Tous les
évènements
du mois
All events of the
current month
O Droits
de l'Homme / Human Rights O
62
tortionnaires-meurtriers condamnés avec sursis
AI: La torture
est toujours pratiquée en Turquie
Un
envoyé de l'Onu critique la définition du terrorisme par
Ankara
La Turquie
condamnée pour dissolution d'un syndicat
Mission de
l'Onu
sur les droits de l'homme et l'anti-terrorisme en Turquie
Attentat
d'Istanbul: 15 blessés, dont deux graves
EUTCC:
Perspectives on the negotiations between the EU and Turkey
Attentat
à Istanbul: 1 mort, 15 blessés
O TIHV's
Recent Human Rights Reports in Brief
O
O Pression
sur les médias / Pressure on the Media O
The Ayse
Zarakolu Freedom of Thought Price attributed to Info-Turk editors
Le prix de la liberté de
pensée Ayse Zarakolu attribué aux
éditeurs d'Info-Turk
Article 301 Now
Sentencing Unionists!
Ouvrage
critiquant le kémalisme : la Turquie condamnée à
Strasbourg
The number of the
imprisoned journalists rose to 10
RSF réagit
contre l'agression d'une journaliste lors d'une manifestation
islamiste
Deux
universitaires turcs jugés pour un
rapport sur les minorités
Publisher
Zarakolu's trials postponed for a further two months
157 people before
courts in freedom of expression cases
FIDH reacts against
the trial of two academics in Turkey
A
female journalist was stoned at the Islamist demonstration
Istanbul
prosecutor launches investigation against Vakit daily
Le Premier
ministre peut être caricaturé en animal, selon la justice
turque
Murat Belge
sur les procès des journalistes en
Turquie
Hrant Dink acquitted; trials against other
journalists continue
Legal proceeding against 13 columnists of
the daily Özgür Gündem
Ouverture dans la confusion du
procès de
cinq journalistes turcs
Pour les dirigeants
turcs, une occasion de limiter la liberté de la presse
Imprisonment
Penalty for Journalist Cengiz Dogan
New Charges Against Agos Newspaper
Campaign Against Article 301 Gathers
Thousand
Italian
intellectuals appeal in protest of charges
against Kaboglu, Oran
RSF appelle au calme et au dialogue
Solidarité avec les journaux
publiant les caricatures de Mahomet
Al-Jazeera plans Turkish language version
of its news broadcasts
Quatrième anniversaire du
décès d'Ayse Nur Zarakolu
O TIHV's
Report on Recent Pressures on the Media O
O Kurdish
Question / Question kurde O
Ocalan had presented a petition to European
Councill for being retried
Huit militants kurdes tués dans des
combats avec l'armée
Une grande conférence sur la
question kurde en mars à Istanbul
Deux chaînes privées
autorisées à émettre en kurde à partir de
mars
Un dirigeant du PKK prédit un
dialogue avec Ankara
Incidents lors d'une manifestation pour la
libération d'Öcalan
Des partisans
du PKK
manifestent en Irak pour appeler à libérer Öcalan
Des juristes demandent une nouvelle
enquête sur 11 Kurdes disparus
Incidents lors de manifestations en Turquie
pour la libération d'Öcalan
Des milliers de Kurdes manifestent à
Strasbourg pour la libération d'Öcalan
Deux anciens dirigeants du PKK tués
dans un attentat au Kurdistan irakien
Trial of former
Kurdish
deputies continue
O Minorités
/ Minorities O
Le patriarche
arménien dénonce des tirs contre une église
orthodoxe
Un
prêtre franciscain menacé de mort en Turquie
Conference
on the Genocide of Assyrians at the House of Commons
O Politique
intérieure/Interior Politics O
Le Premier
ministre Erdogan est millionnaire
La
popularité du gouvernement Erdogan en baisse
Polémique
en Turquie autour de la fortune du Premier ministre
O Forces
armées/Armed Forces O
29 military
personnel accused of torture
Un ancien
commandant de la marine condamné pour enrichissement
illégal
In
Turkey there are 80 conscientious objectors
La Turquie condamnée pour
harcèlement de l'objecteur de conscience Ülke
Another conscientious objector, victim of
the Turkish military: Yunus Erçep
O Affaires
religieuses / Religious Affairs O
Caricatures:
des dizaines de milliers de manifestants à Istanbul
Dizaines
de milliers de manifestants, consulat de France lapidé
Le
ministre turc des AE critique le Premier ministre danois
Le jeune
Turc
arrêté inculpé et
écroué pour le meurtre du prêtre italien
Le pape se
rendra du 28 au 30 novembre en Turquie
Un
député lance un boycottage des produits danois et
norvégiens
Manifestation
devant l'ambassade du Danemark à Ankara
IHD:Those who incites nationalism is
responsible from death the priest
Un prêtre catholique italien
tué par balles en Turquie
A pastor beaten by Muslims after attending
church in Turkey
Caricatures:
drapeaux français et
danois brûlés, déchirés en Turquie
O Socio-économique
/ Socio-economic O
Le taux de
chômage évalué à 10,3% pour 2005
La grippe aviaire et la crise des
caricatures affectent le tourisme turc
Acier: Arcelor échoue à
prendre 20,5% du groupe turc Erdemir
Turkey's 2005 current account deficit near
$23 billion
Football: la Turquie condamnée
à jouer six matches à huis clos par la FIFA
O Relations
turco-européennes / Turkey-Europe Relations O
O Turquie-USA/
Turkey-USA O
The U.S.
military is quietly preparing to withdraw its forces from Turkey.
Dossier
iranien: consultations en Turquie d'un haut responsable
américain
Anti-American
film a smash in Turkey
Le cinéma turc
"lave l'honneur de la Turquie" dans le sang de GI's Américains
O Relations
régionales / Regional Relations O
Talabani critique la visite du Premier ministre en Turquie
La
Turquie s'engage à maintenir ses bonnes relations avec
Israël
Le
Hamas "très satisfait", Israël "très faché"
des entretiens à Ankara
Russie: Gazprom
veut desservir l'Italie, la Grèce et Israël par la Turquie
O Chypre
et la Grèce / Cyprus and Greece O
Une nouvelle crise entre la Turquie et l'UE
sur Chypre
Un ferry chypriote-grec se voit interdire
l'accès à un port turc
La Turquie a "jusqu'à la fin 2006"
pour reconnaître les autorités de Nicosie (Schüssel)
Chypre se réserve le droit d'opposer
son veto à la Turquie
Désaccord entre Athènes et
Londres sur le plan turc pour Chypre
Nouvelle offensive diplomatique d'Ankara
pour un règlement à Chypre
Chypre: Schüssel rappelle à
Ankara ses engagements douaniers
O Immigration
/ Migration O
Condamnations
et arrestations dans le procès DHKP-C
L'utilisation
des
législations les plus liberticides
Des étudiants de l'ULB se mobilisent
contre les lois anti-terroristes
Une
révélation et un communiqué à propos du
procès du DHKC
|
Toutes les informations depuis 1998 
All informations since 1998
Droits
de l'Homme / Human Rights
62
tortionnaires-meurtriers condamnés avec sursis
Un tribunal de Diyarbakir (sud-est de la Turquie) à
condamné lundi 62
personnes, dont des officiers, gardiens et policiers, à cinq ans
de
prison avec sursis chacune pour leur implication dans une intervention
sanglante contre des détenus de la prison de la ville en 1996.
Les juges ont décidé de surseoir à ces sentences
aux termes d'une
amnistie promulguée en 2001, qui ne prévoit en principe
pas
d'incarcération pour les condamnations à moins de dix ans
de réclusion.
Soixante-douze personnes étaient jugées depuis
près de dix ans dans le
cadre de ce long procès. Trois d'entre elles ont
été acquittées et sept
ont bénéficié d'une prescription.
Le 24 septembre 1996, dix détenus avaient été
tués et plusieurs autres
blessés lorsque les forces de sécurité
étaient intervenues pour mettre
fin à un début de soulèvement de prisonniers
membres du PKK.
Les incidents avaient éclaté alors que les forces de
l'ordre
s'apprêtaient à transférer un groupe de
détenus vers une prison d'une
ville voisine. D'autres détenus s'étaient
interposés, refusant de
remettre aux forces de l'ordre leurs camarades. Ils avaient
également
allumé des incendies en divers endroits de la prison, selon les
autorités. (AFP, 27 février 2006)
AI:
La torture est toujours pratiquée en Turquie
Malgré les réformes engagées par le Premier
ministre Recep Tayyip
Erdogan dans la perspective d'une adhésion à l'Union
européenne, la
torture est toujours pratiquée en Turquie, selon une
étude d'Amnesty
International Allemagne publiée jeudi.
