avant de les exporter, et de ne pas avoir informé les autorités turques.
Près d'une centaine de navires, dont la moitié viennent
d'Europe occidentale, sont envoyés à la casse en Turquie
chaque année, selon Greenpeace. (AFP, 10 mai 2002)
Turquie et Autriche signent un accord de lutte contre le terrorisme et le crime
Les ministres de l'Intérieur turc Rustu Kazim Yucelen et autrichien Ernst Strasser ont signé jeudi un accord de lutte contre le terrorisme, les mouvements extrémistes, le crime organisé et le trafic de drogue, a rapporté l'agence Anatolia.
Ernst Strasser a déclaré après la signature devant la presse que la coopération internationale constituait un passage obligé en matière de lutte contre le terrorisme, le trafic de drogue et le trafic de personnes, qui sévissent tous au niveau international.
"Les attentats du 11 septembre, l'intervention militaire en Afghanistan et l'évolution de la situation au Proche-Orient ont mis en évidence le besoin d'une coopération plus forte entre la Turquie et l'Autriche", a déclaré M. Strasser, cité par Anatolia.
"Les experts de deux nations vont coopérer intensivement", a
ajouté le ministre autrichien de l'Intérieur. (AFP, 16 mai
2002)
UE: Sezer veut mobiliser le parlement pour accélérer les réformes
Le président turc Ahmet Necdet Sezer a annoncé jeudi qu'il voulait réunir les chefs des partis de la coalition et les formations d'opposition au parlement pour accélérer les réformes pour ouvrir les négociations d'adhésion à l'Union européenne (UE).
"J'envisage d'organiser un réunion des leaders des (trois) partis formant le gouvernement de coalition et de ceux de l'opposition représentés à l'Assemblée nationale dans le cadre de notre candidature à l'UE", a-t-il dit, cité par l'agence Anatolie, avant son départ d'Ankara pour une visite en Albanie.
Il n'a pas précisé la date de ce sommet qui viserait à donner un élan aux réformes que la Turquie doit entreprendre pour pouvoir, à terme, intégrer l'UE.
La Turquie a été déclarée candidate à l'UE en 1999 et doit mener toute une série de réformes pour améliorer son bilan en matière de respect des droits de l'homme et de la démocratie avant de pouvoir ouvrir des négociations d'adhésion.
Mais plusieurs questions, comme l'abolition complète de la peine de mort et la légalisation de l'éducation en langue kurde ainsi qu'une télévision en kurde, divisent le gouvernement de coalition tripartite du Premier ministre Bulent Ecevit.
Le gouvernement est d'autant plus soumis à une pression grandissante depuis l'hospitalisation de M. Ecevit, qui fêtera la semaine prochaine ses 77 ans, pour la tenue d'élections anticipées avant la date prévue de 2004.
M. Ecevit, qui est traité pour une côte cassée et
une thrombophlébite, a rejeté ces appels, excluant également
une démission. (AFP, 23 mai 2002)
Bahceli stipulates five preconditions for the EU
Coalition senior partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli has stipulated five preconditions for Turkey's European Union membership.
At a press conference organized by the Turkish Embassy in Peking, Bahceli assessed the three years of the 57th government and touched on Turkey's EU bid. Asking the EU to include the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK), the new name of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), on its terrorist list, Bahceli also urged the government to transfer death row inmate PKK chieftain Abdullah Ocalan's dossier to Parliament, regardless of the European Court's resolution.
Bahceli emphasized that the leaders of the PKK and KADEK should openly announce to the world their remorse. According to him, they should also clarify their loyalty to the Turkish Constitution.
Another precondition Bahceli stipulated was that the EU should set a date for the start of the negotiations regarding Turkey's full membership, since it could take 10-12 years.
Touching on Turkey's journey on the EU path, Bahceli stated that Turkey has taken some concrete steps towards the EU in the last three years, with the active support of the MHP. Bahceli noted that certain extra steps have become preconditions for Turkey's membership, adding that the abolition of the death penalty, even for crimes of terrorism, and broadcasting and education in languages other than Turkish were among the EU's demands. He stated that these sensitive issues had once more come to the agenda during last week's leaders' summit. He stressed that Turkey might consider these steps if the EU fulfilled Turkey's demands.
Denying accusations that the MHP has been hindering Turkey's EU bid, Bahceli noted that the steps taken in the past three years have been realized with the active support of his party.
Bahceli recalled that Turkey has been struggling against separatist terrorism for 17 years, saying that the terrorist threat had not come to an end after Ocalan was imprisoned and sentenced to death. He claimed that there were still armed militants from the bloody terrorist organization in the regions neighboring Turkey's borders.
Bahceli stated that the PKK had changed its name to KADEK, but had not given up its aims, stressing that it had determined a new strategy, which mainly focused on Turkey's EU membership process and the Copenhagen criteria. He claimed that the MHP's national sensitivities over Turkey's EU bid stemmed from this fact.
"The EU's demands from Turkey in the name of the Copenhagen criteria match the terrorist organization's political targets. It is not possible to evaluate these demands as innocent requests required for democracy in this light," he emphasized.
Ocalan's dossier should be presented to Parliament
Stressing that it was impossible to help the terrorist organization reach its unchanged targets before the terrorism threat has definitely ended, Bahceli said that Ocalan's execution would be a concrete step towards eliminating this threat.
Urging the transfer of PKK chieftain and death-row inmate Ocalan's dossier to Parliament, Bahceli noted that the procedure to be followed on this dossier depended on the will and decision of the Turkish Parliament.
Bahceli also said that there was no longer a need to keep Ocalan under special circumstances on Imrali Island, urging that he should be transferred to an F-type prison.
The EU should include KADEK on its terrorist list
According to Bahceli, the EU should show its determination in the struggle against terrorism, and include KADEK on its terrorist list.
Bahceli noted that the armed militants of the terrorist organization should surrender to the security forces, adding that the PKK/KADEK should openly announce that it has given up its bloody terrorist acts and show its will with its actions.
Asking the EU to set a date for the start of Turkey's full membership negotiations at the end of this year, Bahceli noted that Turkey should reconsider the steps it had to take on the EU path with a new understanding, if the EU sets a date.
