To the attention of the Members of the
European Parliament
and the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe
THE 6th MONTH
OF “DEMOCRATIZATION”
• The 1982 Constitution imposed by the military is still in force.
• The National
Security Council remains above the government
• General Staff
remains independent of the Defense Minister.
• The
Counter-Guerrilla Organisation remains untouchable.
• State Security
Courts carry on persecutions
• Turkish Kurdistan
is still under state of emergency
• State terrorism
and air attacks goes on in Kurdistan
• 22 Kurdish
deputies face capital punishment
• 290 intellectuals
pursued for a petition to the ONU
• A Kurdish
journalist assassinated
• A journalist
imprisoned for criticizing the Army
• Sociologist
Besikci sentenced to a fine of $130,000
• The Kurdish
Institute’s sign-board was removed by police
• May Day
celebrations in street and a strike are forbidden
• Virginity test
led two teenage girls to commit suicide
Since the formation of the new coalition government
led by Demirel, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe have
adopted a more understanding and tolerant attitude towards Turkey. As
the Council of Europe, principal European institution for defending
human rights, is now being chaired by Ankara, the Dury Report on the
EC-Turkey relations to be debated at the European Parliament in July
contains appreciations rather than criticisms as regards the new
government’s performance. Even the Gawronski Report on the Rights of
the Kurdish People, recently adopted by the European Parliament, is
being applauded by the pro-government Turkish press as a new sign of
European sympathy to Turkey, because it excludes the right to
self-determination. (For both reports, see: Info-Türk, May 1992)
As for the Council of Europe, the debate on the
Lentz-Cornette/Baarveld-Schalman Report on Turkey which is more
courageous than those of the European Parliament (See: Info-Türk,
February 1992) is being postponed for not annoying the friends in
Ankara.
Yet, the new coalition, in spite of its promises and
declarations charming the EP rapporteurs, has not put in practice
fundamental reforms to transform the militarist “democracy” installed
by the putchist generals into a real democracy conforming to the norms
established by the international conventions.
On the contrary, the State terrorism has
continuously been reinforced with bloodshed, arrests, prosecutions,
condemnations and ban on publications and associations.
Below is the situation not so brilliant of
human rights in Turkey in the 6th month of power of the DYP-SHP
Coalition.
• The 1982 Constitution imposed by the military is
still in force
Whereas the new government had promised to
completely modify the 1982 Constitution of the military, the
constitutional amendment package prepared by the coalition parties in
six months and sent to the opposition parties for elaboration on May 26
does not contain any changes as regards:
- putting an end to the extra-parliamentary powers
of the National Security Council, dominated by the army chiefs;
- submitting the General Staff of the Armed Forces
to the authority of the government;
- lifting the State Security Courts,
- lifting articles which keep open the door to
banning Kurdish or left-wing parties, organisations and publications.
• General Staff remains independent of the Defense
Minister
Parliament’s Defense Commission rejected on May 14
the law proposal by SHP deputy Celal Kürkoglu who suggested the office
of the Chief of General Staff be affiliated with the office of the
Defense Minister.
Kürkoglu insisted on his proposal saying whether
those who were appointed would be under the order of those who were
elected or those who were elected would be under the order of those who
were appointed.
However, Defense Minister Nevzat Ayaz said that the
matter could not be solved through an adoption of a provision of a law
and should absolutely be taken up within the framework of a
constitutional change. Since the constitutional reform package does not
contain any change on the matter, the army chief will remain, as
before, independent of the Ministry.
• The Counter-Guerrilla Organisation remains
untouchable.
The SHP has, in spite of its promises during the
electoral campaign, dropped the Counter-Guerrilla debate from agenda.
A proposal by Kurdish deputy Mahmut Alniak for an
investigation into the sinister activities of this Turkish version of
“Gladio” was discussed at the SHP Parliamentary Group on May 26.
Although the majority of the group voted in favour of the proposal,
party leader and deputy premier minister Erdal Inönü rejected the
ballots on grounds that the vote majority was not enough to make a
decision and announced, “I have taken the issue off the agenda.”
This organisation, officially entitled Special War
Department is attached to the Chief of General Staff and in charge of
“behind-of-the-front activities as well as defense of national
territory under occupation during the time.” However, it has taken an
active and secret role in the State terrorism in southeast Turkey.
• Turkish Kurdistan is still under state of emergency
As reported in our April 1992 issue, the Turkish
Parliament voted overwhelmingly, on March 17, to extend the state
of emergency for a further four months in ten of the southeastern
provinces.
The SHP had, during its opposition years, been
against this extraordinary regime in Turkish Kurdistan, and after the
last legislative elections it had entered the government with the
promise of lifting it. However, despite a strong opposition from the
party members, the majority of the SHP parliamentary group voted for
the prolongation of the emergency state. Thereupon, Kurdish deputies
resigned the SHP.
According to recent information, the governing
parties have already decided the emergency state in the region for
another 4-month period in July.
• State terrorism and air attacks goes on in
Kurdistan
As pointed out by Amnesty International, State
terrorism in Turkish Kurdistan has been reinforced in 1991 and in early
1992.
The bloodshed of Newroz was followed by a series of
military attacks on Kurdish villages as well in Turkey as in Northern
Iraq.
Very recently, on May 31, Turkish air raids on
civilian settlements in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq killed at
least seven civilians. Just before the May 19 elections in Iraqi
Kurdistan, Turkish jets had hit many villages in the area.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has filed a
formal protest in Ankara to end cross border attacks. KDP said that,
because of continuous bombing by Turkish planes, Kurdish civilians
refuse to return to their houses in the border territory or hide in
caves during the day to avoid the assaults.
As for the Turkish Kurdistan, the Turkish security
forces have been carrying on their attacks on the local population by
using war-planes, tanks, helicopters and heavy weaponry.
The Kurdistan Committee, at a press conference in
Brussels on May 21, reported that the Turkish army recently killed
hundreds of villagers and no members of the press were allowed into the
area where the operations took place. “The civilian people is being
openly slaughtered, the reason for this being that the Kurdish people
are the source of the guerrilla army and the Turkish army wants to kill
them en masse,” added the Committee.
