Background
of the Peshmergas-Turkish Army complicity
BETRAYAL... ANNIHILATION...
The Turkish Army launched, on October 16, a
blood-thirsty operation and more than 20,000 commandos crossed the
Iraqi border to try to eliminate the Workers’ Party of Kurdistan (PKK)
guerrillas. As another four Turkish divisions were on stand-by, Turkish
planes and helicopters bombed the Northern Iraq, killing not only the
PKK guerrillas, but also Iraqi Kurds trying to resettle their villages.
Premier Demirel estimated that there were between
7,500 and 10,000 PKK militants in northern Iraq and 2,500 in Turkey. He
said the air and ground attacks “constituted the legitimate defence of
Turkey to prevent rebels from infiltrating into Turkey and that “the
operations will continue until the annihilation of separatist militants
taking refuge in northern Iraq.”
At the end of October, the Turkish military admit
being in control of some 500 square kilometres of Iraqi territory up to
30 Kilometres inside on three main fronts: Haftanin in the west, Shivi
and Hakurk in the east. . They have been carrying out bombing raids and
pushing extra troops and equipment across the border on a daily basis.
On October 31, the Turkish military claimed that
more than one thousand rebels had been killed when Turkish forces
overran the PKK bases in the area. With northern Iraq safe, General
Güres, Chief of General Staff, said his next task will be to tackle the
PKK inside Turkey.
The operation following an assault by the Iraqi
Kurdish peshmergas on the PKK has not remained at the stage of helping
the Iraqi Kurds and led to the establishment of Turkish military
control over the southern part of Kurdistan to the detriment of the
self-government of the Iraqi Kurds.
Once again, Iraqi Kurds fought other Kurds in
collaboration with one of the Kurds’ traditional oppressors,
Turkey. In the heaviest such fratricidal strife in living memory,
they put themselves in Turkey’s interest against the Turkish Kurds who
have been engaged in a nationalist struggle. It is mainly pressure from
Ankara that precipitated the offensive by Iraqi Kurdish peshmergas
against the PKK.
Prior to the Peshmerga offensive, Barzani and
Talabani, respectively the leaders of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan
and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, had a series of talks with
Turkish political and military chiefs. As Ankara was providing
the Iraqi Kurds with military materials, the new-born Iraqi
Kurdish Army was being trained under the supervision of the Turkish
generals.
The mandate for the “Poised Hammer”, Western allies’
Turkey-based aerial cover over northern Iraq comes up for its
six-monthly renewal at the end of this year. As usual the Turkish
Parliament has to approve it. But Turkish opinion is increasingly
hostile to that, thanks not only to the PKK’s operations out of north
Iraq, but because of the growing scale of the Iraqi Kurds’ own quest
for self-determination.
The steps taken by Iraqi Kurds towards
self-determination has never been welcomed by Ankara which fears that
such a step towards an independent Kurdish state may be a example for
the Kurds of Turkey. Visiting Iran, Turkish Premier Demirel invited the
foreign ministers of Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia to a conference on
the Kurdish issue. Both Ankara and Tehran oppose a federated Turkish
state.
The existence of the PKK camps in the Northern Iraq
has been a head-ache for the Turkish generals. They were afraid that in
an independent Kurdish State in Iraq, the PKK guerrillas might have
more popular support and consequently extend the movement of
independence to Turkish Kurdistan more easily.
To calm Ankara and to gain over its confidence, the
Iraqi Kurds first tried to persuade the PKK to leave the border
regions. For Barzani and Talabani, the PKK was endangering they have
achieved since the end of the Gulf War --the establishment of a free
Kurdish enclave, a parliament, other attributes of self-rule and
Western protection. But the PKK refused to quit Northern Iraq,
asserting that “this is Kurdistan.”
It is not a surprise that the Peshmerga offensive
against the PKK coincided with the proclamation of the Kurdish
“federated” state in Iraq. Since the Peshmerga offensive was launched
on October 4, the Turkish Army staged almost daily air strikes on PKK
positions. At the beginning, Barzani and Talabani were suggesting that
the operation would be over in a few days. After some initial
successes, they admitted that the PKK launched a counter-offensive. The
PKK militants were fighting with such a determination that came as a
shock to peshmergas accustomed only to the demoralized Iraqi army. Some
Iraqi Kurds admit that their military offensive against the PKK has
been far from successful, and that the PKK surrender deal started to
disintegrate almost before the ink was dry.
The Turkish Army launched its offensive into
northern Iraq on October 16 on pretext that the Iraqi Kurds had failed
to take under their control the PKK guerrillas.
