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A non-government information service on Turkey
Un service d'information non-gouvernemental sur la Turquie

188

16th Year - N°188
juin 1992
38 rue des Eburons - 1000 Bruxelles
Tél: (32-2) 215 35 76 - Fax: (32-2) 215 58 60
 Rédacteur en chef: Dogan Özgüden - Editrice responsable: Inci Tugsavul
 


To the attention of the Members of the European Parliament
and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

    THE 6th MONTH OF “DEMOCRATIZATION”


    • The 1982 Constitution imposed by the military is still in force.
    • The National Security Council remains above the government
    • General Staff remains independent of the Defense Minister.
    • The Counter-Guerrilla Organisation remains untouchable.
    • State Security Courts carry on persecutions
    • Turkish Kurdistan is still under state of emergency
    • State terrorism and air attacks goes on in Kurdistan
    • 22 Kurdish deputies face capital punishment
    • 290 intellectuals pursued for a petition to the ONU
    • A Kurdish journalist assassinated
    • A journalist imprisoned for criticizing the Army
    • Sociologist Besikci sentenced to a fine of $130,000
    • The Kurdish Institute’s sign-board was removed by police
    • May Day celebrations in street and a strike are forbidden
    • Virginity test led two teenage girls to commit suicide

    Since the formation of the new coalition government led by Demirel, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe have adopted a more understanding and tolerant attitude towards Turkey. As the Council of Europe, principal European institution for defending human rights, is now being chaired by Ankara, the Dury Report on the EC-Turkey relations to be debated at the European Parliament in July contains appreciations rather than criticisms as regards the new government’s performance. Even the Gawronski Report on the Rights of the Kurdish People, recently adopted by the European Parliament, is being applauded by the pro-government Turkish press as a new sign of European sympathy to Turkey, because it excludes the right to self-determination. (For both reports, see: Info-Türk, May 1992)
    As for the Council of Europe, the debate on the Lentz-Cornette/Baarveld-Schalman Report on Turkey which is more courageous than those of the European Parliament (See: Info-Türk, February 1992) is being postponed for not annoying the friends in Ankara.
    Yet, the new coalition, in spite of its promises and declarations charming the EP rapporteurs, has not put in practice fundamental reforms to transform the militarist “democracy” installed by the putchist generals into a real democracy conforming to the norms established by the international conventions.
    On the contrary, the State terrorism has continuously been reinforced with bloodshed, arrests, prosecutions, condemnations and ban on publications and associations.
    Below is the situation not so brilliant  of human rights in Turkey in the 6th month of power of the DYP-SHP Coalition.

    • The 1982 Constitution imposed by the military is still in force

    Whereas the new government had promised to completely  modify the 1982 Constitution of the military, the constitutional amendment package prepared by the coalition parties in six months and sent to the opposition parties for elaboration on May 26 does not contain  any changes as regards:
    - putting an end to the extra-parliamentary powers of the National Security Council, dominated by the army chiefs;
    - submitting the General Staff of the Armed Forces to the authority of the government;
    - lifting the State Security Courts,
    - lifting articles which keep open the door to banning Kurdish or left-wing parties, organisations and publications.

    • General Staff remains independent of the Defense Minister

    Parliament’s Defense Commission rejected on May 14 the law proposal by SHP deputy Celal Kürkoglu who suggested the office of the Chief of General Staff be affiliated with the office of the Defense Minister.
    Kürkoglu insisted on his proposal saying whether those who were appointed would be under the order of those who were elected or those who were elected would be under the order of those who were appointed.
    However, Defense Minister Nevzat Ayaz said that the matter could not be solved through an adoption of a provision of a law and should absolutely be taken up within the framework of a constitutional change. Since the constitutional reform package does not contain any change on the matter, the army chief will remain, as before, independent of the Ministry.

    • The Counter-Guerrilla Organisation remains untouchable.

    The SHP has, in spite of its promises during the electoral campaign, dropped the Counter-Guerrilla debate from agenda.
    A proposal by Kurdish deputy Mahmut Alniak for an investigation into the sinister activities of this Turkish version of “Gladio” was discussed at the SHP Parliamentary Group on May 26. Although the majority of the group voted in favour of the proposal, party leader and deputy premier minister Erdal Inönü rejected the ballots on grounds that the vote majority was not enough to make a decision and announced, “I have taken the issue off the agenda.”
    This organisation, officially entitled Special War Department is attached to the Chief of General Staff and in charge of “behind-of-the-front activities as well as defense of national territory under occupation during the time.” However, it has taken an active and secret role in the State terrorism in southeast Turkey.

    • Turkish Kurdistan is still under state of emergency

    As reported in our April 1992 issue, the Turkish Parliament voted overwhelmingly,  on March 17, to extend the state of emergency for a further four months in ten of the southeastern provinces.
    The SHP had, during its opposition years, been against this extraordinary regime in Turkish Kurdistan, and after the last legislative elections it had entered the government with the promise of lifting it. However, despite a strong opposition from the party members, the majority of the SHP parliamentary group voted for the prolongation of the emergency state. Thereupon, Kurdish deputies resigned the SHP.
    According to recent information, the governing parties have already decided the emergency state in the region for another 4-month period in July.

