22e Année - N°240
Août/August 1998
38 rue des Eburons - 1000 Bruxelles
Tél: (32-2) 215 35 76 - Fax: (32-2) 215 58
60
E-mail: info.turk@ping.be
Chief Editor /Rédacteur en chef:
Dogan Özgüden - Responsible editor/Editrice responsable:
Inci Tugsavul
POLITICS/POLITIQUE
Early elections set for
April 1999
Turkey's parliament on July 30, 1998, formally set early elections
for next April in a near-unanimous confirmation that Prime Minister Mesut
Yilmaz's minority coalition is running out of steam. Speaker Kamer Genc
said MPs had voted by 488 votes to 12 for a government-backed motion to
go to the polls on April 18, 1999.
Furthermore, according to Reuters News Agency, there was little sign
that elections would clear up the political fractiousness that has plagued
Turkey since the mid-1990s.
The one-year-old government has been hamstrung recently by a secularist
opposition party that has frequently threatened to withdraw its support
for Yilmaz if early polls were not held.
A cabinet member acknowledged that the three-party alliance was too
weak to see out the remaining 2 1/2 years of its term. "We wanted to stay
on until December 2000, but it was clear from the parliamentary arithmetic
that we did not have the strength," Justice Minister Oltan Sungurlu told
deputies.
Yilmaz had vowed to resign by the end of the year to make way for
an unnamed "independent prime minister" to oversee the run-up to elections.
The plan has been criticised by senior government figures as a recipe for
further uncertainty.
Turkey has not had a strong government since a left-right coalition
split up in 1995. A string of fragile governments has allowed the army
to increase its influence as the main deterrent to the rise of political
Islam.
Yilmaz, a conservative, came to office just over a year ago after
the generals forced officially secularist Turkey's first Islamist-led government
from office.
Analysts say Yilmaz's main achievements have been a sweeping tax
law passed last week, anti-Islamist education reforms and forcing rampant
inflation onto a downwards curve.
The staunchly secularist security apparatus has carried out a legal
crackdown on Moslem religious activists with Yilmaz's tacit backing.
Courts have outlawed the main Islamist party, banned its leader and
sentenced Islamist mayors on public order charges.
The Islamists, however, have regrouped and regained their position
as the biggest grouping in the splintered parliament.
The Islam-based Virtue Party is tipped to do well at the elections,
although opinion polls also show Yilmaz's Motherland Party and a rival
conservative faction as strong challengers.
"The elections will be a turning point for Turkey," Virtue MP Mehmet
Ali Sahin told the national assembly. Parliamentary speakers refused to
bring an Islamist motion calling for elections on November 29, 1998, onto
the agenda on Thursday.
Nationwide local elections are also set to be held on next April
18 in the first test of support for dozens of Islamist mayors who swept
to power at 1994 polls on a wave of discontent at corruption and inefficiency
in secularist-run town halls.
The Islamists control Ankara and Istanbul.
Political concerns were on the backburner as stocks in Istanbul closed
up 2.3 percent, mainly on hopes for an accelerated privatisation drive.
Turkey's privatisation chief Ugur Bayar vowed that pending polls
would not slow down state sell-offs, which have earned a record $2.18 billion
so far this year.
"Our (privatisation) programme is not something that can be affected,"
Bayar told Reuters.
Yilmaz and other secularist politicans have not acted on suggestions
that the electoral laws be changed to hinder the Islamists, although parliament
can set new balloting regulations almost up until polling day.
The Islamists picked up dozens of seats in southeast Turkey at the
last polls in 1995 at the expense of a Kurdish party that did well regionally
but failed to make it over a national vote threshold. (Reuters, July 30,
1998)
Kurd party in
uphill battle to Turk polls
His face stared down from a huge portrait and his words brought rapturous
applause, but the the leader of Turkey's main Kurdish party sat in prison
as preparations began for next spring's elections. The detention of chairman
Murat Bozlak and three other top party officials, charged with links to
separatist rebels, cast a shadow over the Istanbul congress of the People's
Democracy Party (HADEP).
Despite a prosecutor's call to outlaw the party like its two previous
Kurdish predecessors, HADEP is single-minded in its uphill struggle to
garner the 10 percent of votes necessary to enter parliament at polls set
for next April.
"The party has been gathering support since the last polls and if
everyone is allowed to vote freely, the 10 percent barrier does not present
a problem," said acting party chairman Bahattin Gunel. He said polling
irregularities had undermined the party's showing at the last elections
in 1995, when it attracted 4.1 percent of votes nationwide. In the mainly-Kurdish
southeast it won some 30 percent of votes.
Gunel quoted a recent survey as showing that HADEP currently had
seven percent support. An alliance with a new leftist group has been proposed
as a way of overcoming the 10 percent hurdle.
Since its foundation in 1994 HADEP has sought to rally Turkey's some
10 million Kurds in a campaign to win minority rights. Gunel said the authorities
had made no positive steps on the issue and instead kept up steady intimidation
of HADEP.
"Turkey has an official policy which has never recognised the Kurdish
people. This has not changed and we still face the threat of police raids,"
he said as party members sat watching the London-based, Kurdish MED-TV
channel in HADEP's offices.
RESTRICTIONS ON EXPRESSION
Under restrictions designed to protect Turkey's integrity, the Turkish
authorities refuse to grant permission for Kurdish language broadcasts
or for the teaching of Kurdish in schools.
Emergency rule remains in force in the southeast, where more than
28,000 people have died in a 14-year-old conflict between the armed forces
and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which seeks self-rule in the region.
On July 31, police raided a Kurdish cultural centre in central Istanbul,
halting the group's programme of Kurdish concerts, films and theatre performances.
The group's branches in the southeast have also been closed.
Human rights abuses and strict limits on freedom of expression were
cited last year by the European Union as part of its justification for
rejecting Turkey's membership application.
"HADEP wants a state structure under which Kurds have peace, equality,
democracy and the ability to express themselves freely," Gunel said.
In a highly visual display of ethnic identity, women at the Istanbul
congress wore traditional, brightly-coloured dresses and headbands in the
Kurdish colours of yellow and green and sang songs in Kurdish.
Among those looking on were leftists from the small Freedom and Solidarity
Party, which has been suggested as a potential election partner for HADEP.
"I am Turkish but I support their struggle for Kurdish rights," said
party member Omer Aydin.
HADEP has won little support for its policies from among mainstream
parties which see it as the rebels' political wing.
However, in a new report on the problems of the southeast, the leftist
Republican People's Party (CHP) called for the recognition of Kurdish identity
and moves to allow Kurdish language teaching in schools.
HADEP was formed in 1994 to replace another Kurdish group, the Democracy
Party (DEP) which was outlawed on the grounds of separatism and its 13
deputies expelled from parliament.
Four Kurdish members of parliament sentenced at the time to 15 years
in jail for links with the rebels are still imprisoned. They include Leyla
Zana, a recipient of the Andrei Sakharov Peace Prize.
ALLEGED GUERRILLA LINKS
Party leader Bozlak is currently being tried on charges of promoting
separatism through the publication of a 1998 party calendar and faces a
possible 22-1/2 years in jail. The Supreme Court has overturned convictions
against 31 party officials including Bozlak, imposed after the Turkish
flag was torn down at a 1996 congress and replaced with PKK banners.
The party's uneasy position was illustrated at the Istanbul meeting
where masked youths briefly paraded a PKK flag before being overpowered
by HADEP officials.
Newspapers, which generally give little coverage of HADEP, criticised
the party's failure to sing the national anthem and display the Turkish
national flag at the congress, which Bozlak addressed by way of a written
statement from an Ankara prison.
More than 15,000 party supporters packed the Istanbul sports hall,
while riot police and armoured cars waited outside.
A state security court prosecutor subsequently launched an investigation
into the congress and was studying its video footage, raising the possibility
of a fresh case against the party.
HADEP advocates negotiations to end the fighting between the armed
forces and Kurdish guerrillas and rejects accusations that is linked to
the rebels.
"There is no organic link between HADEP and the PKK. They choose
armed struggle and we operate in a different area, though we share some
ideas," Gunel said.
He said that state policy was ultimately responsible for the conflict.
"The state mentality is the ultimate source. If Kurdish identity and culture
was recognised there wouldn't be a war."
The conflict in the mountainous southeast has left the region far
behind the rest of Turkey in economic terms. Many politicians see economic
development as the key to resolving the Kurdish problem and ending the
fighting, but Gunel rejected this.
He said economic development would remain a secondary factor for
as long as the issue of Kurdish identity was unresolved. (Reuters, August
12, 1998)
Turkish Islamists
face fresh legal battle
Secular Turkey's top prosecutor recently announced legal action against
main opposition Islamist leaders that looked set to overshadow campaigning
for general elections early next year. Opposition head Recai Kutan and
former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan were among 12 prominent Islamists
accused of massive misappropriation of party funds.
Prosecutor Vural Savas said he had asked courts to put the Islamists
on trial for illegally diverting one trillion lira ($3.6 million) from
the Islam-based Welfare Party just before it was outlawed by the constitutional
court this year for sedition. "It is clear that the party's leadership
carried out the biggest fraud in the history of our republic to prevent
the treasury seizing the party's funds and goods," said a document distributed
to journalists by Savas' office.
The accused face between one and three years in jail. Convicts sentenced
to more than a year are forbidden from running for office under Turkish
electoral laws. Erbakan, Turkey's first Islamist prime minister, was banned
from political leadership for five years in January's constitutional court
verdict. He handed his baton over to Kutan, a soft-spoken former energy
minister who is due to lead a new Islamist grouping to the polls in April,
1999. Kutan was taciturn in response to the charges. "Turkey is a state
of law and this issue will be assessed on those principles," he told journalists
at a meeting with the Saudi Arabian ambassador"o Turkey.
An accused Islamist MP denied the fraud charges. "It's a ridiculous
claim," MP Abdulkadir Aksu told Reuters. Kutan's Virtue Party is the biggest
formation in Turkey's parliament and is tipped as a polls frontrunner,
along with rival conservatives of Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and former
prime minister Tansu Ciller. Turkey's secularist establishment has hounded
the Islamists since they tried to ease restrictions on the role of religion
in public life when in office in coalition last year. Dozens of Koranic
education centres have been closed down and Islamist local government officials,
including Istanbul's mayor, have been taken to court on public order charges.
Erbakan was forced from office by the military, which has declared the
Islamists "public enemy number one" -- even a greater threat than Kurdish
separatist guerrillas in the southeast.
Armed forces chief Ismail Hakki Karadayi is to be presented with
Turkey's highest medal when he retires on Friday, in civilian recognition
of his role in the anti-Islamist campaign. His replacement has vowed to
press home the assault despite government reticence to back a secularist
crackdown that might alienate traditional Moslems at election time. President
Suleyman Demirel warned the Islamists to tone down the rhetoric that helped
them to narrowly win the last general elections in 1995.
"Election propaganda or a campaign dependent on exploiting religion
and enmity of the army is against the framework of the constitution. Those
who do this will mobilise the state (against them)," he told the Hurriyet
daily. He said the fact that previously unknown prosecutors began the case
that ended with Welfare's closure was a healthy sign. "This is a very proud
event for the Turkish republic. When you step out of line, the republic's
legal mechanisms go into action," Demirel said. (Reuters, August 25, 1998)
ARMEE/ARMY
Le nouveau
chef d'état-major turc: Kivrikoglu
À la suite de quatre jours de réunion, le Conseil Suprême
Militaire (YAS), a annoncé, jeudi 6 août 1998, la nouvelle
composition du haut commandement des forces armées turques après
la retraite, à la fin du mois d'août, du chef d'état-major
turc, Ismail Hakki Karadayi. Ce dernier prendra en effet sa retraite cette
année avec le commandant en chef des forces de la Gendarmerie, le
Général Fikret Ozden Boztepe.
Le poste du général Karadayi, le plus puissant et prestigieux
de l'État turc, sera occupé par l'actuel commandant de l'Armée
de terre; le Général Huseyin Kivrikoglu qui a occupé
des postes au sein de l'OTAN. Il sera remplacé dans ses fonctions
par le commandant de la Première l'Armée, le Général
Attila Ates.
Les membres du Conseil ont également décidé
que le chef adjoint de l'état-major, le général Cevik
Bir sera nommé au poste de commandant de la Première. Celui
qui étant souvent présenté comme le "Lebed turc" semble
écarté de la course au commandement suprême.
Au total, 31 généraux et amiraux ont été
promus à des hauts rangs durant la réunion de YAS de cette
année, tandis que 49 d'entre eux ont vu leur nomination actuelle
prolongée d'une année et 39 généraux et amiraux
ont été mis à la retraite par les membres du conseil.
Ces décisions ont été, jeudi 6 août 1998, "approuvées"
par le Président Suleyman Demirel, par pure formalité.
Le général Kivrikoglu, anglophone et américanophile,
sera donc le nouvel homme fort de la Turquie. La presse turque lui prête
l'intention de tenir l'armée à l'écart de la vie politique
domestique. Les observateurs attendent avec curiosité ses premières
actions en tant que chef suprême. (CILDEKT, 20 août 1998)
Mini-purge dans
les rangs de l'armée turque
Le Conseil militaire suprême de Turquie a décidé
d'expulser des rangs de l'armée 25 officiers et sous-officiers suspects
de sympathies fondamentalistes, a-t-on appris jeudi de source gouvernementale.
Réuni depuis lundi sous la présidence du Premier ministre,
Mesut Yilmaz, le Conseil, plus haut organe exécutif militaire turc
qui se réunit deux fois par an, procède lors de chaque réunion
à ce genre de mesures.
"Le Conseil a pris les mesures nécessaires à l'encontre
d'un certain nombre de personnes", a indiqué l'état-major
général dans une déclaration, sans préciser
de chiffre.
Ces militaires sont impliciitement accusés d'avoir des liens
avec des groupes extrémistes religieux.
Plus de 160 officiers et sous-officiers avaient été
radiés lors de la dernière réunion du Conseil en juin
dernier. L'armée, qui se considère comme la garante du caractère
laïc de l'Etat, est très sensible à toute tentative
d'infiltrer ses rangs par les islamistes.
Le Conseil a décidé, par ailleurs, de nommer chef d'état-major
des armées turques le général Huseyin Kivrikoglu,
l'ex-commandant en chef de l'armée de terre, remplacant le général
Ismail Hakki Karadayi, qui part en retraite. Plusieurs autres généraux
ont également été affectés à d'autres
postes. (AFP, 6 août 1998)
L'armée
exclut des économies dans les dépenses militaires
Un rapport préparé par l'armée turque et rendu
public vendredi estime que le budget de la défense continuera d'avoir
la part de lion dans le budget national, excluant toute économie
dans ces dépenses.
Le rapport élaboré par l'académie de guerre
pour l'état-major des armées estime que la Turquie est située
dans une région où la situation est "volatile" et qu'elle
est confrontée à divers risques et menaces de la part de
ses voisins.
"La Grèce voisine mène actuellement une politique d'animosité
envers la Turquie", précise le rapport, qui souligne que les voisins
de la Turquie dans l'est et le sud-est Anatolien (Iran, Irak, Syrie), qui
sont "loins d'êtres démocratiques", font face à de
graves crises politiques, économiques et militaires.
Les relations de la Grèce et de la Turquie, frères
ennemis au sein de l'OTAN, traversent une phase de tension, en raison du
déploiement prévu à l'automne dans la partie grecque
de Chypre (sud) de missiles russes S-300, auquel Ankara a menacé
de riposter.
"Pour ces raisons, le budget réservé à la défense
constituera, dans les vingt prochaines années aussi, les dépenses
les plus importantes au sein du budget national", estime ce rapport. La
Turquie utilise 11% de son budget national pour des dépenses militaires.
Elle envisage de moderniser ses armées dans le cadre d'un
programme d'envergure et de dépenser 150 milliards de dollars dans
les 30 ans à venir pour l'achat ou la fabrication locale en co-entreprise
de matériels militaires modernes. (AFP, 14 août 1998)
STATE TERRORISM/TEREUR DE
L'ETAT
La
situation acutuelle de la liberté de presse en Turquie
La Turquie est sans doute le doyen et le champion incontesté
des pays européens bafouant la liberté de presse non seulement
depuis la constitution de la République en 1923 mais également
depuis son adhésion au Conseil de l'Europe en 1949.
Alors que l'emprisonnement d'un journaliste ou d'un artiste pour
ses opinions contre l'idéologie officielle de l'Etat est monnaie
courante de ce pays, car la législation turque constitue une véritable
arsenal de répression avec plus de centaines d'articles ou règlements
incompatibles avec les conventions des droits de l'homme, chaque coup d'état
militaire (en 1971 et 1980), des dizaines de milliers d'intellectuels ont
subi non seulement l'arrestation ou l'emprisonnement mais également
les tortures les plus féroces sauvages.
Depuis le retour au régime parlementaire en 1983, tous les
gouvernements de coalitions ne cessent promettre aux institutions européennes
que la liberté de presse et d'opinion serait reconnue comme prévue
dans les conventions internationales dont la Turquie est signataire et
qu'il ne resterait plus aucun journaliste ou intellectuels dans les prisons
turques.
Pourtant les prisons turques continuent toujours à héberger
des centaines de journalistes et écrivains malgré les protestations
des droits de l'homme aussi bien en Turquie qu'à l'étranger.
A la veille de la Journée internationale de la liberté
de la presse le 3 mai 1998, Reporters sans frontières a publié
son rapport annuel faisant le point sur les violations de la liberté
de la presse dans 140 pays.
