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Tél: (32-2) 215 35 76 - Fax: (32-2) 215 58 60
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 Chief Editor /Rédacteur en chef: Dogan Özgüden - Responsible editor/Editrice responsable: Inci Tugsavul


Earlier bulletins / Bulletins précédents

23e Année - N°250

Juin/June 1999


Un verdict de lynchage!

OCALAN'S TRIAL/PROCES D'OCALAN

Un verdict de lynchage!

 Malgré le maquillage "civil" par l'Assemblée nationale, la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat (DGM) d'Ankara siégeant sur l'île prison d'Imrali a condamné à mort le leader du parti des travailleur du Kurdistan (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan le mardi 29 juin 1999 pour trahison et tentative de diviser la Turquie. La Cour a rendu sa décision à l'unanimité des trois juges civils et a refusé les circonstances atténuantes qui auraient pu commuer la peine de mort en prison à perpétuité.
 Ocalan a écouté en silence, impassible, le rendu de la sentence. Puis il a fait un signe de la main à ses avocats avant de quitter la cage vitrée pare-balles dans laquelle il comparaît depuis le début du procès, selon les images diffusées par la TRT.
 Les parents d'Ocalan n'étaient pas présents à cette 9-ème audience du procès qui s'est ouvert le 31 mai.
 Par contre, les parents des soldats et policiers tués pendant les opérations anti-PKK étaient présents aussi bien dans la salle que dans la ville de Mudanya. Suite à la prononciation de la peine capitale, ils se sont mis à manifester leur joie en scandant des slogans et en exposant de différents outils de torture et d'exécution pour que la peine de mort soit exécutée immédiatemment.
 Dans une brève intervention finale avant que la sentence soit rendue, Ocalan a déclaré qu'il rejetait l'accusation de trahison. "Je n'accepte pas les accusations de trahison (...) Je crois avoir mené un combat pour l'unité du pays et pour une vie libre... Je crois avoir mené une lutte non contre la République mais pour une république démocratique. Je veux corriger des erreurs historiques. Je crois que l'avenir du pays sera assuré non par la guerre, mais par la paix", a-t-il dit.
 Ocalan, 50 ans, avait reconnu dès l'ouverture du procès sa responsabilité dans toutes les actions de son organisation mentionnées dans l'acte d'accusation.
 Il a dans le même temps lancé un appel à la paix à l'Etat turc, se déclarant prêt à se mettre à son service et à faire déposer les armes à son organisation s'il lui laissait la vie sauve.
 Le PKK a soutenu l'appel de son chef tout en mettant en garde contre une vague de violence s'il était ignoré.
 Les avocats d'Ocalan ont annoncé leur intention de faire appel de la sentence. Si la Cour de Cassation confirme la sentence, elle doit être examinée par le parlement, qui se prononce sur sa mise en application par un vote.
 L'ensemble du processus peut prendre plusieurs semaines voire plusieurs mois.
 La Turquie n'a pendu aucun condamné à mort depuis 1984, et 47 personnes attendent toujours une décision, bloquée au niveau de la commission parlementaire de la justice.
 D'autre part, l'avocate allemande d'Ocalan, Britta Boehler, a souligné à son cabinet d'Amsterdam que l'affaire Ocalan n'était "pas terminée" avec la condamnation à mort de son client prononcée mardi par la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat turque.
 "Il ne faut surtout pas oublier que cette affaire a été portée devant le Cour européenne des droits de l'homme à Strasbourg, devant laquelle la Turquie a pris des engagements, et où nous espérons une décision d'ici la fin de l'année", a indiqué Me Boehler à l'AFP.
 "C'est bien sûr une décision malheureuse, mais pas une surprise", a-t-elle commenté à propos de ce verdict en première instance. "Nous nous y attendions. Mais l'affaire n'est pas terminée", a-t-elle ajouté.
 "Nous allons faire appel, et le parlement turc doit encore se prononcer en dernier ressort. La procédure pourrait durer de deux mois à un an", a-t-elle estimé.
 Un porte-parole du ministère des Affaires étrangères, Sermet Atacanli, a répondu mardi que "la Turquie n'acceptera aucune intervention étrangère".
 L'Association des droits de l'Homme de Turquie (IHD) a estimé que "l'application de la peine de mort contre Ocalan ne contribuerait pas à la paix sociale" et a appelé à "régler la question kurde qui constitue le plus important maillon de notre problème démocratique".
 L 'ancien Président turc, le général Evren, dans une interview accordée à Hurriyet, s'est dit prêt à jouer le bourreau et passer la corde au coup d'Ocalan.
 Un autre chef militaire influent, le général Fusunoglu, commandant de l'armée de terre, demande que" pour des raisons humanitaires la pendaison intervienne très rapidement".

Turkish press hails death sentence on Ocalan

 The Turkish press on June 30 hailed the death sentence passed on Ocalan on treason charges, but at the same time argued passionately about whether his execution should go ahead. "Death penalty," headlined the mass-circulation Sabah over a page-long profile of Ocalan, published alongside a picture of a hangman's noose. "The executioner is handed over to the executioner."
 The mass-circulation Hurriyet ran a picture of an infant killed in a Kurdish attack, headlining "The cry of the babies." Ocalan, head of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader, is a bogey figure among Turks, who blame him for the death of 31,000 people in a 15-year armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule.
 But commentators differed as to whether Ocalan's execution would be in Turkey's interests or instead inflame hostility among Kurds and the European Union (EU), which Ankara is keen to join. "Is it possible for a nation that executed a number of its sultans and hanged its own prime minister in the republican era to let off a murderer who has killed our children?" asked Bekir Coskun in Hurriyet.
 Ismet Berkan of the liberal Radikal daily said: "We should not forget the proverb that 'whoever acts with anger will suffer in turn' and we should not sacrifice our long-term aims for a criminal that has been convicted in court." Some questioned whether Ocalan's execution would help stop the 15-year bloody conflict between Kurdish rebels and Turkish soldiers in the strife-torn southeast.
 "Apo has, of course, deserved capital punishment," wrote Taha Akyol of the liberal Milliyet, referring to Ocalan's nickname. "However, the criteria for deciding whether to execute him should be 'Turkey's interests'." "The PKK has been defeated... But the problem has not been solved. Turkey should combine this victory with steps that will resolve the problem," he added. Other columnists argued that the rebel leader should not be executed, saying such a move would only serve to distance Turkey from its Kurdish community and jeopardize social peace.
 Asked Perihan Magden in Radikal: "What would we lose if we kept Ocalan in jail in solitary confinement?" "Execution is not the solution. What is important is to bring about a solution and not to thirst for cheap revenge." "We know that there are Kurds living in the Turkish Republic and that a majority of them want to live on this land with their own identity, language, culture and traditions," she said.
 Omer Celik of the Islamist newspaper Yeni Safak also urged caution. "It should not be forgotten that a day after the execution, Turkey's relations with foreign countries, could be hamstrung while, most important of all, the prospects for peace and feelings of mutual trust (between Kurds and Turks) would be damaged." (AFP, June 30, 1999)

Inquiétude européennes, manifestations kurdes

 De nombreuses capitales européennes ont appelé le 29 juin Ankara à ne pas exécuter Abdullah Ocalan après la condamnation à la peine de mort du chef rebelle kurde, qui a déclenché une série de manifestations de Kurdes en Europe.
 L'Union européenne, par la voix de sa présidence allemande, a appelé la Turquie à renoncer à appliquer la peine de mort contre Abdullah Ocalan en soulignant l'ambition de ce pays de rejoindre un jour l'UE.
 "La présidence espère que la Turquie restera fidèle à la pratique constante des 15 dernières années" de ne pas exécuter les condamnés à mort et "n'appliquera pas la condamnation à mort", a déclaré le ministère allemand des Affaires étrangères.
 Le président du Parlement européen, José Maria Gil-Robles, a demandé, dans une lettre adressée au président du Parlement turc que la peine de mort prononcée soit commuée "pour des raisons humanitaires".
 L'Allemagne, où vit une forte communauté kurde, a, par la voix de son ministre de l'Intérieur Otto Schily, souhaité que le jugement soit porté devant une "instance de révision".
 Rappelant que cette condamnation "n'était pas encore définitive", la France a souhaité que le leader kurde ne soit pas exécuté.
  Le même souhait a été exprimé par la Belgique qui a également espéré que la Turquie ferait des "gestes concernant la question kurde".
 Le gouvernement britannique a indiqué qu'il allait faire pression sur les autorités turques afin que cette condamnation à mort par pendaison soit commuée en réclusion à perpétuité.
 Le président du Conseil italien Massimo D'Alema a estimé que la condamnation à mort du chef kurde risquait "d'éloigner la Turquie de l'Europe" et a lui aussi espéré que "la sentence ne sera pas exécutée".
 Le gouvernement suisse a lui aussi demandé aux autorités turques de "renoncer à l'exécution de cette peine", tout comme Athènes qui a appelé Ankara à "prouver son respect des valeurs de l'Union européenne".  A Prague, le président Vaclav Havel a souhaité qu'Ocalan "ne soit pas exécuté".
 De son côté, Moscou a formulé l'espoir que "les grands principes humanitaires ne seront pas violés", en souhaitant également que la peine de mort se serait pas exécutée.
 A Washington, la Maison Blanche s'est refusée à commenter la peine prononcée contre Ocalan tout en affirmant que le chef kurde était "un terroriste international".
 A Strasbourg (est de la France), le Conseil de l'Europe a exprimé "sa préoccupation" et a souhaité le respect d'un moratoire appliqué depuis 1984 sur les exécutions en Turquie.
 Des Kurdes ont également manifesté spontanément dans plusieurs villes européennes.
 A Londres un peu plus de 200 Kurdes se sont regroupés dans le centre, après s'être d'abord massés devant l'ambassade des Etats-Unis.
 A Moscou, environ 300 Kurdes se sont rassemblés dans le centre-ville tandis qu'à La Haye environ 200 Kurdes manifestaient dans le calme. D'autres manifestations ont également été signalées à Amsterdam et Rotterdam.
 A Helsinki, le Comité du Kurdistan a appelé ses membres à manifester mardi.  A Strasbourg, où siège le Parlement européen, entre 250 et 300 Kurdes environ se sont rassemblés spontanément au centre ville.
 A Nicosie enfin, quelque 150 manifestants kurdes ont lancé des pierres mardi contre l'ambassade des Etats-Unis.
 Les mesures de sécurité ont été renforcées autour des représentations diplomatiques israéliennes dans des pays où vivent des communautés kurdes, comme l'Allemagne, la Grande-Bretagne, la Suisse, la France et l'Italie.
 Le Kenya --où un commando turc avait capturé Ocalan le 15 février-- a renforcé la sécurité de ses ambassades.
 Dès la sentence annoncée, le PKK a appelé à des protestations "démocratiques et politiques" contre la condamnation à mort de son chef pour trahison et tentative de diviser la Turquie, soulignant dans un communiqué que cette condamnation ne constitue pas une décision finale.
 La "guerre" que mènent les Kurdes contre le régime turc "reprendra et sera instensifiée", a toutefois affirmé le président du parlement kurde en exil, Jasar Kaya, ajoutant cependant qu'il faudrait attendre encore "deux à trois mois" pour voir si la peine de mort prononcée contre Ocalan sera appliquée.
 La branche politique du PKK, le Front de Libération Nationale du Kurdistan (ERNK), a estimé à Vienne que la sentence risquait d'attiser le conflit "en Turquie et dans tout le Proche-Orient" tandis que le parlement kurde en exil, dont le siège est à Bruxelles, dénonçait le jugement comme "profondément injuste et inapproprié". (AFP, 29 juin 1999)

HRW: Grave Shortcomings in Ocalan Trial

 Human Rights Watch drew a sharp distinction between the trial of Abdullah Ocalan and that of the tens of thousands of other people tried by state security courts in Turkey.
 With a verdict expected today in the trial of Ocalan, leader of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), Human Rights Watch noted that the considerable latitude given for the defendant to speak in his own defense was not typical of the Turkish state security courts, where defendants' rights are restricted-particularly in the initial stages of proceedings.
 "There was an element of political theater in this trial," said Jonathan Sugden, Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The court devoted a lot of time to presenting the PKK as a creation of Turkey's foreign enemies.
 But it neglected to uncover the chain of command between Ocalan and the crimes committed by PKK members."
 The Turkish government made considerable efforts to convince the world that this would be a fair trial - even enacting a change to the constitution last week to replace the court's military judge with a civilian one. Human Rights Watch welcomed the removal of the military judge from State Security Court benches, but restated its view expressed at the outset of the trial that there were other serious problems with the independence of the judiciary in Turkey.
 Sugden said that almost every day, in Istanbul, Ankara or Diyarbakir State Security Court, defendants report to the bench that they were subjected to ill-treatment or torture in police custody. In many cases, their allegations are supported by medical evidence.
 Human Rights Watch was satisfied that Abdullah Ocalan was not subjected to torture in police custody, but the irregularities which occurred in the first days of custody prejudiced the defendant's right of defense and tainted subsequent proceedings.
 "It was in the first days after arrest that things started to go wrong," said Sugden.
 When Ocalan was brought to Turkey after his abduction from Kenya in February, he was held in incommunicado police detention for nine days - far in excess of international standards, and even of the limits imposed by Turkish domestic law. Sugden therefore disagreed with observers from the Council of Europe, who said on June 21 that "the trial has been correct and in accordance with the applicable Turkish law."
 Meanwhile, Ocalan has been permitted only limited access to legal counsel. During meetings with his lawyers, which were restricted in frequency and duration, one or more security force members was present and within hearing. During the initial stage of the investigation, lawyers were not permitted to bring notes to interviews with their client.
 Sugden noted also that once the process reached the courts, there were other reminders of common State Security Court practice: the judges refused to hear any of the witnesses proposed by the defense, and barred at least one piece of their evidence from being read to the court on the grounds that it was "propaganda".
 "The shortcomings in Ocalan's trial would have been grave in any legal proceedings," said Sugden. "But they were quite unacceptable when a human being is on trial for his life."
 Ocalan is being tried under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which carries a mandatory death sentence. Sugden urged the Council of Europe to defend its goal of making Europe a death-penalty-free zone.
 Turkey has never executed a prisoner sentenced by a State Security Court, and has sustained a de facto moratorium on executions for 15 years. Human Rights Watch urged Turkish politicians to hold to their principled position on the death penalty. There are currently forty-two people on death row who have exhausted all legal avenues.
 Human Rights Watch noted that Ocalan was not directly charged with any of the hundreds of PKK killings of unarmed Kurdish villagers, teachers or prisoners, but rather with a 'crime against the state.' "Leaders should be held to account, however, when their subordinates kill civilians or prisoners-clear violations of international humanitarian law," said Sugden. "Milosevic and Pinochet may stand trial for such crimes -- and Ocalan should, too." (HRW, June 29, 1999)

Amnesty International urges Ocalan retrial

 Human rights group Amnesty International on June 29 questioned the legality of Turkey's death sentence against Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan and urged a retrial.
 "The death sentence was passed at the conclusion of a trial that violated both national law and international standards for a fair trial," London-based Amnesty said in a statement.
 "Abdullah Ocalan should be tried before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal."
 Ocalan was captured by Turkish special forces in Kenya four months ago and was sentenced to hang by a Turkish court on Tuesday for spearheading a separatist campaign in which more than 29,000 people have died.
 The British government earlier spoke out against Turkey's decision to impose the death sentence on the guerrilla leader, saying it would lobby for the ruling to be overturned.
 "We will continue to urge the Turkish authorities to commute any death sentences," a Foreign Office spokesman said. "We will be working within the European Union for some sort of statement along those lines today." (Reuters, Jun 29, 1999)

La Cour européenne peut-elle empêcher la pendaison?

 Ocalan peut échapper à la pendaison notamment grâce à l'intervention de la Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme. La Turquie, qui est l'un des membres les plus anciens du Conseil de l'Europe et qui a ratifié la Convention européenne des droits de l'Homme, doit en effet se plier aux arrêts de la Cour européenne, faute de quoi elle risquerait une exclusion de l'organisation des 41.
 Selon un porte-parole de la Cour interrogé par l'AFP, les juges européens vont probablement demander au gouvernement turc de surseoir à l'exécution du leader kurde jusqu'à la décision finale de la Cour des droits de l'Homme concernant une requête déposée à Strasbourg par les avocats d'Ocalan.
 "La peine capitale n'est en soi pas condamnable pour la Cour", si, comme en Turquie, elle n'a pas été abolie de la législation, a précisé le porte-parole.
 En revanche, l'exécution d'un condamné en application d'un jugement considéré finalement comme "non équitable" par la Cour européenne pourrait avoir des conséquences politiques graves pour un Etat membre de l'organisation paneuropéenne. "Si le procès était considéré comme inéquitable, le jugement serait nul", a souligné le porte-parole.
 La requête déposée devant la Cour par les avocats d'Ocalan, juste après sa capture en février au Kenya, invoquait de nombreuses violations de la convention européenne des droits de l'Homme, concernant notamment l'équité de la procédure. L'article 6 de la convention prévoit que l'accusé doit bénéficier d'une procédure devant un tribunal impartial et indépendant et d'assez de temps pour préparer sa défense.
 "La Cour attend pour fin août une réponse de la Turquie aux griefs de la requête", préalable indispensable à une éventuelle audience puis à un arrêt sur le fond, selon le porte-parole.
 Autre condition imposée par la Cour avant d'examiner une requête sur le fond: l'épuisement des recours internes, en l'occurrence que le jugement ait été confirmé par la Cour de cassation turque et par la commission parlementaire de justice qui a le pouvoir de commuer la peine de mort en peine de prison à perpétuité.
 Si, à l'issue d'un procès jugé "équitable" par la Cour européenne, Ocalan était néanmoins exécuté, on pourrait s'attendre à des réactions très vives au Conseil de l'Europe qui considère comme "un acquis historique" le moratoire de fait sur la peine de mort appliqué depuis deux ans dans les 41 Etats membres.

La Commission européenne demande de tenir compte de l'UE

 Le commissaire européen à l'élargissement Hans van den Broek a demandé que "les autorités concernées turques compétentes prennent en compte l'opposition de l'UE à la peine de mort" après la décision de la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat de condamner Abdullah Ocalan à mort.
 Cette déclaration est contenue dans un bref communiqué de la Commission européenne, en attendant une prise de position de la présidence allemande au nom de l'UE.
 Le président du Parlement européen, José Maria Gil-Robles, a demandé, dans une lettre adressée mardi au président du Parlement turc, Yildirim Akbulut, que la peine de mort prononcée à l'encontre d'Ocalan soit commuée. M. Gil-Robles indique dans sa lettre que "le Parlement européen s'est toujours opposé à la peine de mort et, par conséquent, le prie instamment de respecter le droit à la vie du leader kurde et de commuer sa peine pour des raisons humanitaires", selon un communiqué du cabinet du président. "Que les principaux partis turcs se soient déclarés opposés à la peine de mort au cours des dernières élections générales et que la Turquie ait signé une récente Déclaration du Conseil de l'Europe contre la peine capitale, nous permet d'espérer que la Turquie ne brisera pas les quinze ans de non application de celle-ci", conclut le communiqué.
 La présidente du groupe des socialistes au Parlement européen Pauline Green a appelé de son côté de façon moins diplomatique ses collègues parlementaires dans l'UE à exercer "des pressions" sur leurs collègues turcs pour revenir sur la condamnation à mort du leader kurde.
 C'est en effet le Parlement turc qui devrait ratifier la sentence si elle devait être confirmée par la Cour Suprême.
 Mme Green a déclaré dans un communiqué qu'elle trouvait "difficilement acceptable qu'un membre du conseil de l'Europe, signataire de la convention européenne sur les droits de l'homme prononce une peine de mort".
 Selon elle, l'application de cette peine "violerait les obligations légales internationales de la Turquie et aurait des implications sérieuses pour les relations entre l'UE et la Turquie sur le plan politique et de la sécurité".

Le Conseil de l'Europe espère le respect du moratoire

 Le Conseil de l'Europe a exprimé "sa préoccupation" après la condamnation à mort d'Ocalan et souhaité le respect d'un moratoire sur les exécutions par la Turquie.
 Dans une déclaration commune publiée à Strasbourg, le président du Comité des ministres, Halldor Asgrimsson, le président de l'Assemblée parlementaire Lord Russell-Johnston et le secrétaire général Daniel Tarschys se disent "confiants" que le parlement turc "saura défendre l'attitude positive que la Turquie a adoptée" depuis 1984 en ne procédant depuis cette date à aucune exécution.
 "Nous rappelons que lors du sommet de Strasbourg en 1997, le président (turc Suleyman) Demirel a rejoint les autres chefs d'Etat et de gouvernement des Etats membres du Conseil de l'Europe dans un appel à l'abolition de la peine de mort, et à son corollaire, le respect d'un moratoire sur les exécutions", écrivent les trois dirigeants de l'organisation paneuropéenne.
 "Comme d'autres Etats européens, la Turquie est confrontée à de nombreux défis en matière des droits de l'Homme. La meilleure réponse à ces problèmes est un respect total de nos standards communs", ajoutent-ils.