    • State terrorism and air attacks goes on in Kurdistan

    As pointed out by Amnesty International, State terrorism in Turkish Kurdistan has been reinforced in 1991 and in early 1992.
    The bloodshed of Newroz was followed by a series of military attacks on Kurdish villages as well in Turkey as in Northern Iraq.
    Very recently, on May 31, Turkish air raids on civilian settlements in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq killed at least seven civilians. Just before the May 19 elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkish jets had hit many villages in the area.
    The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has filed a formal protest in Ankara to end cross border attacks. KDP said that, because of continuous bombing by Turkish planes, Kurdish civilians refuse to return to their houses in the border territory or hide in caves during the day to avoid the assaults.
    As for the Turkish Kurdistan, the Turkish security forces have been carrying on their attacks on the local population by using war-planes, tanks, helicopters and heavy weaponry.
    The Kurdistan Committee, at a press conference in Brussels on May 21, reported that the Turkish army recently killed hundreds of villagers and no members of the press were allowed into the area where the operations took place. “The civilian people is being openly slaughtered, the reason for this being that the Kurdish people are the source of the guerrilla army and the Turkish army wants to kill them en masse,” added the Committee.
    Same day more than 10,000 Kurdish migrants or refugees held a mass demonstration in the streets of Brussels in protest against the State terrorism in Turkish Kurdistan and for making a call to the European Communities and other international institutions to mediate and take the steps necessary to stop the “dirty war” between the two parties to the conflict and help pave the way for a political solution.
    A spokesman of the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK) said on this occasion: “Turkey is continuously calling on the international community to intervene in the conflict between the Armenians and the Azeris. We too want international institutions to monitor the situation. In this conflict while the Kurdish side is continuously calling for dialogue the Turkish state insists on the military option of force. The Turkish state is imposing this dirty war on the Kurdish people.”

    • 22 Kurdish deputies face capital punishment

    The acting speaker of Parliament, Yilmaz Hocaoglu endorsed on May 22 files calling for the lifting parliamentary immunity on 22 Kurdish deputies.
    The State Security Court Chief Prosecutor Nusret Demiral, accusing the deputies of making declarations against the integrity of the Republic, asks the Parliament to lift their immunity in order to bring them before the tribunal. If the legal proceeding starts, the deputies will face capital punishment.
    The files were earlier blocked from entry into Parliament by Speaker Hüsamettin Cindoruk, who argued that members of Parliament had “freedom of the rostrum.”
    However, when Cindoruk replaced the President of the Republic Özal during his visit to the United States, at his absence in the Parliament, the prosecutor submitted the files to the deputy speaker Yilmaz Hocaoglu who replaced Cindoruk.
    Seemingly, Speaker Cindoruk was well informed by the acting speaker of his intention, but this time he did not object to the endorsement of the files.
    The Chief Prosecutor Demiral also asked  the Constitutional Court, on April 4, to close down the People’s Labour Party (HEP) on charges of carrying out activities incompatible with the Constitution and the Political Parties Code.

    • 290 intellectuals pursued for a petition to the ONU

    A joint petition signed by 290 intellectuals, including HEP Chairman Feridun Yazar, Kurdish deputies, trade unionists, journalists, writers and artists which asks for the intervention of the United Nations and other international institutions to stop  State terrorism in the southeastern Turkey has been labelled by the pro-government Turkish press as a “high treason.”
    The petition, saying that “Turkish state is trying to wipe out the Kurdish population”, asks that Kurdish guerrillas should be treated according to the rules pertaining to international warfare.
    On this provocative campaign, the Chief prosecutor of the Ankara State Security Court, Nusret Demiral started an investigation and interrogated 290 signatory intellectuals one by one. He said on June 4  that the investigation into the petition was completed and the file would be sent to the SSC for trying 290 intellectuals.

    • A Kurdish journalist assassinated

    A Kurdish journalist, Hafiz Akdemir, 27, working for the daily newspaper Özgür Gündem, was shot dead in Diyarbakir on June 8 by an unidentified gunman.
    Özgür Gündem reports that Akdemir was shot with a single bullet, similar to tens of other killings in the southeast attributed to the Counter-Guerrilla.
    The killing of Akdemir came after a week-long campaign by the newspaper to attract attention to various human rights violations in the southeast and on the second day of a serial interview with PKK leader Öcalan.
    Earlier, gunmen killed 2000e Dogru representative Halit Güngen in Diyarbakir and Yeni Ülke reporter Cengiz Altun. During the Newroz bloodshed, Sabah newspaper reporter Izzet Kezer was also shot to death.
    More than 90 people have reportedly been killed under controversial circumstances in southeast Turkey over the past year.
   
    • Besikci sentenced to a fine of $130,000

    Sociologist Ismail Besikci who is one of the principal targets of the State terrorism because of his courageous stand on Kurdish question and his publisher Ünsal Öztürk were sentenced by the State Security Court of Ankara, on May 24, to a total of TL900 million ($130,000) in fines by virtue of Article 8 of the Anti Terror Law on charges of separatism in nine books.
    Out of 14 books that Besikci has written thirteen have been the object of legal proceedings and nine of them have been confiscated by authorities
    Besikci, 53, was first arrested in 1971 for his sociological researches on the Eastern Anatolia and spent three years in prison. He was released in 1974 in a general amnesty, but could not return to his post at the university. In 1979 he was arrested and sentenced to prison, where in 1980 a new case was filed against him for the contents of a letter he wrote to the Swiss Writers’ Union. More cases were filed against him for his defense statements during his trials.
    He spent six more years in prison between 1981 and 1987. His book International Colony Kurdistan landed him behind bars once again in March 1990, though he was released in July.
    Besikci was arrested in March 1991 for a message he sent to a Kurdish Solidarity Meetings in Germany in October 1990. He was released in April the same year.
    Some of the cases against him collapsed with the Anti Terror Law, while other articles in the law created new cases against him. In August 1991, he was arrested in Ankara for his publications, only to be released two months later. He was arrested again in November for his book The Mandatory Housing of Kurds, and released the same day.

    • The Kurdish Institute’s sign-board was removed by police

    The Kurdish Institute, the first of its kind in Turkey, was founded in Istanbul on April 18, but lost its Turkish and Kurdish sign-board some three hours later when the police removed it from the front of the building.
    On April 22, Kurdish deputy Mahmut Kilinc submitted a motion to Parliament demanding an explanation on whether the institute and its sign were against the law or not. He also asked whether the government was rejecting  the Kurdish identity with these sorts of bans.
    The Kurdish Institute, a private structure established for the study of the Kurdish language, history and culture, was founded under the supervision of the Upper Mesopotamia Cultural Center.
    Dr. Ismail Besikci, one of the institute’s founders and its chairman, said: “The founders of the institute were encouraged by the Kurdish people. There is a war in the Southeast. The people in the southeast are now more conscious, and by attending rallies are becoming part of the unarmed uprising. Kurds want to learn about their own history, culture and language.”
    Besikci also said that he finds the new government’s approach to the Kurdish problem insincere and any change in government attitude toward the matter is the result of the pressure from the West.