He emphasized that Turkey has entered a very critical period in its
relations with the EU, saying that vital decisions would be made at the
Copenhagen summit to be held in December 2002. (Turkish Daily News, May
28, 2002)
Le patronat turc appelle Ankara à accélérer le processus d'adhésion à l'UE
La puissante organisation patronale turque TUSIAD a appelé mercredi le gouvernement de coalition à abolir "dans les plus bref délais" la peine de mort et à accorder des droits culturels aux Kurdes pour pouvoir ouvrir des négociations d'adhésion avec l'Union européenne (UE).
"Les partis politiques et le parlement doivent prendre leur responsabilités dans ce projet vital pour l'avenir du pays et faire les pas nécessaires sur la voie de l'intégration à l'UE", souligne l'influente organisation dans des annonces publiées dans les grands quotidiens turcs.
Elle indique que des réformes pour respecter les critères de Copenhague sur les droits de l'homme, notamment l'abolition complète de la peine de mort et un enseignement ainsi qu'une télévision en kurde, doivent le plus rapidement être adoptées.
L'organisation estime que si la Turquie n'entreprend pas ses réformes, les Quinze ne fixeront pas de date pour l'ouverture des négociations d'adhésion, réclamée avec insistance par Ankara.
"Nous seront alors dépassés par les autres pays candidats et resteront seuls", souligne la TUSIAD. Elle estime que l'incertitude à laquelle sera alors confrontée la Turquie lui compliquera considérablement la tâche pour atteindre ses objectifs économiques, en référence à la grave crise qu'elle traverse depuis février 2001, avec l'aide massive du Fonds monétaire international (FMI) et de la Banque mondiale.
La Turquie a été déclarée sa candidature à l'UE en 1999.
Le gouvernement de coalition tripartite du Premier ministre Bulent Ecevit est divisé sur les réformes à mener. Le parti de l'Action nationaliste (MHP, ultranationaliste) de Devlet Bahceli, deuxième parti du gouvernement, s'y oppose.
M. Bahceli a posé mardi depuis Pékin où il est en visite officielle plusieurs conditions pour lever ses réserves à ces réformes, notamment la fixation d'une date par l'UE pour l'ouverture des négociations d'adhésion et l'inclusion du KADEK (ex-PKK, Congrès pour la liberté et la démocratie au Kurdistan) dans la liste européenne des organisations terroristes.
Le président turc Ahmet Necdet Sezer a convoqué un sommet
des leaders des partis représentés à l'Assemblée
nationale le 7 juin pour accélérer ces réformes. (AFP,
29 mai 2002)
La Turquie accepte une demande américaine de contrôle en mer
La Turquie a donné son accord à une demande des Etats-Unis en vue de pouvoir effectuer des contrôles dans les eaux nationales sur tout navire soupçonné d'implication dans des activités terroristes, a-t-on appris vendredi auprès du ministère turc des Affaires étrangères.
"La demande américaine s'inscrit dans le cadre de la lutte internationale contre le terrorisme à laquelle nous sommes attachées", a indiqué à l'AFP un diplomate turc sous couvert d'anonymat.
Il a souligné que la Turquie allait coopérer en la matière avec les Etats-Unis "pays avec lequel nous avons toujours eu de très bonnes relations".
Washington avait demandé outre la Turquie à des pays comme la Grèce, la France, l'Italie, l'Espagne, le Portugal et la Norvège des contrôles de bateaux unilatéraux dans les eaux nationales respectives et de pouvoir agir sans feu vert des autorités du pays concerné.
La Grèce a rejeté cette requête. (AFP, 31 mai 2002)
RELATIONS REGIONALES / REGIONAL RELATIONS
La Turquie prendra le commandement de l'Isaf fin juin
La Turquie prendra le commandement de la Force internationale d'assistance à la sécurité (Isaf) à la fin du mois de juin, a annoncé mercredi à Kaboul le porte-parole du contingent turc de l'Isaf, le commandant Murat Pekgulecen.
L'armée turque succèdera à l'armée britannique qui assure le commandement de l'Isaf depuis son déploiement en décembre.
"Le changement de commandement aura lieu à la fin du mois de juin, après la Loya Jirga, c'est logique", a déclaré le porte-parole.
La Loya Jirga, assemblée traditionnelle afghane, doit se réunir entre le 10 et le 16 juin à Kaboul pour désigner un gouvernement de transition qui doit prendre ses fonctions le 22 juin au plus tard.
L'Isaf patrouille dans la capitale afghane et sur les deux axes menant à la base aérienne de Bagram, utilisée par les forces de la coalition internationale anti-terroriste, à 50 km au nord de Kaboul. La force compte environ 4.500 soldats, dont 276 Turcs.
Ankara va renforcer son contingent à partir de la mi-mai. "Nous allons commencer à envoyer des troupes supplémentaires à partir de la mi-mai: un bataillon, soit environ mille soldats", selon le commandant Pekgulecen.
La Turquie, seul pays musulman membre de l'OTAN, avait confirmé officiellement lundi qu'elle prendrait le commandement de l'Isaf pour six mois, à une date restant à décider après discussions avec les pays contributeurs et les Nations unies.
Le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies a décidé le mois dernier que le mandat de l'Isaf serait prolongé au delà du mois de juin, date initialement prévue.
Cette extension dans la durée du mandat de l'Isaf n'est pas accompagnée
de l'extension des responsabilités de la force internationale à
l'extérieur de la capitale, comme le demandaient le président
de l'administration intérimaire Hamid Karzaï et le secrétaire
général des Nations unies, Kofi Annan. (AFP, 1er mai 2002)
Opérations pro-tchétchénes, ne sont-elles pas terroristes?
Un homme armé, se voulant défenseur du peuple tchétchène, s'est rendu à la police turque le 4 avril après avoir retenu en otages treize clients dont quatre Bulgares, quatre Japonais et trois Turcs, d'un hôtel de luxe du centre d'Istanbul, qui ont été libérés ensuite sans effusion de sang. Personne n'a été blessé durant les 90 minutes qu'a duré la prise d'otages à l'hôtel Marmara, dans la partie européenne de la ville. Le preneur d'otages, seul et armé d'un fusil d'assaut Kalachnikov, a été convaincu par la police de mettre fin sans violence à son action.