Same day more than 10,000 Kurdish migrants or
refugees held a mass demonstration in the streets of Brussels in
protest against the State terrorism in Turkish Kurdistan and for making
a call to the European Communities and other international institutions
to mediate and take the steps necessary to stop the “dirty war” between
the two parties to the conflict and help pave the way for a political
solution.
A spokesman of the National Liberation Front of
Kurdistan (ERNK) said on this occasion: “Turkey is continuously calling
on the international community to intervene in the conflict between the
Armenians and the Azeris. We too want international institutions to
monitor the situation. In this conflict while the Kurdish side is
continuously calling for dialogue the Turkish state insists on the
military option of force. The Turkish state is imposing this dirty war
on the Kurdish people.”
• 22 Kurdish deputies face capital punishment
The acting speaker of Parliament, Yilmaz Hocaoglu
endorsed on May 22 files calling for the lifting parliamentary immunity
on 22 Kurdish deputies.
The State Security Court Chief Prosecutor Nusret
Demiral, accusing the deputies of making declarations against the
integrity of the Republic, asks the Parliament to lift their immunity
in order to bring them before the tribunal. If the legal proceeding
starts, the deputies will face capital punishment.
The files were earlier blocked from entry into
Parliament by Speaker Hüsamettin Cindoruk, who argued that members of
Parliament had “freedom of the rostrum.”
However, when Cindoruk replaced the President of the
Republic Özal during his visit to the United States, at his absence in
the Parliament, the prosecutor submitted the files to the deputy
speaker Yilmaz Hocaoglu who replaced Cindoruk.
Seemingly, Speaker Cindoruk was well informed by the
acting speaker of his intention, but this time he did not object to the
endorsement of the files.
The Chief Prosecutor Demiral also asked the
Constitutional Court, on April 4, to close down the People’s Labour
Party (HEP) on charges of carrying out activities incompatible with the
Constitution and the Political Parties Code.
• 290 intellectuals pursued for a petition to the ONU
A joint petition signed by 290 intellectuals,
including HEP Chairman Feridun Yazar, Kurdish deputies, trade
unionists, journalists, writers and artists which asks for the
intervention of the United Nations and other international institutions
to stop State terrorism in the southeastern Turkey has been
labelled by the pro-government Turkish press as a “high treason.”
The petition, saying that “Turkish state is trying
to wipe out the Kurdish population”, asks that Kurdish guerrillas
should be treated according to the rules pertaining to international
warfare.
On this provocative campaign, the Chief prosecutor
of the Ankara State Security Court, Nusret Demiral started an
investigation and interrogated 290 signatory intellectuals one by one.
He said on June 4 that the investigation into the petition was
completed and the file would be sent to the SSC for trying 290
intellectuals.
• A Kurdish journalist assassinated
A Kurdish journalist, Hafiz Akdemir, 27, working for
the daily newspaper Özgür Gündem, was shot dead in Diyarbakir on June 8
by an unidentified gunman.
Özgür Gündem reports that Akdemir was shot with a
single bullet, similar to tens of other killings in the southeast
attributed to the Counter-Guerrilla.
The killing of Akdemir came after a week-long
campaign by the newspaper to attract attention to various human rights
violations in the southeast and on the second day of a serial interview
with PKK leader Öcalan.
Earlier, gunmen killed 2000e Dogru representative
Halit Güngen in Diyarbakir and Yeni Ülke reporter Cengiz Altun. During
the Newroz bloodshed, Sabah newspaper reporter Izzet Kezer was also
shot to death.
More than 90 people have reportedly been killed
under controversial circumstances in southeast Turkey over the past
year.
• Besikci sentenced to a fine of $130,000
Sociologist Ismail Besikci who is one of the
principal targets of the State terrorism because of his courageous
stand on Kurdish question and his publisher Ünsal Öztürk were sentenced
by the State Security Court of Ankara, on May 24, to a total of TL900
million ($130,000) in fines by virtue of Article 8 of the Anti Terror
Law on charges of separatism in nine books.
Out of 14 books that Besikci has written thirteen
have been the object of legal proceedings and nine of them have been
confiscated by authorities
Besikci, 53, was first arrested in 1971 for his
sociological researches on the Eastern Anatolia and spent three years
in prison. He was released in 1974 in a general amnesty, but could not
return to his post at the university. In 1979 he was arrested and
sentenced to prison, where in 1980 a new case was filed against him for
the contents of a letter he wrote to the Swiss Writers’ Union. More
cases were filed against him for his defense statements during his
trials.
He spent six more years in prison between 1981 and
1987. His book International Colony Kurdistan landed him behind bars
once again in March 1990, though he was released in July.
Besikci was arrested in March 1991 for a message he
sent to a Kurdish Solidarity Meetings in Germany in October 1990. He
was released in April the same year.
Some of the cases against him collapsed with the
Anti Terror Law, while other articles in the law created new cases
against him. In August 1991, he was arrested in Ankara for his
publications, only to be released two months later. He was arrested
again in November for his book The Mandatory Housing of Kurds, and
released the same day.
• The Kurdish Institute’s sign-board was removed by
police
The Kurdish Institute, the first of its kind in
Turkey, was founded in Istanbul on April 18, but lost its Turkish and
Kurdish sign-board some three hours later when the police removed it
from the front of the building.
On April 22, Kurdish deputy Mahmut Kilinc submitted
a motion to Parliament demanding an explanation on whether the
institute and its sign were against the law or not. He also asked
whether the government was rejecting the Kurdish identity with
these sorts of bans.
The Kurdish Institute, a private structure
established for the study of the Kurdish language, history and culture,
was founded under the supervision of the Upper Mesopotamia Cultural
Center.
Dr. Ismail Besikci, one of the institute’s founders
and its chairman, said: “The founders of the institute were encouraged
by the Kurdish people. There is a war in the Southeast. The people in
the southeast are now more conscious, and by attending rallies are
becoming part of the unarmed uprising. Kurds want to learn about their
own history, culture and language.”