Les Nations-Unies préoccupées par le procès

 Le haut commissaire des Nations Unies aux droits de l'Homme, Mary Robinson, s'est dite "préoccupée" à Genève par la façon dont s'est déroulé le procès du leader rebelle kurde Abdullah Ocalan, condamné à la peine de mort par un tribunal turc. Des inquiétudes se sont exprimées à propos de l'indépendance et de l'impartialité des juges, a-t-elle relevé dans un communiqué publié par son bureau.
 Selon Mme Robinson, les doutes exprimés à propos d'un procès non conforme aux procédures "rendent particulièrement inquiétant le fait que la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat ait prononcé une sentence de mort".
 Le haut commissaire a également demandé au gouvernement turc de respecter le droit du condamné à faire appel du jugement.
 L'ancienne présidente irlandaise s'est dite "préoccupée" par le fait que certains aspects de la procédure aient "dévié des normes internationales garantissant un procès juste et équitable devant un tribunal impartial et indépendant".
 Elle a regretté que le remplacement du juge militaire de la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat (DGM) d'Ankara par un troisième juge civil ne soit intervenu qu'après l'ouverture du procès.
 Elle a aussi dénoncé les conditions de détention du leader kurde, qui n'a pu rencontrer personne durant dix jours, en infraction à la loi turque.
 L'accès à ses avocats, qui ont fait l'objet de tracasseries et de menaces, a été sévèrement limité et les entretiens se sont déroulés en présence de personnel militaire, au mépris de la règle de confidentialité, selon le communiqué.
 Mme Robinson qui avait dépêché sur l'île-prison d'Imrali (ouest de la Turquie) l'ancien chef de la Commission internationale de juristes William Butler, a encore rappelé que la Turquie n'a pas appliqué ces 15 dernières années la peine capitale. (AFP, 29 juin 1999)

La FIDH appelle la Turquie à commuer la peine d'Ocalan

 La Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH) a appelé mardi les autorités turques à "commuer en réclusion à perpétuité" la peine capitale prononcée contre Ocalan. Dans un communiqué, la FIDH affirme que ce verdict a été rendu "à l'issue d'un procès bâclé", soulignant qu'elle "considère l'exécution d'un homme comme l'acte le plus barbare qu'aucune autorité ne peut légitimer". Elle se dit convaincue que l'"exécution d'Ocalan, loin de faire avancer la lutte nécessaire et légitime contre le terrorisme, risquerait de provoquer un véritable embrasement du pays, le PKK ayant d'ores et déjà menacé de s'engager dans une guerre totale".

La Confédération européenne des syndicats proteste

 Le secrétaire général de la Confédération européenne des syndicats (CES), Emilio Gabaglio, a appelé la Turquie, le 30 juin, à "ne pas appliquer la peine de mort" contre le chef rebelle kurde Abdullah Ocalan.
 "Nous sommes fermement opposés au terrorisme, mais nous ne pouvons pas accepter la peine de mort", a déclaré M. Gabaglio devant le 9ème congrès de la CES à Helsinki, qui rassemble les représentants de 67 organisations syndicales de 29 pays.
 Quatre organisations syndicales turques sont affiliées à la CES (DISK, TURK-IS, HAK-IS, KESK).
 La CES soutient la candidature de la Turquie pour adhérer à l'Union européenne. "Une stratégie particulière doit être mise en oeuvre pour favoriser son évolution" vers l'adhésion "en soutenant le mouvement syndical et les autres mouvements qui, au sein de la société turque, luttent pour que leur pays soit complètement démocratisé", affirme le projet d'une résolution générale discutée mercredi par les congressistes.

Exiled Kurd leaders urge restraint, warn tourists

 The self-proclaimed Kurdish parliament in exile warned tourists on June 30 it was too dangerous to travel to Turkey now that Ankara had imposed the death sentence on Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
 "The PKK has not said it will attack tourists in Turkey but the fact is the Kurdish people are very angry and irritated which means it is dangerous for foreigners to go to Turkey,"Abdurrahaman Cadirci, president of the ERNK group in the parliament in exile (PKDW), told a news conference.
 The ERNK is the political wing of Ocalan's separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
 The 165-member Brussels-based parliament pointed out that the Turkish parliament still had to decide whether the death sentence should be carried out. In the meantime it said the PKK's unilateral ceasefire would remain in place and urged Kurds to abstain from illegal, violent protests.
 But PDKW President Yasar Kaya said the situation could spiral out of control if Turkey ignored Western pleas to spare Ocalan's life.
 "If this unjust sentence against Mr Ocalan is carried out it will not be possible to restrain the Kurdish people and bring about peace," Kaya said.
 Kaya and Cadirci predicted Turks might attempt to provoke Kurds into illegal protests.
 "Every time the Kurds have unilaterally declared a ceasefire, the Turkish state and Turkish army have intensified their offensive," Kaya said.
 The PKDW insisted it wanted peace, saying war was not in the interest of either Turks or Kurds, but remained pessimistic that Turkey would engage in genuine peace talks.
 Turkey says it does not have a Kurdish separatist problem at all, only a terrorist one, and believes capturing Ocalan and defeating the PKK militarily will help end the conflict.
 "There has been a war for 15 years. The PKK, the PDKW and the Kurdistan National Congress have always... urged Turkey to enter peace talks. Turkey has to make a step in our direction so we can engage in dialogue. The Turkish state has never done that. In such circumstances, how is it possible to have peace?" Kaya said.
 Cadirci said the door to peace talks remained open but insisted Turkey must negotiate with Ocalan, who Ankara blames for spearheading a conflict that has cost 29,000 lives.
 "They must talk to him. He is the president of the party," Cadirci said.
 "Ocalan has become a symbol for the Kurds. He is seen as the undeniable Kurdish leader. He shouldn't be excluded from the peace process," Kaval Musa, the PKDW's spokesman on foreign affairs, told Reuters.  (Reuters, June 30, 1999)

95% of War Casualties in Turkey Have Been Kurds

 In a statement published on 31 May, the German section of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) called for an international tribunal to investigate crimes against humanity in Turkish Kurdistan, including crimes committed by Turkish state institutions against Kurdish civilians. The STP regretted that it is becoming ever more likely that Abdullah Öcalan will be presented in the course of his trial as being solely responsible for violations of human rights in Turkish Kurdistan.
 In its statement the STP also pointed out, as it has many times in the past, that 95% of the roughly 30,000 people killed in the 15-year war between the PKK and the Turkish armed forces have been Kurds ? a fact that has been almost universally overlooked in media coverage of the conflict. In the April issue of its magazine ÑBedrohte Völkerì (Threatened Peoples), the Austrian section of the STP said that according to Turkish experts about 29,000 of the victims of the conflict have been alleged or actual PKK supporters. About two-thirds of the roughly 5,300 members of the security forces who have been killed were Kurds. Most of them had been recruited by the Turkish army to act as Ñvillage guardsì. Except for about 150 murdered Turkish teachers, all of the roughly 5,500 murdered civilians have been Kurds.
 The STP also said that it is primarily the Turkish army, police, and special forces that have carried out the forced evacuation and destruction of Kurdish villages in southeastern Turkey. According to the January 1998 report of an investigative commission of the Turkish Parliament, at least 3,428 Kurdish villages and hamlets have been depopulated. Kurdish exiles and Turkish provincial governors estimate that this number could actually be as high as 4,000.
 According to the STP, about 2,500,000 Kurdish villagers have been driven out of their homes and have settled in urban slums in the western part of the country, where they are prey to poverty, diseases, and illiteracy. Kurdish organizations estimate the number of internally displaced persons to be as high as 4,000,000. In a press statement on 25 February the STP pointed out that the Turkish governmentís policy of Ñethnic cleansingì has destroyed or forcibly evacuated nine times as many Kurdish villages in southeastern Anatolia as the Serbian army has done in Kosovo.  (Society for Threatened Peoples, April 99; Associated Press, 31.5.99, IMK 3/6/99)

Le parlement turc a modifié le statut des DGM

 Le parlement turc a adopté vendredi à une large majorité un amendement constitutionnel remplaçant par un civil le juge militaire qui siège dans les cours de sûreté de l'Etat (DGM), organe qui juge le chef rebelle kurde Abdullah Ocalan, a annoncé son président par intérim Murat Sokmenoglu. Le projet qui amende l'article 143 de la Constitution et soumis au parlement par le gouvernement du Premier ministre Bulent Ecevit, a été voté par 423 voix pour (sur 550 députés), 40 contre et 8 abstentions. Le nombre de 367 voix étant largement obtenu (deux tiers des députés), comme le prévoit la Constitution, l'amendement ne sera pas soumis à un référendum.
 Les DGM sont l'objet de critiques en Europe et en Turquie en raison de la présence de ce juge militaire qui siège aux côtés de deux juges civils. La Cour européenne des droits de l'homme avait estimé dans une récente décision que ce juge, soumis à la discipline militaire, ne pouvait être considéré comme indépendant. Le chef du PKK Ocalan, est jugé par la DGM d'Ankara sur l'île-prison d'Imrali (ouest) pour trahison et tentative de diviser le pays. Son procès a été ajourné au 23 juin pour permettre à ses avocats de préparer sa défense.
 Les juges militaires des DGM seront ainsi automatiquement remplacés par les juges suppléants civils présents dans les Cours, sans interruption dans tous les procès en cours, y compris celui d'Ocalan, selon les experts. Le procès d'Ocalan reprendra donc avec trois juges civils. Le juge civil suppléant Mehmet Maras remplacera le juge militaire, le colonel Abdulkadir Davarcioglu. (AFP, 18 juin 1999)

Mise en garde généralisée aux citoyens américains

 Le département d'Etat américain a diffusé  mercredi une mise en garde généralisée à tous ses ressortissants de par le  monde contre d'éventuels actes de violence, à la suite de la reprise le même  jour en Turquie du procès du chef du PKK Ocalan.
 "De violentes manifestations ont eu lieu à travers l'Europe et dans  d'autres régions au moment de son arrestation et pourraient se reproduire en  réaction au déroulement du procès", avertit le département d'Etat dans un  communiqué.
 Le procès du chef rebelle kurde Abdullah Ocalan, jugé pour trahison et  passible de la peine de mort, a repris mercredi sur l'île-prison d'Imrali  (ouest de la Turquie) après une suspension de 15 jours.
 Selon le communiqué, un verdict au procès pourrait intervenir dès vendredi. (AFP, 23 juin 1999)

Ocalan met en garde contre une "guerre de 100 ans"

 Le chef du PKK Abdullah Ocalan, a souligné le 23 juin que la  rébellion de son organisation durerait "une centaine d'années" si l'Etat turc  reste "insensible" à son appel à une solution pacifique du conflit kurde.
 "Nous voulons être compris par l'Etat démocratique (turc). S'il reste  insensible à mon appel, la lutte du PKK pourrait encore durer une centaine  d'années avec l'aide de pays étrangers", a déclaré le chef rebelle kurde à la  7ème audience de son procès sur l'île prison d'Imrali (ouest), prenant la  parole pour sa défense.
 Ocalan est jugé pour trahison et atteinte à l'intégrité territoriale de la  Turquie et est passible de la peine capitale.
 Le procès devant la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat (DGM) d'Ankara a repris avec  trois juges civils. Le juge militaire, le colonel Abdulkadir Davarcioglu, a  été remplacé par le juge suppléant civil Mehmet Maras après l'adoption par le  parlement turc vendredi d'un amendement constitutionnel qui supprime le membre  militaire des DGM, en réponse aux critiques européennes.
 Lisant une défense de 23 pages, Ocalan a précisé que le PKK disposait  d'importantes infrastructures dans tous les pays du Proche-Orient, dans les  ex-républiques soviétiques et en Europe.
 "Tous les moyens existent dans ces pays pour des actions de toute sorte",  a-t-il poursuivi sans donner de détails.
 Le procès avait été interrompu le 8 juin pour 15 jours, afin de laisser le  temps à la défense de se préparer. Les procureurs avaient alors requis la  peine de mort, contestant la sincérité des appels à la paix du chef kurde.
 "Poursuivre la lutte actuelle à tout prix dépasse notre objectif. Les  moyens que nous avons employés pour atteindre notre objectif ne sont plus  utiles. Ce conflit n'a plus de raison d'être", a dit Abdullah Ocalan.
 Le chef du PKK a ainsi appelé son organisation à déposer les armes,  ajoutant que "la rébellion du PKK doit être la dernière".
 Il a demandé au gouvernement d'autoriser la population kurde de Turquie à  avoir des chaînes de télévision et de radio en langue kurde. "Cela nous  conduira vers une plus grande unité et un plus grand Etat", a-t-il dit. (AFP, 23 juin 1999)

INTERIOR POLITICS/POLITIQUE INTERIEURE

New government wins parliamentary confidence vote

 Ecevit won a parliamentary vote of confidence on Wednesday cementing a leftist- nationalist coalition which aims to bring in a raft of economic reforms. The speaker said 354 MPs voted for the government, easily passing the 276 votes needed in the 550-seat assembly. Ecevit's Democratic Left Party came top in general elections last month, closely followed by the nationalists of Devlet Bahceli. The coalition is widely seen by financial markets as key to providing political stability unseen in recent years. Turkey has had four governments come and go since the downfall of a conservative-led coalition in late 1995.
 Financial markets have looked to the coalition to push through structural reforms sought by the International Monetary Fund, and seen as boosting investor confidence abroad.
 Ecevit has pledged to prioritise a regeneration of the ailing economy whose 1999 growth rate was recently revised down to 2.3 percent from 8.3 percent in 1997. He has also promised to slash inflation to single digits from its current 50 percent.
 The new government is expected to face an early hurdle if Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, on trial for treason, is sentenced to death. Ecevit is opposed to capital punishment while his nationalist partners have said they would like to see Ocalan hanged.
 Party Seats: Democratic Left Party (DSP) 136; Nationalist Action Party (MHP) 129: Virtue Party (FP) 109; Motherland Party (ANAP) 86; True Path Party (DYP) 85; Independents 5. (Reuters, June 9, 1999)

Court action for the closure of the FP

 Vural Savas, chief prosecutor for the High Court of Appeals, forwarded all the required records and documents to the Constitutional Court on Friday morning to substantiate the closure charges he had brought against the Virtue Party (FP), reported the Anatolia news agency.
 In a 19-page letter Savas sent to the Constitutional Court, it is emphasized that "as highlighted in the indictment dated May 7, 1999, the FP is not only the continuation of the now-defunct Welfare Party [RP], which was closed by order of the Supreme Court, but the continuation of all the political parties that were ever closed by court order in Turkey for religious deception."
 It was also stated in the letter written by the chief prosecutor that, based on Article 69, Paragraph 7 of the Constitution, which stipulates that a political party that has been permanently closed under law cannot be restructured under a different name, and in light of the intent of this provision, the parliamentary immunity bestowed on the FP deputies should be universally suspended, with one exception. Savas wrote that Aydin Menderes, who previously resigned from his party in protest, should be exempted from having his immunity revoked, adding that "the consequences aimed at with the closure of the FP would otherwise not be attained."
 The letter went on to say that the widely publicized incident for which female FP Deputy Merve Kavakci was cast in the media spotlight was a pre-planned conspiracy jointly engineered by FP administrators. Her attempt to take the parliamentary oath on May 2 while wearing a headscarf had been transformed into an action against the state that was dictated by the FP's party policy. The letter further states that all of the FP deputies had prior awareness that Kavakci was to carry out the scheme in Parliament that day. The FP deputies provided support for this action both during and after the incident. Savas maintains in his letter to the Constitutional Court that "this action alone represents adequate justification for the permanent closure of the FP."
 The documents submitted to the Constitutional Court include pages of transcriptions pertaining to the statements made by FP Chairman Recai Kutan and other FP deputies, audio cassettes, meeting minutes and the parliamentary records. (Turkish Daily News, June 5, 1999)

L'Etat se mobilise contre une puissante confrérie musulmane

 Les autorités turques s'attaquent au chef  tout-puissant d'une importante confrérie musulmane, Fethullah Gulen,  l'accusant de vouloir infiltrer l'appareil de l'Etat en vue de saper les  fondements laïcs de la République.
 "Les accusations portées contre lui sont extrêmement graves", a commenté le  président Suleyman Demirel, lors d'une émission télévisée dimanche soir.
 Des procureurs de la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat ont ouvert une information  contre Fethullah Gulen, 61 ans, chef de la confrérie dite des "Nurcu"  (lumière), afin d'enquêter sur la probable violation des lois dans le but de  renverser l'ordre établi laïc en Turquie pour le remplacer par un ordre  religieux.
 L'ouverture de cette information a suivi la diffusion sur les chaînes de  télévision de cassettes vidéo où il préconise apparemment à ses adeptes de  s'organiser au sein de l'appareil de l'Etat, notamment la justice, la police  et l'éducation nationale.
 Dans ces cassettes, dont l'origine reste obscure, Fethullah "Hodja", comme  il est surnommé, conseille à ses adeptes de rester modérés pour ne pas se  faire remarquer par les institutions laïques, dont l'armée.
 "Travaillez patiemment pour vous emparer du contrôle de l'Etat. Tâchez  surtout de ne pas vous faire remarquer dans vos efforts", dit-il notamment.
 Il s'en prend également au fondateur de la Turquie moderne, Mustafa Kemal  Ataturk.
 Dans un communiqué, M. Gulen, qui se trouve aux Etats-Unis depuis janvier  pour un "traitement médical", a rejeté les accusations à son encontre  dénonçant un "complot tramé par une bande de communistes".
 La confrérie des "Nurcu" est considérée comme une organisation islamique  modérée qui a mis en service plus de 300 écoles et six universités en Turquie,  dans les républiques turcophones ex-soviétiques d'Asie centrale, dans le  Caucase, en Extrême-Orient et dans les Balkans.
 Les milieux laïcs l'accusent de former dans ces écoles plus de 400.000  élèves contre les principes laïcs de la République. La confrérie possède  également un journal, une chaîne de télévision, une agence de presse, une  banque et une dizaine d'autres compagnies en Turquie.
 Selon les analystes, elle contrôlerait un capital de 25 milliards de  dollars, soit la moitié du capital dit "islamiste" en Turquie.
 Fethullah Gulen a bâti sa notoriété dans les milieux religieux en quarante  ans de prêches dans les mosquées.
 Il a commencé à tisser un réseau d'influence dans les années 70 et ses  publications, écoles privées et fondations ont franchi les frontières de la  Turquie au début des années 90, notamment vers l'Asie centrale turcophone et  la Géorgie.
 Lui qui fut recherché par la police après le coup d'Etat militaire de 1980  pour "activités illégales visant à établir un ordre islamique" compte  aujourd'hui des dizaines de milliers de fidèles.
 Médiatique, Fethullah Gulen a de bonnes relation avec des personnalités du  monde des affaires, des bureaucrates, hommes politiques de centre-droit et  journalistes.
 La fondation des journalistes et écrivains proche de Fethullah Gulen avait  décerné à M. Demirel en 1997 le prix de la "Conciliation nationale" dans un  hôtel de luxe à Istanbul.
 Mais la puissante armée turque, qui se considère comme la gardienne des  principes laïcs, réclamait depuis plusieurs années un contrôle plus étroit sur  la confrérie et son chef.
 Les militaires, qui exercent leur influence sur la vie politique par le  biais du Conseil national de sécurité (MGK), où ils siègent aux côtés des plus  hauts dirigeants civils, avaient demandé des mesures sévères contre la  communauté Gulen pour endiguer la montée du fondamentalisme religieux, qu'ils  ont posée en menace numéro un pour la République laïque. (AFP, 21 juin 1999)

Mazlum-Der: "Call for extrajudicial execution"

 The chairman of the Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People (Mazlum-Der), Yilmaz Ensaroglu, has said that Turkey's existing laws were violated when police searched the organization's headquarters, all of its branch offices, and the homes and workplaces of all of its administrators on June 19, the Anatolia news agency reported on Monday.
 Speaking at a press conference held at the Mazlum-Der headquarters on Monday, Ensaroglu said that the works of the organization have been obstructed and that beginning last year, the pressures it has had to deal with have increased systematically.
 The June 19 police search was conducted on the basis that "information and evidence indicated that Mazlum-Der was undertaking activities that were counter to the country's integrity and the system of the republic," Ensaroglu said. "It is to be understood that the police first decided that Mazlum-Der was guilty, they then defined its crime and later they started to gather evidence."
 He went on to say that authorities had not issued any reports regarding the searches of homes and workplaces, that the organization's branches, which had been shut down by authorities, had been entered in order to conduct the searches and that a crime had been committed. The chairman requested a preliminary report from each of the Mazlum-Der branches and stated that the organization will decide within 2-3 days whether there were indeed any signs of illegal activity within Mazlum-Der.
 When asked whether there was any a parallel between the situation of wealthy religious leader Fethullah Gulen and the investigation of Mazlum-Der, Ensaroglu said: "There is an aim [by authorities] to silence somebody. With regard to Fethullah Gulen's situation, his guilt has already been [unofficially] decided and his execution is being sought. We are witness to a typical example of the call for extrajudicial execution. Gulen is accused of being an enemy of the state. Yesterday, someone else's head was wanted, and today it is Gulen's. ... Those who run headlines denouncing Gulen today wanted to use him against others yesterday. Today these people want to kill this person without implementing the judicial process.
 The only solution to this issue is to protect the rights of banned Welfare Party leader [Necmettin] Erbakan, the Democracy Party (DEP), the pro-Kurdish People's Labor Party (HEP) and Gulen, so that you will also be defended. The only way to end this game is to defend the human rights of everyone all the time," he concluded. (Turkish Daily News, June 22, 1999)