L'homme âgé de 29 ans, a été identifié comme étant Mustafa Yildirim, un restaurateur de la ville de Karaman. M. Yildirim a déclaré à la police qu'il avait agi " pour faire entendre au monde la détresse du peuple tchétchène ". Il a affirmé qu'il avait " planifié et effectué seul la prise d'otage ", précisant qu'il avait acheté son fusil au Pakistan. Le frère de l'agresseur, Isa, a expliqué que son frère avait par le passé pris part à des combats contre les forces russes dans la région sécessionniste de Tchétchénie.
La Turquie a plusieurs fois été le théâtre de prises d'otages par des militants pro-Tchétchènes armés ces dernières années. Un mois auparavant, deux Tchétchènes réclamant la fin des opérations militaires russes avaient détourné vers l'Arabie saoudite un avion se rendant d'Istanbul à Moscou. En 1996, un commando pro-tchétchène avait pris le contrôle d'un ferry avec près de 200 personnes à bord pendant trois jours au large de Trabzon, sur la mer Noire.
En avril 2001, un groupe de 13 militants pro-Tchétchènes lourdement armés avaient retenu en otage plus de 200 personnes dans un autre grand hôtel d'Istanbul pour protester contre l'intervention militaire de la Russie dans la république indépendantiste de Tchétchènie, avant de les libérer près de 12 heures plus tard et de se rendre à la police. Dans un arrêt daté pas plus tard que le 6 mai, la Cour de cassation a jugé que les protagonistes de cette prise d'otages ne pouvaient être qualifiés de terroristes et qu'ils n'étaient pas passibles de la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat.
Moscou a souvent accusé Ankara de soutenir " la rébellion
tchétchène ", ce dont se défend la Turquie, qui cependant
refuse de qualifier d'acte terroriste tout acte de violence réalisée
au nom des Thétchénnes tout en qualifiant de " terroriste
" la moindre manifestation kurde, surtout si elle est organisée
par les sympathisants du PKK. (CILDEKT, 7 mai 2002)
Les autorités turques annulent une conférence sur le conflit tchétchène
Une conférence sur le conflit tchétchène qui devait se tenir à Istanbul samedi et dimanche a été annulée par les autorités turques qui en avaient précédemment autorisé la tenue, ont annoncé samedi les organisateurs.
La rencontre à laquelle avaient été invités des parlementaires russes et européens et quelque 300 membres de la diaspora tchétchène, devait avoir lieu à l'initiative de l'association culturelle tchéchène du Caucase, qui n'a pas précisé pourquoi les autorités stambouliotes étaient revenues sur leur autorisation préalable.
"Notre but", a indiqué au cours d'une conférence de presse le président de l'association, Alaettin Sinan, "était de discuter des possibilités de mettre un terme au conflit tchétchène, pas d'envenimer les relations entre la Turquie et la Russie".
Moscou reproche à Ankara de fermer les yeux sur les Tchétchènes
qui cherchent refuge en territoire turc, où la sympathie pro-tchétchène
est assez répandue, en particulier dans les cercles islamistes.
Ankara rejette les allégations russes et affirme que le problème
tchétchène est une question interne à la Russie.
(AFP, 18 mai 2002)
Bagdad masse des troupes à la lisière des zones kurdes
Le gouvernement de Bagdad a massé des troupes à la lisière du Kurdistan irakien en prévision "d'une nouvelle agression" contre les villes de Souleimaniya et d'Erbil, affirme vendredi le Congrès national irakien (CNI, opposition).
"Le régime dictatorial à Bagdad a dépêché au cours des trois derniers jours d'importantes troupes militaires, dotées de blindés et d'artillerie lourde, vers les zones limitrophes du Kurdistan irakien" qui échappe au contrôle du pouvoir central depuis 1991, indique dans un communiqué le CNI qui se présente comme la principale alliance de l'opposition.
Le communiqué, dont une copie est parvenue à l'AFP, affirme que "les troupes irakiennes ont occupé des positions offensives" dans les provinces de Kirkouk et d'Erbil, "en prévision d'une nouvelle agression contre les ville de Souleimaniya et d'Erbil".
Le ville de Souleimaniya est contrôlée par l'Union patriotique du Kurdistan (UPK, de Jalal Talabani) et Erbil par le Parti démocratique du Kurdistan (PDK, de Massoud Barzani).
Interrogé par l'AFP, M. Dilshad Miran, porte-parole du PDK à Londres, a affirmé que "des troupes irakiennes sont effectivement déployées à la lisière du Kurdistan. Mais ce sont des mesures préventives normales, en raison des menaces américaines" de lancer une opération militaire contre l'Irak.
"Rien ne prouve que cette présence militaire irakienne est destinée à mener une offensive" contre les villes kurdes, a ajouté M. Miran.
L'UPK n'était pas joignable vendredi dans la soirée pour une vérification.
L'armée irakienne avait effectué en 1996 une incursion
dans les régions du nord, officiellement pour soutenir le PDK contre
l'UPK accusé par Bagdad de tremper dans un complot américain
pour diviser l'Irak. (AFP, 10 mai 2002)
Huit commandants de navires turcs traduits en justice pour braconnage
Les commandants de huit navires turcs arraisonnés par les autorités roumaines pour braconnage dans les eaux roumaines de la mer Noire ont été déférés devant la justice roumaine, a-t-on indiqué vendredi de source judiciaire.
La justice roumaine reproche aux marins turcs d'avoir causé un préjudice de 15 milliards de lei (envion 470.000 dollars) en se livrant au braconnage dans les eaux roumaines.
Trente-deux autres marins turcs présents à bord de huit navires ont été libérés, selon la même source.
Fin avril, les autorités roumaines avaient indiqué avoir découvert une centaine de dauphins morts dans des filets de pêche abandonnés par ces huit navires avant qu'ils soient arraisonnés.
Le ministre roumain de l'Environnement, Petru Lificiu, avait qualifié de cette affaire de "crime écologique" et accusé la Turquie d'avoir violé la Convention internationale de l'environnement.
De nombreux bateaux de pêcheurs turcs ont été interceptés
ces dernières années dans les eaux territoriales roumaines
et plusieurs d'entre-eux ont été mis sous séquestre
par les autorités de Bucarest. (AFP, 10 mai 2002)
Bulent Ecevit accuse les Chypriotes-grecs d'intransigeance
Le Premier ministre Bulent Ecevit a accusé samedi les chypriotes-grecs de ne pas contribuer aux efforts pour un réglement à Chypre, mettant en garde que l'échec des négociations en cours pourrait pérenniser la division de l'île.