"Il y a certes eu des réformes, dans la perspective des
négociations
d'entrée dans l'Union européenne, débutées
en octobre 2005. Mais la
mise en oeuvre fait nettement problème", a déclaré
Wolfgang Grenz,
responsable du service des réfugiés politiques, lors
d'une conférence
de presse à Berlin.
"Il ne faut pas que, pour des raisons politiques - l'entrée de
la
Turquie dans l'Union européenne -, on dépeigne la
situation plus belle
qu'elle n'est", s'est inquiétée Jutta Hermann, avocate
qui a exercé en
Turquie de 1995 à 2000.
Les aveux obtenus sous la torture continuent à être
considérés comme des éléments de preuves
devant un tribunal, a-t-elle dit.
"La Turquie a signé la convention contre la torture des Nations
Unies,
et renforcé les lois correspondantes en juin 2005", a
rappelé Helmut
Oberdiek, qui a réalisé l'étude en octobre 2005.
Mais des cas comme celui du procès de l'islamiste Metin Kaplan
alias le
"Calife de Cologne", expulsé vers la Turquie en 2004, montrent
que des
condamnations lourdes se fondent encore sur des dépositions qui
auraient été obtenues sous la torture, selon M. Oberdiek.
M. Grenz a plaidé pour que les fonctionnaires turcs soient mieux
informés et aient une définition claire de ce qu'est la
torture.
Le ministère allemand des Affaires étrangères doit
revoir son
évaluation à la lumière de ces
éléments, a affirmé M. Grenz. Celui-ci a
fait valoir que de l'appréciation du ministère
dépendent non seulement
les politiques en matière d'immigration et de
réfugiés, mais aussi les
décisions des tribunaux sur les demandes d'asile. (AFP, 23
février 2006)
Un envoyé de l'Onu critique la
définition du terrorisme par Ankara
La définition du terrorisme en Turquie est beaucoup trop vague
et peut
provoquer des poursuites judiciaires contre des personnes qui n'ont pas
de lien direct avec des actes terroristes, a affirmé jeudi
à Ankara un
envoyé de l'Onu.
Au terme d'une visite d'une semaine en Turquie, Martin Scheinin, le
rapporteur spécial sur les droits de l'homme et la lutte contre
le
terrorisme, a critiqué au cours d'une conférence de
presse une loi
antiterroriste adoptée en 1991 contre une rébellion
séparatiste kurde
dans le sud-est du pays.
Cette loi est trop vague concernant les groupes terroristes locaux et
remet en question son efficacité dans la lutte antiterroriste,
a-t-il
estimé.
"Elle définit le terrorisme en se fondant sur ses objectifs
plutôt que
de faire référence à des actes
spécifiques", a dit le responsable
onusien.
L'envoyé onusien qui s'est également rendu à
Diyarbakir, chef-lieu du
Sud-Est anatolien peuplé majoritairement de Kurdes, a
estimé que "seul
un petit nombre de poursuites étaient directement lié
à de véritables
actes terroristes".
Pour accroître ses chances de rejoindre l'Union
européenne, la Turquie
a, à plusieurs reprises, amendé sa loi antiterroriste,
allégeant
notamment les sanctions envers la presse et introduisant des
dédommagements pour les villageois kurdes déplacés
à cause des combats.
L'envoyé de l'Onu a en outre remarqué l'absence de
"transparence et de
clarté" en ce qui concerne les organisations dites terroristes.
La Turquie mène depuis des années une lutte sans merci
contre la
rébellion armée kurde, qui a pris les armes contre Ankara
en 1984. Le
conflit a fait plus de 37.000 morts, des milliers de
déplacés, et a
conduit de part et d'autres à des allégations de
violations des droits
de l'homme, telles que l'usage systématique de la torture ou
l'incendie
de villages par les forces turques. (AFP, 23 février 2006)
La Turquie condamnée pour dissolution d'un syndicat
La Turquie a violé le droit à la liberté
d'association en prononçant en
1995 la dissolution du syndicat Tüm Haber Sen, selon un
arrêt de la
Cour européenne des droits de l'homme rendu public mardi
à Strasbourg.
Le président de l'ex-syndicat, Ismail Çinar avait
déposé une requête
après la dissolution du syndicat, actif entre 1992 et 1995, avec
40.000
adhérents salariés dans la fonction publique.
Le 20 janvier 1992, la préfecture d'Istanbul demanda la
dissolution,
arguant que les fonctionnaires d'Etat ne pouvaient fonder de syndicats.
Le tribunal de grande instance fit droit à cette demande. La
Cour de
cassation cassa ce jugement et renvoya l'affaire devant le tribunal de
grande instance qui maintint son jugement initial.
Le 24 mai 1995, la Cour de cassation ordonna la dissolution au motif
qu'en l'absence d'un statut juridique prévu par la loi, le
syndicat ne
pouvait se prévaloir d'un statut légal.
Dans leur arrêt, les juges de Strasbourg rappellent que la
Convention
européenne des droits de l'Homme présente la
liberté syndicale comme
une forme de la liberté d'association et s'impose a l'"Etat
employeur",
que les relations de ce dernier avec ses employés
obéissent au droit
public ou au droit privé.
A l'époque des faits, la Turquie avait déjà
ratifié la Convention
internationale du travail qui reconnaît à tous les
travailleurs, sans
distinction entre la fonction publique et le secteur privé, le
droit de
fonder des syndicats et de s'y affilier sans restriction. (AFP, 21
février 2006)
Mission de l'Onu sur les droits de l'homme et
l'anti-terrorisme en Turquie
Un envoyé spécial de l'Onu entame jeudi une mission
d'évaluation en
Turquie sur la lutte contre le terrorisme menée par Ankara, en
particulier contre la rébellion kurde et son impact sur le
respect des
droits de l'homme, a annoncé mardi l'Onu.
Martin Scheinin, rapporteur spécial sur les droits de l'homme et
la
lutte contre le terrorisme, va rencontrer jusqu'au 23 février
des
responsables civils et militaires turcs à Ankara, mais aussi
à
Diyarbakir, la principale ville du sud-est de la Turquie,
majoritairement peuplée de Kurdes, selon un communiqué.
M. Scheinin a aussi prévu de s'entretenir avec des victimes de
mesures
antiterroristes ou des personnes ayant été
détenues ou accusées pour
des faits de terrorisme, a précisé l'Onu.
Sa mission fera l'objet d'un rapport, incluant des suggestions pour
contrer le terrorisme sans renoncer au respect des droits de l'homme.
La Turquie mène depuis des années une lutte sans merci
contre la
rebellion armée kurde, qui a pris les armes contre Ankara en
1984.
Le conflit a fait environ 37.000 morts, des milliers de
déplacés, et a
conduit de part et d'autres à des allégations de
violations des droits
de l'homme, telles que l'usage systématique de la torture ou
l'incendie
de villages par les forces turques.
Le gouvernement turc a récemment modifié sa
législation antiterroriste
dans le but de faciliter son entrée dans l'Union
européenne, ce qui lui
a valu des critiques de la part des forces de sécurité
qui se plaignent
que les réformes aient limité leur pouvoir. (AFP, 14
fév 2006)
Attentat
d'Istanbul: 15 blessés, dont deux graves
Quinze personnes ont été blessées, dont deux
graves, lundi soir dans
l'attentat à la bombe revendiqué par un groupe kurde
armé dans la
partie européenne d'Istanbul, a rapporté mardi l'agence
de presse
semi-officielle Anatolie.
Un précédent bilan fourni lundi par le gouverneur de la
première
métropole turque, Muammer Güler, faisait état d'au
moins six blessés.
L'attaque visant un magasin d'une chaîne d'alimentation
appartenant à
un député du parti au pouvoir (AKP, parti de la Justice
et du
Développement), a été revendiqué par les
Faucons de la liberté du
Kurdistan (TAK).
L'explosif retrouvé sur les lieux est de type A-4,
généralement utilisé par les rebelles kurdes,
selon les médias.
Le TAK a déjà revendiqué un attentat à la
bombe visant un café internet d'Istanbul qui a fait un mort et
15 blessés jeudi.
La Turquie a connu une série d'attentats à la bombe
depuis juillet
dernier, dont plusieurs ont été attribués au TAK.
Le plus meurtrier
d'entre eux a fait cinq morts, dont deux touristes
étrangères, à
Kusadasi, sur la côte de la mer Egée. (AFP, 14 fév
2006)
EUTCC
Report: Perspectives on the accession
negotiations between the EU and Turkey
1. Introduction
The EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) would like to present its views
on the perspectives of the accession negotiations between the European
Union and Turkey.
