Droits de l'Homme / Human Rights

La loi antiterroriste durcie malgré les protestations

Le Parlement turc a adopté jeudi une nouvelle loi antiterroriste élargissant l'éventail des crimes susceptibles d'être qualifiés d'actes terroristes et introduisant des restrictions supplémentaires à l'activité des médias.

Passant outre aux objections des organisations de défense des droits de l'Homme, le gouvernement a proposé cette loi à la suite de la recrudescence des violences imputées au Parti des Travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK - séparatiste) une organisation classée comme terroriste par Ankara, les Etats-Unis et l'Union européenne.

Cette nouvelle loi considère comme actes terroristes de nombreux délits ou crimes qui vont du trafic de drogue au détournement de moyens de transport en passant par le trafic des êtres humains.

Cette proposition de loi a été critiquée par la presse qui y voit un retour en arrière par rapport aux réformes démocratiques engagées depuis plusieurs années dans le but de faciliter l'accès de la Turquie à l'UE.

"Nous ne pouvons certes pas sacrifier les libertés à l'ordre public mais nous ne pouvons pas non plus entraîner le pays dans le chaos au nom de la liberté", a justifié le ministre turc de la Justice, Cemil Cicek, lors d'un débat au Parlement.

Il a assuré que le gouvernement veillait au respect des droits de l'Homme et des libertés de la presse, et il a mis en garde les autorités judiciaires et policières contre une interprétation restrictive de la nouvelle loi.

La loi, qui doit encore être signée par le Président de la République pour entrer en vigueur, prévoit des peines d'un à trois ans de prison pour ceux qui seraient responsables de la publication de communiqués émanant d'organisations terroristes.

Des peines analogues sont prévues pour ceux qui seraient convaincus de propagande en faveur des groupes terroristes. Ces peines peuvent être accrues de moitié si le responsable du délit est un organe de presse.

La loi prévoit de lourdes amendes pour les propriétaires ou directeurs de publications ayant commis ces crimes ou délits et donne aux juges et aux procureurs le pouvoir de suspendre ces publications.

Selon cette loi des peines de prison, pouvant aller jusqu'à trois ans, sont prévues pour des actes de "propagande" en faveur des groupes terroristes.

Ces peines s'appliquent également aux porteurs d'emblèmes ou d'uniformes appartenant aux groupes mis hors la loi au cours de manifestations.

En vertu de la nouvelle loi, le financement d'un groupe terroriste est punissable de cinq ans de prison et de sept ans et demi s'il s'agit de fonctionnaires.

Les personnes suspectées de terrorisme peuvent être privées d'accès à un avocat pendant les premières 24 heures de leur détention.

Enfin, la nouvelle loi autorise les forces de sécurité à faire usage de leurs armes contre les suspects qui refuseraient d'obtempérer au cours d'une opération de sécurité. (AFP, 29 juin 2006)

Trade Unionists Still Under Arrest After 19 Days

Despite 19 days passing since their arrest while trying to file a criminal complaint against the police for using disproportional force on union members during a press statement, dockyard union executives Cem Dinc and Kamber Saygili are still being held at the Istanbul Kartal prison.

Attorney Serap Akkilic told bianet on Thursday that the Tuzla Court of First Instance had rejected their appeal for Port, Dockyard, Ship Building-Repairs Workers Union (LIMTER-IS) Chairman Dinc and Education Expert Saygili to be released, but without listing any reason for the continuing condition of arrest.

LIMTER-IS union officials said, meanwhile, that the unionists under arrest had started a hunger strike in prison on June 28 and would continue their action until July 3.

However, the first hearing of the unionists has been listed for 17 after the end of their hunger strike and is to be held on July 20. Akkilic argues that their being remanded in custody is �totally against the law� and says, �the employers are using their weight to break the actions of the workers�.

The Union itself has launched a �Freedom for Arrested Unionists� campaign. LIMTER-IS continues to collect signatures asking for the release of the unionists to send a mass petition to the Minister of Justice Cemil Cicek. Its first move in Istanbul is a June 30 press conference held in front of the provincial Governor�s Office.

The two union executives were arrested 19 days ago on the pretext of "resisting the police" after being detained while on their way to file a complaint against the police force for beating them two days before.

They were trying to file a complaint against a previous police attack on union members on June 10, Friday, where both Saygili and Dinc were singled out from among a group of union members and beaten by officers. Dinc was injured in the head. (BIA News Center, Tolga KORKUT, June 29, 2006)

TAYAD Faces New Lynch Attempt in Trabzon

Members of Turkey's Solidarity Association of Prisoners' Families (TAYAD) were attacked by an angry crowd in a central park in the Black Sea town of Trabzon on Sunday while attempting to read out a press statement protesting conditions in the enhanced security F-type prisons.

The mob, numbering around 500, used fists and broken legs from chairs and tables to assault the TAYAD members in what the national media has dubbed as "a new lynch attempt" in recollection of a similar incident in April where 5 TAYAD members were nearly lynched.

The TAYAD group, fearing for their lives, sought temporary shelter under police protection in the public toilets of the Meydan Park and had to be forced out afterwards by policemen to board an armoured vehicle that took them to the Trabzon police centre.

The nine TAYAD members attacked in the park were held by police until late hours of Sunday night and released only after their statements were taken by Republic Prosecutor Erdogan Aktas.

Previous Lynch Attempt

On April 6 this year, 5 members of TAYAD in Trabzon distributing a leaflet about the isolation and hunger strikes in prisons were nearly lynched by a crowd consisting of nationalists.

The events then were sparked off when several people, alleged later to be plainclothes policemen by leftwing activists, shouted out in the town that the group had "burned the Turkish flag" and were "members of the PKK".

Shortly after, local televisions carried the news that a Turkish flag had been burned down in the town bringing together a over a thousand people who attacked the TAYAD group which escaped from the beating by seeking shelter in a business center that was surrounded by the crowd.

The TAYAD members were then escorted out by the police and placed under custody after which five were arrested.

A subsequent attack occurred on April 11 when TAYAD members from different cities tried to make a press statement in the town center protesting the previous incident.

"Police Watch, Beath and Attack in Trabzon "

Onur Uzun, one of the victims of Sunday's attack in Trabzon on a group of human rights activists reading a press statement against conditions in Turkish prisons, has charged that the police were not only negligent as the incident progressed into violence but later forced them into public toilets where officers physically assaulted and pepper-gassed him and other members of the group.

Uzun was among a small group of local human rights activists reading out a press statement as part of Turkey's Solidarity Association of Prisoners' Families (TAYAD) ongoing campaign to protest conditions in the enhanced security F-type prisons when they were attacked by an angry crowd in a central park in the town.

The mob, numbering around 500, used fists and broken legs from chairs and tables to assault the group in what the national media immediately dubbed as "a new lynch attempt" in recollection of a similar incident in April where 5 TAYAD members were nearly lynched.

Uzun told bianet after the incident that while non of the attackers had been apprehended by the police, a criminal complaint was lodged instead against victims of the attack for allegedly violating the "Meetings and Demonstration Rallies Law".

"This was all organised and planned" he said, adding that further to their grief, he and others injured during the incident were denied medical treatment while under detention.

In an exclusive interview with bianet, Istanbul Bar Association attorney Ergin Cinmen said the prosecution needed to act and automatically open an investigation both against the police and the attackers based on video recordings showing how the incident took place.

Uzun: They attacked us on the third statement

Uzun explained that the Trabzon Fundamental Rights and Freedoms Association was reading out press statements against the isolation conditions in F-type prisons every two weeks on behalf of TAYAD. Sunday's was the third statement made at the same location, in the Trabzon Meydan Park at the Ataturk field, under the same placard.

Just after the statement was read out and the group shouted three slogans, they were verbally attacked by a 40 year old plainclothes person who claimed they were responsible for "noise pollution" due to the slogans. Although the group told bystanders that their action was over and they would be leaving, verbal abuse continued as the crowd around them grew.

"Just at this point," Uzun said, "someone in a red shirt struck me hard. I couldn't see, but I saw it [later] on TV. While on the ground I was struck a couple of times and I tried to defend myself when I stood up".

According to Uzun, Emra Kavu t of the same organisation was hit once and fell to the ground unconscious too and needed to be carried.

"With the police shoving us that way, we ended up in a certain part of the park" Uzun said.

"Police surrounded us, didn't intervene"

Uzun continued "At this location while we were in a police cordon attacks against us continued. The police were allowing this. About 9-10 people were inside this cordon but the police were doing nothing to disperse the attackers. The attack grew more aggressive and the number of observers increased".

"Beating in toilet, pepper gas used"

"Later the police forced us into the public toilets of the park. A bit later even though the attackers were still there and had not been dispersed, they told us they had made it safe for us and that we'd be taken away in a police vehicle.