"Pour le moment il n'y a pas eu de contribution favorable des chypriotes-grecs au processus de négociations", a-t-il dit dans un communiqué, cité par l'agence Anatolie, à l'issue d'une rencontre avec le chef de la communauté chypriote-turque Rauf Denktash.
"Si cette attitude se poursuit, inévitablement, les Grecs et les Turcs sur l'île iront leur propre chemin", a-t-il souligné.
Le président chypriote-grec Glafcos Cléridès et M. Denktash mènent depuis janvier un dialogue direct et intensif, sous l'égide de l'ONU. Le secrétaire général de l'ONU Kofi Annan, se rendra dans l'île du 14 au 16 mai pour faire pression sur les deux parties pour faire progresser des discussions qui piétinent.
M. Ecevit a ajouté que "la perte des chypriotes-turcs équivaudrait à la perte de la Turquie", qui considère officiellement Chypre comme une "cause nationale" et prône depuis des années une solution reconnaissant l'existence de deux Etats au sein d'une confédération, tandis que l'ONU et les Chypriotes-grecs souhaitent une fédération bi-communale et bi-zonale.
M. Denktas a pour sa part indiqué à la presse au terme de l'entretien que la partie grecque de Chypre (internationalement reconnue) profitait du fait qu'elle figure dans le peloton de tête des candidats à l'élargissement de l'Union européenne pour rejeter un "compromis".
"Personne ne doit s'attendre à ce que les Chypriotes-grecs acceptent un réglement après avoir obtenu de telles garanties" par l'UE.
La Turquie, également candidate à l'UE, a menacé d'annexer la République turque de Chypre du nord (RTCN), qu'elle est la seule à reconnaître et où 35.000 soldats turcs sont stationnés, si l'île adhère à l'UE avant une solution à sa division.
Chypre est divisée en deux secteurs depuis l'intervention de
l'armée turque dans le nord en 1974, en riposte à un coup
d'Etat des Chypriotes-grecs, soutenus par la junte militaire alors au pouvoir
à Athènes, qui voulaient rattacher l'île à la
Grèce. (AFP, 11 mai 2002)
Nagorny Karabakh: réunion turco-arméno-azéri à Reykjavik
Les ministres turc, azéri et arménien des Affaires étrangères se sont rencontrés mercredi à Reykjavik en marge d'une réunion de l'Otan pour discuter d'un réglement du conflit du Nagorny Karabakh entre l'Arménie et l'Azerbaïdjan, a annoncé mercredi le chef de la diplomatie turque Ismaïl Cem.
"Il s'agit de la première rencontre trilatérale jamais organisée entre les trois ministres des Affaires étrangères", a affirmé M. Cem dans un communiqué, la Turquie ayant pris l'initiative de cette rencontre.
"Les ministres ont étudié comment répondre aux problèmes de sécurité et de coopération régionale et ont souligné la nécessité de résoudre les conflits dans la région", a-t-il ajouté.
Les ministres se sont mis d'accord pour se rencontrer à nouveau "dans un avenir proche en marge d'une réunion internationale", a-t-il précisé.
Le Nagorny-Karabakh, territoire d'Azerbaïdjan à population majoritairement arménienne, a défendu son indépendance avec le soutien de l'Arménie jusqu'à un cessez-le-feu conclu en 1994, après des années d'affrontements meurtriers qui avaient fait 30.000 morts depuis 1988. Les négociations butent toujours sur la mise au point d'un règlement de paix.
Dans cette dispute, Ankara qui n'a pas de relations diplomatiques avec
Erevan, soutient l'Azerbaïdjan turcophone avec lequel la Turquie a
d'étroits liens. (AFP, 15 mai 2002)
Menace terroriste en Turquie, selon Washington
Les Etats-Unis ont déclaré vendredi avoir reçu des informations indiquant que des terroristes pourraient avoir un projet d'attentat en Turquie dans les jours qui viennent.
"Le gouvernement américain a reçu des informations non-confirmées et fragmentaires suggérant que des terroristes inconnus pourraient se préparer à mener une action terroriste" en Turquie, selon un communiqué du département d'Etat (Affaires étrangères) américain.
Cette opération "pourrait être dirigée contre l'aviation civile", indique le texte, sans plus de précisions sur le lieu, la date précise ou l'opération envisagée.
Cette mise en garde du département d'Etat est valable jusqu'au 22 mai, laissant entendre que la menace se situerait d'ici au milieu de la semaine prochaine.
"Le gouvernement de Turquie a déjà pris toutes les mesures de précaution pour répondre" à ce risque, poursuit le département d'Etat, ajoutant qu'Ankara et Washinton "coopèrent étroitement" dans ce domaine.
Des responsables américains avaient indiqué plus tôt dans la journée de vendredi à l'AFP, sous couvert de l'anonymat, que l'aéroport d'Istanbul pourrait être menacé.
Ces responsables ont précisé que la menace contre l'aéroport
était "très spécifique" et concentrée
sur samedi et dimanche mais qu'il n'était pas clair si elle
était dirigée contre des citoyens américains.
L'origine de la menace n'était pas claire non plus, ont-ils
précisé.
"Il y a une alerte concernant l'aéroport d'Istanbul pendant les deux prochains jours", a déclaré l'un des responsables. "C'est une menace très spécifique pour quelque chose comme un détournement à l'aéroport d'Istanbul".
Le communiqué officiel ne mentionne toutefois pas cet aéroport.
(AFP, 18 mai 2002)
La Grèce lève la mobilisation générale décrétée en 1974
La Grèce a levé vendredi l'état de mobilisation générale en vigueur dans le pays depuis l'intervention des troupes turques à Chypre en 1974 qui avait conduit la Grèce et la Turquie au bord de la guerre, a annoncé le ministère de la Défense.
Cette décision a été prise par le Conseil de la défense, réuni vendredi sous la présidence du ministre, Yannos Papantoniou. Cette mesure n'aura aucune incidence sur la "capacité opérationnelle" des forces armées, précise le communiqué.
Le prédécesseur de M. Papantoniou, Akis Tsohatzopoulos, avait fait part en mars 2001 de sa volonté de procéder à cette mise à jour, soulignant notamment que l'état de mobilisation générale n'avait "jusque-là jamais eu aucune influence sur l'attitude provocatrice de la Turquie".