The objective of the raid was announced as to cut
off the PKK’s line of withdrawal and to try to slaughter as many of its
fighters as possible, or, to finish the PKK off with the taking of
“minimum prisoners.” However, many Iraqi Kurds were aware of the fact
that its main objective was otherwise. Already, just before the Turkish
incursion, Hoshiar Zibari, an adviser to Barzani, predicted that “the
Turks will now be coming out with hundreds of new pretexts to put
pressure on us. This operation is directed as much against us as
the PKK.”
. Now, Iraqi Kurds are angered by the high-handed
approach taken by the Turkish Army’s deep and highly public penetration
into northern Iraq. “The Turkish military leaders,” said Ahmet Birmani,
adviser to Talabani , “are now behaving just like Menachim Begin and
Yitzhak Shamir did towards the Palestinians.”
Parallel to the operation of annihilation, Turkish
leaders started to impose their solution of the Kurdish problem,
including what may amount to a Turkish “security zone” in northern
Iraq. The bottom line spelt out by officials from Demirel down is
that “nothing will happen in northern Iraq that is not permitted by
Turkey.”
Some Turkish generals have said the army must stay,
but the Turkish Government knows this would cause serious international
complications, even though northern Iraq was an oil-rich Ottoman
province wrenched by Britain after the First World War.
In its dealings with other regional powers, Turkey
insists that Iraq should remain intact and that there should never be
an independent state for any of the 20 million Kurds split between
Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.
The complicity of the Barzani-Talabani tandem with
the Ankara rulers, not only turned themselves into traitors massacring
Turkish Kurds, but also threw their young Kurdish “federated”
state under the permanent menace of the Turkish Army.
THE GOVERNMENT FOR MILITARIST SOLUTIONS
The coalition government has based its new Kurdish
policy on an all-out war on Kurdish organizations with the outlawed
PKK at the top of the list. On September 30, Prime
Minister Demirel closed the doors on a political solution to the
problem and argued publicly that had such a solution been possible, it
would have worked during the past nine years.
Demirel’s rebuff of political solutions to the
problem follows a meeting of the National Security Council (MGK),
composed of army generals in majority on the one hand and Prime
Minister and some ministers in minority on the other. Meanwhile, a tour
of the Southeast region given to newspaper owners by the chief of
general staff and defence minister was the opening of a psychological
war which was to be supported to the end by the Turkish media.
In fact, Demirel’s turn to military solutions for
the Southeast is not new.
Immediately after coming to power with promises for an all-out
democratization drive, to show affection to the Kurds and to restore
confidence in the state, Demirel was confronted with a major military
plan to deal a serious blow to the PKK. Actually, the plan had been
prepared by Turkey’s commanders and was being put into practice in the
last months of the outgoing Motherland Party (ANAP) administration.
Instead of opposing to this plan, Demirel confirmed that it would
continue.
According to the Turkish Daily News of October 2,
“unwilling to offer any immediate social reforms to Turkey’s people of
Kurdish-origin who are believed to constitute at least one-fourth of
the country’s population, Demirel-led government has turned to a
military solution. This is clearly in contrast with what the government
promised last November and is totally opposed to earlier views that the
coalition would handle the matter in a political context. Ankara
currently believes that any reforms could be interpreted as
concessions to terror and gives special emphasis to the claim that as
long as southeast Turkey remains as a security risk zone, nothing can
be done in this field. Instead of a policy in which military measures
can be accompanied or boosted by social benefits --such as freeing the
use of the Kurdish language and education, setting up Kurdish-language
radio and television and so on-- the government’s new strategy is based
on simple stages.
The first stage of this strategy appears to aim at
containing terrorism in the region, deliver a serious blow to the PKK,
cripple its mountain units, locate and destroy its logistic
support lines and cut the organization off from new recruits as well as
its easy access to the Turkish borders --from Iraq as well as Iran.
Part of this plan is now clear: To cut off the
logistic support of the PKK in the region and to destroy its logistic
and militant supply lines. The region has been divided into certain
sections from which the PKK is to be driven out.
The so-called Botan region is at top of the list.
Thus, the destruction of Sirnak was the first spectacular application
of the plan. It was followed by the cracking down on the “mountain
units” of the PKK at the end of September, killing more than 100
militants.
“There is now a general trend in official and
military circles to treat the Southeast crisis as a local rebellion.
And to crush it as rebellions have been or need to be crushed. Both the
MGK and Demirel have warned not only Kurdish organizations, but those
who are “supportive of the PKK” as well, will suffer from the
bloodshed. The Council has given the government the directive to deal
with pro-Kurdish publications and institutions effectively.