ARMED FORCES/FORCES ARMEES

Les militaires réclament des mesures contre l'intégrisme

 Le Conseil national de sécurité (MGK), plus haute  instance politico-militaire de Turquie, a réclamé mercredi au gouvernement de  nouvelles mesures contre le fondamentalisme musulman, selon un communiqué  publié à l'issue de sa réunion mensuelle.
 Le MGK a exigé également l'adoption au parlement de nouvelles lois pour  renforcer la lutte contre le fondamentalisme musulman, que les militaires ont  présenté comme la menace numéro un pour la République laïque, selon le  communiqué.
 Le MGK regroupe principalement le président de la République, le Premier  ministre, les ministres des Affaires étrangères, de l'Intérieur et de la  Défense ainsi que les cinq commandants en chef de l'armée turque.
 Le Conseil national de sécurité (MGK) est un organe par lequel l'armée  exerce son influence sur la vie politique.
 Sa réunion de juin est intervenue après la diffusion, la semaine dernière à  la télévision, de cassettes vidéo où le chef d'une importante confrérie  musulmane, Fethullah Gulen, préconisait à ses adeptes de s'organiser au sein  de l'appareil de l'Etat, notamment la justice, la police et l'éducation  nationale.
 La justice a ouvert une information contre Fethullah Gulen, 61 ans, chef de  la confrérie dite des "Nurcu", afin d'enquêter sur la probable violation des  lois dans le but de renverser l'ordre établi laïc en Turquie pour le remplacer  par un ordre religieux.
 Les militaires, qui se considèrent comme les gardiens de la laïcité,  avaient obtenu en juin 1997 la démission de la coalition gouvernementale à  dominante islamiste de l'ancien Premier ministre islamiste Necmettin Erbakan,  qu'ils accusaient d'encourager la montée du fondamentalisme musulman en  Turquie. (AFP, 23 juin 1999)

Ecevit se plie à la demande des militaires

 Le Premier ministre turc Bulent Ecevit a déclaré jeudi que son gouvernement était déterminé à faire adopter des lois pour lutter contre l'extrémisme religieux, au lendemain d'un appel de l'armée à renforcer la lutte contre le fondamentalisme musulman.
 "Nous sommes déterminés à inclure (des projets de loi) à l'agenda du parlement", a déclaré M. Ecevit à la presse, sans plus de détail. "Les partenaires de ma coalition les soutiennent également", a-t-il ajouté.
 Une campagne bat son plein en Turquie contre un puissant homme d'affaires et dirigeant d'une confrérie musulmane considérée comme modérée, Fetullah Gulen, soupçonné de vouloir instaurer un régime religieux en Turquie en infiltrant l'appareil de l'Etat, et contre lequel une enquête a été ouverte.
 Mercredi, le Conseil national de sécurité (MGK), qui regroupe les plus hauts responsables civils et militaires du pays, avait évoqué cette affaire et pressé le gouvernement d'adopter de nouvelles mesures et une législation pour lutter contre les activités islamistes, menace numéro un contre la République turque aux yeux des militaires.
 Fethullah Gulen, 61 ans, est le chef de la secte des Nurcu (lumière). Une chaîne de télévision a diffusé la semaine dernière une cassette à la provenance obscure dans laquelle il préconise apparemment à ses adeptes de s'organiser au sein de l'appareil de l'Etat, notamment la justice, la police et l'éducation nationale.
 L'armée turque, qui se considère comme la gardienne de la laïcité, demande depuis des années aux gouvernements de resserrer le contrôle sur la secte de Fetullah Gulen.
 Celle-ci possède plusieurs centaines d'écoles et 5 universités en Turquie, en Asie centrale et au Proche-Orient, ainsi qu'un journal, une chaîne de télévision, deux stations de radio, une agence de presse, une banque et plusieurs autres entreprises en Turquie.
 L'unique parti religieux de Turquie, le parti de la Vertu Fazilet, 3ème groupe au parlement, est menacé de fermeture par une requête déposée auprès de la Cour constitutionnelle. (AFP, 24 juin 1999)

Le TDN demande: "Avons-nous besoin d'un parlement élu?"

 Ilnur Çevik, rédacteur en chef du quotidien turc anglophone Turkish Daily News, s'interroge dans un article daté du 26 juin 1999, sur l'utilité et le rôle du Parlement turc qui ne sert que de chambre d'enregistrement des décisions du Conseil national de sécurité (MGK). Voici de larges extraits de cet article:
 "Il apparaît que le pouvoir suprême en Turquie est le Conseil national de sécurité et pas vraiment le Parlement qui est censé refléter la volonté du peuple.
 Les leaders civils et militaires de la Turquie se rassemblent tous les mois dans le cadre d'une réunion du tout puissant Conseil national de sécurité qui prend une série de décisions présentées alors au public comme" recommandations"destinées à l'attention du gouvernement. En effet, il s'agit d'ordres directs que le MGK transmet au gouvernement et quand un Premier ministre les fait traîner en longueur pour les mettre en oeuvre, il s'attire des ennuis et est réprimandé par les centres du pouvoir en Turquie...
 Nous en avons déjà eu l'illustration avec l'ex-Premier ministre Necmettin Erbakan, interdit de politique et encore avec son successeur Mesut Yilmaz. Nous en voyons une autre actuellement avec le Premier ministre Bülent Ecevit, mis lui aussi dans le pétrin.
 Nous sommes conscients que la Turquie a traversé ces dernières années une période très sensible, voire extraordinaire, et qu'il y a de ce fait des conditions assez spéciales à satisfaire. Aussi, ne sommes-nous pas contre le MGK, ni contre aucune autre institution, car il y a un système en Turquie et ce système doit fonctionner. Ce à quoi nous sommes opposés, ce sont ces fausses images créées [pour nous faire croire] que nous sommes dans une démocratie idéale.
 Le peuple a récemment élu ses représentants au Parlement. Mais, nous constatons que les décisions fondamentales ne sont pas prises au sein du Parlement, mais ailleurs, et qu'ainsi les députés sont chargés de les approuver sans discuter.
 Du Président Süleyman Demirel, nous avons appris l'importance de la suprématie de la volonté du peuple [souveraineté populaire]. Il nous a suggéré de lutter pour cette suprématie et cela impliquait la revitalisation du Parlement. Reste que la tâche est loin d'être facile dans les conditions actuelles.
 La situation extraordinaire en Turquie connaît les caractéristiques d'une période de post-coup d'État ( ) Certains sont accusés voire persécutés de manière arbitraire.
 Les autorités sont elles-mêmes engagées dans une lutte de pouvoir tous azimuts, et de ce fait, il est difficile de dire qui contrôle quoi et où.
 Que l'on nous laisse mettre un terme à toute cette confusion. Si nous devons avoir un coup d'État et une administration militaire, que nous en ayons un. Alors nous saurions les règles du jeu et nous agirions tous en conséquence. Nous espérons éventuellement que cette situation prendra fin et que nous retournerons à un régime civil.
 Si nous devons avoir un système parlementaire démocratique, que nous en ayons un. Mais, arrêtez d'essayer d'imposer à la Turquie un système autoritaire alors que nous prétendons être une démocratie parlementaire. Que le MGK soit une institution de conseil mais pas la seule autorité à prendre les décisions fondamentales qui ne demande [au Parlement] que leur mise en oeuvre.
 Nous ne nous en rendons pas compte peut-être, mais on rit de nous à l'étranger..." (CILDEKT, 1er juillet 1999)

US, Israeli firms join forces in giant tank tender

 American and Israeli contractors have decided to join forces in the biggest ever Turkish defense industry tender -- the $7 billion tank production and modernization project, the U.S. Defense News magazine reported.
 In an attempt to increase their chances of winning, the American General Dynamics and the Israeli IMI companies agreed to take joint action and present a joint proposal for the two-wing project, the magazine said.
 According to the accord, General Dynamics will participate in the $5.5 billion joint tank production part of the tender while IMI will withdraw. In return, General Dynamics will withdraw from the $1.5 billion modernization tender in favor of IMI.
 If the companies win the tenders in which they bid, they will cooperate in the implementation phase with the other side.
 Defense experts commented that by taking this move, the two companies had increased their chances of winning.
 The bids for the production of 1,000 tanks will be officially submitted within the year and the winner will be announced in 2002. The winning company will manufacture the tanks jointly with Turkish companies. The other foreign competitors include British, French, Italian, German, Slovakian, Ukrainian and Russian companies.
 In the second part of the project, the modernization of more than 1,000 American-made M60 tanks, the Israeli company IMI appears to be the strongest contestant, experts say. (TDN, June 16, 1999)

Military cooperation between Turkey and France

 Turkey has expressed readiness to accelerate its cooperation with France in the defense realm, particularly in the defense industry sector.
 In a meeting with his French counterpart Alain Richard in Paris on Wednesday, Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said that Turkey wished to extend cooperation with France in the development of the Turkish defense industry.
 Cakmakoglu said that Turkey would welcome France's contributions in joint defense industry projects and Turkey's direct purchase of military equipment.
 Cakmakoglu's statement came as a relief after last year's diplomatic crisis between Turkey and France, which erupted with the French Parliament's recognition of the alleged Armenian genocide perpetrated by Ottomans in 1915. In retaliation Ankara threatened to suspend cooperation with France in the defense industry realm.
 Bilateral relations thawed after the French government prevented the genocide bill from coming onto the agenda of the Senate, which has to give the final approval before the bill comes into force.
 In his meeting with Richard on Wednesday, Cakmakoglu expressed gratitude for the efforts of the French government on the Armenian bill and reiterated Turkey's sensitivity on the issue.
 Cakmakoglu also asked for the continuation of France's support in Turkey's struggle against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK).
 Later in the day, Cakmakoglu was scheduled to visit a defense industry fair.
 France and Turkey have comprehensive cooperation in the defense industry area. French firms have undertaken several significant projects and are currently bidding for more. The still unfinalized bids in which French companies are participating include a $5 billion helicopter project and a $5-7 billion tank modernization project. In addition, talks are still underway for the joint production of short-range missiles.(TDN, June 17, 1999)

STATE TERRORISM/TERREUR DE L'ETAT

IHD Chairman Birdal in prison!

 One of Turkey's leading human rights activists began a 10-month prison sentence on June 3, the latest conviction under tough laws curbing freedom of expression.
 Akin Birdal, who barely survived an assassination attempt last year, was convicted for speeches he gave in 1995 and 1996 supporting Kurdish rights and an end to Turkey's war with Kurdish rebels. Courts deemed his remarks violated a law against the "incitement of racial or religious hatred."
 Escorted to an Ankara prison by hundreds of his supporters, Birdal, who leads the independent Human Rights Association (IHD), vowed to keep up his campaign.
 "Prison cannot prevent thought or opinions," he said.
 He received one-year prison terms in the two cases but a parole law will allow him to leave jail after 10 months.
 Several human rights advocates, writers and academicians have been imprisoned under the same law. Last month, journalist Oral Calislar was convicted for publishing interviews with rebel Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. He is appealing the conviction.
 Human rights groups say Turkish laws make the conviction of human rights advocates and writers easy, while security officials accused of abuses often go unpunished.
 In the speeches, Birdal called for an end to the conflict between Ocalan's rebels and the Turkish military and for more cultural rights for Kurds.
 Birdal is not a Kurd.
 Ocalan is now standing trial on charges of treason and for leading a guerrilla conflict in which 37,000 have died, mostly Kurds.
 Last year, Birdal was attacked by ultra-nationalist gunmen after newspapers printed alleged confessions by a rebel commander who claimed Birdal aided the rebels. He was shot six times in the chest and leg.
 Birdal had sought a six-month health deferment of his sentence on the basis of his injuries. Authorities refused.
 Birdal, 50, has been tried several times in the past for speeches deemed offensive under Turkish laws and has about 20 more cases pending against him. (AP, June 3, 1999)

Reaction of Human Rights Watch

 On the eve of the imprisonment of well-known human rights activist Akin Birdal, Human Rights Watch today condemned Mr. Birdal's one-year sentence as a violation of his right to free speech. Mr. Birdal is president of the prominent Human Rights Association (HRA) of Turkey.
 "The right to free speech is routinely violated in Turkey," said Holly Cartner, executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "Turkish governments since the 1980s have promised to lift restrictions on freedom of expression, but Mr. Birdal's experience shows how hollow those promises are."
 Mr. Birdal was convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment by the Ankara State Security Court in July 1998 for a speech he made on September 1, 1996 calling for "peace and understanding" with respect to the Kurdish minority. Birdal was convicted for "inciting racial hatred" under article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code. The indictment specifically mentioned Birdal's reference in the speech to "the Kurdish people" as an incriminating phrase. The sentence was confirmed on appeal on October 27, 1998. As a result of the conviction, Birdal will no longer be able to act as president of the HRA and will no longer be permitted to be an official of any association. The ban is a lifetime ban, but may be appealed after five years. There are several other charges currently pending against Birdal, all related to his writings and public speeches. He will serve his sentence at the Ankara Central Closed Prison.
 Ms. Cartner noted that although Turkey claims to be a democracy, Turkish citizens run the risk of prosecution, imprisonment, and sometime worse if they try to begin a peaceful public dialogue on a sensitive topic such as the rights of the Kurdish minority.
 In addition to facing numerous criminal prosecutions, Birdal was physically attacked on May 12, 1998, when two gunmen entered his office in downtown Ankara and shot him seven times in the lungs and leg. The attack followed a reckless campaign in the press purportedly based on leaked information from the prosecutor's office about alleged connections between the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) and the Human Rights Association. These accusations were later shown to be false. Immediately after the attack, then-Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz repeated the accusations against the HRA, describing the attack as part of an internal feud within the PKK. However, the extreme right-wing organization Turkish Revenge Brigade took responsibility for the attack. Currently, a number of people, including a retired army major, are on trial for the attempted murder of Mr. Birdal.
 In addition to Mr. Birdal, a number of others are already serving prison sentences for their statements or writings, including the former leader of the Socialist Labor Party Dogu Perincek, the former mayor of Istanbul Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the lawyer Esber Yagmurderali. Others, such as the journalist Oral Calislar, are currently awaiting sentencing (HRW, June 3, 1999)

Démission du président de l'IHD Birdal

 Akin Birdal, président de l'Association des droits  de l'Homme de Turquie (IHD), a démissionné mardi de son poste après avoir  commencé à purger une peine d'un an de prison pour "provocation raciale",  a-t-on appris auprès de l'IHD.
 Cette démission est requise par la loi sur les associations, qui stipule le  départ du président d'une association s'il est condamné aux termes de  l'article 312 du code pénal qui sanctionne les délits de "provocation raciale  ou religieuse".
 M. Birdal ne sera plus membre de l'IHD, d'après la même loi.
 Akin Birdal, qui avait été condamné après des déclarations appelant à une  solution pacifique du conflit kurde faites en 1995 et 1996, a commencé à  purger sa peine le 3 juin à Ankara. Il doit rester en prison dix mois, la loi  turque prévoyant une réduction de peine.
 En octobre et en avril derniers, la Cour de cassation avait confirmé les  deux peines d'un an de prison prononcées à son encontre par des Cours de  sûreté de l'Etat pour propos "visant à la provocation raciale".
 M. Birdal avait été grièvement blessé en mai 1998 dans un attentat dans son  bureau à Ankara. Ses deux agresseurs, ainsi que quatre autres personnes, tous  militants d'extrême droite, avaient été arrêtés dix jours plus tard. Leur  procès est en cours à Ankara.
 Président de l'IHD depuis 1992, Akin Birdal, 50 ans, a déjà passé un an en  prison sous l'accusation d'activités favorables à la rébellion kurde de  Turquie.
 La section allemande d'Amnesty  International lui avait remis un prix en  avril à Ankara. (AFP, 22 juin 1999)

Sweden and Norwegian NGOs express concern about Birdal

 A letter discussed and approved by several Norwegian and Swedish nongovernmental (NGOs) human rights associations raising concerns about the imprisonment of Human Rights Association (IHD) head Akin Birdal was sent to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Monday.
 Birdal, Turkey's leading human rights activist, was incarcerated in Ankara Central Prison earlier this month, where he will remain for no less than 10 months and three days.
 Barely surviving an assassination attempt last year, the IHD chairman was convicted for speeches made in 1995 and 1996 in which he expressed support for Kurdish rights and called for an end to the Kurdish conflict. The court deemed his remarks a violation of the law against "incitement of racial or religious hatred."
 "Norwegian and Swedish human rights organizations urge you to release human rights activist Akin Birdal. The sentencing of Birdal for demanding that peace should be established on the basis of human rights and that the Kurdish problem should be resolved through peaceful means, is not in compliance with international human rights standards and strongly underlines the need for legal reform in your country. ... We have known Birdal and his organization for years. The organization and Birdal, in particular, have become a symbol for peace and reform-minded forces in your country which truly want Turkey to become a full member of the international human rights community. It is hard for us to understand that Birdal's speeches, which ask for peaceful solutions to the Kurdish problem in your country, can form the basis for a prison sentence of his "inciting hatred and enmity on class, racial and regional differences," the letter read.
 "We are well aware that the sentencing of Birdal -- as well as of several other human rights activists and journalists -- is linked to perceived threats to the unity and indivisibility of the Turkish Republic," the NGOs stated in the letter. (TDN, June 15, 1999)

Court overturns Manisa torture acquittal

 The High Court of Appeals has overturned a decision from the penal court in Manisa, where 10 policemen were acquitted on charges of torturing 14 youngsters, the Anatolia news agency reported.
 The Penal Board of the High Court of Appeals met today to asses the decision handed down by the lower court in Manisa where police officers Halil Emir, Ramazan Kolak, M. Emin Dal, Levent Ozves, Engin Erdogan, Atilla Gurbuz, Turgut Demiral, Fevzi Aydo, Turgut Ozcan and Musa Gecer were acquitted of torture charges due to lack of sufficient evidence.
 The decision by the lower court acquitting the policemen of the charges was voted on by the Penal Board of the High Court of Appeals and was subsequently overturned by 17 votes to seven.
 The case file will be returned to the Manisa Penal Court, where the defendants will be retried. It is further reported that the ruling handed down by the Penal Chamber is based on the same justifications previously used by the 8th Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Appeals, where the decision by the lower court was initially turned down. That ruling, however, was challenged by the Manisa Penal Court.
 It is stipulated in Paragraph 1, Article 243 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) that "Officers who apply torture or any offensive treatment to defendants for interrogation purposes will face sentences of up to five years in prison."

