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A POLICE GOVERNMENT

    The five-month government crisis in Turkey has seemingly ended with the formation of a coalition between the two principal centre-right parties, the Correct Way Party (DYP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP). The ANAP-DYP alliance, popularly dubbed Major Way, has replaced Ciller's alliance with social democrat partners and barred the way to power, at least for the time-being, to the Welfare Party (RP), Islamist, who left behind both centre-right parties in the December poll.
    Although the formation of the new coalition is being hailed as a victory of the secular establishment over the Islam fundamentalism, the future government, with its protocol and ministerial composition, represents the power of the military, the police, the extreme right and the circles enjoying doubtful richness.
    Ciller-Yilmaz tandem has entrusted:
    • the Justice Ministry to Mehmet Agar, the notorious chief of police of the pre-electoral period,
    • one of the State Ministries to Ünal Erkan, the notorious super governor of the Emergency Law region,
    • another State Ministry to Ayvaz Gökdemir, famous for having insulted as "prostitutes" the chairwomen of three political groups in the European Parliament.
    • the Ministry of Culture to Agah Oktay Güner, the second man of the neo-fascist party (MHP) in 70s,
    • the Ministry of Environment to Mustafa Tasar, another top official of the neo-fascist party (MHP) in 70s,
    • the Ministry of Public Works to Mehmet Kececiler, chief of the fundamentalists in ANAP,
    According to the coalition protocol, ANAP leader Mesut Yilmaz will lead the government until the end of the year, then passing on the post to DYP leader Tansu Ciller for the next two years. After Yilmaz takes a second term in the fourth year, a DYP deputy will take over in the fifth to carry the partnership to general elections. The partners further agreed to cooperate in next general elections.
    This is simply a logical process of which the functioning was blocked for months simply because of the bitter rivalry between Ciller and Yilmaz.
    Leaders of the two parties had an escalating, harsh verbal duel during the election campaign. That duel was revived from time to time in the two months which have passed since the Dec. 24 election, deepening the confidence crisis between the two would-be coalition partners. It is still fresh in everyone's mind that Yilmaz called Tansu Ciller and her inner circle, including her husband Özer Ciller, "the waterfront mansion gang." Furthermore, he promised to the people to send Ciller before the Supreme Court for her corruptions and irregularities when he becomes prime minister.
    On the other hand, Ciller referred to Yilmaz as a "swindler, the one that runs away." During their time in the government, DYP circles sent two former ANAP ministers before the High Court on corruption charges and this fuelled the hostilities between the two parties.
    When the election results obliged them to form a coalition government, these reciprocal accusations were put aside but the question who will be the first prime minister appeared as a major obstacle before the Major Way coalition. Before Ciller's insistence on taking the first turn at the rotating premiership, ANAP leader Yilmaz took the initiative to set up a coalition government with the RP.
    As the ANAP-RP talks were approaching to the stage of forming a coalition government under the premiership of Yilmaz, the military on the one hand, and on the other, the United States began to force Ciller to moderate her stand vis-a-vis Yilmaz.
    The Chief of General Staff Gen. Ismail Hakki Karadayi met with Ciller in Uludag and issued a warning saying that the military will not tolerate a government dominated by the Islamists and asked her to be more conciliatory in her talks with ANAP. In fact, the military's real worry was not the RP's fundamentalist orientation, because the Army itself had encouraged the rise of fundamentalism after the 1980 coup and was not at all annoyed by the concessions that Ciller gave to Islamists during her three-year power. The military were afraid that the RP could come against the military options on the Kurdish question and establish a political dialogue with the Kurdish national movement.
    Meanwhile, Ciller's American adviser Robert Squire, who had earlier provided consultancy services to U.S. president Bill Clinton, influenced her in the same sense. The western governments and media too expressed very often their worry to see Islamists in government just after the process of Customs Union started to work.
    What is more important, Ciller finally became aware of the fact that, if the ANAP-RP coalition is once set up, she might be sent before the supreme court and her political career might end in a disastrous and shameful way. So, in exchange of the promise of taking over premiership in 1997-98, Ciller dropped her insistence on taking the first turn despite her party's 135-to-126 advantage in the number of seats.
    As for Yilmaz, who was already under the pressure of the military and the liberal wing of his own party, he had to make a spectacular U-turn following Ciller's stepping back. Although Erbakan accepted to give premiership and almost all key ministries to ANAP despite RP's 158-to-126 advantage, Yilmaz renounced at the last moment to set up a RP-ANAP government by inventing some minor pretexts and accepted to share the power in a minority government with Ciller.
    All these manoeuvres, especially the military's interferences, were entirely anti-democratic and immoral, but the mass media pretending to be defender of "secularism" rejoice at their success in denying power to Refah as a coalition partner. So, the most corrupted politician of Turkey's history, Ciller has saved herself from giving the account of her doubtful richness and guaranteed her returning to premiership ten months later for two years.
    However the combined ANAP-DYP deputies come to 261 and the alliance was still 14 short of an absolute majority in the 550-seat legislature. After the return of seven ANAP deputies to their own Grand Unity Party (BBP), extreme-right, the number of ANAP deputies fell to 126.
    It is the Democratic Left Party (DSP) of Bülent Ecevit that run to the help of this right-wing government. Since a simple majority vote is all that is needed for the government to win the vote of confidence, the DSP promised that they would abstain from the vote so as to assure a simple majority vote of confidence.
    The coalition protocol signed by Yilmaz and Ciller is full of promises which had already been given four years ago and never put in practice even by a coalition shared by the social democrat CHP.
    The new government has declared no intention to find a political solution to the Kurdish problem. On the contrary, its ultra conservative and nationalist composition gives the sign of maintaining State terrorism.
    With the exclusion of the first party, RP, from the government partnership is Turkey now really safe from the Islamist threat?
    The chief editor of The Turkish Daily News, Ilnur Cevik answers to this question as follows on February 27, 1996:
    "Those who now rejoice at their success in denying a modicum of power to Refah as a coalition partner does not seem to realize the fact that the very reasons and factors which have helped Refah to flourish are still valid. The masses feel their mainstream parties have let them down and are still helping the rich become richer and the poor poorer. Thus comes the success of Refah, which has managed to portray itself as a party for the poor and the repressed. Refah is one of the realities of this country. To pretend it does not exist will only make matters worse."
    As a matter of fact, the Major Way governments led by the most corrupt politicians and the representatives of State Terrorism will serve to much strengthening of the RP and its coming to power in the year of 2000. And if the social democrat CHP and DSP cannot unite their forces on the basis of a concrete programme giving priority to democratization and social justice and the socialist forces cannot organize themselves as a representative political party, the future RP majority will probably be an absolute majority.

GOVERNMENT PARTIES    261

    DYP (Right)    135
    ANAP (Right)    126

OPPOSITION PARTIES    289

    RP (Islamist)    158
    BBP (Islamist)    7
    DSP (Left)    75
    CHP (Left)    49

A NEW SOCIALIST PARTY IN TURKEY: ÖDP

    A new socialist party entered Turkey's political arena on January 22, declaring itself ready to fill what it calls "the vacuum in the socialist wing" of Turkish politics. The Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) seeks to gather different socialist left factions under one umbrella.
    The foundation of the new party was celebrated on January 21, in a sports hall with the participation of its founding members, supporters and intellectuals.
    In its initial declaration, ÖDP said:
    "Turkey is going through the deepest crisis of its history. The demand for change is rising in all levels of the society. The tension between the state and the society is widening the crisis which necessitates the reformation of both the state and the society."
    Following the September 1980 military coup Turkey's socialists have been oppressed severely. Although new groups and parties emerged after the restart of parliamentary regime in 1983, the unity of socialist left remained as a distant dream.
    The Socialist Party (SP) which was banned by the Constitutional Court and currently continues under the name of the Workers' Party (IP) has not been able to unite all socialists. In the latest December 24 elections, it obtained only 0.22% of the votes.
    Meanwhile, efforts to unify the left started a year ago between the United Socialist Party (BSP) and Let's Build the Future Together (GBK) initiative; the earlier was the emanation of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and some other pro-Soviet party and groups, the latter was principally based on the sympathizers of the Revolutionary Way (Dev-Yol) and some other radical Marxist groups.
    Finally united under the name of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), they call on other opponents of the regime to join the new party.
    ÖDP Chairman Ufuk Uras, speaking at a press conference on February 5, said that the new party turned its face not to the left-wing parties but to the public. "Workers are getting poorer, racism and chauvinism is entrenched in society and fundamentalism threatened the country. Our party seeks to represent those who oppose the current order in Turkey. Our aim is to find fundamental solutions to basic problems. ÖDP will never leave the politics in Turkey to the intrigues of politicians," he said.
    At present, the social democrats are organized in two different parties, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Democratic Left Party (DSP). Both recently obtained a total of 25.35% of the votes.
    On the left of the social democracy now take place the ÖDP, the Workers' Party (IP) and the Socialist Power Party (SIP) as Marxist parties.
    Besides, two pro-Kurdish parties, the People's Democracy Party (HADEP), which recently obtained 4.17% of the votes and the Democracy and Transformation Party (DDP) too take part at the left of the social democrat parties
    As for the illegal organizations, the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK) has the highest mass support especially in Kurdish population and is carrying on its armed struggle against the Turkish state. Another outlawed pro-Kurdish party is the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (PSK).
    The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), emanating from the Revolutionary Left (Dev-Sol), the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), emanating from the TKP-ML, the Revolutionary Communists Union (TIKB) and the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP) are the principal underground organizations of the radical left in Turkey.

