INADMISSIBLE
Is the European Parliament to
legitimate a militarist regime within the European family by
voting for the Customs Union?
After having dragged Turkey to a disaster during its
4-year period, the DYP-CHP Coalition has in last two months resorted to
a series of political manoeuvres to fool as well the population of
Turkey as the world opinion. Some cosmetic changes in the legislation
and the decision to hold early elections on December 24, 1995, have
been announced as important steps taken towards democratisation.
Although none of the six conditions set by the
European Parliament to ratify the Customs Union between Turkey and
Europe has been satisfied, Prime Minister Tansu Ciller and her new
partner, Vice-Premier Deniz Baykal hope that the Euro-deputies, thanks
to their manoeuvres, will vote for the ratification of the accord on
December 15 in Strasbourg.
The Turkish ministers, diplomatic missions, the
pro-government media and the Turkish migrant organizations in the
service of the Turkish State lobby are, in a last effort, mobilised to
gain over those Euro-deputies who seem decided not to vote for the
Customs Union or to delay the vote to a further date after the
elections.
The final stage of the operation "fooling" started
with the resignation of the Ciller Government on September 20, 1995. It
was known that the right-wing DYP's coalition with the social-democrat
CHP (former SHP) was not functioning smoothly. Although both of them
had been for four years in perfect agreement as regards the application
of the directives given by the military-dominated National Security
Council (MGK) and the violation of human rights, the CHP leadership was
aware of the fact that this complicity was eroding the party's
credibility in the eyes of the electorate. In order to give the image
of defending human rights, the CHP ministers were provoking from time
to time some mini crises, but each crisis was ending in a conciliation
thanks to some insignificant concessions from both sides.
When Deniz Baykal replaced Hikmet Cetin as party
chairman on September 10, 1995, he promised the delegates to work for
rebuilding popular confidence in his party. To this end, at his first
meeting with Prime Minister Ciller to agree on terms for extending the
partnership, Baykal handed over her a file containing a series of
proposals. Among others, Baykal asked Ciller to find a solution to the
ongoing labour disputes and to sack the Istanbul police chief Necdet
Menzir, who had accused the CHP of providing shelter for terrorists. In
Baykal's file there were also documents proving that the State
apparatus, especially the security and education services, were
occupied by the neo-fascist and fundamentalist functionaries.
Ciller, without entering the discussion on all the
matters in the file, strongly reacted against the elimination of these
extremist elements from the State posts and refused to govern under
such conditions. As for the labour disputes, she also refused the wage
hikes on pretext that they were not compatible with the application of
the drastic measures imposed by the IMF.
In fact, at that moment, Turkey was being shaken by
the waves of strikes and demonstrations carried out more than 300
thousand workers of public sectors.
After the three-hour meeting, Baykal left Ciller's
office by saying, "the coalition is effectively finished, if not
legally."
In retaliation, Ciller gave the government's
resignation to President Demirel and, appearing in a nation-wide TV
broadcast, declared: "Baykal wants us to fire Menzir. We won't do that.
We cannot and will not base our policies on the corpses of people like
Menzir…"
Baykal responded: "What the premier minister is
saying is not the truth. I felt the prime minister was not prepared to
change the way she wants to run the coalition government." Moreover, he
accused Ciller of not being a real prime minister, but of acting on
behalf of some obscure forces.
What is the more, CHP Secretary general Adnan Keskin
said on September 22 that Ciller is an inconsistent person who is "a
swindler and a clown." He added that Ciller first should give an
account of how she acquired her wealth in Turkey and the United States.
"She could not show any legal sources for her wealth… She is knee deep
in dirt."
Ciller, even before falling in conflict with the
CHP, was searching ways to replace the coalition with the CHP by an
extreme-right government based on the ultra nationalist deputies of his
own party and those belonging to the MHP and the ANAP. She dreamed to
apply her militarist and anti-popular policies until the November 1996
elections.
After the formal contacts with the other party
leaders, she decided to form a minority DYP government with the support
of the neo-fascist MHP, extremist deputies of the other right-wing
parties such as ANAP, YP, BBP and the MP. To assure the MHP's support,
she promised Türkes to appoint his party's leading members to the key
posts in the State apparatus.
For the support of the minor right-wing parties such
as MP, YP and BBP, she did not hesitate to issue fallacious
declarations on Turkey's relations with Europe.
A few hours before the vote in Parliament, Ciller
and Foreign Minister Coskun Kirca jointly issued a statement that
shocked the diplomatic community as well as the Turkish Foreign
Ministry staff. The statement said Turkey would ask for provisions in
the European customs union agreement dealing with the Turkish Cypriots.
As the statement was being issued foreign missions
were called and diplomats were told to ignore the document because it
was issued for internal political consumption.
This scandal would cause furious attacks on Ciller
by the Turkish media. The Turkish Daily News would report on October
21: "Here we see that Ciller in her final hour of desperation did not
hesitate to even jeopardise Turkey's entry into the customs union for a
couple of votes. Such things may happen in banana republics but they
should never occur in a country in Europe."
To the grand astonishment of the left-wing circles,
she also managed to obtain the promise of support from the DSP leader
Ecevit in exchange of her promise to satisfy the wage hike demands of
workers on strike.
Ciller set up her minority DYP government on October
5, including extreme-right elements of his party such as Coskun Kirca
as foreign minister. However, her alliance with the MHP and her
hypocrisy concerning workers' demands cost her to a spectacular defeat
at the Parliament.
On October 15, thousands of workers took to the
streets of Ankara to demand a "No" vote, after Ciller rejected their
latest wage demands. So, Ecevit had to withdraw his party's support to
the minority government. Besides, 13 DYP deputies, including former
Parliament Speaker Hüsamettin Cindoruk, either voted "no" or did not
show up. Finally, the opposition bloc sends off Ciller with 230 "no
confidence" votes to the 191.
On this defeat, the main opposition Motherland Party
(ANAP) Chairman Mesut Yilmaz said the vote legally terminated Ciller's
functions as the prime minister and a new government leader had to be
appointed to try his hand in the remaining 20 days or the Parliament
had to be dissolved for new elections at the expire of the 45-day
Constitutional limit for the government crisis.
As all observers were predicting the end of Ciller's
political career, it was again the social-democrat CHP that saved her
from this political catastrophe and Baykal, forgetting all those
pronounced one month ago, proposed her a new CHP-DYP coalition.
There was not any change in Ciller's political
stand. She was still hypocrite in her declarations, enemy of all
democratic forces, champion of military solutions in Kurdish question
and, above all, "knee deep in dirt" as said by CHP Secretary general
Keskin one month ago. To open the way to a new coalition with the CHP,
she did not hesitate to sacrifice Istanbul police chief Necdet Menzir
for whom, one month ago she had said "we cannot and will not base our
policies on the corpses of people like Menzir…" Besides, since there
was no other solution, she declared ready to hold early elections in
December 1995 and to give some wage rises to workers.
Counting on the renewal of the CHP's support, Ciller
expelled all 13 DYP deputies from the party, reducing the number of its
seats in the 450-member Parliament to 164.
To prove his attachment to the regime and to gain
over confidence of Ciller and the military, CHP leader Baykal
immediately rushed to Brussels and, on October 19, asked for
unconditional support from the Socialist Group of the European
Parliament, for the customs union between Turkey and the European
Union. "We are establishing a two-month, electoral government. Do not
expect too much from us and give us unconditional support for the
customs union," he said.
Before the foundation of the new coalition
government, the DYP-CHP majority adopted in Parliament a new electoral
law to hold the anticipated elections on December 24 and another law
making some cosmetic changes in Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law.
Finally, on October 30, Ciller's new DYP-CHP
coalition government was set up and CHP leader Baykal took over the
seats of vice-premier and foreign minister. He did not object even to
the nomination of Ayvaz Gökdemir as State Minister although he insulted
as "prostitutes" the chairwomen of three political groups in the
European Parliament. As for CHP Secretary General Keskin who had
qualified Ciller "knee deep in dirt", he took part in her cabinet as
Housing Minister.
Is it a transitory government until the December 24
elections?
They adopted such an electoral law full of
unconstitutional articles that the Constitutional Court may annul it
any moment and the holding of general elections may be delayed to a
further date. It can be annulled because the utilisation of the right
to vote recognized to the Turkish migrants abroad and to the citizens
older than 18 years have not been assured by the new law. That is to
say, if the elections are held on December 24, more than 2 million
migrants and more than 5 million youths cannot vote. Seeing this, one
can ask himself if the Ciller-Baykal tandem issued such an
unconstitutional law condemned to be annulled in order to stay in power
longer while giving the image of favouring "early images".
Whatsoever be the possible date of the elections,
the DYP and the CHP seem decided to continue their complicity in
keeping anti-democratic legislation in force and in refusing any
peaceful and political solution of the Kurdish question as long as they
remain in power.
As for after the elections, the CHP with its
tarnished image in the eyes of its traditional centre-left electorate
is already doomed to an electoral defeat; that is why Baykal and his
team do their best to stay in power as long as possible before such a
catastrophe.
Ciller, ignoring all moral values, is in the
preparations of forming an extreme-right government after the
elections. She has already agreed with the MHP to place Türkes and all
other neo-fascist leaders in his party's tickets. Besides, all symbolic
figures of the State terrorism, the super-governor of the Kurdish
region, the governors of big cities, retired generals and notorious
police chiefs have already resigned their posts to take part in
Ciller's electoral tickets. So, Ciller hopes to obtain the majority
necessary to govern Turkey with an extreme-right government, an attempt
that failed in September 1995.
WILL EUROPE EMBRACE SUCH A REGIME?
To assure her electoral victory, Ciller mainly
counts on the European Parliament's ratification of the Turco-European
Customs Union on December 14, 1995. If the Euro-deputies vote for the
union, Ciller will exploit this vote as a personal victory and use it
largely in her electoral campaign.
This is why the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
European Parliament, at his meeting on October 31 in Brussels, could
not take a decision on the matter and deferred to November 22 its
assessment of whether the customs union accord should be ratified.
Unconvinced about recent steps for further
democratisation in Turkey, many Euro-deputies have already appeared to
be to postpone the entire ratification process of the customs union
until next year.
Addressing the committee, rapporteur Carlos Carnero
Gonzales termed the recent steps taken in Turkey "positive but
insufficient. He said that the decision by the Turkish Court of
Cassation to uphold the stiff prison sentences on four Kurdish deputies
was disappointing even though the release of two other such deputies
was ordered.
Carnero also said that he did not consider it a
consolation that the incarcerated former DEP deputies could take their
case to the European Commission of Human Rights.
Carnero also referred to the recent changes to
Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law as "insufficient." "Such half-measures
would not satisfy the European Parliament, Considering as sufficient
the small steps taken by Turkey in the line of democratisation will be
stupid," he said.
The rapporteur finally insisted on the following six
points for developing further relations of any kind, including economic
relations, with Turkey:
1. Reform of the 1982 Constitution.
2. Release of MPs of Kurdish origin in the DEP
3. Lifting or a profound modification of Article 8
4. Reinforcement of the protection of human rights
5. A new approach, non military, to the Kurdish
Question.
6. Acceptation of the UN resolutions on Cyprus.
Arguing that the pressure exerted on Ankara for
democratisation and human rights has to be maintained longer, Carnero
also indicated his view that it would be better for a final judgement
on Turkey to be deferred until after the upcoming Turkish general
elections.
So, the European Parliament, the conscience of the
European people is, on November 22 and December 14, in the face of an
important choice to prove the level of its commitment to the defence of
human rights and freedoms.
If the European Parliament ratifies the Customs
Union, the militarist rulers of Turkey will immediately forget all
their promises for "democratisation", and the European Union will turn
into an accomplice of the never-ending violation of human rights in the
south-eastern flank of the continent.
IHD: THE RECORD OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS STILL DARK
The Human Rights Association (IHD), in a report
released on October 30, maintained that human rights violation in
Turkey was continuing to increase in spite of promises given to
European Parliament.
IHD Chairman Akin Birdal said that there had not
been an abatement of cases against individuals on the grounds of
"thought crimes" and no steps whatsoever had been made to try and
resolve the Kurdish question.
Birdal also said that the new electoral law was a
breach of human rights and democratic principles. "This system is
contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European
Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of Paris, and the Vienna
Conference. The principles, according to which everyone has the right,
under these documents, of participating in the administration of the
country have not been honoured," Birdal said.
He added that the changes Turkey had introduced in
line with its expectations concerning the customs union were far from
satisfactory as far as the European Parliament is concerned.
"If, in this case, Turkey's customs union accord is
ratified by the European Parliament, this will be more because Europe
wants it," Birdal argued. Maintaining that Turkey has become a country
"whose prisons are full and overflowing," Birdal also referred to the
recent verdict by the Cassation Court concerning the tough sentences
for former DEP deputies. He said the incarceration of these former
deputies proved that freedom of expression did not even exist in the
Turkish Parliament today.
"If there is a real desire for social peace in
Turkey, then the path to this is human rights and full democracy. The
first step in this respect is a non-discriminatory general amnesty.
This, in turn, is only possible through a Parliament which loves
Turkey, that puts Turkey as a democratic and multicultural country
above all else, and one which has freed itself from the pressures and
threats of a military authority," Birdal said.