 Acts of torture are substantiated

 Fourteen young people from Manisa -- Ali Goktas, Emrah Sait Erda, Askin Yegin, Levent Kilic, Faruk Deniz, Mahir Goktas, Huseyin Korkut, Boran Senel, Jale Kurt, Munire Apaydin, Ayse Mine Balkanli, Sema Tasar, Abdullah Yucel Karakas and Ozgur Zeybek -- were taken into custody by the Terrorism Department of the Manisa police on Dec. 26, 1995. Twelve of the defendants were later brought up on charges by the State Security Court (DGM) in Izmir and 10 of the defendants were sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 76 years.
 Based on allegations by defense lawyers that the defendants were subjected to torture while in the custody of the Manisa Police department, an investigation was initiated into the police officer's purported actions and a separate court case was opened. The policemen were tried by the Manisa Penal Court and were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
 That decision was overturned by the 8th Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Appeals, which ruled that the act of torture had been substantiated, and therefore, that it is necessary that the perpetrators should be punished accordingly. It was further asserted by the high court that the reports provided by the department of forensic medicine, the state hospital and the Chamber of Medicine indicate without a doubt that the defendants were subjected to torture and offensive treatment while they were under police custody. The torture methods used on the defendants were identified in the reports as "Insults, threats, blindfolding, playing marches at very high volume, stripping the clothes off the defendants, applying electrical currents, squeezing of the testicles, wrapping in wet blankets, sexual harassment of female defendants, inserting police clubs into the defendants' rectum, physical abuse and forcing the defendants to witness the atrocities."
 The decision by the 8th Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Appeals was challenged by the Manisa Penal Court, and upon request by the defendants the case file was subsequently sent to the Penal Board of the High Court of Appeals.
 The decision by the Izmir DGM, sentencing the youngsters from Manisa to various terms in prison, was also overturned by the 9th Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Appeals for inadequate investigation and the allegations of torture.
 This case represents hope for the future in Turkey
 Sema Pektas, one of the defense lawyers interviewed by journalists, stated: "We were awaiting this decision. It is obvious that these youngsters were not entertained during the 11 days they were held under custody at Manisa Police Department. Our trust in independent justice, however, was never lost. All institutions in Turkey must abide by the law. If there is injustice, this will be handled by the judiciary. We always stated this reality. We had some very bad experiences; however this case represents hope for the future in Turkey. This is the light of hope. We as a nation put up with all types of atrocities under the preconception that there is nothing that can be done about it, but this is not correct. There are lots of things to be done. In this particular case, the law is the one that claimed the victory." Pektas added that this case will promote the democratization process in the country. (TDN, June 17, 1999)

Libération de maître Zeki Rüzgar à Ankara

 
 Ce vendredi 18 juin 1999, la Cour de Sûreté de l'Etat d'Ankara a remis en liberté Me Zeki Rüzgar ainsi que Ayse Betül Gökoglu et Ali Ercan, deux dirigeants du TAYAD (organisation de défense des prisonniers). Ils étaient en détention depuis janvier de cette année. L'audience du 17 juin était la cinquième étape du procès.
 Le procureur d'Etat, en déposant plainte, s'ést juré de mettre Zeki Rüzgar "hors d'état de nuire", puisqu'il est connu comme défenseur principal des prisonniers politiques et comme dénonciateur des tortures et des disparitions, Zeki Rüzgar est également poursuivi parce qu'il serait soi-disant dirigeant d'une organisation de gauche révolutionnaire interdite, le DHKP-C.
 Ce procès a mobilisé un large mouvement de solidarité. En effet, 250 avocats ont pris part à la défense au procès d'Ankara. Des délégations étrangères ont également fait le déplacement pour assister aux différentes audiences. De Belgique, des membres de People's Rights Watch et d'Avocats sans Frontières se sont rendus au procès. Des délégations sont également venues de Hollande et d'Allemagne.
 Les avocats de Zeki Rüzgar soutiennent la thèse du complot et réclament la cessation du procés, puisque sa libération ne signifie pas la fin des poursuites. Une nouvelle audience est prévue le 20 juillet.
 La presse belge, dans le courant des mois de janvier et d'avril 1999, a attiré l'attention de l'opinion sur ce procès a l'occasion de la délégation d'avocats mentionnée ci-dessus.
 Nous vous saurions gré de suivre ce procès avec attention. Nous voyons en effet, par le truchement du procès d'Öcalan, que les droits de la défense en Turquie sont de plus en plus sérieusement menacés.
 Le procès de Zeki Rüzgar est à placer dans le même contexte de répression croissante en Turquie des forces qui défendent les droits des travailleurs, des syndicalistes, des militants politiques et des Kurdes. Cette répression se prolonge dans le cas de ceux qui prennent la responsabilité de défendre ces gens. (People's Rights Watch,18 juin 1999)

A new Goktepe incident in Turkey

 A case similar to that of journalist Metin Goktepe and the people tried in Manisa is now taking place in Istanbul. The Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) and Suleyman Yeter's family have formed a committee to investigate the murder of this man who was taken into custody on March 5, 1999 and found dead two days later. The committee declared that Yeter died as a result of being tortured by police officers from the Istanbul Counter-terrorism Bureau.
 The press statement included the testimony of Ziyneddin Askarov, a man from Uzbekistan who shared a cell with Yeter. Askarov had received a death sentence in his country and escaped to Turkey. After being caught by Turkish police under dubious circumstances, the fugitive was returned to Uzbekistan.
 Askarov said that Yeter had been tortured by the police and had known that he would be killed. The Uzbek added that police tried to make a separate deal with him, telling him that he would not be sent back to his country if he confessed to Yeter's murder.
 "I was taken into police custody on March 5 by police officers from the Counter-terrorism Bureau. I was put in the same cell as Yeter. They tortured him every day. He said: 'I will not come out of here alive. If I die, the policeman named Ugur will have to give an account.'"
 Askarov stood trial two days after he was captured by police and was subsequently sent to Bayrampasa Prison. Shorty thereafter, officers from the Counter-terrorism Bureau arrived to interrogate him.
 "The police pointed at me and said, 'This man beat Suleyman Yeter.' I accepted. I had already received the death sentence. I thought that the death penalty might be lifted, so I said that I hit him with my fist. But in fact, he was killed by torture while under detention." (Turkish Daily News, June 23, 1999)

Turkey Islamist ex-mayor faces extended jail term

 An Islamist former mayor, already serving a 10-month jail term in Turkey, on Friday faced up to five more years in prison for allegedly inciting violence against a hardline secularist prosecutor.
 Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a leading Islamist figure and former Istanbul mayor, entered prison in March for reciting a poem deemed provocative by the country's secularist authorities.
 His imprisonment was part of a legal campaign against Islamist activists seen as threatening the country's official secular constitution.  Istanbul prosecutor Mustafa Aker filed the case against Erdogan for speeches made before he was jailed inciting his supporters to violence against secularist chief prosecutor Vural Savas, the Anatolian news agency said.
 Savas has led the anti-Islamist campaign, most recently spearheading efforts to ban the Islamist Virtue Party and all its members of parliament on grounds that they were seeking to set up an Islamic state.  Aker is seeking a three- to five-year prison term for Erdogan.  Turkey's secular establishment, backed by the powerful military, has conducted a three-year campaign against religious activism, jailing many Islamists and banning Virtue's predecessor Welfare. (Reuters, June 25, 1999)

Acquittement d'un avocat d'Ocalan

 Un avocat d'Ocalan a été acquitté vendredi par la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat d'Istanbul (DGM), a rapporté l'agence Anatolie.
 Une jeune interprète turco-belge d'origine kurde, sous le coup de la même accusation, a également été acquittée, selon Anatolie.
 Le parquet de la DGM avait requis entre trois et cinq ans de prison contre l'avocat, Me Niyazi Bulgan, et l'interprète Sibel Ceylan pour "aide à une organisation terroriste" (ndlr: dénomination officielle pour le PKK) et "recel de documents".
 Sibel Ceylan, 23 ans, avait été arrêtée le 7 mai en possession de documents concernant le procès d'Abdullah Ocalan, jugé depuis le 31 mai sur l'île-prison d'Imrali pour "trahison et atteinte à l'intégrité territoriale de la Turquie". Ocalan est passible de la peine capitale et le verdict doit être annoncé mardi.
 L'acte d'accusation dressé par le parquet de la DGM d'Ankara contre Ocalan figurait parmi les documents saisis sur Sibel Ceylan, qui l'avait reçu de Me Bulgan pour le remettre aux avocats en Europe du chef du PKK.
 Le parquet de la DGM a demandé vendredi l'acquittement de Sibel Ceylan et de Me Bulgan, estimant que "le délit n'a pas été commis car l'acte d'accusation ainsi que les autres documents et une cassette vidéo saisis sont des documents publics", selon Anatolie.
 Me Bulgan est membre de l'équipe d'avocats turcs qui assure la défense du chef rebelle kurde à Imrali. (AFP, 25 juin 1999)

PRESSURE ON THE MEDIA/PRESSIONS SUR LES MEDIAS

CPJ protests arrest, prosecution of journalist

 CPJ is deeply alarmed by the recent arrest and indictment of Hasan Deniz, editor of the daily Ozgur Bakis.  On 4 June 1999, state prosecutors at the Istanbul State Security Court charged Deniz with violating Article 169 of the Penal Code (aiding an illegal organization) and ordered his immediate arrest.
 According to staff at Ozgur Bakis, publication of an article on 3 June 1999, titled "PKK Gives Support to Ocalan's Project." The article reported on a statement issued by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) supporting the call by Abdullah Ocalan who is now standing trial in Turkey on treason charges-for an end to violence and a "democratic solution" to political violence between Turkey and Kurdish rebels.
 The story had been widely reported by the local and international press.  Deniz is currently in Istanbul's Umraniye Prison. (IFEX, June 5, 1999)

British Journalist indicted in Turkey

 CPJ is condemning in the strongest terms the 10 June 1999 indictment of Andrew Finkel, a free-lance journalist based in Istanbul who reports for "Time" magazine and "The Times of London" and appears on CNN.
 In a hearing today, Finkel, a British national, was charged with "insulting state institutions" under Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code. The charge comes in response to a February 1998 article Finkel wrote for the daily newspaper "Sabah" headlined "Shurnak 1998," which discussed Turkey's ongoing military operations against the Kurds in the southeast. An expert panel's report, submitted to the court, concluded that Finkel did not insult the military. Another hearing has been scheduled for 16 November, pending the report of a second panel of experts on the validity of the charges. If convicted, Finkel faces up to six years in prison.
 After today's hearing, Finkel said that the charges against him are but the latest example of the Turkish authorities' use of provisions of the penal code to harass and intimidate his Turkish colleagues. "Because Prime Minister Ecevit has himself stood in the darkness, as an imprisoned journalist," said Finkel, "it behooves him to join in the campaign to change these repressive practices."
 The indictment of Finkel for his journalistic work violates the fundamental norms for free expression as guaranteed under international law, and follows a disturbing pattern of attacks on the press in Turkey in recent weeks.
 CPJ last wrote to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on 19 May, expressing their deep alarm at the 18 May conviction of "Cumhurriyet" columnist Oral Calislar on the charge of disseminating "separatist propaganda" under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law. He was sentenced to 13 months in prison by the Istanbul State Security Court. The charge against Calislar stemmed from a 1993 book he wrote, titled "The Kurdish Problem with Ocalan and Burkay." The book contains interviews - originally published in "Cumhurriyet" in June and July 1993 - with Kemal Burkay, head of the Kurdistan Socialist Party, and Abdullah ÷calan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, who is now awaiting trial in Turkey on treason charges.
 In an 8 June letter to Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk, CPJ protested the arrest and indictment of Hasan Deniz, editor of the daily "Ozgur Bakis". On 4 June, Deniz was charged in the Istanbul State Security Court with violating Article 169 of the Penal Code (aiding an illegal organization) and immediately arrested. According to staff at "÷zg¸r Bakis", the charge against Deniz stems from the newspaper's publication of an article on 3 June 1999, headlined "PKK Gives Support to ÷calan's Project." The article reported on a statement issued by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) supporting the call by ÷calan for an end to violence and a "democratic solution" to political violence between Turkey and Kurdish rebels.
 In July 1997, the prime minister told CPJ's delegation that as a former journalist who had been imprisoned for his work, he "considered freedom of expression as a vital component of democracy." (CPJ/IFEX, June 11, 1999)

RTUK blacks out three radio stations, three TV channels

 The Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK) has imposed penalties on three radio stations and three television channels for violating certain articles of the law pertaining to radio and television broadcasting and the establishment of stations. In addition, RTUK issued warnings to two other radio and television stations for committing infractions, the Anatolia news agency reported on Thursday.
 According to the announcement made by RTUK after a meeting held on Wednesday, the Interstar television station will be blacked out for one day due to having broadcasted programs deemed to be damaging to the "general, moral, public peace and Turkish family structure." In addition, the Istanbul-based Radio Klas, which violated the same article of the law, will be prohibited from broadcasting for a period of seven days.
 Moreover, Moral FM and Akra FM radio stations have each incurred a mandated one-day blackout for broadcasting programs that "provoked society to violence and terrorism based on ethnic discrimination."
 RTUK also decided to impose black-out penalties on Kanal 7 and BTV television stations, as well as an additional one on Akra FM, for broadcasting programs that underestimated and insulted a person or establishment. (TDN, June 11, 1999)

Poet Yilmaz Odabasi imprisoned

 The WiPC is deeply disturbed by the imprisonment of Yilmaz Odabasi. Odabasi, a prize-winning poet, writer and journalist, was sent to Bursa Prison on 12 March 1999 to serve an eighteen-month term, (which, with remission, will come to eight months). He was convicted of "insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic" in his volume of poetry "Dream and Life".
 Odabasi, a 38-year-old Kurdish writer, originally from the Diyarbakir Province in Turkey's south east, is currently in Bursa prison, where, unless amnestied, he will remain until November 1999.
 Odabasi was first imprisoned in 1980, just after the military coup of 12 September, by which time he had already published poems in literary journals. He was released after a few weeks and was allegedly tortured while in detention. In 1985 he opened a book shop in Diyarbakir and worked as a regional representative for UBA, the National Press Agency. In 1987 he was named "poet of the year" by the review "Temnuz"; that same year he was sentenced to eight years in prison for membership in the Socialist Party. The sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court, however, and he did not go to jail.
 He continued to publish volumes of poetry, including "Poems Without Land", "Times of Plunder", and "Melody from the Same Sky". In 1989 he was awarded the Cahit Sitki Taranci prize. Some of his poems have been put to music by prominent bands. His first short story collection, "Love of Ashes", was published in 1991. In 1992, he worked as a correspondent for the English-language "Turkish Daily News" in Diyarbakir.
 In 1993 he moved to Ankara where he continued his literary and journalistic activities; the following year he served several months in prison for a title published in Germany.
 His seventh collection of poems "Ticket to Hell" was published in 1995 and the book which earned him his current sentence, "Dreams and Life" - which contains a collection of articles on poetry and culture - was published in 1996.
 He was sentenced to eighteen months twice over because of this collection. The first sentence - for "disseminating separatist propaganda" - was eventually overturned by the Appeals Court. The second sentence - for "insulting the memory" of Ataturk under Law 5818 - was upheld and his lawyer's appeal for a delay in its implementation was rejected. Accordingly, Odabasi entered Bursa Prison on 12 March. (WiPC/IFEX, June 11, 1999)

Numerous journalists and writers arrested in Turkey

 Numerous journalists and writers have been arrested and detained in Turkey recently, report several IFEX members. On 10 June, Istanbul-based British journalist Andrew Finkel was charged with "insulting state institutions" under Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code, reports the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
 The charge stemmed from a February 1998 article Finkel wrote for the daily newspaper "Sabah" about Turkey's ongoing military operations against the Kurds in the southeast. Another hearing is scheduled for 16 November. Finkel reports for "Time" magazine and "The Times of London" and also appears on CNN. If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison.
 CPJ also reports that on 4 June, Hasan Deniz, editor of the daily "Ozgur Bakis" was charged in the Istanbul State Security Court with "aiding an illegal organisation" and was immediately arrested. The charge relates to the newspaper's publication of an article on 3 June, headlined "PKK Gives Support to ÷calan's Project." On 18 May, CPJ reports, "Cumhurriyet" columnist Oral Calislar was convicted on the charge of disseminating "separatist propaganda" and was sentenced to 13 months in prison by the same court. The charges stemmed from a 1993 book he wrote, titled "The Kurdish Problem with Ocalan and Burkay". Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is under arrest in Turkey and Reporters sans frontiËres (RSF) reports that some journalists were restricted in their efforts to cover his trial in May.
 On 3 June, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the year-long imprisonment of well-known human rights activist Akin Birdal, who was convicted and sentenced in July 1998 for a speech he made in September 1996 calling for "peace and understanding" with respect to the Kurdish minority. Birdal, president of the prominent Human Rights Association of Turkey, is only now going to jail after a failed appeal. "The right to free speech is routinely violated in Turkey," said Holly Cartner, executive director of HRW's Europe and Central Asia division. "Turkish governments since the 1980s have promised to lift restrictions on freedom of expression, but Birdal's experience shows how hollow those promises are."
 The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN reports that prize-winning Kurdish poet, writer and journalist Yilmaz Odabasi was sent to prison on 12 March for 18 months. He was convicted of "insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic" in his poetry collection "Dream and Life". Odabasi was first imprisoned in 1980, at which time he was allegedly tortured. At its 52nd World Newspaper Congress in Zürich, Switzerland, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) issued an appeal to Turkish President Suleyman Demirel to release Professor Ismail Besikci, whom it says was "jailed most recently in 1993, has been sentenced to up to 90 years in prison and has spent a total of 37 years behind bars, for writing about the Kurdish situation in the country." (IFEX, June 15, 1999)

WiPC comments on situation for journalists in Turkey

 In his presentation to the 66th International PEN Congress, held in Warsaw from 15-20 June, the Chair of PEN's Writers in Prison Committee, Moris Farhi, told the gathered delegates of the courage shown by so many writers around the world. Concerning Turkey he said:
 "In Turkey, a plethora of laws are used to indict writers. We are monitoring a hundred writers and journalists who are either in prison or on trial. One of the most outstanding perversions of justice is the detention of Esber Yagmurdereli, who is serving a total of 16 years for his comments on the situation of the Kurds. Another writer, Ismail Besikci is serving over 40 years worth of sentences, and faces an additional 30 years imprisonment if convicted of other charges which are still on trial. One of the longest prison terms served in recent years was that against General Gallardo in Mexico who is serving a total of 28 years in prison for his writings criticising the military. While in Warsaw, a delegation of writers met with the Mexican ambassador there to lobby on his behalf." (WiPC/IFEX, June 22, 1999)

Imprisonments  a "deep blemish" to Iran, Burma, Turkey

 The World Association of Newspapers has written to the leaders of Iran, Burma and Turkey asking them to free journalists who are in danger of dying in prison.
 The letters, signed by WAN President Bengt Braun, were send to Presidents Seyed Mohammad Khatami of Iran, Suleyman Demirel of Turkey and General Than Shwe of Burma. The letters asked them to free the journalists and called the imprisonments a "deep blemish on the international standing" of the three countries.
 According to WAN, Professor Ismail Besikci of Turkey, jailed most recently in 1993, has been sentenced to up to 90 years in prison and has spent a total of 37 years behind bars, for writing about the Kurdish situation in the country.
 WAN, the global organization for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. Its membership includes 62 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and seven regional press groups. (WAN/IFEX, 15 June 1999)

Art organizations protest limits on freedom of expression

 Fifty-eight prestigious art organizations in Istanbul including Istanbul Culture and Art Foundation, International Plastic Arts Foundation, P.E.N. Authors' Association, the Turkish Authors' Syndicate, Theater Actors Foundation, Theater Foundation Enterprise Committee, Theater Critics Union and Contemporary Cinema Actors Foundation organized a press conference to protest recent implementations limiting the freedom of artistic expression in Turkey.
 Following the press conference in front of the Galatasaray Post Office, organizations' representatives and artists sent letters to high level authorities including President Suleyman Demirel, National Assembly Speaker Yildirim Akbulut, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and party chairmen.
 Here is the text of the statement:
 "Creative freedom is a primary resource in the education of individuals and their society.
 "Oppressive leaders' attempts to limit the freedom of expression have failed throughout history.
 "On this land, which is a meeting point of cultures, ways of defending the present and leaving a legacy to our children have been found despite obstructions.
 "The art of theater which probes life and man's existential struggle in an in-depth manner seeks to put the concept of freedom to the service of the liberation of human beings. Today, any obstruction of this freedom which is everyone's right represents an assault on other ethical values.
 "During a historical period when great strides have been made toward the liberalization of art, we are of course not discouraged by the political oppression hovering on Turkey's horizons and prohibitory laws which prevent development.
 "But today we are once again worried. In Tarsus, some people who hide behind their official titles and resist artistic expression and creative freedom in an extremely rigid way assumed an aggressive posture against the presentation of David Mamet's 'Let's Finish This Affair' and the Tiyatro Studyosu group that staged the play. A striking contradiction is that since its establishment, Tiyatro Studyosu has been an institution which received state support at the highest levels.
 "Two factors which increase our concerns are the provocative attitude of some media organizations against the well-known Catalan group La Fura Dels Baus' 'Faust Surum 3.0' which was the opening play of the internationally known and highly respected 11th International Istanbul Festival and the legal pursuit that followed it.
 "Even if we ignore discussing the coercive and distorted morality which underlies these developments, we have to defend our age and our country, which is on the threshold of the new century, from adverse developments.
 "Of course, the social reaction to these developments and the critical position of a number of press organizations empowers us.
 "We believe that we have no reason to keep a pluralist and free Turkey where art and science flourish from joining the world community.
 "Turkey deserves freedom.
 "The undersigned art organizations ask that creative freedom which is a constitutional right should be defended not only in word but also in practice.
 "The first steps in this direction are the abolition of articles in the Police Duties and Authorities Law which are demeaning to an artist's self-respect; we would also like the legal gaps which enable authorities to act arbitrarily to be amended.
 "We should not forget that the silence of political authority in the face of the abuse of power will result in a deep loss of confidence in society resulting in a loss of integrity for the country.
 "It is well-known; there have been numerous times when the history of humanity went through dark times controlled by tyrants posing as the moral gendarmes of society and interpreting social ethics only from their own perspective.
 "Keeping silent in the face of the coercive and oppressive mentality which denies the plurality of this society and wants to turn us into mad people might mean that we will indeed fall into their trap.
 "We live under the same sky. Let us not be afraid of enriching ourselves through our differences. Let us not be each others' worst enemies. On this land which has witnessed the history of mutual life and sharing, let beauty flourish, let reason and ideas grow and reach to the sky." (TDN, June 17, 1999)