Besikci also said that he finds the new government’s
approach to the Kurdish problem insincere and any change in government
attitude toward the matter is the result of the pressure from the West.
• A journalist imprisoned for criticizing the Army
A columnist for the Islamist daily newspaper Zaman,
Ömer Okcu was arrested on May 12 for serving a one-year imprisonment to
which he was sentenced for having criticized the Armed forces.
In his article written under the pen name Hekimoglu
Ismail, Okcu had criticized the Armed Forces with discrimination
against religious believers.
The Lawyers’ Association stated that the arrest of
Okcu was a demonstration that the Armed forces were still considered
“taboo” in the country. The Press Council and the Journalists’
Association too criticized the government of tolerating the imprionment
of journalists.
• May Day celebrations and strikes are still
forbidden
Despite the promises to the International Labour
Organisation (ILO), the government continues to ban workers’
demonstrations and strikes.
While May Day was marked world-wide with meetings
and marches in streets, in Turkey any kind of open-air May Day
celebration was forbidden. Trade unions had to celebrate May Day in the
halls.
Many days ago, security forces were mobilized
throughout the country for preventing any attempt to hold May Day
rallies and all industrial cities were occupied by police teams and
military troops on May 1st. Hundreds of people trying to stage rallies
were immediately arrested by police using force.
On May 31, the government postponed the strike of
14,000 public sector agricultural workers for a period of 60 days on
the grounds that this may harm public health and national security.
• Virginity test led two teenage girls to commit
suicide
Forcing the teenage girls to have virginity tests in
schools led to dramatic situations and a big anger in the human rights
circles.
The Turkish Womens’ Association announced on May 9
that a religious training school principal in Simav made two teenage
students go through a virginity test at a local hospital because they
had gone on a picnic with their friends. At the examination they turned
out to be virgins. When the school sought a second test at a larger
hospital, the two girls tried to commit suicide and one of them died.
In a similar incident in Ula, a teenage student in a
similar situation killed herself.
This practice has been protested by a series of
actions by womens’ associations.
2-MONTH STATE TERRORISM
6.4, in the town of Pötürge (Malatya), two persons
were shot dead by security forces for not having surrendered.
6.4, in the district of Lice, security forces opened
fire on a crowd holding an unauthorized demonstration and wounded two
persons. In protest, the local tradesmen closed down their shops.
7.4, political prisoners were once again
discriminated during the Sugar Holiday. As ordinary prisoners were
being visited by their parents, the political detainees were not
allowed to have visit. A group of parents gathering in front of the
Bayrampasa Prison in Istanbul were dispersed by using force and 40 of
them were detained.
8.4, in Ankara, during a raid on a printing house,
policemen panicked by the blast of exhaust, opened fire on a car in the
street and shot dead a woman named Sükriye Kacmaz.
8.4, in the town of Silvan (Diyarbakir), a Hezbollah
team shot dead two persons, Nihat Kadinan and Ahmet Turan. An attempt
of demonstration against this murder was preventing by the police.
8.4, in Istanbul, the political police has
reportedly detained five people including a 16-year old student.
9.4, police detained 17 people on the charge of
having occupied the DYP Headquarters in Istanbul on March 28.
9.4, in the district of Kozluk, the funeral of a PKK
militant, killed during a confrontation with security forces, was
prevented by police and curfew was proclaimed.
9.4, the Human Rights Association announced
that, in the Dargecit district, security forces raiding on the
Tanyeri village and subjected to torture 15-year old Sevki Akinci by
forcing him to lie down on red-hot cinders.
10.4, in Istanbul, police announced the arrest of
seven alleged PKK militants.
10.4, fourteen political prisoners went on a
hunger-strike at the Kayseri Special-type prison for protesting against
the prison conditions. The prison administration announced that the
strikers will be subjected to disciplinary punishment.
10.4, in Urfa, security forces detained 15 alleged
PKK militants.
12.4, in protest against prison conditions, 40
political prisoners went on a hunger-strike at the Ceyhan Special-type
prison.
12.4, in Adana, 450 workers of a fertilizer factory
started a sit-in in protest against redundancy. The tent pitched by
workers was pulled down by police and three workers were detained.
15.4, in Batman, Ramazan Sat and Güler Öztas alleged
that they had been tortured at police station during their detention
between March 24 and April 1st.
15.4, in Istanbul, a group of student who were
taking to Ankara a petition against the presence of police forces in
university were stopped at the province border and 22
students were taken into custody. Meanwhile, at the Mimar Sinan
University, ten students were detained for holding a meeting on the
same subject.
17.4, the IHD announced that there was no
information on the whereabouts of a young girl named Nazmiye Sevgin,
taken into police custody 19 days ago.
17.4, during police operations in Elazig and
Malatya, 15 people, including a 15-year old student, were detained for
giving support to Dev-Sol. One of the detainees, Mehmet Emin Tüzün was
later hospitalized as a result of torture.
17.4, in Istanbul, a 12-year old boy was shot dead
by gendarmes as he was passing by a zone under the police surveillance.
18.4, in Istanbul, security forces raiding upon a
house shot dead 11 alleged Dev-Sol militants. Same day, another
operation in Savur resulted in the death of 32 alleged PKK
militants.
18.4, in Izmir, a meeting on the Newroz Incidents
and the Kurdish Question, organized by the Socialist Party, was
annulled at the last moment because of the menaces by police.
18.4, in the town of Bismil (Diyarbakir), a Kurd
named Mithat Kutlu died under torture at police station six hours after
his detention.
19.4, in Istanbul, the Association for a Patriotic
and Democratic Culture was closed down for an indefinite period by the
governor.
19.4, in Idil, more than 3 thousand Kurdish
inhabitants attempted to leave the town for the mountains, but they
were stopped by security forces opening fire. One person was shot dead,
two wounded and 14 detained.
21.4, in the town of Kozan (Adana),15-year old Osman
Akbas was shot dead by security forces.