The EUTCC is genuinely supportive of Turkey’s aspirations to become a
member of the EU. We believe this is the best opportunity Turkey will
have to become a truly democratic country, with full respect for the
rule of law and human rights. However, it is obvious that Turkish
membership must be conditional on the full implementation of all
accession criteria, including respect for and protection of minorities
There must be no bargaining or reductions in the standards of
compliance for geopolitical or other extraneous reasons.
After some observations on the 2005 Progress Report, the present paper
limits itself to discussing five main problem areas, which in many ways
represent an acid test for Turkey’s aspirations to membership of the
European Union:
- Torture
- Freedom of expression
- Freedom of association - political parties
- The judiciary
- The role of the military
2. General observations on the Progress Report
The 2005 Progress Report describes in some detail both the achievements
and shortcomings with regard to Turkey’s progress towards
implementation of the accession criteria. The EUTCC does realise that
the EU and the Government of Turkey are operating within the framework
of normal diplomatic relations. This understandably colours the
language of the Progress Report, which tends to give the reader the
impression that the overall progress has been substantial, and that the
remaining problems are limited, primarily relating to improved
implementation. This is also how the Report has been interpreted in the
media and the political circles in Turkey.
However, when reading all the cases where no or only limited progress
has been achieved, the rather rosy language in many parts of the Report
is not substantiated by the hard facts on the ground. Even less rosy is
the picture when one realises that the cases referred to in the Report
are just examples, the tip of an iceberg.
Generally speaking, it is primarily at the level of adoption of
legislation that some real progress has been achieved. And even at that
level, much remains to be done. In fact, in some cases, there has been
regression rather than progress. This includes what was proclaimed to
be the big step forward: the new Penal Code. However, the reality is
that there has been a rush among members of the judiciary to clamp down
on freedom of expression, based on authoritarian legislation such as
the new Article 301.
It is noteworthy that most of the recent cases where the Turkish
judiciary has failed blatantly in recognising and following European
human rights standards, are related to the situation of “non-Turkish
citizens”. This applies particularly to the situation of the greatest
non-Turkish population, the Kurds. The cases have revealed and
emphasized, again and again, how deep-rooted and sensitive the Kurdish
issue is in a strongly nationalistic state.
The EUTCC believes that this will prove to be the major hurdle on the
way to a genuine acceptance and implementation of European values and
standards. Freedom of expression can be accepted generally in Turkey,
as long as it does not touch the raw nerve: the nationalistic ideology
and its sequel, the Kurdish problem.
The Ottoman empire, with its multi-ethnic/cultural and political
structure gave the Kurdish people a great degree of autonomy. In the
new Turkish republic, the Kurdish people were not able to find a place
either as a minority or as a cultural-political identity group. The
discrimination against the Kurds and the assimilation policies led to
uprisings and unrest, which have continued until our time. In turn,
this reinforced anti-democratic and authoritarian political structures,
hampering the development of a genuine democratic society.
The EUTCC believes there can be no progress in this field, unless the
Turkish political establishment, as well as major parts of the public,
accept the rights of the Kurdish population. This issue is not focused
on adequately and clearly in the Progress Report. As a result, Turkish
authorities, media and large sectors of the population, were triumphant
when reading the Progress Report and discovering that the Kurds were
not described as a minority. Nationalistic elements are using this as a
shield to protect their views, denying the identity and the rights of
15 million Kurds.
The Turkish authorities have had little difficulty so far in accepting
the Copenhagen criteria, which specifically obliges Turkey to ensure
“respect for and protection of minorities”. However, Turkey has
officially made it abundantly clear that this acceptance is limited to
those people who are defined as minorities in the 1923 Lausanne Treaty.
In other words, Turkey claims the exclusive right for itself to
determine the extent of its commitments to the EU and its standards and
values. So far, this has not been challenged explicitly by the EU.
Instead of describing the Kurdish problem as a main problem that Turkey
must face and resolve, the Report refers to “the situation in the
Southeast”, the expression favoured by Turkey. Only the Greeks are
directly referred to as a “minority”, again in line with the Turkish
official position, although the Report does state that under relevant
international and European standards, “other communities …. could
[emphasis added] qualify as minorities”.
This ambiguous terminology lends itself to misleading the people of
Turkey, including many within the political establishment. Reading the
Report, they believe that the EU does not consider or does not insist
that the Kurdish population have rights under international and
European law and standards, whether the Kurds are conceived as a
“people”, a “nation” or as a “minority”. A genuine implementation of
the Copenhagen criteria can only come about after the Kurdish problem
has been both recognised and resolved.
Prime Minister Erdogan said in September 2005 that he recognised the
“Kurdish issue”, and that it must be resolved through “more
democratization”. His statements could have given some degree of hope,
and to many Kurds it did. On the other hand it gave rise to a wave of
loud protest among nationalistic circles, including critical comments
from the military. This shows the admittedly difficult balancing act
that the Government must perform between the reforms required by the EU
and the demands of the established nationalistic ideology and its
proponents, including the military. This is probably the reason why,
half a year later, no steps have been taken, not even at the verbal
level, towards a resolution of the Kurdish problem.
This lack of progress in the most difficult problem Turkey is facing is
not acceptable. The EU must insist on a “roadmap” to solve the Kurdish
problem.
3. The Realities of the Present Situation
a) Torture, Police Brutality and Extra-judicial Executions
Although there are conflicting reports and views, it appears that
torture has become less wide-spread than it used to be until recent
times. This is particularly the case at detention centres. On the other
hand there are increasing reports of torture or degrading treatment
outside of the detention centres, e.g. during apprehension or
transportation to detention centres.
A complete picture of the situation on the ground is for obvious
reasons not easy to gather and document. The Turkish authorities are
not particularly forthcoming in this regard. It is illustrating to read
in the report of 08.12.2005 from the European Committee for the
Prevention of Torture (CPT):
“Not for the first time during a CPT visit, the Committee’s delegation
found that certain law enforcement establishments which (according to
the custody registers) regularly hold a considerable number of
detainees were practically if not totally empty [emphasis added] during
the time of the delegation’s visit.” (Paragraph 6 of the Report).
In other words, these detention centres had been emptied before the
visit of the CPT to prevent embarrassing situations for the Turkish
authorities!
Nonetheless, the CPT report refers to “numerous persons” alleging
ill-treatment, e.g.:
- blows to the body, including on occasion falaka)”,
- suspension by the arms”,
- stripping naked and hosing with cold water”,
- squeezing the genitals”,
- immersing the head in water”,
- asphyxiation using a plastic bag”.
The CPT also expressed its regret that “the Turkish authorities have
not provided replies to a number of issues” raised by the CPT during
its visit in 2004, some of which “were clearly of an urgent nature”.
The CPT also complained about “inadequate or incomplete” response to
its report on the September 2003 visit.
The CPT was in particular concerned about the failure to implement
existing regulations concerning the medical inspection of detainees.
The CPT stated that in many cases, the law enforcement officers were
present during the medical examination, which in many cases was very
perfunctory.
The picture emerging from the CPT report is of a systematic and
deliberate procedure to evade the responsibilities of the Turkish
authorities, and to protect those who are guilty of torture.
The reports of Turkish and international NGOs are also not indicating
much progress. According to the records of the Human Rights Foundation
of Turkey (HRFT), in its annual report dated 29.12.2005:
5 persons died in detention in 2005,
164 women, 10 children and 483 reported to the HRFT torture
rehabilitation centres having been tortured or ill-treated (180
of
them in 2005) and in more than half of the cases the torture or
ill-treatment occurred outside detention centres,
52 persons were shot to death and hundreds were wounded by
security forces in connection with armed clashes with PKK
forces.
The training of police and security forces does not appear to have had
the desired effects. There are too many reports of police brutality,
particularly connected with public demonstrations. The beating and
spraying with pepper gas of men and women on the International Women’s
Day in March are just one of many examples. It was not helpful that
Prime Minister Erdogan criticized the press for having made critical
comments on the case.
It is sad to observe that the system of extra-judicial executions
performed by the state’s security forces or with their collusion has
not disappeared. There have been various incidents, notably the
Semdinli affair, where it appears clear that security forces have been
guilty of executions and killings.
The Progress Report notes that the security situation has worsened, and
blame this entirely on “the resumption of violence by the PKK”. It does
note with concern that “the security forces sometimes respond
inappropriately”. However, incidents like Semdinli indicate that
this
is not a question of an “inappropriate” response to attacks by PKK. The
reality is that certain organized groups within the state have carried
out planned attacks on civilians and then tried to hold PKK responsible
for these attacks.
Members of the Parliamentary Commission investigating the Semdinli
incident have vociferously expressed their disquiet at what they
perceive as efforts to manipulate the presentation of relevant
evidence.