Selon cette institution prestigieuse, la Turquie est un des pays
qui enregistre le plus de violations des libertés à l'égard
des journalistes. D'après le rapport, en 1997, près d'une
vingtaine de journalistes ont été torturés en détention
et au moins 255 ont été interpellés ou incarcérés.
Le procès des onze policiers accusés du meurtre de Metin
Göktepe, journaliste d'extrême gauche battu à mort, est
largement retracé avec ses rebondissements dans le rapport. De même,
l'édition de 1998 dénonce la pratique de torture quasi systématique
en Turquie et souligne que "les collaborateurs d'organes de presse pro-kurdes
ou d'extrême gauche sont très souvent torturés dans
les locaux des sections en charge de la lutte anti-terroriste. En 1997,
au moins 16 journalistes ont subi ce sort.
Toujours selon le rapport, 91 journalistes sont détenus en
Turquie "sans qu'il soit possible d'affirmer qu'ils le sont pour leurs
opinions ou pour avoir exercé leur profession". 62 journalistes
y ont fait l'objet d'agressions et 73 autres ont été menacés
ou harcelés en 1997 (estimation minimale). De plus, d'autres moyens
de pressions sont utilisés contre les journalistes, tels que des
pressions juridiques, administratives ou économiques; des procès
ont été organisés contre des journalistes appartenant
à au moins 44 médias turcs entre le 1er janvier et le 31
décembre 1997. 89 médias ont été suspendus
pour des périodes variables ou fermés ou encore suspendus
pour une durée indéfinie et au moins 33 quotidiens ou périodiques
ont été saisis.
Tout récemment, le 23 juillet 1998, l'organisation internationale
de lutte contre la censure, Article 19, a dénoncé la répression
exercée par la Turquie contre les journalistes, les partis politiques
et les minorités culturelles et religieuses.
L'organisation affirme d'une part qu'avec 67 journalistes emprisonnés,
plusieurs partis politiques dissous et interdits, de plus la répression
sévère des minorités religieuses et culturelles appuyée
par la détermination du gouvernement à soutenir de telles
mesures, la Turquie ne peut pas sérieusement prétendre devenir
membre de l'Union Européenne dans ces conditions.
"Les autorités turques considèrent les journalistes
comme une menace, et refusent volontairement de distinguer les journalistes
des sujets ou des personnes qu'ils traitent" affirme le communiqué.
Article 19 souligne également que "la détermination
des autorités turques pour la préservation du système
séculaire de l'État, centralisé et unifié,
conduit à la suppression, si nécessaire par la force, de
toutes tentatives d'exercice publique du droit à la liberté
de l'expression sur les questions culturelles, politiques et religieuses.
Cela a conduit aux poursuites judiciaires et emprisonnement des universitaires,
journalistes, et vendeurs de journaux et même des hommes politiques
élus démocratiquement. D'autres ont fait face à des
mesures extrajudiciaires, allant de l'harcellement policier aux assassinats
perpétrés par des groupes armés liés à
l'État".
Frances D'Souza, directrice exécutive de l'organisation, note
qu'"il est ironique que la Turquie se plaigne d'être tenue à
l'écart de l'UE à cause de sa population musulmane quand
le même État persécute quiconque tente d'exprimer une
identité islamique dans le pays".
Article 19 demande à la Turquie de mettre en place "de manière
urgente" des réformes de la constitution permettant d'assurer "le
droit fondamental à la liberté d'expression".
Malgré ces réactions, le gouvernement actuel, totalement
soumis aux militaires, ne prend aucune initiative pour lever ou modifier
les articles de loi anti-démocratiques. Alors que les intellectuels
comme le sociologue Ismail Besikci continuent à purger leurs peines
de prison de centaines d'années, les intellectuels et journalistes
rénommés comme Haluk Gerger, Esber Yagmurdereli, Ragip Duran
entrent dans la prison l'un après l'autre pour leurs articles ou
allocutions.
Les journaux d'opposition comme Ülkede Gündem sont souvent
interdits même avant leur parution et centaines de livres, revues
ou musi-cassettes sont saisis par les procureurs pour contenir des textes
contestataires.
Même une amnistie générale envisagée à
l'occasion du 75e anniversaire de la République (le 29 octobre 1998)
n'abouitra jamais à la mise en liberté des journalistes parce
que la Constitution de 1982 imposée par la junte militaire interdit
l'amnistie pour ceux qui sont condamnés en vertu des articles du
Code pénal et la Loi contre le terrorisme.
Ainsi, même en cas d'une amnistie générale, tous
les journalistes et intellectuels emprisonnés resteront toujours
dans les prisons alors qu'on libère des dizaines de milliers de
prisonniers de droit commun, y compris les politiciens impliqués
dans les affaires louches et les membres de la Mafia turque qui sont employés
par les militaires dans la liquidation physique des journalistes et d'autres
personnalités d'opposition.
Au lieu de lever ou modifier d'une manière démocratique
tous les articles de la Constitution, du Code pénal turc ou de la
Loi contre le terrorisme, le gouvernement, afin de calmer les réactions
occidentales contre une telle amnistie injuste, peut chercher d'autres
solutions comme reporter l'exécution des peines des journalistes
emprisonnés sous condition de ne plus commettre le même délit
dans cinq ans à venir.
Il s'agira donc de transformer la censure et la répression
actuelles en une auto-censure continuelle.(Info-Türk)
Birdal case opens amid
high security
The beginning of the trial concerning the May 12 armed attack on
Akin Birdal, chairman of the Human Rights Association (IHD), was marked
by unpleasant incidents on August 3. The eleven defendants who allegedly
collaborated in the incident are being charged with attempted murder and
face from one to 24 years in jail.
Cengiz Ersever, the founder of the so-called Turkish Revenge Brigade
(TIT), claimed that he did not intend to kill Birdal. "If I was inclined
to do that, I bet I could have had his brain splattered on the wall within
24 hours," Ersever told the judges, which prompted strong protests from
Birdal's lawyers, who asked the court to put the defendants words on record.
Ersever reacted to the request by walking towards the lawyer, provoking
a physical confrontation, and yelled, "Look at me, lawyer!" The fight was
broken up by security personnel and the defendants were dragged out of
the courtroom by the police, following which the hearing was adjourned
for a few hours.
Before the court hearing, tight security measures were taken in and
around the State Security Court (DGM) building. The majority of the people
who had came to witness the court proceedings were not allowed into the
courtroom and those who were given permission to enter the room were thoroughly
searched.
Defendants Cengiz Ersever, Kerem Deretarla, Bahri Eken, Semih Tufan
Gulaltay, Hasan Hasanoglu, Ahmet Fulin, Demir Demirok and Namik Zihni Ozansoy,
all under arrest, were brought to the courtroom with their lawyers. Akin
Birdal and his group of lawyers took their seats in the complainants section.
Ufuk Uras, the chairman of the Freedom and Democracy Party (ODP), and the
party's deputy chairman, Yildirim Kaya, were among those who had come to
witness the trial. Many lawyers volunteered to sit with Birdal, however
Judge Mehmet Orhan Karadeniz rejected their request and stated that those
lawyers not officially representing Birdal should sit with the rest of
the gallery.
I am the founder of TIT
Ersever told the court that he formerly served for five years as
a senior army sergeant in Tunceli fighting against the separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), during which period he witnessed many terrorist activities
conducted by the PKK. "Upon my reassignment in Istanbul, I founded the
Turkish Revenge Brigade and trained many people. I served as a sergeant
in the army during the day but at night I was involved in activities with
the TIT, which is not a terrorist organization. It was formed to fight
against threats to national security, including those separatist and reactionary
individuals and groups involved in activities against Ataturk's principles
and reforms. This is a nationalist movement."
Ersever continued: "I did not give instructions for the murder or
wounding of Akin Birdal. My instructions to Hasan Hasanoglu were to have
him kidnapped and get him to make a press statement saying that he regretted
his pro-separatist speeches." In response to a question, Ersever explained
that the weapons used during the incident were obtained by Bahri Eken,
another defendant. "The TIT organization does not own any weaponry. The
country is surrounded with fire all around. In Turkey, the Turkish people
are in jeopardy. There is the PKK on one end and the reactionaries on the
other. Akin Birdal and the ones like him are engineering separatist activities
in Turkey," Ersever added.
Psychological and physical training
Ersever further stated that he provided both the psychological and
the physical training to TIT members in their "struggle against separatist
and reactionary powers." Ersever denied any affinity to Mahmut Yildirim,
code named "Yesil." He also denied taking part in the murder of Cem Ersever.
In response to a question, Ersever disclosed that his code name was "Firat,"
and that the code name for defendant Bahri Eker was "Serdar." "Kerem Deretarla
and Hasan Hasanoglu did not have any code names," said Ersever.
Indictment
An indictment prepared by prosecutor Unal Haney states that Mahmut
Yildirim had ordered that Akin Birdal be punished. It also states that
the eleven defendants had formed an armed gang with criminal intent based
on their political and social concepts.
The indictment explains in great detail how the armed attack was
planned and implemented and how the duties were designated. According to
the Turkish Criminal Code, Ersever, along with Kerem Deretarla and Bahri
Eken, is facing charges for which a prison term of not less then 23 years
is prescribed. Semih Tufan Gulaltay is facing a prison sentence of not
less then 24 years, whereas from one to 23 years in prison is being requested
for the other four defendants.
The IHD has made an announcement protesting the incidents that took
place during the hearing and indicated that there were "state terror" and
injustice during this first day of the trial. (TDN, August 4, 1998).
Two actors
and a cartoonist jailed for their works
A Turkish court has sentenced a playwright and actor to 24 years
in prison for staging a play depicting the military as persecutors of Muslims.
Four cast members were given 16-year jail sentences for their part in the
play, which was performed last year.
An Enemy of God portrays an un-named country in which Muslims are
oppressed by the armed forces and retaliate by declaring a holy war. Playwright
Mehmet Vahi Yazar was jailed for inciting regional and racial hatred for
his production, which depicted the army as "an enemy of the people". Prosecutors
said the drama encouraged revolt by portraying the military as an obstacle
to the establishment of a state based on Islamic Sharia law.
In a separate case, a cartoonist for a pro-Kurdish newspaper has
been sentenced to 3 years in prison for insulting the Turkish republic.
He is said to have used his cartoon character Kirik to label Turkey
"villain".
The Paris-based international organisation Reporters Sans Frontieres
have called for his release, saying the cartoonist was exercising his right
to express his opinions.
Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz announced 1998 to be the year of human
rights in Turkey but the BBC Ankara correspondent Chris Morris says laws
limiting freedom of expression remain untouched. Writers and artists
who question state policy are often prosecuted. (BBC, August 4, 1998)
Hatip Dicle
est condamné à une année de plus
La Cour de Sûreté de l'État d'Ankara a, mercredi
5 août 1998, condamné Hatip Dicle, ancien président
du Parti de la Démocratie (DEP-dissous), ex-député
de Diyarbakir à une année de plus d'emprisonnement pour "incitation
du public à la haine par son message". Le procureur de la République
Levent Kanat, reprochait à Hatip Dicle, déjà condamné
à 15 ans de prison comme Leyla Zana et incarcéré à
la prison centrale d'Ankara, le message qu'il a envoyé à
un panel de discussion organisée par l'Association turque des droits
de l'homme (IHD). (CILDEKT, 10 août 1998)
IHD launches
a campaign for a general amnesty
On August 6, the Human Rights Association (IHD), calling on all its
branches across Turkey, launched a campaign to obtain a general amnesty,
the IHD secretary-general declared on Friday in a written statement.
Secretary-General Nazmi Gur stressed that the IHD's aim is a general
amnesty without discriminating between crimes of conscience and felonies.
Gur said the IHD considered launching the campaign on May 15, 1998, but
the assassination attempt on IHD Chairman Akin Birdal prevented this.
"However, because of its principles, the IHD thinks that those who
have formed gangs within the state, tortured, been involved in unsolved
killings or kidnappings as well as those who have committed crimes against
humanity should not be included in the general amnesty," stated Gur.
The campaign initiated by the IHD will consist of requesting people
to sign a form letter which presents the reasons for a general amnesty
and then sending the collected letters to Parliament as a call to action.
IHD's letter cites Turkey's existing socioeconomic order and the
justice system's deficiencies as the causes of the large number of people
crowding the prisons. "For the creation of a free and dynamic social environment
by ending imprisonment for crimes of conscience, which is a concrete form
of oppression; for peace, for freedom and for democracy we want a general
amnesty," the letter reads.
The 50-year-old activist Akin Birdal, who was shot six times on May
12, helped found the IHD in 1986. He is a persevering and outspoken critic
of Turkey's shaky human rights record, having accused the state of conducting
a "dirty war" in its fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK).
When
An Amnesty Is Not The Answer To Human Rights Crisis
An analysis by NADIRE MATER
"They are free. And you?" read the ironic slogan on the placards
raised alongside pictures of Turkey's four most famous prisoners of conscience:
sociologist Ismail Besikci, playwright Esber Yagmurdereli, journalist Ragip
Duran and international relations analyst Haluk Gerger.
Hundreds of people, including prominent journalists and human rights
activists, gathered in Istanbul's Ortakoy District Square at the weekend,
calling for the immediate release of all Turkey's political prisoners,
jailed journalists and writers. Street p erformers and musicians gave the
event a festive air.
The government, which includes several figures who were jailed as
'subversives' and 'terrorists' during the years of military rule in the
1970s, has tabled general amnesty proposals for the Turkish Republic's
forthcoming 75th anniversary.
But they exclude freedom for "prisoners of conscience". For the political
prisoners in Turkish jails, a national amnesty that excludes them is nonsense.
"It is a universally accepted standard that 'amnesty' means the state's
annulment of so-called crimes committed by its political dissidnts," Esber
Yagmurdereli told IPS during an interview in Cankiri Central Prison last
week.
Having spent 13 of his 53 years of life in prison, the veteran peace
campaigner, blind since the age of 11, is expected to serve another 22
and a half years in jail. The media has called for freedom of "prisoners
of conscience" and for changes to the l aw, while insisting that captured
Kurdish guerrillas stay in jail.
Most of Turkey's prisoners of conscience were jailed for their efforts
to spread the word about the country's debilitating 14 year civil conflict
in the south-east, where Turkish Kurds seek autonomy for their region.
Support for the Kurdish case, even voicing concern about the conduct
of the war, is dubbed by the Turkish state as illegal support for 'separatism'.
Dozens of people, from paliamentarians to playwrights, have been jailed
for speaking out.
"For every gain a price should be paid," Yagmurdereli said, in a
special message to the weekend event in Ortakoy. "The price should be paid
for final victory. I greet those who have been paying and those who are
lined up to pay for their part." Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has
proposed a limited general amnesty for the 75th anniversary of the creation
of the Turkish Republic.
But citing constitutional articles 14 and 87, which restrict parliament's
power to pardon crimes against the state, Ecevit says a general amnesty
is out of question. "However," he adds, "we can pardon those prisoners
who have committed crimes due to p overty and want."
Rights activists argued that the amnesty should free its dissidents,
not pick out prisoners whose release would make the state look sweet. Instead
Ecevit has redefined 'crimes against the state' as 'crimes of terrorism'
and grouped them with state frauds ters, torturers, murderers, rapists
and tax evaders -- all of whom will be denied amnesty as well.
"They (the government) say, `If you are a prisoner of conscience,
you better stay inside'," says journalist Oral Calislar mockingly. A leading
columnist with the Istanbul daily Cumhuriyet, Calislar spent 20 months
in jail on charges of 'separatism' after he interviewed two Kurdish leaders
in 1993, Abdullah Ocalan of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Kemales
Burkay of the Kurdistan Socialist Party (PSK). Optimism rang in Calislar's
words: "Turkey's democratic public should not lose hope, for we are fighting
to change the world."
"This is a century old story," says journalist Nazim Alpman, spokesman
for the group behind the weekend protest, Uninterrupted Fight for Freedom
of Conscience (DOSS). "Esber Yagmurdereli was released on health reasons,
in November, on the eve of the E uropean Union's Luxembourg summit, against
his will as well."
The summit announced the next group of nations to join the bloc,
but Yagmurdereli's release was not enough to ease the EU's concerns about
Turkey's rights record, and Ankara's name was left off the list. "Turkey
was not admitted to the EU and Yagmurdere li was once again jailed," Alpman
noted wryly.
"According to the globalisation legend the world has become smaller.
Well it has for all, campaigners of freedom of expression included," he
said. "We are determined to internationalise our campaign until the last
prisoner of consciece released and all the restrictive laws are abolished."
The campaign is collecting signatures from Turkey's prominent
political and intellectual figures who urge all, "including parliamentary
deputies, to assume their responsibilities and bring about freedom of conscience
and expression." The petition has already been signed by some 500 hundred
major figures, including veteran novelists Yasar Kemal and Adalet Agaoglu,
poet Can Yucel, and human rights activists Akin Birdal and Ercan Kanar.
According to Turkish Ministry of Justice figures, at last cunt there
were 63,468 prisoners in Turkey's jails, 24,708 or 44 percent of whom will
be denied amnesty if parliament passes Ecevit's proposal in October.
Of that total, 9,306 were convicted under anti-terrorism laws, 13,024
for murder, 4,037 for rape, 709 for bribery, 2,633 for fraud and 3,640
for drugs related crimes. The 9,306 'terrorism' convicts include almost
all of Turkey's prisoners of conscience, jailed under articles 6,7 and
8 of the 'anti-terror law' and Article 312 of the Penal Code.