Below is the inventory of human rights violations in
August and September 1995 given by the IHD:
People detained 2,037
People arrested 328
Deaths in custody or under torture 18
Civilians killed 55
Civilians wounded 68
Allegations of torture 39
Disappeared while in custody 18
Villages evacuated or set on fire 45
Killed in clashes 629
Total number of political detainees 8,789
Prisoners of opinion 174
Places bombed 28
Associations and media offices illegally raided 20
Associations or media closed down 33
Journalist detained 45
Publications confiscated 26
STATE OF EMERGENCY EXTENDED
Acting on the directives of the military-dominated
National Security Council (MGK), the Turkish Parliament, on October 28,
1994, extended the state of emergency in southeastern Turkey for
further four months.
The legislators voted 215 to 74 to extend -- for the
25th time -- the emergency rule which gives sweeping powers to local
authorities in 10 southeastern and eastern Kurdish provinces.
Under the state of emergency, a super governor of
the region and the governors of the ten provinces have the powers equal
to those of martial law authorities. All violations of human rights
such as arrests, tortures, bans, deportations, burning Kurdish villages
are being carried on under the responsibility of these governors. In
fact, these governors totally obey to the directives of the military
commanders.
Although the Republican People's Party (CHP) had
been advocating in opposition to lift the state of emergency when they
come to power, the majority of the CHP deputies have always voted for
the extension of this anti-democratic regime since they became partner
of the coalition government.
FOUR KURDISH DEPUTIES KEPT IN PRISON
The Court of Cassation, on October 26, 1995, revised
an initial conviction of eight pro-Kurdish politicians, upholding the
prison sentences passed on six and ordering the retrial of two.
The court upheld judgements against Leyla Zana,
Orhan Dogan, Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak, who were each sentenced to
15-year prison terms by the State Security Court (DGM) last December.
The SSC's sentences against Ahmet Türk and Sedat
Yurttas were upheld, but the court ordered their release since they
have served the required minimum of their sentences. The appeals court
ordered their retrial under the Anti-Terrorism Law.
The Court of Cassation also decided that the fines
of TL 70 million imposed on Sirri Sakik and Mahmut Alniak, both also
sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, were too lenient.
The former deputies Zana, Dogan, Dicle and Sadak
were originally charged under the Anti-Terrorism Law with being members
of an outlawed armed organization and following their conviction
applied to the appeals court.
There were strong reactions to the Court of
Cassation's decisions. Responding to questions after the court session,
Alniak evaluated the decision as a punishment of the public. He likened
the verdict to that brought against Adnan Menderes and his colleagues,
who were hanged on Yassiada Island. "Everybody is familiar with
the case of Deniz Gezmis and his friends in Turkey, they were sentenced
to death unjustly," said Alniak. He continued that the case against the
former DEP deputies amounted to those who felt powerful suppressing the
poor.
He added that the verdict harmed voters' powers and
also amounted to a sentence passed on the public. He continued that
nobody, even Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, the former Chief of General
Staff Dogan Güres and President Süleyman Demirel could defend the Court
of Cassation's decision.
Speaking about the court's judgement, Sakik said it
was a political decision because former Chief of General Staff Dogan
Güres had said he wanted the deputies to be tried. Sakik claimed that
the verdict would not support peace and the decision favoured neither
Turkish society nor Kurdish society.
Lawyers of the defendants evaluated the verdict by
saying that they had not expected such a severe punishment. Lawyer
Yusuf Alatas said he had been optimistic from the beginning because of
his confidence in the Court of Cassation.
Next day, two Kurdish parliamentarians, fresh from
Ankara central prison, slammed the Court of Cassation that set them
free. "We were not pleased at all by the decision," said former Mardin
MP Ahmet Türk, sitting in his parliamentary residence while his
children and grandchildren ran up for hugs. "We say it today and we
will say it tomorrow, who profits from this situation where the elected
representatives of the people are thrown out of parliament?"
Türk, looking wan and thin from 20 months behind bars, told Reuters.
Türk and former Diyarbakir MP Sedat Yurttas,
released from prison more than 24 hours after the court's decision,
accused the court of trying to boost Turkey's bid for a lucrative
customs deal with the European Union.
ARTICLE 8: "CRIME OF OPINION" MAINTAINED
The Turkish parliament, on October 27, accepted some
cosmetic changes to an anti-terror law, so as intellectuals, artists,
journalists, lawyers and politicians may again face imprisonment and
heavy fines for publicly demanding greater rights for the country's
more than 10 million Kurds.
The amendment, keeping in force the "crime of
opinion", reduces maximum jail terms under the law to three years from
five, make it possible to commute jail terms to fines and require
prosecutors to prove a defendant's remarks were intended to undermine
the unitary Turkish state.
A temporary article inserted in the draft bill
allows courts, which have already convicted defendants for violating
the Anti-Terrorism Law, to rehear cases and either commute their prison
terms to fines or suspend their sentences.
The amendments concerning Article 8, which has been
seen as one of the biggest obstacles before Turkey prior to its
entrance to the customs union, were put on the parliamentary agenda
immediately and changed accordingly.
The Correct Way Party (DYP) has given the go-ahead
to the amendment of this article at the end of bargaining over the
formation of the new government. However, it is not happy with the new
changes. According to the DYP, even a minor change in the law has meant
making concessions to terrorism, but the party has remained
silent.
Although the Republican People's Party (CHP) was
aware that the amendments would not even satisfy its own jailed
grassroots, it had to approve the new version of the article with the
purpose of benefiting from it as a propaganda tool before entering the
customs union.
Motherland Party (ANAP) never wanted Article 8,
which it invented, to be altered. According to ANAP, the changes were a
type of amnesty.
Many Prisoners of Opinion Stay in Jails
Jurists have begun criticising the new version of
the amended Article 8 of the Anti-terrorism Law on the grounds that
there is not much difference between the old and the new. They say that
the new changes will not affect the status of most of the people in
prisons. Only those who have been convicted under only one single
charge will be set free after serving a short period of
imprisonment.
Under the amended version of Article 8, the minimum
punishment has been set at one year imprisonment and the maximum at
three years. This punishment may either be commuted to a fine or
suspended. In any case, the judge who is to hear such cases will have
full discretion in determining the amount of punishment, in the
commutation of prison terms to fines or suspension of punishments.
Besides, following the enactment of the amendment,
within one month the courts must re-examine the cases which they heard
earlier and render their decision in view of the amended version of the
article.
At present, the number of people who have been
jailed on charges of violating this article has reportedly been
determined as 152. Also the number of convicts whose punishments have
not yet been upheld by the Court of Cassation is around 2,600. There
are more than 5,000 pending cases which have been filed under the
charges.
The common view of the jurists who oppose the new
changes is the issue that those inmates who will have to stay in
prisons for years will not benefit from the law under any conditions.
For example, Ismail Besikci has been given a 65-year prison term which
has become final. The total punishments against him amount to nearly
200 years. Under the new changes, the finalised prison term
against him will drop to 35 years and those which have not yet become
final to 100 years. Isik Yurtcu, editor of daily Özgür Gündem, is one
of those inmates who faces the same situation.
BRUTALITY AND HUNGER-STRIKES IN PRISONS
A brutal operation in the Buca Prison in Izmir
ending in three deaths and more than 50 wounded on September 21, 1995,
has led to a series of hunger strikes in all prisons of the country
housing political convicts.
The unrest in prisons started when it was announced
that some political prisoners in the Buca Prison were to be transferred
to the prison in Aydin. When the prisoners opposed this decision, the
guards and gendarmes brutally intervened by killing three convicts.
During the conflict, 45 prisoners and 15 members of the gendarmerie
were injured. Many other people were injured when security forces
attacked members of the Human Rights Association, lawyers, and
relatives of the prisoners who had gathered in front of the prison
after the event.
In protest against this repressive operation, more
than 1,200 political prisoners in 23 prisons have gone on
hunger-strike. At the end of October, the life of more than 50
hunger-strikers was in danger.
According to the press reports, in September, there
were 8,789 political detainees in prison of whom 8,445 were left-wing
and only 344 right-wing. Most crowded prisons were Diyarbakir (1,062),
Bayrampasa-Istanbul (745), Buca-Izmir (493), Konya (424), Mardin (320),
Bursa (306), Mus (288) and Batman (243).
THE TURKISH MILITARY MENACE FOREIGN STATES
The Turkish military recently announced their
hostility against the defenders of human rights, as well in Turkey as
abroad, during a ceremony to honour the families of five soldiers
killed during operation against Kurdish guerrillas.
The Commander of the 15th Army-Corps, general Nahit
Senogul, during the ceremony held on October 28, 1995, at the Officers'
Club in Izmit, said: "We are very angry. Our anger is against the
criminal PKK and its collaborators here and abroad. These collaborators
pretend to be defenders of human rights and democracy. Some foreign
states do not hesitate to honour terrorists. This is against all
universal conventions. If our enemies continue in that way, the Turkish
Nation will be furious and make them pay what they did. To take the
question to international forums is not a solution. Even if they take
the question to interplanetary forums, we do not care at all. Even if
we remain completely isolated, we shall defend our fatherland, our
nation and our flag to the last drop of our blood."
KURDISH PARTY CHAIRMAN IN PRISON
The Chairman of the Democracy and Change Party
(DDP), Ibrahim Aksoy was taken into custody on October 14, 1995, at the
Ankara Airport after his arrival from Germany.
Aksoy had been sentenced to three years and eight
months imprisonment for a speech he have during a HEP meeting in Konya
in 1991.
When his sentence was ratified by the Court of
Cassation, Aksoy was in Europe. He will serve his imprisonment in the
Ankara Central Prison.
Another 2-year sentence against Aksoy is at the
agenda of the Court of Cassation.
The national congress of the DDP, convened as Aksoy
was being detained on October 14, elected him as honorary party
chairman.
Like other Kurdish political parties, the DDP too is
considered by the State as a separatist organization and the Public
Prosecutor opened a lawsuit at the Constitutional Court for banning the
party.
NEW IMPRISONMENTS FOR BESIKCI
Sociologist Ismail Besikci is sentenced on September
6, 1995, by the Istanbul SSC to three years and four months in prison
and TL 666 million in fine for his two books, The Stained Values and
The Unlawful Justice. The director of the Yurt Publishing House, Ünsal
Öztürk too is sentenced to 10 months in prison and TL 83 million in
fine for having published the said books.
Besikci and Öztürk were reportedly insulted and
beaten on October 15, as they were being taken from prison to tribunal
for another trial.
Besikci was sentenced again by the Istanbul SSC, on
October 18, to two years and four months in prison and TL 291 million
in fine for his two articles published by the defunct daily Özgür
Gündem in 1993.
Same day, in another trial, the SSC sentenced
Besikci to two years in prison and TL 50 million for one of his
articles published by the review Özgür Halk in 1992.
On October 24, Besikci was sentenced again by the
Ankara SSC to two years in prison and TL 100 million in fine for the
introduction he wrote to Edip Polat's book Kurdistan in Scientific
Language. The court sentences Polat to same punishments as well. The
publisher of the book, Vedat Yeniceri was sentenced by the same court
to six months in prison and TL 50 million in fine.
Besikci has, up to now, been sentenced to more than
70 years imprisonment and 27 of his 31 books are banned. A part of 41
years and four months of prison terms and a total fine of TL 3 billion
576 million against Besikci have already been ratified by the Court of
Cassation. Besikci is serving his prison terms in the Ankara Central
Prison. Since Besikci cannot have the financial possibilities to pay
the fines, he will have to serve them as imprisonment and his total
prison terms will so rise to hundreds years.
Besikci was awarded 1995 Freedom of Expression Prize
on September 27, 1995, by the Norwegian Authors Union. The union stated
that Besikci was not permitted to visit Stavanger (Norway) to receive
the prize and to lecture on freedom of expression.
The prize of 100,000 Norwegian Kroner and a
collection of 21 works of art was received on behalf of Besikci by the
IHD Chairman Akin Birdal.
PUBLISHER ZARAKOLU'S NEW CONDEMNATIONS
In last two months, the Director of Belge Publishing
House, Mrs. Ayse Zarakolu has been sentenced to new imprisonments and
some of her earlier condemnations ratified by the Court of Cassation.
Zarakolu had already spent 3 months and 22 days in
prison for one of her earlier publications. She is expected to enter
prison in coming weeks.
On September 28, Zarakolu was sentenced by the
Istanbul SSC to five months in prison and TL 42 million in fine for
Faysal Dagli's book Birakuji: Battle Between Brothers.
Same day, a 6-month imprisonment and a fine of TL 60
million against Zarakolu for Yasar Kaya's book The Gündem Articles was
ratified by the Court of Cassation.
Next day, the Court of Cassation ratified Zarakolu's
another condemnation, six months in prison and TL 50 million in fine,
for journalist Hasan Bildirici's book Bekaa.
On October 3, she was again sentenced by the
Istanbul SSC to 6-month prison and TL 50 million in fine for Rahmi
Batur's book The Zargos.
Another sentence of two years in prison and TL 250
million in fine against Zarakolu for Yves Ternon's book The Armenian
Taboo was overruled by the Court of Cassation on October 18. However,
she will be tried again by the Istanbul SSC.
Four other trials against Zarakolu are still being
dealt by the Istanbul SSC.
Recently, the Istanbul SSC Prosecutor indicted
Zarakolu for having published a book of Lenin, The Liberation Movement
of the East.
This book was first published in Turkish 25 years
ago with a foreword of the Ant Publishing House. Zarakolu published the
book again without changing the foreword. Although there is no mention
of the Kurdish movement in the foreword, the prosecutor claims that the
book was published with the intention to make propaganda against the
indivisible unity of Turkey.