    • A journalist imprisoned for criticizing the Army

    A columnist for the Islamist daily newspaper Zaman, Ömer Okcu was arrested on May 12 for serving a one-year imprisonment to which he was sentenced for having criticized the Armed forces.
    In his article written under the pen name Hekimoglu Ismail, Okcu had criticized the Armed Forces with discrimination against religious believers.
    The Lawyers’ Association stated that the arrest of Okcu was a demonstration that the Armed forces were still considered “taboo” in the country. The Press Council and the Journalists’ Association too criticized the government of tolerating the imprionment of journalists.

    • May Day celebrations and strikes are still forbidden

    Despite the promises to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the government continues to ban workers’ demonstrations and strikes.
    While May Day was marked world-wide with meetings and marches in streets, in Turkey any kind of open-air May Day celebration was forbidden. Trade unions had to celebrate May Day in the halls.
    Many days ago, security forces were mobilized throughout the country for preventing any attempt to hold May Day rallies and all industrial cities were occupied by police teams and military troops on May 1st. Hundreds of people trying to stage rallies were immediately arrested by police using force.
    On May 31, the government postponed the strike of 14,000 public sector agricultural workers for a period of 60 days on the grounds that this may harm public health and national security.
   
    • Virginity test led two teenage girls to commit suicide

    Forcing the teenage girls to have virginity tests in schools led to dramatic situations and a big anger in the human rights circles.
    The Turkish Womens’ Association announced on May 9 that a religious training school principal in Simav made two teenage students go through a virginity test at a local hospital because they had gone on a picnic with their friends. At the examination they turned out to be virgins. When the school sought a second test at a larger hospital, the two girls tried to commit suicide and one of them died.
    In a similar incident in Ula, a teenage student in a similar situation killed herself.
    This practice has been protested by a series of actions by womens’ associations.
   