"We told them we were not safe and that we did not want to go on a police vehicle. After this we were confronted with pepper gas, kicks and slaps. When we came out of the toilets a superintendent said in front of cameras 'don't hit them any more'. They hauled us into an armoured vehicle.

"Charged and denied medical treatment"

According to Uzun, the group was then taken to the town security directorate where they were held under custody for approximately two hours until the police chief and prosecutor arrived. "We gave our statements to the prosecutor," he said. "We were accused of violating the Meetings and Demonstration Rallies Law. We too make a criminal complaint against the police and the attackers".

Uzun said that both before the detention and after being released from custody they were taken to the Trabzon Numune Hospital but did not receive any genuine attention.

"On both occasions all they did was glance at us and write a report. Something like a record. One of our friends had two stitches. Even though I requested, they neither gave me painkillers nor placed me under observation. Until now I have had no medical intervention. And we don't have a copy of the document the doctor prepared either."

"6 April was organised, so is this"

Uzun believes that the recent incident is similar to a previous lynch attempt of human rights activists in April last year and that the attack itself was premeditated and organised.

"What we lived through... was organised. Just as it was on April 6, 2005. It was a joint organisation by civilians and officials. It was not coincidence. It was a planned attack. The target is to prevent the statements".

According to Uzun " in Trabzon there is a police chief that says 'thank you' to those attempting lynch. TAYAD disclosed that 11 people were used in the incidents last year and withdrew its complaint but a public prosecution continues"
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Uzun believes that Trabzon does not have an aggressive potential itself and that violence, when it happens, is generally in its most violent form while at other times waiting silently.

On April 6 last year, 5 members of TAYAD in Trabzon distributing a leaflet about the isolation and hunger strikes in prisons were nearly lynched by a crowd consisting of nationalists.

The events then were sparked off when several people, alleged later to be plainclothes policemen by leftwing activists, shouted out in the town that the group had "burned the Turkish flag" and were "members of the PKK".

Shortly after, local televisions carried the news that a Turkish flag had been burned down in the town bringing together a over a thousand people who attacked the TAYAD group which escaped from the beating by seeking shelter in a business center that was surrounded by the crowd.

The TAYAD members were then escorted out by the police and placed under custody after which five were arrested. A subsequent attack occurred on April 11 when TAYAD members from different cities tried to make a press statement in the town center protesting the previous incident.

Cinmen: Security forces discriminate against demonstrators

Lawyer Cinmen believes the recent incident "is a lynch attempt again".

According to him, "security forces unfortunately don't take efficient measures in such incidents. This is not just an issue for Trabzon. They did not intervene in attackers during trials on freedom of opinion either."  "Security forces are acting according to the opinion of the demonstrator. But if they continue to remain passive in such situations, there could be grave results.  (BIA News Center , Tolga Korkut, June 28, 2006)

113 Torture applications to TIHV in the first 5 months of 2006

Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) chairman Yavuz Onen has said that torture remains to be a systematic fact in Turkey and that "everyone from any gender, any age, any profession can be tortured with or without being charged with an offence".

In a speech he made marking the World Solidarity Day for Those Tortured, Onen said the reason torture was so wide spread and continuous was that "persons committing torture are protected by authorities in many countries and left unpunished".

Onen said that even in the applications made to TIHV, it had been determined that 113 people had been subjected to torture in the first five months of 2006 and disclosed further details on human rights violations documented by the Foundation.

* A total of 10 thousand 449 people applied to TIHV and were medically treated between the years 1990-2005 because they were tortured or mistreated.

* 193 of the 675 people who applied to TIHV in 2005 were tortured while 113 of 165 people who applied in the first five months of 2006 were tortured.

* According to data at the TIHV Documentation Center, 5 people died in custody in 2005.

* TIHV has determined that at least 7 people died in prison.

"Torture cannot be prevented by law, proper enforcement required"

Onen said that ratification of international conventions or passing some laws and regulations in the national justice system were not enough to prevent torture and stressed that the content of conventions and laws had to be enforced properly. He said legal, judicial, administrative and educational measures were needed to prevent torture and listed a number of improvement points that would add to preventative measures.

Prosecutors should act automatically: A complaint should not be expected to start an investigation into claims of torture and mistreatment. Where there is sufficient suspicion on this issue, the investigation should start automatically.

A judicial police force should be formed: A judicial police force should be formed and work directly under the authority and employ of the Republic Prosecutor.

The Istanbul Protocol should be enforced: For the physical and mental marks of torture to be determined, the United Nations approved Istanbul Protocol procedures should be enforced for victims of torture.

Turkey should ratify the Supplemental Protocol of the Convention to Prevent Torture: Turkey should ratify and enforce the UN Convention to Prevent Torture Supplemental Protocol that allows for developing effective control mechanisms that have a great role in preventing torture.

Legislation allowing no punishment should be amended: All laws, circulars and regulations that lead to no punishment should be reviewed and changed in entirety and coherently.

The TMY should be withdrawn: The Anti-Terror Law should be withdrawn.

Education and Monitoring: In order for the legal improvements to be enforced, the enforcers should be given the necessary education and training, effective monitoring should be established.

Mechanisms of No Punishment

Onen, identifying the failure of punishing torturers as a major problem in torture becoming a systematic concept, listed "mechanisms" that led to failure of punishing the culprits.

Investigation Process: The habit of carrying out preparatory investigations related to torture allegations by the police force continued. During the investigation the police force most times does not carry out the necessary procedures, does not collect evidence. Prosecutors generally do not pay attention to the torture claims or the evidence in the file, during proceedings and other than this, want written applications.

Courts: During the trials when courts come across a torture claim or discovery, they are ignorant of the incident. They do not feel the need to make a criminal complaint to the prosecutor related to torture. This situation means the torturers go unpunished.

Legal aid to police officials suspected of torture: Legal assistance provided to security officials charged with the offence of torture plays the role of encouraging no punishment. This aid has even been expanded in the TMY draft to include attorneys that the officers themselves will select. The draft also brings to officers involved in the fight against terrorism, the guarantee of being tried on bail.

ECHR fines cannot be collected: Justice Minister Cemil Cicek recently replied to a written motion saying that the Treasury was not able to collect compensation that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) sentences required for torture and mistreatment crimes and had to pay 750 thousand YTL. This means that the torturers are not being punished.

Long duration trials: Trials that are extended over a long time are another reason for torture offenders not being punished with judicial officials not fulfilling their responsibilities in enforcing and interpreting the legislation.

Amnesty of records to add to no punishment: The "Law related to the Amnesty of Some Disciplinary Sentences of Civil Employees and Other Public Service Employees" passed by Parliament on June 22 will contribute to torture being unpunished. With this adjustment, all penalties bar "discharge from profession" due to torture relating to police officers have been pardoned. The small number of security personnel that have been punished will be pardoned with this adjustment.

Medical Reports: Medical reports to determine and document torture can still be defective, insufficient or wrong. This is another concept of going unpunished. To prove torture claims, mental diagnosis is as important as physical diagnosis. Medical personnel preparing reports are not sufficiently trained or equipped to determine the physical and mental marks of torture.

Medical personnel are attached to ministries: The fact that medical personnel authorised to examine persons before and after detention or during their delivery to prison work either under the Ministry of Interior or Justice is a great obstacle in their ability to function without any pressure in an objective and scientific way.

Council of Forensic Medicine is not independent: The Council of Forensic Medicine is not autonomous or independent which plays a role in harming its reliability. Where torture suspects are state officials, it becomes difficult to document the crime. Medical personnel that need to document findings of torture can face as much pressure from the authorities as they do from the police force and can be threatened. This leads to torture findings not being documented and indirectly for the offenders to go unpunished.  (BIA News Center , Tolga Korkut, June 28, 2006)

Détenus entravés pendant une grève de la faim: Ankara condamné à Strasbourg

La Cour Européenne des droits de l'homme (CEDH) a condamné mardi la Turquie, estimant que le fait d'attacher à leur lit d'hôpital quatre détenus en grève de la faim qui avaient perdu conscience constituait un "traitement inhumain".

Les quatre détenus, dont deux sont aujourd'hui décédés, avaient entamé une grève de la faim en septembre 2000 pour protester contre un projet de mise en place d'un nouveau type d'établissements pénitentiaires.

Ils avaient alors été entravés par une chaîne longue d'un mètre, reliant l'une de leurs chevilles au montant du lit d'hôpital, en dépit d'une plainte déposée par leurs avocats. Ils avaient finalement été remis en liberté en 2001 après avoir bénéficié de sursis à exécution de leurs peines.

"Compte tenu de l'état de santé des intéressés et de l'absence réaliste d'un risque de fuite, la Cour estime que la mesure d'entrave était disproportionnée au regard des nécessités de sécurité" et violait donc l'article 3 de la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme interdisant les traitements inhumains.