Turkey still torturing journalists

 On 24 June 1999, RSF issued a report entitled "Burma, Sudan, Syria and Turkey: torture as a form of repression". A full text follows:
 Report Burma, Sudan, Syria and Turkey: torture as a means of repression In Turkey and Syria, journalists are frequently victims of torture
 Torture is still being practised in Turkey on a massive scale. While in many cases it is used by the police against common-law prisoners, it is also used against journalists. Reporters Sans Frontières has received accounts from 38 journalists claiming to have been tortured in 1996, 16 in 1997 and nine in 1998. In 1999, the organisation was informed of another typical case of torture that occurred during the night of 19 to 20 March. Aydogan Inal, a reporter with the pro-Kurdish weekly Hêvi in Diyarbakir (a city in south-eastern Turkey, where a state of emergency is in force), was arrested at his home by eight police officers who punched and blindfolded him before taking him to the city security headquarters (Cevvik Kuvvetler). He was forced to wait for an hour kneeling against a wall before being questioned. The police officers ordered him to sign some documents and he was obliged to comply: "When I had the papers in front of me, they insulted me and hit me continuously." Stunned by the blows, he fell to the ground. The policemen picked him up, told him to sing the national anthem and began hitting him again when he claimed he did not know it. They then undressed him and threw him into a cell, eventually giving him back his clothes.
 During the night of 20 to 21 March, Aydogan Inal was taken blindfold to a room where police officers asked him which "organisation" published Hêvi. He denied having any connection with a political movement (in other words, the PKK - Kudistan Workers' Party). The journalist was struck several times, undressed and taken to another room where he was forced to lie on the ground. The police tied his feet up with a carpet and ordered him to put his hands behind his head. They then put pressure on his hands and feet. One of the men squeezed his testicles until he passed out, starting again as soon as the journalist came round. When the torturer noticed pus coming out of a wound he stopped and put a plastic bag over the journalist's head until he started to suffocate. Aydogan Inal also suffered a form of torture that involves being sprayed with water. On 24 March, after enduring three days of ill-treatment, he was examined by a doctor at the Baglar clinic. Police officers were present at the examination - in contravention of Turkish law. The doctor asked the journalist no questions and issued a medical certificate stating that he was "in good health". Aydogan Inal was released the same day on the orders of the state security court. In November 1998, Mehmet Eren, his predecessor with the weekly in Diyarbakir, had also been tortured by police officers and subsequently left the job.
 The case of Asiye Zeybek Güzel is also typical of the violence used by the police against journalists. A reporter with the extreme-left weekly Atilim and former editor of the weekly Isçinin Yolu, which also leans to the left, she was arrested at her home on 22 February 1997 as she was returning from shopping with her husband. The police were waiting inside the house and did not have an arrest warrant. They took the journalist to the anti-terrorist unit of Istanbul security headquarters. She was accused of having ties with the MLKP, a banned Marxist-Leninist party, and was detained in custody for 13 days. Asiye Zeybek Güzel was tortured while in custody: "The head of the unit where I was tortured was called Bayram Kartal. I would recognise his voice. I was hung up by the arms, at first straight, then with my arms crossed. The police left me wearing only underwear. While I was hanging up, Bayram Kartal ordered his colleagues to lay me on the ground. He was very conscientious, and watched all my reactions carefully as they carried out the ill-treatment. Afterwards, when they stopped torturing me, they talked about their wives and children, ate snacks or played lottery. They carried on as if nothing had happened. How can they accept all that? I simply can't understand." (Interview published in the women's magazine Pazartesi.) After being tortured, she was put into a solitary cell where she was raped by one of the officers. In the interview, still suffering from shock, she refers to the sexual cruelty she suffered as "the occurrence".(RSF/IFEX, June 24, 1999)

Soldier Mehmet's Book confiscated

 The book "Mehmed's Book-Soldiers who fought in the Southeast are speaking", written by journalist Nadire Mater, the representative of the Reporters sans Frontiers in Turkey, was confiscated by the Istanbul Penal Court of Peace No.2 on 24 June.
 The confiscation was ordered on the grounds that "phrases belittling the security forces of the state were given place in the book." Nadire Mater, making a statement upon the confiscation of the book, said the following:
 "The confiscation decision, and the trial which is most probable to be launched after this decision, is a recent evidence of the continuing threat against the freedom of thought, expression and the freedom of receiving information and news of the people and the journalists. I do not deem any limitations on the thought as legitimate, except for the racist propaganda and propaganda favoring war. However, the most striking aspect of this decision is that, the confiscation decision was not given on the basis of my personal opinions.
 "The 'Mehmed's Book,' which is a journalistic study, was confiscated in connection with the experiences narrated to me by 42 enlisted men or second lieutenants who have 'fought in the Southeast' and the families of two soldiers. This decision is also an indicator of the intolerance of words spoken for the first time by those, whom we have sent to die without deeming it necessary to ask abut their opinions anyhow, on themselves, their lives, struggles and future. The thick walls of bans have been erected before us once again when the turn came for those ordinary people, who have undertaken the most destructive role in the war, to talk about their experience and for the public to learn about their thoughts." (TIHV, June 25, 1999)

KURDISH QUESTION/QUESTION KURDE

Zana et ses collègues menacés d'une nouvelle peine

 Un télégramme de solidarité envoyé le 4 mai 1998 au congrès de la fédération d'Ankara du parti Hadep vaut à Leyla Zana et à trois de ses collègues députés kurdes qui depuis mars 1994 purgent une peine de 15 ans de prison pour délit d'opinion, de nouvelles poursuites judiciaires devant la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat n°1 d'Ankara.
 Lors de l'audience du 24 mai, en absence des prévenus, le procureur a requis une peine de cinq ans de prison contre Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan et Selim Sadak accusés de propagande séparatiste dans le court message télégraphique qu'ils avaient adressé au congrès. Le procureur a Egalement requis des peines de 3 à 5 ans contre 5 musiciens du groupe Mezopotamya accusés d'avoir chanté en kurde au
 cours de la soirée culturelle organisée à l'issue du congrès. Ces musiciens et un organisateur ont été arrêtés et écroués. Le procès a été reporté à fin juin. (CILDEKT, 1 juin 1999)

Kurdish national congress rallies behind Ocalan

 The National Congress of Kurdistan rallied support behind Abdullah Ocalan, whom they had named their honorary leader last week in Amsterdam, saying that the remarks he made on the first day of the trial on Imrali were "just one more call for peace in Turkey."
 "This is not the first time that Ocalan has pleaded for peace. He will continue to do so during his trial," said Abdurrahman Cadirli, European representative of the National Front for the Liberation of Kurdistan (ERNK) and a member of the presidential board of the so-called National Congress. "We support him and his calls for peace," he added.
 But Cadirci ducked questions on whether all factions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) would continue to consider Ocalan's words as the commands of their leader if he "regretted" the acts of the PKK or asked his militants to surrender their arms and end their struggle. "This is only a scenario," he said, "but it is clear that peace cannot be achieved if one side is for peace and the other -- the Turkish state -- refuses and continues to call for war."
 Similarly, he refused to be drawn into a debate on what would happen if Ocalan were sentenced to death. "This would be a great mistake on Turkey's part that the Kurds would remember for hundreds of years to come," he said.
 The Kurdistan National Congress, which came together to elect its "presidential board" last week, also rallied behind Ocalan, saying that his "abduction from Kenya" was an act of "international terrorism" and that his trial in Turkey was "illegal."
 Ismet Sherif Vanli, a Syrian Kurd who was elected president of the congress, said that they aimed to take measures to encourage "dialogue and peace" between the PKK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq. The latter, like the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdish Socialist Party of Kemal Burkay, remained out of the congress.
 The congress also maintained that they would apply for "observer status" in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and seek to open representations in the United States, Russia and European countries. (TDN, June 5, 1999)

Télévision kurde émet de nouveau

 Depuis le 29 mai 1999, la communauté kurde díEurope, díAfrique du Nord et du Moyen-Orient peut à nouveau recevoir des images de télévision kurde. La production de ces images est entre les mains de la firme BRD qui a conclu un accord avec CTV pour la diffusion de ces images par satellite. Des émissions díessai ont eu lieu depuis le 12 mai 1999.
 CTV est une firme britannique avec une licence britannique délivrée par líITC. Se fondant sur une éthique chrétienne, Cultural Television síadresse à des communautés culturelles dans le monde entier.
 BRD est une firme étrangère avec une filiale à Denderleeuw (Belgique); elle délivre des productions kurdes à CTV et les contrôle auparavant. Pour le support technique et les facilités de studio, BRD fait appel à la SA ROJ à Denderleeuw (Belgique) et à plusieurs studios à líétranger.
 En 1993 la firme britannique MED-TV a démarré avec des émissions pour la communauté kurde: MED-TV disposait díune licence ITC qui fut suspendue le 22 mars 1999 et ensuite retirée à la suite díinculpations díavoir émis des appels à la violence. Les émissions litigieuses avaient lieu au moment de líarrestation du dirigeant du PKK, Öcalan.
 MED-TV a estimé que cette sanction est disproportionnée par rapport au méfait et qu'elle fait preuve díune inspiration politiqueÝ; le gouvernement britannique était sous pression turque et le président de ITC est un des directeurs díune entreprise, British Aerospace, vendant des armes en Turquie.
 Pendant une durée limitée, un directeur de CTV exercera déjà dans les studios à Denderleeuw un avant-contrôle sur les productions de BRD. BRD et CTV ont désigné ensemble des compliance officers qui contrôleront au Royaume Uni chaque programme avant toute émission et líadapteront éventuellement. Les programmes courants sont ainsi contrôlés 24 heures à líavanceÝ; les informations sont ainsi contrôlées 4 heures à líavance. (CTV-BRD, 7 juin 1999)

Turkish Kurds endure conditions "just like Kosovo"

 They've been evicted from their homes by soldiers, often at gunpoint, seen their villages burned and been forced to leave their native region. In some cases, they've been the victims of massacres and disappearances.
 These aren't Kosovo Albanians - they are Kurds from southeastern Turkey. Estimates are that between one million and two million Kurds have been expelled from their homes and about 4,000 villages destroyed or evacuated during the Turkish government's 15-year war against the Kurdistan People's Party (PKK).
 "It's just like Kosovo," said James Ron, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University and a consultant to Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby group that has studied the treatment of civilians in both disputes. "The Kurds are not being stripped of their citizenship but they are stripped of everything else. They can't go back to their homes and rebuild."
 The Turkish government insists that it is fighting an insurgency movement that threatens the country's unity and has led to more than 30,000 deaths. Authorities argue that it's a purely internal matter and none of the outside world's business.
 "The rhetoric is identical to that of [Yugoslav President Slobodan] Milosevic but [the Turks] get away with it because they're an important NATO member,'' Ron said. (Toronto Globe and Mail, June 14, 1999)

Un maire kurde tente la coexistence pacifique

 Deux mois avant les élections générales d'avril en Turquie, Feridun Celik était jeté en prison par les forces de sécurité qui tentaient d'étouffer dans l'oeuf les protestations contre l'arrestation du chef rebelle kurde Abdullah Ocalan à Diyarbakir.
 Deux mois après les élections, M. Celik est confortablement installé dans le bureau du maire de cette ville à majorité kurde, sous un grand drapeau turc et un portrait du fondateur de la République, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
 Elu avec 65% des voix le 18 avril, Feridun Celik est le premier maire d'une grande ville turque issu des rangs du parti pro-kurde de la Démocratie du peuple (HADEP).
 "Les gens nous font confiance, ils croient en nous parce que nous avons toujours partagé leurs problèmes et leurs souffrances", souligne M. Celik pour expliquer ce raz de marée, en allusion à l'opposition de l'Etat turc à une auto-détermination kurde dans la région.
 Le procureur général a tenté par deux fois de faire interdire la participation du HADEP aux électionns, et demande sa fermeture.
 Le plus grand rassemblement électoral du HADEP à Diyarbakir a été interdit par les autorités quelques heures seulement avant sa tenue et des milliers de participants ont été arrrêtés à leur arrivée sur les lieux.
 Avec 21 des 22 sièges du conseil municipal, le HADEP est en principe en position de s'affirmer et de promouvoir une politique visant la reconnaissance d'une identité kurde.
 Mais M. Celik a choisi une approche plus souple, et se concentre sur des questions plus pragmatiques comme la collecte des ordures, tout en essayant d'établir un rapport avec les autorités régionales et nationales.
 "Nous essayons d'ouvrir des voies de communications", dit-il de ses relations avec le gouverneur de la province de Diyarbakir, celui de la région sous état d'urgence du sud-est de la Turquie, et le gouvernement d'Ankara. (AFP, 17 juin 1999)

Le procès d'Ocalan relance le débat sur la question kurde

 La fin du procès du chef rebelle kurde Abdullah Ocalan et sa condamnation à mort ont relancé en Turquie un débat sur la nécessité de s'attaquer à la racine du mal et au traitement de la minorité kurde, après 15 ans de guérilla et plus de 30.000 morts.
 La presse turque, en particulier libérale et islamiste, évoquait abondamment la question mercredi. Plusieurs éditorialistes appelaient l'Etat à renoncer à pendre Ocalan et à prendre des mesures pour régler le problème, notamment en accordant aux Kurdes des droits culturels.
 "La vraie question n'est pas de savoir si Ocalan sera exécuté, mais si la Turquie sera capable de prendre des mesures historiques pour résoudre un problème dont elle n'a pu s'extirper dans les 15 dernières années", soulignait le quotidien islamiste Zaman, en allusion à la rébellion kurde.
 "Nous savons qu'il y a des Kurdes qui vivent dans la République turque et qu'une majorité d'entre eux veulent vivre dans ce pays avec leur propre identité, langage, culture et traditions", relevait le quotidien libéral Radikal. "Exécuter (Ocalan) n'est pas une solution, l'important est de trouver une solution, pas une basse vengeance".
 L'aide économique au sud-est à majorité kurde a toujours été à l'agenda de l'Etat turc, qui voit dans son sous-développement la cause de la rébellion. Mais la question des droits culturels est tabou, puisqu'elle remet en cause cette théorie officielle et prend l'allure d'une concession aux "terroristes" qui veulent diviser la Turquie.
 Pour l'heure, une loi sur les repentis, temporairement en vigueur en Turquie, est de nouveau à l'ordre du jour de l'assemblée nationale. Elle prévoit des réductions de peine pour les maquisards du PKK qui déposeraient les armes.
 Et les réactions officielles à la condamnation du chef du parti des Travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK) sont restées très retenues, sans aucun commentaire sur une exécution de la sentence, mesure qui ne manquerait pas d'aggraver la tension.
 Le chef du parti de l'Action nationaliste MHP (extrême droite) Devlet Bahceli, membre de la coalition gouvernementale de Bulent Ecevit et leader du deuxième groupe au parlement, s'est ainsi abstenu de réitérer qu'il voterait pour la pendaison d'Ocalan si l'Assemblée est amenée à se prononcer au cas où la Cour de cassation confirmerait la sentence.
 "Au sommet de l'Etat, on est conscient des répercussions qu'aurait une exécution d'Ocalan et on cherche à temporiser", estime un diplomate occidental, évoquant notamment les appels européens contre une pendaison.
 Le processus conduisant à une éventuelle exécution du chef kurde peut prendre des mois, entre la procédure d'appel, une intervention de la Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme, et une éventuelle ratification par le parlement.
 "Si le processus dure longtemps, la colère populaire contre Ocalan peut baisser et la pression sur les députés en faveur de la pendaison diminuer", estime un autre diplomate.
 Cela, ajouté à la modération de la réaction du PKK, permet un délai de réflexion à froid et ouvre plusieurs options.
 "Il y a un déblocage possible sur la question kurde après le procès", estime un analyste.
 "Pour l'instant, les Kurdes attendent que l'Europe fasse quelque chose et certains disent: "Pour le moment, on est calmes, mais si Ocalan est pendu, le sang coulera"", relève-t-il.
 Car il faut aussi compter avec "le côté très émotionnel turc" et le fait que "l'intégrité de l'Etat est plus importante que les pressions de l'Europe", ce qui pourrait amener à une pendaison d'Ocalan, estime-t-il. (Florence BIERDERMANN, AFP, 30 juin 1999)

MAFIA RELATION/RELATIONS MAFIA

Senior Turkish police officers suspendend over phone-tap

 Eleven Turkish police officers have been suspended over allegations that police had tapped the phones of senior government and state officials, interior minister Sadettin Tantan said on Tuesday.
 The suspension came after press reports that the force's intelligence officers had tracked telephone numbers belonging to the presidency, the prime minister's office and his residence, the general staff, influential businessmen and leading journalists.
 Among those suspended were the chief of the Ankara police force, Cevdet Saral, the chief of the force's intelligence department, Sabri Uzun, and the head of the anti-terror department, Ersan Dalman.
 In a written statement, Tantan said that he ordered an investigation to be launched into the claims and said the suspension of the 11 officers was ordered to ensure the objectivity of the probe.
 The prosecutor's office of the Ankara State Security Court launched its own investigation on Monday to see whether an "organization had been specifically set up to tap phones".
 The Turkish press stepped up pressure on the government to resolve the issue after allegations that the intelligence officers were acting on their own initiative and had even listened in on private conversations made on cellular or car phones.
 The scandal took a different twist when the prosecutor-general handed a tape of a telephone conversation between two Islamist figures to the constitutional court as evidence in a bid to ban the pro-religious Virtue Party.
 Denying claims of foul play, prosecutor-general Vural Savas said the tape had been sent to him by a "benevolent citizen".
 "There is no clear legal provision in our law on monitoring telecommunications systems," Tantan said in his statement. "But the police exercises such practices under the authority given to the force by the law on the duties of the police."
 "It is obvious that this allows some officers to abuse this practice," he added. (AFP, June 8, 1999)

RELATIONS WITH THE WEST/RELATIONS AVEC L'OUEST

European Rights Council Faults Turkey on Abuses

 The Council of Europe accused Turkey on Wednesday of ''repeated and serious'' human rights violations by government security forces against Kurds. It was the first time that the council's governing committee of foreign ministers had faulted one of the organization's 41 member nations.
 The criticism from the intergovernmental human rights watchdog, which Turkey joined 50 years ago, comes as the Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan is on trial for treason in Turkey.
 For more than two years, the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Turkey in about a dozen cases related to the security forces' campaign against Kurdish rebels in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern provinces, the ministerial committee said in a resolution.
 Violated were such fundamental rights as the right to life, freedom from torture, property and household rights, the right of recourse to the courts, and serious investigation of offenses, it said.
 The committee, saying ''no significant improvement'' was evident in the past two years, called upon Turkish authorities to act in a ''pressing'' manner to halt torture, destruction of property, illegal killings and disappearances.
 In Istanbul, meanwhile, attorneys for Mr. Ocalan insisted Wednesday that their client was sincere in his call for peace.
 In their summing up of charges in Mr. Ocalan's trial, prosecutors on Tuesday said Mr. Ocalan's peace overture during the trial was an ''insincere'' effort to save himself from the death penalty. (AFP, June 10, 1999)

EU slams Turkish rights activist's jail sentence

 The European Union on Friday condemned the imprisonment of top Turkish human rights campaigner Akin Birdal and said his one year jail sentence was a severe blow to the country's human rights record.
 The EU urged the Turkish government to suspend Birdal's sentence on humanitarian grounds as he has severe chest and leg injuries from a gun attack a year ago and requires constant medical attention.
 ``His imprisonment is a hard blow to freedom of opinion in Turkey,'' said Germany, which holds the rotating six-month EU presidency until the end of June, in a statement.
 Birdal was convicted on June 3 for inciting hatred in two speeches he made calling for a negotiated end to the country's bitter Kurdish conflict, which the high-profile trial of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has put under the spotlight.
 Birdal was shot in his office last year by right-wing gunmen after a former top rebel ``confessed'' and said Birdal had links to Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group.
 Birdal denies any link to the PKK, but some accuse him of bias and of only defending the rights of Kurdish and leftist activists.
 The EU called upon the Turkish government to ensure Birdal received appropriate medical treatment while in prison. (Reuters, June 11, 1999)

US Jews pledges strong support for Turkey

 Representatives of the influential Jewish community in the United States have pledged to continue to provide strong support for Turkey both in the economic and political field.
 An American Jewish delegation was in Turkey over the past week and had meetings with high-level officials, including State Minister Hikmet Ulugbay and Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz.
 Speaking after the meetings, the deputy head of the American-Jewish Committee, Barry Jacobs, said that they would expend the utmost effort on the political level to secure the maximum support for Turkey's economy from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
 An IMF delegation is expected to arrive in Turkey next week.
 "We see that there are positive developments in the Turkish economy ... We will pass the information we got both to the American politicians and the Jewish community in order to secure solid assistance for Turkey," said Jacobs, who is responsible for the American-Jewish Committee's relations with the White House.
 Another Jewish representative, Daniel Mariaschin, the head of the Jewish think-tank B'nai B'rith, said that they were impressed by the new Ankara government, and would work for an accelerated cooperation between Turkey and the United States. (TDN, June 14, 1999)