2-MONTH STATE TERRORISM

    6.4, in the town of Pötürge (Malatya), two persons were shot dead by security forces for not having surrendered.
    6.4, in the district of Lice, security forces opened fire on a crowd holding an unauthorized demonstration and wounded two persons. In protest, the local tradesmen closed down their shops.
    7.4, political prisoners were once again discriminated during the Sugar Holiday. As ordinary prisoners were being visited by their parents, the political detainees were not allowed to have visit. A group of parents gathering in front of the Bayrampasa Prison in Istanbul were dispersed by using force and 40 of them were detained.
    8.4, in Ankara, during a raid on a printing house, policemen panicked by the blast of exhaust, opened fire on a car in the street and shot dead a woman named Sükriye Kacmaz.
    8.4, in the town of Silvan (Diyarbakir), a Hezbollah team shot dead two persons, Nihat Kadinan and Ahmet Turan. An attempt of demonstration against this murder was preventing by the police.
    8.4, in Istanbul, the political police has reportedly detained five people including a 16-year old student.
    9.4, police detained 17 people on the charge of having occupied the DYP Headquarters in Istanbul on March 28.
    9.4, in the district of Kozluk, the funeral of a PKK militant, killed during a confrontation with security forces, was prevented by police and curfew was proclaimed.
    9.4, the Human Rights Association announced that,  in the Dargecit district, security forces raiding on the Tanyeri village and subjected to torture 15-year old Sevki Akinci by forcing him to lie down on red-hot cinders.
    10.4, in Istanbul, police announced the arrest of seven alleged PKK militants.
    10.4, fourteen political prisoners went on a hunger-strike at the Kayseri Special-type prison for protesting against the prison conditions. The prison administration announced that the strikers will be subjected to disciplinary punishment.
    10.4, in Urfa, security forces detained 15 alleged PKK militants.
    12.4, in protest against prison conditions, 40 political prisoners went on a hunger-strike at the Ceyhan Special-type prison.
    12.4, in Adana, 450 workers of a fertilizer factory started a sit-in in protest against redundancy. The tent pitched by workers was pulled down by police and three workers were detained.
    15.4, in Batman, Ramazan Sat and Güler Öztas alleged that they had been tortured at police station during their detention between March 24 and April 1st.
    15.4, in Istanbul, a group of student who were taking to Ankara a petition against the presence of police forces in university  were stopped  at the province border and 22 students were taken into custody. Meanwhile, at the Mimar Sinan University, ten students were detained for holding a meeting on the same subject.
    17.4, the IHD announced that there was no information on the whereabouts of a young girl named Nazmiye Sevgin, taken into police custody 19 days ago.
    17.4, during police operations in Elazig and Malatya, 15 people, including a 15-year old student, were detained for giving support to Dev-Sol. One of the detainees, Mehmet Emin Tüzün was later hospitalized as a result of torture.
    17.4, in Istanbul, a 12-year old boy was shot dead by gendarmes as he was passing by a zone under the police surveillance.
    18.4, in Istanbul, security forces raiding upon a house shot dead 11 alleged Dev-Sol militants. Same day, another operation in Savur resulted in the death of 32 alleged PKK militants. 
    18.4, in Izmir, a meeting on the Newroz Incidents and the Kurdish Question, organized by the Socialist Party, was annulled at the last moment because of the menaces by police.
    18.4, in the town of Bismil (Diyarbakir), a Kurd named Mithat Kutlu died under torture at police station six hours after his detention.
    19.4, in Istanbul, the Association for a Patriotic and Democratic Culture was closed down for an indefinite period by the governor.
    19.4, in Idil, more than 3 thousand Kurdish inhabitants attempted to leave the town for the mountains, but they were stopped by security forces opening fire. One person was shot dead, two wounded and 14 detained.
    21.4, in the town of Kozan (Adana),15-year old Osman Akbas was shot dead by security forces.
    21.4, in Batman, after the death of one of their colleagues in an armed conflict with the Kurdish guerrilla, policemen launched a reprisal operation by raiding on offices of progressive parties, associations and publications. More than 200 people were detained.
    21.4, during the funeral of the 11 persons shot dead on April 18, police detained more than 100 people.
    21.4, in Bursa, the Association for Rights and Freedoms (Özgür-Der) was banned by the governor on pretext of having relations with undergrounds organizations. Besides, the annual congresses of the Bursa and Aydin sections of the Municipal Workers' Association (Tüm-Bel-Sen) were not allowed by the governors.
    21.4, police operations in Istanbul resulted in the arrest of 11 people.
    22.4, in Adana, eight students of the Cukurova University were detained by police raiding on their homes.
    23.4, police detained three people in Istanbul and five in Ankara for having distributed May Day tracts.
    23.4, the local offices of the trade unions of health (Tüm-Saglik-Sen), education (Egitim-Is) and municipal workers (Tüm-Bel-Sen) in Usak were closed down by a tribunal on the Governor's demand.
    24.4, in Istanbul, the offices of the Human Rights Association (IHD), Patriotic Women's Association (YKD), Özgür-Der, Progressive Women's Association (DKD), Municipal Workers' Union (Bem-Sen) were raided on by police and thirteen people were detained.
    24.4, police detained  detained nine alleged members of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP) in Edirne and nine others for supporting the PKK in Adana.
    24.4, in Istanbul, 24 people were detained for taking part in the activities of a religious organisation named the Great East Raiders' Front (BDAC).
    24.4, one-week police operations in the emergency law region have reportedly resulted in the arrest of 26 people. In the towns of Eruh and Kurtalan, a total of nine people were place under arrest by tribunals for giving support to the PKK.
    25.4, a group of young girls went on a hunger-strike in Izmir in protest against the expulsion of their schoolmates from the school on pretext of bringing in some left-wing publications. However, police immediately intervened in and detained eight hunger-strikers.
    25.4, a 80-year old Kurdish peasant, Mehmet Yilmaz, who had been detained during a police operation in Batman on march 21, fainted under custody and died at a local hospital. His funeral was attended by more than 2 thousand people.
    26.4, the People's Houses in Eregli and Karabuk were raided on by police and a total of 14 people were detained.
    26.4, Kadir Kurt, detained during a raid on the Birlik Village in Bismil (Diyarbakir) on April 18 died under interrogation. His brother, also detained, said that Kurt was tortured by introducing a club into anus.
    26.4, in Cukurca (Hakkari), two young Kurdish shepherds perished as a result of the explosion of mines placed by security forces. The villagers complain that they can no more graze their cattle.
    26.4, governors banned a meeting on the Kurdish Question in Ankara and another on May Day in Istanbul.
    26.4, in Istanbul, the Art and Culture Association of Kartal, the Association of Jobless People, the Solidarity Association of Municipal Workers and the Association of the Progressive Women (DEMKAD) were raided on by police. Besides, five members of the Egit-Sen were detained following a police raid on their homes.
    27.4, in Istanbul, two water-sellers were shot dead by a policeman and a third one gravely wounded.
    27.4, police detained 16 people for distributing May Day tracts.
    27.4, security forces detained 12 people in Adiyaman, 10 in Idil, 4 in Silopi and 9 in Adana for giving aid to PKK militants.
    27.4, in Izmir, the People's House of Karsiyaka was closed down by the governor on charges of letting be present inside some banned publications and its chairman, Hakan Caliskan as well as a group of members were detained.
    27.4, in Istanbul, 41 people were detained for distributing May Day tracts.
    27.4, in Kiziltepe, the car of the local SHP chairman Mehdi Cecen machine gunned and four people inside, including Cecen himself, were killed.