These incidents have resulted in protests and clashes between civilians
and security forces, during which several people were killed and many
more injured. The situation is volatile. Some Turkish media have
speculated that “elements in the ‘deep state’ are trying to provoke
instability in order to win a freer hand in the South East” (Turkish
Daily News [TDN], 17/01/2006).
The military and other parts of the “deep state” continue to accuse the
PKK of organising and carrying out all these killings.
b) Freedom of Expression
The Progress Report optimistically predicts a “continued reduction in
the number of prosecutions and particularly convictions” in freedom of
expression cases, although it notes that there remain various
provisions in the laws which are a “potential” threat to freedom of
expression. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul proclaimed proudly to the
Turkish parliament on 21 December that there was no person in Turkish
prisons convicted for the expression of non-violent thoughts (HRFT
annual report, 29/12/2005).
At the end of 2005, the situation on the ground looks much bleaker. It
has become clear that several articles of the new Penal Code are not
only “potential” threats, but are part of the daily reality in Turkey.
The present report would become far too voluminous if all the
individual cases were to be discussed here. Some of them are widely
known, others do not reach the headlines in the media.
The most illustrious example is perhaps the infamous new Article 301 of
the Penal Code. Rather than widening the freedom of expression, it has
been used as a powerful tool of repression. According to a recent
report from “Reporters without Borders”, this article has been used to
charge or convict at least 22 journalists and writers since June 2005.
The latest conviction was on 27 December, when Zulkuf Kisanik got a six
months prison sentence for writing a book investigating the destruction
of Kurdish villages.
A realistic and sad picture of the Government’s priorities is given by
the Justice Minister’s attitude relating to the Pamuk case. Firstly, he
refused to consider prompt action to remedy the obvious anomaly, saying
he needed to see how the new article would be applied in practice. 22
cases in six months were obviously not sufficient for him to discover
the anomaly. Secondly, he criticized Pamuk for not making “conciliatory
remarks” and hinted that such a move “would have prevented his
prosecution”. He advised Pamuk to state publicly: “I apologize to the
nation”! (TDN, 07/01/2006). As if that was not enough, the Justice
Minister, while admitting the flaws in the justice system, added that
“Pamuk was also guilty”(Zaman, 27.01.2006).
According to the Turkish Publishers Union 2005 report, 37 writers were
tried in 2004-2005, and cases initiated against 43 books and 4
compilations from 25 publishing houses. According to the HRFT,
(29/12/2005) only in the month of December there were trials in cases
against:
2 executives of political parties,
26 journalists, editors, correspondents, TV producers,
translators, photographers,
3 human rights defenders,
1 news agency,
6 publishing houses.
Not a single private broadcaster has so far been permitted to broadcast
in Kurdish (HRW, Annual Report 2005).
There are some new and disturbing developments in freedom of expression
cases. One is the trend of nationalistic groups and individuals (often
with connections to the “deep state”) to file complaints and urge the
prosecutors to “do their duty”! This has resulted in several cases
being opened, which are manifestly unfounded under European standards
(one of the cases referred to the newly coined expression: “the deep
judiciary”!). In addition, these nationalistic groups interfere with an
orderly conduct of the trials,which the judges seem unable to control.
The training provided by the EU to the judiciary (15 mill € allocated
for 2005) seems to have had only limited effect so far.
Another trend is based on a bizarre interpretation of the article that
prohibits attempts to influence the decisions of the judiciary, as an
alternative crime to “insults” against the court. These provisions are
now being construed so as to stifle any negative comments on decisions
within the judiciary, in cases that are uncomfortable for the
nationalistic ideology. For Turkey the goal seems to be to ensure that
radio and TV programs in Kurdish are fully controlled by the state.
Not surprisingly, no prosecution has been initiated or proposed against
Prime Minister Erdogan for having condemned in strong words several
court decisions. Nor was General Büyükanit investigated for
having
declared immediately after one of his men had been arrested in
connection with the Semdinli affair, that the man could not possibly
have committed any crime. Not surprisingly, he said he believed the PKK
was behind the Semdinli bombing.
Some examples of recent freedom of expression cases are:
- the charges made against Hrant Dink and four other persons for
“attempting to influence the judiciary” (FIDH-HRA-HRFT, 28/12/2005.
Their offence was to criticize the sentence against Dink in October for
“denigrating the Turkish identity”. The charge followed a complaint by
the nationalistic Union of Jurists.
- A similar case was announced in December 2005 against five
journalists (ibid). Their offence was to criticize the court decision
to ban the conference on the Armenian issue. This case is also based on
a complaint from the Union of Jurists.
- Fatih Tas was sentenced to six months imprisonment for publishing
“They say you are missing”, about a journalist who went missing in the
1990s (Amnesty International-AI-, 23/01/2006).
- Fatih Tas is also prosecuted for publishing a translation of “Spoils
of War: Human Costs of America’s Arms Trade” (Human Rights Watch,
01/12/2005). The book evaluates the effects of the US arms industry,
and is seen to be “insulting to the memory of Kemal Atatürk”.
- Halil Altindere goes on trial on 13 April for a photograph exhibition
that allegedly “insults” the army (AI, 23/01/2006)
- On 6 April the case of Abdullah Yildiz will be heard, relating to his
translation of the book “The Witches of Smyrna”, which allegedly
portrays Turks in a bad light (ibid.).
- Worst of all, Ibrahim Kaboglu and Baskin Oran, former members of the
Human Rights Committee (under the Prime Ministry’s Office, will be
tried on 15 February for the report produced on Minority and Cultural
Rights, at the request of the Prime Minister himself(!) (ibid.).
- The decision of the prosecutor of Diyarbakir to open investigations
against 56 mayors from the Kurdish areas, following a letter urging
Denmark not to close down Roj TV.
- Even the Ministry of Interior has decided to make its own
investigation of the Roj TV case.
- Two former DEP Members of Parliament, Selim Sadak and Hatip Dicle are
being charged for praising PKK leader Öcalan, by terming his
conditions
in jail as “isolation”, and saying that “this will never be accepted by
the Kurdish people”. If found guilty, they face a prison sentence of up
to two years (TDN, 28/01/2006).
c) Freedom of Association and of Assembly – Political Parties
Although some reforms have been made in the legislation, the harassment
of associations that are critical of government policies continues in
multiple forms. There is also a need for further reforms in the
legislation, e.g. to remove the ban on political parties “using
languages other than Turkish” (read: Kurdish).
The new law on associations and its implementing regulations have not
prevented the authorities from intervening in the internal affairs, and
placing obstacles for their registration, etc.
From November 2004 to December 2005, 55 cases and six investigations
were initiated against the executives of 14 branches of the Human
Rights Association (HRA). The chairman and board members of the
Bingöl
branch of the HRA were subjected to some 92 investigations and 51 court
cases since the branch was opened in 2001. (HRFT, 29/12/2005). With a
record like this, one may wonder how the HRA has time and resources to
carry out its important task in the Turkish society.
The case against the teachers’ trade union, Egitim-Sen, is also
illustrative of the methods employed to control associations. Faced
with a threat of being closed down after a long battle in the courts,
Egitim-Sen had no choice other than deleting from its statutes the
reference to its objectives including the teaching of mother tongues.
Its application to the European Court of Human Rights will take a long
time to be decided, and in the meanwhile the Turkish state ideology
will prevail, in spite of critical remarks from the EU and other
European institutions.
The case against the pro-Kurdish party DEHAP is continuing, although
its functions have been assumed by a new political party, in the
traditional response by party members to attempts by the authorities to
close down parties critical to the prevailing ideology.
Other examples of restrictive, harrassing and repressive practices are:
In June 2005 the Ankara Governor refused to authorize the Kurdish
Democracy Culture and Solidarity Association (Kürt-Der),
claiming that
its program “to secure the social and cultural rights of Kurds”
was
unconstitutional.
In July the Bingöl governor fined the chairman of the local
branch of
HRA for printing the association’s letterhead in Kurdish as well
as in
Turkish, in breach of the requirement of the Associations Law
that
correspondence must be exclusively in Turkish (HRW Annual Report
2005).
The infamous case from 1994 against Kurdish MPs, Leyla Zana,
Hatip
Dicle, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak, is now in its 12th year, with
a
retrial in its 3rd year. The last hearing was on 3 February,
where
among other things the court refused the defendants’ request to
have a
witness heard (TDN, 04/02/2006).
Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak are in addition charged under article
215
of the Penal Code, for having characterized the prison conditions of
PKK leader Öcalan as “isolation” (DIHA, 04/02/2006).
d) The Judiciary
By now, many efforts have been made by the EU to aid the Turkish
authorities in securing compliance, or at least better compliance, with
European standards, at great expense to European taxpayers.