La Cour de Strasbourg a également condamné la Turquie pour une violation de l'article 13 (droit à un recours effectif) en raison du refus d'ouvrir une enquête à l'encontre des gendarmes de l'établissement pénitentiaire qui avaient fait une "utilisation abusive de menottes".

Elle a décidé d'allouer 1.000 EUR pour dommage moral à chacun des deux requérants survivants ainsi qu'aux héritiers des deux décédés. (AFP, 27 juin 2006)

Thousands Rally in Istanbul Against Discrimination

The Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) has held a "Let's Defend Living Together" rally in Istanbul's Kadikoy district to voice reaction to increasing intolerance towards people of different origin in the country and stress that cultural and social diversity is a wealth for Turkey.

Approximately 6,000 people attended the meeting with party members arriving from all parts of Turkey. Starting at the square in front of the Haydarpasa Numune Hospital, thousands marched to the Kadikoy Port Square shouting slogans "We are here, we defend living together", "Don't be silent, shout, the people are brothers" and "There is no freedom alone, either all of us or non of us".

Bulent Aydin and artist Zeynep Tanbay who presented the meeting reacted to those saying "Either love it or leave it " and telling those wearing a turban "go to Arabia" by saying "we are going no where and we are standing up in front of them because we defend living together. We have not a single citizen to post anywhere else. We defend not compulsory citizenship but voluntary citizenship".

Addressing the crowd during the meeting, author Adalet Agaoglu said "We have multiplied to this extent by showing solidarity on the path to democracy and freedom. This success is the result of belief and the truth is here in this square".

Noting that the social diversity in Turkey was more colourful than anywhere else in the world, Agaoglu added, "Difference and diversity is good. This brings freedom and democracy together with it".

ODP Chairman Hayri Kozanoglu said in his speech that "as the Kurd, Turk, Laz, Circassian, Armenian we are different, we are together. We cover our heads, we have open hair, we have short skits, we have ear rings, we are different but we are all together. ODP members coming from Hopa, Diyarbakir, Adana and Mersin" we are all different but we are together".

Stressing the need for more freedom and democracy in Turkey, Kozanoglu said "We do not want a Turkey where they keep on reheating the Anti-Terror Law and serving it to us". He called for the government to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem.

Kozanoglu said that everyone in Turkey including those on the mountains should be given the chance to participate in social life and reacted to children being involved in the Kurdish problem. "Leave them alone so children can live their childhood" her said. He also defended that everyone, including those who hold ranks, should be tried. (BIA News Center, June 26, 2006)

Doctors Elect Rights Activist Gencay Gürsoy for President

Turkish Physicians Association (TTB) "Active Democratic TTB Group" candidate and Istanbul Chamber of Phiyscicans former chairman Prof. Dr. Gencay Gursoy has emerged as victor of this weekend's general assembly elections of the association where his group scored a major success.

Doctors went to the ballot boxes on Sunday for the 54th General Assembly election of the TTB delayed for years in wait of the Parliament's passing of TTB Law article 60 regulating the association's elections after it was revoked by the Constitutional Court in 2002.

The "Active Democratic TTB Group" and the "National Doctors Solidarity" groups contested in the elections of the June 24-25 General Assembly held at the Ankara University Faculty of Medicine Morphology Building. The Ethnic Democratic TTB Group surfaced as victor of all chairmanship and council elections.

In the elections for the central boards, 415 delegates cast ballots and Ethnic Democratic TTB Group candidate Gursoy received 249 votes while National Doctors Solidarity group candidate and former Culture Minister and Democratic Left Party member Suat Caglayan received 181 votes.

Accordingly, Sinan Adiyaman, Altan Ayaz, Muharrem Baytemur, Hulya Biriken, Ali Cerkezoglu, Gencay Gursoy, Necdet İpekyuz, Erkan Kapakli, Orhan Odabasi, İskender Sayek and Mustafa Vatansever were elected as TTB central council members.

Naki Bulut, Orhan Erdinc, Sebnem Korur Fincanci, Hakan Giritlioglu, Bahar Gokler, Sukru Guner, Selim Olcer, Faik Urbarli and Sefik Zan were named as members of the Supreme Honorary Board while Ersin Cagirgan, Yasar Ulutas and Bulent Nazim Yilmaz were elected as members of the Auditing Board. The TTB Central Council will distribute duties and name new officers in the coming days.

TTB deputy chairman Metin Bakkalci read out a written message sent to the General Assembly by TTB's outgoing chairman Fusun Sayek who could not attend the event due to medical reasons.

"I am sorry for not being among you. But my heart beats together with your honorable struggle" the message said.

Gencay Gursoy, in his speech, said "we will try to bridge the gap in dialogue with the Ministry of Health. There will not be a TTB that submits to the Ankara bureaucracy". (BIA News Center, june 26, 2006)

IHD Chair Faces 4.5 Years Jail for "Speech"

Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakir Branch Chair Selahattin Demirtas appeared at court this week charged with carrying out "propaganda for an outlawed organization" in remarks he made on a program aired by the pro-Kurdish Roj TV.

On June 21, Wednesday, the prosecutor at the 5th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakir demanded from 1.5 to 4.5 years imprisonment for Demirtas under article 220 of the new Penal Code and for him to be banned from public rights and association leadership.

The hearing was adjourned to September 19, 2006, for Demirtas to be given time to prepare his defence.

The IHD Diyarbakir Branch said the case was a form of repression of the association and forces of democracy while it was a serious obstacle in front of the freedom of expression.

"Our branch chairman said that [imprisoned PKK leader] Abdullah Ocalan's statement were still being paid heed to by KONGRA-GEL and the Kurds, and that because of this Ocalan could play an important role in ending the clashes and creating a final and lasting peace, but that could only be achieved with him being allowed to meet with his attorneys and family, that the isolation on Ocalan should be lifted."

IHD Branch secretary Ali Akinci told bianet that more than 70 investigations and cases had so far been launched against Demirtas and stressed that the Human Rights Association which fought for human rights was an association whose rights were most violated.

The case against Demirtas for his speech on Roj-TV comes in the wake of an indictment filed against 56 mayors of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) on charges of assisting the PKK through their actions.

The 56 mayors face up to 10 years imprisonment each if found guilty for a letter they sent collectively to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen where they requested that country not to yield to Turkish pressure and close down Roj-TV.

The indictment prepared by the Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor's Office claimed Roj-TV carried out organizational propaganda and that the December 21, 2005, dated letter of the mayors was a violation of the law serving the interests of an outlawed organization.

In their letter to Rasmussen the mayors said ''the voice of ROJ TV should not be silenced for a real democracy in Turkey. This is the common and sincere request of our people, whom we represent at the level of local government. The abolition of this voice will mean the lost of basic freedoms for democracy, human rights and the struggle for a democratic society''.

Pro-Kurdish activists claim that in addition to the mayors' letter more than 7,000 letters have been sent out by ROJ-TV supporters to Danish authorities asking for them to allow the station to stay open. (BIA, June 23, 2006)

The Bar Associations' Union lambastes anti-terror bill

The Union of Bar Associations of Turkey (TBB), a fierce opponent of the government-initiated anti-terror bill, is preparing to release a report on terrorism in Turkey highly critical of the bill.

The TBB will today release its report, in which it points out weaknesses within the bill and puts forth a list of suggestions, at a terrorism summit to be held in Istanbul, where the association will host its European counterpart, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE).

The association initially praises the idea behind the bill currently being debated by a parliament commission, saying such regulations should be implemented immediately to provide a new and appropriate strategy to combat terrorism. The TBB report, however, says that the bill contains an array of threats to individual freedoms and freedom of the press, a criticism that media groups have been raising for months.

The TBB report also criticizes the bill for oblique and ambiguous wording, which, according to the association, poses a great threat to ordinary citizens and suspects detained on charges unrelated to terrorism. "The bill expands the definition of terrorism, thereby causing several charges such as prostitution, burglary, sexual abuse of children to fall under terrorism crimes, which should be dealt with separately," says the report.

Touching on the debate over Article 221 of the revised Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which stipulates an amnesty or reduced penalties for members and founders of terrorist groups in certain circumstances, the TTB report says that the bill includes controversial regulations for the benefit of founders of fundamentalist Islamist organizations, also giving warnings about possible political consequences.

The bill, which is currently under the scrutiny of a subcommission established by ruling party deputies in Parliament's Justice Commission, distinguishes between armed and unarmed organizations and prescribes for the founders of the latter kind of criminal groups different and lighter penal articles. A regulation that was announced on Tuesday, contrary to the wishes of the military, is claimed to have been designed to benefit Fethullah Gulen, the leader of an Islamic order with great political influence who was recently acquitted under the revised TCK.