La levée de la mobilisation générale permettra notamment aux officiers de pouvoir démissionner quand bon leur semble, sans devoir recourir au subterfuge en vigueur jusqu'alors de se présenter comme candidats à des élections pour pouvoir quitter l'armée, relève le ministère.
Cette évolution doit aussi entraîner un assouplissement du sort des insoumis, en association avec des mesures spécifiques en ce sens déjà décidées par le ministère de la Défense.
Les forces turques étaient intervenues en 1974 à Chypre
en réaction à un coup d'Etat d'ultranationalistes partisans
d'un rattachement de l'île à la Grèce. (AFP, 24 mai
2002)
Isaf : La Turquie envoie des renforts avant de prendre le commandement
Une cérémonie a été organisée mercredi dans une garnison d'Ankara à l'occasion du départ pour la capitale afghane de quelque 300 militaires turcs avant la relève turque le mois prochain à la tête de la Force internationale d'assistance à la sécurité (Isaf) à Kaboul.
Le chef d'état-major des armées, le général Huseyin Kivrikoglu, qui s'est adressé aux soldats et à leur famille, a indiqué que le contingent turc de la force internationale consisterait en quelque 1.400 soldats.
La Turquie, seul pays musulman membre de l'OTAN, succèdera à partir du 20 juin pour six mois au Royaume-Uni qui assurait jusqu'ici le commandement de l'Isaf, a-t-il précisé.
Le général Kivrikoglu a souligné le caractère "historique" des relations turco-afghanes, rappelant que la Turquie avait conclu une alliance militaire avec ce pays en 1921.
Les troupes qui doivent quitter la capitale turque dans la journée, sont constituées d'officiers et de personnel de l'armée de l'air chargé du fonctionnement et de la protection de l'aéroport de Kaboul.
Le restant du contingent turc sera dépéché à Kaboul d'ici la fin de juin.
269 soldats turcs participent pour le moment à la force de paix.
Le commandant de la force de paix pendant cette période sera le général turc Akin Zorlu.
Ankara a demandé des clarifications sur la composition de la force, son coût financier et le soutien logistique avant d'en prendre le commandement.
L'Isaf patrouille dans la capitale afghane et sur les deux axes menant à la base aérienne de Bagram, utilisée par les forces de la coalition internationale anti-terroriste, à 50 km au nord de Kaboul.
Elle rassemble actuellement 4.582 soldats de 19 nationalités
différentes. (AFP, 29 mai 2002)
Troisième réunion "exploratoire" sur les différends en mer Egée
Une troisième réunion gréco-turque dans le cadre de "contacts exploratoires" entre les deux pays pour tenter de régler leurs différends de souveraineté en mer Egée se tiendra le 3 juin à Athènes, a annoncé mercredi le porte-parole du ministère grec des Affaires étrangères, Panos Béglitis.
Les délégations seront dirigées par le directeur général pour les affaires politiques du ministère grec, Anastase Scopelitis, et le sous-secrétaire d'Etat turc aux Affaires étrangères, Ugur Ziyal, a ajouté M. Béglitis dans un communiqué.
Les deux précédentes réunions se sont tenues à Ankara le 12 mars et à Athènes le 11 avril. Une troisième réunion prévue en mai dans la capitale turque n'a pas pu se dérouler en raison de la maladie d'un des négociateurs, selon une source diplomatique grecque.
La Grèce et la Turquie, frères ennemis du flanc sud-est
de l'OTAN, avaient annoncé en janvier dernier leur volonté
d'ouvrir des "contacts exploratoires" au niveau des directeurs politiques,
pour approfondir un rapprochement amorcé en 1999 mais resté
jusque là limité à des aspects secondaires de leurs
relations, sur lesquels dix accords ont été signés.
Pour Athènes, le seul différend bilatéral
est la délimitation du plateau continental en mer Egée, dont
elle souhaite le renvoi devant la cour internationale de La Haye. La Turquie
considère, elle, que les litiges incluent les problèmes de
délimitation des espaces aériens et des eaux territoriales
en mer Egée.
Athènes revendique un espace aérien de 10 milles alors
qu'Ankara lui reconnaît seulement une limite de 6 milles, égale
à la limite des eaux territoriales grecques en Egée. La Grèce
revendique le droit d'étendre ses eaux territoriales à 12
milles, conformément à la Convention internationale sur le
droit de la mer dont la Turquie n'est pas signataire. Pour la Turquie une
telle extension serait un casus belli. (AFP, 29 mai 2002)
Israël pourrait vendre des images de son satellite à l'Inde et à la Turquie
Israël considère la vente à l'Inde et à la Turquie des images de son nouveau satellite espion lancé mardi, rapporte vendredi le quotidien Haaretz.
L'entreprise israélienne "Israel Aircraft industries" (IAI) à capitaux d'Etat, qui a lancé le satellite Ofek 5, "souhaite fournir des images du satellite aux ministères de la Défense de pays amis, sur la base de contrats commerciaux", indique le journal.
"Des contacts à cet effet ont été entrepris avec l'Inde et la Turquie, qui sont parmi les clients potentiels les plus prometteurs", révèle Haaretz.
Ces contrats "pourraient rapporter des dizaines de millions de dollars par an à l'IAI, mais la concrétisation de tels marchés dépend pour une large part de l'autorisation du ministère israélien de la Défense et de l'armée israélienne", prévient toutefois le journal.
Ofek 5, de technologie entièrement israélienne, doit prendre des photos d'un précision d'un mètre et couvre en particulier l'Afrique du nord et le Moyen-Orient, jusqu'au Pakistan et à l'Afghanistan.
Israël entretient des relations solides avec la Turquie, avec laquelle il est lié depuis 1996 par un accord de coopération militaire.
L'Inde, au bord du conflit avec son voisin pakistanais, puissance nucléaire
comme elle, est devenue depuis l'arrivée des nationalistes au pouvoir,
en 1998, un partenaire très proche de l'Etat hébreu, en particulier
dans les domaines militaire, du renseignement et de la lutte anti-guérilla.