Thousands of the members of the judiciary and the security forces have
been given training, manuals and directives about the requirements of
European standards. Even those who have not still participated in
formal training programs must by now have become aware that, for
example, the European Convention on Human Rights is a binding part of
Turkish domestic law, and even takes precedence over domestic law that
may be in contradiction with domestic law and jurisprudence.
Against this background, it is disturbing, to say the least, that
prosecutors and judges (with a few honourable exceptions) act as if
they had no notion of the stipulations of the Convention. For example,
the courts fail to distinguish between critical, but peaceful opinions,
and opinions inciting to violence.
Another “technique” is to assume that a defendant who has expressed an
opinion, e.g. on mother tongue teaching, which coincides with
statements by the PKK, is himself a terrorist or at least a supporter
of terrorism.
With this kind of “jurisprudence” and precedents, no peaceful
discussion is possible about important problems in society. It is also
troublesome to observe cases where the judiciary, instead of applying
clear precedents from the Strasbourg courts, follow signals from the
military and other nationalistic elements of the “deep state”.
Given all the training and information available to the judiciary, it
cannot be for lack of knowledge that they so often, for various
reasons, deliberately choose to follow the “deep state” logic.
Paradoxically, it may be said that the judiciary is too independent of
the Government, which after all has given many signals that it wishes
the judiciary to comply with European standards.
The few selected cases referred to above give witness to this
contradiction. They also demonstrate that the task of change is
enormous and that a resolution most of all requires the uprooting of
the nationalistic ideology.
As mentioned above, the numerous cases which shock the European public
are just the tip of an iceberg. Orhan Pamuk will never have to go jail.
What is really worrying is the huge amount of cases that do not catch
the attention of the media, the politicians and the EU.
These are the thousands who daily suffer torture and degrading
treatment at the hands of the security forces, harassment by the police
and prosecutors, unjust sentencing and cruel and inhuman treatment in
prisons and detention centre.
Take the example of the man, apparently somewhat mentally disturbed,
who had spray-painted a few statues of Atatürk in some school
yards.
The sentence for this crime against “the memory of Atatürk” was 22
years in prison! More than many other cases, this one illustrates a
judiciary gone blind by an authoritarian and outdated ideology. It also
illustrates the need to eliminate this paranoia, which it must be hoped
is not indicative of the sentiments of the vast majority of the people
of Turkey.
It is an unworthy and unacceptable situation that Turkish and
international NGOs, as well as the EU itself, have to play the role of
some kind of a “guardian of the court” in the numerous cases where
freedom of expression has been denied or punished. The Turkish
authorities themselves have demonstrated that they are unable, or
unwilling, to prevent, or even to rectify, human rights violations.
This failure is partly due to an unwillingness to change the
nationalistic ideology, and partly to strong pressures from the “deep
state” and other nationalistic elements. Whatever the reasons, the
situation may be summarized, as it was done recently by Hurriyet
columnist Bekir Coskun: “We all know justice doesn’t exist” (quoted in
TDN 25/01/2006), or by TÜSIAD Chairman, Ömer Sabanci,
complaining about
“courts making decisions as if there have been no changes made in the
laws concerning freedom of expression and cultural rights” (TDN
27/01/2006).
This appalling situation should not be allowed to persist. Europe must
now demand that Turkey must take much more vigorous steps than it has
so far been able or willing to take, in order to put its house in
order. The Turkish system of justice must be brought up to European
standards, as a matter of urgency. To take those steps is not the task
of Europe, but of Turkey itself. Failure to take such steps
should
have consequences for the accession negotiations.
e) The Role of the Military
Although on paper the privileged, political role of the military has
been reduced to some extent, the realities remain much the same. The
military obviously still feel free to intervene in the political
agenda, with public statements and other, more subtle forms of
pressure. Various cases against persons expressing opinions contrary to
the military ideology have been opened by prosecutors, eager to follow
clear signals from the military.
A recent article in Foreign Affairs (January/February 2006) spells it
all out quite clearly. The article is written by a Turkish professor
and two majors of the Turkish Armed Forces. The article points out the
cohesive nature of the Armed Forces (TGS) and that the military “speaks
with one voice”. The authors have not even inserted the traditional
caveat that the views expressed are their own personal views. One can
therefore safely assume that the article represents the official view
of the military. The article raises (and attempts to answer) the
question: How much further will the TGS go?
Among the many interesting statements of the TGS position are the
following:
“None of the reforms the EU still requires of the Turkish
government
can be achieved without the military’s backing”. In other words,
the
TGS retains ultimate control and veto over Turkey’s foreign
policy.
“It remains to be seen how much further the Turkish military
leadership will be willing to retreat”, i.e. that is the
exclusive
privilege of the TGS to determine.
“The military fears that various lobbies can unduly influence
voters’
political choices … [and] is willing to tolerate these social
divisions only if [TGS] is tasked with monitoring them … but in
no
case can they [the social divisions] be allowed to undermine the
[TGS]. In plain language, the TGS does not believe in democratic
processes.
The article describes the various mechanisms used to prevent “the
officer class from being influenced by external ideologies that
could
upset the military’s homogeneous worldview”. “The result is a
singular, self-replicating class of generals, towering over an
institution with a single mindset”. This philosophy is a far shot
from
the European perspective of the role of armed forces, and is more
reminiscent of authoritarian regimes that Europe has experienced
in
the past.
After assuring that the TGS is in favour of EU membership, the
article
states that “Whatever resistance it (TGS) may have occasionally
displayed … has stemmed .. from .. a significant degree of mistrust
toward some EU policies”. In other words, while
assuring that the
TGS is in favour of membership of the EU, it mistrusts the EU
policies.
The article quotes as a “major [emphasis added] concession
by the
TGS”, a statement in its policy document from 2001, that the
country’s
citizens “should have their cultural and local linguistic
characteristics be considered as individual rights and freedoms”.
This
“major” concession is of course in line with the official ideology,
which does not recognise an obligation to respect and protect
minorities (except those three minorities recognised in the
Lausanne
Treaty of 1924), which is an essential element of the
accession
criteria.
The article predicts that the military may go along with further
“moderate progress … so long, that is, as those reforms do not
challenge its [TGS’] internal integrity or that of Turkey at
large. As
the country’s ultimate guardian, the military will carefully
balance
the EU’s demands for reforms, especially (emphasis added) those
regarding cultural diversity [read “the Kurdish problem”], with
national security”. This statement confirms that the TGS will not
give
up its self-determined role as the “ultimate guardian” and that
the
Kurdish problem is seen as the most precarious “red line”.
Finally, the article concludes that the EU “should not hasten to
ask
for the removal of the military’s remaining footholds in Turkish
civilian society … The TGS is likely to hold on to
the tools and
methods [sic!] it has long used to keep soldiers in line … [and]
will
not relinquish their proven methods until they are confident that
the
… institutions, policies, and, ultimately, the promises of the EU
are
viable”. So, we must conclude that the TGS will retain their
traditional hold on society as long as they wish.
One may safely assume that this article is representative of TGS
policy, and that the TGS will never negate its message. It reveals, in
a coherent manner, a military that has not wanted to understand what a
democratic society is. For the EU, it must be difficult to continue
negotiations with the Turkish Government, when it has been explained so
explicitly by the “ultimate guardian” of Turkey that the Government may
say what it wishes in the negotiations, but the decisions are at the
end of the day taken, not by the Government but by the military.
4. Concluding Remarks
The EUTCC believes that:
Considerable progress has been achieved by Turkey towards meeting
the Copenhagen criteria.
Much remains to be achieved, both in terms of
legislative reform, and particularly in implementation
It must be recognised by all actors involved that the problems of
achieving full compliance with the accession criteria are
enormous.
This is not merely a question of changing “hearts and minds”
within
the bureaucracy, or fine-tuning of the legislation, as some
believe.
The root of the problem is in the Turkish nationalistic
ideology,
sanctified in the existing Constitution, and providing the basis
for
the suppression of minorities and oppositional groups, in
particular
of the Kurdish people...
In order to achieve European standards and meet the accession
criteria, Turkey must shed the state ideology that has prevailed
for
almost 90 years, and replace it by a philosophy where cultural
plurality is seen as positive, not as threatening.
Uprooting the nationalistic ideology is no easy task, even if the
will
existed among the politicians, the judiciary and the military.
Unfortunately, so far there are few signs that this is understood in
Turkey.
At the political level, there is generally a will to comply with
the
Copenhagen criteria, but the main hurdle is the sensitive Kurdish
problem, itself a result of the nationalistic ideology.
Unfortunately, the Government does not yet have a realistic
picture of
the causes and magnitude of the problem, nor of the solutions that may
be found.