The law's ambiguous terminology gives the State Security Court judges
to decide freely what constitutes 'support for separatism'. Ismail Besikci,
Haluk Gerger and Ragip Duran all fell foul of these draconian laws.
Sociologist Ismail Besikci, 53, doyen of Turkey's 'criminals of conscience'
is srving his 15th year in prison. He has served several jail terms for
his views on the Kurdish separatist question and his latest stint began
in 1991. Already condemned to a t otal of 100 years in jail, Besikci faces
sentences totalling another 104 years in cases pending against him in the
State Security courts.
Associate Professor Haluk Gerger, 50, international relations analyst
and former lecturer at Ankara University' Faculty of Political Sciences,
is currently serving eight months for separatism in Ankara's Gudul District
Prison. He has published a book, Th e Political Economy of Turkish Foreign
Policy, while in prison and also faces fresh charges and sentences for
his writing and speeches.
Journalist Ragip Duran, 44, is serving out a 10 month sentence in
Saray District Prison in north west Turkey. He was jailed for writing a
commentary on PKK guerrilla leader Ocalan, whom he had interviewed in 1994.
"I should remind that the four of us are not heroes but just symbols
for the ongoing fight for freedom of expression," said Duran, speaking
to IPS by phone from jail this week. "You must not forget the 90 other
journalists now in prison. We do not cla im any special privilege and we
have no right to that."
But for him, amnesty will be an inadequate response if the laws stay
on the statute book and the state retains its power to jail journalists
and parliamentary deputies as it sees fit. "I do not look for an
amnesty," Duran says. "This should be finished once and at all. The concept
of 'crime of conscience` should be abolished for ever. This is the final
answer." (IPS, August 11, 1998)
German
woman protests forced virginity test in Turkish prison
Turkish prosecutors are refusing to allow an imprisoned German woman
to sue prison officials for subjecting her to a forced virginity test,
her lawyer said.
Turkish prisons often force the tests on female prisoners, saying
the exams reduce allegations of rape by guards. Human rights groups say
the tests are a way of harassing female political prisoners.
Eva Junckhe was arrested in October 1997 on charges of belonging
to an outlawed Kurdish rebel group. She has been locked up in a prison
in southeastern Turkey pending a verdict in her trial. Junckhe claims to
have been forcibly examined by doctors two weeks after her arrest.
Lawyer Eren Keskin said Wednesday the chief state security court
prosecutor for the southeastern city of Van rejected an application for
a lawsuit. If a renewed application is denied, Junckhe will take her protest
to the European Court of Human Rights, Keskin said. (Associated Press,
August 17, 1998)
Sanar Yurdatapan
acquitted, appeals decision!
Sanar Yurdatapan, who was acquitted on 11 August 1998 in the trial
of the publication of the pamphlet entitled "FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION 2"(*)
which contained the words which led to the imprisonment of lawyer Esber
Yagmurdereli, is appealing the decision.
This pamphlet, which is part of the civil-disobedience campaign being
carried out for freedom of expression, was published by 26 people from
various professions who, by going to the State Security Court, denounced
themselves before the public prosecutor(**). The prosecutor filed charges
only against Sanar Yurdatapan, despite the protests of the other 25 people.
Sanar Yurdatapan explains his appeal of the decision in his favour
thus:
"This decision has been taken in contravention of several laws, the
first of which is the principle of 'equality before the law' in the Constitution.
At the start we set out to block anti-democratic laws. But now it falls
to us to fight for the implementation of the law and to put an end to arbitrary
acts.
"The verdict is not 'in my favour'. I believe that it is 1000 times
worse to live in a country where there is no guarantee of the 'State of
Lawí than going to prison or paying a fine. What could be worse than this?
"In Turkish law the right of 'appeal' has been recognized and although
it has not been stated that this right is limited, I have this right. I
am exercising it." (Initiative for Freedom of Expression Press Release
August 25, 1998)
------------------------------------
(*) Editors of "FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION 2": Prof. Ali Bayramo?lu (Professor,
Journalist), Prof. Ali Nesin (Professor), Aytaç Arman (Actor), Berhan
?im?ek (Actor), Cüneyt Özdemir (TV news programmer), Derya Alabora
(Actress), Etyen Mahcupyan (Journalist), Füsun Demirel (Actress),
Halil Ergün (Actor), Haluk Bilginer (Actor), Lale Mansur (Actress),
Mehmet Güleryüz (Painter), Metin Özek (Professor), Murathan
Mungan (Poet), Müjdat Gezen (Actor), Nur Sürer (Actress), Orhan
Alkaya (Actor, Director), Orhan Pamuk (Author), Rutkay Aziz (Actor), Semra
Somersan (Journalist), ?anar Yurdatapan (Musician), Tar?k Akan (Actor),
Ümit Kivanç (Journalist), Yildirim Türker (Journalist),
Zeki Demirkubuz (Director), Zuhal Olcay (Actress)
(**) Turkish Penal Code, article 162: Republishing an article which
is defined as a crime, is a new crime. And the publisher is to be sentenced
equally as the writer.
Police arrest
four for unfurling Kurd flag
Turkish police have arrested four people for waving the flag of an
outlawed Kurdish separatist rebel group at a congress of the country's
main pro-Kurd party, state-run Anatolian news agency said on Tuesday.
It said the four were accused of ``membership of an illegal organisation''
for unfurling the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) flag at the People's Democracy
Party (HADEP) conference held in an Istanbul sports hall two weeks ago.
State security court prosecutors are still considering whether to
bring charges against HADEP after reports that delegates at the conference
did not sing the Turkish national anthem and did not put the national flag
on display.
HADEP party chairman Murat Bozlak and three other top party officials
are in custody and face a possible 22 1/2 years in jail on charges of links
to the PKK guerrillas.
More than 28,000 people have been killed in the 14-year conflict
between the Turkish armed forces and the PKK, who are fighting for self-rule
in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
HADEP, which has called for a peaceful end to the conflict, was formed
in 1994 to replace another Kurdish group, the Democracy Party (DEP), which
was outlawed for separatism.
Istanbul's police chief said on Tuesday two people had confessed
to planting a bomb that killed seven people in a busy Turkish tourist market
last month on behalf of the PKK rebels.
The blast ripped through the entrance to Istanbul's Egyptian Bazaar,
also known as the Spice Market, killing seven people and injuring dozens.
Several tourists were among those hurt. (Reuters, August 18, 1998)
Reprise
du procès dans l'affaire d'un journaliste mort en garde à
vue
Le procès d'un journaliste turc retrouvé mort après
sa détention par la police a repris jeudi à la Cour d'assises
d'Afyon (ouest) après que la Cour de cassation eut cassé
fin juillet le verdict prononcé en mars dernier contre cinq policiers
accusés de son meurtre, a rapporté la chaine de télévision
NTV.
Cinq policiers accusés du meurtre de Metin Goktepe avaient
été condamnés le 19 mars dernier à sept ans
et demi de prison par la Cour d'assises d'Afyon pour homicide involontaire
mais la Cour de cassation avait cassé le verdict pour "vice de procédure",
justifiant sa décision pour le "manque d'enquête approfondie".
Ce nouveau procès de l'affaire, qui avait été
très suivie tant en Turquie qu'à l'étranger, donnera
lieu à un examen des plaintes déposées par les avocats
de la famille du journaliste.
Les cinq policiers condamnés avaient été tout
d'abord condamnés à 12 ans de prison mais cette peine avait
été immédiatement ramenée à sept ans
et demi, en application d'une loi sur les réductions de peine. Six
autres policiers avaient été acquittés, pour insuffisance
de preuves.
Le verdict contre les policiers accusés avait été
qualifié de "beaucoup trop clément" par les défenseurs
des droits de l'Homme.
Journaliste de l'ex-quotidien de gauche Evrensel, Metin Goktepe,
27 ans, avait été battu à mort par un groupe de policiers,
selon des témoins, après son arrestation le 8 janvier 1996
à Istanbul alors qu'il couvrait les obsèques de deux détenus,
tués lors de la répression d'une mutinerie dans une prison
de la ville.
Metin Goktepe avait succombé à une hémorragie
et son corps avait été retrouvé dans l'enceinte d'une
salle de sports du quartier d'Eyup, dans la partie européenne d'Istanbul.
Le procès s'était initialement ouvert le 18 octobre
1996 à Aydin (ouest) et non à Istanbul, où s'étaient
déroulés les faits, officiellement pour des "raisons de sécurité".
Il avait été plus tard déplacé à Afyon,
toujours pour des raisons de sécurité. (AFP, 20 août
1998)
TV and newspaper offices
attacked
The offices of the private television network ATV and the daily "Sabah"
in Istanbul were attacked on the night of 19 to 20 August 1998. According
to RSF's information, shots were fired from a car at the building housing
ATV and "Sabah". Ten bullets reportedly went through the windows of the
building but nobody was injured by them. President Süleyman Demirel
reportedly denounced the attack, for which no group or individual has taken
responsibility. (RSF, August 21, 1998)
AI calls
for release of "Saturday Mothers"
Amnesty International's International Committee Against Disappearances
(ICAD) sent a letter on Saturday Aug. 22 to the prime minister of Turkey
asking for the urgent release of the Saturday Mothers. ICAD stated in the
letter that Turkish police had that same day attacked the peaceful protest
of relatives of "disappeared" people, known as the Saturday Mothers, at
their regular weekly vigil outside Galatasaray Lycee in Istanbul. Thirty-two
people who participated in the demonstration have reportedly been arrested,
according to the letter.
ICAD's letter states that they are very concerned for the safety
of these individuals and asks for their immediate release.
The police had made similar arrests on May 9 earlier this year. "There
seems to be a campaign to stop the Saturday Mothers protest. On what grounds
has this campaign been initiated? We demand that it ceases," states the
letter.
ICAD has called on the prime minister to halt the prosecution of
relatives of the disappeared and address itself to their legitimate concerns,
if it indeed respects human rights as it claims. (TDN, August 25, 1998)
Turkish
women urge action on feminist's abduction
Turkish women's rights campaigners on Thursday demanded that police
step up action to solve the mystery kidnapping of Islamist feminist Konca
Kuris, abducted more than a month ago. "We find it hard to believe that
security officials say they have done all that is necessary," a spokeswoman
for the Independent Women's Association said in Kuris' home town of Mersin.
"This woman was abducted because of her opinions, she is our friend
and we must stand up for her," she said.
Kuris, who appeared regularly on Turkish television, shot into the
limelight by advocating that women take a more active role in Moslem practice,
including standing beside men during funeral prayers.
She also upset traditionalists by backing proposals that Moslem worship
in Turkey should be carried out in Turkish as opposed to Arabic.
Her colleagues at the association said she frequently received threatening
telephone calls exhorting her not to speak out.
Kuris was abducted early on July 17 outside her home by armed assailants.
Her husband, the only witness, was knocked out in the scuffle. The women
have posted signs in the streets of Mersin bearing a picture of Kuris wearing
an Islamic-style headscarf. They say: "We want our Konca back."
Early news reports said Kuris was abducted by an extreme Islamist
group that found her flexible interpretation of women's role in Islam too
unpalatable. But since then silence has reigned. There has been no ransom
demand, nobody has claimed responsibility for the abduction or contacted
her family.
A senior policeman said the security forces were stumped by the lack
of clues. "We have searched all over Turkey...at this point, if she is
still alive she will come home herself," Mersin deputy police chief Durust
Oktay told the daily Yeni Yuzyil.
Her husband, Osman Kuris, told Reuters the family had no idea who
the kidnappers could be. "We are just praying for her safe return," he
said.
Police raids on homes belonging to members of the outlawed Islamist
group Hizbullah have drawn a blank. Turkey's Hizbullah, which favours a
strict adherence to Islamic rules, is not believed to be linked to the
Lebanese group Hizbollah.
After breaking news of the Kuris kidnapping, even the normally vocal
Turkish press has kept a lid on the whole affair, ostensibly on the family's
wishes.
"We kept silent because we did not want to place Konca in danger...but
we have no patience anymore," a member of the women's association told
Reuters.
Turkey's Human Rights Association will begin holding candle vigils
for Kuris later this week, a representative said. (Reuters, August 27,
1998)
Radio station ordered
closed for 90 days
According to information available to RSF on 27 August 1998, Radio
Özgür (an Istanbul-based radio station associated with the extreme
left) was suspended for a period of 90 days, starting on 19 August.
The suspension was based on a decision by the RTÜK (Superior
Audiovisual Council) for "inciting violence, hatred, racial discrimination
and terrorism." This sanction follows quotes, which were read on the 8
June programme "Tersname", from an article by Semih Içyilmaz which
appeared on 2 June in the daily "Günlük Emek".
The article alleged that some murders of Kurd villagers had been
committed by JITEM (Intelligence Service of the Turkish police).
Une
centaine de manifestants placés en garde à vue à Istanbul
Une centaine de personnes ont été placées en
garde à vue samedi à Istanbul par la police qui a dispersé
par la force une manifestation en faveur de personnes disparues lors d'interrogatoires
policiers, a rapporté l'agence Anatolie.
Surnommé "les mères du samedi", un groupe de familles
de kurdes ou d'extrémistes de gauche qui affirment n'avoir plus
revu leur proches après leur interpellation par la police a tenu
une manifestation devenue habituelle devant le lycée francophone
Galatasaray, dans la partie européenne d'Istanbul, selon l'agence.
La police a sommé la foule de se disperser, mais le groupe
a refusé d'obéir et a continué à manifester.
Les forces de l'ordre sont alors intervenues pour mettre fin à la
manifestation et ont placé une centaine de participants en garde
à vue.
"Les mères du samedi", qui se rassemblent tous les samedi
devant le lycée Galatasaray, demandent que l'Etat turc retrouve
leurs proches interpellés ces dernières années en
raison de leurs opinions politiques. (AFP, 29 août 1998)
La
deuxième marche pour la paix à Diyarbakir empêchée
par l'Etat
A l'occasion de la journée mondiale de la paix l'association
turque des droits de l'homme (IHD) voulait organiser le 1er septembre une
vaste manifestation pacifiste à Diyarbakir, capitale du Kurdistan
turc.
Un affrété par l'IHD partant d'Istanbul devait emmener
des intellectuels et artistes turcs désireux de participer aux manifestations
de Diyarbakir. Le 31 août, la police turque est intervenue avec brutalité
contre les pacifistes, interdit le départ des bus, arrêté
et placé en garde-à-vue 128 personnes dont plusieurs dirigeants
de la branche d'Istanbul d'IHD et du Hadep et des syndicalistes.
Les personnes placées en garde-vue ont été relâchées
le lendemain et un groupe d'avocats conduit par Me Eren Keskin, vice-présidente
de l'IHD a porté plainte contre les policiers auteurs de violences
à l'égard des manifestants pacifiques.
A Diyarbakir, la police a placé des blindés aux principaux
carrefours, verrouillé les entrées et sorties de la ville
et interdit toute manifestation.
Près de 150 pacifistes passant outre à cette interdiction
ont été placés en garde-à-vue. Les autorités
turques ont interdit les manifestations pacifistes dans plusieurs autres
villes comme Adana, Batman, Siirt.
A Istanbul, des pacifistes distribuant des tracts en faveur de la
paix sur la place de Taksim ont été interpellés par
la police.
Le 29 aôut, toujours à Istanbul, la police avait dispersé
à coups de matraques et de jets d'eau une manifestation en faveur
des personnes disparues lors d'interrogatoires policiers et placé
à vue une centaine de manifestants, dont plusieurs dizaines de mères
du samedi. Celles-ci se rassemblent tous les samedis devant le lycée
francophone Galatasaray, dans la partie européenne d'Istanbul, pour
demander que l'État turc retrouve leurs proches, disparus ces dernières
années en raison de leurs opinions politiques. (CILDEKT, 4 septembre
1998)
Des
enfants condamnés pour vol de sucreries: la justice turque en question
La confirmation lundi par une Cour d'appel de la condamnation de
quatre enfants à de lourdes peines de prison pour un vol de sucreries
a relancé en Turquie un débat sur le fonctionnement de la
justice, considérée par beaucoup comme vétuste et
inéquitable.
Cette version turque des Misérables a débuté
en août 1997 lorsque quatre adolescents de Gaziantep (sud), âgés
alors de moins de 18 ans, attirés par la vitrine alléchante
d'un vendeur de baklavas, patisserie turque à base de pâte
de pistache et spécialité de la ville, ont volé deux
kilos de ce dessert.
Arrêtés sur plainte du commerçant, les jeunes
reconnaissent les faits et sont condamnés chacun à neuf ans
de prison pour "vol avec préméditation". Une instance supérieure
a confirmé leur peine lundi et ils n'ont plus de recours.
"Notre appel a été rejeté. Ces lourdes condamnations
sont la preuve de l'état pathétique de la justice turque",
a déclaré Hakan Gencer, avocat des quatre garçons.
M. Gencer estime que leur vie est maintenant "détruite" et
qu'ils récidiveront à leur sortie de prison. "Nous n'allons
nulle part avec un système judiciaire comme celui-la", a-t-il estimé.
La presse turque, qui dès la comparution des quatre garçons
devant le tribunal a largement couvert l'affaire, s'indigne de la décision
de la justice qu'elle qualifie de beaucoup trop sévère, estimant
qu'elle ferait mieux de s'occuper de retrouver des dizaines de mafieux
en cavale plutôt que de condamner des enfants à des peines
de prison.
Selon les médias, ces jeunes ont "certes eu tort", mais ne
méritaient pas une telle punition.