THE BALANCE-SHEET OF STATE TERRORISM IN 1995

    A total of 122 people died in extra-judicial executions, torture and while in custody in 1995, according to a report published by the Human Rights Association of Turkey (IHD) on January 22, 1996.
    The 1995 Human Rights Abuses Report says 99 people were murdered by unknown assailants, while 3,894 people died in armed clashes.
    In 1995, of the 14,473 that were detained by security forces, 2,101 were placed under arrest by tribunals. Of the detained people 231 are missing.
    The figures concerning human rights abuses are as follows:
    • Attacks by unknown assailants: 99 died, 136 wounded.
    • Deaths in extra-judicial executions, torture and detention: 122
    • Killed in armed clashes: 3,894
    • Attacks against civilians: 230 died, 321 wounded
    • Missing in custody: 231
    • Torture cases: 251
    • Detained people:    14,473
    • Arrested people: 2,101
    • Evacuated villages: 243
    • Labour right violations: 5,326
    • Bombed offices: 184
    • Banned associations, trade unions and publications: 100
    • Associations, trade unions and press institutions raided by police: 173
    • Detained journalists: 461
    • Confiscated publications: 304

    Prisoners of thought:

    • Sentences given: 1,712 years
    • Fines given: TL 40 billion
    • Approved sentences: 172 years
    • Approved fines: TL 17 billion
    • Number of prisoners: 121 by the end of the year

TURKEY'S GREATEST NOVELIST YASAR KEMAL SENTENCED TO 20 MONTHS

    As the representatives of State terrorism are taking over ministerial posts on March 7, 1996, Turkey's greatest novelist Yasar Kemal was sentenced to 20 months in prison and TL 466 thousand in fine by the Istanbul SSC for "inciting hatred" under Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code.
    The charges against Kemal stem from two articles he published in a collection of essays called "Turkey and Freedom of Expression."
    One of the articles was originally written for the German magazine Der Spiegel. In that article he accused the government of waging a "campaign of lies" to hide its oppression of the Kurds.

ALEVIS FORCED TO EVACUATE VILLAGES IN SIVAS

    The State terrorism, after the Kurds, has recently taken as target the Alevi population of the province of Sivas. Local Alevi associations and parliamentarians very often announce their concern and call for immediate action against military operations forcing Alevi citizens to vacate their villages in this central Anatolian province.
    Alevi cultural associations such as Divrigi, Pir Sultan Abdal and Imranli, in a preliminary report about the continuing pressure, stated that many citizens had been forced to leave their homes as a result of military operations in villages mainly populated by Alevis and Kurds. "Special team members have been provoking villagers, saying that they have lists in their hands and the villages will eventually be vacated. They also ask the villagers whether they have a mosque or prayer quarters and threaten them by asking 'Aren't you Muslims?' when they say they don't," the report stated.
    The report, based on information from local sources and newspapers, warned that serious social unrest can be expected in the region. The report also claimed that the Alevi-Kurdish population is expected to leave the region, unable to cope with the siege mentality and the ongoing operations.
    CHP Sivas Deputy Mehmet Isik said that security forces were pressuring citizens under the pretext of searching for separatists. "At nights they (the security forces) go around in civilian clothes and ask citizens for food saying they are members of the PKK, and the next morning call on those who gave them bread and accuse them of collaboration with separatists," he said.
    Meanwhile, on February 6, the governor of Sivas has officially disclosed that 63 villages had already been evacuated. Officials have confirmed that over 150 schools in Divrigi and Zara townships have been closed.
    About 500 residents from various villages have been taken into custody and nearly 300 villages are under blockade, according to reports.

A FORMER KURDISH DEPUTY'S LIFE IN DANGER

    As former Kurdish deputies of DEP are serving their 15-year prison terms, another former Kurdish deputy, 67-year old Abdülmelik Firat, 67, was arrested and put in Istanbul's Bayrampasa prison on January 13 with the application of a decision given by the Erzincan State Security Court in 1993. He is accused of aiding and harbouring the PKK militants and of engaging in separatist propaganda in a speech he made.
    On February 23, Firat was transferred from istanbul to Erzurum prison. He will be tried by the Erzincan SSC on March 7.
    The SSC charges were based upon the denunciation of a PKK confessor who said that he had taken refuge at Firat's house in Erzurum. Firat himself was not in the house at the time and denies knowing that any PKK member had made use of his home.
    Firat's arrest, despite his old age, suffering from prostate cancer and heart disease, gave rise to a big protest as well in Turkey as abroad. He had major heart surgery last year but still suffers from partial and complete blockage of some arteries. It is reported that with this critical hart disease, hypertension and cancer, he won't be able to survive the poor conditions of Erzurum prison and his imprisonment there will constitute a threat to his life.
    The grandson of Sheikh Said, the leader of the 1925 Kurdish uprising against the Republic, Firat's political life started in Adnan Menderes' Democrat Party and later continued in the Prime Minister Ciller's DYP.
    In protest against the government's repressive policies, he resigned from the DYP few years ago and remained as an independent deputy until the December 24, 1995, elections.
    Firat did not stand in the recent elections, declaring that he did not want to take part in a parliament that refused to discuss the Kurdish problem.
    When he lost his parliamentary immunity, the arrest warrant issued by the Erzincan SSC in 1993 was put in practice.

WHO COMMITTED THE GÜCLÜKONAK MASSACRE?

    Just before the European Parliament vote on a resolution calling the Turkish Government to accept negotiating a political solution to the Kurdish Question, Turkish security officials announced that PKK militants had killed 11 civilians at a roadblock in Güclükonak on January 15, 1996.
    The correspondents of main dailies and TVs were taken to the area with military helicopters to see the bodies of the victims. According to the version of the governor of emergency law region, militants of the PKK terrorist organization stopped a minibus in Güclükonak and shot the passengers after checking their identity cards.
    Although the PKK immediately refused this accusation, the Turkish media, under the pressure of the military and the government, credited the official version and published horrible photos as "the PKK's crime."
    A few days later, on January 19, the Diyarbakir branch of Human Rights Association (IHD) announced that the massacre was committed, not by the PKK, but by the security forces. According to this report, six victims were from three villages of Güclükonak district of Sirnak province were arrested a week ago by the security forces and taken to the Taskonak Military HQ. IHD Diyarbakir Chairman Mahmut Sakar said that the villages. The villages in question although known as recruiters of village militia voted in their majority for pro-Kurd HADEP and have been persecuted by the security forces since the elections. Besides, the sons of the six villagers had joined the PKK forces previously.
    On February 12, a group of peace activists went to Diyarbakir to investigate the Güclükonak massacre. The group was composed of representatives of human rights organizations, including the Islamist Mazlum-Der movement and the leftist Human Rights Association, trade unions, political parties, journalists, writers, artists, publishers as well as German Green MP of Turkish origin Cem Özdemir.
    The mission named Together For Peace concluded after having listened to eye-witnesses that, contrary to official charges against the PKK, the villagers were arrested and then summarily executed by the security troops in the area.
    "The attack seems to be plotted by some forces within the state, who seek undervalue the unilateral cease fire declared by the PKK on December 14," said German MP Özdemir.

CONSTANT UNREST IN OVERCROWDED PRISONS

    Turkish prisons, in December and January, became the scene of violent confrontations between political prisoners and state forces. The bloody incidents in the Umraniye Prison of Istanbul ended in the death of four political prisoners as many other prisoners and some security officers were gravely wounded.
    Inhuman detention conditions had already led in December to a series of protest actions by political prisoners at this special prison.
    The recent bloody incidents started on January 4 when lawyers from the Human Rights Association (IHD) demanded to speak with some of political prisoners. This demand was rejected by the prison administration on pretext that a security operation was being carried out by gendarmerie and special police teams on orders from the Ministry of Justice.
    Lawyers from the People's Legal Bureau declared that photographs of the prisoners who instigated riots in December were circulated among security forces before the operation.
    During the operation, political prisoners Abdülmecit Seckin, Riza Boybas, Orhan Özen and Gültekin Beyhan were beaten to death. More than 120 prisoners, many of them wounded, were taken into custody.
    On these incidents, the unrest started in other prisons as well throughout Turkey and mass demonstrations took place in Istanbul streets against the State brutality. During the funeral of those who were killed in prison clashes took place between demonstrators and the police. Subsequently more than 2,000 people were taken into custody. Meanwhile, journalist Metin Göktepe lost his life under police custody.
    When the news of the deaths and injuries in Umraniye prison reached other jails, the political prisoners in Bayrampasa Prison in Istanbul and the Buca Prison in Izmir took hostages from prison staff and began rioting. These were followed by similar actions in Ankara, Yozgat, Buca and Ceyhan prisons.
    The protest actions ended on January 9 after an agreement reached between the Human Rights Association and prison authorities to ameliorate prison conditions.
    However, similar riots may any moment restart as long as mass arrests continue to overcrowd Turkish prisons specially built for political prisoners. The capacity of E-type prisons is limited to 900 inmates whereas there are about 9,000 detainees and convicts held in them at present.
    According to the figures given by the Justice Ministry, there were 49,451 detainees and convicts in Turkey of whom 8,624 were political prisoners. Of these political prisoners, 8,286 are left-wing or Kurdish prisoners while the number of right-wing prisoners was only 338.
    Of 8,624 political prisoners, 5,580 are detainees whose trials are continuing and 3,044 are convicts.

OVERTIME AT STATE SECURITY COURTS

    The State Security Courts (DGM) are reportedly working over time and recent experiences show that it is very hard to find a place as listener in the courtrooms.
    Every day around 100 people, most of them intellectuals, stand accused of expressing their opinions.
    After the modification of the Article 8 last autumn in the parliament, the cases of a great number of people had to be reviewed, some of them having to be retried by the DGMs.
    According to some sources, more than 100 people were acquitted with the help of the revised Article 8, a view not shared by lawyers, who claim that the number of convictions actually increased since the amendment of the law.
    According to the data given by the Justice Ministry, the number of the defendants tried under arrest by the DGMs in eight provinces reaches 5,406, of whom 5,203 are left-wing detainees.
    Together with those tried without arrest, the total number of the defendants of DGMs rises to more than 10 thousand.