Furthermore, even in introducing moderate reforms, the Government
is
torn between the demands of the EU and the demands of the
nationalistic ideology, pronounced by the military and other
segments
of the “deep state”, including some of its own members and
voters.
The Progress Report indicates the EU itself does not consider the
Kurdish problem as a main political problem hindering compliance
with
the accession criteria. It blurs the primordial nature of this
problem, by referring to it as “the situation in the East and
Southeast”. The problem is not one of geography, nor even
primarily of
a “socio-economic nature”, but goes much deeper.
The Kurdish problem is primarily of a complex, political nature.
The
problem will not go away of its own. Nor can it be resolved
through
continued repression.A solution requires fundamental changes in
an
antiquated state ideology that has prevailed for more than 80
years.
The European experience and history have shown that ethnic or
nationalistic conflicts of a nature and gravity similar to the
Kurdish
problem have never been resolved with guns, but through dialogue
and
conciliation.
Whilst the reforms required for Turkey to comply with the
accession
criteria must continue at an accelerated pace, the EU must in
addition
encourage and insist that the underlying Kurdish problem must find
its
solution through a dialogue between the parties involved.
The EU should, within the framework of the accession
negotiations, act as an honest broker in fostering the dialogue.
Elements of such a process, should include:
A roadmap prepared by the EU, and agreed between the
parties involved
Benchmarking of the steps required,
A “Truth and Reconciliation” commission,
In the final stages of the process, a general amnesty for the
Kurdish guerrilla.
Altea, Spain, 11 February, 2005
Jon Rud
Secretary General
EU Turkey Civic Commission
Attentat à Istanbul: 1 mort, 15
blessés
Un homme de 21 ans blessé jeudi dans l'attaque à la bombe
visant un
café internet fréquenté par des agents de police
à Istanbul, a succombé
à ses blessures à l'hôpital, ce qui porte le bilan
de l'attentat à un
mort et 15 blessés, a rapporté l'agence Anatolie.
Un groupe armé kurde, les Faucons de la liberté du
Kurdistan (TAK) ont
revendiqué cet attentat qui a visé un café
situé dans le district de
Bayrampasa, sur la rive européenne de la ville.
Une personne qui a appelé l'agence de presse pro-kurde Firat
(FNA),
dont le siège est en Europe, a revendiqué l'attentat au
nom du TAK, a
rapporté l'agence sur son site internet.
L'explosion qui a soufflé les vitres des bâtiments
avoisinants est
survenue vers 14H00 (12H00 GMT). Des artificiers ont été
déployés dans
la zone pour rechercher les traces d'explosif.
Le café est situé à environ 100 mètres du
siège local de la police anti-émeutes.
La Turquie a connu une série d'attentats à la bombe
depuis juillet
dernier, dont plusieurs ont été attribués au TAK.
Le plus meurtrier
d'entre eux a fait cinq morts, dont deux touristes
étrangères, dans la
station balnéaire de Kusadasi, sur la côte de la mer
Egée. (AFP, 9
février 2006)
Pression
sur les médias / Pressure on the Media
Le prix
de la liberté de pensée Ayse Zarakolu attribué aux
éditeurs d'Info-Turk
La section d'Istanbul de
l'Association des droits de l'Homme de Turquie (IHD) a
décidé d'attribuer le
prix de la liberté de pensée Ayse Zarakolu aux
éditeurs d'Info-Türk,
Dogan Özgüden et Inci Tugsavul, ainsi qu'aux trois autres
défenseurs des droits de l'Homme, Zülküf Kisanak,
Seferi Yilmaz et Emin Karaca.
La cérémonie de remise du prix aura lieu
à Istanbul, le 8 mars 2006, à l'occasion de la Journée internationale de la
Femme.
Özgüden et Tugsavul ne pouvant pas entrer dans leur pays en
raison des
procédures légales, l'éditor et le
défenseur des droits de l'Homme
Ragip Zarakolu s'est rendu à Bruxelles le 24 février 2006
et a annoncé
la décision de l'IHD lors de la conférence de l'Échange international de la
liberté
d'expression (IFEX), tenue au Centre de la Presse
internationale à Bruxelles. Par après, il a remis leur
prix à Özgüden et Tugsavul.
Le
communiqué de
la Section d'Istanbul de l'Association des Droits de l'Homme de Turquie
Ayse Nur Zarakolu,
éditrice et co-fondatrice de notre
association, a été un défenseur ardent des droits
de l'Homme. Elle
prenait toujours une position nette et claire contre le militarisme et
contre les tabous définis par le système militariste
comme les "points rouges". A cause de cette prise de position, elle a
été jugée, emprisonnée et soumise à
des menaces multiples. Ainsi, elle est devenue une des personnes-phares
de la lutte pour la liberté de pensée et d'expression.
Même à l'époque où le mot Kurde était
interdit, elle n'a pas hésite à publier le livre du
sociologue Ismail Besikci, intitulé "Le Kurdistan, une colonie
inter-états." Elle a publié des oeuvres
révélant les souffrances et les problèmes des
minorités non-musulmanes. Elle a également
déclenché le débat sur la question de
"génocide arménien" qui demeure toujours un tabou.
Ayse a choisi ce qui est difficile. Depuis sa mort, nous, en tant que
section d'Istanbul de l'Association des droits de l'Homme, attribuons
un prix de "la liberté de pensée et d'expression" au nom
d'Ayse Zarakolu.
Cette année-ci encore, nous avons élu cinq personnes qui
choisissent ce qui est difficile, qui luttent depuis des années
contre le militarisme.
Aujourd'hui, quand on parle de la "liberté de pensée", il
nous revient à l'esprit l'article 301 du code pénal turc.
Adopté dans un point de vue raciste, cet article reconnaît
comme un crime l'insulte à l'identité turque alors qu'en
Turquie vivent des gens appartenant à diverses identités
ethniques. Pour être jugé selon cet article, il suffit de
parler des "points rouges".
Dogan Özgüden et Inci Özgüden-Tugsavul sont
deux journalistes qui luttent
depuis des années contre les coups d'état et les
politiques militaristes. Avec leur revue Ant, au nom de la gauche de
Turquie, ils ont toujours critiqué les tendances militaristes.
Avec l'agence Info-Türk
qu'ils ont fondée en exil, ils ont
mis en question plusieurs sujets considérés comme tabous
en Turquie. Ils ont pris une position claire contre
l'anti-sémitisme et ouvert un débat sur la question du
génocide arménien. Il y a toujours un mandat
d'arrêt contre Dogan Özgüden selon l'Article 301 en
raison des ses critiques à l'égard des
généraux putschistes.
Zülküf Kisanak a
été condamné selon cet
article à cause de son livre: "Villages perdus –
L'héritage des millenaires, comment ont-ils été
anéantis?"
Seferi Yilmaz, après
le sabotage des forces de
contre-guérilla contre une librairie à Semdinli, a
joué le rôle principal dans l'identification de ces
forces. Ainsi, il a encouragé ceux qui luttent pour une solution
pacifique à la question kurde.
Emin Karaca a
été arrêté à la suite
du coup d'état militaire de 1971. Après sa mise en
liberté en 1974, il a poursuivi ses activités de
journaliste. Il a été condamné pour une traduction
concernant le Gladio et le scandale de Susurluk. Il a toujours pris une
position nette au sujet de tabou arménien. Récemment, il
a été condamné selon l'Article 301 pour avoir
critiqué les généraux putschistes.
En tant que défenseurs des droits de l'Homme, nous
considérons prioritaire la lutte contre le militarisme et contre
les tabous qu'il a inventés. Les luttes dans ce domaine ne
doivent jamais être oubliées.
Nous sommes sûrs que si Ayse avait entendu les noms choisis pour
le prix attribué à son nom, elle se leverait et les
applaudirait de tout cœur.
La section d'Istanbul de
l'Association des Droits de l'Homme de Turquie
Dogan
Özgüden et Inci Tugsavul
Dogan Özgüden, 70 ans, a commencé le journalisme en
1952 à Izmir pendant ses études supérieures en
sciences économiques. Après avoir travaillé pour
les journaux Ege Günesi, Sabah
Postasi, Milliyet et
Öncü
à Izmir, Gece Postasi et Sosyal Adalet à Istanbul,
il a
été le rédacteur en chef et l'éditorialiste
du quotidien Aksam, le plus
grand quotidien de gauche (1964-66).
Inci Özgüden-Tugsavul, 65 ans, a commencé le
journalisme en 1961 à Ankara au quotidien Hür Vatan et
à l'hebdomadaire Kim
et a travaillé ensuite pour les
quotidiens Hareket (1962-63)
et Aksam (1963-66).