21.4, in Batman, after the death of one of their
colleagues in an armed conflict with the Kurdish guerrilla, policemen
launched a reprisal operation by raiding on offices of progressive
parties, associations and publications. More than 200 people were
detained.
21.4, during the funeral of the 11 persons shot dead
on April 18, police detained more than 100 people.
21.4, in Bursa, the Association for Rights and
Freedoms (Özgür-Der) was banned by the governor on pretext of having
relations with undergrounds organizations. Besides, the annual
congresses of the Bursa and Aydin sections of the Municipal Workers'
Association (Tüm-Bel-Sen) were not allowed by the governors.
21.4, police operations in Istanbul resulted in the
arrest of 11 people.
22.4, in Adana, eight students of the Cukurova
University were detained by police raiding on their homes.
23.4, police detained three people in Istanbul and
five in Ankara for having distributed May Day tracts.
23.4, the local offices of the trade unions of
health (Tüm-Saglik-Sen), education (Egitim-Is) and municipal workers
(Tüm-Bel-Sen) in Usak were closed down by a tribunal on the Governor's
demand.
24.4, in Istanbul, the offices of the Human Rights
Association (IHD), Patriotic Women's Association (YKD), Özgür-Der,
Progressive Women's Association (DKD), Municipal Workers' Union
(Bem-Sen) were raided on by police and thirteen people were detained.
24.4, police detained detained nine alleged
members of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP) in Edirne
and nine others for supporting the PKK in Adana.
24.4, in Istanbul, 24 people were detained for
taking part in the activities of a religious organisation named the
Great East Raiders' Front (BDAC).
24.4, one-week police operations in the emergency
law region have reportedly resulted in the arrest of 26 people. In the
towns of Eruh and Kurtalan, a total of nine people were place under
arrest by tribunals for giving support to the PKK.
25.4, a group of young girls went on a hunger-strike
in Izmir in protest against the expulsion of their schoolmates from the
school on pretext of bringing in some left-wing publications. However,
police immediately intervened in and detained eight hunger-strikers.
25.4, a 80-year old Kurdish peasant, Mehmet Yilmaz,
who had been detained during a police operation in Batman on march 21,
fainted under custody and died at a local hospital. His funeral was
attended by more than 2 thousand people.
26.4, the People's Houses in Eregli and Karabuk were
raided on by police and a total of 14 people were detained.
26.4, Kadir Kurt, detained during a raid on the
Birlik Village in Bismil (Diyarbakir) on April 18 died under
interrogation. His brother, also detained, said that Kurt was tortured
by introducing a club into anus.
26.4, in Cukurca (Hakkari), two young Kurdish
shepherds perished as a result of the explosion of mines placed by
security forces. The villagers complain that they can no more graze
their cattle.
26.4, governors banned a meeting on the Kurdish
Question in Ankara and another on May Day in Istanbul.
26.4, in Istanbul, the Art and Culture Association
of Kartal, the Association of Jobless People, the Solidarity
Association of Municipal Workers and the Association of the Progressive
Women (DEMKAD) were raided on by police. Besides, five members of the
Egit-Sen were detained following a police raid on their homes.
27.4, in Istanbul, two water-sellers were shot dead
by a policeman and a third one gravely wounded.
27.4, police detained 16 people for distributing May
Day tracts.
27.4, security forces detained 12 people in
Adiyaman, 10 in Idil, 4 in Silopi and 9 in Adana for giving aid to PKK
militants.
27.4, in Izmir, the People's House of Karsiyaka was
closed down by the governor on charges of letting be present inside
some banned publications and its chairman, Hakan Caliskan as well as a
group of members were detained.
27.4, in Istanbul, 41 people were detained for
distributing May Day tracts.
27.4, in Kiziltepe, the car of the local SHP
chairman Mehdi Cecen machine gunned and four people inside, including
Cecen himself, were killed.
27.4, a taxi driver, Agit Salman, was tortured to
death after being arrested by political police in Adana.
28.4, the Students' Association of Anadolu
University in Eskisehir was closed down after a police raid on charges
of letting be present inside some banned publications.Besides, the
local chairman of Özgür-Der, Nuran Askeri was taken into custody.
28.4, in the town of Alanya, police announced the
arrest of eight alleged PKK militants.
29.4, in Izmir, a café owner was arrested by
tribunal for not having hoisted Turkish flag on the Day of National
Sovereignty.
29.4, in Samsun, ten people were detained for taking
place in the activities of an underground organization.
30.4, in Elazig, political police detained twenty
people of whom many were beaten by the guards when they were taken to
the E-Type Prison.
30.4, political police detained 11 alleged members
of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP) in Izmir and four
alleged Dev-Sol members in Ankara.
30.4, in Adana, police raiding on a house, shot dead
three alleged Dev-Sol militants.
1.5, the Governor of Istanbul closed down the Art
and Culture Association of Kartal, the Association of Jobless People,
the Solidarity Association of Municipal Workers and the Association of
the Progressive Women (DEMKAD).
1.5, The Governor of the Emergency Law Region
announced the arrest of 45 people recently captured by police in the
region.
2.5, in Gümüshane, a 13-year old student, accused of
having killed his schoolmate, was found dead in his solitary cell at
the interrogation centre.
2.5, the Diyarbakir SSC sentenced seven people to
prison terms of up to 25 years for having participated in PKK actions.
4.5, in Ankara, security forces raided on a house
and shot dead four alleged Dev-Sol militants inside.
5.5, political police detained eight people in
Edirne and eight in Adana for PKK activities.
5.5, lawyer Meryem Erdal, Ankara chairwoman of the
Contemporary Lawyers' Association (CHD) said that she was tortured
during her interrogation after her arrest during the May Day
celebrations.
5.5, in Istanbul, the Association for Rights and
Freedoms (Özgür-Der) was closed down by the governor. Nine people were
detained during the police raid on the association.
5.5, political police detained 16 university
students in Eskisehir and 12 in Konya.
6.5, the Yildirim People's House in Bursa, the
Association for Jobless People and the Patriotic Women's Association in
Istanbul were closed down for activities incompatible with their
declared objectives.