TURKISH TROOPS CROSSED INTO IRAQ
Turkish troops crossed, on October 8, 1995,
into northern Iraq to strike at separatist Kurdish guerrillas fighting
the Ankara government.
"We went in and hit them," Ünal Erkan,
super-governor for Turkey's 10 southeastern provinces under emergency
rule, told the press. He claimed that 32 PKK guerrillas were killed in
the past 24 hours.
Turkey twice this year poured troops into northern
Iraq to pound Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters who use the area
as a staging ground for attacks in their 11-year battle in Turkey's
mainly Kurdish Southeast.
The PKK has also been fighting Iraqi Kurdish
movements in northern Iraq which are pressed by Ankara to drive out PKK
fighters from areas under their control.
Iraqi Kurdish sources in southeastern Turkey said
clashes between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and PKK, which
started in August, were continuing.
Iraq officially protested Turkey for violating its
northern border with a fresh incursion.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Turkish troops,
backed by helicopters, penetrated 2.5 miles into northern Iraq in a
drive against the PKK, causing heavy damage and casualties to Iraqi
Kurds.
"The government of Iraq refuses categorically
Turkish pretexts to justify its military operations inside Iraqi
territory and regards them as a violation of its sovereignty, the
principles of international law, the UN charter and principles of good
neighbourliness," said the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
On the other hand, the Turkish Parliament, obeying
to the directive of the National Security Council (MGK), extended on
October 28, 1995, the stay of the US-British-French air force based in
Incirlik, southern Turkey, patrolling a no-fly zone north of the 36th
parallel to protect Iraq's Kurds from attack by Saddam Hussein's
forces.
But the Operation Provide Comfort, the official name
for the air protection, was given a three-month extension instead of
the usual six. The stay of the Western force was prolonged with
168 votes to 111 following electrified debates.
The decision coincides with a visit by Iraqi deputy
foreign minister Saad Abdel-Majid al-Faisal, who met Foreign Minister
Coskun Kirca. Iraq wants the mandate of the allied air force to be
terminated.
The opponents of the continuing stay of the foreign
warplanes see the operation as harmful to Turkey's interests, saying
the military protection helps the gradual evolution of an independent
Kurdish state in northern Iraq which is certain to fuel separatist
tendencies among Turkey's own Kurdish population.
However, the PKK often accuses the Operation Provide
Comfort to give intelligence and logistic support to the Turkish Armed
Forces in offensive against the Kurdish Guerrilla in the Northern Iraq.
ANKARA-TEHRAN COOPERATION AGAINST KURDS
Turkey and Iran have agreed, on October 12, 1995, to
conduct joint operations against "terrorists" along the border between
the two countries.
The two countries have decided to authorize two
high-ranking officers to set up a military committee and jointly
conduct operations along the border.
Iranian Interior Minister Ali Mohammad Besharati
pledged that Iran would not allow anyone to destroy its good relations
with Turkey.
Muharrem Göktay, the Turkish Interior Ministry's
deputy under-secretary and the head of the Turkish delegation, said
that Turkey has always believed in Iranian officials' good intentions.
Earlier, on September 8, 1995, Turkey, Iran and
Syria had said that the PKK, which has recently intensified its
activities in northern Iraq, should not be allowed to operate in that
region.
Foreign Ministers Erdal Inönü of Turkey, Ali Akbar
Velayeti of Iraq and Farouk al-Shara of Syria discussed recent
developments in northern Iraq as part of a consultation mechanism set
up by the three countries in the wake of the Gulf War.
The three regional powers, which all have a
considerable Kurdish population, are concerned over the possible
creation of a Kurdish state and are acting together to avert such a
development. The three foreign ministers once again reiterated
their countries' determination to preserve Iraq's territorial integrity.
"The three ministers stressed that the
disintegration of Iraq would have very dangerous repercussions on
regional and international peace, stability and security," the joint
declaration said. "They also reiterated their rejection of the
statements and activities of groups in certain Western countries
promoting separatism."
The Tehran meeting followed three significant recent
developments regarding Iraq: the PKK attacks on the KDP; a meeting in
Ireland between the KDP and a rival Iraqi Kurdish group, the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK), under the auspices of the United States,
aimed at ending the hostilities between the rival Kurdish factions; and
the defection to Jordan of a top Iraqi official.
Syria and, especially, Iran were concerned over the
Ireland meeting -- which was also attended by a Turkish official --
seeing it as part of US efforts towards the establishment of a new
"Kurdish entity" in northern Iraq without dialogues with Tehran and
Damascus. This development led to tensions between Iran and Turkey.
But Turkish diplomats attending a preliminary
tripartite meeting in Tehran on September 6 gave assurances that Iraq's
territorial integrity was of vital importance and that Turkey's policy
was not against the national interests of Iran and Syria.
Demonstration cancelled
In another development on September 8, which
reflected the easing of tensions between Tehran and Ankara, Iran did
not allow a planned demonstration by hundreds of members of the radical
Islamic group, Hezbollah, in front of the Turkish Embassy in the
Iranian capital.
OFFICIAL FIGURES ON ANTI-PKK WAR
Turkish government officials reported on September
4, 1995, that Security forces have taken 13,487 separatists out of
action since the PKK started its offensive in 1984, killing 10,020 and
capturing 1,916.
They also said 1,328 "terrorists" have surrendered
to security forces within the same period. To encourage defections, the
government issued a general call to the separatists last June, those
who surrendered would be pardoned in accordance with a special
"repentance" bill. In addition to these militants, a
total of 60,000 supporters of the organization were reportedly taken
into custody in the last 11 years.
Three new courts had been opened in the southeastern
city, Diyarbakir, to handle the caseload.
The government forces have also sustained serious
losses, but the civilian population has suffered most.
Responding to the queries posed by the lawmakers,
Defence Minister Mehmet Gölhan told a news conference that 2,762
soldiers and (government-armed Kurdish) village guards have been killed
by PKK militants since 1984. Officials say 4,727 civilians have been
killed in the fighting as of last June.
The ability of the separatists to slip easily across
the borders into Iran, Iraq and Syria complicate the task of the
security forces. Turkey launched two major cross-border operations
against PKK camps and hideouts in the Kurdish held northern Iraq last
spring and early summer.
On September 3, The Turkish Armed Forces
initiated in Tunceli a new operation against the PKK. More
than 10,000 specially trained commandos took part in
the operation aiming to destroy PKK camps in the Tunceli region.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN 1994
The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) has
recently published a detailed report on the situation of human rights
in Turkey in 1994.
The English version of Human Rights Report-1994 is
available at the following address: TIHV - Menekse 2 Sokak 16/6-7
Kizilay, 06440 Ankara/Turkey, Tel: (90-312) 417 71 80, Fax: (90-312)
424 45 52.
Below is the summary of this report:
Turkey remained in the red on the human rights
balance sheet in 1994. Human rights and freedoms, including the primary
right to life, were continuously abused during the year. Extrajudicial
executions and murders by unknown assailants continued intensively.
Torture was continued to be systematically applied in police stations
and particularly in centres where political detainees were held Claims
concerning torture cases were not followed up. The Kurdish problem was
not solved and even became more complex. Instead of finding a peaceful
and political solution to the Kurdish problems, the government
preferred to increase the military measures which have been applied for
years.
Clashes in the Emergency State Region intensified.
Armed and bomb attacks carried out by the PKK against defenseless and
unarmed civilians, mass transportation vehicles and facilities
available to tourists continued at an accelerated pace. The dimension
of the violence increased compared to the previous years. A total of
4041 people lost their lives as a result of clashes, extra judicial
executions, torture cases, armed attacks and assassinations, and
because of murders by unknown assailants (the murder of people who last
their lives was 2,933 in 1992, and 3,492 in 1993).
Books, journals and newspapers were confiscated and
destroyed. People who wrote and spoke were silenced and imprisoned.
Bomb and armed attacks against press facilities and journalists
continued The public was informed by only one side and the facts were
greatly distorted. Pressure and attacks against political parties,
trade unions and democratic mass organizations continued to increase
day by day. Work and activities of these organizations were prevented
and banned, their members and leaders were frequently detained and
arrested.
Many demonstrations, meetings and concerts were not
permitted. Demonstrators were beaten and shot with guns by security
officers. The DEP was closed, immunities of deputies were lifted,
deputies were arrested and convicted. Armed attacks against the
administrators of political parties could not be prevented.
Expectations concerning working life were frustrated. Amendments to be
made related to workers' rights and union rights on the laws; that had
been put into force by 12 September regime, were not brought onto the
agenda. Dismissals continued in an intensive manner. Civil servants'
trade unions did not have legal status.
Turkey also experienced busy days apart from the
human rights issue in 1994, witnessed Important developments and had
economic setbacks. It fell on hard days in foreign policy. Most of the
rights and freedoms called for in the international human rights
documents were deemed as "luxuries". During the year, instead of the
human rights, those who violate them were protected.
The human rights advocates became targets and were
accused of being extensions, supporters of members of armed
organization The figures concerning the deaths, torture victims,
confiscated publications and sentenced journalists increased
several-fold when compared to the last year. Even some positive
decisions taken in the previous years were dispensed with. For example,
the period for military service was extended, and studies were started
in order to extend the retirement age. The DYP-SHP coalition government
did not take important step to defend human rights and put them into
practice. The coalition government which gave promises on
"democratisation" and an "administration respectful to human rights did
not keep the promises, but showed behaviour that contradicted to its
promises.
The dark picture summarised above was experienced
when the DYP-SHP coalition pledged to improve the human rights record
and enlarge the democracy was in power.
The "democratisation package" revealed by Prime
Minister Tansu Ciller and the then Deputy Prime Minister Murat
Karayalcin on may 18 comprised a list of 62 articles needing to be
amended in the Constitution and laws, but was never seriously
implemented save for the allowed return of people dismissed from their
jobs because of security probes and the endorsement of the Convention
on Rights of Children.
Because of human rights abuses, Turkey was
frequently condemned on international platforms in 1994, in the reports
by many human rights organizations particularly by Amnesty
International and Helsinki Watch. The condemnations were particularly
intense regarding the Kurdish problem, torture cases, extra-judicial
executions and freedom of thought. The criticisms further increased
with the arrest of the pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP), the closure
of the party and the sentencing of the deputies. The human rights
abuses came up frequently during negotiations between Turkey and the EU
on customs union, causing problems for Ankara. The European Parliament
demanded the suspension of the customs union talks and the postponement
of the Association Council meeting set for Dec. 19. Turkey also was
confronted with individual applications to the European Human Rights
Commission in 1994. A senior Justice Ministry official said in July
that about 300 cases had been filed to the European Human Rights
Commission against Turkey which faced the liability of paying large
sums in compensation.
Kurdish problem
The most vital issue for the country in 1994
continued to be the Kurdish Problem. It gained in complexity with the
governments keeping their preference fore a military solution to
democratic and peaceful means. The national Security Council and the
General Staff were entrusted with the solution of the problem. The
calls for moderation and peaceful solutions were drowned by the calls
for hard-line. Dissenters were heavily penalized. Journalists and
writers were arrested and sentenced, political parties were closed, and
pressure on democratic mass oraganizations and human rights activists
intensified. The deputies whose immunities were lifted were detained,
arrested, prosecuted and convicted. The events taking place in the
State of Emergency Region (south-eastern Turkey) were hidden from the
public or were distorted.
The State of Emergency, in force since 1987 and the
village guards system were not only retained, but were also fortified
despite the promises of the coalition government.
In the operations against the separatist Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), major ground and air attacks were mounted against
the rebels in Turkey or across the borders. In the course of the
campaign, Hundreds of villages were evacuated and burnt down. Towns and
districts were damaged. Thousand of people left the settlements they
had been living in for years and emigrated to other places and
sometimes to abroad. The PKK increased its attacks against civilians,
defenseless groups and foreign tourists. Such attacks were mostly
carried out m big cities like Istanbul, Izmir and Adana. Buses,
shopping centres restaurants, hotels were bombed and shot up. There was
a marked rise in torching of forests. Clashes and the ensuing
casualties increased polarization also fuelled by the media.
The Kurdish problem caused great damage to the
Turkish economy, too. As a result of the violence, Turkey had to take
on a financial burden amounting to trillions of TL and mostly workers,
civil servants and low-income masses had to pay the bill
As a result of the lasting struggle between the
administrators who insist on military solution, and the PKK, which
continues its attacks, the Kurdish problem was jammed in a triangle of
violence, pressure and death, and became almost unsolvable. In 1994, a
total of 1737 militants or armed people died during the clashes and
attacks, including raids against military stations and units the
Emergency State Region. The total number of security officers or people
who died during clashes, and of the people who were accidentally killed
in those clashes, is 1077. During the year, events similar to the ones
witnessed in Sirnak in 1992, and in Lice in 1993 frequently took place
in some settlements in the Emergency State Region. In addition, village
and hamlet evacuations and burnings continued with increasing pace.
Settlements were destroyed during the operations or by security
officers who opened fire at random or on the pretext of attacks or
sniper fire by PKK militants, causing 51 deaths, compared to 41 in 1992
and 46 in 1993. Village and hamlet evacuations continued at an
increasing pace in 1994. During the year, more than 1000 villages and
hamlets were evacuated. The evacuations targeted the villages and
hamlets where people who had refused to serve as village guards were
living.
Village evacuations and burnings, which caused many
social problems, also harmed the economy of both the region and Turkey.