According to the report, the bill also lacks serious measures to combat terrorism such as the implementation of effective sanctions against international financial networks that support terrorist organizations.

The report says that an amendment to Article 8 of the current Anti-Terror Law meant to prevent financial support for terror fails to deliver measures to cut the links between terrorist groups and financial circles. "It cannot impede relations between criminal gangs and terrorist groups either," says the report.

Also criticizing the bill for failing to display strong political determination to combat terrorism, the TBB report says that the government should introduce a national strategy encompassing both ordinary people and all state institutions.

Citing past experiences and suggestions from the military and the state on the fight against terrorism, the association suggests the formulation of a strong state policy free from political influence while underlining the need for a comprehensive strategy to cover legal, economic and social aspects of the problem as well as the military dimension.

"The battle is too all-encompassing and important to leave to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), but the state should also use the media and the people as well as business circles in the fight against terrorism," suggests the report. It also adds that foreign policy and domestic security strategies should be harmonized with anti-terror policy.

"It's clear that a state combating terrorism cannot be a champion of human rights at the same time," says the report, but stresses that the state's anti-terror program should balance concerns of security and democracy and not let them fall behind basic standards.

The report also calls for the preparation of a legal procedure system specifically for crimes of terrorism that should be preventative and at the same time in line with modern human rights standards. The state's judicial and administrative system as well as security organizations should also be changed and equipped to enable an effective response to the threat of terrorism, stresses the report.

The report also warns that the global situation will not allow the country to be free of terrorism and says that legal structures and established institutions should not be wound down after the immediate threat is overcome.

The TTB report also spotlights past and current terrorist organizations active in Turkey.

Highlighting the international financial and logistical support given to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the report accuses the U.S. and its allies in Iraq of backing and using the group as an easily employable threat against Turkey.

The report also claims that U.S. interests in the Middle East necessitate a faithful ally in the region, which, according to the association, would be a Kurdish state that would also keep Turkey in check through triggering ethnic separatist terrorism in the region.

Devoting a detailed chapter to radical Islamist terrorism in Turkey, the report spotlights the political arena, saying that the country has faced several political parties that were supported by fundamentalist Islamist masses.

"When these kinds of political parties have assumed power, certain factions in these parties have attempted to cut back the state's fight against Islamist terrorism, allowing illegal organizations to find ways to infiltrate the state system," says the report, stressing that the primary aim of those groups is to change the secular state system.

The report also claims that many radical Islamist organizations are still active in the country and that they are supported by international terrorist groups.

"Turkey is passing through a period when certain political Islamist groups might find the opportunity to question the country's republican ideology, and they see themselves as being on a mission to replace the system," the report says. (The New Anatolian, Cem Ceren, June 22, 2006)

Anti-terror plan invites torture, says Human Rights Watch

Turkey's plans to beef up its fight against terrorism threaten to roll back progress made by the European Union candidate country in combating torture and other abuses, a leading human rights group said on Tuesday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) also urged Turkey's center-right government to stand up for freedom of expression and scrap an article in its penal code that has led to the trial of scores of writers, academics and journalists.

"The anti-terrorism draft law now in Parliament is a concrete example of how the reform process in Turkey is going into reverse gear," HRW's Jonathan Sugden, a Turkey expert, told a news conference.

The draft would delay guaranteed access to a lawyer for the first 24 hours of a suspect's detention, creating ample scope for torture and maltreatment, he said.

The plans would also make it a crime simply to espouse views that are shared by illegal organizations such as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an armed struggle against the Turkish state for a separate Kurdish homeland since 1984.

Sugden said HRW had written to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdo€an outlining its concerns and urging him to rethink the bill.

The European Union, which began accession talks with Turkey last October, has also expressed concern over the proposed anti-terrorism legislation and over parts of the penal code that make it a crime to criticize state institutions.

"We want to see clear leadership from the government in upholding freedom of expression," Sugden said.

Critics say both the anti-terror draft and articles of the penal code give too much leeway to conservative nationalists who dominate Turkey's judiciary and who see their main task as defending the state and its institutions against the citizens.

In an interview with Reuters on Monday evening, the head of Turkey's Bar Association, which represents the country's lawyers, said the Turkish judiciary remained under heavy political influence and was not fully independent despite EU reforms.

"It does not matter who is in power, the judiciary is seriously under the shadow of the political authorities," Özdemir Özok said, noting that the justice minister and his deputy sit on the board that appoints judges and prosecutors.

"However well-intentioned, apolitical and unbiased they may be, they are government agents," Özok said, adding that this undermined the whole concept of judicial independence.

Echoing concerns about bias among the law enforcers, HRW's Sugden said three people had been detained in May for protesting peacefully against the killing of civilians by security forces under provisions of the anti-terror draft -- even though it remains only a draft. The three were later freed.

Sugden said elements within the security forces were partly responsible for what he called an "explosion of violence" in Turkey since last November, especially in the impoverished, mainly Kurdish Southeast, which has claimed 19 lives.

"The wave of violence seems to be aimed at sabotaging the reform process. Stability and respect for human life undermine the raison d'etre (reason for being) of the 'state within the state' and they feel threatened," he added.

Critics say ultra-nationalists in the security forces sometimes take the law into their own hands, especially in the Southeast, in the belief they are protecting Turkey's interests. (Reuters, June 22, 2006)

Amnesty International questionne Semdinli Affair

Le procès de deux membres des services de renseignements de la gendarmerie pour l’attentat à l’explosif de Semdinli (province de Hakkari), dans le sud-est de la Turquie, a pris fin lundi 19 juin 2006 : ils ont été condamnés à une peine de réclusion de trente-neuf ans, cinq mois et dix jours. Le procès de l’ancien membre du PKK devenu informateur, accusé de participation à ces événements, continuera le 3 août.

Amnesty International considère que des questions demeurent en ce qui concerne l’opération qui a conduit à l’attentat, et elle est préoccupée par le fait que l’enquête sur les circonstance entourant les faits n’a pas été exhaustive, impartiale et indépendante. De plus, la vitesse inhabituelle à laquelle le procès s’est déroulé et les modifications dont ont fait l’objet les charges retenues contre les accusés incitent à s’inquiéter de l’existence éventuelle de manœuvres pour étouffer l’affaire.

Le procès a eu lieu en quatre audiences : les 4 et 5 mai ; le 1er juin ; le 13 juin et le 19 juin 2006. En comparaison avec les autres procès en Turquie de membres des forces de sécurité accusés de violations des droits humains, il s’est déroulé à une vitesse sans précédent. Amnesty International a souvent souligné à quel point de telles affaires avaient tendance à durer des mois ou des années. L’organisation considère que l’issue extrêmement rapide de cette affaire, sur la base de nouvelles accusations, implique que toutes les circonstances de l’attentat n’ont pas été examinées lors du procès.

Les trois accusés avaient été inculpés dans un premier temps d’« activités visant à détruire l’unité de l’État et l’intégrité territoriale du pays » (article 302 du Code pénal), crime passible d’une peine maximale de réclusion à perpétuité, et d’« association de malfaiteurs pour parvenir à cette fin » (article 316). Lors de la deuxième audience, le 1er juin, l’accusation a requis que les charges soient modifiées en « constitution d’une organisation criminelle » (article 220), passible d’une peine moins lourde. Les deux membres des services de renseignements ont été reconnus coupables de ce chef d’accusation ainsi que de meurtre, tentative de meurtre et coups et blessures.

L’adoption d’un nouveau chef d’accusation - associant le crime à l’action d’un groupe criminel indépendant - impliquait que toute enquête sur l’implication d’agents de l’État à un plus haut niveau serait exclue. Les investigations sur la participation éventuelle de la hiérarchie ont été bloquées par le chef d’état-major. Amnesty International a fait état publiquement du haut degré d’ingérence du gouvernement, de représentants de l’État et de dignitaires militaires dans l’enquête sur Semdinli. Elle a également exprimé sa vive préoccupation quant à l’atteinte à l’indépendance de la justice que représentait le renvoi du procureur à l’origine du premier acte d’accusation (cf. Turkey : No impunity for state officials who violate human rights. Briefing on the Semdinli bombing investigation and trial; index AI : EUR 44/006/2006). Il est préoccupant que les questions que soulevait le premier chef d’accusation n’aient pas donné lieu aux investigations impartiales, exhaustives et indépendantes qui auraient permis d’y répondre, et qu’elles semblent plutôt avoir été écartées. (index AI, June 22, 2006)

Ankara condamné à Strasbourg dans trois affaires de violences policières

La Turquie a été condamnée jeudi par la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme dans trois affaires de violences policières pour violation de l'article 3 de la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme qui interdit les traitements inhumains et dégradants.

La Cour de Strasbourg a alloué 25.000 euros au total pour dommage moral aux trois hommes victimes de ces mauvais traitements.