6.5, in Kiziltepe, the Hezbullah shot dead Sirac
Akbay.
6.5, in Sakarya, political police detained 13
alleged PKK members.
7.5, in Ankara, police shot dead Mustafa Gök for not
having obeyed to the order to stop his car during a traffic control.
7.5, in Nusaybin, security forces raiding on a house
shot dead seven people, including a woman.
7.5, in the town of Igdir (Kars), nine people were
detained for giving aid to the PKK.
7.5, in Zonguldak, political police detained ten
alleged members of an underground organization.
8.5, in Bursa, a worker named Tevfik Özugurlu was
shot dead by police for not having obeyed to the order to halt during a
search operation.
7.5, five officials of the Üsküdar People's House in
Istanbul were sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to one-year imprisonment
each for activities incompatible with the Associations Law.
7.5, political police detained eight alleged members
of the Workers'-Peasants' Liberation Army of Turkey (TIKKO) in Kayseri
and five TDKP members in Bursa.
7.5, in Ankara, 27 students were wounded during a
skirmish between left and right-wing students at the Hacettepe
University campus and police detained 27 students.
10.5, at the village of Izar in Mardin, security
forces detained five Kurds.
10.5, in Nusaybin (Mardin), three young peasants
perished when exploded a mine placed by security forces.
12.5, eleven soldiers of Kurdish origin were
detained in Tokat after having deserted their military unit in Amasya.
13.5, in Ankara, police detained 40 students taking
part in the funeral of a Dev-Sol militant shot dead on May 4.
14.5, the Governor of Ankara ordered a legal
proceeding in a view to close down Yargi-Sen, a trade union founded by
the public servants working at tribunals and judicial institutions.
14.5, in Ankara, 30 students were wounded during a
skirmish between left and right-wing students at the Gazi University.
14.5, Sekvan Aytu, local IHD chairman in
Sirnak, was taken into custody.
17.5, the Diyarbakir SSC sentenced six people to
prison terms of up to 24 years for having participated in PKK
activities. The same court, in another case, sentenced a person for the
same reason to 12 years and 9 months in prison.
17.5, in Kiziltepe, the Hezbollah shot dead two
persons named Nuri Göcen and Edip Ibrahimoglu.
17.5, security forces opening fire from an army
helicopter on a group of peasants grazing their cattle in the district
of Uludere, shot dead a peasant and about 100 animals and wounded four
peasants.
19.5, provincial authorities closed down the Samsun
and Vezirköprü sections of the Education Workers' Union (Egit-Sen), the
Tunceli sections of the Public Servants Union (Kam-Sen) and the Health
Workers' Union (Saglik-Sen).
19.5, political police detained five people in Adana.
19.5, Turkish migrant worker Hasan Alici of Swedish
nationality was detained at the Antalya Airport when he arrived for a
legal proceeding opened against him twelve years ago.
20.5, in Fethiye (Mugla), Durmus Caylak who had been
detained on February 9 for smuggling has disappeared since then.
His father asked the authorities to give information on Caylak's
whereabouts.
21.5, five people distributing a tract of the
Patriotic Youth in Manisa were detained by political police.
22.5, in Istanbul, 17-year old Serdar Tanis was shot
dead by police for not having obeyed to the order to stop the car he
was driving, two other people in the car gravely wounded.
25.5, a pregnant nurse named Nazli Top who stayed in
police custody from April 27 to May 7 accused the police of giving
electric to her genital organs and introducing a club into vagina. Her
allegations were certified with a medical report.
24.5, in Van, police detained 93 students of the
100. Yil University as they were commemorating Sirin Tekin, a student
assassinated in 1988 by a fundamentalist group.
24.5, two doctors of the State Hospital of
Diyarbakir and a university student in Samsun were detained by
political police.
24.5, police operations in Sirnak resulted in the
arrest of three HEP members.
24.5, 22-year old Ibrahim Demir in Batman, 36-year
old Ismail Sertkaya and 17-year Ahmet Eren in Kiziltepe were shot dead
by unidentified persons.
25.5, in Sirnak, security forces opening fire on a
minibus shot dead Salih Dolmus, father of eight children, and wounded
another person.
25.5, a 16-year old student, was expelled from a
secondary school of Nazilli for his political opinions.
26.5, in Ankara, 34 political detainees at the
Central Prison went on a hunger-strike in protest against the worsening
prison conditions. Six of the strikers are women.
26.5, police announced the arrest of eight alleged
Dev-Sol members during operations in Trabzon, Rize and Artvin.
26.5, a former ANAP deputy for the province of
Siirt, Kemal Birlik was taken into custody for giving material aid to
the PKK.
27.5, in Gaziantep, police detained 14 alleged
members of the TKP-ML.
27.5, in Samsun, four students were detained for
participating in PKK activities.
28.5, in Ankara, four persons were detained for
participating in PKK activities.
29.5 in Istanbul, six people who had been detained
in April for belonging to a fundamentalist organization, said that they
were subjected to torture during their interrogation. Their allegation
was supported by a medical report.
29.5, in Maras, police detained six people for
fundamentalist activities.
31.5, in Istanbul, a taxi-driver, Recep Ali Topal
said that he had been tortured after his detention on May 28 and had to
give a bribe to policemen for escaping further torture. However, Topal
added, he was beaten for a last time after giving the bribe.
31.5, the recent police operation in Ankara resulted
in the detention of 244 people.
31.5, in Mersin, two persons were detained for
having chanted Kurdish slogans.
2-MONTH PERSECUTION OF THE MEDIA
1.4, a book entitled Doza Kurdistan, containing the
memoirs of Kadri Cemil Pasa and edited by Mehmet Bayrak, was
confiscated by the Ankara SSC by virtue of Article 8 of the Anti-Terror
Law.
1.4, a new magazine defending Islamist views,
Ak-Zuhur was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
1.4, in Konya, journalist Muzaffer Tiglioglu of the
newspaper Yeni Meram was beaten and stabbed by four unidentified people.