In a study by the Turkey Agriculturists Association (TZD), it was
indicated that the economic loss occasioned by village evacuations and
burning forests was about 13 trillion Turkish Liras. Two to 3 million
people had to leave the settlements where they had lived for years. As
a consequence of the migration, the population of Mersin which was
422,000 in the census m 1990, has reached I million, that of Tarsus,
which was 177,000, has reached 350,000, that of Adana, which was
927,000 has become 2 million, that of Diyarbakir, which was 380,000 has
reached I million and that of Gaziantep, which was 600,000 has reached
I million. Migration was not limited to Turkey. Thousands of people who
were forced to leave their houses migrated to Northern Iraq beginning
in the first months of 1994. The number of immigrants to Northern Iraq
exceeded 20.000 at the end of 1994.
After a long effort the immigrants were settled in
the camps under the control of the United Nations. Most of those people
were given refugee status. Bomb attacks or other violence directed at
civilians and defenseless people continued also in 1994. Villages and
hamlets known to be supporting the state or houses and families of
village guards, settlements harbouring people refusing to become
village guards, and tourist regions, city centres, buses, crowded
plazas, cinemas and restaurants were targeted, mainly in Adana and
Istanbul. In 134 attacks (*) carried out all over Turkey 197 people,
including 37 children, died, compared to 189 killed in 1992 and 406 in
1993. The attacks, fuelling public anger served as justification for
anti-democratic practices. Human rights activists were subjected to
baseless accusations. Statements by the PKK and its Abdullah Öcalan,
its leader, justifying attacks targeting urban centres and tourist
places fuelled enmity towards the Kurds in Western Turkey Attacks and
assassinations targeting public officers; soldiers, civil servants,
teachers, workers for state enterprises, political party members,
repentant village guards and suspected "police agents" also continued.
Most of these attacks were carried out by PKK militants (193) in the
Emergency States Region The attacks which were carried out outside the
Emergency State Region decreased to great extent when compared to 1992
and 1993.
Attacks and clashed which have been ongoing in
Southeast and east of Turkey for years negatively effected also the
educational and training activities in the region. Schools were closed
and the number of the teachers working in the region decreased
radically.
A total of 1157 primary and secondary schools was
closed for various reasons in 1992 and 1993. The number of the closed
increased extensively in 1994. In a statement he made in October,
National Education Minister Nevzat Ayaz said that the schools were kept
closed mostly for security reasons and he added, "Our governors will
not open the schools having no security" In another statement in
December Nevzat Ayaz disclosed that the number of the closed schools in
the Emergency State Region exceeded 2000(*) Thirty-three teachers were
murdered an at least 10 teaches were wounded.
Attacks by the PKK militants against teachers also
continued in 1994 as in the previous years. Twenty-four of the teachers
were killed by the PKK militants. The attacks by PKK militants against
teachers ended from the beginning of 1995.
Unresolved murders
Murders by unknown assailants continued at full
speed in 1994, particularly in the Emergency State Region. A total of
423 people from all walks of life fell victim to what became known as
unsolved murders which particularly occurred in Diyarbakir, Batman
Nusaybin, Silvan and Midyat. Tradesmen who closed their shops upon
calls by the PKK, Christian Assyrians living in the Emergency State
Region, Kurdish intellectuals, human rights advocates, people who were
frequently detained or arrested because of their relations with the PKK
and then released due to lack of concrete evidence, people whose
relatives have joined the PKK, Kurdish businessmen and some well-known
Kurdish people were murdered one after another. Among the victims of
murders by unknown assailants, were also the people who had witnessed
or assumed to have witnessed other murders by unknown assailants.
Public and official apathy continued towards the unresolved murders
with officials confining themselves to say that mainly PKK or the
radical Muslim Hizbullah were responsible.
A total of 1294 murders was committed by unknown
assailants from the beginning of 1989 to the end of 1994 according to
the reports of the Human Rights Foundation.
Extra-judicial executions
Extra-judicial executions continued with increased
pace in 1994, claiming 129 lives in police raids at homes or shops,
shooting of people defying police orders to halt, or just shot at
random, execution of people captured alive, or in air strikes by planes
or helicopters. A considerable number of those killed were presented to
the public as "members of illegal and separatist organizations" who
clashed with the security forces or "criminals escaping from security
forces". Extrajudicial executions were mostly observed in Istanbul,
Adana and in the
Emergency State Region. In the State of Emergency
Region, a total of 131 people lost their lives by stepping on mines
planted on roads or in fields or tampering with live shells or bombs.
Capital punishment
No death penalty was carried out in Turkey in 1994.
Debates focused on "lifting the capital punishment" and "implementation
of the death penalties already handed out". Sometimes, requests for
immediate implementation of death penalties (especially those passed in
political cases gained publicity, but were never converted to campaigns
like those seen in 1993. Still, capital punishment was demanded against
some 400 people in trials throughout the year.
Torture
Torture which has been applied as a systematic
interrogation method for years, continued spreading in 1994. The number
of deaths in detention, persons who disappeared after being detained,
or incapacitated due to torture, and the number of the cases of torture
and rape in detention increased considerably compared to the previous
year. Despite official statements and explanations, torture could not
be prevented, even no effort could be witnessed for decrease in torture
cases. Perpetrators were protected, encouraged and even rewarded.
Investigations initiated in connection with torture cases did not
proceed beyond being nominal. Manner of pending trials and trivial
sentences played a significant role in the increase of torture cases.
The approach of authorities towards torture cases
did not prevent torture but actually encouraged perpetrators. Torture
cases and claims were mostly denied.
When the case proved to be undeniable, the officials
admitted to the individual cases but denied widespread practice. But
the number of the punished perpetrators did not exceed 20 or 30. On
Dec. 12, Police General Director Mehmet Agar claimed that the issue of
torture was put on the agenda by the circles which wanted to prevent
the success of police in struggle against terror. Mehmet Agar stated
that those who protected and backed human rights were police officers.
Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedures,
shortly called as the CMUK, which occupied the public in 1992 and 1993
was on the agenda also in 1994.
The CMUK which has no use in the prevention of
torture, remained only "an indicator of respect for human rights" used
by authorities when they were hard pressed. Many negative examples
witnessed during the year showed once more that the CMUK, which was put
into force on I December 1992 did not prevent torture, did not bring
any important changes to the judicial system and was an attempt to
stall public opinion (especially abroad). Incidents witnessed during
1994, verified the criticism against the CMUK and its failure.
The failure of the CMUK was not limited with the
political cases under the jurisdiction of the SSCs and the Emergency
State Region. The amendments brought on the CMUK were mostly ignored in
the ordinary judicial investigations. Provisions which are in favour of
defendant, particularly that enabling lawyers to be present during
interrogation, were disregarded by security officers. Lawyers
registered to the Istanbul Bar Association, revealed 12 torture cases
in judicial investigations in August, and lodged official complaints to
prosecution office. Special provisions foreseen for the investigations
concerning the defendants below 18 years (for example, interrogation in
the presence of a lawyer, informing their families without regard to
their demands) were not obeyed. Even the lawyers who insisted on the
implementation of the CMUK provisions, were exposed to attacks and
insults by security officers.
In spite of all its deficiencies and failure in
prevention of torture, the CMUK incurred the wrath of security officers
and certain circles.
Torture cases and claims were not seriously
investigated in 1994, too. Investigations initiated in connection with
torture cases did not proceed beyond being nominal. While most of the
official complaints were shelved, decisions not to prosecute were taken
for meaningless reasons in other cases where investigations were
initiated. To launch trials against perpetrators took great effort. In
the trials which were launched, the perpetrators were either acquitted
or given trivial sentences. Sentenced security officers benefited from
prescription provisions and were not imprisoned since the trials lasted
too long. This played a major role in the increase of torture cases and
encouraged perpetrators. In 1994, a total of 34 people died m detention
places (32) or in prisons (2) because of torture or under suspicious
circumstances. Twenty-seven of the deaths were witnessed in the
Emergency State Region, 3 in Istanbul and the remaining in Dogubeyazit
(Agri), Bünyan (Kayseri), Adana and Adapazari. The number of people who
died in detention and prisons increased In i994 when compared to the
previous years (According to TIHV's determinations, a total of 9 people
died in detention places or prisons in 1990, 19 in 1991, 17 in 1992 and
29 in 1953). Following is the list of victims established to have died
in detention:
1- Zeynel Bilgen (24 January-Mardin Senköy
Gendarmerie Station), 2- lbrahim Danis (27 January-Cizre), 3- Ebubekir
Dayan (24 January-Diyarbakir Security Directorate), Ömer Alevcan (9
February-Siirt), 5- Cemile Sanik (10 February-Bitlis Hizan),
06-Velathan Gulsenoglu (22 March- Istanbul Kasimpasa Karakolu). 7-
Abdurrahman Avsar (2 April Sirnak Security Directorate), 8- Garip Olmez
(14 April Bitlis Ahlat), 9- Kamil Gündogan (29 April-Diyarbakir Lice),
10- Kadri Yilmaz (I May-Diyarbakir), 11- Aydin Tekay (1 May-Diyarbakir)
12- Bedel Özkan (11 May Hakkari Cukurca), 13-Hasan Ates (11 May-Hakkari
Cukurca), 14 Nimet Barut (12 May-Diyarbakir Kulp), 15- Ali Beki (15
June-Siirt), 16- Mahmut Tanli (28 June-Agri Dogubeyazit), 17- Osman
Akin (27 July-Kayseri Bünyan Gendarmerie Station), 18 Abdullah Baskin
(3 August-Batman Gendermerie Commandership) 19- Ahmet Demiray (14
August-Diyarbakir Lice), 20- Lokman Alicioglu (19 August-Adana), 21-
Cihan Demirag (23 August- Istanbul Kadiköy Security Directorate, 22-
Cihan Akum (25 August-Diyarbakir Police School), 23-Elif Leyla Celik
(13 September-Sakarya Security Directorate), 24- Bedri Tan (14
September-Diyarbakir) 25- Ramazan Özüak (4 October-Diyarbakir Prison),
26- Süleyman Ongun (4 October Diyarbakir Prison), 27-Aydin Kismir (12
October- Diyarbakir Security Directorate) 28- Bayram Duran (16
October-Istanbul Gazi Police Station, 29- Ali Karaca (13
October-Tunceli), 30- Emin Dündar (17 October-Siirt Security
Directorate), 31- Abdülkerim Alatas, (19 October- Van Gevas), 32- Bekir
Önder (28 November-Mardin Prison) 33-Ferhat Demir (7 December-Batman)
and 34- Nefiye Celik (7 December-Batman) .
Besides deaths due to torture in custody or prisons,
disappearances also continued In 1994. Throughout the year, 49 people
who were claimed by eye witnesses or by serious proofs to have been
detained or taken by the security forces, disappeared.
Following is the information compiled by the TIHV
about the people disappeared in 1994, or it became certain in 1994 that
they disappeared, and the fates of whom could not be learnt:
1- Sah Atala (9 October 1993-Diyarbakir Kulp), 2-
Bahri Simsek (9 October- Kulp), 3- Hasan Avar (9 October- Kulp), 4-
Serif Avar (9 October- Kulp) 5- Nusrettin Yerlikaya (9 October- Kulp)
6- Turan Demir (9 October- Kulp) 7- Behcet Tutus (9 October-Kulp) 8-
Abdi Yamuk (9 October-Kulp) 9- Salih Akdeniz (9 October- Kulp) 10-
Celil Aydogdu (9 October- Kulp) 11- Omit Tas (9 October-Kulp) 12- Ahmet
Çakici (28 November 1993-Diyarbakir Harzo) 13- Ali Efeoglu (5
January-Istanbul) 14- Fethi Yildirim (5 January-Urfa Viransehir) 15-
Yusuf Tunc, (9 February- Mardin Kiziltepe) 16- Cüneyt Aydinlar (20
February Istanbul) 17- Nazim Babaoglu (13 March-Urfa) 18- Zeynel Kursep
(23 March-Batman) 19- November Alpsoy (18 May-Adana) 20- Mustafa Bulut
(18 May-Diyarbakir Lice) 21- Zeki Ercan Diril (19 May-Sirnak) 22-Ilyas
Edip Diril (19 May-Sirnak) 23- Recai Aydin (2 July- Diyarbakir) 24-
Abdülgani Dag (23 July- Mardin Nusaybin) 25- Safura Yildirim (31
August-Nusaybin) 26- Lütfiye Kacar (5 September-Istanbul) 27- Fidan
Güngör (11 September-Istanbul), 28- Sabahattin Talayhan (11
September-Istanbul) 29-Kenan Bilgin (12 September- Ankara) 30- Ridvan
Temiz (October-Mardin Derik) 31- Turgut Yenisoy (4 October-Diyarbakir
Bismil) 32-Hidir Isik (September/October-Tunceli) 33- Hatun Isik
(September/October-Tunceli) 34- Elif Isik (September/October-Tunceli)
35- Duzali Serin (September/October-Tunceli) 36- Yeter lsik
(September/October-Tunceli) 37- Gülizar Serin
(September/October-Tunceli) 38¬ Dilek Serin
(September/October-Tunceli), 39¬ Adnan Seker
(September/October-Tunceli) 40¬ Nazim Gulmez
(September/October-Tunceli), 41- Mehmet Aggun
(September/October-Tunceli), 42- Ahmet Akbas
(September/October-Tunceli) 43- Muslim Aydin
(September/October-Tunceli), 44- Ibrahim Gencer
(September/October-Tunceli) 45- Ahmet Yetisen (14 November-Batman), 46-
Ali Tekdag (26 November-Diyarbakir), 47- Ismail Bahceci
(December-Istanbul), 48- Abdullah Efeli (15 December- Diyarbakir Cizre)
49- Ihsan Haran (24 December-Diyarbakir).