"Il ne faut pas oublier que le vol est l'un des délits les
plus sévèrement réprimés par la législation
turque. Les juges sont obligés de respecter les lois, ce qu'il faut
c'est une réforme de la justice", a déclaré à
l'AFP Osman Akbay, un avocat.
"Cette décision altère la confiance de l'opinion dans
la justice", a-t-il ajouté.
"C'est incompréhensible. Ces jeunes auraient dû être
jugés par un tribunal pour enfants (...) La décision les
poussera à commettre de nouveaux crimes", a estimé Turkay
Asma, avocate et membre de la commission des droits des enfants au barreau
d'Ankara.
La loi sur les tribunaux pour enfants est entrée en vigueur
en 1989 en Turquie. Depuis, six tribunaux ont été mis en
place dans des grandes villes comme Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir et Trabzon.
"Ces tribunaux sont très loins de satisfaire les besoins et ne fonctionnent
pas correctement faute de spécialistes comme des psychologues et
des conseillers sociaux", indique Mme Asma.
Cinq mille enfants de 11 à 15 ans et plus de 10.000 autres
de 15 à 18 ans purgent des peines de prisons. Moins de 5% de ces
cas ont été confiés à des tribunaux spéciaux.
"Aucun de ces enfants n'a formé un réseau de malfaiteurs.
Ils ont été jugés comme s'ils en avaient formé",
précise Mme Asma. "Ils font les frais d'un système juridique
vétuste et dépassé. A leur sortie de prison, ils deviendront
de vrais criminels", ajoute l'avocate.
L'annonce de la condamnation des voleurs de baklavas survient alors
que le Premier ministre, Mesut Yilmaz, tente de persuader ses compatriotes
lassés par les injustices, que l'Etat est en mesure de capturer
en Turquie ou à l'étranger des mafieux recherchés
par la justice, suite à la capture en août en France d'Alaattin
Cakici, le criminel turc le plus recherché, en cavale depuis 12
ans. (AFP, 31 août 1998)
KURDISH QUESTION/QUESTION
KURDE
CHP presents report on Southeast
The Republican People's Party (CHP) parliamentarians presented their
party's report on the Southeast to the public in a press meeting held in
Diyarbakir, the Anatolia news agency reported on Wednesday.
Speaking at the meeting, CHP Istanbul Deputy Algan Hacaloglu stated
that the problems in the region represent a threat against peace at home.
He also said that some economic development institutes must be established
for the regulation of further development policies in the region.
The report states that the Kurdish problem cannot be solved with
fire power and calls for recognition of the Kurdish identity. In an effort
to establish smoother relations with the regional constituency and regain
the support they lost during the era of the Social Democratic Populist
Party (SHP), CHP members are proposing radical steps.
The report envisions reverse migration to the region as part of a
new regional development plan. It focuses on the encouragement of livestock
breeding in the Southeast and proposes land reform to put an end to the
existing feudal structure. Above all, the report highlights the Kurdish
problem as the most serious issue facing the country and describes the
killings in the Southeast as "fratricide." (TDN, August 6, 1998)
Northern
region banned for seasonal Kurdish workers
Truckloads of mainly Kurdish seasonal workers were turned away on
Thursday from a Turkish province for fear they could have links to the
Kurdistan Workers Party rebel group, a regional official said.
"The governor has banned all outside labourers because of concern
that some workers could be members of the separatist organisation," the
official in the Black Sea province of Ordu said. "This may be somewhat
discriminatory."
Local hazelnut growers depend on seasonal labourers from the poor
southeast, which is mainly Kurdish, to harvest the prime crop in late August.
"Security troops are sending away truckloads of these workers at
the (provinces) border," the official said.
Ordu Governor Kemal Yazicioglu, who ordered the ban, is a nationalist
known for his close ties to Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, and is widely
tipped by the Turkish press to be the countrys next security chief.
Small groups of guerrillas have killed security and civilian officials
in the Black Sea region in the past two years in an effort to draw the
security forces away from the southeast.
More than 28,000 people have died in almost 14 years of fighting
between security forces and the rebels, who demand self rule in southeastern
Turkey.(Reuters, August 6, 1998)
Discrimination
à l'égard des ouvriers kurdes
Quelque 280 travailleurs saisonniers kurdes chargés dans des
camions ont été, jeudi 6 août 1998, interdits d'accès
dans une province turque, qui dépend de la main d'oeuvre saisonnière
des Kurdes pour le ramassage des noisettes. "Le gouverneur a interdit tous
les ouvriers étrangers parce que certains peuvent être membres
de l'organisation séparatiste Cela peut être quelque peu discriminatoire"
a déclaré un responsable de la préfecture d'Ordu.
Le préfet d'Ordu n'est autre que Kemal Yazicioglu, connu pour ses
opinions ultra-nationalistes et pour ses liens au Premier ministre Mesut
Yilmaz. Il est actuellement pressenti pour le poste de directeur de la
Sûreté nationale qu'il convoite depuis longtemps.
Par ailleurs, le maire d'Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a déclaré
ce même jeudi 6, que la clé du problème de surpopulation
d'Istanbul se trouve dans l'instauration d'un visa d'accès à
la ville et donc préconise de claquer la porte aux migrants indésirables.
M. Erdogan a ajouté que Istanbul ne pouvait pas faire face à
une croissance "artificielle" de la population due à la migration
économique. Il est vrai que la population d'Istanbul, qui accueille
plus de trois millions de Kurdes fuyant la misère et la guerre opposant
le PKK aux forces de sécurité turques, a fortement augmenté.
Le conflit kurde finit par affecter la vie quotidienne dans les métropoles
turques. (CILDEKT, 10 août 1998)
Kurds
protest at closure of Istanbul cultural centre
Kurdish activists protested on Saturday against the closure of a
cultural centre by Turkish police in the latest of a series of moves against
a group promoting Kurdish identity.
Groups of uniformed and plain clothes police looked on as around
200 protesters demonstrated against a police raid which brought an end
to the group's programme of Kurdish concerts, films and theatre performances
in central Istanbul.
"We call on the public to defend this foundation," said Yusuf Cetin,
one of centre's proprietors.
Around 100 police raided the centre on July 31 and carried out identity
searches.
Three people were taken away by police and one of them remains in
custody. The police sealed up the centre's performance hall, saying it
did not have permission to screen films.
"The centre has been subject to repression since it started operations
seven years ago to act as a voice of the Kurdish people and frustrate efforts
to destroy Kurdish identity and culture," Cetin said.
"The culture of the people cannot be suppressed," the demonstrators
chanted. They sang Kurdish folk songs as the police stood a short distance
away.
Tight restrictions on freedom of expression target both Kurdish and
leftist activists in Turkey and are used to justify police raids on newspapers,
cultural and political assocations. Journalists and writers are frequently
prosecuted for falling foul of those laws.
The Mezopotamya Cultural Centre (MKM) was formed in 1991 with the
aim of supporting the development of Kurdish culture with a programme of
theatre, concerts and discussions.
It has set up two branches in Istanbul and has tried to establish
premises elsewhere across Turkey.
Its branches in the southeastern cities of Diyarbakir and Urfa have
been closed by authorities under the region's strict emergency rule laws.
Performance halls in Adana and Mersin have also been closed, Gokdag said.
More than 28,000 people have been killed in nearly 14 years of conflict
between the armed forces and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla
group, which is seeking self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the
country. (Reuters, August 8, 1998)
Kurdish
workers forcibly deported from Black Sea coast
Hundreds of Kurdish migrant workers from Turkey's southeast are being
deported from the Turkish province of Ordu on the Black Sea coast, the
daily Cumhuriyet reported Sunday.
Gendarmerie forces acting on orders from provincial governor Kemal
Yazicioglu are ejecting the workers, who come to the region annually for
the hazelnut harvest, the paper said.
Some 280 harvest workers from Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast
were turned back from neighboring Giresun province earlier this month for
fear that Kurdish rebel forces might infiltrate with them.
The separatist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) has recently been staging
attacks outside its usual area of operation and targeting the Black Sea
area, which has next to no Kurdish population.
At least a dozen villagers have been killed in PKK-attacks along
the Black Sea since mid-July.
The governor's ban on employing Kurdish workers in Ordu has led to
a desperate humanitarian situation, Cumhuriyet said.
"People who have spent three or four days on the back of a truck
coming here, who arrive hungry and thirsty and looking for work, are arrested,
taken to the district line and sent back," the mayor of Ulubey town in
Ordu province, Seyit Torun, said.
"It's a disgrace," Torun complained.
Many desperate and destitute workers are hiding out in the province
and trying to obtain illegal employment in the fields to earn their return
fare to the southeast, Cumhuriyet reported.
The men, women and children are sleeping under bridges and in ditches
to avoid detection, exposed to traffic hazards and the weather.
"God forbid there should be a flood now, we couldn't save a single
one of them," a local official, Salih Karatas, told the paper.
At least a dozen people died last week in floods in Trabzon, which
is the next province but one to Ordu.
A leading member of the social democratic Republican People's Party,
Ali Riza Gulcicek, appealed to Ankara to intervene.
"Anyone with citizenship of the Turkish Republic has equal rights
and has the right to work anywhere in the country," Gulcicek said. "The
government must put a stop to this ugly and inhuman disgrace." (AFP, August
16, 1998)
Turk Islamists
slam government's southeast record
Turkey's main opposition Islamist party on Wednesday criticised the
conservative-led coalition for ignoring social problems in the mainly Kurdish
southeast and failing in a military campaign against Kurdish rebels.
"Under this government, just as there have been no concrete solutions
produced to solve the southeast's socio-ecomomic problems, sufficient progress
in the fight against terrorism has not been secured," senior Islamist MP
Abdulkadir Aksu said in a statement issued in the southeastern capital
Diyarbakir.
Turkey is scheduled to hold a general election next April. Aksu's Islam-based
Virtue Party is widely expected to do well.
The southeast has been the centre of a 14-year-old conflict between
security forces and rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fighting
for self rule in the region.
Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz's government has announced a number of
investment programmes for the region, but the 14-year conflict which has
killed more than 28,000 people has held back econonic development, closed
schools and led to mass migration.
Despite government and military claims to have all but eradicated
the PKK, the rebels have staged a lethal bombing in Istanbul and a number
of attacks on military outposts in the southeast in recent months.
Human rights activists accuse security forces of committing widespread
rights abuses in the southeast, governed under emergency rule from Diyarbakir.
Aksu called for a rethink of Turkey's policy to the region.
"When $85 billion have been spent to prevent terror and only false
sermonising offered for the southeast's other basic problems, we have to
sit down and think," he said. (Reuters, August 19, 1998)
Saglar:
Ordu governor should be removed from office
CHP (Republican People's Party) Icel Deputy Fikri Saglar has called
for the immediate removal of Ordu Governor Kemal Yazicioglu from office.
Saglar harshly criticized former police chief Yazicioglu, whose name had
previously been mentioned in connection with alleged torture claims, because
he wouldn't allow agricultural workers of Kurdish origin into the city.
In his written declaration at Parliament, Saglar said, "The latest
act of the Ordu governor creates separatism, racism and social chaos."
Claiming that Yazicioglu had saved an extremist terrorist who murdered
a teacher, covered up the homicide investigation of some of his friends
from the special police forces and whose names were mentioned in the Susurluk
incident, and altered official documents, Saglar stated: "Kemal Yazicioglu
now is at the stage of not letting people of Kurdish origin who have traveled
thousands of kilometers to earn their living by collecting hazelnuts, leading
them to hunger and death. He is aiming to become a security chief or reach
a higher position with his latest action.
"This act is racist and separatist and is against social peace. It
is giving logistical support to terrorism and forms the basis for terrorism."
Saglar added that if the government was sincere about democracy and
human rights issues, Yazicioglu should be removed from office and an investigation
on him should be opened. (TDN, August 20, 1998)
Les députés
kurdes en prison accusent le régime
Les ex-députés du Parti de la Démocratie (DEP),
Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak et Orhan Dogan, incarcérés
depuis déjà quatre ans et demi à la Prison Centrale
d'Ankara, ont accordé une interview collective au quotidien turc
Milliyet du 13-08-1998. Ils se sont exprimés sur les conditions
de leur détention et sur les futures élections anticipées
du 18 avril 1999, alors qu'ils sont, eux, condamnés à une
inéligibilité à vie.
Leyla Zana: "Tant que la Constitution turque de 1982 sera en vigueur,
je ne crois à aucune amélioration, à aucune démocratisation
À mon avis, même le gouvernement est incertain sur l'avenir
de la Turquie, d'ailleurs il l'avoue parfois. Tout est sous le contrôle
du Conseil de Sécurité nationale (MGK). Si les élections
ont effectivement lieu- ce qui est encore incertain- ce sera donc dans
ce cadre Je n'attends aucune libération personnelle. Et le cadre
de l'amnistie proposée par le couple Ecevit est clair. Même
Cindoruk [NDLR: Ancien Président du Parlement allié de la
coalition gouvernementale] apporte des critiques. (Il critique le fait
que l'État ne compte nullement amnistier les infractions commises
à son encontre mais celles commises envers la société
et des individus). Drôle d'analyse. L'État se voit donc au-dessus
du peuple. Un moment donné il était question, pour des raisons
différentes, de ma libération ( ) Qu'est ce qui changera
avec ma libération? Les problèmes de la Turquie, la guerre,
les tortures persisteront. Seulement moi, je serais dehors. Pourquoi? Dehors,
pour servir de cosmétique vis-à-vis de l'Europe. Je ne veux
pas être décorative. J'étais souffrante à un
moment donné. l'État a conclu que j'étais "malade"
afin de me libérer sous ce prétexte sans reconnaître
ses torts Aujourd'hui je me porte mieux L'État continue à
nous infliger de nouvelles peines et le fera tant que nous continuerons
à parler et à écrire. Il n'a qu'à le faire.
Je me soumets. Mon époux, ma fille et mon fils sont tous à
l'étranger. Je suis restée seule, mais je suis satisfaite
de ma situation".
Hatip Dicle: "Pour nous, il n'est pas question de candidature aux
élections, de toute façon, nous sommes privés à
vie de tous nos droits civiques. On ne peut même pas voter Je n'attends
pas être amnistié. Surtout pas moi. Il me reste d'ores et
déjà à purger 6 ans- condamnations définitives
complémentaires- pour mes écrits. Et comme je continue à
écrire, les condamnations sont susceptibles de s'accroître
Dans ses colonnes, le journaliste turc Sukru Elekdag laisse entendre que
le PKK est susceptible de devenir un mouvement comme l'Organisation de
la Libération de Palestine. Si j'étais l'auteur de ces lignes,
je serais à nouveau condamné Quant à la question de
savoir si l'opinion publique nous a oubliés; Je suis persuadé
que l'opinion publique kurde ne nous a pas oubliés"
Orhan Dogan: "La Turquie ne vie pas la démocratisation. Il
n'y a seulement la volonté de museler et d'effacer l'opposition.
L'État se réorganise à nouveau. Il intensifie la guerre
et l'oppression ancrée dans le système. L'État continue
également par erreur sa lutte contre le PKK. Mais la paix ne peut
pas être évitée. À mon avis, nous allons vers
une réunion autour d'une table. La Turquie devrait prendre l'exemple
de la Colombie, et de l'Angleterre La politique du CHP (Parti Républicain
du Peuple) est une nouvelle version de l'assimilation. Elle est loin des
solutions La solution n'est pas de présenter une liste HADEP aux
élections, non plus de baisser le seuil minimum légal, ni
de laisser pourrir l'issue Nous ne nous attendons pas à être
amnistiés. Nous resterons ici en prison jusqu'en 2005. Je ne pense
pas que l'opinion publique nous ait oubliés et particulièrement
pas l'opinion publique kurde. Mais le temps adoucit parfois les choses
Nous sommes en train de payer pour la paix et la liberté. Mais je
ne doute pas que nous obtiendrons la liberté à force de lutter.
Le peuple kurde est en train de vivre le processus que de nombreux autres
peuples au monde ont dû vivre. Il n'y a pas de démocratisation
dans la politique étatique. Ainsi, dernièrement, on en est
arrivé à interdire l'accès des provinces de la Mer
Noire pour cause de conflit. Le système est fracturé, le
système est brisé; cette faille apportera la paix "
Selim Sadak: "Je ne crois pas que ces prochaines élections
vont apporter une solution. La Turquie a besoin d'hommes politiques très
courageux, mais il n'y a pas encore sur la scène politique de partis
ou de groupes capables de faire ces pas. C'est l'affaire des personnes
prêtes à payer le prix fort comme nous Je suis convaincu que
nous avons fait ce qui était juste. Nos convictions politiques reflètent
en fait la réalité en Turquie Qui sera amnistié? Pas
les prisonniers politiques. De toute façon les prisonniers politiques
ne se considèrent pas coupables Quand à nous, nous avons
porté nos convictions en nous, nous n'avons ni volé ni escroqué
et n'attendons pas non plus à être amnistiés. L'État
dit "ne me mettez pas en question", mais je crois qu'il faut justement
le mettre en question et faire que du maître du peuple il en devienne
le serviteur Je crois aussi qu'il n'y a pas d'indépendance de la
justice. Tout mon procès a duré, en tout et pour tout, 38
jours. Je pense qu'aujourd'hui il y a beaucoup plus d'innocents en prison
que des coupables". (CILDEKT, 20 août 1998)
Le PKK décrète
un cessez-le-feu unilatéral
Abdullah Ocalan, leader du PKK a décrété le
28 août un cessez-le-feu unilatéral dans le conflit qui oppose
depuis août 1984 ses partisans aux forces armées turques.
a déclaré Ocalan dans un entretien téléphonique
sur l'antenne de Med TV, chaîne de télévision kurde
par satellite proche du PKK. Ce cessez-le-feu unilatéral devrait
rester en vigueur jusqu'au terme des élections législatives
anticipées d'avril 1999.