(AFP, 31 mai 2002)
IMMIGRATION / MIGRATION
Droit à l'assistance d'un avocat: la France condamnée après une plainte turque
La Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme a condamné la France jeudi à Strasbourg pour avoir empêché des avocats de défendre deux ressortissants turcs soupçonnés de terrorisme, lors de leur procès par contumace en 1997 à Paris.
Dursum Karatas, chef du mouvement terroriste Devrimci Sol (Dev Sol, ou Gauche révolutionnaire) et évadé d'une prison turque où il purgeait une peine de dix ans, et Zerri Sari, ancienne avocate au barreau d'Istanbul, connue pour ses activités politiques, avaient été condamnés respectivement à quatre et deux ans de prison par contumace pour association de malfaiteurs ayant pour objet de préparer un acte de terrorisme, pour recel de vol, usage de faux documents administratifs et entrée irrégulière en France.
Ces deux personnes, sous le coup d'un mandat d'arrêt international, sont toujours en fuite, a précisé la Cour européenne.
Dursum Karatas et Mme Sarri s'étaient plaints devant la Cour européenne de n'avoir pu faire opposition au jugement du tribunal correctionnel de Paris sans se constituer prisonniers au préalable.
Ils se plaignaient aussi que le tribunal ait rejeté la demande de leurs avocats de les défendre en leur absence.
Sur le premier point, les juges européens ont donné tort aux requérants, essentiellement parce qu'ils avaient pris la fuite à l'étranger dès qu'ils avaient été placés sous contrôle judiciaire.
En revanche, l'absence d'un prévenu à son procès
ne justifie pas qu'il soit privé de l'assistance d'un avocat, selon
la Cour européenne qui a conclu à une violation de la Convention
européenne des droits de l'Homme. (AFP, 16 mai 2002)
Deux réfugiés kurdes victimes d'une expédition punitive
Trois jeunes, âgées de 24 à 25 ans et originaires du boulonnais, qui avaient blessé par balle deux réfugiés kurdes irakiens du centre de réfugiés de la Croix-Rouge de Sangatte (Pas-de-Calais) ont été mis en examen le 1er mai pour tentative d'assassinat. Armés d'une carabine 22 LR, les trois agresseurs avaient organisé le 29 avril au soir " une expédition punitive et xénophobe contre des réfugiés avec qui ils disent s'être querellés une quinzaine de jours auparavant ", a expliqué Gérald Lesigne, le procureur de la République de Boulogne-sur-Mer. Les trois jeunes avaient alors pris pour cible des réfugiés, blessant par balle deux Kurdes irakiens. Le premier avait été blessé au pied alors qu'il se trouvait dans le centre-ville de Calais. Le second réfugié, qui errait à proximité de la mairie de Sangatte, avait été touché plus sérieusement dans le dos. Les agresseurs avaient déjà organisé une première opération punitive qui avait été interrompue, il y a une semaine, par la gendarmerie, selon le parquet.
C'est la première fois que des incidents aussi sérieux se produisent entre des réfugiés du centre de la Croix-Rouge de Sangatte et des habitants du littoral du Pas-de-Calais. L'été dernier, un vigile avait blessé un réfugié d'un coup de feu lors d'un assaut de dizaines de clandestins qui tentaient de pénétrer sur le site de la SNCF à Frethun, près de Calais. Le vigile, qui n'était pas autorisé à porter une arme, avait expliqué qu'il avait pris peur.
Le centre de Sangatte, ouvert en septembre 1999, abrite actuellement
plus de 1.400 personnes, essentiellement des Kurdes d'Irak et des Afghans,
qui cherchent à passer clandestinement en Grande-Bretagne via le
tunnel sous la Manche. Le 15 avril, pour la première fois, un réfugié
--un jeune Kurde irakien-- est mort à la suite d'une rixe dans l'enceinte
même du centre.(CILDEKT, 3 mai 2002)
Agression d'un jeune Turc: prison ferme pour deux skinheads français
Deux skinheads français, âgés de 31 et 24 ans, ont été condamnés respectivement à un an et à trois mois de prison ferme mercredi à Metz (est) pour l'agression en mars d'un jeune Turc à Sarrebourg (est) après un concert d'un groupe défendant des idées d'extrême droite.
Le premier skinhead, Pierre H., 34 ans, était notamment poursuivi pour "violence avec arme ayant entraîné une ITT (incapacité temporaire de travail) de sept jours et injures raciales".
Devant le tribunal, le suspect a nié les propos racistes envers le jeune Turc, mais a déclaré qu'il était "fasciste".
Le deuxième prévenu, Loïc S., 24 ans, était poursuivi pour "dégradations" sur le véhicule de la victime.
Pierre H. avait pointé un pistolet automatique de calibre 6,35 sur la tempe de la victime alors qu'elle allait à sa voiture pour prendre des cigarettes.
Son co-prévenu s'en était pris à la voiture en tapant sur la carrosserie de la voiture à coups de pied et de poing.
Les deux skinheads sortaient d'un concert organisé dans un village
proche de Sarrebourg, dont le collectif anti-fasciste et anti-raciste (Cafar)
avait demandé l'annulation. (AFP, 3 avril 2002)
Un Kurde condamné à la prison à vie pour le meurtre "d'honneur" de sa fille
Un père de famille kurde a été condamné à la prison à vie mercredi par le tribunal d'Uppsala (est) pour le meurtre de sa fille de 26 ans, à qui il reprochait d'avoir sali son honneur en sortant avec un Suédois.
Rahmi Sahindal, 56 ans, a été reconnu coupable de meurtre par le tribunal d'Uppsala (70 km au nord de Stockholm), qui a évoqué dans son verdict "une véritable exécution" et retenu la préméditation.
Le tribunal ne lui a accordé aucune circonstance atténuante.
Au cours de sa garde à vue, Rahmi Sahindal a avoué avoir "pensé pendant cinq ou six mois à tuer Fadime" parce que "c'était la seule solution".
Il a admis avoir abattu sa fille Fadime de deux balles dans la tête et au cou alors qu'elle se trouvait chez sa soeur, à Uppsala, au soir du 21 janvier dernier.
Il reprochait à Fadime d'avoir déshonoré la famille en entretenant une liaison avec un Suédois plutôt qu'avec un Kurde.
"Elle a détruit ma vie. Elle m'a insulté, c'est pour ça que je l'ai tuée", a-t-il expliqué au cours de son procès.