The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey established
that 1128 people, including 261 women and 24 children, had been
tortured in detention centres or prisons. Of these, 476 proved the
torture with official medical reports. 36 of tortured females stated
that they had been raped or sexually abused under custody. Within the
year, a total of 252 people allegedly tortured, applied to the
treatment centres of the TIHV, 93 of them in Ankara, 76 in Istanbul and
83 in Izmir. (This figure does not cover 220 people who were recently
released from prisons or the people who applied to the TIHV in 1994
even though they had been tortured before.)
The problems and oppression continued in prisons.
Beatings, maltreatment, abuses and bans were commonplace. Authorities
reneged on the rights won by the pensioners after hunger strikes.
Hunger strikes deteriorated the health of the
prisoners and caused permanent illnesses
Political arrests or detentions increased
considerably from the previous year. While the number was 4,389 in
1993, total for the first half of 1994 rose to 6,379. Of the latter,
6,152 were leftists or accused of separatism. Only 227 were rightists
or Muslim radicals.
The number of people arrested and convicted for
political reasons exceeded 8,000 at the end of 1994 and this number
exceed 10,1000 by mid-1995. The number was only 90 when the True Path
Party (DYP) and (now Defunct) Social Democrat People's Party (SHP)
coalition came to power in November 1991. Total number of those
arrested and convicted was 32,088 in November 1993 and it reached
40,973 in September 1994.
Freedom of opinion and belief
1994 was not a positive year regarding the freedoms
l of press, thought and conscience.
A number of laws, especially the Anti Terrorism Law
were instrumental in the restriction of these freedoms.
Attacks by unidentified assailants against newspaper
distributors continued.
Ideological attacks were another important dimension
of the attacks against the press and journalist. "Enemy" newspapers and
periodicals, and "enemy" journalists were created, as in previous
years. In particular, the publications adopting approaches contrary to
the official ideology and discourse on the subjects considered to be
taboo such as the Kurdish problem, compulsory military service, the
army, and religion, and the ones who expressed their opinions on these
problems, were subject to heavy attacks. Different approaches
concerning the issued deemed as taboo were not endured. Some well-known
journalists and writers, administrators of the IHD and TIHV, deputies,
trade unionists, leaders of democratic civic organizations were tried,
convicted and imprisoned because of their speeches or writings.
Among the trials at the State Security Courts, those
related to the freedom of thought and press occupied a prominent place.
According to statistic by the Ministry of Justice in November, 25
percent of the 6,091 cases which were held at the State Security Courts
had been launched under Articles 6 (239 cases) and 8 (1,190 cases) of
the "Law to Fight Terrorism," which are one of the important obstacles
to freedom of the press and thought. The number of the defendant
prosecuted under Article 6 of the "Law to Fight Terrorism" was 388
while that of defendants prosecutor under Article 8 was 4,234 people.
The coalition government did not honour its
pledge to remove the obstacles for the press freedoms and to amend the
Anti-Terrorism Law.
Murders of journalists continued. Journalists Erol
Akgün and Ersin Yildiz were murdered. In the meantime, in (terrorist)
attacks against the civilian targets 2 journalists (Ruhican Tul and
Onat Kutlar) lost their lives. One journalist who had been abducted by
unidentified people disappeared. The armed bomb attacks against
newspaper vendors in the Emergency State Region continued although in
reduced scale. One newspaper vendor was killed and four were wounded.
There were no serious effort in 1994 to find the
assailants of the 22 journalists killed in the last few years.
In 1994, press institutions, press organizations,
journalists and writes frequently came under attack. Most were carried
out by the police. According to the figures determined by the TIHV, a
total of 76 journalist were insulted or beaten in 34 separate incidents.
The number of people who were imprisoned for
expressing their thoughts increased radically in 1994. Those imprisoned
because of the books or articles they had written, the speeches they
had made or because of their political activities exceeded 100 during
the year. The number of people jailed because of their thoughts,
reached 172.
Out of the 172 criminals of thought, 97,
including six deputies and four party leaders were in prison as of Jan.
1, 1995. Most of those people are journalists and writers. Following is
the list of jailed journalists or writers:
1) Edip Polat, 2) Hacay Yilmaz, 3) Remzi
Kucukertan, 4) Naile Tuncer, 5) Tuncay Atmaca, 6) Gunnur llhan, 7)
Mustafa Kaplan, 8) Gunay Aslan, 9) Zana Sezen, 10) Ismail Besikçi, 11)
Hidir Ates, 12) Zeynettin Gunay, 13) Abdulaziz Aktas, 14) Mehmet Tekin,
15) Omer Agin, 16) Ahmet Zeki Okcuoglu, 17) Hikmet Çetin, 18) Hayrettin
Soykan, 19) Kemal Sahir Gurel, 20) Cemile Yurumez, 21) Fikret Baskaya,
22) Selim Okcuoglu, 23) Songul Aytemur, 24) Ayse Nur Zarakolu, 25)
Mehdi Zana, 26) Sirri Ozturk, 27) Ilyas Burak, 28) Munir Ceylan, 29)
Haluk Gerger, 30) Recep Marasli, 31) Ahmet Zengin, 32) Medeni Ayhan,
33) Kemal Okutan, 34) Numan Baktas,. 35) Mahmut Akkurt, 36) Imam
Canpolat, 37) Mahmut Kacar, 38) Unsal Ozturk, 39) Sedat Aslantas, 40)
Yilmaz Odabasi, 41) Erdal Sahin, 42) Isik Yurtcu, 43) Guven Ozata, 44)
Ozkan Kiliç, and 45) Suna Tan.
The sum of prison terms passed on journalists and
writers reached 448 years and 6 months 25 days, while total of fines
reached TL 71,614,935,000 (approx. $ 2,400,000). Despite official
promises to end the practice, confiscations of newspapers, periodicals
and books went on unabated. A total of 961 newspapers and journals and
37 books were confiscated during the year, mostly on the grounds that
they violated articles 6 and 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, or articles
155 and 312 of the penal code.
Freedom of organization
1994 was not so different from previous years
concerning the view of freedom to organize, speak out for rights, hold
meetings or demonstrations, and of union rights. Democratic mass
organizations and some political party organizations continued to face
persecution and attacks. Constitutional articles and anti-democratic
laws dating back to the 1980-1983 military regime remained in force.
Some legally founded and functioning organizations and parties were
dissolved, their leaders and some members of Parliament were arrested,
tried and convicted. Security forces opened fire on people
participating in some
demonstrations, and many demonstrations ended by the
use of force. Bombings and armed attacks against the democratic mass
organizations and party buildings, and murders of leaders of the mass
organizations and political parties by unknown gunmen continued.
The Human Rights Association (IHD) members and the
human rights advocates frequently faced persecution and attacks in
1994, too. Muhsin Melik, a (pro-Kurdish) HADEP politician, founder of
the IHD Urfa branch and former secretary of the branch, lost his life
in an armed attack on June 2. Leaders and members of the IHD were
detained, arrested, tortured, insulted.
Trials were launched against many IHD leaders and
members, particularly against IHD Chairperson Akin Birdal, Vice
Chairpersons Ercan Kanar and Sedat Aslantas, and General Secretary
Hüsnü Öndül. Prison terms and fines were passed on in the concluded
trials, and some of these sentences were ratified. The authorities also
orchestrated a media campaign against the IHD which was accused of
abetting terrorism. Two trials were launched against some of the
administrators and leaders of the TIHV and the IHD in connection with
publications focusing on the deliberate torching of villages in the
Southeast and the widespread use of torture. The trials ended with
acquittal on Jan. 11, 1995.
In 1994, numerous organizations faced attacks and
pressure similar to those faced by the IHD. Planned activities were
banned or prevented by the security officers by coercion. Fire was
opened at demonstrators, resulting in deaths and Injuries. Leaders and
members of the democratic mass organizations were attacked, detained,
arrested and prosecuted.
Political parties
1994 was also not a positive year from the
point of political parties and activities. Pressure on opposition
parties and groups continued. The most important events of the 1994
with respect to the political activities were (chronologically) lifting
of the parliamentary immunities of eight deputies and detention of some
of them under harassment, arrest of six deputies, closure of the DEP
and overthrown of the parliamentary memberships of 13 deputies, and
sentencing eight deputies to various terms and fines.
Pressures on political parties were not limited to
the closure of the DEP and measures against its deputies. The Worker's
Party (IP), the Green Party (YP), the Socialist Union Party/United
Socialist Party (SBP/BSP) and the Socialist Power Party (SIP), and
leaders and members of these parties faced various pressures and
attacks.
The Constitutional Court banned the Green Party on
Feb. 10. A trial was launched on Dec. 29, 1993 against the Socialist
Union Party (SBP) for its closure. The SBP was closed by the
Constitutional Court on 19 July 1995.
In 1994, bombings and armed assaults on part
buildings, rallies, party leaders, members and candidates, Increased
considerably. The attacks we mostly carried out against the
(pro-Kurdish) HEP, DEP and HADEP leaders and members. Attackers
remained unknown.
In the meantime, attacks were carried out by the PKK
militants against certain party leaders, members, buildings and
rallies. A total of 26 people we] killed as a result of attacks or
clashes.
Several party leaders and members and some mayors
were detained, tortured, arrested and sentenced.
Some of the arrested senior Party officials were:
Kemal Bilget (DEP Vice Chairperson), Nevzat Teker
(DEP Party Council Member), Mehmet Gokalp (DEP Derik District
Chairperson), Ramazan Bulut (DEP Ankara Provincial Chairperson-Twice),
Hamdi Samancilar (Socialist Power Party-SIP Izmir Konak District
Organization leader), Hayrettin Akbas, (SIP Konak District Organization
leader), Recai Gun (SIP Konak District Organization leader), Sema Nur
Özer (Sip Konak District Organization leader), Siddik Yaslan (DEP
Manisa Central District Organization leader), Ali Karsilayan (Worker's
Party Izmir Provincial Chairperson), Kemal Altiok (DEP Aydin Provincial
Chairperson), Mehmet Bingun (Guroymak Mayor), Hamit Acar (HADEP Van
Provincial Chairperson), Cabbar Gezici (DEP Central Administrative
Board Member), Yilmaz (HADEP Payas District Chairperson), Tevfik Kaya
(HADEP Altindag District Organization leader) and Abdullah Saydin
(HADEP Central Administrative Board Member). Out of the 17 party
leaders, 13 were released within 1994.
Pressure and attacks against the parties were
intensified on the DEP and HADEP, successor of the DEP. Buildings,
leaders and members of these two parties faced numerous bomb and armed
attacks. One of the attacks even targeted DEP headquarters in Ankara.
Some leaders of HEP were not immune to attack even after the closure of
the party in 1993. Murat Bozlak, Secretary General of the DEP (now
HADEP Chairperson), was wounded in an armed attack on Feb. S.
Another bomb which went off in a building housing
the DEP headquarters on Feb.18 killed one person and wounded 16. The
Constitutional Court shut down the DEP on charges of separatism on June
16. The parliamentary immunities of the 13 DEP deputies were
immediately lifted and the politicians were subsequently expelled. Many
of them fled Turkey.
The arrested DEP politicians were sentenced on Dec.
8 to heavy jail terms at the end of a lengthy trial.
Hatip Dicle, Ahmet Turk, Orhan Dogan, Leyla Zana and
Selim Sadak were sentenced to 15 years. Sedat Yurttas to seven years
six months, Selim Sakik and Mahmut Alniak got three years six months.
Sakik and Alniak were released under parole.
HEAVY TOLL OF EARTHQUAKE IN DINAR
The death toll in the earthquake that shattered a
Turkish market town, Dinar, on October 1st, 1995, caused to death of
more than 90.
The centre of the town, with a population of about
40,000, was scarred by rubble from apartment blocks and public
buildings after the quake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale.
Residents said the death toll would have been much
higher but many people had fled their homes last week after minor
tremors shook the town in a warning of the bigger quake.
A right-wing party has called for an inquiry into
the lack of earthquake precautions and reports that public buildings
were the first to crumble in Dinar
JOURNALIST AHMET ALTAN SENTENCED TO 20 MONTHS
A distinguished Turkish journalist, Ahmet Altan was
given a 20-month suspended sentence on October 18, for a satire on the
Kurdish problem.
The Istanbul state security court suspended the
sentence against columnist Ahmet Altan for five years "on the belief
that he will not commit the crime again and because of his place in
society."
Altan's satire, in the Milliyet newspaper, was
entitled "Atakürd" (Father of Kurds) and imagined what Turkey would be
like today if the country's founder Kemal Atatürk had been a Kurd.
Altan left Milliyet in a row over the article and
now writes for another newspaper.
His lawyer denied the charge, under Article 312 of
the penal code, of "provoking enmity and hatred by displaying racism or
regionalism."
Article 312 is one of several laws Turkey uses to
jail journalists and others for perceived criticism of the government's
handling of Kurdish national movement.
ANTI-KURDISH HYSTERIA HIT BUSINESS WORLD
Anti-Kurdish hysteria of the Turkish State has
reached a new dimension with the investigation against one of the
Turkey's biggest businessmen and a university professor who prepared
report on Kurds for the Union of Industry and Trade Chambers (TOBB).