Le chef du PKK s'est dit prêt à engager des pourparlers
avec les autorités turques afin de trouver une solution politique
à la question kurde et de mettre un terme à un conflit qui
a à ce jour fait au moins 37.000 morts et des millions de déplacés.
Cet appel a été accueilli avec satisfaction par de
nombreuses ONG turques et occidentales ainsi que par certains parlementaires
européens.
En Turquie, outre de petites formations de gauche politiques non
représentées au Parlement et les milieux pacifistes, le Parti
de la démocratie du peuple (Hadep), pro-kurde, qui avait accueilli
4,5% des voix aux législatives de 1995, s'est prononcé en
faveur du cessez-le-feu et de la recherche d'une solution négociée
au problème kurde.
Cependant l'appel du Hadep a peu de chances d'être entendu
par les autorités turques car les principaux dirigeants de ce parti
sont actuellement détenus, sous l'accusation . A Ankara, le Premier
ministre M. Yilmaz a, dès le 29 août, rejeté catégoriquement
l'offre de cessez-le-feu d'Ocalan a déclaré M. Yilmaz. a
ajouté le Premier ministre. De son côté le nouveau
chef d'état-major, le général Huseyin Kuvrikoglu,
a également rejeté l'offre du cessez-le-feu. a-t-il déclarée
à des journalistes lors d'une réception le 31 août
à Ankara. Le chef du PKK avait par le passé déclaré
au moins à deux reprises un cessez-le-feu pour plusieurs mois, en
mars 1993 et décembre 1995. Ces trêves n'avaient pas été
reconnues par les forces armées turques.(CILDEKT, 5 septembre 1998)
Turkish Kurd
rebel chief announces ceasefire
"We found it appropriate to begin a ceasefire from September 1,"
Ocalan said on Friday, speaking by telephone in a debate programme on the
Kurdish television channel Med TV. He did not specify how long the ceasefire
would last.
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Ocalan declared unilateral ceasefires
in 1993 and 1995 and has made a series of other calls for a halt to hostilities
-- largely ignored by Turkey, which refuses to negotiate with the outlawed
rebels.
More than 28,000 people have been killed in the conflict between
the Turkish armed forces and the PKK, which has been fighting for autonomy
in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country since 1984.
Ocalan added in answer to a question that the ceasefire did not apply
to the group's conflict with a rival Iraqi Kurdish group in northern Iraq,
the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
The PKK has in the past used northern Iraq as a base to launch attacks
into southeast Turkey, but its ability to operate in the region has been
hampered by an alliance between Turkey and the KDP.
During the Med-TV programme, seen in the main southeastern city of
Diyarbakir, the rebel chief cited the human cost of the fighting as motivation
for ``a new peace process'' in Turkey. "It is vital to prepare suitable
conditions for a political solution,"
Ocalan said.
Kurdish sources said the ceasefire announcement was designed to coincide
with a handover of power by Turkey's top general, Ismail Hakki Karadayi,
to the new chief of general staff, General Huseyin Kivrikoglu.
They said the PKK wanted to play a political role and move away from
armed conflict ahead of early general elections in Turkey called for April
18 next year.
Ocalan is thought to live in the Syrian capital Damascus, but Syria
denies repeated Turkish charges that it backs the rebels. He regularly
participates in Med-TV discussion programmes, which are broadcast by satellite
from studios in Belgium.
One of the rebel group's most feared former commanders is currently
on trial in Diyarbakir on charges of murder and treason, which carry the
death penalty.
The capture of Semdin Sakik, previously number two in the PKK, followed
his defection from the group in a row with Ocalan over tactics. His seizure
was hailed by the Turkish mainstream media as a major triumph for the armed
forces.
It reinforced Turkish assertions that the group was falling apart
under sustained military pressure. However, the rebels have kept up guerrilla
operations in the intervening months, kidnapping local officials and attacking
military and civil installations. (Reuters, August 28, 1998)
Ankara rejette
la trêve proposée par le PKK
Le Premier ministre turc Mesut Yilmaz a rejeté samedi la trêve
inconditionelle proclamée la veille par Abdullah Ocalan, le chef
de la rébellion armée des séparatistes kurdes de Turquie,
affichant la détermination de son gouvernement à lutter contre
cette organisation qu'il considère comme "séparatiste".
"Nous ne le prendrons jamais comme un interlocuteur (...) S'il fait
un pas pour se rendre, après avoir compris qu'il est dans une situation
désespérée et qu'il ne peut pas lutter contre l'Etat
turc, je considère cela comme positif", a déclaré
M. Yilmaz .
"Mais si ses efforts visent à créer une plateforme
politique en Europe, alors ils sont vains", a ajouté M. Yilmaz sans
autre précision.
Abdullah Ocalan, alias "Apo", le chef du Parti des Travailleurs du
Kurdistan (PKK), a proclamé une trêve à compter du
1er septembre, lors d'une émission diffusée sur Med-TV, une
chaîne de télévision financée par le PKK qui
émet en Europe et peut être captée dans le Sud-Est
anatolien à majorité kurde.
Le PKK, créé en 1978, mène une rébellion
depuis 1984 pour créer un Etat kurde indépendant dans le
Sud-Est anatolien. Les violences liées à cette rébellion
ont fait près de 31.000 morts.
"Apo", qui réside généralement à Damas
ou dans la Bekaa libanaise sous contrôle syrien, affirme que le PKK
représente les 8 à 12 millions de Kurdes de Turquie, sur
une population totale de 62,8 millions de personnes.
L'Etat turc réfute cette représentativité et
refuse tout dialogue avec le PKK, qu'il qualifie "d'organisation terroriste
et séparatiste".
Le chef du PKK avait par le passé déclaré au
moins à deux reprises un cessez-le-feu pour plusieurs mois, en mars
1993 et décembre 1995.
Ces trêves n'avaient pas été reconnues par les
forces de l'ordre turques. En 1993, quelque semaines après avoir
proclamé une trêve unilatérale, le chef du PKK avait
ordonné personnellement une action armée contre un groupe
d'une quarantaine de soldats qui voyageaient en autocar dans la province
de Bingol (sud-est), tuant 33 d'entre eux.
L'armée turque a enregisté un succès en capturant
en avril un ancien commandant du PKK, Semdin Sakik, dans le nord de l'Irak.
Sakik a été, avant de faire défection, le commandant
des rebelles du PKK dans le "Kurdistan nord", c'est-à-dire le Sud-Est
anatolien selon la terminologie du PKK. Dans cette terminologie, le "Kurdistan
sud" est le nord de l'Irak.
Son procès s'ouvrira le 3 septembre à Diyarbakir (sud-est).
La peine capitale est réclamée à son encontre.
Ankara affirme avoir marginalisé dans une large mesure le
PKK, qui a subi d'importants revers face à l'armée turque
qui continue ses opérations contre les rebelles dans le Sud-Est
et le nord de l'Irak, région montagneuse qui échappe à
l'autorité de Bagdad depuis 1991 et est utilisée par le PKK
comme base arrière.
L'armée turque y mène de fréquentes opérations
contre les positions du PKK, avec le soutien des combattants du Parti démocratique
du Kurdistan (PDK) du chef kurde Massoud Barzani, allié d'Ankara
dans la lutte contre le PKK. (AFP, 29 août 1998)
L'armée
turque rejette à son tour la trève proposée par le
PKK
L'armée turque a rejeté à son tour la trève
inconditionnelle proclamée la semaine dernière par Abdullah
Ocalan, le chef de la rébellion armée des séparatistes
kurdes de Turquie, dans des déclarations lundi soir de son nouveau
commandant en chef, le général Huseyin Kivrikoglu.
Cette trêve, proposée par le chef du PKK (Parti des
Travailleurs du Kurdistan) et qui devait entrer en principe en vigueur
mardi, avait été une première fois rejetée
par le premier ministre Mesut Yilmaz, affirmant que le PKK ne peut être
considéré comme un interlocuteur.
"Le PKK est en train de mourir comme une bougie qui s'éteint.
Qu'il (Abdullah Ocalan) se rende à l'Etat, ou qu'il abandonne la
lutte avec tous ses hommes. Il n'existe pas d'autre issue", a dit le général
Kivrikoglu à des journalistes lors d'une réception lundi
soir à Ankara.
Le général Kivrikoglu a pris dimanche les fonctions
de chef de l'état-major général des forces armées
turques, dans le cadre de nominations administratives décidées
début août.
"Nous ne le prendrons jamais comme un interlocuteur (Ö) S'il fait
un pas pour se rendre, après avoir compris qu'il est dans une situation
désespérée et qu'il ne peut pas lutter contre l'Etat
turc, je considèrerais cela comme positif", avait déclaré
M. Yilmaz, en rejetant la trêve du PKK.
Le PKK mène une rébellion armée depuis 1984
pour créer un Etat kurde indépendant dans le Sud-Est anatolien.
Les violences liées à cette rébellion ont fait près
de 31.000 morts.
Le chef du PKK avait déclaré à plusieurs reprises
par le passé un cessez-le-feu unilatéral pour quelques mois,
en mars 1993 et décembre 1995. Ceux-ci n'avaient pas été
reconnus par l'Etat turc.
Abdullah Ocalan, alias "Apo", a proclamé une trêve à
compter du 1er septembre, lors d'une émission diffusée sur
Med-TV, une chaîne de télévision financée par
le PKK qui émet en Europe et peut être captée dans
le Sud-Est anatolien à majorité kurde. (AFP, 31 août
1998)
MINORITIES/MINORITES
Turkish
State blocks election of new Armenian patriarch
Orders from the Istanbul Governor's Office have prevented Turkey's
largest Christian community from electing its next spiritual leader in
accordance with the church's constitution, in effect since 1863.
Since the late Armenian Patriarch Karekin II's death on March 10,
the Turkish Cabinet has refused to approve an election calendar permitting
the nations 55,000 Armenian Christians to elect his successor. It is normally
a 15-day process. Democratic church elections for Istanbul's 84th Armenian
Patriarch were scheduled in May, after the traditional 40 days of mourning.
But without explanation, an April 28 letter from the Istanbul Governor's
Office ordered a halt in the church's plans until further notice. Osman
Demir, one of 12 deputies to the governor, signed the order.
Compass has learned that the Armenian community was informed orally
that of the two candidates for the new Armenian patriarch, the Turkish
state preferred the older man. Under church canons and Turkish law, only
Archbishop Shahan Sivaciyan, 72, and Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan, 42, qualify
for the post.
"We deliberated and prayed as a church," a member of the community
commented, "and we agreed that we cannot allow the state to dictate the
choice of our next spiritual leader." Although Turkey requires separation
of religion and the state under a strictly secular constitution, its Interior
Ministry was accused of interfering in the last Armenian patriarchal elections
in 1990.
Meanwhile, a direct slander campaign in the rightist Turkish media
had already begun to target Mutafyan, accusing him of anti-Turkish activities.
When the "Turkiye" newspaper refused to retract its allegations, Mutafyan
promptly filed and won a lawsuit for libel. The paper still refuses to
obey court orders to print a retraction.
During May, the "Turkiye"-owned TGRT television station broadcast
more allegations against Mutafyan, claiming that the government was very
concerned about his candidacy for patriarch and preferred Archbishop Sivaciyan.
While the church waited for a resolution in the standoff, the patriarchate
sent a routine application on June 5 to raise humanitarian aid through
the church for Black Sea coast flood victims. It triggered four increasingly
stern directives from Demir in late June.
Refusing to recognize the signature of Mutafyan as the "Locum Tenens"
(official representative) of the patriarchate, Demir declared that under
Turkish law the eldest and most senior cleric in line for patriarch must
fill the interim post until a successor is elected.
The church protested that no such practice had been followed after
the death of the past two patriarchs, and that Mutafyan had been designated
Locum Tenens both by the previous patriarch and the unanimous decision
of the Religious Council. The government's demands were then submitted
to the legal scrutiny of Dr. Huseyin Hatemi, a leading scholar in Istanbul
University's Faculty of Law.
Meanwhile, Demir issued two more memos, declaring Sivaciyan the official
Locum Tenens of the patriarchate and warning that any resistance to this
decision would be prosecuted under specified criminal codes.
In a written legal analysis, Hatemi concluded that Mutafyan's legal
certification as Locum Tenens during the late patriarch's last illness
was specified to continue after the patriarch's death. Under the secular
principles of the Turkish state, he declared, no penal code could be applied
to force the church to abandon its own religious traditions.
With tensions heating, Interior Minister Murat Basesgioglu met on
June 26 with Pilo Atan, chairman of the church's Electoral Committee, together
with Mutafyan and Cefi Kahmi, a Jewish businessman and the only ethnic
non-Muslim in the Turkish Parliament.
In what the Turkish-language Armenian weekly "Agos" called a "constructive
and informative meeting," the minister blamed the unresolved crisis on
"insufficient information and some wrong interpretations." Basesgioglu
promised that the impasse would soon be straightened out, so that patriarchal
elections could be conducted according to church bylaws and the long-standing
regulations outlined by the Turkish Cabinet in 1961.
Assuming the crisis was over, the Patriarchal Religious Council waited
for over a month for written confirmation of the Interior Minister's assurances.
Instead, on July 30, the church received a notarized warning from Sivaciyan,
demanding that the office of Locum Tenens "be handed over to him immediately,"
as ordered by Demir. Failure to comply, the elder cleric stated, "would
not be in the best interests of Archbishop Mutafyan."
The church promptly called for an extraordinary General Clerical
Assembly to resolve any ambiguities concerning the interim leadership of
the Armenian Church. During the August 3 meeting, Mutafyan resigned his
Locum Tenens position, while Sivaciyan urged the assembly to bow to the
state's wishes. In a subsequent secret ballot, Mutafyan was elected 23
to 3 as Acting Patriarch, giving him even stronger authority under church
protocols to represent the patriarchate.
In a press release announcing the decision, the assembly noted Mutafyan's
position had been challenged by a small sector of the Turkish media, one
of the deputy governors of Istanbul and a small minority within the Armenian
community of Istanbul.
According to the Armenian daily "Jamanak" newspaper, the host of
"artificially created marginal issues" surrounding the election process
can be blamed on "certain communal circles" trying to bring the Turkish-Armenian
community to a deadlock.
Writing in "Agos," commentator Etyen Mahcupyan identified the culprits
as a small group of opportunists trying to take over a particularly lucrative
Armenian church foundation in Istanbul's Balikpazari district. Due to population
shifts in the area, only a handful of Armenians remain in the congregation
of Holy Trinity Church. Intent on siphoning off the real estate income
of the church, a few Armenians allegedly have teamed up with former city
officials and Minority Police Chief Orhan.
"They are against Mutafyan because they don't want a dynamic patriarch
who would stop their illegal maneuverings," Machupyan said.
According to an Associated Press report May 28, the Interior Ministry
allegedly wants to gain more control over the selection process of the
Armenian Patriarch. Turkey's Foreign Ministry, fearing it will create a
bad public image for Turkey, reportedly opposes such a move. The local
tourism industry is promoting a massive Faith Tourism campaign to attract
Christian tourists to Turkey's biblical sites during the 2,000-year observance
of the birth of Christ. (Compass Direct, August 17, 1998)
La position turque
sur le génocide arménien
Après l'adoption, le 29 mai 1998, par l'Assemblée française
d'une proposition de loi reconnaissant le génocide arménien,
la Turquie mène une vaste offensive diplomatique doublée
de menaces économiques afin de dissuader le Sénat français
d'adopter à son tour le dit texte. Dans ce cadre, le ministre turc
des affaires étrangères, Ismail Cem, vient d'adresser une
longue note aux sénateurs français pour "soulever de sérieuses
inquiétudes quant [aux] répercussions négatives" sur
les relations franco-turques de l'adoption définitive d'une résolution
sur le génocide arménien.
M. Cem qualifie d'abord d'injuste la loi "à la fois envers
l'Histoire et la République de Turquie" puis accuse d'"indulgence
envers le terrorisme" le contenu de cette loi, pourtant résumée
en un article. Il n'hésite pas à réitérer les
menaces économiques en soulignant que "la proposition de loi ouvre
la voie à une atmosphère qui ne manquera pas d'endommager
les relations politiques et économiques turco-françaises".
Le ministre turc soutient que les allégations de génocide
sont fondées "sur des documents falsifiés, des photographies
truquées et des chiffres exagérés" et accuse les Arméniens
de l'époque d'engager "des attaques systématiques, non seulement
contre les troupes ottomanes, mais aussi contre leurs compatriotes musulmans",
ce qui, selon lui, a conduit "le gouvernement ottoman à ( ) déplacer
les Arméniens". Pour ce qui est du massacre, M. Cem met cela sur
le compte des "conditions hivernales difficiles" et sur "un environnement
général d'hostilité".
Pour finir Ismail Cem déplore qu'en votant cette loi les députés
français aient refusé "de soutenir les intérêts
nationaux français".
En Turquie, pour moins que cela ils auraient été qualifiés
de traîtres à la patrie, exclus du Parlement et emprisonnés.