Dans son verdict, dont l'AFP a obtenu copie, le tribunal mentionne que la prison à vie "était la seule sanction imaginable" pour un homme ayant abattu l'une de ses filles devant sa mère et ses deux soeurs, dont l'une n'était âgée que de 13 ans.
Rahmi Sahindal devra en oûtre verser 50.000 couronnes suédoises (5.500 euros) de dommage et intérêt à l'une des soeurs de Fadime, Songuul, qui avait témoigné à charge.
La défense n'a pas encore décidé si elle ferait appel.
Rahmi Sahindal avait déjà été condamné en 1998, ainsi que son fils, pour avoir proféré des menaces de mort à l'encontre de Fadime, écopant d'une peine de prison avec sursis et d'une amende.
"La seule façon pour ma famille de retrouver son honneur, maintenant que je lui ai infligé le déshonneur, est de me tuer", avait prédit la jeune femme lors du procès.
Peu après, son ami suédois était mort dans un accident de voiture.
Le frère de Fadime, qui avait continué à harceler sa soeur, avait été condamné à cinq mois de prison ferme.
La jeune femme s'était alors installée dans le nord de la Suède où elle suivait des études de sociologie, et voyageait à travers le pays, donnant des conférences sur sa situation.
Le meurtre de Fadime est la quatrième de cette nature en Suède
depuis 1994. (AFP, 3 avril 2002)
Près de 250 candidats à l'émigration clandestine vers la Grèce interpellés
La gendarmerie turque a interpellé tôt lundi 248 personnes, la plupart des Turcs, dans la localité de Tasucu (sud, sur la Méditerranée) alors qu'elles tentaient de se rendre clandestinement en Grèce, a indiqué l'agence Anatolie.
Les candidats à l'émigration clandestine, 160 Turcs, et 88 étrangers dont la nationalité n'a pas été précisée, ont été arrêtés alors qu'ils s'apprêtaient à prendre un bateau pour les côtes grecques, précise l'agence.
Trente-cinq des personnes interpellées sont des femmes et 48 des enfants, ajoute l'agence.
La Turquie, située entre l'Europe et l'Asie, est une voie de
transit majeure pour l'immigration clandestine vers l'Europe. (AFP, 13
mai 2002)
Slogans nationalistes turcs dans une tentative d'incendie contre une église
Un incendie criminel a détruit lundi la porte d'une église catholique de Kassel (ouest) a indiqué la police locale, précisant que des inscriptions en faveur du mouvement ultranationaliste turc des "Loups gris" avaient été retrouvées sur les murs de l'édifice.
Des passants ont donné l'alerte et ainsi évité des dégâts plus importants. Outre les inscriptions sur les murs, la police a constaté que les crucifix à l'entrée de l'église avaient été recouverts de peinture noire.
Le groupe ultranationaliste des Loups gris est l'organisation de jeunesse
du MHP (Parti de l'action nationaliste), parti du vice-Premier ministre
turc Devlet Baheceli. (AFP, 21 mai 2002)
La Turquie "porte d'entrée principale" des immigrants clandestins en Europe
Turquie est devenue en quelques années la "porte d'entrée principale" de l'immigration clandestine vers l'Europe, selon l'expression d'un rabatteur africain d'Istanbul, une tendance confirmée par les chiffres officiels.
Le nombre de personnes interpellées par les forces de sécurité turques pour séjour ou transit illégal a été quasiment multiplié par 9 entre 1995 et 2000, passant de 11.362 à 94.514, selon les statistiques de la Direction générale de la Sûreté. Leur nombre a légèrement baissé l'an dernier pour s'établir à 92.365.
"Tout le monde sait que la Turquie est la porte d'entrée principale vers l'Europe", raconte Laye, ressortissant d'un pays francophone d'Afrique de l'Ouest établi en Turquie.
"Depuis toute l'Afrique, les rabatteurs proposent des visas pour la Turquie, faciles et peu chers, expliquant que la Turquie, c'est l'Europe et que le reste du voyage sera un jeu d'enfant", sourit-il.
Selon lui, la "filière turque" s'est imposée au milieu des années 90 quand les pays européens ont restreint l'octroi des visas, et a supplanté la traversée du détroit de Gibraltar, "de mauvaise réputation avec ses nombreux naufrages et morts".
Timothy, Nigérian de 25 ans, a ainsi atterri en Turquie parce qu'il ne parvenait pas à obtenir de visa européen, mais il n'a toujours pas réussi à rejoindre le pays de son rêve, se refusant à utiliser les filières les plus dangereuses, que ce soit par mer ou par terre.
Comme tous, Bangladeshis, Afghans ou Algériens, il a choisi de s'exiler pour "étudier, travailler et aider sa famille", toutes choses impossibles dans son pays.
"Pour 500 dollars, j'ai eu un visa de 15 jours pour la Turquie, c'est le point de passage le plus facile vers l'Europe", confirme-t-il.
Le professeur Ahmet Icduygu, enseignant en sciences politiques à l'Université Bilkent d'Ankara, étudie depuis des années les flux de l'immigration clandestine en Turquie, et constate l'immensité de la tâche.
"Je pensais en 1995 que les restrictions dans la politique des visas des pays européens allaient ralentir le mouvement, mais le contraire s'est produit, car il est facile d'entrer en Turquie et de la quitter pour l'Europe", constate-t-il.
"Le nombre des clandestins a augmenté et l'origine des candidats à l'immigration s'est diversifiée, avec l'arrivée de ressortissants de nouveaux pays, asiatiques et africains", dit-il.
Les méthodes d'acheminement se sont aussi renouvelées. Le passage de la frontière terrestre gréco-turque est peu à peu supplanté par la voie maritime, de gros cargos quittant les côtes égéenne ou méditerranéenne turques vers l'Italie.
"Je conseille le bateau, qui a 90% de chances de réussir, alors que par la terre, il y a 80% de risque de se faire attraper, et alors on perd tout", détaille Laye. "Trop d'histoires dramatiques surviennent dans le no man's land", reprend Timothy.
Récemment, certains ont commencé à tenter leur chance sur des petites embarcations à destination des îles grecques proches de la côte turque, mais les accidents sont fréquents.
Dernière trouvaille, les immigrants prennent un avion pour l'Espagne ou l'Italie et déchirent leur passeport une fois à l'aéroport, "avec succès", selon Laye.