On October 2, Bekir Selcuk, chief prosecutor of the
Diyarbakir State Security Court, said his office was looking into a
speech by tycoon Sakip Sabanci to a meeting of businessmen in the city.
Sabanci, a rags-to-riches tycoon, owns Turkey's
second-biggest conglomerate which has interests in hotels, car
production, banking and textiles.
He told businessmen from the mainly Kurdish
Southeast that the Kurdish issue was an ethnic problem, going against
the government line which claims that an 11-year-old Kurdish guerrilla
campaign was only a matter of "terrorism."
"We are investigating but it is too early to say if
he'll be charged. Sabanci may be charged for separatism under Article 8
of the Anti-terrorism Law or a lesser charge of provoking enmity or
hatred," the Prosecutor said. "It's not just Sabanci and the
businessmen. We investigate all types of meetings. If we didn't
investigate this we wouldn't be doing our job," he added.
A few weeks later, on October 23, 1995, the chief
prosecutor Nusret Demiral said that the Ankara State Security would
seek a statement from university professor Dogu Ergil about a report he
produced in August on the Southeast.
The report (See: Info-Türk, July-August 95),
commissioned by an influential Turkish business grouping, the Union of
Industry and Trade Chambers (TOBB). included a rare poll of more than
1,200 Kurds, most of whom said they would choose autonomy or being part
of a federation if they could change Turkey's political structure.
On the legal proceeding against Ergil, The New York
Times published on October 29, 1995, the following criticism by
Celestine Bohlen:
"Last summer, a political science professor in
Ankara published a survey based on interviews with 1,200 Kurds whose
lives had been swept up in the war that for 11 years has raged between
government forces and Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey. The
report's findings were neither startling nor particularly threatening.
Only a small minority endorsed the idea of an independent Kurdish
state, and those who favoured a federation were clearly befuddled what
that meant; some, he found, thought federation meant 'peace and bread.'
"But what the Kurds did say clearly in the personal
interviews conducted by the professor, Dogu Ergil, was that now more
than ever they consider themselves to be Kurds, a distinct ethnic group
that has yet to be recognized by the Turkish state. 'It was the first
time the Kurds of Turkey were asked, who are you and what do you want,'
said Ergil, who heads the political behaviour department at Ankara
University. 'The overwhelming majority said they want to stay in
Turkey, but as Kurds.'
"In many countries where the population is
ethnically divided, such a conclusion would be self-evident. But in
Turkey, where for 72 years the government has struggled to forge a
single nation, Ergil's report was promptly referred to a State Security
Court where it is being examined to see if it fits the definition of
'separatist propaganda' under Article 8 of a 1991 anti-terrorism law.
"But Ergil, unlike many others who have dared write
or talk about the Kurdish question in Turkey, has not yet been put on
trial or in jail. Nor have the sponsors of his report, an association
that represents 700,000 small-business executives, disclaimed the
author or his findings, despite denunciations in the mainstream press.
"At a time when Turkey's human rights record is
being closely watched, particularly in Europe, the reaction to Ergil's
report reflects Turkey's continuing difficulty in confronting the war
in the Southeast that since 1984 has claimed 18,000 lives, displaced
hundreds of thousands of people and is costing the state an estimated
$7 billion a year.
"Kurds in Turkey, who number about 12 million out of
a total population of 65 million, can now openly speak and write in
their own language and listen to their own music, rights that were
begrudgingly granted them in the 1980s. But they cannot form ethnic
associations, use their language in schools, on radio or on television
- something that falls into the category of 'separatist propaganda.'
"Dealing with the Kurdish question has always been a
challenge for Turkey, founded in 1923 on the ruins of the Ottoman
Empire by Mustafa Kemal, known as Atatürk. His vision was of a modern,
secular, indivisible Turkish state; for this, it was necessary to
create a Turkish national consciousness that allowed no room for a
separate Kurdish identity. A Kurdish rebellion in 1925 was summarily
suppressed. Turkey's poor record on human rights pre-dates the
war in the Southeast, but the unrelenting campaign of terrorism begun
by the Kurdish Workers' Party in 1984 has produced a harsh and
uncompromising government response that many Turks consider essential
for peace. The Southeast has been placed under a state of emergency;
hundreds of Kurdish villages have been forcibly evacuated, sometimes
burned; pro-Kurdish political parties have been silenced; prisoners are
tortured, and human rights campaigners are jailed.
"But the clampdown has spread beyond the
southeastern provinces where a majority of Turkey's Kurds still live.
In Istanbul and Ankara, Kurdish newspapers are regularly censored and
periodically closed; writers, journalists and intellectuals who have
defended broader rights for the Kurdish minority have been tried in
court, sometimes jailed.
"Critics, like Ergil, have long argued that by
suppressing debate on the Kurdish question, Turkey has driven many
Kurds into the arms of the Kurdish Workers' Party. 'We found
considerable support for the terrorist organization not because these
people condone the violence, or think of it as their saviour, but
because they see it as an organ to air their dissatisfaction,' he said."
REUTERS JOURNALIST FACES IMPRISONMENT
A State Security Court in Istanbul starts on October
12, 1995, to try an American correspondent for the Reuters news
agency on charges that she provoked 'racial hatreds' by writing an
article on the forced evacuation of Kurdish villages that appeared in a
Kurdish newspaper in Istanbul.
Aliza Marcus, a 33-year-old American who speaks
Turkish and was assigned to Istanbul from New York in April 1994. The
charge, which carries a maximum jail sentence of three years related to
a story last on November 25, 1994, about forcible evacuation of Kurdish
villages as a central part of the military's prolonged battle against
Kurdish guerrilla.
Walter Cronkite, chairman of the Committee to
Protect Journalists, met recently with Prime Minister Tansu Ciller to
protest the charges against the correspondent, Aliza Marcus, whom he
described as "the first American casualty of the Turkish government's
deplorable campaign of censorship and intimidation against journalists
covering the Kurdish separatist movement."
The Anglo-American Press Association of Paris too
urged Turkey to drop plans to prosecute Marcus. The group asked Turkish
Prime Minister Tansu Ciller to look personally and carefully into this
affair, and to do everything in her power to have the charges against
Ms Marcus dropped as quickly as possible.
2-MONTH STATE TERRORISM
24.8, in Midyat, a special security team, raiding
the village of Budakli, shoot dead minibus driver Nezir Akinci.
26.8, a handicapped person, Hikmet Ercisli is
subjected to torture after being detained by soldiers in Kagizman.
29.8, three officials of the Anti-War Association,
Arif Hikmet Iyidogan, Gökhan Demirkiran and Mehmet Sefa Fersal are
sentenced by the Military Court of Turkish General Staff respectively
to 6-month prison and TL 780,000 in fine, 4-month prison and TL 520,000
in fine and 2-month prison and TL 260.000 in fine for anti-militarist
propaganda.
30.8, MHP's Grey Wolves attacking a left-wing group
shoot dead Erdal Yildirim in Ankara.
31.8, in Istanbul, public prosecutor demands capital
punishment for Ayfer Ercan, a militant of the Communist Labour Party of
Turkey/Leninist (TKEP/L).
31.8, in Midyat, a special security team, raiding
the village of Budakli, shoot dead minibus driver Osman Acar.
31.8, in Izmir, security forces raiding an office
take 20 people in custody.
3.9, in Ankara, public prosecutor indicted 26
university students for having apprehended an agent of the Gendarmery
Intelligence Unit (JITEM), Ülkü Yalazi, at the Middle East Technical
University (ODTÜ). Each faces imprisonment of up to fifteen years.
3.9, in Istanbul, unidentified gunmen shoot dead
Kayhan Ileri during a raid on a café. In Diyarbakir, imam Ahmet Peke is
assassinated with axes by unidentified assailants.
4.9, Ankara chairman of the People's Democracy Party
(HADEP) and the United Socialist Party (BSP), Nurettin Sönmez and Ilhan
Kamil Turan are detained by police in relation with the Peace Day
demonstrations they organised.
5.9, the Istanbul SSC sentences Kemal Gömi, member
of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), to
capital punishment.
5.9, four members of the Workers'-Peasants'
Liberation Army of Turkey (TIKKO) are sentenced by the Kayseri SSC to
life-prison.
5.9, an armed group raiding the village of Seldiren
in Hatay shoot dead eight mine workers.
8.9, in Tokat, security forces raiding the villages
of Kinik and Kapici detain eleven peasants.
10.9, in Diyarbakir, worker Abdullah Önemli is shot
dead by unidentified gunmen.
11.9, in Istanbul, nine people are indicted by the
Istanbul SSC Prosecutor for having occupied the Galata Tower in
protest. Each faces imprisonment of up to 30 years according to
different articles of the Penal Code.
11.9, in Van, the village of Köklü is dispopulated
by security forces for not having accepted to adhere to pro-government
Village Protectors.
13.9, in Gebze, 97 workers are detained by gendarmes
for carrying on a protest action in front of the British Transport
Company Inchcape Retrans.
13.9, the Ankara SSC sentences three PKK members to
prison terms of up to fifteen years.
13.9, a group of MHP Grey Wolves raiding the
Alibeyköy Vocational School in Istanbul wound two teachers.
17.9, the governor of Istanbul closes down the
Solidarity Association of the Parents of Prisoners (TIYAD) for
activities not compatible with its objectives.
17.9, the Ankara SSC prosecutor indicts 15 people
for Hizbullah activities. Each faces prison terms of not less than five
years.
17.9, in Istanbul, prison guard Saban Erkol who was
detained last week for introducing drugs into the prison is found dead
at the police headquarters.
18.9, in Ankara, two high school students are beaten
by a group of MHP Grey Wolves.
19.9, the Kayseri SSC sentences five Dev-Sol members
to life prison and another one to 12 years and six months.
20.9, in Izmir, Gaziemir local of the HADEP is
destroyed by the explosion of a bomb placed by unidentified persons.
22.9, the trial of three women, Ayse Utanc, Hatice
Yavuz and Ümmügülsüm Özyilmaz, accused of having set on fire the MHP
Konya office starts at the Konya SSC. The defendants claim to have been
tortured and sexually harassed during their police interrogation.
25.9, a meeting on the September 12, 1980, Coup,
organized in Ankara by the Foundation of the 1968 Generation is banned
by the Ankara Governor.
26.9, in Diyarbakir, teacher Necati Cicek is
assassinated by unidentified assailants.
28.9, the Izmir SSC sentences nine members of the
Revolutionary People's Party of Turkey (TDHP) to imprisonments of up to
31 years.
28.9, a former public works minister, Serafettin
Elci is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to 20 months in prison and TL 42
million in fine for a speech he gave on December 19, 1992, in Istanbul.
28.9, in Istanbul, a young woman named Aynur Demir
claims to have been tortured and sexually harassed during her police
custody following a raid on her house. Same day, two university
students, Gülcan Öztürk and Nurgül Dogan, too claim to have been
subjected to torture.
29.9, the Ankara SSC sentences five PKK members to
prison terms of up to 22 years and 6 months.
2.10, security forces detain 10 people in Adana for
PKK activities.
3.10, the Ankara SSC places under arrest 12 people
for participating in DHKP/C activities.
5.10, the Ankara SSC sentences two TKEP-L members to
life prison and five others to prison terms of up to 12 years and 6
months.
9.10, in Edirne, security forces detain seven
people for underground activities.
9.10, in Istanbul, the Kartal section of the
Association of Working Women (EKBD) is closed down by police and a
member, Fecriye Aydin, taken into custody.
10.10, in Diyarbakir, Ali Ihsan Dagli has
disappeared since his arrest by security forces on April 14, 1995.
11.10, the Ankara SSC Prosecutor starts a new legal
action against former DEP Chairman and Deputy Hatip Dicle for a message
he sent to political prisoners in Cankiri. Although Dicle is
still in prison for fifteen years in the frame of the DEP Case, the SSC
issued a new arrest warrant against him in relation with this new case.
11.10, in Istanbul, worker Ali Kaya Esen claims to
have been tortured during his police detention.
11.10, the Izmir SSC sentences two people to life
prison and 12 others to prison terms of up to 18 years and 9 months for
PKK activities.
12.10, the Ankara SSC sentences Dev-Sol member Erol
Özbolat to capital punishment and two other defendants to prison terms
of up to 15 years.
12.10, in Diyarbakir, Bekir Tüylü and Ramazan Katar
are stabbed to death by unidentified assailants.
16.10, a new trial against former public works
minister Serafettin Elci began at the Ankara SSC. Accused of separatist
propaganda in a speech he gave in 1994, Elci faces imprisonment of up
to five years and a TL 50 million fine. He was sentenced to 20 months
in prison and TL 42 million in fine on September 28 for another speech.
17.10, the Izmir SSC sentences two PKK members to
life prison and ten others to imprisonments of up to 12 years and six
months.
22.10, the Malatya office of the HADEP is set on
fire by unidentified assailants.
22.10, in Sivas, the headmen of six villages are
taken into custody on charges of aiding and sheltering PKK militants.
23.10, in Izmir, student Muharrem Sönmez claimed to
have been kidnapped and menaced by plainclothesmen for obtaining
information about some associations. Same day, a woman named Dudu
Kirgül said to have been tortured after her detention on charges of
theft.
24.10, in Mus, unidentified gunmen shoot dead Ercan
Aydemir and his wife Kezban Aydemir.
24.10, in Diyarbakir, 60 year old Hamza Haran who
disappeared after his detention on February 23, 1995, is found killed.