8.4, the issue N° 25 of the weekly Yeni Ülke and the
first issue of a new weekly, Gercek, were confiscated by the Istanbul
SSC by virtue of Article 8 of the ATL.
14.4, the April issue of the monthly Newroz was
confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatism.
21.4, a correspondent of the weekly Gercek, Sadik
Gülec was detained by police as he was covering the funeral of a
political militant in Istanbul.
25.4, the distribution of the May Day special issue
of the monthly Kurtulus was banned by the Governor of Istanbul.
26.4, the issue N° 32 of the cultural review Imza
was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for the articles on Newroz.
27.4, the Izmir correspondent of the political
magazine Mücadele, Devrim Demir was detained in front of the Buca
prison in Izmir as he was covering a protest action.
2.5, the May Day special issue of the monthly
Ekimler was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC by virtue of Article 6 of
the ATL.
3.5, five journalists, Dogan Dargin, Metin Kayaoglu
and Güzel Aslaner from Emegin Bayragi as well as Emel Atici and Imdat
Halis from Hedef were detained by political police.
5.5, four members of the Musical Group Yorum, Metin
Turan, Elif Sumru Güzel, Taner Tanriverdi and Nuray Erdem, were
detained by police at the Istanbul Airport when they returned from a
one-month tour in Europe.
6.5, Irfan Ucar, correspondent of Özgür Gündem, a
new daily to appear soon, was detained when he was interviewing a
lawyer at his office in Istanbul.
6.5, in Izmir, Yeni Demokrasi correspondent
Ali Haydar Umut was arrested by a tribunal.
10.5, the chief editor of the monthly Toplumsal
Kurtulus, Necdet Kambir who had been detained on May 1st in Istanbul,
said that he had been subjected to torture during his interrogation.
10.5, the issue N° 43 of the fortnightly Mücadele
was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for the propaganda of an outlawed
organization.
12.5, journalist Irfan Ucar, detained on May 6, said
after his release that he had been subjected to torture during
interrogation.
12.5, the Mardin correspondent of the weekly Yeni
Ülke, Ibrahim Yersiz detained by police and placed under arrest by a
tribunal.
16.5, the publisher of the monthly Özgür Halk, Riza
Erdogan was sentenced by a tribunal to a 5-month prison for an
interview with PKK leader Öcalan.
16.5, the Diyarbakir representative of the monthly
Mücadele, Sakine Fidan was detained by police.
19.5, the concerts of the musical group Yorum in
Samsun and Ordu as well as a representation of the Ankara Birlik
Theatre in Trabzon were banned by the the governors of these provinces.
20.5, two journalists of the daily Zaman,
responsible editor Sevket Engin and columnist Ilhan Bardakci were
indicted for an article criticizing the views of Atatürk, founder of
the Republic. Each faces a prison term of up to five years.
22.5, the May issue of the monthly Kurtulus was
confiscated by the Istanbul SSC by virtue of Article 8 of the ATL.
` 26.5, the recent issues of the weeklies Yeni Ülke
and Azadi were confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist
propaganda. It was reported by the former that 33 out of 83
issues of Yeni Ülke published until now have been confiscated by the
SSC of Istanbul, mainly on charges of separatist propaganda.
28.5, singer Mehmet Suavi Saygan was detained for a
legal proceeding opened against him fourteen years ago, in 1978.
29.5, the Diyarbakir representative of the monthly
Özgür Halk, Hüseyin Eben was sentenced by the SSC to 26-month
imprisonment and a fine of TL 46 million ($6,500).
31.5, the recent issues of the monthlies Hedef and
Emegin Bayragi as well as the weekly Gercek were confiscated by the
Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda or praising some outlawed
organizations.
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CONDEMNED TURKISH ATTACKS IN KURDISTAN
The European Parliament adopted at its session of
June 12 a resolution on the rights of the Kurdish People drafted by
Italian Liberal Gawronski. As for the vote on the motion of resolution
on the EC-Turkey relations, proposed by Belgian Socialist Raymonde
Dury, was reported to the session of July 1992.
In the resolution, the European Parliament
condemns “the attacks by Turkish armed forces on Kurdish settlements
and the bombing by the Turkish air force of Kurdish villages in
Anatolia and Iraq” as well as “the terrorism practised by the PKK
against both Kurds and Turks.”
However, the legislative body of the European
Communities avoided to pronounce on the Kurdish people’s right to
self-determination and to propose a long-term political solution.
Below are the main points concerning Turkey of the
resolution on the rights of the Kurdish people, adopted by the European
Parliament:
“The European Parliament,
“• Condemns the attacks by Turkish armed forces on
Kurdish settlements both in Anatolia and in Iraq and PKK terrorism
against both Kurds and Turks;
“• Condemns the bombing by the Turkish air force of
Kurdish villages in Anatolia and Iraq on account of the danger to the
civilian population;
“• Considers that the economic and cultural measures
taken so far by the Turkish Government in its pursuit of a settlement
to the Kurdish problem are insufficient; declares that only a political
dialogue between the Turkish Government and the elected representatives
of the Kurdish people can bring about a solution to the Kurdish problem
in Turkey provided that the Turkish Government remains genuinely
willing to negotiate; calls on the new Turkish Government to take a
step forward in its policy of positive cooperation and respect for the
cultural identity of the Kurds living in Turkey in accordance with the
European Convention on Human Rights and the Declaration on Minorities
and welcomes its plan to relieve the poverty of south-east Anatolia and
its proposals for democratic and legal reforms;
“• Calls on the Turkish government and parliament to
remove from current legislation any direct or indirect provision (in
the constitution, laws or codes) which discriminates against persons,
groups or associations because of their language or ethnic origins;
“• Considers that the cultural diversity of the
Kurdish people must be respected and that the guarantee of their
specific rights should include the right to speak, write, publish and
testify in courts of law in the Kurdish language and to be educated in
that language;
“• Considers it essential that appropriate economic
measures be devised for the benefit of the Kurdish population, designed
to improve the economic and social development of the region of
Anatolia;
“• Condemns the recent increase in terrorist attacks
which can only jeopardize the reforms which are so much needed in the
interests of the Kurds;
“• Calls on the associations of Turkish Kurds living
abroad to refrain from acts of violence, to give their full support to
the human rights policy and to be open to cooperation;
“• Instructs its Subcommittee on Human Rights and
the EC-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, meeting within the
framework of the Association Agreement, to follow closely the
protection of the human rights of the Kurds in Turkey since any abuse
of these rights would be bound to affect adversely relations between
the EC and Turkey;
“• Calls on the Kurdish exile organizations to make
clear their rejection of the use of force in all countries where Kurds
are not subjected to physical attacks and to abandon intimidation of
fellow Kurds whose ideas differ from their own.”