Mardi, les garde-côtes turcs ont intercepté un bateau transportant 250 immigrants clandestins vers l'Italie, portant à 900 le nombre d'interpellations réalisées lors de 5 opérations massives au cours du mois écoulé, sans comptabiliser les cas isolés.
"La Turquie ne peut pas lutter seule contre ce phénomène,
les policiers n'ont même pas de budget pour nourrir les clandestins
interceptés, alors forcément, on ferme les yeux", affirme
Mehmet Icduygu, qui appelle à plus de coopération avec l'Europe.
(AFP, 26 mai 2002)
Près de 200 immigrants clandestins arrêtés en Turquie
Les forces de sécurité turques ont arrêté 188 immigrants clandestins, pour la plupart irakiens, ces derniers jours en Turquie lors d'opérations en divers endroits du pays, a indiqué mardi l'agence Anatolie.
Cent un clandestins, la majorité étant irakiens, ont été interpellés près de la ville balnéaire égéenne de Cesme (ouest), selon l'agence, qui ne donne pas de date précise.
Un groupe de 71 Irakiens a été découvert à bord d'un bateau enregistré en Turquie qui a appelé à la rescousse les garde-côtes parce qu'il était à la dérive après un ennui mécanique. Il a été remorqué jusqu'au port et l'équipage composé de trois Turcs a été interpellé, affirme l'agence.
Peu après, 30 immigrants clandestins --irakiens, afghans et pakistanais-- ont été interceptés dans une baie proche de Cesme. Ils ont prétendu avoir été débarqués par un capitaine grec qui devait les amener en Grèce. Le capitaine a également été interpellé, selon l'agence.
Dans la province d'Igdir (est), frontalière avec l'Arménie et l'Iran, un groupe de 68 candidats à l'émigration --afghans, pakistanais et bangladeshis-- a été interpellé peu après avoir franchi la frontière avec l'Iran, selon Anatolie.
Enfin, 19 Kurdes irakiens ont été découverts cachés dans le réservoir d'un camion de fuel à Diyarbakir (sud-est) lors d'un contrôle routier. Ils ont indiqué à la police avoir payé entre 100 et 300 dollars pour être amenés en Grande-Bretagne.
Située à la croisée de l'Europe et l'Asie, la Turquie
est une voie de transit majeure pour le trafic d'immigrés clandestins,
à la recherche d'une vie meilleure en Europe. (AFP, 28 mai 2002)
Les corps de vingt-quatre immigrants clandestins retrouvés en Turquie
Les gendarmes turcs ont retrouvé jeudi les corps de dix-neuf Afghans, immigrants clandestins présumé, parmi lesquels des femmes et des enfants, morts de froid au cours de l'hiver dans la localité de Caldiran (est, à la frontière iranienne), a-t-on indiqué de source officielle.
En outre, à Menderes, petite ville de l'ouest du pays, les corps de cinq hommes, des Pakistanais, ont été retrouvés échoués sur une plage de la localité.
Dix-neuf cadavres --neuf enfants et dix femmes et hommes-- ont été retrouvés par les gendarmes lors d'une patrouille de routine près du village de montagne de Caldiran situé à proximité de la frontière iranienne, a indiqué à l'AFP une responsable locale.
"Selon l'état des cadavres, ils sont vraisemblablement mort de froid alors qu'ils tentaient de franchir illégalement la frontière entre les mois de novembre et janvier", a-t-elle précisé.
Cette région est recouverte pratiquement toute l'année d'une épaisse couche de neige qui peut atteindre jusqu'à quatre mètres pendant la haute saison hivernale, particulièrement rude dans la zone.
"Ils pourraient s'agir de clandestins Afghans", a-t-elle souligné, ajoutant que l'on ne s'attendait pas à la découverte de nouveaux corps.
A Menderes, les corps retrouvés sont ceux de candidats à l'immigration clandestine, souligne l'agence Anatolie, sans préciser les circonstances de leur mort.
44 autres clandestins --31 Irakiens, cinq Pakistanais et six Indiens-- qui s'apprêtaient à prendre un bateau pour les côtes grecques situées en face ont par ailleurs été interpellés par les gendarmes dans cette ville et dans celle voisine d'Urla, ajoute l'agence.
Située à la croisée de l'Europe et l'Asie, la Turquie
est une voie de transit majeure pour le trafic d'immigrés clandestins,
à la recherche d'une vie meilleure en Europe. (AFP, 30 mai 2002)
BELGIQUE-TURQUIE / BELGIUM-TURKEY
Un Belge soupçonné de trafic d'armes transféré dans une prison spéciale
Un Belge soupçonné de trafic d'armes arrêté il y a dix jours à Istanbul après avoir été recherché sur mandat d'Interpol par la France et la Belgique, a été transféré dans une prison à haute sécurité de la métropole, a rapporté lundi l'agence Anatolie.
Le suspect, Jacques Monsieur, a été arrêté à l'aéroport international d'Istanbul le 11 mai alors qu'il attendait un vol à destination de la Belgique et venait d'Iran.
Jacques Monsieur, qui n'avait pas de passeport, mais un document de voyage délivré par le consulat belge à Téhéran, a été emprisonné à Istanbul le jour suivant.
Incarcéré à la prison Metris, le Belge a été transféré le week-end "pour des raisons de sécurité" à la prison de "Type F" de Kartal (partie asiatique) composée de cellules pour une ou trois personnes, précise l'agence, citant des autorités pénitenciaires.
Les services de sécurité français avaient récemment alerté la police turque sur la possibilité que Jacques Monsieur tente de se rendre d'Iran en Europe via la Turquie.
Selon Anatolie, la détention provisoire du Belge pourrait être prolongée jusqu'à 40 jours conformément à la Convention européenne sur l'extradition des criminels au cas où sa procédure d'extradition vers la Belgique ne pourra se terminer à temps.
D'après Anatolie, les autorités françaises avaient interpellé Jacques Monsieur et ouvert une procédure contre lui en 1999, à la demande des Etats-Unis qui l'accusaient de vendre des armes à l'Iran.
Jacques Monsieur avait à cette époque disparu puis refait
surface en Iran, où Téhéran avait confirmé
son arrestation sous l'accusation d'espionnage et refusé qu'il rencontre
des diplomates belges, selon l'agence. (AFP, 20 mai 2002)
|
|