26.10, security forces detained twelve people for
participating in illegal political activities.
27.10, in Diyarbakir, student Mürsel Polat is shot
dead by unidentified gunmen.
30.10, the chairman of the Student Association of
the Law Faculty in Ankara University, Erkut Direkci is placed under
arrest by a court on charges of being member of an underground
organization.
31.10, the Ankara SSC prosecutor starts a legal
proceeding against former deputy Fehmi Isiklar for the final
declaration unanimously adopted by the CHP Congress on September 10.
1995. Isiklar is accused of having read the adopted resolution.
However, the prosecutor says that he will open another legal action at
the Constitutional Court for closing down the CHP, partner of the
coalition government.
31.10, in Tarsus, the local of the People's House is
raided by police and the chairman, Kemal Aslanoglu, as well as 15 other
members of the association are taken into custody.
2-MONTH PRESSURE ON THE MEDIA
30.8, the daily Evrensel is confiscated by the
Istanbul SSC for instigation to disorder and propaganda of outlawed
organizations.
30.8, Yeni Politika correspondent Sayfettin Tepe,
detained in Batman on August 22, is found assassinated at the police
headquarters. His uncle lawyer Talat Tepe accuses the police of having
tortured Tepe to death.
30.8, a book, DEP Earthquake in Turkish Politics,
written by journalists Ali Osman Sönmez is confiscated by the Ankara
SSC for separatist propaganda.
30.8, the mayor of Seydisehir, Muammer Orhan (MHP)
harassed two journalists, Hamdi Celikbas (Konya TV) and Göksel Öker
(Merhaba) as they are asking him some questions on the rumours of
irregularities at the municipality.
31.8, a correspondent of the periodical Kizil
Bayrak, Ahmet Turan is subjected to torture after being detained during
a visit to workers on strike in Gebze.
3.9, the Adana office of the banned daily Yeni
Politika is raided by security forces and Adana representative Mahmut
Dogan taken into custody. After his release next day, Dogan claims to
have been tortured by police.
4.9, the periodical Ronahi, N°16 is confiscated by
the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
5.9, the responsible editor of the periodical
Atilim, Eylem Semint is arrested by the Istanbul SSC for some article
he published.
6.9, the daily Evrensel, N°91 is confiscated by the
Istanbul SSC for an article on the Peace Day.
7.9, the Ankara Prosecutor starts a legal proceeding
against three human rights activists for a book entitled on human
rights, dedicated to late Emil Galip Sandalci. IHD Chairman Akin
Birdal, TIHV Chairman Yavuz Önen and lawyer Turgut Inal face prison
terms of up to six years for insulting security forces.
7.9, the issue N°24 of the periodical Partizanin
Sesi is confiscated on the decisions of two different tribunals. The
Istanbul SSC ordered the confiscation for praising outlawed
organizations and a penal court of Istanbul for insulting security
forces in the same issue.
9.9, the periodicals Alinteri N°54 and Direnis N°29
are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda and
instigation to disorder.
9.9, in Istanbul, a building housing local offices
of the dailies Milliyet and Hürriyet is destroyed by the explosion of a
bomb placed by unidentified people.
12.9, the Ankara SSC tries the director of the
Gündem Newsletter, Nezih Tavlas, for publishing information forbidden
by the authorities. The legal action was started on the demand of the
Turkish General Staff.
12.9, the issue N°29 of the periodical Kizil Bayrak
is confiscated on the decisions of two different tribunals. The
Istanbul SSC ordered the confiscation for separatist propaganda
and a penal court of Istanbul for insulting security forces in the same
issue.
13.9, the Istanbul SSC confiscates the issue N°3 of
the Bulletin, issued by the Platform for Democratic Rights.
14.9, The financial counsellor of the Human Rights
Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), Ali Riza Yurtsever is indicted by
the Istanbul SSC Prosecutor for his article The Deadlock of the
Colonialist Economy, published in the November 2, 1994, issue of the
defunct daily Özgür Ülke.
14.9, the Istanbul SSC Prosecutor starts a legal
proceeding against novelist Yasar Kemal for his article published by
the defunct Yeni Politika on May 20, 1995. Accused of separatist
propaganda, Kemal faces imprisonment of up to five years.
18.9, a correspondent of the daily Evrensel, Ahmet
Birgül is beaten by MHP Grey Wolves in Osmaniye as covering an event.
19.9, Ankara correspondent of the periodical Odak,
Sevda Öztekin is sentenced by the military court of the General Staff
to six months in prison and TL 480,000 in fine for propaganda against
military service.
19.9, in Izmir, a correspondent of the Kurdish
review Welate Me, Ferec Cobanoglu is kidnapped by unidentified
assailants.
20.9, a penal court of Ankara sentences Murtaza
Demir, chairman of the Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural Association, and Metin
Kuzugüdenlioglu, editor of the association's magazine, to one month in
prison and TL 420,000 in fine each for an article criticising the trial
of the Sivas incidents.
20.9, the periodical Alinteri N°55 is confiscated by
the Istanbul SSC for praising outlawed organizations.
21.9, Fatos Güney, the widow of the late film
director, is tried by the Istanbul SSC for having published a book
entitled Yilmaz Güney: Human, Militant and Artist. Accused of quoting
Yilmaz Güney's some articles in the book, Fatos Güney faces
imprisonment of up to two years by virtue of Article 312 of the Penal
Code.
21.9, a special issue of the newsletter of the Human
Rights Association (IHD) published on the occasion of the Peace Day is
confiscated by the Ankara SSC by virtue of Anti-Terror Law.
26.9, writer Mustafa Pala is detained in Ankara to
serve his 2-year imprisonment for his book entitled Talks And Answers
and dedicated to Kurdish writer Musa Anter, victim of a political
murder. Pala was also sentenced to TL 250 million in fine. The
publisher of the book, Aydin Dogan was already detained on June 28 for
serving his 6-month imprisonment.
26.9, the periodical Ronahi N°19 is confiscated by
the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda. Same day, the periodical
Odak too is confiscated by the decision of a penal court.
4.10, Public prosecutor indicts IHD chairman Akin
Birdal for a poster put on the Human Rights Monument in Ankara. Birdal
faces imprisonment of up to four months.
6.10, although expecting his release from the
Haymana Prison, journalist-writer Haluk Gerger is sentenced again by
the Istanbul SSC to 20-month prison and TL 208 million in fine for one
of his articles published by the defunct Özgür Gündem in 1993. The
responsible editor of Özgür Gündem, Server Durmaz too is sentenced for
the same article to 5-month prison and TL 44 million in fine.
7.10, police detain seven editorial staff members of
the periodical Atilim in Istanbul, of whom Bayram Namaz, Metin Yesil
and Sevil Yesil are later placed under arrest by the Istanbul SSC.
9.10, Ankara public prosecutor opens a legal
proceeding against lawyer Yusuf Alatas for having criticised the DEP
Trial. He faces imprisonment of up to six months. The responsible
editor of the magazine Yanki, Can Cevik too faces the same punishment
for having published Alatas' criticism.
12.10, the responsible editor of the periodical
Kizil Bayrak, Güray Ülkü is sentenced 6-month imprisonment and TL 50
million in fine for some article he published. The court also decides
to close down the review for one month.
12.10, the responsible editor of three periodicals,
Özgür Gelecek, Yeni Demokrat Genclik and Partizan, Murat Ancak is
placed under arrest by the Istanbul SSC for several articles he
published in these reviews.
15.12, the periodical Roj N°19 is confiscated by the
Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
20.10, the Ankara office of the periodical Atilim is
raided by police and Ankara representative Ali Toprak is detained
together with two other journalists and a visitor.
21.10, the issue N°3 of the new pro-Kurdish
periodical Özgür Yasam is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC.
23.10, a penal court of Istanbul sentences four
members of the musical group Yorum, Kemal Sahir Gürel, Ufuk Lüker,
Irsat Aydin and Özcan Sanvar, to 3-month imprisonment each for having
organized a meeting without authorisation at the Ortaköy Cultural
Centre. The court also sentences the centre's four employees to same
imprisonment.
23.10, The Chairman of the Sanitary Workers' Union
(Tüm-Saglik-Sen), Fevzi Gercek was put in prison in Istanbul for
serving his two year imprisonment. Gercek was sentenced by the Istanbul
SSC for one of his articles published by the periodical Direnis in 1993.
23.10, the periodicals Roj N°20 and Ronahi N°23 are
confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
23.10, theatre actor Haldun Aciksözlü is sentenced
by the Ankara SSC to two-year imprisonment and TL 550 million in fine
for an article entitled "State, Religion and Politics" he wrote to the
periodical Bahadin. The responsible editor of the review, Naifi Akbas
too is sentenced to six months in prison and TL 50 million in fine.
25.10, the periodical Direnis, N°30 is confiscated
by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
28.10, the Istanbul SSC confiscates the periodicals
Alinteri N°58, Atilim N°54 and Söz N°37 for separatist propaganda and
praising outlawed organizations.
30.10, thirteen journalists en employees of the
periodical Kurtulus are detained by the police as they are going to the
printing house and all copies of the printed review confiscated. In
protest against this pressure, the other Kurtulus workers start a
hunger-strike.
30.10, Ankara correspondent of the daily Evrensel,
Ali Bayaslan is taken into custody as visiting a friend.
HARD DAYS FOR TURKEY AFTER ELECTIONS
According to a Reuters report, Turkish economists
expect the next government to launch a tough stabilisation package
after parliamentary elections planned for late December. But any effort
to cure the economy's rampant ills will be further hampered by last big
pay settlement for public sector workers, expected to cost $1.3 billion
in 1995 alone.
"Turkey must implement a new stability package which
I believe should have been introduced (already). It has been delayed
due to political concerns," Izzettin Önder, a professor of economics at
Istanbul University, told Reuters. The
inflation-ridden economy, struggling with big deficits, may suffer more
ahead of the polls from increased farm subsidies and the new pay deal,
which ended a five-week strike. Both were seen by economists and
analysts as pre-election manoeuvres by Prime Minister Tansu Ciller to
win votes.
"Pay rises will boost domestic demand, push up
inflation and increase public borrowing needs. Its effect will be felt
in inflation over the next four months," a planning official said.
Businessmen and economists say Turkey must stabilise
its economy in 1996 when it hopes to begin a customs union with
Europe. They fear some Turkish producers will not be able to
compete with their rivals after the accord takes effect, unless
interest rates and inflation are brought down to European levels.
Inflation is now running at around 80 percent and
compound interest rates on treasury bills hit 130 percent. Any
new government will have to focus efforts on curbing inflation,
narrowing budget and trade deficits, managing high debts, and speeding
up privatisation.
Turkey last launched a stabilisation programme in
April 1994 when the country was hit by a financial crisis. The 1994
measures, also backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through
a stand-by loan, calmed the markets, reduced inflation from triple
digits to 80 percent and helped the economy recover after a contraction
of 6.1 percent in 1994. But the economy has worsened since
mid-September when Turkey was hit by political turmoil after Ciller's
right-left coalition collapsed and some 350,000 workers went on strike
over a pay dispute.
"A new government may also seek to extend the
duration of the IMF stand-by agreement," Fettullah Acil, deputy general
manager of Tekstil Bank, said. The accord will end in February.
Professor Önder thinks the government may also support the package with
a "reasonable dose of devaluation" to eliminate the overvaluation of
the lira in a move to increase Turkish exporters' competitiveness in
Western markets.
But Ergun Özen, assistant general manager of Garanti
Bankasi, said Turkey should depreciate the lira smoothly instead of
devaluing the currency sharply in a one-off move in order to avoid
boosting inflation and destabilizing the markets.
Under a new package, Turkey will probably impose
delayed public sector price increases and curb wage rises. The
central bank is likely to restrict monetary expansion which economists
say blocked Turkey's efforts to bring down inflation.
Bankers say Turkey will pursue tight monetary
policies under which interest rates are to be held at high levels.
TURKEY RANKS 97TH IN PER CAPITA INCOME
The World Bank ranks Turkey 27th in total wealth and
97th in GDP per capita, with an average of $34,000 yearly.
The figures were produced using a new method of
calculation and were based on 1993 figures for the 192 countries
evaluated.
The seven industrialised countries (the United
States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, and the United Kingdom)
apparently own 62.2 percent ($295.45 billion) of the world's total
wealth ($474.74 billion).
In the rankings for total national wealth, Turkey
came in 27th with a total of $2.2 billion. The United States took first
place with $108.45 billion, Japan was second with $70.46 billion, and
Germany was in third place with $32.4 billion. The United States alone
has nearly a quarter (22.8 percent) of the world's total wealth.
The new system used by the World Bank evaluates the
national wealth of a country instead of the value of its total
production. This system requires the World Bank to include each
country's natural resources, capital, manpower, forests, coal-mines,
and other resources of energy when calculating the country's
wealth. Manpower investment has great importance in the World
Bank study. It is the factor which places countries such as Japan and
Switzerland, which have few natural resources but which invest heavily
in manpower, among the top contenders.
Turkey, which also invests heavily in manpower, has
about the same total wealth as Iran, even though Iran is much richer in
natural resources. Another factor to consider is that the
calculations are based on current prices.
TURKEY'S HOPE IN AZERI OIL'S EXPORT
The international consortium, set up to develop
Azeri oil fields in the Caspian Sea, announced on October 9 that the
early Azeri oil from the Caspian would be pumped simultaneously via two
rival pipeline routes, one crossing southern Russia to reach the Black
Sea port of Novorossiysk and the other passing through Georgia to
Soupsa on the Black Sea coast.