PICTURES OF THE TURKISH SOLDIERS' SAVAGERY

    The European newspaper, in its issue of 11-17 January 1996, the pictures of savagery committed by Turkish soldiers in Kurdistan, under the title "Turkey wants to join the Union. First it must put an end to scenes like this."
    In its comment, The European says:
    "The pictures published on this page emerge from the brutal conflict between the Turkish army and the Kurdish minority in the southeast of the country.
    They are the least horrifying of a set of 12 pictures passed on to The European which are said to show Turkish government troops in the act of celebrating in barbarous fashion a victory over their Kurdish enemy. Having decapitated four Kurdish fighters, they are seen holding up the heads in triumph.
    "These gruesome photographs provide some of the defining images of an 11-year war that has been all but forgotten in the dramatic upheavals of the Middle East, the downfall of Soviet power and the Bosnian war. But if genuine -and The European has been shown no reason to believe they are not- they are also graphic evidence to support those in Europe who believe that Turkey's human rights record makes it unfit for the membership of the European union to which it aspires.
    "It was that human rights record which was at the centre of the argument when the European Parliament voted on 13 December to ratify Turkey's customs union with the EU, a key step towards full membership. MEP's agreed by 343 to 149 to ratify the agreement, but as Pauline Green, leader of the majority Socialist bloc, put it, 'with sorrow, with heavy hearts and without enthusiasm.' Jack Lang, the French Socialist MEP, who was among those who voted against, was simply indignant. He said: 'My conscience would not allow me to support an economic accord with a regime of regression and repression.'
    "According to The European's sources, the photographs were taken in the mountains in southeast Turkey's Hakkari province last April. It is a region where Turkey's borders converge with those of Iran and Iraq, a part of the world Kurds consider the heartland of their native Kurdistan. A state of emergency has prevailed there for the past two years. The pictures are said to show soldiers of an elite unit called the Hakkari Mountain Commando Brigade, based in the town of Hakkari, 80km north of Iraqi border, posing in the snow for snapshots with the severed heads of four Kurds.     "Whether or not the victims were members of the outlawed Marxist insurgent army known as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the pictures show that some were shot and killed, while others appear to have been taken alive, their clothing torn off and their limbs bound prior to execution and decapitation.
    "The European has been told that when the soldiers returned to their base in Hakkari, they made copies of the photographs to show off their victory to comrades. One of them, whose name is known to The European and has been passed on to the Turkish authorities, sold the pictures to other soldiers for up to 100,000 Turkish Lira ($2) a piece. One of those soldiers, himself a veteran of the Kurdish campaign but repelled by the callous barbarity shown by the photographs, and by their subsequent dissemination, took the risk of sending them by post to a friend in London. The friend, a Kurdish electrical engineer who fled Turkey two years ago, passed them on to the Kurdistan Information Centre, which represents the strong Kurdish community in London.- as recently as 8 January Kurdish demonstrators took workers at a Turkish business centre in the British capital briefly hostage.
    "The pictures are evidence of the pitiless savagery with which the war is being conducted - by both sides, according to human rights organisations. Nearly, 20,000 people have lost their lives, according to both western and Turkish estimates. The independent New York-based Human Rights Watch is indignant that Turkey's partners in Nato have extended generous political and military support, helping it develop a formidable arms industry and providing a steady supply of weapons, often free or at reduced cost. The soldier seen squatting in the snow with a longer weapon fitted with a telescopic sight is holding an SVD sniper rifle. A weapon originally manufactured in former East Germany, it is one example of whose arsenals of old East German weaponry handed to Turkey when Germany was unified. Britain,
    "These pictures are so shocking that any people may damn us for publishing them. The newspaper has given Turkey many opportunities to refute critics of its human rights record. We recognise that most of its own citizens will be equally sickened by such apparent barbarity. Europe will judge Turkey by the way it examines these allegations. If the conclusion is that Turkish forces have committed these atrocities, the guilty men and their officers should be severely disciplined. Equally, if the pictures are shown to be Kurdish propaganda, their cause will be profoundly damaged. It is Turkey's duty to investigate thoroughly because these brutal acts have been committed within its internationally recognised borders. These are images of the era of Genghis Khan, not a civilised Europe approaching the 21st century."
    Turkish authorities claimed after this publication that all the pictures were photomontages according to the result of the examinations of the photos carried out in Turkish laboratories.
    However, The European, on January 18, quoted an independent expert at the international photographic giant Kodak as saying that he cannot see any evidences of manipulation on photographs.
    On January 20, the daily Cumhuriyet reported that Turkey would take legal action against The European and a Scottish newspaper, Daily Record, for attempting to defame Turkey.
    Daily Record, had also said that various Turkish diplomats were involved in drug smuggling.

HUMAN RIGHTS EXECUTIVES UNDER TRIAL

    An Ankara criminal court began on January 17 the trial of executives of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), on charges related to a book, A Gift to Emil Galip Sandalci.
    The book was published last year by the TIHV, and the prosecutor's office has opened a lawsuit against lawyer Turgut Inal, former chairman of Balikesir bar association, for insulting the law and Parliament.
    The prosecutor demands 15-day to six-month prison terms for Inal as well as for TIHV Chairman Yavuz Önen, TIHV Secretary general Okan Akhan, and executive board members Murat Yetkin, Haldun Özen, Mehmet Vural, Veli Lök, Mahmut Tali Öngören, Sükran Akin and Fevzi Argun.

POLITICAL VIOLENCE HIT BIG BUSINESS

    Political violence in Turkey recently hit one of the wealthiest families of the country when two gunmen entered the head office of the Sabanci Holding in Istanbul and shot dead Özdemir Sabanci and his two collaborators. The assassination committed on January 9 at the 25th floor of such a well-protected business centre sent shock waves throughout Turkey.
    Two other persons shot dead were the Director of Toyotasa general manager, Haluk Görgün, and the private secretary of the holding's president, Nilgün Hasefe.
    The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), a spin-off of the Dev-Sol (Revolutionary Left), took responsibility in a phone call to the leftist weekly Kurtulus.
    "In retaliation for the murder of Revolutionary People's fighters we raided the building connected with Sabanci and punished them with death," their statement said.
    A week ago four political prisoners had died during a clash in Istanbul's Umraniye prison. The incident set off five days of rioting during which about 30 prison guards and officials were held hostage at jails throughout the country.
    After the assassination, police launched a man-hunting in Istanbul to arrest three suspects, but could not find any hint until the end of February.
    Turkish businessmen, angered by the murder of two leading industrialists, urged party leaders to end more than three months of political turmoil which they say has set the stage for leftist guerrilla attacks.
    Murat Bekdik, head of Turkey's Young Businessmen Association (TUGIAD), said: "Turkey cannot meet the year 2000 with hatred and polarisation. The only target must be to form a serious government which can bring solutions to major problems."
    Turkey's Union of Chambers and Stock-Exchanges (TOBB) fears other attacks on businessmen unless the turmoil is resolved. "The Turkish community of free enterprise has always met with such attacks when the political and administrative authorities weakened and governments were not set up," TOBB chairman Fuat Miras said.
    "We warn the politicians that the political vacuum in Turkey provokes such kinds of attacks. Political reconciliation should be achieved as soon as possible and the political vacuum should be filled," Refik Baydur, head of the Turkish Employers Union (TISK), said.
    Özdemir Sabanci, 54, murdered in his company's fashionable Istanbul head office, was the youngest son of a rags-to-riches business legend who runs Turkey's second biggest conglomerate. He was head of the automotive group of Sabanci Holding
    The last venture of Özdemir, a chemical engineer by training, was a $325-million automobile plant near Istanbul set up in 1990 under a joint venture with the Japanese car giant Toyota -- the biggest single Japanese investment in Turkey. The company began production in 1994.
    The Sabanci conglomerate first developed textile plants in Adana, and later moved to Istanbul to expand the range of its companies from textiles to banking to food.
    Apart from Toyota, the conglomerate has set up joint ventures with leading western and other Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi, Hilton, Dresdner Bank, BNP, Philip Morris, Kraft Jacobs and Bridgestone.

IMPRISONMENT FOR TEENAGER LOVE

    An 18-year-old unemployed Turkish waiter was arrested in Kahramanmaras on January 23 for statutory rape of a 13-year-old British girl whom he married in a Moslem ceremony with her parents' consent. Their marriage came under court scrutiny after it hit the headlines in the British and then the Turkish media.
    The girl and the boy were questioned by a prosecutor because of the girl's youth, and she was sent to take a virginity test, which she failed. "He has been arrested for having sex with an underage girl," said the chief public prosecutor of the southern town of Kahramanmaras.
    Private Turkish ATV television showed the girl, Sarah Cook, wearing the traditional Moslem headscarf, looking at the floor as a hospital doctor told reporters that she was not a virgin. "We are very happy," she told reporters before quickly leaving with her husband's relatives.
    Sarah married 18-year-old Musa Komeagac, whom she met on holiday on the Turkish coast last year, in a Moslem ceremony two weeks ago. The religious wedding ceremony is not officially recognised in Turkey but couples are free to have it performed.
    The lower age limit for the marriage of girls in Turkey is 15, as long as there is parental consent, but legal officials say this can be lowered with a doctor's report deeming the girl physically fit for marriage, again pending parental consent.
    Occasionally Turkish girls, usually from conservative backgrounds, are required by their parents to take virginity tests if they are thought to have had under-age sex.
    The Turkish media and locals in Kahramanmaras have been fairly sympathetic toward the young couple and have dubbed the girl "our national bride."
    Sarah Cook returned to Britain on February 6 with her mother.
    On February 15, a Turkish court in Kahramanmaras freed Musa Komeagac and adjourned his trial for her statutory rape. The court judge said Komeagac could leave prison where he has been since his Jan. 23 arrest for underage sex with Cook, since the marriage in an unofficial Muslim ceremony had parental consent.
    One of the first things he did on being freed was to borrow a journalist's mobile phone to call the girl, Sarah Cook, in Britain.