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT ON TURKEY
Amnesty International, in its recent 31-page
report issued in May 1992, criticized the Turkish Government in
the following terms: "In spite of very outspoken undertakings from the
government to the effect that torture in police custody would be
stopped, none of the necessary practical or legislative steps have been
taken, and as a result the widespread systematic practice of torture
has continued unabated. There has been an alarming increase in
'disappearances' and extrajudicial executions, with death-squads style
killings in Mardin province."
Below are the main points of the AI report:
• The Anti-Terror Law - Prisoners of conscience
Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law permits individuals
to be detained and charged with disseminating separatist propaganda
even when they have not advocated violence and a number of individuals
Amnesty International considers to have been prisoners of conscience
have been held for periods of weeks or months pending investigation of
charges under Article 8. The organization also expressed its misgivings
concerning the extra barrier placed before those persons making
allegations of torture or ill-treatment by Article 15, paragraph 3 of
the Anti-Terror Law under which all such claims were referred to a
"local administrative council" which had the power to block legal
proceedings against a police officer accused of ill-treatment or
torture. On 31 March [1992] the Constitutional Court repealed Article
15 paragraph 3, when making its final rulings with respect to the
Anti-Terror Law, as a result of which complaints will now once again be
dealt with directly by public prosecutors instead of being referred to
the local administrative council. However, in the southeastern
provinces under emergency legislation, the investigation of allegations
of torture made against the security forces will continue to be subject
to the approval of local administrative councils in accordance with the
Law on Prosecution of Civil Servants .
The Anti-Terror Law reduced the sentences of
thousands of prisoners convicted of common criminal offences, but made
much smaller reductions for those political prisoners who had been
convicted of working for the violent overthrow or partition of the
state under Articles 146 and 125 of the TPC. Despite the Constitutional
Court's earlier opinion that the discrimination against those convicted
under Article 146 of the TPC was unfair and unconstitutional, the Court
nevertheless ruled that the more severe conditions for those convicted
under Article 125 (for offences fully comparable to those convicted
under Article 146) should not be lifted. As a result more than 200
mainly Kurdish prisoners remain in prison, many of them convicted after
unfair trials in military courts in the years following the military
coup in 1980.
The Constitutional Court made no changes in Article
16 of the Anti-Terror Law which provides for a regime of solitary
confinement and extreme isolation of prisoners convicted or remanded in
custody under any article within the scope of the Anti-Terror Law.
Amnesty International is concerned that any further attempt to apply
Article 164 may result in prison conditions which amount to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Amnesty International has
repeatedly called for the repeal of this article.
• Systematic practice of torture continues
throughout Turkey
The stream of allegations of torture reaching
Amnesty International and appearing in the Turkish press has continued
uninterrupted throughout 1991 and early 1992. In its 1991 annual report
the independent Turkish Human Rights Foundation stated that it had
received information, mainly through the daily press, about 168
incidents involving the torture of 552 people, of whom 218 had obtained
official medical reports which supported their allegations.
The same factors which in the past have contributed
to the high incidence of torture persist unchanged. Together these
factors form a system which effectively permits torturers to continue
their activities. They are:
i) Detainees are held for extremely long terms of
police detention, frequently exceeding even the statutory limits.
ii) Detainees are held in incommunicado detention
which is the almost unvarying rule.
iii) Government-employed doctors and authorized
medical centres frequently issue misleading medical reports.
iv) Complaints of torture are
routinely ignored, delayed or suppressed.
• Long period of police custody
International standards on human rights require that
detainees be brought promptly before a judge. The protocol for the
formation of the new coalition government in November 1991 promised
that: "The duration of police detention would be shortened. Torture and
allegations of torture will be eliminated." On 27 April 1992, the daily
Cumhuriyet reported that the Turkish cabinet had submitted
legislation to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) which would
reduce the maximum police detention period (in the case of collective
crimes) to eight days. The reductions in detention periods contained in
the draft legislation as announced in the Turkish press, though welcome
as a marginal improvement, would almost certainly be insufficient to
break up the system of torture. Internationally recognized human rights
standards suggest a much shorter maximum for police detention.
• Incommunicado detention
Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed its
concern that both those suspected of political offences and those
suspected of criminal offences are held incommunicado, thereby greatly
increasing the risk that they may be tortured. In fact, access by
lawyers or family to detainees is almost unknown. Out of 455 cases of
named detainees held in police custody monitored by Amnesty
International between September 1990 and September 1991, access to
lawyers or family was permitted in 10 cases, and access to a doctor in
one. Allegations of torture were made in respect of 210 of these cases.
Twenty-one people declared that they had not been tortured including
all but one of those who were permitted access to legal counsel, family
or doctor. Of the 49 persons mentioned above who gave detailed accounts
of torture in police custody in Istanbul, Gaziantep, Siirt, and Ankara
since November when the new government was formed, 46 were held
completely incommunicado. Only two of those detainees, one in the
Anti-Terror Branch of Izmir Police Headquarters, and the other in the
Anti-Terror Branch of Istanbul Police Headquarters were permitted to
see their lawyers. Another detainee was permitted to see his family on
the last day of his 12 days of detention in the Criminal Investigation
Branch of Izmir Police Headquarters.
• Misleading medical certificates.