Ils ont fondé et dirigé la revue socialiste Ant et la
maison d'édition Ant
(1967-71). Ils ont été
inculpés dans plus de 50 procès d'opinion pour les
articles qu'ils ont écrits ou publiés. Menacés
d'un total de 300 ans de prison, ils ont dû quitter la Turquie
après le coup d'état militaire de 1971.
En Europe, ils ont organisé avec d'autres opposants en exil la
Résistance démocratique de Turquie afin de
mobiliser
l'opinion européenne contre le régime répressif de
la junte.
Depuis 1974, ils dirigent à Bruxelles l'agence de presse Info-Türk qui informe
l'opinion publique de la situation des
droits de l'Homme en Turquie (http://www.info-turk.be) et le centre
interculturel Ateliers du
Soleil (http://www.ateliersdusoleil.be).
Comme plus de 200 autres opposants du régime en exil, ils ont
été privés de la nationalité turque en 1982
en raison de leurs critiques vis-à-vis de la junte militaire.
Bien que cette décision ait été annulée dix
ans plus tard, le ministère des affaires
étrangères a toujours refusé de leur donner une
garantie écrite afin qu’ils ne soient ni inculpés
ni emprisonnés en cas de retour en raison des accusations
portées contre eux par le même ministère devant la
Commission européenne des droits de l'Homme.
Par contre, plus de trente ans après le coup d'état
militaire, la justice turque a inculpé Dogan Özgüden
pour avoir insulté les chefs de l'Armée suite à la
publication d'un article dans lequel il critiquait les
généraux putschistes. Le tribunal a envoyé un
mandat aux postes-frontières pour une arrestation
immédiate en cas de son retour en Turquie.
Un des anciens dirigeants de
l'Association des Journalistes (TGC), du
Syndicat des Journalistes (TGS) et du Conseil de l’ Ethique de la
Presse en Turquie (BSD), Dogan Özgüden est
actuellement
membre de l'Association des
Journalistes de Turquie (TGC), de l'Association des
Journalistes Professionnels de Belgique (AGJPB), du Centre bruxellois des actions
inter-culturelles (CBAI), de
la Ligue Belge des Droits de l'Homme (LDDH) et du Mouvement contre le
Racisme et de la Xénophobie (MRAX).
Il est l'auteur de plusieurs livres et études, notamment Sur le
fascisme (1965, Istanbul), Sur
le capitalisme (1966, Istanbul), Le
dossier sur la Turquie (1972, France), Turquie, fascisme et
résistance (1973, Pays-Bas; 2006, Belgique), Les médias
et les immigrés turcs (1983, Belgique), Portrait de
l'immigration turque (1984), Le
livre noir sur la "démocratie"
militariste en Turquie (1986), L'extrême-droite
en Turquie (1988).
Ancienne membre de l'Association des
Journalistes (TGC) et du Syndicat
des Journalistes (TGS), Inci Özgüden-Tugsavul est
actuellement membre de l'Association
de la Presse Internationale (API)
à Bruxelles. Elle est l'auteur de l'Introduction à la
musique classique (1965, Istanbul) et de La Femme turque (1991,
Bruxelles).
The Ayse Zarakolu Freedom of Thought Price attributed to Info-Turk editors
The Istanbul Section of the Human
Rights Association of Turkey (IHD) has decided to attribute the
Ayse Zarakolu Price for Freedom of
Thought (2006) to
Info-Turk editors Dogan
Özgüden and Inci
Tugsavul along
with three other human rights defenders, Zülküf Kisanak,
Seferi Yilmaz and Emin
Karaca. The price award ceremony will take place in Istanbul on
March 8, 2006, on the
occasion of the International Women
Day.
Since Özgüden and Tugsavul cannot enter their country because
of legal
proceedings, publisher and human rights defender Ragip Zarakolu came to
Brussels on February 24,
2006, and announced the IHD's decision at the International Freedom of Expression
eXchange (IFEX)
General Meeting held at the International Press Center. Later
on, he presented Özgüden and Tugsavul the price.
The
press release of the Istanbul Section of the Human Rights
Association of Turkey
Ayse Nur Zarakolu, publisher
and co-founder of our association, was a
determined defender of human rights. She always had a clear and net
standing against militarism and taboos defined as "red points" by
the militarist system. Because of this standing, she was tried,
imprisoned and subjected to various menaces. So, she became one of the
vanguards of the fight for the freedom of thought and expression.
Even at the time when the simple word "Kurd" was banned, she did not
hesitate to publish Sociologist Ismail Besikci's book entitled
"Kurdistan, an Inter-States Colony." She published the works revealing
the suffer and problems of the Non-Moslim minorities. She also started
debate on the question of "Armenian Genocide" which still remains as a
taboo in Turkey.
Ayse chose what is difficult, not the easy one. Since her death, as the
Istanbul Section of the Human Rights Association, we attribute
The Price of Freedom of Thought and Expression in the name of
Ayse Nur Zarakolu.
This year we elected five persons who choose what is difficult and
fight for years against militarism.
Today, when one speaks of "freedom of thought", Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code comes to mind. Adopted in a racist point of view,
this article privileges as a crime only the insult to the Turkish
identity while they are many people belonging to different ethnic
identities. To be tried under this article, it is enough to speak of
"red points."
Dogan Özgüden and Inci
Özgüden-Tugsavul are two journalists who fight for
many
years against military coups and militarist policies. With their review
Ant, they always criticized
the militarist tendencies in the name of
the left-wing movement of Turkey. With the Info-Türk Agency that
they founded in exile, they put in question many subjects considered
taboos in Turkey. They took a clear position against anti-semitism and
opened debate of the question of Armenian Genocide. Still there is
always an arrest warrant against Dogan Özgüden under Article
301 for having criticized putschist generals.
Zülküf Kisanak was
sentenced according to the same article
because of his book "Lost Villages – How the Heritage of
Thousands Years was Destroyed?"
Seferi Yilmaz, after the
sabotage of the counter-guerrila forces
against a bookshop in Semdinli, played the principal role in the
identification of these forces. So, he encouraged all those who
fight for a pacific solution to the Kurdish Question.
As for Emin Karaca, he
was arrested at the 1971 military coup.
After his release in 1974, he continued his journalist work. He was
condemned again because of an article that he translated on the Gladio
and the Susurluk Scandal. He keeps a net position on the subject
of Armenian taboo. Recently, he was sentenced under Article 301 for
having criticized putschist generals.
As the defenders of human rights, we consider vital the fight against
militarism and the taboos that it invented. The fights in this
field should never be forgotten.
We are sure that if Ayse had heard the names elected for the price in
her name, she would stand up and applaud them by all heart.
The Istanbul Section of the Human
Rights Association of Turkey
Dogan
Özgüden and Inci Tugsavul
Dogan Özgüden, 70, began journalism career in 1952 in Izmir.
After having worked at the newspapers Ege
Günesi, Sabah Postasi,
Milliyet and Öncü
in Izmir, Gece Postasi and Sosyal Adalet in
Istanbul, he directed as chief editor and main editorial writer of the
most important left-wing daily Aksam
(1964-66).
Inci Tugsavul-Özgüden, 65, began journalism career in 1961 in
Ankara at the daily Hür Vatan
and the weekly Kim, later
worked at
the dailies Hareket (1962-63)
and Aksam (1963-66).
They founded and directed the socialist
review Ant and the Ant
Publishing House (1967-71). Both were accused more than 50 times
of
having committed "crime of opinion" in the articles that they wrote or
published. Threatened by a total of more than 300-year imprisonment,
they had to leave Turkey after the military coup of 1971.
In Europe they organized the Democratic
Resistance of Turkey with other
opponents in exile in order to mobilize European public opinion against
the Junta’s repressive regime.
Since 1974, they edit in Brussels the Info-Turk
Agency which informs
the world opinion of the situation of human rights in Turkey
(http://www.info-turk.be) and lead the Sun Workshops (Ateliers du
Soleil), a multicultural permanent education organization
(http://www.ateliersdusoleil.be).
Along with more than 200 other opponents of the regime in exile, they
were deprived of their Turkish nationality in 1982 because of their
criticisms against the military junta. Although this decision was
annulled after ten years, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has declined to
give them a written guarantee that they would not be indicted or
imprisoned for the accusations that the same ministry communicated
earlier to the European Human Rights Commission.
On the contrary, more than 30 years after the military coup, Turkish
Justice indicted Dogan Özgüden for insulting army chiefs
because of his article criticizing putschist generals. The tribunal
ordered his arrest at the checkpoint if he returns to Turkey in order
to judge him.
One of the former leading members of the
Journalists' Association of
Turkey (TGC), the Journalists' Trade Union (TGS) and the Ethical
Council of the Press (BSD) in Turkey, Dogan Özgüden is
now a
member of the Association of
Professional Journalists of Belgium (AGJPB),
the Brussels Center of Intercultural Actions (CBAI), the Human Rights
League of Belgium (LDDH) and
the Movement Against
Racism and Xenophobia (MRAX).