TWO-MONTH STATE TERRORISM

    8.1, in Mersin, 14-year old Cetin Karakoyun is killed under torture at a police station.
    9.1, in Cizre, worker Maruf Göcen is shot dead during an armed raid on a dentist's clinic.
    11.1, in Istanbul, nine university students are placed under arrest for attempting to hold a press conference concerning the Umraniye Prison incidents.
    12.1, in Kiziltepe, Yahya Veziroglu is shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
    14.1, Hanefi Gürcan is found assassinated in Nusaybin.
    15.1, police raiding a house in Eskisehir detain five people for Islamist activities. In Bursa, Yalova and Gemlik, a total of 20 people are detained for illegal activities.
    15.1, in Diyarbakir, Mustafa Koc is shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
    17.1, in Batman, 15-year old Arafat Cakir is stabbed to death by Hizbullah members.
    18.1, in Istanbul, 17-year old H. Güc is taken to hospital after being wounded under torture at the Bakirköy police station.
    18.1, in Izmir, security forces raiding a house shoot dead Ercan Özceken.
    20.1, Diyarbakir, Nimet Akgün is shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
    21.1, four people in Adana and six people in Van claim to have been tortured under police custody.
    21.1, in Bursa, eight people are placed under arrest on charges of terrorist activities.
    22.1, a detainee named Ali Ormanci is found dead at the police station in Bursa.
    22.1, in Istanbul, worker Sadik Örsoglu claims to have been tortured at a police station.
    24.1, the Izmir SSC starts to try two Islamists for IBDA-C activities. Yilmaz Dalyan faces capital punishment. Same day, three people are brought before a penal court in Rize for Aczmendi activities.
    24.1, one of the leaders of the Organization for the Liberation of Turkey and Turkish Kurdistan (TKKKO), Mustafa Kemal Kacaroglu is detained in Antalya.
    25.1, in Istanbul, Aysel Güldaga, Tülay Sürmeli and Ibrahim Yildirim are reportedly subjected to torture under police custody.
    28.1, a HADEP local in Izmir is attacked and destroyed by MHP militants.
    28.1, police detain more than 50 people in Izmir for DHKP-C activities.
    29.1, a former member of Parliament, Hasan Mezarci is sentenced by a penal court of Bandirma to 18-month imprisonment for insulting Atatürk.
    29.1, security forces arrest 15 people in Usak and 10 people in Divrigi for PKK activities.
    30.1, in Diyarbakir, the president of the Mesopotamia Cultural Centre, Nuray Sen claims to have been tortured after being detained on January 9.
    31.1, in Istanbul, police raiding a real estate office shoot dead MHP sympathiser Engin Tütenocak.
    31.1, the Istanbul SSC tries 22 people for DHKP-C activities. The prosecutor demands capital punishment for two defendants and imprisonment of up to 20 years for the others.
    31.1, security forces arrest 14 people in Corlu for illegal activities.
    1.2, two Eskisehir officials of the Socialist Workers' Party of Turkey (TSIP), Memduh Canbey and Gülfem Yilmaz are sentenced to one year and four months in prison.
    1.2, the Ankara SSC sentences six PKK members to prison terms of up to 22 years and 6 months.
    2.2, a former official of the Health Workers' Union (Tüm Saglik Sen), Mahmut Konuk is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to one-year prison and TL 100 million in fine under Article 8 for a speech he gave on December 26, 1993.
    3.2, in Istanbul, the Association for Contemporary Rights and Freedoms (CHÖD) is closed down by the governor.
    5.2, in Bismil, Ihsan Polat, brother of poet Edip Polat, is assassinated by village protectors.
    6.2, security forces announce the arrest of 26 people in Istanbul in relation with DHKP-C activities.
    6.2, in Idil, a shepherd is killed at the explosion of a hand grenade.
    7.2, fourteen employees of the Justice Ministry are tried by an Izmir tribunal for having participated in a demonstration by public servants.
    7.2, in Diyarbakir, security forces raiding a house shoot dead Ahmet Kaya, Nihat Yoldas and Nefer Yoldas.
    8.2, seven top officials of Tüm Saglik Sen are indicted by the Istanbul prosecutor for their speeches at a trade union meeting on November 10, 1994.
    9.2, police raiding a house in Istanbul shoot dead three alleged DHKP-C militants, Fuat Perk, Meral Akpinar and Ayten Korkulu.
    9.2, in Izmir, three persons are detained for anti-secular activities.
    9.2, in Batman, 13-year old Ekrem Celik dies and 10 children wounded at the explosion of a hand grenade.
    11.2, HADEP Baykan chairman Lütfü Zeren is taken to police custody.
    11.2, in Kocaeli, a deserter, Hamdi Deniz is found killed at the police station after having served his prison term.
    11.2, in Batman, two workers, Ismail Seven and Siddik Omurcan fall victims of a mine explosion.
    13.2, in Zara, Ali Gürvelük who was detained on January 30 becomes insane because of the torture he was subjected.
    14.2, in istanbul, twenty people are detained on charges of being members of the TIKKO.
    15.2, IHD Iskenderun office is raided by police.
    16.2, in Kiziltepe, Halim Dincli is shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
    19.2, in Istanbul, Orhan Avci claims to have been tortured after being kidnapped by unidentified assailants under the guise of police.
    19.2, in Istanbul, 13 people are detained during a protest demonstration.
    20.2, in Soma, 17-year old young woman Yeliz Kilic claims to have been tortured and raped after being detained on February 8.
    21.2, in Hakkari, Abdullah Canan, kidnapped on February 17, is found assassinated.
    22.2, in Diyarbakir, Nihat Uzun is shot dead by unidentified assailants.
    23.3, in Corlu, Mehmet Siddik Dogru claims to have been tortured after being detained on February 13.
    23.2, fifteen people are detained in Istanbul after a demonstration against price hikes.
    23.2, HADEP candidate for December 24 elections, Ishak Tepe is detained in Bartin. His two sons, journalist Ferhat Tepe and Safyettin Tepe had been victims of political assassinations.
    25.2, high school student Kaya Geren is shot dead in Diyarbakir.
    27.2, in Hakkari, two brothers, Eyüp and Mahir Karabey, kidnapped on December 28, 1995, are found assassinated.
    27.2, in Halfeti, 80-year old Abdullah Yalcinkaya claims to have been tortured for 24 hours after his police detention on February 24.
    28.2, 10 MLKP defendants are sentenced by Ankara SSC to prison terms of up to 22 years and 6 months.
    29.2, Chairman Feridun Yazar and four other top officials of the defunct HEP are tried by the Ankara DGM.

A LEFT-WING JOURNALIST KILLED UNDER TORTURE

    As Ankara rulers and their supporters in Europe were celebrating the Customs Union entering in force, on January 8, a young left-wing journalist was assassinated under torture by police in Istanbul. The assassination has lead to a world wide protest campaign against the Turkish regime.
    Metin Göktepe, 27, correspondent of the daily Evrensel was detained by police while covering the funeral of two militant leftists killed during a prison clash past. His body was later found near a gymnasium. The newspaper and human rights lawyers blamed police for his death on the basis of information given by witnesses. "He was beaten by police despite showing his press card and then brought to the Eyup gymnasium. People who were detained said that when Göktepe started to faint he was separated from everyone else and taken somewhere else… Göktepe was killed by police," Evrensel said in a statement.
    The prosecutor's office first denied this information by claiming that Göktepe had been released from police custody and died when he fainted after drinking tea in a tea garden. Official Anatolian news agency said an examination by the prosecutor's office found no sign of violence on the body.
    But lawyers from People's Law Bureau told a news conference that they believed Göktepe was beaten to death.
"I saw the body in the morgue and on his head there were marks from blows," Levent Tuzel, chair of the law bureau, said. "It was obvious he was killed from police torture and beatings."
    Turkish journalists' associations have protested the alleged murder and accused police of stepping up attacks on journalists.
    In fact, the official autopsy report released two days later confirmed stated that Göktepe had traumatic blows to the head and one of his ribs was also broken.
    Following the release of this report, a minister investigating the death had to say on January 16 that the reporter died while in police custody. "What is clear is that Metin (Göktepe) was taken into custody and he was killed in custody," State minister for human rights Adnan Ekmen told a news conference.

YASAR KEMAL AGAIN FACES A TRIAL

    Renowned Turkish author Yasar Kemal is to face trial again in connection with articles he wrote concerning the Kurdish situation in Turkey. He is charged under Article 312 (inciting racial hatred) and Article 8 (disseminating separatist propaganda) of the Anti-Terror Law for two articles entitled "The Dark Cloud over Turkey" and "More Oppression." They were published in the book Freedom of Thought in Turkey in January 1995. Kemal will come before Istanbul State Security Court on 7 March 1996.
    In January 1995, Kemal was charged in connection with an article published in Der Spiegel. The article, titled "Campaign of Lies," criticised Turkish policy on the Kurds. Kemal was acquitted of the charges in December 1995.

NO PRESS CARD TO A REUTER CORRESPONDENT

    Aliza Marcus, a correspondent for the Reuters news agency, has been denied a renewal of her press card by the Turkish government. This action effectively prevents Marcus from working any longer in Turkey. In December 1995, Marcus, along with all other foreign correspondents, applied for a new press card; however, every correspondent but she received one. There was no official response by the government as to why she was denied renewed accreditation.
    The Committee to Protect Journalists, which attempted to inquire on Marcus's behalf, was told by an official with the Directorate General of Press and Information on February 12 that she did not receive a new card because the government had been informed that she was leaving Turkey.     According to the CPJ, however, the real reason that Marcus must leave Turkey is the government's failure to renew her press card.
    Marcus was the first United States citizen to become ensnared in the Turkish government's censorship campaign. In October 1995, Marcus appeared in court to answer the charge of inciting "racial hatred" under Article 312 of the Turkish penal code. The charge was laid in connection with a 25 November 1994 Reuters dispatch authored by her in which she described the forced evacuation of Kurdish villages in southeast Turkey as a central element of the Turkish military's ten-year war against Kurdish rebels. The dispatch was translated by the now-defunct pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Ülke and printed in the paper on 26 November. She was acquitted on 9 November 1995

TURKISH REACTION AGAINST A CBS PROGRAM ON KURDS

    A program about Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish minority broadcast by the CBS on January 14 led to furious reaction of the Ankara Government. The charge d'affairs of the United States in Ankara was immediately called to the Foreign Ministry and asked for a clarification about views expressed by American officials "completely contrary to known U.S. stand."
    In the "60 Minutes" news documentary program CBS interviewed John Kornblum, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs, and John Shattuck, the assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs, as well as Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Onur Öymen and PKK Chairman Abdullah Öcalan.
    According to a CBS transcript, Kornblum was asked whether there was any difference between destruction of Kurdish villages in Turkey and destruction of Kurdish villages in Iraq by the government of Saddam Hussein. His reply: "If you're in the village, there's no difference whatsoever."
    Shattuck said human rights issues and problems in Turkey have been documented. Asked if the Turkish government murders civilians, he replied, "Right. This is not an effective way to fight terrorist activity, It only alienates a very large segment of the population, and causes massive human rights abuses."
    Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Onur Öymen, after the broadcast, told reporters that Ankara would take legal action against the CBS television network. "This is part of a smear campaign against Turkey in western media following the ratification of the Customs Union with Europe. We will take legal action against press institutions deliberately smearing Turkey. The United States should clarify either that its policy is what it has officially announced or the one these officials announced in the program on the CBS TV,'' Öymen said.
    In Washington, asked about the CBS program, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns acknowledged U.S. concerns about "continuing reports of torture, of restrictions on freedom of the press and on some extra-judicial killings, of the burning of villages and the forced evacuation of villages."