MM. Hüseyin Karakas, Muhittin Köylüoglu et Esat Uçkan se plaignaient respectivement d'avoir subi une "pendaison palestinienne" par les bras et des décharges électriques, avoir été frappé à la tête et menacé de mort, ou encore d'avoir été passé à tabac et soumis à des décharges électriques sur les seins et les testicules.

Dans chacune des trois affaires, des médecins avaient relevé des lésions compatibles avec leurs déclarations. Les plaintes pour mauvais traitements des trois hommes avaient cependant été classées sans suite ou sanctionnées par un non-lieu.

Pour les juges des droits de l'homme, "toute blessure survenue pendant (une garde à vue) donne lieu à de fortes présomptions de fait" et le gouvernement est tenu de "fournir une explication plausible".

Outre la violation de l'article 3 de la Convention, la Cour de Strasbourg a également estimé que les autorités turques n'avaient pas mené d'enquête effective sur les allégations de mauvais traitements, violant ainsi l'article 13 de la Convention garantissant le droit à un recours effectif.

Enfin, les juges des droits de l'homme ont sanctionné la condamnation le 20 novembre 1997 de M. Uçkan à 14 ans et sept mois de prison pour appartenance à une organisation armée illégale. En effet, pour les juges de Strasbourg, la présence d'un magistrat militaire dans la Cour de sûreté de l'Etat qui avait prononcé la sentence constituait "un motif légitime de redouter un manque d'indépendance et d'impartialité de cette juridiction", garantie par l'article 6 de la Convention. (AFP, 22 juin 2006)

Criminal Complaint Against Agar, Menzir, Koza

Acting to reveal those responsible for the 1995 deaths of demonstrators in Istanbul's Gazi district, lawyers of the Gazi Justice Commission have filed a criminal complaint against three top officials of the time, based on a recent claim made by a convicted police officer who said they were the ones who issued the orders for the killings.

The criminal complaint against Istanbul's past Police Director Necdet Menzir, Governor Hayri Kozakcioglu and Police General Director Mehmet Agar was filed with the Gaziosman Pasa Prosecutor's Office.

It follows a statement made by police officer Adem Albayrak who was sentenced for killing demonstrators during the March 13-14, 1995, wave of protests in Gazi district in which he said "they are the ones who issued the orders but we were the ones who spent time in prison." 11 years after the incidents Albayrak was discharged from the police force last week.

Among the lawyers who filed the complaint, attorney Cemal Yucel said they had asked for the investigation into the incidents to be broadened, for the persons truly responsible for the incidents to be revealed and for a statement to be taken from Albayrak who had confessed on this issue.

Lawyer Taylan Tanay said that after Albayrak's recent confessions, the prosecution should have acted on its own to launch an investigation.

Turkey's Contemporary Jurists Association chairman Huseyin Bicen told bianet after the police officers statements that the offences of "inciting murder" and "issuing orders in breach of law" appeared to have been committed in the Gazi incidents.

The Incidents at Istanbul's Gazi district on March 13-14, 1995, were sparked off with a café being sprayed with bullets and one person being killed. The night of the attack, people who gathered at a local congregation hall were fired upon from police panzers and two more were killed. Angered protestors took to the streets after the attack and the toll of three days of violence was recorded at 22 dead and over 400 wounded.

Video recordings and witness statements had identified Adem Albayrak and Mehmet Gundogan among the officers responsible for the incidents and about 18 months later a total of 20 policemen were put on trial in a case at the Trabzon High Criminal Court.

A four-year trial of the suspects ended with Adem Albayrak sentenced for the killing of Dilek Aradan, Reis Kopal, Sezgin Engin and Fevzi Tunc and Mehmet Gundogan found guilty for the killing of Zeynep Poyraz and Mumtaz Kaya.

The suspects were sentenced to over 4 years imprisonment each but taking the period they had already served in detention into account, they were not placed in prison. (BIA News Center, Tolga KORKUT, June 21, 2006)

Solidarity with Eren Keskin to Continue

A nation-wide campaign launched last April to express solidarity with Eren Keskin, the former chair of Turkey's Human Rights Association Istanbul Branch recently sentenced to prison, ended this Saturday with a press conference held at the branch headquarters.

IHD executives said that 8,876 signatures had been collected in support of Keskin during the campaign that also raised 6,000 YTL ($4,500) in money that would pay Keskin's fine if her sentence is ratified.

Keskin was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment for insulting the moral personality of the army in a speech she delivered at a conference in Cologne, Germany, in 2002. The sentence was later converted to a fine of 6,000 YTL but the lawyer, who headed IHD Istanbul until the end of last month, said "I will not pay this fine and buy my freedom".

The statement read at the IHD Istanbul office recalled that Keskin had, for four years during her trial, been subjected to attacks and threats and on a complaint filed by the Istanbul Republic Prosecutor's Office had also been suspended by the Istanbul Bar Association for a year.

Subject to lawyer Eren Keskin's sentence, as founder of the "Legal Aid For Victims of Sexual Harassment and Rape Under Detention Project", is her address at a meeting on "Women's Rights Equal Human Rights" organized by the Alawite Unions' Federation in Germany. Following media coverage of Keskin's speech the Turkish Armed Forces and Professor Necla Arat filed a legal complaint against her which led to the indictment and subsequent guilty sentence for insulting the army. (BIA News Center, june 20, 2006)

NGOs Concerned for Draft Anti-Terror Bill

Turkey's publisher and writer associations will unite on Tuesday to issue a joint press statement challenging Ankara's new Anti-Terror Law (TMY) draft and voicing their concerns over the losses it will incur on democracy before the Parliament Justice Commission starts debating the bill again this week.

PEN Turkey Centre's Muge Gursoy Sokmen told bianet that the statement to be read out at 11.00 in Istanbul on Tuesday aims to warn that the TMY will eliminate all developments achieved in the field of freedoms over many years and show that the demand for democracy in Turkey is not "just a demand of three or four marginal circles".

Turkey's Journalists Association (TGC), Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS), Publishers Association of Turkey (TYB), Writers Union of Turkey (TYS), Association of Book Translators and International PEN Turkey Centre members and representatives will gather at the TGC Burhan Felek Conference Hall for the event.

Stressing that the draft will eliminate all developments achieved in the field of freedoms over many years, PEN's Sokmen said they aimed to show that the demand for democracy was not limited to three or four marginal circles but was a requirement of the majority of the society.

The bill will be discussed again at the Grand National Assemble Justice Commission this week after an interruption of the debate following main opposition Republic People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal's controversial claim that article 6 of the law would allow for imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan to be released from prison.

Many Turkish NGOs, human rights activists, jurists, intellectuals and writers have expressed concern over the bill saying that if it is passed by Parliament and enforced, the environment for human rights and freedoms will be similar to those in past periods of martial law or military coups.

The law specifically introduces new powers in the fight against terrorism that would limit press and media freedoms in the country and allow for indefinite closures of publications. (BIA News Center, Erol ONDEROGLU, june 19, 2006)

Au moins 64 manifestants de gauche arrêtés à Tunceli

Au moins 64 manifestants, qui commémoraient la mort, l'année dernière, de militants de gauche, ont été arrêtés par la police samedi dans l'est de la Turquie. Les troubles ont démarré dans la ville de Tunceli lorsque les forces de sécurité ont empêché la foule de défiler, au motif que la manifestation n'avait pas obtenu d'autorisation préalable.

La marche avait pour objet de célébrer le premier anniversaire de la mort de plusieurs membres du Parti communiste maoïste (MKP, clandestin), lors d'un affrontement avec l'armée, dans la campagne, près de Tunceli.

Les manifestants ont lancé des pierres et des morceaux de bois sur la police anti-émeute, qui a répliqué avec du gaz lacrymogène et des canons à eau, selon Anatolie.

Un reportage télévisé a montré des véhicules blindés sillonnant les rues de la ville alors que des policiers pourchassaient les manifestants, protégés derrière des boucliers en plastique.

Le MKP est un petit groupe armé aspirant à renverser le système actuellement en vigueur en Turquie pour le remplacer par un régime communiste. (AFP, 17 juin 2006)

Women Protest The Bar's "Women's Commission"

Representatives of 18 women organisations have staged a protest against the Women's Commission of the Istanbul Bar Association that was signatory to newspaper advertisements blacklisting Human Rights Association (IHD) former Istanbul branch chair Eren Keskin and turning her into a public target by implying she supported terrorism.

The women demand for the Bar Association to launch a disciplinary action into the Commission and investigate its role in the advertisement that was published by a group of women organisations and political party women's branches in two mass circulation Turkish newspapers.

In a press statement they read out in front of the Bar Association building in Istanbul on June 14 Wednesday, the women organisations asked the Commission "as our lawyers, how can you ignore hundreds of women who are abused and raped in custody, who are subjected to violence originating from the state?.. How will you defend us with this mentality?"