    27.4, a taxi driver, Agit Salman, was tortured to death after being arrested by political police in Adana.
    28.4, the Students' Association of Anadolu University in Eskisehir was closed down after a police raid on charges of letting be present inside some banned publications.Besides, the local chairman of Özgür-Der, Nuran Askeri was taken into custody.
    28.4, in the town of Alanya, police announced the arrest of eight alleged PKK militants.
    29.4, in Izmir, a café owner was arrested by tribunal for not having hoisted Turkish flag on the Day of National Sovereignty.
    29.4, in Samsun, ten people were detained for taking place in the activities of an underground organization.
    30.4, in Elazig, political police detained twenty people of whom many were beaten by the guards when they were taken to the E-Type Prison.
    30.4, political police detained 11 alleged members of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP) in Izmir and four alleged Dev-Sol members in Ankara.
    30.4, in Adana, police raiding on a house, shot dead three alleged Dev-Sol militants.
    1.5, the Governor of Istanbul closed down the Art and Culture Association of Kartal, the Association of Jobless People, the Solidarity Association of Municipal Workers and the Association of the Progressive Women (DEMKAD).
    1.5, The Governor of the Emergency Law Region announced the arrest of 45 people recently captured by police in the region.
    2.5, in Gümüshane, a 13-year old student, accused of having killed his schoolmate, was found dead in his solitary cell at the interrogation centre.
    2.5, the Diyarbakir SSC sentenced seven people to prison terms of up to 25 years for having participated in PKK actions.
    4.5, in Ankara, security forces raided on a house and shot dead four alleged Dev-Sol militants inside.
    5.5, political police detained eight people in Edirne and eight in Adana for PKK activities.
    5.5, lawyer Meryem Erdal, Ankara chairwoman of the Contemporary Lawyers' Association (CHD) said that she was tortured during her interrogation after her arrest during the May Day celebrations.
    5.5, in Istanbul, the Association for Rights and Freedoms (Özgür-Der) was closed down by the governor. Nine people were detained during the police raid on the association.
    5.5, political police detained 16 university students in Eskisehir and 12 in Konya.
    6.5, the Yildirim People's House in Bursa, the Association for Jobless People and the Patriotic Women's Association in Istanbul were closed down for activities incompatible with their declared objectives.
    6.5, in Kiziltepe, the Hezbullah shot dead Sirac Akbay.
    6.5, in Sakarya, political police detained 13 alleged PKK members.
    7.5, in Ankara, police shot dead Mustafa Gök for not having obeyed to the order to stop his car during a traffic control.
    7.5, in Nusaybin, security forces raiding on a house shot dead seven people, including a woman.
    7.5, in the town of Igdir (Kars), nine people were detained for giving aid to the PKK.
    7.5, in Zonguldak, political police detained ten alleged members of an underground organization.
    8.5, in Bursa, a worker named Tevfik Özugurlu was shot dead by police for not having obeyed to the order to halt during a search operation.
    7.5, five officials of the Üsküdar People's House in Istanbul were sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to one-year imprisonment each for activities incompatible with the Associations Law.
    7.5, political police detained eight alleged members of the Workers'-Peasants' Liberation Army of Turkey (TIKKO) in Kayseri and five TDKP members in Bursa.
    7.5, in Ankara, 27 students were wounded during a skirmish between left and right-wing students at the Hacettepe University campus and police detained 27 students.
    10.5, at the village of Izar in Mardin, security forces detained five Kurds.
    10.5, in Nusaybin (Mardin), three young peasants perished when exploded a mine placed by security forces.
    12.5, eleven soldiers of Kurdish origin were detained in Tokat after having deserted their military unit in Amasya.
    13.5, in Ankara, police detained 40 students taking part in the funeral of a Dev-Sol militant shot dead on May 4.
    14.5, the Governor of Ankara ordered a legal proceeding in a view to close down Yargi-Sen, a trade union founded by the public servants working at tribunals and judicial institutions.
    14.5, in Ankara, 30 students were wounded during a skirmish between left and right-wing students at the Gazi University.
    14.5, Sekvan Aytu, local IHD chairman in  Sirnak, was taken into custody.
    17.5, the Diyarbakir SSC sentenced six people to prison terms of up to 24 years for having participated in PKK activities. The same court, in another case, sentenced a person for the same reason to 12 years and 9 months in prison.
    17.5, in Kiziltepe, the Hezbollah shot dead two persons named Nuri Göcen and Edip Ibrahimoglu.
    17.5, security forces opening fire from an army helicopter on a group of peasants grazing their cattle in the district of Uludere, shot dead a peasant and about 100 animals and wounded four peasants.
    19.5, provincial authorities closed down the Samsun and Vezirköprü sections of the Education Workers' Union (Egit-Sen), the Tunceli sections of the Public Servants Union (Kam-Sen) and the Health Workers' Union (Saglik-Sen).
    19.5, political police detained five people in Adana.
    19.5, Turkish migrant worker Hasan Alici of Swedish nationality was detained at the Antalya Airport when he arrived for a legal proceeding opened against him twelve years ago.
    20.5, in Fethiye (Mugla), Durmus Caylak who had been detained on February  9 for smuggling has disappeared since then. His father asked the authorities to give information on Caylak's whereabouts.
    21.5, five people distributing a tract of the Patriotic Youth in Manisa were detained by political police.
    22.5, in Istanbul, 17-year old Serdar Tanis was shot dead by police for not having obeyed to the order to stop the car he was driving, two other people in the car gravely wounded.
    25.5, a pregnant nurse named Nazli Top who stayed in police custody from April 27 to May 7 accused the police of giving electric to her genital organs and introducing a club into vagina. Her allegations were certified with a medical report.
    24.5, in Van, police detained 93 students of the 100. Yil University as they were commemorating Sirin Tekin, a student assassinated in 1988 by a fundamentalist group.
    24.5, two doctors of the State Hospital of Diyarbakir and a university student in Samsun were detained by political police.
    24.5, police operations in Sirnak resulted in the arrest of three HEP members.
    24.5, 22-year old Ibrahim Demir in Batman, 36-year old Ismail Sertkaya and 17-year Ahmet Eren in Kiziltepe were shot dead by unidentified persons.
    25.5, in Sirnak, security forces opening fire on a minibus shot dead Salih Dolmus, father of eight children, and wounded another person.
    25.5, a 16-year old student, was expelled from a secondary school of Nazilli for his political opinions.
    26.5, in Ankara, 34 political detainees at the Central Prison went on a hunger-strike in protest against the worsening prison conditions. Six of the strikers are women.
    26.5, police announced the arrest of eight alleged Dev-Sol members during operations in Trabzon, Rize and Artvin.
    26.5, a former ANAP deputy for the province of Siirt, Kemal Birlik was taken into custody for giving material aid to the PKK.
    27.5, in Gaziantep, police detained 14 alleged members of the TKP-ML.
    27.5, in Samsun, four students were detained for participating in PKK activities.
    28.5, in Ankara, four persons were detained for participating in PKK activities.
    29.5 in Istanbul, six people who had been detained in April for belonging to a fundamentalist organization, said that they were subjected to torture during their interrogation. Their allegation was supported by a medical report.
    29.5, in Maras, police detained six people for fundamentalist activities.
    31.5, in Istanbul, a taxi-driver, Recep Ali Topal said that he had been tortured after his detention on May 28 and had to give a bribe to policemen for escaping further torture. However, Topal added,  he was beaten for a last time after giving the bribe.
    31.5, the recent police operation in Ankara resulted in the detention of 244 people.
    31.5, in Mersin, two persons were detained for having chanted Kurdish slogans.
   