Pro-Kurdish publications such as the daily Özgür
Gündem and weekly Yeni Ülke are under threat of being closed down by
the government. Their readers in the troubled region frequently
complain of harassment by authorities. Earlier, a total of nine
journalists, all Kurdish but one, have been killed in Turkey since
February 1992. The similarity was that each one was gunned down in the
Southeast. Each journalist wrote on human rights violations and the
Kurdish issue. And in every case the murderers managed to escape. The
last victim was a 74-year-old, renowned and respected writer of Kurdish
origin, Musa Anter.
The People’s Labour Party (HEP) deputies frequently
claim that despite all its promises for democratization, the
Demirel-led government has actually fallen under the supervision of the
army. “It is a chief of general staff government,” claimed HEP chairman
Mahmut Alniak.
The HEP’s insistence on peaceful solution to the
Kurdish question is considered by the military and the hard-liners of
the Turkish political parties as a “support to separatism.” 22 deputies
of Kurdish origin are still the object of a legal proceeding aimed at
lifting their parliamentary immunity and at trying them under capital
punishment. Ten top level politicians in HEP, including the former
chairman Feridun Yazar has recently been put under police detention
because of the words they pronounced at the last HEP Congress.
Twelve years have elapsed since the military coup in
Turkey, but already the coup is back in spirit if not in actual fact.
Those who talk or write about the possibility of a military take-over
in connection with the southeast crisis face serious risks. Those who
cover allegations of human rights violations are also under equal
danger.
At the end of September, the Daily Telegraph
reporter for Turkey, Amberin Zaman, made a front page banner story in
the mass circulation daily Hürriyet --accused by the paper of creating
havoc with her story of the possibility of a coup d’état in Turkey.
According to a Foreign Journalists’ Association
communique issued on September 30, she was marked as an enemy by this
report. International organizations against censorship fear that both
her professional career and personal security may now be at stake.
Meanwhile, possible enmity between the Turkish and
Kurdish communities in Turkey is also a matter of concern. In larger
settlements such as the western port of Izmir, house owners are
reportedly refusing to rent out flats to citizens of Kurdish origin.
Businessmen are increasingly concerned over their employed Kurdish
labour and reportedly, the police are spectical of the intentions of
any youth born in the Southeast. In Istanbul, where Turkey’s “Fleet
Street” Cagaloglu is based, major newspapers are now preparing lists of
their employees of Kurdish origin, including reporters, for future
reference.
Those filing on human rights are accused by high
ranking officials of prejudice and failing to give the same importance
to human rights when covering attacks on security personnel. Those
filing reports on the Kurdish issue face a daily risk of being accused
of affiliation with the separatists even if they openly condemn every
kind of terrorism. Newspaper editors now reportedly fear publishing any
controversial reports on developments in the Southeast, worried that
they may fall at odds with a majority of Turks and Turkish officials.
Already journalists have started to complain that
newspapers have been subject to extreme self-censorship and the wave is
catching up. With journalist killings widespread and newspapers
instrumental in marking reporters as targets, there appears to be no
other alternative but to remain silent.
The Turkish press was turned into the accomplice of
the military brain-washing. For example, the daily Hürriyet of
September 30 was reporting a military ceremony awarding a blood-thirsty
commander in following terms:
“The brigade’s commander, Brigadier General Mete
Sayar, who commanded the security forces having ruined the city of
Sirnak (See: Info-Türk, Sept 92), was standing at attention. An officer
from the chief of staff’s office read about a document while Chief of
Staff Dogan Güres watched the scene from his seat. The document praised
Sayar and announced that he was being decorated with a special award
for those with superior achievements in troop training. After the
document was read, Gen. Güres rose to embrace and kiss Sayar, telling
him: ‘You all are heroes, and the nation is with you!’”
According to Demirel, the world has no right to
criticize Turkey’s war on terrorism since the separatists themselves
have given a ruthless turn to their battle. In Demirel’s words, there
are times for political solutions and there are times for retaliation.
“Obviously Turkey is now in the latter stage.”
The Turkish Daily News, in its article of October 2,
concludes:
“Each and every day, many people die in the
Southeast and each and every day new recruits join the war on both
sides. The confrontation is taking a brutal turn claiming new civilian
victims. Whole towns and cities are being affected with large
populations of people fleeing destruction. Ankara apparently sees the
situation as a local rebellion. Or rather, the 28th Kurdish rebellion
in Turkish history. It is now inclined to deal with it as Turkey has
dealt with the past 27 rebellions.