IHD's Leman Yurtsever read the statement authored to remind the Bar Association and its members of their responsibilities and duties. She said Keskin was accused in a lynch campaign and that it was unfortunate that a commission of the Bar Association that upheld the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" was party to this.

Yurtsever said the Bar Association had the duty of standing beside women where their rights were violated and called for lawyers of the commission to explain their action to the public and apologise for what they did.

"To combat those who commit such a serious offence as abuse and rape needs first to accept that this is a crime of humanity. A lawyer who does not have such a mentality cannot defend women who are abused and raped while in custody" she said.

Following the press statement, group representatives submitted a report titled "Sexual Abuse and Rape in Detention" to the association.

Meanwhile, 395 women activists in Turkey have issued a statement of solidarity with lawyer Keskin under the headline "A response to a Very Important Notice" referring to the title of the advertisement that blackballed her before the nation.

Their statement said, "As women who have come together on the bases of rejecting violence towards women, we see the text [advert] as violence itself. We invited women and women organisations against violence, discrimination and sexism to fight together and be in solidarity.

The advertisements subject to protest appeared in the mass circulation Turkish daily Hurriyet and the Cumhuriyet newspapers earlier this month and claimed that while Keskin was head of the IHD Istanbul branch, she used every meeting she attended "to voice the factitious slander of the [outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party] PKK". The advert also claimed she was involved in activities "to spoil the atmosphere of peace".

Keskin, a lawyer by profession, chaired the IHD Istanbul branch until the end of last month when, following scheduled elections, she was replaced by Hurriyet Sener.

As founder of the "Legal Aid For Victims of Sexual Harassment and Rape Under Detention Project", Keskin was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment this year for "insulting the armed forces" for a speech she made back in Germany in 2002. Though the sentence was later converted to a fine, she said in March that she would rather serve it. (BIA News Center, Emine OZCAN, June 15, 2006)

AI against the draft revisions to the Law to Fight Terrorism

Amnesty International is concerned that the "Draft Law revising some articles of the Law to Fight Terrorism [Law 3713 of 12/4/1991]" presented to the Turkish parliament on 18 April 2006 – and currently again being scrutinized by the Parliamentary Justice Sub-Commission before being resubmitted to parliament – contains sweeping and draconian provisions which may in practice contravene international human rights law and facilitate violations of the human rights of individuals.

The organization considers that the draft law is dominated by a security agenda which poses a fundamental threat to individual freedoms, including the rights to freedom of expression and to fair trial. In the new draft law the definition of terrorism found in the existing Law to Fight Terrorism of 1991 has not been amended and remains too broadly drawn and vague. Of equal concern, the new draft law dramatically increases the spectrum of crimes potentially punishable as terrorist offences. Accordingly, if the law enters into force, many more individuals may find themselves categorized as "terrorists" and subjected to trial in heavy penal courts whose remit is organized crime and terrorist offences, and to the harsher sanctions provided for in anti-terrorism legislation.

Amnesty International has in the past expressed deep concern over the introduction of draconian anti-terrorism laws in other jurisdictions. Not least among these has been legislation introduced in the UK, including the Terrorism Act 2000 and, most recently, the Terrorism Act 2006 introduced at the end of March 2006.

Amnesty International reminds the Turkish government and the Parliamentary Justice Sub-Commission currently scrutinizing the draft law of the necessity of ensuring that all measures taken to combat terrorism comply with Turkey’s obligations under international human rights and refugee law. This has been expressed repeatedly by the UN Security Council, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, among others.

Amnesty International reminds the Turkish government and the Parliamentary Justice Sub-Commission of the Council of Europe Guidelines on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism state, which state, in particular, that:
II. All measures taken by States to fight terrorism must respect human rights and the principle of the rule of law, while excluding any form of arbitrariness, as well as any discriminatory or racist treatment, and must be subject to appropriate supervision.
III.1. All measures taken by States to combat terrorism must be lawful.
III.2. When a measure restricts human rights, restrictions must be defined as precisely as possible and be necessary and proportionate to the aim pursued.
IV. The use of torture or of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, is absolutely prohibited, in all circumstances, and in particular during the arrest, questioning and detention of a person suspected of or convicted of terrorist activities, irrespective of the nature of the acts that the person is suspected of or for which he/she was convicted.

Amnesty International today published a briefing on the key draft revisions to the Law to Fight Terrorism: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR44/009/2006 (AI Index, 9 June 2006)

(1) See respectively, United Kingdom: Briefing on the Terrorism Bill (AI Index: EUR 45/43/00) and United Kingdom: Amnesty International’s Briefing on the Draft Terrorism Bill 2005 (AI Index: EUR 45/038/2005).
(2) See respectively, UNSC Resolution 1456 (2003), Annex para.6; Aksoy v Turkey (1996) 23 EHRR 553, para. 62; Council of Europe Guidelines on Human Rights and the Fight against Terrorism, 11 July 2002; UN Doc. S/RES/1624 (2005), para. 4.
(3) Council of Europe Guidelines on Human Rights and the Fight Against Terrorism, H(2002)4.

Police brutality against TAYAD families in Ankara

Lawyer Behic Asci started death fast 67 days ago. He is a revolutionary lawyer and on hunger strike for justice in Turkey. The government doesn't want to solve the isolation problem in F type prisons; the problem is getting bigger and bigger.

Socialist Gülcan Görüroglu started death fast 38 days ago. She has two daughters. She too was in prison. Now she is outside.

122 socialist lost their lives in death fast resistance against isolation that started in F type prisons in 2000. Death Fast is one of the longest resistance against to imperialist policies in the world.

TAYAD (association of prisoner's families) has been carrying on a struggle for 6 years. They came to the capital of Turkey from different cities on the 11'th of June with the aim of asking the government to stop the isolation. They came together with other TAYAD families who have been carrying on sit-in demostrations.

Behic Asci and Gülcan Görürogu left their homes and joined the march of TAYAD to Ankara. Their aim was to carry their voice to the Parliament. But police attacked them by using clubs and tear gas.

The government doesn't support democratic rights. The anti-democratic attitude of the police is getting worse and worse .  All of  the TAYAD families in demonstration now started a hungry strike. They ask that police barricade be removed. Don't be insensitive about isolation. (ekoctas@gmail.com, June 13, 2006)

Trade Unionists Chain Themselves for Rights

Turkey's Revolutionary Workers Union Confederation (DISK) staged a protest on Monday in front of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) building in Ankara voicing reaction to workers being fired for labour union membership.

Four unionists chained themselves in front of the ILO Ankara office as DISK chairman Suleyman Celebi held a press conference calling on the government to enforce ILO decisions.

"ILO says that union rights in Turkey are being violated, that laws must change. Barriers and the notary condition should be lifted. Ban on strikes should be lifted," Celebi said.

The unionist recalled that the European Union itself regarded union rights as among the primary political criteria and said "obstacles in front of these rights need to be lifted. It is the government's responsibility to do this".

Meanwhile, the unionists who chained themselves in front of the ILO building attracted attention to union right violations in Turkey as the Organisation's meeting in Geneva was still continuing.

The unionists pointed out the following issues:

* The government wishes to put a reservation on articles related to union organisation rights and collective bargaining in the Reviewed European Social Condition that is in front of Parliament.

* Freedom to union activities is not foreseen with the Union Law's conditions on strike and lockout and the drafts related Collective Work Agreements Law. Just the opposite, the same restrictions brought with September 12 [1980 military takeover] are being polished but retained.

* Thousands of workers are being fired for becoming members of unions in various fields of employment and collective agreement authority procedures are turning into court cases that take years. The most basic right of the worker which is to become a union member, is not in effect in this country.

Celebi: Legal arrangements need to be made

Celebi for his part said, "The government should put ILO decisions into practice and make the legal arrangements as soon as possible" and listed the union right violations in Turkey as follows:

* Labour laws which are the product of the 12 September coup prevent the freedom of organisation and violate the right to collective agreements and right to strike.

* Tens of thousands of workers have been fired from their jobs for becoming union members.

* Workers need to put money into a notary to become a union member which is not seen in any other country.

* Unions are hands tied with barriers in work fields and operations

* Collective agreement authorisation procedures become subject to trials that last for years.

* The right to strike is practically banned, there are many bans and obstacles in this field.

* As result of all of these, workers cannot organise unions are losing force, the society cannot become organised.