2-MONTH PERSECUTION OF THE MEDIA

    1.4, a book entitled Doza Kurdistan, containing the memoirs of Kadri Cemil Pasa and edited by Mehmet Bayrak, was confiscated by the Ankara SSC by virtue of Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law.
    1.4, a new magazine defending Islamist views, Ak-Zuhur was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    1.4, in Konya, journalist Muzaffer Tiglioglu of the newspaper Yeni Meram was beaten and stabbed by four unidentified people.
    8.4, the issue N° 25 of the weekly Yeni Ülke and the first issue of a new weekly, Gercek, were confiscated by the Istanbul SSC by virtue of Article 8 of the ATL.
    14.4, the April issue of the monthly Newroz was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatism.
    21.4, a correspondent of the weekly Gercek, Sadik Gülec was detained by police as he was covering the funeral of a political militant in Istanbul.
    25.4, the distribution of the May Day special issue of the monthly Kurtulus was banned by the Governor of Istanbul.
    26.4, the issue N° 32 of the cultural review Imza was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for the articles on Newroz.
    27.4, the Izmir correspondent of the political magazine Mücadele, Devrim Demir was detained in front of the Buca prison in Izmir as he was covering a protest action.
    2.5, the May Day special issue of the monthly Ekimler was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC by virtue of Article 6 of the ATL.
    3.5, five journalists, Dogan Dargin, Metin Kayaoglu and Güzel Aslaner from Emegin Bayragi as well as Emel Atici and Imdat Halis from Hedef were detained by political police.
    5.5, four members of the Musical Group Yorum, Metin Turan, Elif Sumru Güzel, Taner Tanriverdi and Nuray Erdem, were detained by police at the Istanbul Airport when they returned from a one-month tour in Europe.
    6.5, Irfan Ucar, correspondent of Özgür Gündem, a new daily to appear soon, was detained when he was interviewing a lawyer at his office in Istanbul.
    6.5, in Izmir,  Yeni Demokrasi correspondent Ali Haydar Umut was arrested by a tribunal.
    10.5, the chief editor of the monthly Toplumsal Kurtulus, Necdet Kambir who had been detained on May 1st in Istanbul, said that he had been subjected to torture during his interrogation.
    10.5, the issue N° 43 of the fortnightly Mücadele was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for the propaganda of an outlawed organization.
    12.5, journalist Irfan Ucar, detained on May 6, said after his release that he had been subjected to torture during interrogation.
    12.5, the Mardin correspondent of the weekly Yeni Ülke, Ibrahim Yersiz detained by police and placed under arrest by a tribunal.
    16.5, the publisher of the monthly Özgür Halk, Riza Erdogan was sentenced by a tribunal to a 5-month prison for an interview with PKK leader Öcalan.
    16.5, the Diyarbakir representative of the monthly Mücadele, Sakine Fidan was detained by police.
    19.5, the concerts of the musical group Yorum in Samsun and Ordu as well as a representation of the Ankara Birlik Theatre in Trabzon were banned by the the governors of these provinces.
    20.5, two journalists of the daily Zaman, responsible editor Sevket Engin and columnist Ilhan Bardakci were indicted for an article criticizing the views of Atatürk, founder of the Republic. Each faces a prison term of up to five years.
    22.5, the May issue of the monthly Kurtulus was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC by virtue of Article 8 of the ATL.
`    26.5, the recent issues of the weeklies Yeni Ülke and Azadi were confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda. It was reported by the former that 33 out of  83 issues of Yeni Ülke published until now have been confiscated by the SSC of Istanbul, mainly on charges of separatist propaganda.
    28.5, singer Mehmet Suavi Saygan was detained for a legal proceeding opened against him fourteen years ago,  in 1978.
    29.5, the Diyarbakir representative of the monthly Özgür Halk, Hüseyin Eben was sentenced by the SSC to 26-month imprisonment and a fine of TL 46 million ($6,500).
    31.5, the recent issues of the monthlies Hedef and Emegin Bayragi as well as the weekly Gercek were confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda or praising some outlawed organizations.

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CONDEMNED TURKISH ATTACKS IN KURDISTAN

    The European Parliament adopted at its session of June 12 a resolution on the rights of the Kurdish People drafted by Italian Liberal Gawronski. As for the vote on the motion of resolution on the EC-Turkey relations, proposed by Belgian Socialist Raymonde Dury, was reported to the session of July 1992.
    In the resolution, the European Parliament  condemns “the attacks by Turkish armed forces on Kurdish settlements and the bombing by the Turkish air force of Kurdish villages in Anatolia and Iraq” as well as  “the terrorism practised by the PKK against both Kurds and Turks.”
    However, the legislative body of the European Communities avoided to pronounce on the Kurdish people’s right to self-determination and to propose a long-term political solution.
    Below are the main points concerning Turkey of the resolution on the rights of the Kurdish people, adopted by the European Parliament:

    “The European Parliament,

    “• Condemns the attacks by Turkish armed forces on Kurdish settlements both in Anatolia and in Iraq and PKK terrorism against both Kurds and Turks;
    “• Condemns the bombing by the Turkish air force of Kurdish villages in Anatolia and Iraq on account of the danger to the civilian population;
    “• Considers that the economic and cultural measures taken so far by the Turkish Government in its pursuit of a settlement to the Kurdish problem are insufficient; declares that only a political dialogue between the Turkish Government and the elected representatives of the Kurdish people can bring about a solution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey provided that the Turkish Government remains genuinely willing to negotiate; calls on the new Turkish Government to take a step forward in its policy of positive cooperation and respect for the cultural identity of the Kurds living in Turkey in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights and the Declaration on Minorities and welcomes its plan to relieve the poverty of south-east Anatolia and its proposals for democratic and legal reforms;
    “• Calls on the Turkish government and parliament to remove from current legislation any direct or indirect provision (in the constitution, laws or codes) which discriminates against persons, groups or associations because of their language or ethnic origins;
    “• Considers that the cultural diversity of the Kurdish people must be respected and that the guarantee of their specific rights should include the right to speak, write, publish and testify in courts of law in the Kurdish language and to be educated in that language;
    “• Considers it essential that appropriate economic measures be devised for the benefit of the Kurdish population, designed to improve the economic and social development of the region of Anatolia;
    “• Condemns the recent increase in terrorist attacks which can only jeopardize the reforms which are so much needed in the interests of the Kurds;
    “• Calls on the associations of Turkish Kurds living abroad to refrain from acts of violence, to give their full support to the human rights policy and to be open to cooperation;
    “• Instructs its Subcommittee on Human Rights and the EC-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, meeting within the framework of the Association Agreement, to follow closely the protection of the human rights of the Kurds in Turkey since any abuse of these rights would be bound to affect adversely relations between the EC and Turkey;
    “• Calls on the Kurdish exile organizations to make clear their rejection of the use of force in all countries where Kurds are not subjected to physical attacks and to abandon intimidation of fellow Kurds whose ideas differ from their own.”