Euro Court Takes up Torture Suit Against Turkey

 The European Court of Human  Rights agreed on Monday to take up a legal suit filed by Denmark against  Turkey alleging torture against a Danish national.
 The suit accused police of torturing Kemal Koc, a 42-year Dane of Kurdish  descent, while he was being held in Turkey in 1996 on suspicion of bringing  funds from Denmark for the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party.
 He was later expelled.
 It was the first suit concerning an individual to be filed by a state against a  fellow member country of the 41-state Council of Europe which monitors democracy  and human rights in Europe.
 It can take the court months or even years to issue a verdict. (Reuters, June 14, 1999)

Turkey is warned of suspension by Europe

 A senior official of the parliament of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg said yesterday that Turkey faced suspension should the Kurdish rebel leader, Mr Abdullah Ocalan, be executed.
 Lord Russell-Johnston, president of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, said that parliamentary groups would "take measures to suspend the Turkish delegation from the parliamentary assembly", if Mr Ocalan was executed.
 Turkish prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for Mr Ocalan, accused of treason and separatism.
 Lord Russell-Johnston, a Conservative, was addressing a press conference in advance of the parliament's summer session.
 He welcomed Turkey's decision to allow European parliamentarians to attend Mr Ocalan's trial, and a decision by the Turkish parliament to name a civilian to replace a soldier as Mr Ocalan's trial judge.
 The Council of Europe makes a ban on the death penalty a condition of membership. The European Court of Human Rights has twice reprimanded Turkey for lack of impartiality because of the presence of military judges in state security trials.
 The court is being swamped by a soaring number of lawsuits from citizens of its 41 member-states, the court's Swiss chairman, Mr Luzius Wildhaber, said yesterday.
 Mr Wildhaber said the growing caseload made it difficult for the Strasbourg court to cut lengthy delays in issuing rulings, despite a six-month-old reform which made it sit permanently instead of one week per month.
 He told a news conference that the number of suits had increased by 25 per cent in the first six months of this year over the same 1998 period, after a 25 per cent increase for the whole of 1997. Turkey was the leading target, with 2,115 legal suits filed against Ankara authorities this year, far ahead of Italy with 1,472 cases, Poland with 943 and Britain with 706.
 The number of cases should keep rising as several central and east European states had recently ratified the European Human Rights Convention, giving their citizens access to the court.
 Mr Wildhaber said the budget of the court, which is the judicial arm of the Council of Europe human rights watchdog, was one quarter that of the European Union court in Luxembourg.
 He urged all member-states to protect human rights better and use their own constitutional courts as human rights courts to prevent the Strasbourg court from being overwhelmed. (AFP, Reuters, June 21, 1999)

Le CE demande à la Turquie d'indemniser la Chypriote

 Le Conseil de l'Europe a indiqué, jeudi à Strasbourg (Est de la France), avoir demandé par lettre à la Turquie de s'acquitter du paiement des dommages à une Chypriote grecque, spoliée de ses biens, ordonné par la Cour des droits de l'Homme.
 L'affaire remonte à fin juillet 1998. La Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme avait alors condamné la Turquie à verser plus de 640.000 dollars à une Chypriote grecque, Mme Titina Loizidou, spoliée de ses biens dans la partie turque de l'île, à Kyrenia.
 Le président en exercice du Comité des ministres, l'exécutif des "41", a indiqué jeudi en séance plénière devant l'assemblée parlementaire qu'il avait "récemment adressé une lettre au ministre des Affaires étrangères de Turquie" pour lui demander des éclaircissements.
 "J'y soulignais notamment l'obligation faite à tous les Etats membres de respecter les arrêts de la Cour et exprimais la préoccupation du Comité des ministres face à la position adoptée en l'espèce par les autorités turques", a déclaré Halldor Asgrimsson, ministre des Affaires étrangères islandais et président en exercice.
 Lors de l'examen de cette affaire, le gouvernement turc "a fait savoir que les arrêts de la Cour posaient de graves problèmes d'exécution", a indiqué le président.
 Répondant à une question d'un parlementaire qui s'inquiétait d'une ingérence américaine dans cette affaire, M. Asgrimsson a déclaré qu'il n'était pas au courant d'une telle démarche, mais que "rien n'expliquerait que les Etats-Unis décident de s'immiscer dans une affaire intérieure au Conseil de l'Europe". (AFP, 24 juin 1999)

L'Allemagne bloque une vente d'armes à Ankara

 Le ministère allemand des Affaires étrangères entend empêcher la vente de 120 blindés "Fuchs" ("Renard") à la Turquie, affirme l'hebdomadaire Der Spiegel à paraître lundi.
 A l'inverse des Affaires étrangères, conduites par l'écologiste Joschka Fischer, les ministères de la Défense et de l'Economie approuvent cette vente, assure Der Spiegel.
 L'hebdomadaire précise qu'un fabricant d'armes allemand a présenté une demande préliminaire d'autorisation au gouvernement pour la vente de 120 "Fuchs" à Ankara et une licence qui permettrait la construction de 1.800 exemplaires supplémentaires en Turquie.
 Le Conseil fédéral de sécurité, où siègent plusieurs représentants ministériels, a jusqu'à présent repoussé sa décision sur cette vente d'armement.
 Le ministère des Affaires étrangères, toujours selon Der Spiegel, revendique un droit de veto sur les exportations d'armes et justifie dans le cas d'espèce sa décision par l'action de l'armée turque contre les Kurdes.
 Après avoir approuvé une intervention armée contre la Yougoslavie au nom de violations des Droits de l'Homme, il s'agit désormais de conserver sa crédibilité quant à leur respect en Turquie, plaide-t-on au ministère, poursuit Der Spiegel. (AFP, 26 juin 1999)

9.979 plaintes contre la Turquie à la Cour européenne

 La Cour européenne des droits de l'homme est saisie par 9.979 requêtes mettant en cause la Turquie. Le président du Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe, Halldor Asgrimsson, a appelé la Turquie à prendre acte des décisions de la Cour et a rappelé que ces dernières avaient force exécutoire.
 "La Turquie doit également honorer sa responsabilité" a annoncé M. Asgrimsson. Contrairement aux autres pays, la quasi totalité des demandes accusant la Turquie a un fondement politique: jugement non équitable, violation de la liberté de pensée, d'association, du droit à la vie, l'insécurité des personnes et la torture. Ankara est d'ores et déjà condamné à des millions de dollars et la seule concession qu'il est fait jusqu'à présent est la démilitarisation des cours de sûreté de l'Etat qui ne change rien au fond du problème car la législation turque liberticide reste, elle, inchangée. (CILDEKT, 1er juillet 1999)

REGIONAL RELATIONS/RELATIONS REGIONALES

Reconduction du mandat de "Northern Watch"

 La parlement turc a reconduit mercredi pour six  mois jusqu'au 31 décembre 1999 le mandat de la force internationale "Northern  Watch", déployée sur la base aérienne turque d'Incirlik (sud), a-t-on appris  de source parlementaire.
 Cette force, dont le mandat vient à expiration le 30 juin, est chargée de  protéger les Kurdes d'Irak contre le régime de Saddam Hussein et de surveiller  la zone d'interdiction de vol imposée au nord du 36ème parallèle depuis la fin  de la guerre du Golfe.
 Une zone similaire existe dans le sud de l'Irak, au sud du 33ème parallèle  jusqu'aux frontières koweïtienne et saoudienne.
 Bagdad et son aviation se sont engagés dans une active contestation de ces  zones depuis les frappes américano-britanniques "Renard du désert", avec une  multiplication d'incidents depuis janvier.
 Bagdad n'a jamais reconnu ces deux zones, qui ne sont pas couvertes par des  résolutions de l'ONU.
 Cette force avait été créée en décembre 1996 pour remplacer la précédente  force multinationale américano-franco-britannique qui était chargée de  l'opération alliée "Provide Comfort" d'aide et de protection des Kurdes  d'Irak, instaurée en juillet 1991 après la guerre du Golfe.
 La France s'était alors retirée de cette nouvelle force, arguant que son  volet humanitaire avait disparu.
 La Turquie faisait partie de la coalition anti-irakienne, formée sous la  direction des Etats-Unis lors de la crise du Golfe.
 L'assemblée turque procède à la reconduction du mandat de cette force tous  les six mois. (AFP, 23 juin 1999)

Ankara rejette l'appel du G8 à des discussions sur Chypre

 La Turquie a rejeté lundi l'appel du GB à des  négociations entre Chypriotes grecs et turcs et estimé que de telles  discussions n'avaient "pas de chance de réussite", soutenant la position du  chef de la communauté chypriote turque Rauf Denktash.
 "Un processus de négociations qui serait entamé sans avoir éliminé  l'atmosphère de méfiance sur l'île n'a pas de chance de réussite. Nous  soutenons la prise de position de M. Denktash", a indiqué le ministère des  Affaires étrangères dans un communiqué.
 "Il existe deux Etats souverains représentant les deux communautés de  l'île. Un réglement de la question chypriote ne sera durable que s'il est  trouvé par ces deux Etats en préservant les équilibres entre la Turquie et la  Grèce, et non par des tierces parties", précise le communiqué en allusion à  l'appel du G8.
 Le groupe de sept pays les plus industrialisés plus la Russie a demandé au  secrétaire général de l'ONU d'inviter les Chypriotes grecs et turcs à discuter  de la question chypriote lors de "négociations qui se tiendront à l'automne  99", selon le communiqué publié dimanche à l'issue de leur sommet à Cologne. (AFP, 21 juin 1999)

Les missiles opérationnels en Crète "d'ici trois mois"

 Le ministre grec de la Défense, Akis  Tsohatzopoulos, a indiqué lundi que les missiles sol-air russes S-300 destinés  à l'origine à Chypre seraient opérationnels "d'ici trois mois" en Crète (sud).
 "La procédure de transfert et de déploiement en Crète" de ces missiles sera  achevée "dans deux ou trois mois", afin "que le fonctionnement de ce système  de défense soit totalement prêt" dans le cadre de la coopération en matière de  défense entre la Grèce et Chypre, a déclaré M. Tsohatzopoulos, à l'issue  d'entretiens à Athènes avec son homologue chypriote, Yannakis Chrysostomis.
  Le ministre grec n'a toutefois fourni aucune précision sur le site exact où  seront déployées ces armes, dont la commande par Chypre à Moscou avait suscité  la colère d'Ankara et l'inquiétude des pays occidentaux, contraignant Athènes  et Nicosie à conclure un accord pour leur déploiement en Crète.
 Athènes avait seulement annoncé jusque-là, en avril dernier, que ces  systèmes de défense avaient été acheminés en Crète.
  Ankara continue de protester contre le déploiement de ces missiles dans la  grande île du sud de la Grèce
  MM. Tsohatzopoulos et Chrysostomis ont notamment discuté de la coopération  militaire entre leurs deux pays et du déroulement futur de manoeuvres  communes, a par ailleurs indiqué le ministère grec. (AFP, 21 juin 1999)

Le contingent turc au Kosovo en juillet

 Le contingent turc de la KFOR quittera le 30 juin  Ankara pour le Kosovo, via la Bulgarie et la Macédoine, a rapporté mardi  l'agence turque Anatolie.
 Les autorités militaires interrogées ont refusé de confirmer ou démentir  cette information.
 Le gouvernement bulgare a décidé lundi d'autoriser le passage du contingent  turc sur son territoire, mais cette décision doit être encore entérinée par le  parlement bulgare d'ici à quelques jours.
 Le contingent turc est composé de 987 hommes, dont 55 officiers et 115  sous-officiers. Ces troupes sont originaires de familles en provenance des  Balkans, et parlent les langues serbe et albanaise.
 Les troupes turques seront déployées dans la région de Prizren, au sud du  Kosovo, dans le secteur réservé aux troupes allemandes de la force de paix  internationale (KFOR). La région de Prizren accueille la majorité de la  communauté turque du Kosovo, qui compte 60 à 70.000 personnes selon Ankara.
 La Turquie avait réservé 18 avions de combat de type F-16, déployés sur la  base italienne de Ghedi, et mis à la disposition de l'Alliance atlantique  trois de ses bases aériennes lors des frappes aériennes de l'OTAN contre la  Yougoslavie.
 Les F-16 turcs, qui étaient chargés au départ d'opérations de défense  aérienne, ont participé également aux bombardements sur la Yougoslavie à  partir de la fin avril.
 La Turquie a contribué également avec une frégate à l'armada de l'OTAN en  Adriatique. (AFP, 22 juin 1999)

Renouvellement du moratoire en mer Egée

 Le moratoire sur les exercices militaires grecs et turcs en mer Egée qui concerne la période estivale, du 15 juin au 15 août, a été renouvelé mais de façon "moins formelle" que l'année dernière, a indiqué jeudi une source autorisée grecque.
 Le représentant permanent de la Turquie à l'OTAN "s'est engagé" récemment, dans une lettre au secrétaire général de l'Alliance atlantique Javier Solana, à "poursuivre (cette année) le moratoire pour la période du 15 juin au 15 août", a ajouté cette source.
 La Grèce avait demandé le renouvellement du moratoire pour 1999.
 Toutefois, cette suspension des exercices en mer Egée n'a pas donné lieu, comme l'année dernière, à une annonce formelle de M. Solana, a-t-on regretté de source autorisée en imputant ce manque de publicité à une demande de la Turquie.
 M. Solana avait annoncé le 4 juin 1998 que la Grèce et la Turquie avaient donné leur accord pour respecter des mesures de confiance réciproques, afin d'éviter pendant l'été tout incident en mer Egée et dans l'espace aérien international. Le moratoire fait partie de ces mesures. (AFP, 24 juin 1999)

MIGRATION/IMMIGRATION

Kaplan lavé de l'accusation d'entreprise terroriste

 Le chef islamiste turc Metin Kaplan, détenu en Allemagne et dont l'extradition est réclamée par la Turquie, a été lavé par la Cour fédérale de justice allemande de l'accusation de constitution d'une entreprise terroriste, a annoncé mercredi la cour dans un communiqué.
 Les magistrats ont estimé que les éléments recueillis à son encontre lors de l'enquête étaient insuffisants pour soutenir cette accusation.
 Ils ont toutefois rejeté sa demande de mise en liberté, jugeant que les soupçons d'appel à commettre des délits demeuraient et qu'il présentait de surcroît un risque de fuite.
 Metin Kaplan, 46 ans, chef de l'organisation fondamentaliste Hilafet Devleti (Califat) basée à Cologne (ouest), est soupçonné d'avoir appelé à partir de mai 1998 au "jihad" (guerre sainte) pour renverser "le régime de marionnettes en Turquie" et le remplacer par un califat, selon le parquet général de Karlsruhe (ouest).
 La justice turque l'accuse principalement d'avoir ordonné à plusieurs de ses partisans de se rendre en Turquie pour des attentats suicide le 29 octobre 1998, jour du 75ème anniversaire de la République turque, visant notamment le mausolée d'Ataturk, fondateur de l'Etat turc, où étaient rassemblés ce jour les principaux dignitaires du pays. (AFP, 30 juin 1999)

BELGIQUE-TURQUIE/BELGIUM-TURKEY

La défaite du lobby turc aux élections belges

 Malgré une mobilisation à l'échelle communautaire par les milieux d'extrême-droite et diplomatiques turcs, les chevaux de Troie du régime d'Ankara n'ont pu obtenir les votes de préférence nécessaires pour entrer dans les assemblées belges.
 Le candidat préféré du loby turc à la Chambre des représentants, M. Sabih Akay (PRL), n'a obtenu que 1.277 votes de préférence.
 L'autre candidat préféré du lobby turc, au Conseil régional de Bruxelles, M. Ramazan Koyuncu (PS) n'a obtenu que 1.812 votes de préférence alors que les candidats marocains réalisaient un score exceptionnel s'élévant jusqu'à 4.737 et obtenaient huit sièges, un dixième des membres du Conseil.
 Le deuxième candidat préféré du lobby turc au Conseil régional de Bruxelles, Mme Belkis Sever-Gumus (PRL)  n'a obtenu que 739 votes de préférence.
 Quant à Mme Leyla Teker, candidate turque au Conseil régional de Bruxelles sur la liste Ecolo, elle obtenait 1.010 votes de préférence.
 Par contre, dans la région flamande, surtout les candidats démocrates turcs et kurdes ont enregistré des scores significatifs .
 Les votes de préférence de deux candidates turques au Sénat, Mme Meryem Kacar (AGALEV) et Mme Fatma Pehlivan (SP) se sont élevés respectivement à 18.033 et 16.065. Quant aux deux candidats néerlandophones d'origine kurde, M. Kazim Ozcan (AGALEV, Sénat) et Mme Izolda Baguirova (VU-ID, Parlement européen) ont obtenu respectivement 17.713 et 7.530 votes de préférence.
 Selon la presse turque, le nombre des électeurs d'origine turque s'élevait à plus de 20 mille en Belgique. (Milliyet, le 15 juin 1999)

Chevaux de Troie du régime turc sur les listes électorales

 Après les déclarations malheureuses de deux candidats sur les listes PS et PRL  en vue díobtenir quelques milliers de voix du milieu ultra-nationaliste turc, tout récemment un autre candidat PRL fort soutenu par les dirigeants du parti a annoncé qu'il travaillera à líAssemblée nationale belge pour créer un lobby turc.
 Díaprès le quotidien Hürriyet du 29 mai 1999, le président du Conseil régional de Bruxelles M. Armand De Decker et le bourgmestre de la Ville de Bruxelles M. Xavier Donnea ont tenu une conférence de presse au siège de líAssociation des díhommes díaffaires turcs en Belgique (TUSIAD) pour annoncer leur soutien aux candidats PRL díorigine turque: Mme Belkis Sever-Gumus (Région bruxelloise, 46e place) et M. Sabih Akay (Assemblée nationale, 19e place).
 Mme Sever-Gumus, en tant que candidate au Conseil régional bruxellois, avait déjà fait des déclarations condamnant Ocalan sans attendre même le jugement du tribunal turc.
 M. Sabih Akay, qui se présente comme le seul candidat díorigine turque ayant une expérience à haut niveau dans líEtat belge, a fait la déclaration suivante au quotidien Milliyet du 29 mai 1999: "Si je serai élu au parlement, je ferai le premier pas en vue de créer un lobby turc qui níexiste pas actuellement."
 Le choix du lieu de la conférence de presse du PRL est significatif, car la TUSIAD est connue comme un des piliers du lobby du régime d'Ankara en raison des relations lucratives des hommes d'affaires belges avec leurs homologues turcs.
 Ce qui est le plus significatif est que juste avant le scrutin, le président de la Fédération des associations sportives turques en Belgique (BTSF), avait accusé le PRL d'avoir érigé à Ixelles un monument à la mémoire du génocide arménien en 1915. (Hurriyet, le 23 mai 1999)
 Le candidat du PRL  M. Sabih Akay a réagi contre cette critique à l'égard de son parti en déclarant au même quotidien que, si élu, il prendrait immédiatement l'initiative en tant que député belge en vue d'ériger un monument à Bruxelles à la mémoire de l'humanisme ottoman en riposte au monument du génocide arménien à Ixelles!
  Il a également affirmé que le lobby juif en Belgique collaborerait étroitement avec le lobby turc pour la réalisation de ce projet. (Hurriyet, le 11 juin 1999)
 Malgré cela, la majorité écrasante des électeurs d'origine turque, en tant que citoyens belges, ont fait preuve de leur attachement aux valeurs démocratiques et pluriculturelles de la Belgique en refusant de voter pour les chevaux de Troie du régime turc. (Info-Türk, 17 juin 1999)

Déformation d'une déclaration du président Agalev

 D'autre part, afin d'abuser la campagne électorale pour les intérêts du régime d'Ankara, les médias turcs continuent à déformer les déclarations des dirigeants politiques belges ayant une position critique vis-à-vis du régime d'Ankara.
 Selon le Hürriyet du 29 mai 1999, le président d'Agalev M. Geysels, accompagné de la candidate turque Mme Meryem Kacar (1ère suppléante pour le Sénat), aurait fait une déclaration hostile au mouvement politique kurde sans avoir prononcé un seul mot contre la violation des droits de l'homme en Turquie
 Cette déclaration attribuée à M. Geysels a suscité une forte réaction parmi les démocrates turcs et kurdes bruxellois qui envisageaient de voter pour Agalev afin de bloquer la route au Vlaamsblok aux élections régionales à Bruxelles.
 LíInstitut kurde de Bruxelles, dans un communiqué du 31 mai 1999, a vivement protesté contre líutilisation de la plate-forme électorale belge pour promouvoir la politique  chauviniste et anti-kurde du régime díAnkara.
 Toutefois, suite à notre appel téléphonique, M. Geysels nous a déclaré que sa déclaration aurait été déformée par un journaliste turc.
 "En effet, en réponse aux questions de ce journaliste, jíavais déclaré quíAgalev n'est pas díaccord avec les méthodes utilisées par le PKK. Mais j'ai déclaré également qu'Agalev est contre la violation des droits de líhomme et plus particulièrement de ceux des Kurdes en Turquie. Notre député Lode Vanoost à l'Assemblée nationale défend toujours le respect des droit du peuple kurde. De plus, sur notre liste électorale pour le Sénat figure un candidat d'origine kurde, Kazim Ozcan (4e effectif), avec une candidate turque, Meryem Kacar (1ère suppléante). Nous sommes pour la fraternité des peuples tant en Belgique qu'en Turquie," a-t-il dit.