He is author of many books and studies, mainly On Fascism (1965,
Istanbul), On Capitalism
(1966, Istanbul), File on Turkey
(1972,
France), Turkey, Fascism and
Resistance (1973, The Netherlands; 2006,
Belgium), Mass media and Turkish
Migrants (1983), The
Portrait of
Turkish Migration (1984), Black
Book on the Militarist "Democracy" in
Turkey (1986), Extreme Right
in Turkey (1988).
Former member of the Journalists'
Association of Turkey (TGC) and
the
Journalists' Trade Union (TGS ), Inci
Tugsavul-Özgüden
is now
member of the International Press
Association (API) in Brussels. She is
the author of the Introduction to
the Classical Music (1965, Istanbul)
and Turkish Women (1991,
Brussels).
Ouvrage
critiquant le kémalisme : la Turquie condamnée à
Strasbourg
La Turquie a été condamnée mardi par la Cour
européenne des droits de
l'homme (CEDH) pour avoir fait condamner l'auteur et l'éditeur
d'un
ouvrage critiquant le kémalisme.
La CEDH a jugé que la Turquie avait enfreint le droit à
la liberté
d'expression prévue par la Convention européenne des
droits de l'homme
en condamnant, en juin 1998, Yilmaz Odabasi à un an et six mois
de
prison et Niyazi Koçak à une amende pour diffamation
à la mémoire
d'Atatürk.
Il était reproché au premier d'avoir collecté une
série d'articles
critiquant le kémalisme, parus dans la presse de 1993 à
1996, et au
second d'avoir publié l'ouvrage.
Les condamnations avaient été confirmées par la
Cour de cassation turque en 1999.
La CEDH a estimé que les affirmations litigieuses "ne visaient
pas
directement et personnellement Atatürk mais l'idéologie
+kémaliste+" et
que les deux requérants s'étaient contentés de
"relater certains faits
sous la forme introductive, invitant le lecteur et plus
précisément la
gauche turque, à y répondre".
Estimant que les propos n'exhortaient ni "à la violence, ni
à la
résistance armée ni au soulèvement" et qu'il ne
n'agissait pas "d'un
discours de haine", la Cour a condamné la Turquie à
verser 6.000 EUR à
M. Odabasi et 2.450 EUR à M. Koçak pour dommage moral et
2.000 EUR à
chacun pour frais et dépens.
La Turquie a également été condamnée mardi
pour atteinte au droit à la
liberté d'expression dans une autre affaire impliquant le
président du
parti travailliste EMEP Abdullah Levent Tüzel. Ce dernier
s'était vu
refuser de poser des affiches dénonçant l'état
d'urgence en vigueur en
1999 dans la région de Diyarbakir. La CEDH a estimé que
cette
interdiction ne pouvait "être considérée comme
+nécessaire dans une
société démocratique+" et décidé
d'allouer 1.500 EUR au requérant pour
dommage moral. (AFP, 21 février 2006)
Article
301 Now Sentencing Unionists!
A Tunceli court has sentenced Hanefi Bekmezci, the head of the Tunceli
branch of the Union of Education and Science Workers (Egitim-Sen), to
six months in prison for "publicly insulting the military forces."
Bekmezci had made a statement about the murdered taxi-driver Hasan
Akdag and the developments that followed.
The court first reduced Bekmezci's prison sentence to five months due
to good conduct, then commuted it to a fine of 3,000 new Turkish liras
(USD 2,300).
Bekmezci told bianet he would appeal the decision through his lawyer
Baris Yildirim. He added he would take the case to the European Court
of Human Rights if necessary.
Two weeks ago, the same court had sentenced Huseyin Ser, the manager of
the headquarters of Energy, Industry and Mine Workers Union (ESM) to
six months in prison.
Ser had received the prison sentence for reading the press statement,
prepared by the Labor and Democracy Platform, on the postponement of
the 6th Munzur Culture and Nature Festival. His prison sentence had
also been commuted to a fine of 3,000 new Turkish liras.
A new case has been opened against Bekmezci for "publicly insulting the
state" by reading a joint press statements about exile of 12 public
workers from Tunceli. He will stand trial on February 28. (BIA, Erol
ONDEROGLU, February 17, 2005)
The number of the imprisoned journalists rose to 10
Two cprrespondents of the Dicle New Agency, Nesrin Yazar and Evrim
Dengiz, were arrested when they were following the protests of 15
February in the district of Akdeniz, Mersin were arrested.
The vehicle of Yazar and Dengiz who had gone to a place for news at
night at 19:30 was stopped by polices in the desolate place in the road
of Hal by polices from Mersin Security Directorate. Dengiz, Yazar and
the driver got off the car by directing guns on them by civil polices
and had been taken to far point from the vehicle and had been searched.
Dengiz and Yazar were taken to the Branch of Struggle against Terrorism
in Mersin Security Directorate on the claim that there were found
molotov cocktails in polyster bag in the vehicle.
Dengiz and Yazar who were held under custody for two days were brought
before Mersin Republic Office of Public Prosecutor in noon. They were
dispatched to judge without their statement was taken in the office of
public prosecutor.
After the long process of taking statement Dengiz and Yazar were
arrested on charges of "attempting to divide by violence the territory
under the sovereignity of the state" and sent to Mersin E type close
prison.
Yazar and Dengiz stated that they were sent away from the vehicle
during the personal search and the police had put molotov cocktails
during this time.
Nesrin Yazar who had worked in Mersin for one year was teased and
threatened by police last year for making news about Umit Gonultas who
was killed in the protest of 15 February.
The Platform of Solidarity With Imprisoned Journalists (TGDP), on
February 18, 2006, issued a communique denouncing the unlawful arrest
of the two journalists.
The organization has also announced the following updated list of the
imprisoned journalists by February 18, 2006:
1- Memik Horuz, Journal Isci-Köylü, Bolu F-type Prison
2- Erol Zavar, Journal Odak, Sincan F-type Prison
3- Gülizar Kesici, Journal Ekmek ve Adalet, Gebze Special Type
Prison
4- Hatice Duman, Journal Atilim, Gebze Special Type Prison
5- Metin Yavuz, Journal Yasadigimiz Vatan, Tekirdag F-type Prison
6- Mehmet Yayla, Journal Gençlik Gelecektir, Kandira F-type
Prison N°2
7- Mustafa Gök, Journal Ekmek ve Adalet, Sincan F-type Prison
8- Cengiz Dogan, Mavi and Kent journals, Mardin E-type prison.
9- Evrim Dengiz, Dicle News Agency, Mersin E-type Prison
10- Nesrin Yazar, Dicle News Agency, Mersin E-type Prison
(DIHA-TGDP, February 18, 2006)
RSF réagit
contre l'agression d'une journaliste lors d'une manifestation
islamiste
Reporters sans frontières est choquée par le traitement
infligé à Aliye Cetinkaya, du quotidien Sabah (Le Matin),
lors d'une manifestation de protestation contre la publication des
caricatures de Mahomet en Europe, organisée dans la ville de
Konya (centre du pays) le 10 février 2006. Un groupe de trente
personnes s'est détaché de la foule pour s'en prendre
à la journaliste qui couvrait le rassemblement.
Sous prétexte qu'elle n'était pas couverte d'un foulard,
qu'elle portait un pantalon et mâchait un chewing-gum, ils lui
ont jeté leurs chaussures et des pierres, et l'ont
traitée de « traînée ». Les forces de
l'ordre, qui encadraient la manifestation, n'ont pas daigné
réagir face à ces violences et Aliye Cetinkaya a dû
être évacuée par des confrères
présents sur place.
« Il est scandaleux que les forces de l'ordre n'aient pas
réagi pour protéger la journaliste qui aurait pu
être sérieusement blessée. Cet acte
décrédibilise les forces de police, dont on pourrait
croire qu'elles ont laissé faire et pris partie pour la foule.
Les autorités doivent faire toute la lumière sur leur
responsabilité dans cette affaire », a
déclaré Reporters sans frontières.
La journaliste a porté plainte le 13 février et le
Parquet de Konya a ouvert une enquête judiciaire. Les coupables
ont été identifiés grâce aux images
enregistrées par la police et devraient être poursuivis en
justice. Quatre organisations turques de défense des
journalistes ont vivement protesté contre son agression et
alerté les pouvoirs publics pour leur demander des comptes.
Ironie du sort, Aliye Cetinkaya fait elle-même l'objet d'une
plainte déposée le 13 février par une organisation
islamiste qui avait participé à la manifestation contre
les caricatures.
L'Association de formation,