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT ON TURKEY

    Amnesty International, in its recent 31-page report  issued in May 1992, criticized the Turkish Government in the following terms: "In spite of very outspoken undertakings from the government to the effect that torture in police custody would be stopped, none of the necessary practical or legislative steps have been taken, and as a result the widespread systematic practice of torture has continued unabated. There has been an alarming increase in 'disappearances' and extrajudicial executions, with death-squads style killings in Mardin province."
    Below are the main points of the AI report:

    • The Anti-Terror Law - Prisoners of conscience

    Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law permits individuals to be detained and charged with disseminating separatist propaganda even when they have not advocated violence and a number of individuals Amnesty International considers to have been prisoners of conscience have been held for periods of weeks or months pending investigation of charges under Article 8. The organization also expressed its misgivings concerning the extra barrier placed before those persons making allegations of torture or ill-treatment by Article 15, paragraph 3 of the Anti-Terror Law under which all such claims were referred to a "local administrative council" which had the power to block legal proceedings against a police officer accused of ill-treatment or torture. On 31 March [1992] the Constitutional Court repealed Article 15 paragraph 3, when making its final rulings with respect to the Anti-Terror Law, as a result of which complaints will now once again be dealt with directly by public prosecutors instead of being referred to the local administrative council. However, in the southeastern provinces under emergency legislation, the investigation of allegations of torture made against the security forces will continue to be subject to the approval of local administrative councils in accordance with the Law on Prosecution of Civil Servants .
    The Anti-Terror Law reduced the sentences of thousands of prisoners convicted of common criminal offences, but made much smaller reductions for those political prisoners who had been convicted of working for the violent overthrow or partition of the state under Articles 146 and 125 of the TPC. Despite the Constitutional Court's earlier opinion that the discrimination against those convicted under Article 146 of the TPC was unfair and unconstitutional, the Court nevertheless ruled that the more severe conditions for those convicted under Article 125 (for offences fully comparable to those convicted under Article 146) should not be lifted. As a result more than 200 mainly Kurdish prisoners remain in prison, many of them convicted after unfair trials in military courts in the years following the military coup in 1980.
    The Constitutional Court made no changes in Article 16 of the Anti-Terror Law which provides for a regime of solitary confinement and extreme isolation of prisoners convicted or remanded in custody under any article within the scope of the Anti-Terror Law. Amnesty International is concerned that any further attempt to apply Article 164 may result in prison conditions which amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Amnesty International has repeatedly called for the repeal of this article.

    • Systematic practice of torture continues throughout Turkey

    The stream of allegations of torture reaching Amnesty International and appearing in the Turkish press has continued uninterrupted throughout 1991 and early 1992. In its 1991 annual report the independent Turkish Human Rights Foundation stated that it had received information, mainly through the daily press, about 168 incidents involving the torture of 552 people, of whom 218 had obtained official medical reports which supported their allegations.
    The same factors which in the past have contributed to the high incidence of torture persist unchanged. Together these factors form a system which effectively permits torturers to continue their activities. They are:
    i) Detainees are held for extremely long terms of police detention, frequently exceeding even the statutory limits.
    ii) Detainees are held in incommunicado detention which is the almost unvarying rule.
    iii) Government-employed doctors and authorized medical centres frequently issue misleading medical reports.
        iv) Complaints of torture are routinely ignored, delayed or suppressed.

    • Long period of police custody

    International standards on human rights require that detainees be brought promptly before a judge. The protocol for the formation of the new coalition government in November 1991 promised that: "The duration of police detention would be shortened. Torture and allegations of torture will be eliminated." On 27 April 1992, the daily Cumhuriyet  reported that the Turkish cabinet had submitted legislation to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) which would reduce the maximum police detention period (in the case of collective crimes) to eight days. The reductions in detention periods contained in the draft legislation as announced in the Turkish press, though welcome as a marginal improvement, would almost certainly be insufficient to break up the system of torture. Internationally recognized human rights standards suggest a much shorter maximum for police detention.

    • Incommunicado detention

    Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed its concern that both those suspected of political offences and those suspected of criminal offences are held incommunicado, thereby greatly increasing the risk that they may be tortured. In fact, access by lawyers or family to detainees is almost unknown. Out of 455 cases of named detainees held in police custody monitored by Amnesty International between September 1990 and September 1991, access to lawyers or family was permitted in 10 cases, and access to a doctor in one. Allegations of torture were made in respect of 210 of these cases. Twenty-one people declared that they had not been tortured including all but one of those who were permitted access to legal counsel, family or doctor. Of the 49 persons mentioned above who gave detailed accounts of torture in police custody in Istanbul, Gaziantep, Siirt, and Ankara since November when the new government was formed, 46 were held completely incommunicado. Only two of those detainees, one in the Anti-Terror Branch of Izmir Police Headquarters, and the other in the Anti-Terror Branch of Istanbul Police Headquarters were permitted to see their lawyers. Another detainee was permitted to see his family on the last day of his 12 days of detention in the Criminal Investigation Branch of Izmir Police Headquarters.