“Cynics of the conflict ask however, whether the
methods of the past actually worked or just postponed the problem or
buried it underground for some time.
“After all, they argue, the PKK did not emerge out
of thin air. The very fact that a group of 12 separatists in the late
1970s now numbers over 10,000, with new recruits joining every day,
speaks for itself.
“Unless the conditions which have created and
promoted the PKK in the region are effectively dealt with and unless
major economic and social reforms are initiated, there is concern that
military measures alone will only serve to diffuse the crisis for the
time being, in the form of delivering much publicized blows to the
organisations. But if the conditions this organization feeds on cannot
be changed, military measures may only be a temporary outlet.
“Had such methods accomplished anything 27 times
over in the past century, there would not have been a 28th occasion...”
HEP CONGRESS FOR A DIALOGUE WITH PKK
The general congress of the People's Labour Party
(HEP), the only legal party defending Kurdish claims, was held in
Ankara on September 19. Kurdish deputy Ahmet Türk,
the only candidate, was elected party chairman .
The slogans in favour of the PKK echoed through the
sports hall where the congress was held, and red and white HEP flags
were outnumbered by flags, rags, headbands and clothing in the colors
of the red-yellow-green Kurdish flag.
The forceful demonstration somewhat proved a recent
political report published by the PKK in Europe which defined the HEP
as a party which should be supported as long as it pursued policies
similar to that of the PKK "on the legal platform."
According to the press reports, there are two main
trends in the HEP. One is strongly in favour of the PKK, while the
other accepts the so-called "PKK reality" but believes that HEP would
be the final solution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey.
The new chairman, Ahmet Türk was an ideal candidate
for the party chair since he had close relations with both sides.
Whatsoever their views with regard to the PKK, the
leaders of the both sides severely criticized, at the congress, the
Turkish Government's policies as regards the Kurdish question.
The leader of the moderate wing, Mahmut Alniak said:
"Illegal State forces are bombing our mountains, they are committing
genocide against our people. The state became an illegal state and a
state of bandits. The State's blocking of democratic channels, and
thereby causing illegality, is the reason for armed struggle. Blaming
the PKK as a terrorist organization and trying to destroy it militarily
will do nothing but add to its strength. Kurds pin their hopes on
Öcalan because they see him and the PKK as the alternative to the
state's military policies."
The HEP is currently represented at the National
Assembly by 18 Kurdish deputies.
12 HEP DELEGATES ARRESTED
After the HEP Congress, twelve delegates were
arrested by police on charge of sedition on September 28 and
interrogated on October 5 by the State Security Court of Ankara.
Before being taken to the court, they were medically
examined by forensic doctors. The 12 HEP delegates being detained are
Feridun Yazar, Güven Özata, Kemal Okutan, Harun Cakmak, Hamit Geylani,
Sakir Atay, Sultan Uysal, Felemez Basbuga, Abdulcebbar Gezici,
Sabahattin Özaslaner, Mustafa Demir and Kemal Öztürk.
Shortly after the 12 arrived at the court, eight HEP
deputies went there to see them.
The Kurdish parliamentarians themselves are also
facing another legal proceeding. A parliamentary commission is looking
into files sent to it by Chief State Security Prosecutor Nusret
Demiral, which present the case for lifting immunity for the HEP
deputies.
During the interrogation of the HEP delegates, in
the Eastern Black Sea port city of Trabzon, a petition campaign was
opened to press for the removal of parliamentary immunity of 18 HEP
deputies and four others who were originally in the HEP.
If immunity is lifted, then these 22 deputies could
face charges of treason --which carries a maximum sentence of death--
for statements they made during the oath-taking ceremony during the
opening of Parliament last November.
Among those who launched the petition campaign is
Koray Aydin, a Trabzon deputy for the neo-fascist Nationalist Labour
Party (MCP).
ANTI-KURDISH TERROR EXTENDING
Extreme-right groups have, on the pretext of
responding to the armed actions of the Kurdish guerrillas, launched a
terror campaign against the Kurdish communities in western and northern
parts of Turkey. The polarization increasing between the Turks and the
Kurds is tolerated and even instigated by some State authorities and
the media.
On October 29, following the funeral ceremony in the
southern tourist resort of Alanya for a soldier, killed during an armed
conflict between the Turkish security forces and the Kurdish
guerrillas, a provoked crowd marched through the town and nearly
lynched two young workers from the eastern province of Van.
The incident took place, reportedly, when
unidentified people among the group claimed the two had torn a Turkish
flag and shouted pro-PKK slogans. Attacked by about 100 people, the two
fled in panic.