Celebi also protested the June 11 arrest order issued by a prosecutor against Ports, Dockyards, Ship Building-Repairs Workers Union (LIMTER-IS) chairman Cem Dinc and the union's training expert Kamber Saygili for "resisting the police". The two unions were detained by the police during a crackdown on a labour action in a dockyard in Tuzla. (BIA News Center, June 13, 2006)

Prosecutor Arrests Two Trade Unionists in Istanbul

An Istanbul prosecutor has ordered the arrest of two union leaders of the Ports, Dockyards, Ship Building-Repairs Workers Union (LIMTER-IS) on grounds of "resisting the police" two days after police staged an attack on workers on industrial action at a Tuzla dockyard.

LIMTER-IS chairman Cem Dinc and the union's training expert Kamber Saygili were detained by police on Sunday as they went to file a criminal complaint against the police attack on June 10, Friday, where they themselves were beaten.

LIMTER-IS Training and Organisation expert Levent Akhan said that on Friday police officers singled out Dinc and Saygili during an attack on workers at the DESAN dockyard in Tuzla and then started hitting the unionists with truncheons.

"Cem Dinc was injured in two places of his head. He had received a doctor's report. He was detained when he went to file a criminal complaint on Sunday. He was then taken to the prosecutor where an arrest was made for resisting the police" Akhan explained.

Both unionists have been moved to Kartal prison where they are being held.

Their lawyer, Serap Akkilic branded the prosecutor's arrest decision as "arbitrary and illegal" saying they would file a complaint with the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors as well as the Interior Ministry against the prosecutor and police officers. She said they would also appeal the decision of arrest as it was issued so long after the alleged offence and without any backing evidence.

Both Turkey's Revolutionary Workers Union Confederation (DISK) and the Human Rights Association (IHD) have protested the arrest and called for the unionists to be released immediately.

The IHD issued an appeal to the Labour Ministry and the government to launch an immediate investigation into these "rights abuses" and noted that when the security forces intervened, they not only used excessive force but wounded many workers.

Petrol-Is, Deri-Is and Tekstil-Sen unions also issued statements demanding the immediate release of the unionists.

Union member workers at Tuzla's DESAN Dockyard were on industrial action for over 20 years in protest of not being paid their wages for three months. (BIA News Center, Tolga Korkut, June 13, 2006)

Decade-old torture case nears its end

A top court ruled on Friday that YTL 10,000 in damages for pain and suffering isn't enough for students who were badly tortured in Manisa 11 years ago.

The appeal of a group of young people who'd filed a lawsuit against the Interior Ministry on the grounds that they'd been tortured by the police 11 years ago is finally coming to an end.

The Council of State ruled for a lower court to reassess the damages to be paid.

A group of 15 students, also known as the "Manisa students," were taken into custody on Dec. 26, 1995 in an operation into the  Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and then testified in court that they'd been badly tortured and had been questioned under duress.

The students were then given prison sentences by a lower local court, a ruling which was later annulled by the Court of Appeals. The case was then reheard and the students were acquitted.

The policemen involved received sentences of 10 months in prison apiece on charges of torture and inhumane treatment.

Seven of the students then filed a lawsuit against the Interior Ministry, seeking YTL 25,000 in damages for pain and suffering each. Manisa Administrative Court, however, ruled for just YTL 10,000 in damages.

The Council of State ruled on Friday that the administrative bodies are responsible for the damages to be paid which should compensate for the harm done. The court also ruled that the claimants should be paid the legal interest on the damages. (The New Anatolian, June 10, 2006)

La "brigade de vengeance turque" menace l’IHD

Le comité local de l’Association de Défense des droits de l’homme d’Istanbul a reçu une lettre de menace et une enveloppe contenant une poudre le 6 juin. L’enveloppe porte le sigle TIT (brigade de vengeance turque - traduction de l’anglais), une organisation secrète qui a revendiqué un certain nombre d’assassinats de militants des droits de l’homme.

La police s’est rendue sur les lieux et les autorités sanitaires ont mis les bureaux de l’IHD en quarantaine, les entrées et sorties étant interdites pendant un certain temps. Puis six personnes qui avaient touché l’enveloppe ont été emmenées à l’hôpital pour des examens et analyses. L’une d’elle qui avait été en contact direct avec la poudre est toujours en observation, les autres ont été renvoyées chez elles.

La poudre aurait été envoyée à Ankara pour y être analysée.Ceci s’est produit le jour-même où une campagne a été lancée contre Eren Keskin, la présidente de la section d’Istanbul du IHD, avec des annonces la déclarant persona non grata et collaboratrice du PKK, et accusant également tous ceux qui avaient signé la pétition en sa faveur d’être des collaborateurs du PKK.

Depuis 1 an, les menaces par téléphone et par lettres aux membres du commité exécutif de la section d’Istanbul du IHD ont augmenté. Eren Keskin a reçu plusieurs fois des menaces non voilées par téléphone de la part du TIT. (Collectif VAN, 9 juin 2006)

Human Rights Activists Rise to Defend Keskin

Advocates of human rights in Turkey are standing up in defence of Human Rights Association (IHD) Istanbul branch former chair Eren Keskin after a group of Turkish women organisations this week gave public adverts to Turkish newspapers "violently condemning" her for implied support to an outlawed armed organisation and openly charging her with "showing extraordinary efforts to diminish respect in the Turkish Armed Forces".

The advertisements, which appeared in the mass circulation Turkish daily Hurriyet and the Cumhuriyet newspapers, claimed that while Keskin was head of the IHD Istanbul branch, she used every meeting she attended "to voice the factitious slander of the [outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party] PKK". The advert also claimed she was involved in activities "to spoil the atmosphere of peace".

Keskin, a lawyer by profession, chaired the IHD Istanbul branch until the end of last month when, following scheduled elections, she was replaced by Hurriyet Sener.

As founder of the "Legal Aid For Victims of Sexual Harassment and Rape Under Detention Project", Keskin was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment this year for "insulting the armed forces" for a speech she made back in Germany in 2002. Though the sentence was later converted to a fine, she said in March that she would rather serve it.

"Keskin is marked as a target"

IHD chairman Yusuf Alatas who said they respected everyone's right to express their opinions, warned that the advertisement against Keskin "shows one of our executives as a target. It creates a relationship with an outlawed and armed organisation. There is first an unjust claim, then a marking of target through this unjust claim".

Alatas added that "if you reflect someone as if that person is a traitor, then some people will come up to punish hose traitors". Noting that the condemnation advert had come from organisations that where both women organisations and non-governmental organisations, Alatas said "but the views they express actually say that the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) are privileged and cannot be criticised. That the supremacy of law cannot be applied to the TAF. It supports a militarist view and system which is something that is unacceptable".

The IHD chairman stressed that "civilian society organisations must first be civilian themselves. Organisations of women should uphold woman rights on the foreground. Actions and statements that stem out of the concept 'every Turk is born as a soldier' do not serve democracy".

"They want to intimidate IHD"

The day the advert against Keskin went out, IHD Istanbul branch received a threat letter containing an unknown substance in powder form as part of an ongoing campaign against the association.

With regard to the two simultaneous incidents, "what they want to do is intimidate the IHD" explained Alatas in an interview with Bianet.

"What we are living through are the result of the general repressive attitude towards the human rights struggle in Turkey," he said. "When the judiciary, government and police fail to fulfil their responsibilities in face of such repression, when those responsible are not apprehended and brought before the law, they become even more courageous".

Alatas said attacks and threats against the IHD has two purposes. "The first is to escalate the tension. Then they specifically want to intimidate the IHD. Because an atmosphere of tension can harbour any king of outlawed activity".

"Stop this lynch campaign"

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Agenda Association (IHDG) issued a statement in protest of the women organisation's advert saying that an attempt was being made to display Keskin as if she was a terrorist in the public eye and noting that the "slander against her" had come after the case on insulting the army.

"We are genuinely concerned over the lynch campaign opened against human rights advocate Eren Keskin and we condemn such initiatives" the IHDG said.

The statement said it was "surprising" that non-governmental organisations were displaying a position against human rights, democracy and the supremacy of the law and continued, "human rights activists, as part of the nature of the struggle they are involved in, can many times fall on the opposite side of the state and state institutions. The same thing may also be valid.. for armed political groups. In view of this situation, no one has the right to lynch human rights advocates for speeches they have made, reports they have prepared or their statements".

Persona non grata

A version of the women organisation's advert is now being distributed over the internet where reference is made to a different part of the text that also condemns a campaign launched in Turkey previously to support Keskin in view of legal actions taken against her.

The campaign to support Keskin has been branded "a campaign to support the PKK" while communiqués have been issued online declaring the human rights activist as a "persona non grata". (BIA, Tolga KORKUT, June 8, 2006)

Eren Keskin: "The Campaign Is Manipulated"

Human Rights Association (IHD) Istanbul branch former chair Eren Keskin held a press conference this week in relation to the "violet condemnation" of her by 20 women organisations through public advertisements in the Hurriyet and Cumhuriyet newspapers.