Au moment où un peu partout dans le monde, les gouvernements, les
Églises et les institutions font leur mea-culpa, présentent
leurs excuses aux minorités pour les persécutions et injustices
passées, le gouvernement turc refuse de reconnaître les crimes
perpétrés sous un empire ottoman révolu alors même
que les tribunaux de cet empire avaient eux-mêmes, au lendemain de
la Première Guerre mondiale reconnu les massacres et crimes contre
l'humanité commis contre la population arménienne et condamné
leurs auteurs. La Turquie républicaine est revenue sur les décisions
et réhabilité les auteurs du génocide arménien.
(CILDEKT, 20 août 1998)
MAFIA RELATIONS/RELATIONS
MAFIEUSES
Le
soutien du sommet de l'Etat à un accusé de Susurluk
Voici l'article d'Ertugrul Özkök, rédacteur en chef
du quotidien turc Hürriyet, publié le 5 août 1998 sous
le titre de "les témoins d'Agar":
"J'ai reçu une invitation pour la cérémonie
de mariage de Tolga Agar, le fils de Mehmet Agar, député
du Parti de la Juste Voie (DYP). Il y aura deux grands invités au
mariage, l'un et l'autre étant témoins des mariés:
l'ancien Président [leader du coup d'état militaire de 1980]
Kenan Evren et l'actuel Président, Suleyman Demirel.
[Agar a été contraint de démissionner de son
poste de ministre de l'Intérieur, après avoir été
impliqué dans le scandale de gang d'État de Susurluk. Le
Parlement a suspendu son immunité parlementaire afin qu'il puisse
être jugé pour avoir formé une bande ayant des intentions
criminelles - selon les allégations, une sorte de brigade de la
mort et d'extorsion utilisée dans la lutte contre le Parti illégal,
le Parti des Travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK). Agar a nié les accusations,
indiquant qu'il n'a rien fait sans la connaissance de ses supérieurs.]
La cérémonie de mariage aura lieu à Istanbul
le 17 août. Il sera curieux de voir qui d'autre sera présent
à cet événement puisque cela contribuerait à
l'idée de réhabilitation sociale d'Agar.
L'immunité parlementaire d'Agar a été levée
par le Parlement avec 6 voix marginales. De nombreux députés
de DYP, y compris le leader de DYP, Tansu Ciller, n'ont pas pris part au
vote. S'ils étaient présents, l'immunité d'Agar n'aurait
pas été levée. C'est pour cette raison qu'Agar est
plein de rancoeur contre Ciller. En fait, selon certains de ses proches,
il a récemment indiqué que le mois prochain il révélera
peut-être certaines choses.
Un discours prononcé par Agar lors de la réunion du
groupe parlementaire de DYP n'a pas reçu toute l'attention qu'elle
aurait dû par la presse. Dans ce discours, Agar a rappelé
à ses compagnons du DYP que dans le scandale de Susurluk il "n'a
pas choisi la voie de rejeter sa propre responsabilité (en tant
que directeur général de la Sûreté de l'époque)
sur la plus haute autorité politique".
Ceux qui suivent de près les développements peuvent
facilement voir ce que ces mots veulent dire. L'affaire Agar est sur le
point de devenir le plus intéressant événement politique
de notre histoire récente.
Il y a quelques mois, le quotidien Hürriyet a publié
une intéressante nouvelle. Le parc du quartier général
des généraux qui expose les statues des "commandants héroïques
turcs" comprend maintenant la statue de Mustafa Muglali. Elle est là
depuis suffisamment longtemps, mais aucun de nous n'a entendu parler de
ce développement. Muglali était un officier turc qui a été
condamné à 30 ans de prison pour avoir exécuté
quelques 30 personnes lors des soulèvements kurdes [NDLR; En fait
il s'agit du massacre de sang froid de 33 paysans kurdes en 1944 dans la
province de Van en absence de toute révolte armée] Plus tard,
il a été gracié et ses restes ont été
transférés au cimetière des soldats des forces armées.
Ceci veut dire qu'il a été "réhabilité". Mais
cette statue placée dans le parc des généraux, a une
signification qui dépasse de loin cela.
Aujourd'hui tout le monde se demande si la Turquie, qui a placé
la statue de Muglali parmi les statues des commandants braves, condamnera
Agar? Nous attendrons et nous verrons". (CILDEKT, 10 août 1998)
Turkish
mafia suspect's capture rekindles scandal
The capture of Turkey's most wanted Mafia suspect has rekindled a
two-year-old security scandal which has rocked the country with allegations
of ties between organised crime and the state. French police seized suspected
Mafia boss Alaattin Cakici, a bodyguard and a female companion as they
were leaving a luxury hotel in Nice last week.
Turkey's top policeman has said the arrest could stir up the scandal
again. Cakici was carrying a Turkish diplomatic passport, suggesting his
alleged campaign of murder and extortion was being aided from above.
"This is bigger than the Susurluk scandal," national police chief
Necati Bilican was quoted as saying in the newspaper Sabah.
Allegations that right-wing death squads were employed by the state
to kill political enemies and business rivals emerged after a car carrying
a senior policeman, a wanted Mafia boss and a government MP crashed near
the town of Susurluk in 1996.
Only the MP survived the crash. Prosecutions of him, a former interior
minister and a number of other people have yet to lift the lid fully on
state-Mafia links.
Cakici, a former far-right gang member, is accused of extortion,
involvement in illegal property deals and ordering several murders, including
that of his ex-wife and business partners.
Turkish media, quoting sources close to Cakici, say he will name
names at a court appearance in France on Monday and point the finger at
Turkish political figures he says once protected him.
Turkey's National Security Council will meet on the same day to discuss
Cakici's arrest and an application for his extradition from France. Reports
of clandestine phone calls from Cakici to cabinet ministers have added
to the intrigue.
"Everything will come out during the investigation. Now everyone
is afraid that they will also be exposed," Bilican said.
Columnist Ismet Berkan wrote in the liberal newspaper Radikal: "The
capture of Alaattin Cakici has made a lot of people nervous in Turkey."
Bilican said the Turkish diplomatic passport found at Cakici's five-star
French Riviera hideout was genuine but had been tampered with.
A notebook seized with him listed the telephone numbers of Turkish
intelligence agents, politicians and senior policemen, the police chief
said.
Bilican, appointed last year by Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz to clear
up the scandal, said the operation to capture Cakici had to be carried
out in the utmost secrecy to avoid the fugitive being tipped off about
the plan.
"We worked in great secrecy in a very narrow team. No one knew what
we were doing," he said.
Observers say people keen on frustrating attempts to clean up the
state are still influential in the corridors of power. "Don't forget
since he came to office, there have been a full four attempts to remove
Bilican. His every move has been opposed with great resistance," Berkan
wrote.
Many regard the arrest of Cakici as a sign that things may be changing
and those wishing to see an end to the state's protection of criminals
are in the ascendant.
Another alleged underworld boss, Sedat Peker, flew to Istanbul on
a private jet from exile in Romania last week and gave himself up to police.
A third accused Mafia godfather Kursat Yilmaz had also been caught.
"Alaattin Cakici, Kursat Yilmaz, Sedat Peker are people on the inside
of the Susurluk events," said Bilican. "All three thought they could flee
abroad and be safe. Two were captured and third had to return to Turkey
as the noose tightened around himÖ This is Susurluk. We will not give up
the pursuit." (Reuters, August 23, 1998)
Arrestation
en France d'une chef de la mafia lié à l'Etat turc
Alaattin Çakici, l'un des plus célèbres chefs
de la mafia turque d'extrême droite liée aux services de renseignement
turcs (MIT) a été arrêté le 17 août dans
un palace de Nice avec sa compagne et un garde du corps armé. Recherché
par Interpole pour meurtre et activités mafieuses, Çakici
étaient en possession d'un passeport diplomatique turc lui permettant
de circuler sans visa dans la plupart des pays du monde.
Au cours de conversations téléphoniques enregistrées
divulguées par la presse turque, A. Çakici a déclaré
avoir des liens avec plusieurs ministres, les services de renseignement
turcs et les hommes politique de premier plan. a affirmé Çakici
selon le quotidien turc Sabah du 30 août.
Membre d'un groupe de Loups Gris (milice para militaire néo-fasciste
du Colonel Turkes) impliqué dans une quarantaine d'assassinats de
militants de gauche à la fin des années 1970, Çakici
avait été arrêté et emprisonné pendant
quelques mois après le Coup d'État militaire de septembre
1980. Puis comme bon nombre d'activistes de l'extrême droite il a
été recruté par la MIT pour ses bases besognes en
Turquie et en Europe. Trafic de drogue, contre les Kurdes et les Arméniens,
etc).
Au début des années 1990, surtout à partir de
l'accession au pouvoir de Mme Çiller en juillet 1993 les services
turcs ont décidé de systématiser et d'amplifier leurs
activités d'assassinats d'opposants et de trafic de drogue pour
financer la guerre de l'ombre. Selon la déposition en février
1997 devant la Commission Susurluk du Parlement de Havefi AVCI, chef-adjoint
du Bureau de renseignement de la police d'Istanbul, Çakici est l'un
des éléments mafieux d'extrême droite utilisé
par l'unité de guerre spéciale de la MIT, organisée
par Mehmet Eymu, actuellement en poste à l'ambassade turque à
Washington et Yavuz Ataç en poste à Pékin. Quant leur
chef de la MIT pendant cette période où plus de 4500 civils
supposés ont été assassinés Sounnez Koksal,
a été promu au poste d'ambassadeur de Turquie en France.
Après avoir servi le gouvernement Çiller dans ses basses
besognes, Çakici et ses acolyte, sur instruction de la MIT, se sont
retournés contre «Mme. Çiller lorsque celle-ci s'est
alliée aux islamistes. Les Turcs se souviennent d'une émission
de télévision de Flash TV au cours de laquelle Çakici
était intervenu par téléphone pour dénoncer
en affirmant notamment que le mari de Mme. Çiller avait réclamé
une commission de $20 millions pour arranger la vente d'une banque publique
(Turkbank) à un homme d'affaires par Çakici. Le lendemain
plusieurs dizaines de
Récemment il avait appelé deux ministres du gouvernement
Yilmaz pour exiger le rappel à Ankara de son de la MIT, Yavuz Ataç.
La décision tardant à venir, il avait rappelé pour
dire que si on ne satisfaisait pas sa demande rapidement, il punirait le
Premier ministre en personne. C'est sans doute cette menace qui a incité
Ankara à demander à Interpole son arrestation et à
réclamer son extradition. Sans compter, une fois en Turquie il pourrait
faire des révélations contre la famille Çiller, ce
qui en période électorale pourrait servir le parti de M.
Yilmaz qui pourrait ainsi se targuer d'avoir commencé à lutté
contre. En attendant, le vice-Premier ministre turc Bulent Ecevit a confirmé
que Çakici était effectivement porteur d'un vrai passeport
diplomatique turc et qu'il avait effectivement téléphoné
récemment à deux ministres. les ministres eux-mêmes
l'avaient appelé, il y aurait eu un problème, mais c'est
lui qui a appelé les ministres à qui on ne peut donc rien
reprocher. M. Ecevit n'a pas préciser pourquoi un chef mafieux pouvait
avoir un accès direct facile à deux ministres en exercice.
(AFP, 7 septembre 1998)
Islamist
comment on Cakici: "Caught red-handed!"
"On August 24 the National Security Council (MGK) discussed what
may be the most interesting topic in its history. For the first time in
the last three years, fundamentalism was not on the MGK agenda and, again
for the first time, they talked about the "gang" issue.
"The MGK as a constitutional institution works for the continuation
of the state. Since 1996, it has been observed that the MGK has been making
statements about every single topic on the country's agenda. It is clear
that any decision cannot be considered "state policy" unless it is discussed
at the MGK meeting. It is certain that the MGK is a supra-state institution.
From this point of view, the state's attitude towards gangs is clear, since
the issue never found a place before in the MGK meetings.
"After Alaattin Cakici was caught in France, the connection between
Cakici and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) became clear. The
reason why the MGK put the gang issue onto its agenda is that the state
was caught red-handed." (From an August 26, 1998, article by Zaman's Fehmi
Koru)
FOREIGN RELATIONS/RELATIONS
EXTERIEURES
Turkey's neighbors
head towards new alliances
Agitated by the growing Turkish-Israeli relationship, some of Turkey's
neighbors have reportedly become involved in new military alliances, having
approved various agreements among each other.
Iran, Armenia, Greece and Syria, which openly complained about Turkey's
ties to the Jewish state, have signed some military cooperation agreements.
The most recent accord between Armenia and Iran provides training
in Iran for Armenian officers and a discount to Armenia in the prices of
weapons manufactured by Iran. That agreement has angered neighboring Azerbaijan
since Baku has had tense relations with Tehran because of its aid to Yerevan
during the Azeri-Armenian war over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. Iran's main
concern is said to have originated with demands to suppress its more than
20-million-strong ethnic Azeri population living in the country's north.
According to another military agreement signed between Greece and
Syria three months ago, Athens has agreed to train Syrian officers. Intelligence
sources say that currently 12 Syrian military officers are in Greece to
receive training.
The sources said both Athens and Damascus were willing to extend
their military cooperation into a defense relationship, adding that Syrian
Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas is expected to visit Greece with three of
his generals, most probably in October. (TDN, August 1st, 1998)
Turkey appeals to
EU over human rights
Human Rights Minister Hikmet Sami Turk urged the European Union on
Friday not to block Turkey's membership because of human rights concerns.
"We do not want the human rights issue to be used as a pretext to
prevent our membership," he told Reuters in an interview.
Turkey, struggling to join the European club since the 1960s, was
excluded from a list of prospective members in December when the EU put
its membership bid on hold citing the country's shaky rights record high
among its concerns.
The Turkish government responded by cutting dialogue with the EU
over sensitive issues, including human rights.
The minister said Turkey would improve its rights record for its
own benefit and not because of EU pressure.
"Progressing in the human rights field is a matter of honour for
Turkey," he said.
Allegations of rife abuse, including torture in police custody and
extrajudical killings have long troubled Turkey's relations with Europe.
The imprisonment of politicians, journalists and dissident activists
for what they have said or written have added to those woes.
The country's main rights campaigner, Akin Birdal, shot and severely
wounded by right-wing gunmen in May, was sentented to one year in jail
last month for provoking hatred in a speech. He is currently appealing
the verdict.
"I do not deny that we have problems but we are in the process of
more democratisation. This is a process which cannot be ended in one day,"
Turk said.
But Turk said when it came to the threat posed by Kurdish separatism
and Islamist activism there were limits to what concessions could be made
to improve the country's rights record.
"There are two important dangers in Turkey. One of them is a terrorist
movement against our country's territorial integrity and the second one
is a fundemantalist movement which aims to change the secular character
of Turkey. Both must be prevented."
The European court of human rights has found Turkey guilty in several
cases of ill-treatment of civilians caught in the crossfire of its conflict
with Kurdish separatist rebels, fighting for self-rule since 1984.
Rights lawyers say most of the cases relate to complaints of torture,
mystery killings and missing persons.
A court in January banned the country's biggest party, the Islam-based
Welfare Party and barred its leader, former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan
from politics for five years, further adding to Western concerns.
A secularist clampdown has followed with a plethora of prosecutions
against against prominent Islamists and a clampdown on Islamic attire in
universities.
Turk said he supported the measures: "It has a connection with the
country's secular character," he said.
Despite a parliamentary decision to take the country to early polls
next April, the minister pledged to push through legal measures to ease
tight restrictions on freedom of expression.
He said new draft laws aimed to cut the jail terms for separatist
propaganda and inciting hatred from the present maximum of six years to
two years.
But Conservative Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz announced he would resign
at the end of the year to make way for a pre-election government, a plan
that leaves only a few months for the government to pass the bills through
parliament.
"I am hopeful that we will push these bills through parliament. But
this is not only our problem. I hope the new government also will work
in that way," Turk said. (Reuters, August 7, 1998)
Turkey urges
end to U.S. missile sales to Greece
Turkey will try to persuade the United States to halt anti-aircraft
missiles sales to its neighbour and ancient rival Greece, state-run Anatolian
news agency said on Friday. It said Turkey would present evidence to U.S.
officials allegedly showing Greek government support for Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) guerrillas and expressing its concern that the portable "Stinger"
missiles would fall into Kurdish rebel hands.
A Turkish foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment on the agency
report
More than 28,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched its
campaign for Kurdish self-rule in 1984.
NATO members Turkey and Greece have long been at odds over a number
of issues, especially the divided island of Cyprus, territorial rights
in the Aegean Sea and minority rights in each country.
Greece denies Turkish accusations that it backs the PKK.
Turkey has threatened military force to prevent the planned deployment
later this year of Russian-made anti-aircraft missile batteries by the
Greek Cypriot government. Greece has said such an attack would be a cause
for war.
Last-minute intervention by the United States averted conflict between
Greece and Turkey over a series of rocky islets in the Aegean Sea in 1996.
(Reuters, August 7, 1998)
Turkish Grey Wolves in Kosova
A Turkish nationalist group has been recruiting volunteers to take
part in a self-styled humanitarian aid mission in the war-torn southern
Yugoslav region of Kosovo, the group's leader said Tuesday. "We are seeking
to create a 5,000-strong Kosovo Volunteers Army and have already recruited
some 2,500 men whose conditions are suitable," Tuna Koc, head of the Nizami
Alem (World Order organisation), told AFP.
"But do not be misled by the name, army. It will be an unarmed unit
and will be involved in humanitarian missions. Our aim is not to fight
the Serbs on the ground, but to provide the Kosovo refugees with humanitarian
aid," he said.