EN BREF/IN BRIEF

(TIHV news on human rights violations/Dépêches de la TIHV sur les violations des droits de l'Homme)
  @ Prisoner Prevented from Receiving Medical Treatment: Murat Kaya, a prisoner in Bartin Prison who burnt himself on 18 October 1998 to protest the assassin attempt against PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, was reportedly prevented from receiving the necessary medical treatment. Accordingly, Murat Kaya was not provided with the medical treatment although he stayed for about 3 months at Ankara Numune Hospital Intensive Care Unit for Burns after the incident.  (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 2, 1999)
  @ Death Penalty Demand: The trial launched against 11 people on the accusations of "carrying out the bomb attack against Çankiri Governor Ayhan Çevik" on 5 March, commenced at Ankara SSC No. 1 on 1 June. In the hearing, Kemal Ertürk and Bülent Ertürk disclosed that they had no life security at Eskisehir Prison where they wereontinuously been threatened by the personnel of the prison. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 2, 1999)
  @ HADEP Trial: The re-trial in connection with the tearing down of the Turkish flag during the congress of the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) on 23 June 1996, started at Ankara SSC on 1 June. In the hearing, the defense lawyers demanded that the abroad bans on Cihan Sincar, Cabbar Leygara and Abdullah Akin as well as the provincial chairpersons of the HADEP be lifted. The court board rejected this demand, and adjourned the trial for compilation of missing documents. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 2, 1999)
  @ Death Penalty: Mehmet Güzel, who was on trial at Istanbul SSC on charges of "collecting money on behalf of the PKK," was given the death penalty under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code in the hearing held on 2 June. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 3, 1999)
  @ Singers Convicted: Bedri Yarci and Abdullah Sever, members of the music band Koma Jiyan, who were each sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment and fined TL 860,000 by Izmir SSC on 14 October 1997 on charges of "singing songs in Kurdish" in a wedding ceremony held in Manisa on 29 May 1997, were imprisoned on 20 May, subsequent to the Supreme Court's approval of the sentence given by Izmir SSC. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 3, 1999)
  @ Trade Unionist Expelled: Sevil Erol, the Secretary General of the Confederation of Public Labor Unions (KESK), has reportedly been expelled from Siyami Ersek Hospital to Heybeliada Hospital of Respiratory Diseases. KESK Chairperson Siyami Erdem disclosed that Sevil Erol had been expelled because of her trade union activities, and that she would face difficulties in travelling to the work, which would interrupt her activities in the trade union. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 3, 1999)
  @ Concluded Trials: Out of the 16 people who were prosecuted at Diyarbakir SSC on the accusations of "being members of the PKK," 8 were given life imprisonment. In the trial that ended on 3 June, Fehmi Koç, Ferda Ildan, Aydin Kaçar, Mahmut Dursun, Vahdettin Turan, Abdullah Altun, Sedat Görenç were first given the death penalty, but the death penalties were reprieved into life imprisonment due to their "good behavior" in the trial. The death penalty given to Ergin Çelik was reprieved into 16 years 8 months' imprisonment as he is a minor. (Milliyet-TIHV, June 5, 1999)
  @ Closed Radios and TV Channels: The Radio and Television Supreme Board (RTÜK) decided closure of private radio station Umut Radyo, which broadcasts in Istanbul, for 15 days on the grounds of "violating the broadcast principles." The RTÜK also ordered the closure of TV channels Kent TV for 3 days, Show TV for 2 days, ATV, SKY TV and As TV for one day, each. (Radikal-TIHV, June 5, 1999)
  @ Torture in Detention: Ahmet Armut, who was detained in Elbistan, Maras, on 26 May, was reportedly tortured and his arm was broken because of the torture inflicted on him. Lawyer Mehmet Uzun disclosed that Ahmet Armut had been remanded without having been provided with the necessary medical treatment. Ahmet Armut was detained in connection with the killing of Hüseyin Polat, the former headman of Atmalikesanli Village in Elbistan. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 7, 1999)
  @ Women Tortured: Eleven women, who were detained in Gülbahçe Quarter of Adana on 31 May, were reportedly tortured. Kamile Cigci (40), one of the detainees, was given a medical report certifying her inability for 10 days. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 7, 1999)
  @ Pressure on the Press: Hasan Deniz, the editor-in-chief of the daily Özgür Bakis, was remanded by Istanbul SSC on 4 June, on the grounds that "propaganda favoring the PKK was disseminated" in a news story published in the 47th issue of the daily. Vedat Çetin, who was prosecuted at Istanbul SSC in connection with his article, "Kadinlar da Özgürlesmeli (Women Should be Free)," which was published in the issue of the closed down daily Gündem on 10 March 1998, was sentenced to 1 year 8 months' imprisonment and given a fine of TL 2,500,000 in the trial that ended on 15 May. The journal Mücadele Birligi was closed by Istanbul SSC for one month on 4 June. Salih Karadag, a staff member of Adana office of the journal Ozgur Halk, was reportedly detained in Birecik District of Urfa on 4 June. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 7, 1999)
  @ Attacks against Political Parties: Building of Kütahya Provincial Organization of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), was burnt by unknown persons in the night of 4 June. The assault resulted in no casualties. It has been reported that two attacks had formerly been carried out against the ÖDP Kütahya Provincial Organization. Unknown persons threw Molotov cocktails inside the building of Samsun Provincial Organization of the Labor's Party (EMEP) on 5 June. The attack resulted in no casualties. (Cumhuriyet-Evrensel-TIHV, June 7, 1999)
  @ Detentions, Arrests: Serafettin Halis, Tunceli Provincial Chairperson of the HADEP, was detained on 4 June. (Milliyet-Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 7, 1999)
  @ Torture in Detention: Ramazan Azgan (80), Sidik Azgan, Hayrettin Azgan, Osman Kiliç and Faik Aldemir, who were detained by the gendarmerie raiding their houses in Tarsus District of Mersin on 18 May, were reportedly tortured in detention. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 8, 1999)
  @ Torture in Detention: Cevdet Tetikli, who was detained on the grounds of insulting the police when they stopped him in front of Istanbul Esenler District Security Directorate for entering a wrong way, disclosed that he had been tortured in detention. (Hürriyet-TIHV, June 8, 1999)
  @ Detentions, Arrests: Cem Selçuk Akgül (41), who was killed by the police in Istanbul on 4 June, was buried in Alibeyköy, Istanbul, on 7 June. The police quelled the funeral, and detained around 150 people, including the relatives of Akgül. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 8, 1999)
  @ Detentions, Arrests: Yilmaz Ceylan, against whom an arrest warrant in absentia was issued in the trial launched in connection with the killing of 37 people in Sivas on 2 June 1993, was captured on 7 June. Yilmaz Ceylan, who was given 7 years 6 months' imprisonment, was reportedly apprehended in Sincan District of Ankara. (Milliyet-TIHV, June 8, 1999)
  @ Death Penalty Demand: The trial launched against Ömer Yildirim, Adalet Aktepe and Mahmut Ulusan for carrying out the armed attack and bombing against a bus in Hereke, continued at Istanbul SSC on 8 June. The 3 defendants were indicted on the demand of the dearth penalty. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 9, 1999)
  @ Teacher on Trial: The trial launched against Ali Haydar Aymaz, a teacher at Istanbul Pendik Erol Türker Primary School, started at Istanbul SSC on 8 June. Ali Haydar Aymaz has been accused of "calling the students for a show of respect for the martyrs of revolution during the ceremony held in connection with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic," and was indicted on charges of "disseminating the propaganda of an illegal organization." In the hearing, the Court Board rejected the release demand by Ali Haydar Aymaz. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 9, 1999)
  @ Italian Journalist on Trial: The re-trial of Italian journalist Dino Frisullo, who had formerly been prosecuted at Diyarbakir SSC on charges of "inciting people to hatred and enmity by emphasizing on racial and regional differences" during the Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakir on 21 March 1998 and who had been sentenced to 1 year's imprisonment and fined TL 6,100,000,000, started at Diyarbakir SSC, after the Supreme Court's decision of overturning the original verdict. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 9, 1999)
  @ Dogu Perinçek Convicted: Dogu Perinçek, the former Chairperson of the Worker Party (IP) who is in prison in connection with a sentence that has been approved by the Supreme Court (he has quitted the leadership and the membership of the IP because of the this sentence a while ago), was fined TL 16,100,000 on the grounds that "he insulted the True Path Party (DYP) Chairperson Tansu Çiller and her spouse Özer Uçuran Çiller in his articles published in the journal Aydinlik. In the hearing that was held at Ankara Penal Court of First Instance No. 2 on 9 June, Ruhsar Senoglu, the former editor-in-chief of the journal Aydinlik, was also fined TL 12,900,000. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 10, 1999)
  @ Trial on the Killing of University Student: The trial launched against 20 persons nears to the MHP in connection with the killing of Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University student Kenan Mak on 3 May 1998, continued at Izmir Heavy Penal Court No. 4 on 9 June. An imprisonment term between 24 and 30 years is sought for Soner Gökgül, who is claimed to have stabbed Mak, for "deliberate murder," and prison terms from 6 months to 6 years 6 months for the other 15 adherents of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for "taking part in the quarrel." (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 10, 1999)
  @ Journalist Detained: Lale Türüc, Adana Representative of the journal Alinterimiz, and a person named Nihal Gül were detained by soldiers outside Ceyhan Prison on 8 June. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 10, 1999
  @ Person Beaten by Soldiers: A person named Sinan Sicak, who came from Germany to Nergiz Village of Viransehir, Urfa, for holiday, was reportedly beaten by soldiers, who raided the village on 28 May. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 11, 1999)
  @ Claim of Extra-Judicial Execution: Lawyers from the People's Law Office related the killing of Cem Selçuk Akgül and Sadik Mamati in Tarlabasi, Istanbul, on 4 June, as an "extra-judicial execution." On 10 June, the lawyers held the police responsible for the incident, and lodged an official complaint against Istanbul Security Director Hasan Özdemir, Deputy Director Atilla Çinar, Political Police Director Sefik Kul and the police officers who participated in the operation. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 11, 1999)
  @ Political Party Executive Imprisoned: Salih Altun, a HADEP Party Assembly Member, was put in prison on 10 June, when a sentence passed on him by Ankara SSC was upheld by the Supreme Court. Salih Altun, who delivered himself to Batman Public Prosecution Office, was put in Batman Prison. Salih Altun will serve for 9 months 18 days in prison. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 11, 1999)
  @ Trial on Songs in Kurdish: The trial launched against Cezmi Yalçinkaya, Beyaz Emektar and Nuri Turan, the staff members of Izmir Branch of the Mesopotamian Cultural Association (MKM), for singing songs in Kurdish during the festival held by the Youth Commission of the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) Denizli Provincial Organization, was concluded. In the hearing held at Izmir SSC on 10 June, Cezmi Yalçinkaya, Beyaz Emektar and Nuri Turan, who were indicted under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, were each sentenced to 1 year in prison and fined TL 6,000,000,000. The sentences and fines given to he 3 persons were reprieved. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 11, 1999)
  @ Journalist on Trial: The 20 months' imprisonment given to Vedat Bakir, the News Director of Radyo Karacadag which broadcasts in Urfa, by Diyarbakir SSC under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law in connection with a speech he delivered on the MED TV, was upheld by the Supreme Court on 3 June. Vedat Bakir will be imprisoned on 7 July in order to serve for this sentence. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 11, 1999)
  @ Person Shot by the Police: The police opened fire against three persons who were claimed to be "trying to break into cars for the purpose of theft," on 13 June in Bahçelievler, Istanbul. Savas Yilmaz, who was wounded in the fire, died at the hospital. The other two, Tuncer Pasinoglu and Özer Murat, were reportedly detained. The police authorities claimed that they had opened warning fire when the three persons had not obeyed the "stop warning" and tried to run away. (Sabah-TIHV, June 14, 1999)
  @ Political Party Executive Convicted: The trial launched against the former Chairperson of Re-birth Party (YDP) Hasan Celal Güzel on the claims of "insulting the government" in one of his speeches, ended at Batman Heavy Penal Court on 11 June. The Court sentenced Hasan Celal Güzel to 10 months in prison and the sentence was reprieved. Meanwhile, the trial launched against Güzel at Bursa Heavy Penal Court No.1 on the accusations of "insulting the President of the Republic and army" ended in acquittal. (Hürriyet-TIHV, June 14, 1999)
  @ Ban on IHD Activity: Izmir Governorate has banned the IHD Izmir Branch from distributing bulletins and hanging placard on the building of the branch in the framework of the "Campaign for Freedom to Thought." The Governorate pointed to the "existing situation in the country" as the grounds for banning. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 14, 1999)
  @ Journal Closed Down: Istanbul SSC closed down the journal Uzun Yürüyüs for a month on the claims that "separatist propaganda is disseminated" in the article entitled "The panorama of the Region and the Kurds," which appeared on the 21st issue of the journal. (1Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 14, 1999)
  @ Newspaper Vendors Detained: Mehmet Baskaleli, vendor for the daily Özgür Bakis, disclosed that he had been beaten in Küçükköy Police Station after having been detained in Gazi Quarter of Istanbul on 12 June. Newspaper vendor Vedat Dalli working in Karadeniz Quarter of Istanbul was reportedly detained on 9 June and beaten first at Gaziosmanpasa Central Police Station and then at Istanbul Security Directorate Political Police Center. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 14, 1999)
  @ Journalist on Trial: The trial launched against journalist Andrew Finkel, who is working with the daily Sabah, on the accusations of "insulting the military authorities of the state" in his article entitled "Sirnak 1998" commenced. In the hearing held at Bakirköy Heavy Penal Court No.2 on 11 June, the trial was postponed for the article to be reviewed by experts. An imprisonment term up to 6 years is sought for Andrew Finkel in the trial. (Sabah-TIHV, June 14, 1999)
  @ Lawyer on Trial: The intervening lawyers in the trial on "16 March Massacre" have lodged official complaints against themselves in order to give support to Lawyer Cem Alptekin, who had been put on trial on the claims of "insulting MIT (National Intelligence Organization) and publicizing the identity of a MIT member." Lawyers Hilmi Hanta, Nazmi Köse, Emret Olcaytu, Atilla Karahan, Raif Dedeoglu, Ilknur Demiryol, Nurten Çelik and Gürsel Tokgöz have appealed to Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No.5 on 11 June. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 14, 1999)
  @ Hunger Strike in Prison: Sixty prisoners who are prosecuted in Hezbollah trial, reportedly started a hunger strike in order to protest the pressures and cell isolation at Bingöl Closed Prison. It is reported that some 500 prisoners who had been put in prison in connection with Hezbollah trials all over Turkey will also start hunger strikes for supporting prisoners on hunger strike at Bingöl Closed Prison. (Selam-TIHV, June 14, 1999)
  @ Detentions, Arrests: Twelve of the 81 persons who had been detained during the funeral of Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) militant Cem Selçuk Akgül, have been remanded. The names of the 12 persons are as follows. Turgay Aydar, Hüseyin Aykanat, Mustafa Erol, Afet Süreyya Eren, Kadri Güven, Oya Basaran, Deniz Metin, Sevilay Çaliskan, Murat Karaca, Nebahat Aslan, Yener Özbek and Derya Karahan. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 14, 1999)
  @ Political Party Executive Convicted: Ali Riza Yurtsever, a HADEP Party Assembly member, was sentenced to 1 year 1 month 10 days in prison and fined TL 3,000,000,000 in the trial he was prosecuted in connection with one of his articles, "Democratic Ways of Solution to the Kurdish Fact," that was published in the closed down daily Ülkede Gündem on 31 October 1997. In the trial that ended at Istanbul SSC on 14 June, the sentence given to Yurtsever was reprieved. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 15, 1999)
  @ Trade Unionists on Trial: Diyarbakir SSC Prosecution Office launched a trial against executive members of the civil servants' trade unions, who staged a hunger strike in Diyarbakir in 1998, demanding that "the civil servants be regarded as a party in the budget debates, and annulment of exile decisions and the Personnel Policy Law." In the trial, the trade unionists are indicted on charges of "aiding the PKK," under Article 169 of the Turkish Penal Code. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 15, 1999)
  @ Journalists Detained: The police raided the main office of the journal Partizan in Istanbul on 14 June, detaining the editor-in-chief of the journal, Nuran Baskan, and staff members Kemal Tohumlu and Servet Çiracioglu. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 15, 1999)
  @ "Islamic Movement Organization" Trial: The trial launched against 41 people on charges of "being members of the Islamic Movement Organization and having participated in the killing of Çetin Emeç, the General Publications Director of the newspaper Hürriyet, and his driver Aydin Ercan on 7 March 1990, Turan Dursun, a writer on religious affairs, on 4 September 1990, and Ali Akbar Gorani, an Iranian citizen, on 4 June 1992," continued at Istanbul SSC on 14 June. The trial was postponed to a further date in order to hear the prosecutor's opinion as to the merits of the case. (Hürriyet-TIHV, June 15, 1999)
  @ Students on Trial: Diyarbakir SSC Prosecution Office launched a trial against 17 people, 13 of whom are students, on the accusations of "being members of the radical Islamic Hezbollah organization." In the trial, imprisonment terms are sought on the accusations of "being members of an illegal organization." (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 15, 1999)
  @ Rally Banned: In Ceyhan District of Adana, the District Governorate banned a rally planned to be held on 14 June by the Republican People's Party (CHP) members of the Municipality Council in protest of the changing of the name of Ugur Mumcu Street. The District Governorate did not give any grounds for the decision of banning the rally. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 15, 1999)
  @ Trial against Executive Members of the IHD: The executive members of the IHD Diyarbakir Branch were put on trial on the accusations of "collecting money without authorization," for participating in the campaign launched by some women organizations in order to maintain financial support for Remziye Kaya, who was raped by a village guard in Diyarbakir. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 16, 1999)
  @ Journalist on Trial: The General Penal Board of the Supreme Court concluded that Erbil Tusalp, one of the columnists with the daily Radikal, be convicted in the trial he was prosecuted on charges of "insulting former Minister of Justice Sevket Kazan." The trial launched against Tusalp in connection with his article published in the issue of the daily Radikal on 8 February 1997, had ended at Ankara Penal Court of First Instance No. 2 in his acquittal, but the Penal Board No. 4 of the Supreme Court had overturned the verdict. However, the Court had insisted in its original decision. Upon this the case file was referred to the General Penal Broad of the Supreme Court. (Radikal-TIHV, June 16, 1999)
  @ Hasan Mezarci Convicted: The Supreme Court upheld the 10 months' imprisonment given to Hasan Mezarci, a former MP with the closed down Welfare Party (RP), by Ankara Heavy Penal Court No.2 in connection with a speech he delivered while he was an MP. Mezarci was first sentenced to 1 year in prison under Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code. However, the Supreme Court overturned this judgement. Then, he was put on re-trial, and sentenced to 10 months in prison. (Hürriyet-TIHV, June 16, 1999)
  @ Pressure on the Press: In Ankara, the police raided the main office of the journal Furkan, which is claimed to be the publication of the radical Islamic IBDA-C organization, on 15 June and detained 3 persons. The 135 th issue of the journal Partizan was confiscated by Istanbul SSC on the grounds that "separatist propaganda was disseminated and illegal organizations were praised" in certain articles published in the journal. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 16, 1999)
  @ Trade Unionist Remanded: Hasan Sonkaya, Tuzla Branch Chairperson of the Deri-Is Trade Union (trade union of workers in leather industry), was remanded on 15 July. Hasan Sonkaya was reportedly detained by the gendarmerie some while ago, when he went to the workplace Mader Deri in order to give support to the workers who were fired from their jobs. Hakki Matras, the chairperson of the employers' union organized in the leather industry, is reportedly the owner of Mader Deri. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 16, 1999)
  @ Civil Servant Demonstrations: The government's decision of increasing the wages of civil servants by 20 % is protested in demonstrations held in Istanbul, Izmir, Adana, Eskisehir and Trabzon on 15 June. The demonstrations, which were organized by the Confederation of Public Labor Unions (KESK), ended uneventfully, except for the one in Istanbul. About 50 members of the BTS (United Transportation Trade Union), who assembled outside Istanbul Haydarpasa Train Station at noon, were halted by the police when they attempted to march towards Kadiköy. The police detained the civil servants under force. Later, executives and members of the BTS were also detained while they were going from Haydarpasa to Kadiköy in order to make a press statement at the Egitim Sen branch. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 16, 1999)
  @ Students Attacked: On 15 June, students adhering the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) attacked on the left-wing students at the Education Faculty of Samsun 19 Mayis University. Ten students were wounded in the attack with stones and clubs. Subsequent to this incident, MHP adherent girl students reportedly attacked on the left wing students at Ilkadim Girls' Dormitory. Meanwhile, the MHP adherent students reportedly started a signature campaign to oust "Kurdish and Alawite students from the dormitory." (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 16, 1999)
  @ Woman Beaten by the Police: Police officers reportedly raided a house in Incirlik town of Adana on 14 June, and beat the owner of the house, Fatma Korkmaz (40). Fatma Korkmaz disclosed that her husband and one of her children were in prison on charges of "being members of the PKK," and said, "The police wanted me to find my daughter Birgül Korkmaz, who has been missing for the last one year. When I said, 'You are the state, you find her,' they got angry and destroyed our furniture and then left." Fatma Korkmaz added that she would lodge an official complaint against the police officers. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 17, 1999)