TWO-MONTH PERSECUTION OF THE MEDIA

    4.1, the last issues of Özgür Genclik, Özgür Gelecek and Savasa Karsi Baris are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC.
    5.1, the publication of the periodical Hedef is banned for one month for two articles published in July 1995. Besides, a fine of TL50 million against Hedef's publisher Emel Atici is ratified by the Court of Cassation.
    10.1, the daily Evrensel is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for propaganda of an outlawed organization.
    11.1, Ayse Nur Zarakolu, director of Belge Publishing House, is sentenced again by the Istanbul SSC to six months in prison and TL50 million in fine under Article 8 for having published Hasan Bildirici's book Bekaa-A Created Land. Although her prison term is commuted to a fine of TL900 thousand, the execution of the punishment is not suspended on pretext that she has the intention to commit again similar offences.
    14.1, in Sivas, Kurtulus correspondent Hülya Dagli and six other people are detained for illegal activities.
    14.1, Yeni Dünya N°20 is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    14.1, a correspondent of Swedish TV 4, Retva Rönnberg is detained in Diyarbakir after having interviewed some Kurds expelled from Sweden.
    16.1, Alinteri N°66 and Halkin Birligi N°5 are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for instigation to hatred and disorder.
    17.1, Diyarbakir correspondent of Özgür Gündem, Hasan Özgün is sentenced by the Diyarbakir SSC to 12 years and six months in prison.
    18.1, lawyer Kemal Yildiz is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to 26-month imprisonment and a fine of TL580 thousand for an announcement he gave to the daily Özgür Ülke.
    19.1, in Gaziantep, the publisher of the local newspaper Sabah, Aykut Tuzcu is attacked by unidentified gunmen.
    22.1, a cartoonist of the daily Evrensel, Ismail Gülgec, and editor Fatma Bayar are indicted by Istanbul prosecutor for having insulted the President of the Republic and the members of government in a cartoon. Each faces imprisonment of not less than two years.
    23.1, Partizanin Sesi N°33 is confiscated by the decisions of the Istanbul SSC and a penal court of Istanbul by virtue of ATL and TPC.
    24.1, the Istanbul SSC sentences the publisher of the daily Yeni Politika, Necati Taniyan to a fine of TL418 million.
    25.1, Alinteri N°67 and Hedef N°51 are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    26.1, a responsible editor of Özgür Gündem, Isik Yurtcu is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to four years in prison and TL400 million in fine under Article 8 for three articles he published. In the same trial, the owner of Özgür Gündem, Yasar Kaya too is sentenced to TL 300 million.
    26.1, five Mersin correspondents of the periodical Atilim, Bülent Öner, Fatma Harman, Hasan Abali, Mesut Bozkurt and Ali Varol are sentenced by the Konya SSC to 12 years and six months each for illegal activities.
    28.1, the director of the Yurt Publishing House, Ünsal Öztürk claims to have been threatened by unidentified persons.
    29.1, the periodical Proleter Halkin Birligi is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    29.1, the editor of the periodical Devrimci Emek, Sedat Hayta is detained in Istanbul.
    30.1, the chairman of the Socialist Power Party (SIP), Aydemir, Güler is tried by a penal court in Istanbul for an article he wrote to the review Sosyalist Iktidar. Accused of instigating to disorder, Güler faces imprisonment of up to two years.
    2.2, the Diyarbakir representative of the Mesopotamia Cultural Centre, Aydin Alökmen claims to have been tortured after being detained on January 9.
    2.2, Kurdish writer Recep Marasli is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to two years in prison and TL 100 million in fine under Article 8 for a book containing his defense during a trial at the Diyarbakir SSC. The director of Komal publishing house, Faruk Zade Muhsinoglu too is sentenced to 6-month imprisonment and TL 100 million in fine.
    2.2, a former editor of the daily Özgür Gündem, Isik Yurtcu is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to one-year prison and TL 100 million in fine under Article 8. The execution of the punishment is suspended.
    3.2, Özgür Gelecek N°68 and Partizanin Sesi N°34 are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for propaganda of outlawed organizations.
    4.2, the Ankara SSC prosecutor indicts IHD chairman Akin Birdal and 17 other officials under Article 8 for a press release they issued on the occasion of the World Peace Day on September 1, 1995.
    5.2, Yeni Dünya N°2 and Alinteri N°68 are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC under Article 8.
    5.2, Adana office of the periodical Tavir is raided by police and five people taken to custody.
    6.2, Özgür Genclik N°19 is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC under Article 8.
    7.2, a 82-year old socialist leader, Mihri Belli is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to one year and four months in prison and TL 133 million in fine under Article 8 for an article he wrote to Özgür Ülke. Considering his age, the execution of the sentence is suspended.
    8.2, the former chairman of the Petroleum Workers' Union (Petrol-Is), Münir Ceylan is indicted under Article 8 by the Istanbul SSC prosecutor for his two articles he wrote to the periodicals Ada and Jiyana Nû. The responsibles of the two periodicals, Ali Demir, Selman Cimen and Atakan Say too are tried for having published the articles.
    9.2, the responsible editor of Ekimler, Nusret Öztürk is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to five months in prison and TL 41 million in fine under Article 8.
    11.2, the Malatya office of the periodical Atilim is raided and many documents inside burnt by police.
    14.2, the editor of the periodical Devrimci Emek, Sedat Hayta is placed under arrest by the Istanbul SSC together with three other people.
    14.2, Alinteri N°69 is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for propaganda of an outlawed organization.
    15.2, the trial of eight members of the Mesopotamia Cultural Centre starts at the Diyarbakir SSC.
    15.2, Iskenderun office the periodical Atilim is raided by police and two persons detained.
    17.2, Adana correspondent of Evrensel, Taylan Türkmen claims to have been tortured after being detained in Urfa.
    19.2, Alinteri correspondent Aynur Aydeniz is detained in Istanbul as covering a protest demonstration.
    19.2, the periodical Devrimci Cözüm is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    23.2, Evrensel correspondent Latif Kaya is detained in Istanbul as covering a demonstration against price hikes.
    24.2, HADEP local office in Karacabey is attacked and destroyed by unidentified people.
    25.2, the periodical Odak is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC.
    26.2, the Adana office of the Mesopotamia Cultural Centre is raided, many materials confiscated and two persons detained.
    27.2, the Istanbul Prosecutor indicts a new group of 86 intellectuals for the book Freedom to Thought published under common responsibility of 108 intellectuals.
    27.2, the periodical Alinteri is banned from publication for 20 days.
    28.2, former DEP Secretary General Kemal Okutan is sentenced to 10-month imprisonment by a criminal court for an article he wrote to the defunct Özgür Ülke.