"We did similar things in Bosnia and Chechnya in the past," Koc said
without elaborating.
He charged that the "Serbs are committing the worst kind of crimes
against the Albanian population of Kosovo and the western world is merely
watching this. "So we have to do something to relieve the plight of those
suffering," he said. "But we are waiting for the result of the planned
peace talks for Kosovo. If they fail, we will step up efforts to send our
men to Kosovo," Koc added.
The Turkish group's move came amid increased attacks by Serb troops
against independence-seeking Kosovo Albanians, led by the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA.
The KLA, which only a month ago claimed control of some 40 percent
of Kosovo territory, has suffered a series of blows after Serb forces launched
a massive offensive aimed at securing major roads connecting the capital
Pristina with the west and south of the province.
The Serb onslaught has caused tens of thousands of civilians to flee.
International aid agencies put the figure at more than 230,000. Kosovo's
whole population is around two million.
The international community, headed by the United States, has been
pressing Belgrade and ethnic Albanians to resume talks over restive Kosovo
province, as NATO troops began manoeuvres in neighbouring Albania.
Turkey has special links with Kosovo as the region was part of the
Turkish Ottoman Empire between the 14th century and late last century.
More than two million Moslem Albanians, many of them relatives of
those in Kosovo, live in Turkey, according to ethnic Albanian groups in
the country.
But despite its strong ethnic and religious ties with the Kosovo
Albanians, Turkey has refrained from supporting the region's independence
aspirations. Ankara instead favours the restoration of Kosovo's autonomy
and a solution within Yugoslavia's territorial integrity.
However, this did not prevent Turkish President Suleyman Demirel
from condemning Serb attacks as a crime against humanity and calling for
western intervention during a visit to Albania last month.
Koc said his group did not want to undertake anything that might
be viewed as an "illegal move in the eyes of the Turkish government and
the United Nations, and will be seeking their green light before sending
our men to Kosovo.
"If get that kind of green light, we will apparently not wait for
permission from the Serb perpetrators," added the leader of the nationalist
Turkish group.
But Turkish government officials ruled out any support for the initiative.
Koc's Nizami Alem is an organisation on the sidelines of the right-wing
Grand Union Party, a seven-MP opposition group in Turkey's 550-seat parliament.
That party supported an Islamist-led cabinet from outside the government
when it ruled the country between June 1996 and June last year. (AFP, August
19, 1998)
La
CSU condamne une "ingérence stupide" de M. Yilmaz
L'Union chrétienne-sociale (CSU), branche bavaroise des Unions
conservatrices du chancelier Helmut Kohl, a condamné mercredi "l'ingérence
stupide" du Premier ministre turc Mesut Yilmaz qui a indirectement appelé
à voter contre M. Kohl aux élections de septembre.
"L'ingérence maladroite de M. Yilmaz dans la campagne électorale
allemande est stupide, et indigne d'un homme politique qui veut faire partie
des démocrates européens", a estimé le porte-parole
du groupe parlementaire de la CSU aux affaires étrangères,
Christian Schmidt.
Dans un entretien au quotidien turc Milliyet paru mardi, M. Yilmaz
a demandé aux Allemands d'origine turque de "se souvenir de Luxembourg"
au moment du vote, en allusion au sommet européen qui a exclu la
Turquie des candidats à l'adhésion. Ankara tient le chancelier
pour principal responsable de ce barrage.
"Avec sa polémique primaire M. Yilmaz empoisonne l'atmosphère
nécessaire à une cohabitation pacifique entre étrangers
et Allemands", a ajouté M. Schmidt dans un communiqué. Il
y voit une confirmation de la justesse de la ligne de son parti, qui est
contre l'accord de la double nationalité aux enfants d'immigrés,
estimant qu'elle créera "un conflit de loyauté".
Quelque 150.000 Turcs naturalisés allemands auront le droit
de voter en septembre en Allemagne, où vit une communauté
de 2 millions de Turcs. (AFP, 19 août 1998)
Germany bans two
Turkish political groups
Germany on Thursday banned two Turkish political organisations it
accused of terrorising and extorting cash from Germany's two-million-plus
Turkish population.
The Interior Ministry said the Revolutionary People's Liberation
Party (DHKP-C) and the Turkish People's Liberation Party (THKP-C) were
responsible for a series of murders and attempted murders.
It said the two had been involved in a bitter struggle for supremacy
following the banning in 1983 of their predecessor, the far-left Devrimci
Sol organisation.
"This has to be stopped...for the sake of the rule of law and so
German and Turkish fellow citizens can live together peacefully," Interior
Minister Manfred Kanther said in a statement.
Tough action against crime by foreigners living in Germany has been
a major theme of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's campaign to be re-elected on
September 27. The campaign has tended to focus on criminality by individuals
rather than that by organised, politically motivated groups.
Three former members of the Devrimci Sol are on trial in Hamburg
for attempted murder and arms offences.
The ban, effective immediately, means the two groups will be stripped
of their assets and forbidden from continuing their activities in Germany.
Any representation of the insignia of the two groups is also illegal.
Germany's Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV),
which is responsible for internal security, said the groups had a combined
membership of 1,300.
The DHKP-C, by far the larger of the two groups, stated in a recently
published manifesto its aim was the creation of a democratic, multi-cultural
state for Turks, Kurds and other ethnic groups. (Reuters, August 13, 1998)
DHKP/C communiqué
on the ban in Germany
DHKP/C Information Office in Holland issued on August 14, 1998, the
following communiqué on the ban:
On 13 August German Federal Minister of the Interior Manfred Kant,
declared our organizing for "Forbidden". As reason robbery, bodily injury,
extortion of donation funds and attempted murders were called. Our organization
was called a "heavy criminal gang".
We explained again and again and do repeat it again: The DHKP-C fights
against the fascist regime in Turkey. The strategic target of this fight
is too smash fascism, to free our peoples from suppression and exploitation
and to create an independent country, in which the peoples can live freely.
We stress, our organization is a people's liberation movement and the soil,
on which she fights her struggle is Turkey.
Our peoples, our friends, our enemies and everyone than knows us,
knows that DHKP-C is a liberation organisation, which does what she says
and defends what she does. There is not a single action carried out by
the DHKP-C, which was not acknowledged. In Germany it gave violent actions
with which we have to do nothing at all. By complots and with the influence
of the police one tried to put these actions in our shoes. Such cases were
corrected by our organization by statements.
In each statement of our organization it is said, "everything that
concerns our organization should be based on the the statements of our
organization". Without doubt this also well known by the German authorities.
Nevertheless was consciously tried to produce in Germany a phobie with
the topic "internal security" This resolution is politically conditioned.
It is calculated that this approach would be the best in the light of the
upcoming elections and the new phase of Germany's relation with Turkey.
Because of numerous speculations, we find it important to stress
the following again: Our organization fights not with political and/or
military support of any state, but with the voluntary support of our peoples.
Our fight is based on voluntariness. We want and fight for the liberty
of our peoples.
Nobody can seriously defend the demagogie as that our organization
collects money with the use of "pressure", not alone because in the demonstrations
of our organization ten thousands of humans participate.
The crucial question is the own position to fascism, for or against
it. This question should be answered and one should behave accordingly.
The German government offers its political - economic - military
support to the fascist regime in Turkey.
- while at demonstrators shoots the armed fascist state forces in
Turkey, the German government watches.
- while the state in Turkey lets humans disappear, the German government
watches.
- while fascism in Turkey commits massacres, with German weapons
and ammunition, the German government does move a finger.
- while to the crimes of fascism in Turkey are made public by our
people with the use of actions and publications, the German state hits
our people: with clubs on the heads of demonstrators, with arrests, condemnations
and prohibitions.
Our organization, DHKP-C, leads a completely legitimate fight against
the fascist state in the Turkey, whose history is one the most brutal and
bloodiest in modern history.
Germany
transfers $265 million in weapons to Turkey this year
Germany reportedly sold DM 449.2 million (approximately $265 million)
worth of weapons and military equipment to Turkey in the first half of
1998, the Anatolia news agency reported from Bonn.
The number was derived from a response by the German government to
a questionnaire submitted by the Green Alliance 90, a united opposition
movement, on the transfer of weapons to some countries in recent years.
According to the German government's statement, the value of weapons
and military equipment delivered to Turkey by year is as follows: DM 619.3
million in 1994; DM 177.9 million in 1995; DM 600.8 million in 1996; DM
145 million in 1997; and DM 449.2 million in the first half of 1998.
The government statement also said that a cargo ship used by the
German military had been sold to Turkey as surplus equipment. Both Germany
and Turkey are NATO members.
The federal government additionally said that Germany had also transferred
weapons to Greece, another NATO member, worth DM 30.7 million in the first
half of this year. (TDN, August 14, 1998)
Turkey
rejects Syrian demand to convene water committee
Putting forth "adverse developments" in bilateral relations as the
reason, Turkey has rejected demands from Syria that a joint Turco-Syrian-Iraqi
technical committee dealing with water issues be revived in 1998, the Anatolia
news agency reported on Tuesday.
The joint Turco-Syrian-Iraqi technical committee convened for the
last time in 1992. It was established between Turkey and Iraq in 1980,
and Syria joined it three years later. The committee has reached no compromise
on longstanding disputes between the three neighbors regarding the share
of the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which originate in Turkey
and flow down to Syria and Iraq.
"It is too early to revive the [water committee] process. This does
not appear to be possible in the near future. First Syria should take steps
on a number of disputed issues, including terrorism," a Foreign Ministry
official was quoted as saying.
Turkey accuses Syria of sheltering the leader of the separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, and providing support for the terrorist
organization. Turkey links a compromise on the water issue to a halt of
Syrian support for the PKK.
Under a 1987 protocol, Turkey allocated at least 500 cubic meters
of water per second from the Euphrates to Syria prior to the completion
of the construction of the huge Ataturk Dam, built over the river in Turkish
territory. The same protocol stipulated that once the construction of the
dam was finished, Turkey and Syria should hammer out a new agreement on
the amount of water to be allocated to Syria. The dam was finished in 1991,
but severe disputes between Ankara and Damascus have obstructed negotiations
on the issue and no agreement has been reached to date.
An average of more than 900 cubic meters of water per second has
flowed from Turkey to Syria from the Euphrates during the last three years.
However, the increase in the water flow is not an indication of Turkey's
thawing stance to its southern neighbor, but a natural outcome of the accelerated
electricity production at the Ataturk Dam.
Ankara: Iraqi warnings unfounded
Commenting on warnings by Baghdad that it would submit the water
issue to international justice if Turkey proceeds with its current water
policies and continues plans for dam construction, the Foreign Ministry
official said that Iraq had no legal grounds to do this.
He stated that no international mechanism or agreement existed with
respect to this and emphasized that Turkey was not a signatory to a U.N.
treaty on the utilization of international waterways for purposes other
than transport.
Other Turkish officials, who also spoke on condition of anonymity,
commented that Iraqi demands to halt dam construction over the Tigris and
Euphrates were "interference in Turkey's national sovereignty."
Syria and Iraq maintain that a permanent agreement on the sharing
of the water should be hammered out, while Turkey insists that the water
should be allocated according to just, reasonable and optimal criteria.
(TDN, August 26, 1998)
The
Guardian: "Turkey could be expelled from Council of Europe"
One of Britain's prestigious newspapers, The Guardian, said in an
article on August 28, 1998, that Turkey could be expelled from the Council
of Europe for saying it will defy a European Court of Human rights (ECHR)
ruling that it should compensate a Greek Cypriot tourist guide for the
loss of her home after the Turkish intervention in Cyprus in 1974.
Already at loggerheads with the European Union, which has refused
to make it a candidate for membership, Turkey is now on a collision course
with the one European body," Martin Walker said in his article.
After reiterating that Ankara had officially denounced the court
ruling, the paper said the Council of Europe's committee of ministers were
to meet on Sept. 14, to enforce their decision.
According to Walker, the Council of Europe can either make Turkey
comply or sabotage the authority of the court.
"Enforcing this judgement is not a battle the Council of Europe wants
to fight. It has always said the place to resolve the Cyprus dispute is
in the UN-sponsored talks," Walker said.
After indicating that the case against Turkey had been brought in
1989 by Titina Loizidou under Article 50 of the European Convention on
Human Rights, Walker said that Turkey was forced to pay 544,000 pounds
sterling in damages. "Turkey was found guilty of violating the right of
every natural or legal who are entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his
possessions," Walker stated.
He went on to say that Loizidou was now entitled to ask any court
in Europe to help enforce the judgement. "Lawyers in Cyprus are now looking
at sizeable assets such as Turkish Airlines property and aircraft," Walker
wrote, adding that Ankara is currently trying to privatize the airline.
Walker quoted Greek Cypriot Attorney-General Alekos Markides as saying
that the ruling of the ECHR was of historic significance. "Hundreds of
similar cases are now in the pipeline: up to 200,000 Greek Cypriots may
have legal grounds to join them," Walker stated.
He said that Turkey had many problems to deal with at present; "The
Turkish government, beset by Islamic fundamentalists and nationalists,
and Westernisers who want to join the EU, has little room to manoeuvre,"
Walker stated, and added, that defying the court would strengthen the hand
of the Greeks and other critics of Turkey.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC/SOCIO-ECONOMIQUE
Turks Still on Strike at
US Bases
A spokesman for 1,400 Turkish employees at U.S. military facilities
vowed today to continue a 2-week-old strike over pay, benefits and other
issues.
The strike has disrupted life at bases in Ankara, Izmir and at Incirlik
air base, near the southern city of Adana, home to 2,000 service members
and the center of a major air operation over Iraq. The action has shut
down the commissary, gas station, dining halls and other facilities
``We are determined to keep up our struggle until the end,'' said
Ibrahim Yalcin, deputy head of Harb-Is, the union that organized the strike.
The strikers are demanding that salaries be raised every three months
in line with inflation, now running around 70 percent, the union's Yalcin
said.
Yalcin also accused the U.S. Air Force of breaking Turkish laws by
getting servicemen to take on duties normally done by the strikers, including
repair work and garbage collecting.
The sides are awaiting a judge's ruling to settle a dispute over
which facilities can be operated by whom, said Capt. Max Torrens, spokeswoman
for the base.
An airman and a striking worker were briefly detained in the first
week of the strike after an argument at Incirlik air base, but they were
released when a prosecutor decided not to file charges.
Another U.S. airman, Robert Rodriguez, was assaulted in the parking
lot of a supermarket in Adana on Saturday, Torrens said.
Normally, servicemen are barred from traveling to the town, but authorities
lifted the restriction because of the strike to allow base members to pick
up supplies.
Rodriguez was not seriously injured. There was no indication the
attack had anything to do with the labor dispute
The base, some six miles northeast of Adana, is home to "Operation
Northern Watch," which patrols the no-fly zone north of the 36th parallel
in northern Iraq. More than 45 U.S. and British planes monitor Iraq's treatment
of the Kurds in the zone. (Associated Press, August 5, 1998)
Istanbul mayor
mulls shutting door on migrants
Istanbul mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday the key to stemming
the citys sprawling growth lies in issuing entrance visas to residents
-- and locking out unwanted migrants. Turkeys state-run Anatolian news
agency reported Erdogan as saying the citys shaky infrastructure, already
crumbling under the weight of its 10 million inhabitants, could not cope
with "artificial" population growth through economic migration.
"What I am talking about is not like the visas in international passports...but
controlling entrance to the city through a travel document," Erdogan said
at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new road junction in the city suburbs.
He said the measure was aimed at stopping uncontrolled migration,
illegal construction and the expansion of shanty towns in the city. Istanbul's
population has been swelled in recent years by migrants fleeing economic
hardship and armed rebellion in mainly-Kurdish southeast Turkey.
More than 28,000 people have died in nearly 14 years of conflict
between the armed forces and Kurdish rebels, seeking self-rule in a region
which has been ravaged economically by the fighting.
Before introducing the measure, aimed at keeping out those without
homes or jobs in Istanbul, there should be steps to eradicate the causes
of migration, the Islamist official said. Erdogan was quoted
as saying in a newspaper on Thursday that he would put the proposal to
Turkeys new interior minister, Kutlu Aktas, who gave up his post as Istanbul
governor this week to join the government.
He said the city council had arranged the return of 3,700 families
from Istanbul to their former villages -- at the families request.
Erdogan was found guilty in April of "inciting hatred" in what was
seen as an anti-secularist speech and sentenced to 10 months in prison.
He is currently appealing the verdict.
Erdogan is one of several leading Islamists targeted by the courts
after the closure of the former ruling Welfare Party for threatening the
countrys secular order. (Reuters, August 6, 1998)
Performances
économiques louables mais difficilement soutenables
Le Fonds Monétaire International a félicité
la Turquie pour ses performances économiques mais n'est pas certain
que la situation soit soutenable, dans son avis annuel sur l'économie
turque publié jeudi.
"L'économie turque a maintenu une croissance rapide, un déficit
extérieur des comptes courants gérable, des ratios d'endettement
relativement stable et des réserves en devises croissantes, en dépit
d'un très important déficit budgétaire et d'une haute
inflation chronique", écrit le FMI.
Les administrateurs trouvent ces performances "louables mais éventuellement
impossibles à soutenir".
Ils estiment que les autorités devrait faire un effort "important
et de longue durée" au niveau du budget, des salaires publics, des
privatisations et des réformes structurelles en particulier dans
le secteur bancaire.