  @ Journalist Convicted: Zeynel Engin, the owner and the editor-in-chief of the journal Halkin Günlügü, was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment and given a fine of TL 2,300,000 in the trial he was prosecuted on the accusations that "separatist propaganda was disseminated and illegal organizations were praised" in certain articles published in the issue of the journal dated 16-30 November 1997. In the trial that ended at Istanbul SSC on 16 June, the court board also ordered the closure of the journal for 1 month. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 17, 1999)
  @ Pressure on the Press: The Supreme Court approved the closure orders of 1 month given to the journals Hedef and Liseli Arkadas by Istanbul SSC. The issue of the pro-Islamic journal Haksöz released in June was confiscated by Istanbul SSC. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 17, 1999)
  @ Lawyer on Trial: The trial launched against Cem Alptekin, one of the intervening lawyers in the trial on "16 March Massacre" which is under way at Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 6, continued at Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 5 on 16 June. In the trial, Lawyer Alptekin is accused of "insulting the MIT and publicizing the identity of a MIT member." (TIHV, June 17, 1999)
  @ Mazlum Der Executive Member on Trial: The trial launched against Sadi Çarsancakli, Istanbul Branch Chairperson of the Mazlum Der (Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with Oppressed People), on the accusations of "insulting the judiciary" in one of the interviews he gave, ended on 16 June. Çarsancakli was acquitted in the second hearing of the trial held at Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 2. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 17, 1999)
  @ Singer on Trial: The trial launched against popular singer Ahmet Kaya in connection with the speeches he delivered "during a concert organized by the Kurdish Businessmen Association in Berlin, Germany in 1993 and during the evening program organized by the Association of Magazine Journalists on 10 February 1999," continued at Istanbul SSC on 16 June. Ahmet Kaya did not attend the hearing. His lawyer Osman Ergin stated that his client was abroad to give concerts, and for that reason he could not be able to attend the hearing. (Hürriyet-TIHV, June 17, 1999)
  @ Civil Servants' Demonstrations: The demonstrations staged by the Confederation of Public Labor Unions (KESK) in protest of the insufficient increase in the wages of civil servants, continued on 16 June. The demonstrations in Mersin, Diyarbakir and Antep were quelled. In Mersin, the civil servants wanted to march at noon, but they were halted by the police. Upon this , the demonstrators began to stage a sit-in act. The police detained 20 people under harassment, including KESK Chairperson Siyami Erdem. In Diyarbakir, about 400 civil servants, who assembled for the demonstration, were dispersed by the police. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 17, 1999
  @ Doctors Suspended from Duty: The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) Supreme Honorary Board gave punishments of suspending from duty between 15 days and 6 months for 13 doctors for "violating the patients' rights." Out of these doctors, Kemal Mintas, Mustafa Özgür, Zekeriya Gür, Dogan Mermi, Halil Sastim and Yilmaz Tirpan were each suspended from duty for one month for "issuing false medical reports, assisting in concealing of the traces of torture, and carrying out the forensic examination in the presence of the security officers." (Radikal-TIHV, June 18, 1999)
  @ Lawyer and Physician on Trial: The trial launched against Zeki Rüzgar, lawyer with People's Law Office, Dr. Cumhur Akpinar, physician at Forensic Medicine Institute and former executive of Ankara Medical Chamber, Ayse Betül Gökoglu, chairperson of the Association for Solidarity with the Families of Prisoners and Human Rights (TUYAD) and Ali Ercan Gökoglu continued at Ankara SSC on 17 June. In the hearing, Zeki Rüzgar, Ayse Betül Gökoglu and Ali Ercan Gökoglu were released. The SSC put ban on travelling abroad against each of them. In the trial, Cumhur Akpinar is accused of "issuing exaggerated medical reports certifying torture," Rüzgar of "being an executive of an illegal organization," and Ayse Betül Gökoglu and Ali Ercan Gökoglu of "being members of an illegal organization." (Radikal-TIHV, June 18, 1999)
  @ Mayor on Trial: The trial launched against Diyarbakir Municipality Mayor Feridun Çelik (HADEP) on the claims that he "disseminated separatist propaganda" in his speech at a MED TV program he had participated via telephone continued at Ankara SSC on 17 June. The trial which was launched under Article 169 of the Turkish Penal Code, was postponed to a further date for SSC Prosecution Office to prepare its statement on the merits of the case. An imprisonment sentence between 4 years 6 months and 7 years 6 months is demanded for Çelik. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 18, 1999)
  @ Concluded Trial: Semra Polat, who married repentant Mustafa Duyar (he was killed in Afyon Prison on 15 February) in prison, was given life imprisonment in the trial that ended at Istanbul SSC on 17 June. Semra Polat had previously been given 7 years 6 months' imprisonment, but this judgement had been overturned by the Supreme Court. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 18, 1999)
  @ HADEP Members Detained, HADEP Members on Trial: HADEP members Murat Özdemir, Bayram Sen, Ekrem Baskurt, Maruf Asikar and Ömer Baran, who were acquitted in the trial at Izmir SSC on 15 June, were reportedly beaten by soldiers when they were being discharged from Aydin E Type Prison on the evening of the same day. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 18, 1999)
  @ Relatives of Prisoners Detained: The police prevented the members of the Platform to Struggle for Freedom to send the signatures, which they collected on the demand of improvement in the health conditions in prisons, to the Ministry of Justice. The group assembled outside Sirkeci Post House in Istanbul in order to send faxes to the Ministry of Justice on 17 June. The police intervened in the group, and detained Mehtap Kuruçay, a reporter with the newspaper Alinterimiz, Saadet Pehlivan, Meliha Yildiz, Nursel Türüç, Erdal Dogan and persons named Nevreste and Neslihan, whose surnames could not revealed, under harassment. A cameraman with the TV channel NTV was also harassed by the police when he was trying to cover the incidents. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 18, 1999)
  @ Villagers Detained: About 50 villagers, who were detained in their village in Pazarcik District of Maras by soldiers on 8 June on the accusations of "aiding the PKK," have reportedly been kept in detention for 11 days, although an additional detention period had not been taken from the prosecutor. IHD Deputy Secretary General Nazmi Gür disclosed that the IHD would apply to Amnesty International for a call an urgent action for the villagers. Gür said, "The legal period of 4 days has exhausted, but these persons are kept in detention for over 10 days. None of the authorized persons made a statement as to their case." Gür added that they had repeatedly called the Gendarmerie Headquarters, but they failed to reach an authorized person on the pretext of an ongoing operation. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 18, 1999
  @ Mazlum Der Branches Raided: The headquarters of Mazlum Der (Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People) in Ankara and 14 of its branches were raided by the police on 19 June. The raids were reportedly carried out in line with an investigation launched by Ankara SSC Prosecution Office against the Mazlum Der. Yilmaz Ensaroglu, the Chairperson of the Mazlum Der, held a press conference on 21 June. Ensaroglu pointed out attention to an expression that took place in the search warrants sent to the provincial governorates via the Ministry of Interior Affairs, which read, "It has been understood that there are information and evidence which indicate that the Mazlum Der has been carrying out activities against the unity of the State and against the republican regime." Ensaroglu said that "Mazlum Der has first been proclaimed as guilty, and then the evidences are sought." Yilmaz Ensaroglu added that the police officers did not give any written notifications during the raids against the offices of the Mazlum Der and the houses and workplaces of its executive members, and that Deputy Secretary General Ömer Eksi and staff members of the Mazlum Der had been insulted during the raid against the headquarters. Urfa Branch of the Mazlum Der was closed on 31 December 1998, and Malatya Branch on 28 May. (TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Prisoner Prevented from Receiving Medical Treatment: Hanim Baran (42), a prisoner in Istanbul Ümraniye Prison who has been serving for 3 years 9 months' imprisonment given on the accusations of "aiding the PKK," is reportedly prevented from receiving the necessary medical treatment although she suffers from ovarian cancer. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Torture in Detention: A street peddler named Ikbal Isik disclosed that he had been tortured after having been detained outside Yeni Mosque in Eminönü, Istanbul, on 16 June. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Torture in Detention: Zöhre Polat, a member of the Association for Solidarity Between Arrested and Remanded Prisoners (Adana Dayanisma-Der) who was detained in Adana on 16 June, disclosed that she had been tortured in detention. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Death Penalty Demand: The trial launched against Cemil Kayici, Mehmet Kaya, Muhsin Kayar, Abdullah Yildirim, Ahmet Kayar, Lezgin Kayar and Mehmet Varis, village guards in charge at Balli Village of Uludere, Sirnak, on the accusations of "aiding the PKK," commenced at Diyarbakir SSC on 18 June. The indictment sought the death penalty for the village guards under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code.(Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Death Penalty Demand: A trial was launched against 12 people, who have been claimed to be the militants of the Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army of Turkey (TIKKO). The indictment prepared by Istanbul SSC Prosecution Office sought the death penalty for three defendants, and imprisonment terms between 7 years 6 months and 22 years 6 months for the others. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Journalist Detained, Confiscated Publications: Journalist Faik Bulut was detained at the center of the private TV channel ATV where he went on 18 June in order to participate in a program. Faik Bulut was reportedly detained in connection with an investigation launched against him by Istanbul SSC. The 45th issue of the journal Halkin Günlügü was confiscated by Istanbul SSC on the grounds that "separatist propaganda was disseminated and illegal organizations were praised" in certain articles published in the journal. (Cumhuriyet-Evrensel-TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Teachers on Trial: A trial was launched against Kemal Yüksel, Mustafa Taskale, Bahattin Günel and Mehmet Ipek, delegates of the Egitim Sen during its Third Ordinary General Council Meeting (4 July 1998) in connection with the speeches they delivered during the meeting. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Detentions, Arrests: Out of the 10 people who were detained in Malatya on the accusations of "being members of the radical Islamic Vasat organization," Sahin Sertkaya, Mustafa Süzeri, Osman Sentürk and Abdurrahman Durusoy were remanded on 18 June (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Villagers Detained: Out of the 49 villagers who were detained in villages of Pazarcik, Maras, on 8 June, 33 were remanded by Pazarcik Penal Court of Peace on 17 June. The names of 3 of the 16 released villagers were reported The villagers were kept in detention for 10 days, although the legal period for detention was 4 days. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 21, 1999)
  @ Persons Beaten by the Police: In Pertek, Tunceli, the police raided the office of the Labor's Party (EMEP) Pertek District Organization on 21 June. Five persons who were in the office during the raid were detained. These persons were reportedly beaten and forced to testify that they were "members of an illegal organization" in the police station they were taken to. The detainees were subsequently released. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 22, 1999)
  @ Journalists Beaten: The journalists who were following President Süleyman Demirel's visit to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality on 21 June were harassed by the polices guarding the President. The journalists who wanted to direct questions to Demirel were forcibly prevented, and Kemal Diyarbekir, a reporter for the daily Hürriyet, was harassed and his press card was seized. Out of the municipality building, Ertugrul Kindem, the driver of the vehicle belonging to Show TV was beaten by the policemen in charge of security. Kindem lodged an official complaint against the police officers. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 22, 1999)
  @ Confiscated Publication: Istanbul SSC confiscated the 7th issue of the journal Genç Direnisçi on the grounds that "separatist propaganda was disseminated" in certain articles. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 22, 1999)
  @ Malki Murder, Immunity of Agar: The memorandum demanding the lifting of the parliamentary impunity of Mehmet Agar, Independent MP of Elazig, which was issued in the framework of the investigation carried out by Istanbul SSC Prosecution Office in connection with the murder of the well-known pawnbroker Nesim Malki on 28 November 1995, has been referred to the Parliament (Agar resigned from his position as Security General Director on 31 October 1995 in order to be a candidate in the elections of 24 December 1995 and he was elected as MP for Elazig from DYP). The memorandum demanded the lifting of Agar's parliamentary immunity in order to allow an investigation be carried out against him on the claims of "assisting members of a gang formed to commit crime" under Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code (Radikal-TIHV, June 22, 1999)
  @ Another Yesilyurt Incident: Bilal Oper, one of the 49 villagers who were detained in the raids by soldiers against 5 villages in Pazarcik, Maras, on 9 June, disclosed that he had been forced to eat human excrement at Pazarcik Gendarmerie Headquarters. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 23, 1999)
  @ Death Penalty Demand: The trial against 75 people in connection with the demonstration held in Malatya in protest of a circular which banned headscarved students to enter inside the buildings of Malatya Inönü University, commenced at Malatya SSC on 23 June. In the trial the death penalty is sought for 51 of the defendants. (Milliyet-Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 23, 1999)
  @ Journalist Remanded: Hüseyin Çetin, a staff member of the Mersin Representation of the journal Özgür Halk, who had been detained in the raid against the office of the journal on 18 June, was remanded on 21 June. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 23, 1999)
  @ Journalist and Lawyer on Trial: Malatya Public Prosecution Office has launched a trial against Islamist writer Abdurrahman Dilipak, and lawyers Rasit Alaca and Dogan Karaoglan under Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code on the accusations that "they insulted the Court House" in a meeting held in Malatya. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court overturned Istanbul SSC's decision of acquittal issued for Abdurrahman Dilipak in the trial that had been launched under Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code on the accusations that "he had incited people into hatred and enmity" in an interview that had been published in the journal Le Figaro. (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 23, 1999)
  @ Sentence of Dogu Perinçek Overturned: The Supreme Court overturned the decision of one-year imprisonment passed on Dogu Perinçek, the former Chairperson of the Labor Party (IP), by Ankara SSC under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law. Perinçek had been sentenced on the grounds of "making separatist propaganda" in a speech he had delivered at the IHD General Council Meeting in 1994. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 23, 1999)
  @ Prisoner Prevented from Receiving Medical Treatment: The children and lawyer of Hanim Baran (42), a prisoner in Istanbul Ümraniye Prison who has been suffering from ovarian cancer, held a press conference at IHD Istanbul Branch on 23 June. Hanim Baran's lawyer Safak Yildiz disclosed that she had appealed with Üsküdar Public Prosecution Office and the Forensic Medicine Institute demanding the release of Hanim Baran under Article 399 of the Code on Criminal Proceedings. Lawyer Yildiz said, "The assessment of our application takes and to take Hanim Baran under medical examination requires at least two months. That means, Hanim Baran may lose her life under these circumstances. For this reason, it is necessary that the bureaucratic obstacles should be abolished at once." (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 24, 1999)
  @ Raided Journal: The office where the technical preparations for the weekly newspaper Politikada Atilim have been carried out, was raided by the police on 22 June. The police officers reportedly searched the office, which is located in Harbiye, Istanbul, but detained nobody. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 24, 1999)
  @ Claim of Death in Detention: On 24 June, the death body of Rasim Kayra (22) was found in the vicinity of Dörtyol, Hatay. Rasim Kayra was reportedly detained during a raid by police officers against his house in Hürriyet Quarter of Adana, alongside his relatives N. Kayra and Ayhan Kayra. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 25, 1999)
  @ Death of Rasim Kayra: The report of the autopsy performed on Rasim Kayra, whose dead body was found in the vicinity of Dörtyol District of Hatay on 24 June, was not given to his family. Police officers, who established a base at Rasim Kayra's house in Hürriyet Quarter in Adana, reportedly did not allow in the persons who came to the house to pay a visit to Kayra Family. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 28, 1999)
  @ Youths Beaten: Eighteen high schoolers, who were on the way to Akhisar District of Manisa on 24 June in order to attend a religious ceremony that was to be staged for one of their friends, Necdet Güngör, who died in a car crash, were detained by the police. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 28, 1999)
  @ Torture in Detention: Tahir Oguz, the vendor of the journal Azadiye Welat in Adana who was detained on 25 June, disclosed that he had been tortured in detention. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 28, 1999)
  @ Trial against Recep Tayyip Erdogan: A trial was launched against Istanbul Municipality former Mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan in connection with a speech he delivered at a meeting in Tuzla, Istanbul, on 27 September 1998. Erdogan is currently confined in prison. (Hurriyet-TIHV, June 28, 1999)
  @ Journalist and Publisher Remanded: Abdullah Gündüz, the owner of the Aram Publishing House, was detained on 24 June on the claims that "separatist propaganda was disseminated" in the book, "Günesimizi Karartamazsiniz." Abdullah Gündüz was remanded by Istanbul SSC on 25 June. Nuray Yazar, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Proleter Halkin Birligi who had been detained in Istanbul on 24 June, was remanded on 25 June. Meanwhile the newspaper Proleter Halkin Birligi was reportedly closed for 15 days as of 25 June. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 28, 1999)
  @ Meetings of Public Servants: The Confederation of Public Labor Unions (KESK) held meetings in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Adana, Tunceli, Trabzon, Erzincan, Kocaeli, Kirklareli and Mersin on 26 June in protest of the low increase in wages of public servants which the government is intending to bring about. In Diyarbakir, Urfa and Batman, the governors did not allow the meetings. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 28, 1999)
  @ Community House (Halkevi) Closed Down: Göksu (Buca-Izmir) Community House (Halkevi) which was to be opened on 27 June has been closed by Izmir Court of First Instance No. 4 on 23 June. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 28, 1999)
  @ Hüsnü Öndül Elected the Chairperson of the IHD: Lawyer Hüsnü Öndül has been assigned to the post of the Chairmanship of the IHD which had been emptied by Akin Birdal's resign from chairmanship and membership of the IHD. At the IHD General Executive Board meeting on 26 June, Nazmi Gür has been elected the Secretary General and Avni Kalkan the Deputy Secretary General. (TIHV, June 28, 1999)
  @ RP and MGV Executives on Trial: The trial against 28 people, including executive members of the Welfare Party (RP) which was closed by the Constitutional Court, the National Youth Foundation (MGV) and the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MUSIAD), continued at Ankara SSC on 28 June. The indictment accused the defendants of "carrying out activities to establish a state basing on religion." The indictment demanded the closure of the MGV and MUSIAD on the claims that these were "organizations bringing up pro-Sheria (Islamic law) militants." The indictment sought death penalties and imprisonments (Cumhuriyet-Radikal-TIHV, June 29, 1999)
  @ Student Threatened: In Adana, a high schooler, S. K., was reportedly kidnapped by 3 persons who had introduced themselves as police officers on 24 June, and he had been forced to become a police informer and threatened to death. S. K.'s mother Ipek Kan held a press conference at the Human Rights Association (IHD) Adana Branch on 28 June, and said that her son, while he had been at a cafeteria, had forcibly been put in a car for looking "suspicious." (Cumhuriyet-TIHV, June 29, 1999)
  @ Death Penalty Demand: The trial launched against Hakim Yavas and repentant militant Abbas Dal on the accusations of implanting a bomb at the motor park of Atrium shopping center in Istanbul in protest of the transfer of the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to Turkey, started at Istanbul SSC on 29 June. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 30, 1999)
  @ Lawyer Beaten: Lawyer Abdülkadir Yildirim who was detained in Muradiye Quarter of Diyarbakir on 23 June stated that he had been beaten by police officers.The statement made by Diyarbakir Bar Association pointed out that attacks against lawyers had recently intensified and the attempts to prevent the attacks had ended in vain. The statement read that defense services offered under Code of Criminal Procedures. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 30, 1999)
  @ Torture in Detention: Mustafa Aka, who was detained in Eskisehir on 24 June, stated that he had been tortured at Ertugrulgazi Police Station where he had been taken to. He received a medical report from the Forensic Medicine Institute and lodged an official complaint. (Evrensel-TIHV, June 30, 1999)
  @ Child Burning Herself: A girl named Nükhet Noyan (17), who lives in Sultanbeyli Quarter of Istanbul, set herself on fire in protest of the death penalty given to Abdullah Ocalan. Nükhet Noyan reportedly poured cologne water on her body and put herself on fire after listening to the verdict on TV on 29 June. Noyan reportedly does not risk her life. (Ozgur Bakis-TIHV, June 30, 1999)
  @ Death Penalty Demand: In Bursa, a trial was launched against Mert Güven on the demand of the death penalty under Articles 448, 449 and 450 of the Turkish Penal Code. Mert Güven is accused of hiring gunmen for killing his father Erhan Güven and mother Mine Güven at Balat Forrest. (Sabah-TIHV, July 1, 1999)

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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