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS ON TURKEY TO CEASE-FIRE

    The European Parliament adopted, on January 18, 1996, a new resolution welcoming the unilateral ceasefire made by the PKK and calling on the Turkish Government to start a national dialogue with the objective of finding a political and non-violent solution to the problems of the south-eastern region.
    In response to this call, Turkey criticized the resolution as a "one-sided and hostile move." Foreign Ministry spokesman Omer Akbel, claiming that the resolution had "taken seriously the cease-fire call made by the PKK, said: "This attitude jeopardizes the credibility and the prestige of the European Parliament."
    He added that the decision showed once more how much the European Parliament, which voted for the realization of customs union with Turkey last month, was influenced by "radical and militant circles" against Turkey.
    The below is the full text of the European Parliament Resolution:
    "The European Parliament,
    "having regard to its previous resolutions on Turkey, and in particular its resolution of 13 December 1995 on the human rights situation in Turkey,
    "A. wishing to contribute to a further deepening of the relations between the European Union and Turkey,
    "B. whereas following the 24 December 1995 elections for the Grand National Assembly no new Turkish Government has yet been formed,
    "C. noting the announcement of a unilateral ceasefire made by the President of the PKK as a gesture to arrive at a non-violent and political solution to the Kurdish issue,
    "D. having regard to the wave of terrorist violence affecting Turkey for a number of weeks, including attacks on journalists, academics, politicians, businessmen and trade union officials, the latest victim of which were Mr Sabanci and two of his colleagues,
    "E. having regard to the terrorist attacks on party headquarters, banks and shops in Turkey and Turkish buildings in the Member States of the European union,
    "F. stressing that despite the release of several dozen intellectuals, journalists and others following changes in anti-terrorist laws, a number of people are still being held for political reasons,
    "G. recalling its appeal in its abovementioned resolution of 13 December 1995 to the Turkish Government, the PKK and other Turkish organizations to do all in their power to find a non violent and political solution to the Kurdish issue respecting territorial integrity and unity of Turkey, while acknowledging the right of Turkish citizens to strive for a form of cultural autonomy within Turkey by peaceful means,
    "H. whereas Mrs Leyla Zana, the European Parliament's 1995 Sakharov prizewinner, is being held in a Turkish prison together with three other former MPs of the DEP for having advocated democracy and the recognition of the rights of the Kurdish people,
    "I. shocked by the gruesome images of Turkish soldiers brandishing the severed heads of Kurdish people, which have been published in the European press,
"    J. having regard to the scale of the revolt which occurred simultaneously in several prisons and having regard to the severity with which it was put down,
    "K. whereas a journalist working on the newspaper 'Evrensel', Metin Göktepe, who was investigating these events, was arrested by the police and found dead shortly afterwards with marks of torture on his body,
    "L. whereas the EU Turkey Association Council has taken the necessary decisions to implement the EU Turkey Customs Union by 1 January 1996, following Parliament's assent on 13 December 1991,
    "M. noting the Italian Presidency's initiative to give the Union a role in finding a solution which would end the partition of Cyprus in line with UN resolutions,
    "1. Welcomes the fact that, notwithstanding the increased vote for religious fundamentalism, the result of the Turkish elections clearly indicates that a large majority of the Turkish people continues to reject religious extremism and the resultant isolation of Turkey, opting instead for maintaining and strengthening its relations with the European Union and other Western States;
    "2. Calls on the new Turkish Government which will be formed as a result of the recent elections to continue and reinforce its policies for further democratic reforms and for respect of human rights ; in particular reiterates its appeal to find ways and means of allowing citizens of Kurdish origin to express their rights to cultural identity while ensuring that the territorial unity of Turkey is guaranteed and respected;
    "3. Welcomes the announcement of a unilateral ceasefire made by the President of the PKK and considers it a first positive response to its appeal of 13 December 1995; expresses its hope that the Turkish Government will view this gesture as a positive contribution to finding a peaceful solution to the problem and calls upon all concerned in Turkey to seize the present opportunity to consider ways and means to start a national dialogue, with the objective of finding a political and non-violent solution to the problems in the south eastern region;
    "4. Condemns all terrorist activity which is aimed at destabilizing the country, and the terrorist attacks carried out within the European Union;
    "5. Condemns the murder of the businessman Mr Sabanci and his colleagues, expresses its sympathy with the families of the victims and calls on the Turkish Government to investigate the background to this and earlier terrorist attacks;
    "6. Calls on the Turkish authorities to ensure that the future government clearly states that promoting respect for human rights and, in particular, combating torture are among its priorities;
    "7. Calls on the new government to propose a revision of the law in order to permit the immediate release of Leyla Zana, the three other former DEP Members of Parliament and the other political prisoners;
    "8. Urges the Turkish authorities to establish an impartial expert commission of inquiry into the deaths resulting from maltreatment in police custody and incursions of security forces into prisons;
    "9. Condemns the murder of the journalist Metin Göktepe and calls on the authorities to throw light immediately upon the circumstances of his death and to bring those responsible to justice;
    "10. Asks the Council and the Commission to investigate recent newspaper reports including photographs which show Turkish soldiers holding the severed heads of presumed anti-government fighters;
    "11. Asks the Turkish authorities to investigate and, in the event of verification, to punish those responsible;
    "12. Deplores the declaration of acting Prime Minister Ciller's statement on the possible incorporation of the northern part of Cyprus into Turkey in relation to Cyprus' future accession to the European Union and urges Turkey to conform with the provisions of the Customs Union with regard to Cyprus; urges the Commission and the Council to undertake the necessary steps to encourage the ending of the partition of Cyprus and urges them to nominate a mediator to assist in bringing about a solution to the problem;
    "13. Calls on the Commission to abide by its undertakings to monitor the human rights situation in Turkey and asks it to forward to Parliament as soon as possible the second interim report on human rights in Turkey;
    "14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Turkish Government and the Grand National Assembly."

LEYLA ZANA AWARDED AS SHE WAS KEPT IN PRISON

    Jailed Kurdish MP Leyla Zana received the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov prize on January 17, 1996, amid bitterness over the assembly's motives for making the award.
    "We honour in the person of Leyla Zana a woman of courage, energy, intelligence and extraordinary self-denial," European Parliament President Klaus Haensch said before handing the prize to the jailed Kurd's husband, Mehdi Zana.
    "Leyla Zana was elected for the first time to the Turkish parliament in October 1991, as the first Kurdish women and bringing with her a huge majority. She is today in a prison in central Ankara, her mandate withdrawn," Haensch said.
    He rejected the idea of any contradiction in the parliament lauding Zana's work on behalf of Turkey's Kurdish population a month after it approved an EU customs union with Ankara.
    "The majority in the European Parliament who voted in favour of the customs union knew full well that they were not going to bring about any major changes in Turkey from one day to the next," he told a later news conference.
    "If we had said no to the customs union we realised nothing would change," Haensch said, adding that the "yes" vote would leave the 15-country EU in a better position to influence democratic reforms in Turkey.
    But Danielle Mitterrand, widow of the late French president Francois Mitterrand and a long-time champion of Kurdish rights, told the same news conference the prize was no more than a sop to the parliament's conscience.
    "When I heard that the Sakharov prize was to be given to Zana I said...that I hope that this is not the sugar coating of the parliament and I very much fear that that is what it is -- to help the medicine go down," she said.
    Zana, born in 1961, is serving a 15-year jail term over alleged involvement with terrorist activities.
    Her arrest along with five other Turkish members of parliament led to an outcry from European parliamentarians.
    Zana won the award, named after the former Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, on a nomination by the parliament's 217-strong socialist group, the assembly's largest political grouping.

TURKEY'S NEW LEGISLATION TO MATCH WITH CUSTOMS UNION

    Turkey enacted on the last day of 1995 a set of fresh legislation to harmonize foreign trade rules with those of the 15 nations of the European Union as part of the Customs Union which takes effect January 1st, 1996. A government decree published in the Official Gazette formally adopted the EU's common external trade policy.
    The new customs tariffs and duties, equivalent with those of the EU, become effective January 1, 1996.
    The new import regime, a document of 828 pages lowers the average customs protection against industrial imports from third countries from 10.97 percent to 5.8 percent.
    Turkey has promised to have fully aligned itself after five years with the EU's policy on trade preferences.
    Another decree, published subsequently, removed all customs taxes and tariffs imposed on imports of industrial goods from the EU. These average 14 percent, but peak in certain sectors at between 20 and 40 percent.
    The European Commission estimates that this will lead to a doubling of EU exports to Turkey over the next five years. With the notable exception of textiles, the EU has already done away with most customs duties and quotas on industrial imports from Turkey.
    Ankara has also revised its foreign trade rules concerning the agriculture sector in line with its commitments to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
    Both sides will work toward free trade in agricultural products by the year 2005, with negotiations of specific mutual concessions to be undertaken in the meanwhile.
    Turkey's average protection against all imports, including farm, from the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) stands at 14.4 percent and from the others at 18.4 percent.
    To complete the customs union agreement, Turkey has undertaken to abide by the EU's textile policy in its entirety.
    It has promised to maintain customs tariffs on cars with engines larger than 3 litres above those prevailing in the EU's Common Customs Tariff. It has also agreed to co-operate in devising a statistical monitoring system for imports of Japanese cars and, where necessary, those produced in Turkey.
    Turkey has also promised to bring its copyright laws and patents into line with rules in the EU, and specifically to accelerate implementation of the Uruguay Round rules on patents for pharmaceutical processes and products.
    Ankara has agreed to align its laws fully with EU legislation and to set up an independent enforcement agency.
    Similarly, Turkey has agreed to open negotiations on free trade in products coming under the auspices of the European Coal and Steel Community.
    In one sentence, the analysts agree, the alliance should mean less revenue but more investment.
    The trade pact may cut Turkey's revenues in import duties and shake some Turkish sectors, but officials hope it will also spark new foreign investments in the country. "We hear that some Japanese and Koreans firms, like Daewoo, are preparing for direct investments in Turkey. Such plans become more and more popular as we near the customs union," said an official from the Treasury's foreign capital division.
    Officials hope Europeans will invest more in Turkey where the labour costs are far lower than Europe. They say Turkey, with 60 million consumers, is also an ideal base to exploit business opportunities in the nearby markets in Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea and Middle East.
    The EU, Turkey's top trade partner accounting for about half of its imports and exports, will make budgetary resources of 375 million European Currency Units (Ecu) ($487 million) available over a five-year period.
    Turkey will also be given more access to the European Investment Bank funds made available under the new Mediterranean policy and new bank loans to improve the competitiveness of the Turkish economy. The EU may also grant exceptional medium-term macro economic financial assistance at Turkey's request.
    In total, Turkey hopes to get up to $2.5 billion Ecus ($3.2 billion) in loans and assistance from the EU sources by 2001.
    The Turkish government has already drafted a bill to impose special consumption taxes on tobacco, cars, petrol, alcoholic drinks and some other goods as part of its efforts to ease the financial burden of the trade pact.
    Turkey will also sign free trade agreements with a total of nine nations as part of a customs union with 15 members of the EU which took effect Jan. 1, 1996.
    The free trade agreements will be signed with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Morocco, Tunisia as well as Israel, the Anatolia news agency said on Friday.
    Foreign Trade Undersecretariat officials said that the free trade agreement with Israel would take effect from the second half of 1996.
    The talks with the Czech Republic and Slovakia are expected to start soon. There has been noticeable developments during the talks held with Hungary, and the free trade agreement to be signed with Hungary will take effect by the end of this year, according to the officials.
    The authorities said that Turkey should also sign a free trade agreement with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in order to avoid possible blows on bilateral trade. The European Commission in 1994 imposed an embargo on all TRNC exports. The officials said that a draft for the free trade agreement with the TRNC has been prepared but it could only be signed after a political decision.
    Turkey will also review the relations with the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in accordance with the EU policies. Turkey, Pakistan and Iran are among the members of the ECO.