    • Misleading medical certificates.

    Detainees are held for extended periods so that physical evidence of torture will fade before they are brought before a doctor or a court. However, detainees also commonly complain that they are not properly examined at the end of police custody, and that police or soldiers are often present during the examination in order to discourage them from complaining or the doctor from preparing a comprehensive and accurate medical report.

    • Failure to investigate complaints of torture

    While none of the safeguards against torture promised by successive Turkish governments in recent years had been introduced by the time of writing, Article 15 of the Anti-Terror Law effectively froze a large number of formal complaints of torture during 1991. This measure meant that complaints against police or gendarmerie made by persons alleging ill-treatment or torture during detention for any offence under the Anti-Terror Law's very broad definition of "terrorism" were all referred for investigation by the office of the local governor (which is in the direct chain of command between the Interior Ministry and the local police force). Although this measure has since been repealed by the Constitutional Court, it remains in force in the 10 provinces of Turkey under emergency legislation.

    • Death and “disappearance” in police custody

    With interrogations carried on in conditions of great secrecy by police and gendarmerie who are rarely prosecuted when allegations of ill-treatment or torture made against them, it is perhaps no surprise that deaths in custody have continued throughout 1991 and early 1992. During 1991 there were 15 deaths in custody in circumstances which suggest that the detainees may have died as a result of torture.

    • Extrajudicial executions and “disappearances” in Southeast Turkey

    Amnesty International is deeply concerned about over fifty killings in southeast Turkey in which there have been allegations of involvement by the security forces (as well as a number of “disappearances” since the summer of 1991. The principal targets of the spate of killings, which are continuing, have been:
    a. Inhabitants of villages which have refused to participate in the system of government-appointed village guards.
    b. Local politicians - in particular members of the People’s Labour Party (HEP).
    In February 1992 two journalists who worked for publications which were researching the allegations of extrajudicial executions were killed by unknown assassins.
    Some journalists and many Kurds attribute the succession of alleged extrajudicial executions to the so-called Counter-Guerrilla, originally created in 1953 as part of the secret service and called the Special Warfare Department. While it is impossible to confirm or deny the rumors that these killings are part of a secret campaign by the Counter-guerrilla, AI has gathered information on more than 30 cases of alleged extrajudicial execution and two alleged “disappearances” in southeast Turkey.
    The killings could equally have been carried out by low-ranking members of any of the security force units such as the Special Teams or the village guards.
    Since June of 1991 at least twenty people have been killed in circumstances which give grounds for the belief that the security forces may have been involved. Particular targets have been members of villages which have consistently refused to accept service in the village guard corps. Moreover, many of victims have a relative who has joined the guerrilla forces of the PKK. The pattern of the incidents would clearly indicate that a group with some of the characteristics of a death squad has been operating in the Nusaybin/Midyat area of Mardin province.
    The Turkish press has carried reports of over fifty apparently deliberate and arbitrary killings carried out by guerrillas of the PKK. Most of the victims were civilians, killed for allegedly assisting the security forces or passing information to them, or because they were thought to be linked to the organization Hezbullah.
    Amnesty International strongly condemns the killing of prisoners and deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians by opposition groups, just as it unconditionally condemns the death penalty and extrajudicial executions by governments.

MANDELA REJECTED ATATÜRK PEACE AWARD

    South African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela rejected the Atatürk Peace Award scheduled to be presented to him in Ankara on May 19.
    The ANC stressed in a communique issued on May 12 that “Nelson Mandela has spent his whole life in the service of democracy, human rights and freedom from oppression.”
     Next day, ANC spokeswoman Gill Marcus said in a telephone interview with Reuters explained the reason of the refusal in following terms:
    “If anyone has any questions they should try being a Kurd for a while. A Turkish anti-apartheid movement leader, Mr. Dikerdem, had been in jail because he has criticized the Turkish governments since the early 1980s. But it is not just the arrests. It is the totality of what  the arrests means that makes the award unacceptable... the totality of what they have been doing.”
    A group of 15 Kurdish deputies in Turkish Parliament issued an “open letter of gratitude” to Mandela, saying that Turkish government were distributing such awards to cover up policies based on the use of force.
    The award, which includes a prize of about $9,500, was earlier given to NATO Secretary General Luns  and  to General Kenan Evren, chief of the military junta which sent hundreds of thousands people to prisons for their opinions.
    On the refusal, the government officials in Ankara and the pro-government Turkish press opened a insulting campaign against ANC leader and claimed that it was in fact a big mistake to give Atatürk Peace Award to a “terrorist” such as Mandela.

GREY WOLVES CAME TO POWER IN AZERBAIJAN

    As Turkey’s opening towards new Turco-Islamic republics of the former Soviet Union is developing, the neo-fascist Grey Wolves began to increase their influence in political life of these countries.
    The Demirel-Inönü  Government, taking no heed of warnings from democratic circles, continues to tolerate Former Colonel Türkes’ interference in internal affaires of these republics.
    During his first official visit to these republics at the end of April, Demirel took Türkes as a “guest of honour” by his side and let him to address to crowds and to propagate his Pan-Turkist and Pan-Touranist ideas; the ideas which claim the superiority of the Turkish race and the unification of all Turks in the world within the Empire of Touran.
    When the Turkish delegation was in Baku, Alparslan Türkes participated in an electoral meeting of nationalist leader Abulfez Elcibey and, speaking from the tribune, said that Turkey supports Elcibey and asked the crowd to elect him as President of the Republic for the sake of the triumph of Turkish nationalism.
    To the astonishment of observers, Elcibey too openly expressed his admiration for Türkes and his attachment to the idea of Pan-Touranism. What is more, the militants of Elcibey at the meeting carried uniform shirts with the Grey Wolf symbol on the back.
    Both Türkes and Elcibey saluted the crowd with a special sign of Grey Wolf.
    Abulfez Elcibey was elected the president of the Azerbaijan Republic at the June 8 elections.