Le PIB de l'économie turque devrait croître de 4,5%
en 1998 après 8% en 1997. L'inflation atteindra 55% après
déjà près de 100% l'année dernière et
le déficit budgétaire demeurera autour de 7,5% du PIB. (AFP,
13 août 1998)
EN BREF/IN BRIEF
(Dépêches
de la Fondation des Droits de l'Homme de Turquie-TIHV)
1/8/1998:
ï Le journal Halkin Gunlugu, N°24, est confisqué par la CSE
d'Istanbul pour propagande séparatiste. Le même tribunal confisque
également la traduction du livre Carol Brown, intitulé "Les
liaisons entre nous", pour "un contenu incompatible avec la moralité
publique".
2/8/1998:
ï La CSE d'Istanbul confisque pour propagande séparatiste un livre
intitulé Le Secret de l'Affaire Sait Kirimizitoprak-Sait Elci, écrit
par Hüseyin Akar.
ï A Silifke, onze personnes ayant participé à la commémoration
d'un militant de Dev-Sol, abattu par les forces de sécurité
en 1993, sont arrêtées par la gendarmerie.
3/8/1998:
ï Le caricaturiste Dogan Güzel des quotidiens Ozgur Gündem et
Özgür Ülke, est incarcéré pour purger sa peine
de prison suite à sa condamnation.
ï Les numéros des 2 et 3 août 1998 du quotidien Gündem
sont publiés avec plusieurs colonnes vides à cause de la
censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul sur certains
articles.
4/8/1998:
ï Le périodique Alternatif rapporte que Cetin Gündes qui a
été condamné par la CSE d'Istanbul à une peine
de 16 mois pour un article publié dans cette revue avait subi la
torture pendant son interrogatoire à la Sûreté de Gaziantep.
ï La CSE d'Ankara condamne le dramaturge du théâtre Izmir
Fetih Sahnesi, Mehmet Vahi Oz, à une peine de prison de 24 ans et
une amende de 12,3 millions de LT pour sa pièce intitulé
"Un ennemi de Dieu". Quatre acteurs du théâtre, Zekeriya Özen,
Fuat Basarili, Nazmi Kar et Osman Yavuz sont condamné dans le même
procès à une peine de 16 ans et une amende 10,5 millions
de LT.
5/8/1998:
ï Le quotidien Gündem rapporte qu'un prisonnier politique, Safi Genc,
qui purge actuellement sa peine de prison dans la prison spéciale
de Gaziantep, est systématiquement privé des soins médicaux
alors qu'il souffre toujours des troubles nerveux à cause de la
torture pendant sa garde à vue de 45 jours en 1994.
ï Le journal Halkin Birligi, N°60, est confisqué par la CSE
d'Istanbul pour propagande séparatiste.
ï L'ancien député DEP Hatip Dicle qui purge actuellement
sa peine de plus de sept ans est condamné une fois de plus par la
CSE d'Ankara à une peine d'un an pour son communiqué à
une conférence sur les droits de l'Homme en Turquie en 1995.
ï Suite à une descente au Centre culturel Mart Ekin à Izmir,
la police arrête deux dirigeants du centre, Safak Gumussoy et Kadir
Önder, ainsi que les artistes du Mouvement théâtral d'Ankara
(ATH), Nevzat Sus, Mehmet Yurdal, Derya Özen, Muge Savut et Goknur
Goral s'y trouvant pour la préparation d'une représentation.
6/8/1998:
ï Le quotidien Gündem est publié avec plusieurs colonnes vides
à cause de la censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE
d'Istanbul sur certains articles.
ï La CSE d'Ankara commence à juger un groupe de dirigeants du parti,
Halit Celik (SIP), Hamza Abay et Yilmaz Acikyuz (HADEP) ainsi que le journaliste
Ahmet Ulucelebi (Atilim) à cause de leur communiqué relatif
à l'attentat contre Akin Birdal.
ï Un livre intitulé "L'homme dans les religions célestes",
écrit par Özdemir Basargan, est confisqué par un tribunal
pénal d'Istanbul pour insulte à la religion.
7/8/1998:
ï Le quotidien Gündem est publié avec plusieurs colonnes vides
à cause de la censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE
d'Istanbul sur certains articles.
ï A Istanbul, Ramazan Özgür, Ahmet Özgür et Selami
Aydemir affirment avoir été torturés après
leur arrestation le 3 août pour protester contre l'infraction grave
d'une voiture appartenant à la police.
ï La présidente de la Fondation pour la Solidarité avec les
femmes kurdes (Kurt KADAV), Zeynep Baran est condamnée par la CSE
d'Istanbul une peine de prison de deux ans et une amende de 1,8 millions
de LT, pour incitation au désordre.
8/8/1998:
ï Le périodique Odak, N°79, est confisqué par la CSE
d'Istanbul pour propagande séparatiste.
9/8/1998:
ï L'ancien rédacteur en chef du périodique Devrimci Cözüm,
Erdal Özdemir est arrêté à Istanbul.
ï A Amasya, trois personnes sont mises en état d'arrestation par
un tribunal pour aider le TKP(ML)-TIKKO.
10/8/1998:
ï Les numéros des 9 et 10 août 1998 du quotidien Gündem
sont publiés avec plusieurs colonnes vides à cause de la
censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul sur certains
articles.
ï A Osmaniye, le correspondant du quotidien Gündem, Ahmet Birgul,
est arrêté et soumise aux insultes et menaces pour son article
sur l'arrestation de certains dirigeants de HADEP.
ï A Diyarbakir, le président provincial du parti du Travail (EMEP)
Sukru Abay déclare avoir été soumis aux menaces pendant
sa garde à vue à la police.
ï Une employée du bureau du quotidien Gündem à Mersin,
Zelal Arslan est arrêtée lors qu'elle sorte du bureau.
ï A Istanbul, un cireur âgé de 11 ans, Hakan Kizil est emmené
au poste de police et battu pour refusé de cirer gratuitement les
chaussures d'un policier.
11/8/1998:
ï Le quotidien Gündem est publié avec plusieurs colonnes vides
à cause de la censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE
d'Istanbul sur certains articles.
ï Le quotidien Gündem rapporte qu'un prisonnier politique, Mehmet
Oner, qui purge actuellement sa peine de prison de 12,5 ans dans la prison
d'Amasya, est privé des soins médicaux alors qu'il souffre
toujours des troubles cardiaques.
ï Un tribunal pénal d'Ankara décide d'interdire la maison
du peuple de Dikmen à cause des slogans scandés pendant un
concert organisée par l'association en 1997. Cinq dirigeants de
l'association, Sükran Eken, Halil Kures, Demet Tekin, Erkan Adiguzel
et Fatma Aytekin sont condamnés chacun à un an de prison.
12/8/1998:
ï A Bodrum, le peintre Vezir Dolancay déclare avoir été
battu et gardé à vue au poste de police pendant 27 heures
pour avoir refusé de badigeonner gratuitement le bâtiment
du poste.
ï A Istanbul, un tribunal pénal commence à juger le président
local de EMEP Ahmet Karatay et quatre autres dirigeants du parti pour avoir
organisé une manifestation sans autorisation à l'occasion
de la journée de la femme du 8 mars.
ï Le journal Alinteri, N°26, est confisqué par la CSE d'Istanbul
pour propagande séparatiste.
ï Le rédacteur en chef du journal Özgür Gelecek, Celal
Aslandogan, est arrêté à Istanbul.
ï A Osmaniye, six adolescents, V.Y.(12), I.B.(11), B.K.(10), M.K.(11),
H.K.(11) et M.K.(10) sont emmenés au poste de police sous accusation
de lancer des pierres à un train passant et sont passés à
tabac.
13/8/1998:
ï Les numéros des 12 et 13 août 1998 du quotidien Gündem
sont publiés avec plusieurs colonnes vides à cause de la
censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul sur certains
articles.
ï Le rédacteur en chef du journal Emek, Ahmet Ergin, est condamné
par la CSE d'Istanbul à une amende de 5,7 millions de LT pour propagande
séparatiste. Le tribunal décide également de former
le journal pour trois jours.
ï Le correspondant du périodique Özgür Gelecek, Murat
Deniz, est arrêté à Balikesir.
ï Le président local de HADEP à Batman, le Dr. Sakir Kakalicoglu
et dix autres dirigeants du parti sont traduits devant la CSE de Diyarbakir
sous l'accusation de soutenir le PKK.
14/8/1998:
ï Le quotidien Gündem est publié avec plusieurs colonnes vides
à cause de la censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE
d'Istanbul sur les articles relatifs à la proclamation du cessez-le-feu
par le PKK.
ï Le poète Ömer Tekercioglu est inculpé par le procureur
d'Ankara pour avoir insulté le président de la République
dans son recueil intitulé Cerci.
ï L'ancien secrétaire générale des Maisons du peuple,
Abdullah Aydin, est incarcéré à Ankara pour purger
sa peine de prison d'un an à cause de son discours à un meeting
à l'occasion de la journée de la Paix en 1996.
ï A Ankara, deux dirigeantes de parti, Sema Basok (EMEP) et Gülizar
Malgaz (HADEP) sont arrêtées pour une manifestation organisée
à l'occasion de la journée de la Femme du 8 mars.
15/8/1998:
ï Le journal Emek rapporte qu'un adolescent de 14 ans, D.C., a été
torturé à Ankara après son arrestation le 29 juillet
1998 sous accusation de vol.
ï Le rassemblement habituel des "Mères du samedi" devant le lycée
de Galatasaray à Istanbul est interdit par la police et plusieurs
personnes arrêtée pour résister à cette interdiction.
ï Le journal Azadiya Welat rapporte que ses plusieurs collaborateurs ont
récemment arrêtés à Adana, Mersin, Izmir et
Mardin.
ï Un employé de la revue Kaldirac, Ergun Kose, est arrêté
à Istanbul.
ï A Istanbul, le cireur Hakan Kizil, âgé de 11 ans, est arrêté
pour une deuxième fois pour à cause de dénoncer par
l'intermédiaire de l'IHD les mauvais traitements qu'il a subi pendant
son arrestation du 10 août.
16/8/1998:
ï Le prisonnier politique Cetin Gunes est privé des soins médicaux
dans la prison d'Araban alors qu'il souffre d'une maladie cardiaque. Il
a été condamné à une peine de 16 mois pour
propagande séparatiste.
17/8/1998:
ï Le quotidien Öncü est confisqué pour un article.
18/8/1998:
ï La section d'Istanbul de l'IHD annonce qu'une détenue politique
âgée de 16 ans, Sevgi Ince, est privée des soins médicaux
à la prison de Bayrampasa d'Istanbul alors qu'elle souffre toujours
de la présence d'une balle dans sa jambe. Elle avait été
capturée en 1996 pendant une escarmouche entre un groupe de résistants
et les forces de sécurité.
ï A Aydin, un prisonnier politique âgé de 70 ans, Halef Özer,
déclare être privé des soins médicaux malgré
le fait qu'il souffre de maladies cardiaques, de prostate et de haute tension.
ï La police arrête plusieurs universitaires à Ankara pour
faire une manifestation à l'occasion du procès d'un groupe
de jeunes universitaires jugés pour déferler une pancarte
contre l'augmentation des frais d'inscription aux universités.
19/8/1998:
ï Le quotidien Gündem est publié avec des colonnes vides à
cause de la censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul
sur un article.
ï Le journal Halkin Günlügü, N°25, est confisqué
par la CSE d'Istanbul.
ï Le bureau de Mersin du journal Azadiye Welat est attaqué par des
militant de MHP et les matériels à l'intérieur sont
saccagés? Les assaillants passent à tabac Ekrem Özer
se trouvant à ce moment au bureau.
ï A Mersin, un correspondant du journal Alinteri, Servet Özdemir est
emmené par la police et passé à tabac.
20/8/1998:
ï Deux dirigeants du parti de la Liberté et de la Solidarité
(ÖDP), Haydar Yildirim et Mustafa Kocaoglu, sont incarcérés
à Ankara pour purger leur peine de prison de deux ans chacun, à
laquelle ont-ils été condamnés par la CSE d'Ankara
pour organiser un meeting le 1er septembre 1996 à l'occasion de
la Journée mondiale de la Paix.
ï Les derniers numéros des journaux Hedef et Proleter Halkin Birligi
sont confisqué par la CSE d'Istanbul.
21/8/1998:
ï Le quotidien Gündem est publié avec des colonnes vides à
cause de la censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul
sur un article.
ï A Istanbul, un distributeur du quotidien Gündem et huit autres personnes
y compris deux mineurs d'âge sont arrêtés par la police.
22/8/1998:
ï Le quotidien Gündem est publié avec des colonnes vides à
cause de la censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul
sur un article.
ï La revue Zindan, N°3, est confisquée par la CSE d'Istanbul
pour propagande séparatiste.
ï Le rassemblement habituel des "Mères du samedi" devant le lycée
de Galatasaray à Istanbul est interdit par la police. Un groupe
composé de représentants des organisations politiques et
démocratiques comme IHD, ÖDP, HADEP et Reporters sans frontières
(RSF) sont harcelés quant ils organisent un autre rassemblement
en protestation contre cette interdiction. La représentante de RSF
Nadire Mater et la dirigeante de IHD Nimet Tanrikulu ainsi que plusieurs
personnes sont arrêtées par la police.
23/8/1998:
ï A Istanbul, cinq personnes sont arrêtées par la police alors
qu'elles sont en train de faire la lecture d'une communiqué en protestation
contre l'interdiction la Radio Özgür par le RTUK.
24/8/1998:
ï Le président provincial de HADEP à Ankara, Kemal Bulbul,
et cinq autres dirigeants de ce parti sont traduits devant la CSE d'Ankara
sous l'inculpation d'aider une organisation illégale. Chacun risque
une peine de prison jusque 7 ans et demi.
ï La revue Kizil Bayrak, N°68, est confisquée par la CSE d'Istanbul
pour incitation à la haine.
25/8/1998:
ï A Izmir, deux adolescents âgés de 14 ans, U.O. et C.A.,
affirment avoir été torturés au poste de police pendant
leur garde à vue. Le même jour, un dirigeant de la section
de la jeunesse du HADEP à Istanbul, Selam Inan, déclare avoir
été kidnappée par lkes policiers le 11 août
et soumis à la torture pendant plusieurs jours.
ï Après la cassation de leur première condamnation, le procès
du président de HADEP Murat Bozlak et trois autres hauts dirigeants
du parti, Hamit Geylani, Ali Riza Yurtsever et Kemal Okutan, est recommencé
à la CSE d'Ankara. Ils sont tenu responsables de l'enlèvement
du drapeau turc pendant le congrès du parti en 1996.
ï Le bureau de liaison du journal Kizilbayrak à Antakya est perquisitionné
par la police et plusieurs publications et documents y sont confisqués.
Les bureaux des journaux Atilim et Kurtulus à Antep sont également
perquisitionnés le même jour par la police.
26/8/1998:
ï Un des dirigeants du parti pour la démocratie et la paix (DBP),
Fikret Sahin, est incarcéré à Gudul pour purger sa
peine de prison d'un an à laquelle a-t-il été condamné
par la CSE d'Ankara à cause de son discours à la journée
pour la paix en 1997.
ï Trois membres du groupe de musique Yorum, Irsad Aydin, Vefa Saygin et
Aziz Akal, sont placés en détention préventive par
la CSE d'Istanbul suite à leur arrestation au centre culturel d'Idil
le 21 août. Le même jour, la CSE d'Adana place en détention
préventive un autre musicien, Mehmet Öztürk, membre du
groupe de musique Özgürlük Türküsü.
ï Le président de HADEP Murat Bozlak et 50 autres dirigeants du
parti son jugés par la CSE d'Ankara sous l'inculpation de constituer
l'aile légale du PKK.
27/8/1998:
Le quotidien Gündem rapporte que le traitement médical
de trois prisonniers politiques à la prison de Diyarbakir, Mehmet
Cubukcu (72), Mehmet Seyhan et Kadri Gokdere, est empêchés
par les autorités pénitentiaires malgré la gravité
de leur état de santé.
ï Le journal Emek, N°656, est confisqué par la CSE d'Istanbul
pour l'incitation à la haine.
ï Le quotidien Gündem est publié avec des colonnes vides à
cause de la censure imposée par le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul
sur deux articles.
28/8/1998:
ï Le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul inculpe quatre membres de HADEP pour
avoir exposé le drapeau du PKK pendant le congrès de HADEP
tenu le 9 août à Istanbul. Chacun risque une peine de prison
jusque 7 ans et demi.
ï Onze membres de Greenpeace sont arrêtés pendant une manifestation
contre la construction d'une centrale nucléaire à Akkaya.
Parmi eux se trouvent également sept écologistes d'origines
étrangères.
29/8/1998:
ï Le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul inculpe deux journaliste du journal
islamiste Akit, Hasan Karakaya et Veli Kucuk, pour avoir critiqué
le rapporteur de la Cour constitutionnelle qui avait demandé la
fermeture du RP.
30/8/1998:
ï Le procureur de la CSE d'Istanbul demande la peine capital pour une femme
âgée de 20 ans, Gülseren Özdemir, qui a été
arrêtée le 13 août pour faire partie d'un groupe armé
proche du PKK. Sa soeur Gülistan Özdemir, âgée de
156 ans, avait été abattue par les policiers lors d'une opération
le 11 février à Istanbul.
ï Le journal Alinteri, N°128, est confisqué par la CSE d'Istanbul
pour l'incitation à la haine.
31/8/1998:
ï Le correspondant du journal Kurtulus, Özgül Emre, est arrêté
à Istanbul.