"OPERETTA WAR" ON THE AEGEAN ISLETS AND ROCKS

    At the end of January, Turkey and Greece which already have a series of disputes found themselves all of sudden in the face of a real danger of war.
     The crisis started when a Turkish ship ran aground on December 26 on a 10-acre uninhabited islet, called Kardak by Turks and Imia by Greeks, close the Turkish coast. The ship's crew refused help from Greeks claiming that they were on Turkish soil.
    Interviewed by the Greek TV, the captain of the Turkish freighter admitted he had refused help from a Greek tugboat because the rocks were in Turkish territory.
    His statement raised howls among Greeks, and soon a mayor from Kalymnos, accompanied by a team of journalists, hoisted Greece's blue-and-white colours on Imia/Kardak.
    In retaliation, Turkish journalists from the Istanbul daily Hürriyet flew in by helicopter to haul down the flag and raise Turkey's.
    Following that, Greek marines were deployed to the islet to restore the Greek flag and nine of them remained there to guard it.
     The reaction of the Turkish Government was to declare that they cannot tolerate a Greek flag on a Turkish island and soon several warships from both sides were arming their missiles at an arm's length from each other. Turkish Premier Ciller issued an ultimatum for Greek forces to withdraw.
    As the showdown loomed, U.S. President Clinton urged mutual withdrawal for the sake of NATO unity and good sense.     Finally, a Turkish commando group raised Turkish flag to another islet while the Greek flag was still on Kardak/Imia. After this face saving operation both sides took down their flags and withdrew from the islets.
    While the two sides backed down, each proclaimed itself victorious. "Turkey failed in its efforts to force Greece to negotiate," said Greek Premier Simitis. As for Ciller, she boasted, "Turkey does not have one single stone to give."     However, as the Greek media and politicians were roaring with cries of national defeat and accusing the Simitis Government of submission, Turkish Premier Ciller was applauded by Turkish media and even her political opponents in chauvinistic hysteria.
    Though Turkish Government seems winner of this "operetta war" provoked by the media, coming days do not seem bright for Ankara in long term.
    First of all, the European Commission expressed its solidarity with Greece.
    The European Parliament, in a resolution adopted on February 15, said that it was "gravely concerned by the dangerous violation by Turkey of sovereign rights of Greece" and stressed that Greece's borders were also part of the external borders of the EU.
    Ankara immediately criticised the resolution backing Athens. "The resolution taken by the European Parliament is devoid of any legal basis," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. "The European Parliament is continuing its biased and far from constructive stance in its decisions about Turkey, often making unfair criticism,"
    On the other hand, whether the question of the Aegean rocks and islets could be taken to the International Court of Justice in the Hague has created a complete cacophony in the Athens-Ankara-Washington triangle.
    The storm broke out after President Bill Clinton told a Greek American gathering that the United States was "trying to reduce tensions further and to settle the ownership question through an international tribunal as the Greek government has proposed."
    The idea was indeed "inspired" by Greece if not exactly "proposed" by it, as underlined by U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns.
    In an article published on February 25 by Milliyet, Yalcin Dogan pointed out that Turkey had a weak case from a legal point of view:
    "During the night of crisis, in her telephone conversation with Clinton, Prime Minister Ciller accepted the offer to take the issue to the International Court of Justice. Turkey has been losing ground since that moment.
    "There is a clause in the Lausanne Treaty which says Turkey forfeits its sovereignty rights on the territories situated three nautical miles or more from the Asian coastline.
    "After the Lausanne Treaty was signed the issue put on the agenda once again in 1932 but in that instance too Turkey conceded that there were no problems pertaining to 'territorial sovereignty' regarding the Aegean islands. Not only that, but it was envisaged that a map on the basis of these legal guidelines should be prepared.
    "There are 114 islands in the Aegean. Most of them are situated a minimum of three nautical miles from the Turkish coast. So are the Kardak rocks. They are situated 3.2 nautical miles from the Turkish coast. According to the Lausanne Treaty and the 1932 Agreement which followed it, Turkey would not have a sound legal case on the Kardak rocks or the 114 islands situated in the Aegean. Unfortunately, this is a fact. Legally Turkey is in a weak position. The fact is that Turkey is being dragged to The Hague, screaming all the way. And The Hague does not look promising at all for Turkey."

ETHNIC TENSION IN BULGARIA ESCALATING

    Ethnic tension in the mainly ethnically-Turkish town of Kircaali, Bulgaria, has escalated after a Kircaali Court took a decision to annul the result of the municipality election in Kircaali, a town mainly populated by ethnic Turks of Bulgaria, where Rasim Musa, the candidate of pro-Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), had won the elections.
    The MRF blamed the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) government for pursuing separatist policies, and added that they would fight against the attitude of the BSP.
    Angel Naydenov, Bulgarian governor of the Haskoy region, who played an important role in the cancellation of the election of MRF candidate Rasim Musa, appointed Yasar Saban acting mayor until a new election could be held.
    The MRF decided on February 15 to remove Yasar Saban, acting mayor of Kircaali, in protest against the annulment of the results of the town's local election.
    On the other hand, Ankara expressed on February 7 its concern over the rising "anti-Turkish" campaign in Bulgaria and called on Sofia not to allow any raising of tensions regarding the ethnic Turks in the country.
    Relations between Turkey and Bulgaria soured in late 1980s, when ethnic Turks, forced to change their names under a severe assimilation campaign, fled to Turkey. Many of them, disappointed over the lack of economic opportunities, however, were forced to turn back.
    After Communist leader Theodor Zhivkov was toppled, bilateral relations and the standard of living of the ethnic Turks improved. But many members of the Turkish minority contend that they are still subject to overt or covert pressures from Bulgarian authorities in their daily lives.
    There are over one million Bulgarian citizens of Turkish.
Bulgarian authorities accuse Turkish diplomats of interfering in Bulgaria's local elections. The BSP is reportedly attempting to collect the signatures of 48 deputies that are required in order to submit their appeal to the constitutional court.
    The Motherland Labour Party (ACP), which supports the ruling BSP, too claimed that Ahmet Dogan, MRF leader, threatened the national unity of the country with his statements, and demanded that Dogan's immunity be lifted opening the way to trial proceedings.
origin in Bulgaria today.

TURKEY TO ARM AND TRAIN BOSNIANS?

    Turkey on January 24 dispatched fresh military equipment to Bosnia in preparation to increase the number of its troops stationed in Zenica, the Anatolia news agency reported. The material comprised of heavy equipment of a mechanized infantry company, a tank company, an artillery battery and a munitions team. The reinforcements will reportedly raise the Turkish unit in Zenica to brigade strength and the number of the troops to 1,500.
    A leading American security expert has told the Turkish Daily News of January 22, 1996, that among the NATO allies Turkey is number one candidate for arming and training the Bosnians. Richard Perle, a resident fellow at Washington's American Enterprise Institute, said, "For a lot of reasons, regional, political, historical, it is in a position to do so."
    "But one thing Turkey doesn't have is money for this purpose. So far money has not been found. There is a great deal Turkey can contribute. The obvious way to do it is for Turkey and the United States working closely together, coming up with a co-operative plan that includes financing. The British and the French won't do it because they are opposed to arming the Bosnians. The same is true for Belgians and the others," he added.

CLOSE TO THE CHECHENS, DISTANT FROM KURDS

    On January 16, a pro-Chechen commando group took hostage 180 passengers and 45 crew members on the Avrasya ferry as it was preparing for its voyage from Trabzon in Turkey to Sochi. This hijacking ordeal that aggravated historic tensions between Turkey and Russia ended on January 19 in the Eregli port, after a series of bargainings between the commandos and Turkish authorities, extremely comprehensive towards the Chechen cause.
    This incident put once more in evidence the hypocrisy of Turkish authorities on the matter of nationalities. We reprint below Mehmet Altan's article published January 22 by the daily Sabah:
    "The Avrasya ferry adventure has ended without any casualties to everyone's relief. That incident clearly showed why Turkey has been unable to solve its Kurdish problem. The spirit of the relationship between the state and the individual, that is, the legal concept of 'citizenship' as defined by law and the Constitution, has been sadly lacking in Turkey since the beginning of the republic. This lack becomes all the more evident when issues such as "race" and "religion" are at stake.
    "While making its own citizens eat human excrement the Turkish Republic happens to feel closer to Bulgarian citizens because they are 'co-ethnic' than it does to its own citizens of Kurdish origin.
    "While arresting as a 'separatist' Abdülmelik Firat, a person who has served as a member of Parliament since he was 23, the republic calls the people who raid a ferry, take passengers hostage and use innocents for a human shield as 'members of a resistance.'
    "An especially illuminating example is the evaluation of the ferry hijacking made by former Chief of Staff Dogan Güres who says he had the Democracy Party (DEP) deputies thrown out of Parliament on his orders. He said: 'These Chechens are good Turks. They are good soldiers who love their nation. They are honest, sound people. They are definitely not terrorists. They are trying to make the world hear about Russian cruelty. I too have some Chechen blood. The Foreign Ministry asked me to serve as a mediator but I said that would not do at this stage.'
    "What would we think if the Russian former chief of staff said similar things about the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)?
    "How distant from the concept of law is this man who was the 'highest military bureaucrat' of the Republic of Turkey. When the issue is the people of Kurdish origin of his own country he says he had them thrown out of Parliament, and then when the issue is the Chechens he says these hijackers are 'honest people who want to tell the world of the Russian oppression.'
    "But is it only the former chief of staff? Also highly significant was the way the fleet commander talked to the leader of the hijackers Mohammed Tokcan:
    "- Mohammed dear, tell me what you want.
    "- Take away the gunboats sir.
    "- But if I take the gunboats away fishing boats will come towards you.
    "- Take them away anyway sir.
    "- Do you want anything else from me Mohammed? The Naval Forces are doing everything for your safety you know.
    "- Thank you, sir.
    "The rest of the world evaluates such events in a cool-headed manner unlike the patriotic litany found in Turkey. Le Monde, for example, refers to the Russian counter-espionage organization chief's claim that Turkey has been sending volunteers to fight on the side of the Chechens and that it trains them on its own soil. The daily concludes that Turkey is unable to support the Chechen uprising more explicitly because it has been involved since 1983 in a costly war with the independence-seeking Kurds, a war which has cost $8 billion a year.
    "The Avrasya incident has shown how far the 'military mentality' is from formulating a solution to the Kurdish problem. That is because that mentality leaves no room for the 'concept of citizenship.' If it did, the former chief of staff would not even dream of referring to armed persons who have hijacked a ship, as 'honest persons, definitely not terrorists.' This is the kind of administrative mentality which means the coroner's report to determine whether one of the state's own commando sergeants died of a beating or of pneumonia, cannot be issued for months — but the fleet commander treats an armed hijacker so warmly.
    "There have been ample declarations that in Turkey there is no discrimination on the basis of religion, sect, language, or race. But in practice we are close to the Chechens but distant from our own citizens of Kurdish origin. The Kurds are terrorists but the Chechens who fight against the Russians are 'honest souls.'
    "Can Turkey reach sounder ground with such hypocrisy and lack of respect for the law? Our children die in vain and every year $8 billion of funds get spent in ways we cannot check."