"Early oil" is a term used to designate the limited
amount of petrol of up to five million metric tons per year to be
extracted from three Azeri oil fields in the Caspian and to be exported
up to the year 2002. Turkey had staunchly been supporting the
Georgian route for the early oil, hoping that a decision favouring this
option would facilitate the realisation of its project to host a main
pipeline to export the lucrative Azeri oil in the long term. And there
were increasing indications of this dream coming true, as the head of
the consortium, Terry Adams, declared, "At this point in time, there is
a preference to see the final destination of this oil go to (the
Turkish terminal of) Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast".
"This situation is likely to put an end to Russian
plans to use the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline to transport even part of
the Azeri oil to the Black Sea, because they will most likely be
unsuccessful in efforts to find financial means to support their
route," an oil expert said. The expert
explained the bottlenecks the Russians are faced with now in raising
funds to rehabilitate the existing Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline as
follows:
- Part of the pipeline passing via the war-torn
Chechnya is damaged beyond the level the Russians have announced. They
had been saying that the pipeline's rehabilitation would cost around
$50 million, but the actual cost to operate the pipeline is in the
order of magnitude of several hundred million dollars.
- The ongoing political instability and the
possibility of a continued war are also another disadvantage for the
Russian pipeline. Several Chechen authorities have already warned that
the Russian pipeline cannot be operable without the consent of
Chechnya's leadership which is fighting for the north Caucasian
region's independence from Russia.
- And probably the most important of all is Turkey's
determination not to allow a drastically increased amount of oil
tankers through the Turkish straits due to security concerns, despite
Moscow's objections that this move violates international agreements.
Adams also acknowledged this, saying, increased oil
traffic via the straits would endanger security. The straits are the
Black Sea's only opening to high seas. "In the likely event of
Russia's failure to raise the funds to operate the Baku-Novorossiysk
pipeline, the early oil quota to be allocated for this route will
practically be added to the Georgian route between Baku and Soupsa,
cancelling the whole Russian proposal for the export of the Azeri oil,"
the source said.
To cement its support for the Georgian option for
the early oil, Ankara has pledged to finance to build and rehabilitate
the Baku-Soupsa pipeline, at an estimated cost of nearly $150 million
and to buy the entire early oil output if the consortium chooses the
Georgian option.
In a recently announced move, Turkey said it will
build a refinery near its eastern Black Sea port of Trabzon for the
early oil if the Georgian option is favoured.
The Consortium's decision was a relief for Turkey
which has been suffering from an ongoing government crisis for weeks.
Prime Minister Tansu Ciller hailed the decision as a historic
development, saying, "This is an indication of imminent trade
possibilities for our country which can be expressed in terms of
billions of dollars."
There was no immediate reaction from Russia in the
wake of the consortium decision's announcement. Political analysts,
however, predict that after this point Moscow may intensify its threats
against Caspian oil projects it does not favour. Russia has been saying
that no Caspian oil project can be realised before the status of the
Caspian Sea is redefined following the former Soviet Union's collapse.
The last agreement on the Caspian was signed between
the Soviet Union and Iran in 1946. However, supporting Turkey's thesis,
the United States, the world's most prominent oil power, has recently
been trying to break Russia's monopoly over the energy resources of
Transcaucasia and Central Asia.
US President Bill Clinton, in a telephone
conversation with Azeri President Haydar Aliyev prior to the
Consortium's meeting, said Washington backed the operation of more than
one pipeline route for the early Azeri oil.
The oil consortium, led by British Petroleum and
US-based Amoco, and in which Turkish Petroleum has a 6.75 percent
stake, last year signed the $8 billion agreement with the Azeri
government to develop the Azeri, Chirag and Gunesli fields off the
Caspian coast.
The planned normal production of an annual 25
million tons of Azeri oil is expected to start in the early 2000s.
THIRD CONVENTION OF TURKIC STATES
The third 'Turkic States and Communities'
Friendship, Brotherhood and Cooperation Convention', which lasted for
three days in Izmir's tourist resort of Cesme, ended on October 1 with
the release of the final declaration.
The convention, on the first day of which President
Süleyman Demirel and other senior Turkish state officials delivered
opening speeches, was attended by President of Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Rauf Denktas and the deputy prime ministers of
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan as well as
25 representatives from other autonomous Turkic republics or Turkic
communities.
In the final deceleration, the participants said
that they were all loyal to the international legislative and human
rights conventions and that they adopted them as their main principles.
Noting that all the Turkic states and communities
were equal and that they respected each other's independence, the
declaration emphasised that no Turkic state was more privileged than
any other. "Within this framework we intend to cooperate in every field
of life and further develop our relations," the declaration said.
Underlining that this cooperation among Turkic
states should not be damaged by any third country and that such a move
would be accepted as interference in the domestic affairs of an
independent country, the declaration added: "However, we consider it a
humanistic approach if the member countries of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) would like to provide us with assistance."
The declaration pointed out that they would act in
cooperation against all terrorist activities, particularly the
Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, which are a major threat to the Turkic
world. "We believe that the cooperation, friendship and
brotherhood among the Turkic states will contribute a great deal to
both world and regional peace," said the declaration.
MURDERERS OF FIVE TURKS IN GERMANY CONVICTED
Germany's deadliest anti-foreigner attack since the
Nazi era concluded on October 13, 1995, with convictions against four
right-wing extremists in the firebombing deaths of five Turkish women
and children.
The oldest defendant, 25-year-old Markus Gartmann,
faced life in prison but the court gave him 15 years. Koehnen, age 18,
was tried as a juvenile along with Christian Buchholz, 22, and
Christian Reher, 19, and all were given the maximum 10-year sentences.
Defence lawyers said appeals were planned. Chief Judge Wolfgang Steffen
said the court was convinced that these "four young men, who carried
racism in their minds, set fire to the Turkish family's house and
killed five people." But Steffen didn't think the four were
dyed-in-the-wool neo-Nazis, calling them "immature young people who had
nothing within to ward off radical-right influences."
The May 29, 1993, firebombing in Solingen caused
intense soul-searching among Germans about their relations with
foreigners. Turks rioted for days in Solingen. Germans marched in
cities across the country to show their sorrow. The
guilty verdicts seemed to do little to clear the air. After the
convictions were read, defendant Felix Koehnen screamed, "You swine, I
am innocent" at the five judges and threatened to kill himself. The
father of another defendant kicked a guard's chair and stomped out of
the court.
Nearby, Turks protested that the court had been too
lenient by not sending the defendants to prison for life. But the
Turkish government and the Council of Turkish Citizens in Germany, an
umbrella group, both expressed satisfaction with the verdicts.
"This verdict strengthens us further in our
knowledge that German justice is a stable and reliable instrument now
for combating racism," the council said in a statement.
INDEXE OF THE 19TH YEAR INFO-TÜRK COLLECTION
November-December 94, N°217
• Shameful verdicts against Kurdish deputies • Perincek setenced • New
sentences against Besikci • Publishers and journalists imprisoned • IHD
and TIHV officials tried • The EP Resolution on Turkey • Turkey's shame
in Budapest • Customs union agreement delayed • The Economist accuses
Turkey • Collective villages in Southeast • Emergency law extended •
Security Evaluation Council • Military service term raised • CSCS
recommends cease-fire • The PKK asks for cease-fire • Kurdish deputy's
house attacked • A Kurdish lawyer assassinated • Assyrian doctor
assassinated • Greek Patriarch accused • British citizens on black list
• Hunger strikes in prisons • Greenpeace members detained • A higher
budget for the army • Cluster bomb sale to Turkey? • "Provide Comfort"
extended • Annual inflation rate: 15O% • Ciller's blunders in Middle
East • State terrorism in two months • Growing anger of the working
people • Human rights violations • Ridiculous sentences for Sivas
arsonists • Bomb attacks by islamists • Islamist show at Atatürk
Mausoleum • Ciller flirting with fundamentalists • State's support to
Islamists • A new political party • New crisis in social democracy •
HADEP to Socialist International • Sabotages to Özgür Ülke • Limited
Rights to Children • 2-Month Persecution of the Media • Minority rights
and Turkey
January-February 95, N°218
• 1994: Another bad year for human rights • Europalia Alla Turca •
Criticisms at the Council of Europe • AI report on Turkey • EP's
prerequisite for Customs Union • The US report accuses Turkish
Government • Prime Minister's irregularities • The Customs Union:
Victory or Capitulation? • Özgür Ülke was silenced • "The Dark Clouds
over Turkey" by Yasar Kemal • Yasar Kemal: Target of State terrorism •
EP Resolution on Yasar Kemal • Onat Kutlar fell victim of Islamists •
Islamist attacks in Ramadan • The publisher of "Armenian Tabouu"
condemned • Turkey's Armenians banned to elect religious leader •
Pressures on Armenian schools • Ter-Petrossian's realpolitik • A
Kurdistan parliament in exile • Zana's letter to Mitterrand • Two
social democrat parties unified • War of Turkish Godfathers • Virginity
test in schools • 2-month state terrorism • Protests against ban on
publications • 2-month persecution of the media • Besikci's sentence
ratified
March-April 85, N°219
• The Turkish regime's hypocrisy on Info-Türk editors' citizen rights •
Campaign against Info-Türk editors • When Turkey fulfills EP
prerequisites? • Binding documents on the EU-Turkey Customs Union •
2-month deadline to Turkey from the Council of Europe • EP urged Turkey
• ECHR tries Turkey in Turkey • Conquest of "Schwarzkopf" Hasan Pasa •
"Kurds treated worse than animals" • NGOs accused of subversive
activities • Anger of Alevis shaking Turkey • Ridiculous ban on bananas
• Ciller's new controversial ranch • 2-month state terrorism • Kurdish
Parliament-in-exile founded • New daily Yeni Politika under
pressure • New sentences to Besikci • A publisher put in prison •
Writers at the Security Court • 2-month persecution of the media •
Another book on Armenian genocide forbidden • Europalia-Turkey 95
suspended • An overwhelming report on minorities in Turkey
May-June 96, N°220
• Demirel accuses Europe of conspiracy • EP members called
"prostitutes" by a Turkish minister • Ankara's hypocrisy on Nazim
Hikmet's citizen rights • Reports about Turkey follow on another •
Atakürt versus Atatürk • EP warns again Turkey • Turkey sanctioned in
Strasbourg • A law for creating Turkish lobby • 188,764 people banned
to leave Turkey • An AI opfficial deported from Turkey • PKK leader
calls for a cease fire • US choppers used against Kurds • US report
confirms the use of arms • Turkey placed South Africa on red list •
Ciller family in Mafia connection • Black celebration of April 5
economic measures • Conscientious objectors on trial • $15 billion
worth Turkish contracts abroad • Two militants found killed under
torture • A Turkish delegation at the "Torture Fair" • Pressure on
Christian villages • 2-month State terrorism • Turkey's trade in
armament • Trade union leader in prison • 99 intellectuals face
imprisonment • A Kurdish TV despite Ankara's protest • 2-month pressure
on the media • Ban on Kurdish aggravates health problem • Tension with
Greece on territorial waters • A Greenpeace protest action in Turkey •
Ciller: enemy of the press • Last tango in the never-ending Cyprus
tension
July-August 95, N°221
• Ciller's mockery • Wille Europalia let to be fooled by the Turkish
Government? • The Military's repressive constitution still in force •
IHD: No improvement in human rights • The Ciller Government's
catastrophic performance • The Army Chief threatens human rights
defenders • Outcry of an army colonel's widow • Emergency law extended
• The military against lifting of Article 8 • Is Tunceli Turkey's
Bosna? • Ailing Kurdish writer kept in prison • The new Turkish
incursion in Iraq: Operation Dragon • CIA to equip Turkish national
intelligence • 242 detentions at HADEP trial • The Socialist Union
Party banned • Hunger strikes of political prisoners • 2-month state
terrorism • Daily Yeni Politika closed down • Senseless celebration of
the Press Day • Besikci's new condemnations • Minimum wage: less than
enough • Turkish media's shameful promotion campaign • 99 prominent
intellectuals tried • A controversial report on the Kurdish Question •
Zarakolu faces new imprisonments • Turkish submission to Saudi
fundamentalism • Great humorist Aziz Nesin died • Worker protests
against the government • 2-month pressure on the media • Bar chairman
killed by fundamentalists • Rise of Anti-semitism in Turkey
September-October 95, N°222
• Is the European parliament to legitimate a militarist regime within
the European family by voting for the customs union?
• IHD: The record of human rights violations still dark • State of
emergency extended • Four Kurdish deputies kept in prison • Article 8:
"Crime of opinion" maintained • Brutality and hunger-strikes in prisons
• The Turkish military menace foreign states • Kurdish party chairman
in prison • New imprisonments for Besikci • Publisher Zarakolu's new
condemnations • Turkish troops crossed into Iraq • Ankara-Tehran
cooperation against Kurds • Official figures on anti-PKK war • Human
rights violations in 1994 • Heavy toll of earthquake in Dinar •
Journalist Ahmet Altan sentenced to 20 months • Anti-Kurdish hysteria
hit business world • Reuters journalist faces imprisonment • 2-month
state terrorism • 2-month pressure on the media • Hard days for Turkey
after elections • Turkey ranks 97th in per capita income • Turkey's
hope in Azeri oil's export • Third convention of Turkic states •
Murderers of five Turks in Germany convicted