During the conference and a subsequent exclusive interview with Bianet, Keskin said she did not believe the text of the advert was from the women organisations themselves adding that the attack against her person appeared to stem from a single source. She also recalled that after similar kinds of public criticism, former chairman of the IHD Akin Birdal was shot in an assassination attempt.

IHD chairman Yusuf Alatas, IHD Istanbul Branch chair Hurriyet Sener and Derya Demirtas and Feray Salman of the Network of Solidarity with Eren Keskin accompanied Keskin at her conference.

Keskin: I invite them to act with responsibility

"It is an extremely painful situation for a woman or women organisations to issue an advertisement inviting violence" Keskin said.

"It is sad for a women to do this to a woman. Those who identify themselves as feminists should first stand up against militarism. If they are not doing this, they should then ask themselves how much of women rights defenders they are".

Keskin invited those who issued the adverts against her to act with responsibility and asked "after this advertisement, if some people come up and take their own initiative, are they then going to feel responsible to this?"

Interview with Keskin

Following her press conference, Keskin was interviewed by Bianet asked and replied to various questions pertaining to the situation.

You are a woman, so are they. Why are they attacking you?

"I do not believe this attack directed at me is has been writer by the women organisations. I believe it stems from the same place. I have been receiving threats for years. I am one of the persons who the Chief of General Staff has filed a [criminal] complaint against. I believe this text is not very independent.

"Because in relation to this incident, to the speech, while Necla Arat filed a criminal complaint they did it together with the Chief of General Staff. Arat testified against me at court".

What does being a persona non grata mean?

"For instance, I would immediately rush to an injustice inflicted on a Kemalist woman. I would not think she is a Kemalist. If I did, I would not be a women's rights advocate. They, on the other hand, do not approach it in this way. In my view what determines them primarily is their Kemalist identity. Their other identities come after that. This is where the problem is. To me this is really painful. They have declared me a persona non grata, they are condemning me 'violently'. As it is, declaring someone as persona non grata means getting rid of them.

"Because, in the year 98, such articles, advertisements came out against Akin Birdal and a short while later Akin Birdal was shot. Because of this I invite them to rethink this. Will they be able to get out from under such a responsibility? There are people in this society who could read this advertisement and act in rage".

Are you being protected?

"No I am not protected."

Have you applied for protection?

"No. But in the year 1999, at the time [outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party leader] Abdullah Ocalan was brought [to Turkey], I was one of his lawyers. At that time Osman Baydemir and I were receiving a lot of threats. The state proposed to give us protection. At that time we rejected this. They have to protect us anyway. This is their duty. I did not see it necessary to constantly go around with policemen. "

One of the accusations against you is that you are with the PKK. Are you a member of the PKK?

"Of course I am not. I am an advocate of human rights. Other than this, in every speech I made I have voiced that violence is not a solution to the Kurdish problem, that the time of armed struggle in the world had passed by, that violence strengthened militarism. I have never been a member of any organisation but I am a lawyer of PKK cases. I have acted as attorney to them and to various Kurdish and socialist circles. I have also acted as attorney to Abdullah Ocalan. These are separate things.

"This is my profession. I am a lawyer who attends political trials. I also defend a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem and even the right of the Kurdish people to determine their own fate. I voice this everywhere. In any case it is the easiest thing to declare you as a PKK member when you say anything against the red points of militarism. A very easy method."

You said that women should review their policies on issues such as the Cyprus question and other issues. Do you think it is easy for women to conduct politics?

"Women live through all forms of oppression with double the impact. Their fronts are closed. They cannot go out on the street. Not every woman is like us. If she does not have economic freedom, how will she conduct politics? I believe that an antimilitarist policy is necessary and that this can only be achieved by antimilitarist feminists and homosexuals. Because in my view these are sections that are totally void of any prejudice. I do not even believe socialists are void of prejudice."

Does prejudice increase pressure?

"Prejudice and those prejudiced against are being distanced. I think those who face prejudice are the ones who most understand what militarism is pressing upon them. In my view militarism is not on the agenda of many organisations in Turkey who see their place in the opposition front."

Currently there are debates on new human rights, women rights, children rights. What do you think about these?

"Of course international law has made some gains. We cannot deny this. But I believe that the international law system is extremely dominated by men and is militarist.

"If one needs to cite an example, thousands of women following World War I and World War II were raped as it happens during all wars. But the Tokyo and Nurenburg trials did not accept that rape was a war crime. Whereas after the clashes Bosnia and Ruanda, as result of the struggle of the women there, it was regarded as a war crime.

"Still the Convention on Immigrant Rights does not accept violence against women as a single reason for asylum.

"Or conscientious objection. It is still not given as a duty for state by international law. It is only in the Copenhagen criteria and with an open end. In other words, these show that international law is dominated by men and is militarist throughout the world. These examples show this openly.

What lies behind the attack on you by woman organisations that identify themselves as feminist?

"First of all, in feminism, feminists must definitely be antimilitarist... Feminists also stand up against racism, chauvinism, capitalism, the effects of these on women and to all other forms of influences and pressures. This is what I see as feminism.

"But unfortunately in Turkey the official ideology is always that of a Turkish style feminism. A Turkish style environmentalism. A Turkish style socialism. In other words it always gets caught somewhere at one point. Not just for women. Because of this I believe those who identify themselves as feminist and those who say the are advocates of women rights should oppose all of those red points that are created by militarism. For instance the Cyprus issue, the Armenian genocide, the Kurdish issue. In other words, I believe they need to re-evaluate themselves on all issues. (BIA, Ayse Durukan, June 8, 2006)

Erbakan to serve 11-month sentence at home

Former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan was sentenced yesterday to serve out a likely 11-month sentence at home, in a retrial guided by a new bill allowing some seniors to avoid time behind bars.

After appealing a prison sentence of over two years in a case involving misuse of state political party aid, Erbakan was retried yesterday under the revised Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

Erbakan's attorneys had appealed a previous ruling by the Ankara High Criminal Court on the case, which sentenced Erbakan to prison in a case dubbed "the Lost Trillion," and the Court of Appeals ruled in early April for a retrial of the former premier under the revised TCK.

The court ruled yesterday for a two-year-and-four-month sentence for Erbakan to be served at his house. Under customary sentence reductions, that time translates into 11 months under house arrest.

The ruling came as a disappointment to Erbakan's supporters, as they seemed sure that court would completely revoke his political ban.

According to court ruling, Erbakan will able to receive guests at his house during the 11 months, but won't be allowed to go beyond the house's garden. Erbakan will be followed by two policemen for 24 hours, who will report back to the police station.

Reports indicated yesterday that the former prime minister will spend his sentence term in his triplex house in Ankara's Balgat district and will be able to do whatever he wants within the limits of his house. If he leaves his house for purposes other than medical needs, he will have to spend rest of his sentence in prison.

Due to his sentence, Erbakan won't be able to go to the Hamidiye Mosque, next to Felicity Party's (SP) headquarters, to pray on Fridays, as he usually does.

If he has health problems, he will be able to get out of the house accompanied by police and with the permission of the public prosecutor's office. He will also be able to go to his summer house, as that is considered treatment for his health problems.

Former Prime Minister and defunct Welfare Party (RP) leader Erbakan was sentenced to prison in 2002 in the "Lost Trillion" case but was able to postpone serving his sentence by submitting medical reports to the court demonstrating his ill health.

Erbakan is a prominent leader of the National View (Milli Gorus) movement, which is known for its Islamist ideals, and has been the leader of various Islamic parties. He was prime minister in a coalition government with the True Path Party (DYP) in 1996-97. Erbakan's RP was outlawed in 1997, and Erbakan was banned from politics for five years until 2003. Today's Felicity Party (SP) is known to be the continuation of the same political movement, fronted by acting leader Recai Kutan.

Current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is Erbakan's onetime protégé, but the two parted ways years ago.

Erbakan was able to postpone his sentence four times submitting by medical reports and following the final postponement of his sentence in February, political parties have upped efforts to have him pardoned or saved from prison time through submitting bills to Parliament to that end.

Under a bill drawn up Hatay Deputy Sadullah Ergin, Istanbul Deputy Hayati Yazici and Ankara Deputy Haluk Ipek, all of the ruling AK Party, people over 65 could serve out prison sentences of up to three years at home. The bill was passed with an overwhelming majority in Parliament but was then vetoed by the president on the grounds that it was meant to benefit a single person and so went against the principles of a state ruled by law.

However it was passed in Parliament again, allowing Erbakan to serve his sentence at home. At around the same time the bill was passed, the Court of Appeals ruled for his retrial in the "Lost Trillion" case. (The New Anatolian, June 8, 2006)

Dissident Sociologist Cleared of Bombing

Turkish sociologist Pinar Selek who is known for her researches into children outcast from society and the Kurdish problem, has been acqui