WATER TENSION BETWEEN TURKEY AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

    European firms that help Turkey build dams and power stations on the Euphrates river will be "punished" by losing investment opportunities in Syria and Iraq, an Iraqi official visiting Syria said on February 12. Abdel Sattar Salman, deputy secretary at the Iraqi irrigation ministry, said Iraq and Syria would consider filing lawsuits against companies which "carry out projects in Turkey without the permission of all the states on the banks of the Euphrates."
    Iraq and Syria said Turkey's plans for the river would reduce still further the amount of water they can draw. They already accuse Turkey of taking more than its fair share of the Euphrates, which rises in Turkey and flows through Syria and Iraq.
    By a 1987 accord, Turkey is obliged to allow 17,500 cubic feet (500 cubic meters) per second of water into Syria. Syria and Iraq want that increased to 23,100 cubic feet (650 cubic meters) per second, allowing each country a 1/3 share of what they consider is an international waterway.
    Meanwhile, the Arab League called for the signing of a just agreement that guarantees Syria and Iraq's rights for sharing the waters of Euphrates.
    Ismet Abdulmecit, the general-secretary of the Arab League, quoted by daily Al Hayat urged related countries to comply with international agreements on water sharing.
    Al Hayat claimed that Abdulmecit's call for a tripartite meeting had been turned down by Turkey.
    Earlier the Syrian government sent a memorandum to the league asking for the dispute, over the sharing of the waters of the river Euphrates, to be discussed at its ministerial council, due to meet in Cairo on March 13.
    Ankara, on February 15, made an unusually severe statement in response to an Iraqi-Syrian warning to Turkey to stop the construction of two dams on the Euphrates, saying Turkey would not bow to "threats."
    "The first issue on the agenda between Turkey and Syria is Syrian support of terrorism. The fact that the head of the terrorist organization the Kurdistan Workers' Party continues to reside in Syria, although Damascus continues to deny it," said the statement.
    On the other hand, Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Palestine are planning to form a consortium in order to import water from Turkey, a report by the Israeli government said on February 13.
    The report, entitled "Development Alternatives for Cooperation in the Middle East and East Mediterranean Region 1996," warns that the low level of water resources in the region are alarming.
    According to the report the most cost effective project for solving the water problem in the region is Turkey's "Manavgat Project," which is expected to be finished later this year.
    The report suggests building a consortium to carry the water from Manavgat, Antalya to the port of Askhelon near the Gaza Strip.
    Another project cited in the report was the water pipeline called "Peace Water." The project aims at carrying water from the Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers in Turkey to Israel and Jordan via a pipeline through Syria.

3.3 MILLION TURKISH MIGRANTS IN 26 COUNTRIES

    According to the latest data given by the Employment Office of Turkey on February 5, the number of the migrants from Turkey living in 26 different countries reaches 3,305,303. Of them, 1,327,500 are working in these countries either as wage earners or as business owners.
    The highest part of this migrant population is in Germany with about two million persons. In Europe there are 2,904,000 migrants from Turkey.
    The distribution of the migrants from Turkey is as follows:
    Germany    1,918,395
    France    268,000
    Netherlands:    264,763
    USA:    135,000
    Saudi Arabia:    130,000
    Austria:    150,000
    Belgium:    88,248
    Switzerland:    78,231
    Australia:    49,370
    CIS:    40,000
    United Kingdom:    37,802
    Sweden:    35,713
    Canada:    35,000
    Denmark:    34,658
    Italy:    15,000
    Norway:    10,000
    Cyprus (KKTC):    6,308
    Libya:    6,236
    Kuwait:    3,500
    Finland:    1,800
    Jordan:    1,591
    Spain:    848
    Liechtenstein:    528
    South Africa:    500
    Qatar:    400
    Luxembourg:    220

US MILITARY SUPPORT TO TURKEY'S STATE TERRORISM

    Turkey will receive $320 million in foreign military funds -a term used for loans to finance US foreign military sales- in 1996. The aid to Turkey, as outlined in the bill, is $320 million in military loans and $33.5 million in economic support funds.
    The same bill gives Greece $224 million in foreign military funds without any economic assistance funds, thus maintaining the long-standing seven to ten ratio of US aid to Greece and Turkey, respectively.
    The Clinton administration originally asked for $450 million for Turkey, but the amount was decreased as part of a decline in all foreign aid due to budget restrictions. Similarly, the administration's call for $100 million in economic support funds was reduced to $33.5 million.
    The US Defence Department announced on January 30 that Turkey would take delivery of new AMRAAM air-to-air missiles by November of 1998. These advanced technology medium range missiles are mostly used with F-15 Eagle and F-16 fighter planes. Turkey wants to increase combat capability with these missiles.
    Contracts have been signed with the giant US arms companies of Hughes Missile Systems and Raytheon of Massachusetts. Both companies will build about 650 missiles each for the US Defence Department which will sell off 68 percent of the missiles to various countries, including Turkey.
    In the meantime, Turkish officials said that the US government will likely take up in Congress the question of Turkey's demands for more Super Cobra helicopters for use in the southeast of the country against Kurdish guerrillas.. Turkey is already using ten of the helicopters against the Kurdish mountain strongholds.
    Turkey has been negotiating to buy the helicopters since the spring of 1995, and the purchase is part of government programs to beef-up domestic security forces and secure the southeastern regions of the country against separatist attacks.
    On the other hand, the US Senate has approved a bill that will allow Turkey to transfer three Oliver Parry class frigates and also put Turkey in line for defence export loan guarantees.
    Earlier, the U.S. Department of Defense had awarded three new contracts to Hughes and Raytheon corporations for production of air-to-air (AMRAAM) and SEASPARROW missiles.
    Turkey is among the countries that will take delivery of some of the production. The exact number of missiles that will be sent to Turkey could not be verified.
    Turkey's recent purchase of 120 ATACM missiles for $130 million stirred up some resistance in the U.S. Congress and galvanized to action the anti-Turkish ethnic lobbies who opposed the sale on a number of issues that varied from Turkey's human rights record to the situation in Cyprus, the fight against the PKK and the embargo on Armenia.

U.S. MILITARY AID TO TURKEY TARGETS KURDS

    In its Fall 1995 issue, the U.S. review CovertAction published the following article on the U.S. military aid to Turkey.
    "U.S. weapons fuel Turkey's war on the Kurds. The Turkish military uses U.S.-supplied aircraft, particularly F-16 fighters, other fighter aircraft, and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters in air attacks on the PKK and its sympathizers. Last year, the Turkish media reported that two squadrons of F-16s would be based at Diyarbakir because "officials are convinced the F-16s will be effective against the PKK." Turkish embassy officials in Washington confirmed that F- 16s were used in air raids against PKK camps deep inside Iraqi Kurdistan near the Iranian border in January and May 1994. They used cluster bombs, and 500- and 2,000-pound bombs against rebel camps. Those same F-16s have been overflying Iraq this year as part of the Turkish sweep over the border.a"Aircraft aren't the only U.S. war materiel supporting the Turks' war on the Kurds. On at least one occasion, Kurdish villagers said Turkish troops who burned down part of their village travelled in U.S. M-113 armored personnel carriers The Turkish military also incorporates a wide range of U.S. -supplied, financed, and donated weaponry in its counterinsurgency program .o"Turkey and the U.S. have a longstanding, mutually beneficial military relationship that includes various loan, training, joint manufacturing, and giveaway programs:a"• A joint Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement that provides the U.S. with access to airfields, intelligence, and communications facilities.t"• The Excess Defense Articles (EDA) and "cascade" programs. (Cascade is a program in which surplus weapons from U.S. bases in Europe are given as grants.) In FY 1992-93 under these programs, Turkey received more than 1,500 tanks, nearly 500 armored personnel carriers, nearly 150 howitzers, 28 AH-1 attack helicopters, and 29 F4-E fighter aircraft.a"Proposed EDA deliveries for 1994 included: 110 M -85 machine guns, 14 SH-2F LAMPS antisubmarine helicopters, an antisubmarine rocket launcher, ammunition, and parts for machine guns, howitzers, tanks, and combat aircraft. "• A lucrative arms trade. From 1984 through 1993, the U.S. government sold Turkey $8.5 billion worth of weaponry under the Foreign Military Sales program, along with an additional $956 million in direct private sales, making Turkey the fifth largest market for U.S. arms dealers. Another $3.5 billion is expected to be done in the next two years. Among recent purchases are 5 AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters, 51 Blackhawk transport choppers, and 74 armored vehicles. A controversial deal with U. S. arms manufacturer Alliant Techsystems to supply Turkey with 493 CBU-87 cluster bombs has been held up pending the State Department's granting of an export license.a"• The "Peace Onyx" program—the centerpiece of U.S.-Turkish military relations—is an F-16 production deal valued at $7.6 billion. The planes are built in Turkey under a co-production agreement with Lockheed. By the deal's end in 1996,240 planes will be built. "The U.S. is easily Turkey's number one arms supplier. From 1987 to 1991, the U.S. accounted for 77 percent of arms deliveries. Germany was a distant second with 17 percent. Over the past decade, Congress spent $5.1 billion in military aid under loan and Foreign Military Financing programs, placing Turkey behind only Israel and Egypt. Efforts in the House this spring to postpone aid to Turkey pending a presidential report on Turkey's human rights record failed."