Detainees are held for extended periods so that
physical evidence of torture will fade before they are brought before a
doctor or a court. However, detainees also commonly complain that they
are not properly examined at the end of police custody, and that police
or soldiers are often present during the examination in order to
discourage them from complaining or the doctor from preparing a
comprehensive and accurate medical report.
• Failure to investigate complaints of torture
While none of the safeguards against torture
promised by successive Turkish governments in recent years had been
introduced by the time of writing, Article 15 of the Anti-Terror Law
effectively froze a large number of formal complaints of torture during
1991. This measure meant that complaints against police or gendarmerie
made by persons alleging ill-treatment or torture during detention for
any offence under the Anti-Terror Law's very broad definition of
"terrorism" were all referred for investigation by the office of the
local governor (which is in the direct chain of command between the
Interior Ministry and the local police force). Although this measure
has since been repealed by the Constitutional Court, it remains in
force in the 10 provinces of Turkey under emergency legislation.
• Death and “disappearance” in police custody
With interrogations carried on in conditions of
great secrecy by police and gendarmerie who are rarely prosecuted when
allegations of ill-treatment or torture made against them, it is
perhaps no surprise that deaths in custody have continued throughout
1991 and early 1992. During 1991 there were 15 deaths in custody in
circumstances which suggest that the detainees may have died as a
result of torture.
• Extrajudicial executions and “disappearances” in
Southeast Turkey
Amnesty International is deeply concerned about over
fifty killings in southeast Turkey in which there have been allegations
of involvement by the security forces (as well as a number of
“disappearances” since the summer of 1991. The principal targets of the
spate of killings, which are continuing, have been:
a. Inhabitants of villages which have refused to
participate in the system of government-appointed village guards.
b. Local politicians - in particular members of the
People’s Labour Party (HEP).
In February 1992 two journalists who worked for
publications which were researching the allegations of extrajudicial
executions were killed by unknown assassins.
Some journalists and many Kurds attribute the
succession of alleged extrajudicial executions to the so-called
Counter-Guerrilla, originally created in 1953 as part of the secret
service and called the Special Warfare Department. While it is
impossible to confirm or deny the rumors that these killings are part
of a secret campaign by the Counter-guerrilla, AI has gathered
information on more than 30 cases of alleged extrajudicial execution
and two alleged “disappearances” in southeast Turkey.
The killings could equally have been carried out by
low-ranking members of any of the security force units such as the
Special Teams or the village guards.
Since June of 1991 at least twenty people have been
killed in circumstances which give grounds for the belief that the
security forces may have been involved. Particular targets have been
members of villages which have consistently refused to accept service
in the village guard corps. Moreover, many of victims have a relative
who has joined the guerrilla forces of the PKK. The pattern of the
incidents would clearly indicate that a group with some of the
characteristics of a death squad has been operating in the
Nusaybin/Midyat area of Mardin province.
The Turkish press has carried reports of over fifty
apparently deliberate and arbitrary killings carried out by guerrillas
of the PKK. Most of the victims were civilians, killed for allegedly
assisting the security forces or passing information to them, or
because they were thought to be linked to the organization Hezbullah.
Amnesty International strongly condemns the killing
of prisoners and deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians by
opposition groups, just as it unconditionally condemns the death
penalty and extrajudicial executions by governments.
MANDELA REJECTED ATATÜRK PEACE AWARD
South African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson
Mandela rejected the Atatürk Peace Award scheduled to be presented to
him in Ankara on May 19.
The ANC stressed in a communique issued on May 12
that “Nelson Mandela has spent his whole life in the service of
democracy, human rights and freedom from oppression.”
Next day, ANC spokeswoman Gill Marcus said in
a telephone interview with Reuters explained the reason of the refusal
in following terms:
“If anyone has any questions they should try being a
Kurd for a while. A Turkish anti-apartheid movement leader, Mr.
Dikerdem, had been in jail because he has criticized the Turkish
governments since the early 1980s. But it is not just the arrests. It
is the totality of what the arrests means that makes the award
unacceptable... the totality of what they have been doing.”
A group of 15 Kurdish deputies in Turkish Parliament
issued an “open letter of gratitude” to Mandela, saying that Turkish
government were distributing such awards to cover up policies based on
the use of force.
The award, which includes a prize of about $9,500,
was earlier given to NATO Secretary General Luns and to
General Kenan Evren, chief of the military junta which sent hundreds of
thousands people to prisons for their opinions.
On the refusal, the government officials in Ankara
and the pro-government Turkish press opened a insulting campaign
against ANC leader and claimed that it was in fact a big mistake to
give Atatürk Peace Award to a “terrorist” such as Mandela.
GREY WOLVES CAME TO POWER IN AZERBAIJAN
As Turkey’s opening towards new Turco-Islamic
republics of the former Soviet Union is developing, the neo-fascist
Grey Wolves began to increase their influence in political life of
these countries.
The Demirel-Inönü Government, taking no heed
of warnings from democratic circles, continues to tolerate Former
Colonel Türkes’ interference in internal affaires of these republics.
During his first official visit to these republics
at the end of April, Demirel took Türkes as a “guest of honour” by his
side and let him to address to crowds and to propagate his Pan-Turkist
and Pan-Touranist ideas; the ideas which claim the superiority of the
Turkish race and the unification of all Turks in the world within the
Empire of Touran.
When the Turkish delegation was in Baku, Alparslan
Türkes participated in an electoral meeting of nationalist leader
Abulfez Elcibey and, speaking from the tribune, said that Turkey
supports Elcibey and asked the crowd to elect him as President of the
Republic for the sake of the triumph of Turkish nationalism.
To the astonishment of observers, Elcibey too openly
expressed his admiration for Türkes and his attachment to the idea of
Pan-Touranism. What is more, the militants of Elcibey at the meeting
carried uniform shirts with the Grey Wolf symbol on the back.
Both Türkes and Elcibey saluted the crowd with a
special sign of Grey Wolf.
Abulfez Elcibey was elected the president of the
Azerbaijan Republic at the June 8 elections.