The crowd then attacked shops known to be owned by
Kurds, and clashed with the police.
The same day, a less violent demonstration took
place in the Aegean port town of Kusadasi, in Aydin province. There,
following the funeral ceremony held for another killed soldier,
demonstrators burned a green-yellow-red Kurdish flag.
They marched through streets of the town shouting
slogans against the PKK and Kurds, demanding the state to give them
weapons to fight the Kurdish organization
TURKISH GLADIO OPENED ITS DOORS
The Turkish Army's Special Forces Command (SFC),
formerly known as the Special Warfare Department (SWD), was
reintroduced to the press on October 23, 1992, under its new name. This
department is named by the opposition as Counter Guerrilla
Organization, Turkish version of the Gladio.
The press briefing of the Special Forces Command
came at a time of increasing accusations against the special forces.
Many have accused the forces of performing counter guerrilla
operations, particularly in the country's southeast.
General Kemal Yilmaz, Commander of the SFC, said
that in many democratic countries there are similar forces under the
name of, for example, SAS commandos, Alpine units, Airborne units and
Delta forces.
In 1952, the SFC was established within the Chief of
Staff's office, under the name of the Special Warfare Department, by a
government decision.
The SFC operates under the special forces concept.
This concept stipulates that forces are needed to operate behind enemy
forces, weakening the main units of the enemy during war time,
explained Yilmaz.
The basic function of the SCF is: "To support the
operation of the Turkish Armed Forces with its irregular warfare
activities by preparing plans and executing the activities of war
preparedness during peace time. During war time SFC is responsible to
establish the irregular local forces and to manage and control those
forces under the directives of the Chief of Staff's office."
The SFC units are composed of officers and
non-commissioned officers, all of whom go through a additional 3.5
years of training. The units are also trained regularly at various
NATO-member countries. SFC commandos are trained with the most advanced
weapons of the world.
Recent press reports raise the possibility of
linkage between alleged SFC counter guerrilla operations and killings
of Turkish journalists in the southeast.
General Yilmaz said: "Who invented the term counter
guerrilla? I do not know. We do not have this term used in our
literature." Ruling out allegations over SFC's association with secret
operation, Yilmaz said: "The members of SFC are composed of elements
who do not know each other but who are ready to accept the orders they
will be given only at the time of an occupation of territory. They
function under the extraordinary state of emergency Governor's office,
which is responsible for the security operations in the southeast
region. The SFC units operate in the southeast only as a potential
force."
Yilmaz said that, prior to the 1974 Cyprus
operation, the Special forces were dispatched to the island to
establish the Turkish resistance organization and help them establish
their security.
"The members of the unit know that during a state of
war that they will be operating in the middle of enemy forces,
but they do not know during peace time what kind of duty they will
execute and under whose command they will operate," Yilmaz stated.
"This is a must for the security of any resistance operating in a
region under occupation. For that reason, special forces are not
organized during peace time."
Yilmaz also added that special units were not used
in Turkey's military coups. "We were the only units who were not called
on duty in the 1980 military operation," he said.
TORTURE CASES IN SEPTEMBER
1.9, à Istanbul, Ramazan Avci applied to the
Foundation of Human Rights of Turkey (TIHV) for treatment by alleging
that he had been tortured following his police detention on August 14.
He claimed that he was subjected to electro-shock and his nails were
extracted.
3.9, in Izmir, 34 people who had been detained on
September 1 for having participated in a protest demonstration, said
after their release that they had been subjected to torture at police
station.
4.9, the daily Özgür Gündem reports that a political
detainee, Mahmut Muhammed, who had been wounded at the Nevsehir E-Type
Prison during a raid by security forces was still deprived of medical
treatment and his life was in danger.
9.9, out of 500 people detained during the Sirnak
Operation in August, 44 were placed under arrest and sent to the
Diyarbakir E-Type Prison. When they arrived to Diyarbakir, they said
that all detainees had been subjected to torture and forced to sign
depositions formulated by General Mete Sayar, commander of the brigade
which ruined the city. They claimed that a peasant, Temel Ucar had been
killed under torture.
11.9, a youth named Hüseyin Karavar, detained on
August 31, 1992 by police in Urfa, said after release that he had been
subjected to torture at Urfa and Siverek police stations. “Taking no
heed that I had been operated on August 18,” said Karavar, “police
subjected me to electro-shock and suspended me to the ceiling during
nine days. Under torture I had to sign a statement having no relation
with the truth.”
13.9, the Adana correspondent of the weekly
Mücadele, Ahmet Öztürk said that he had been subjected to torture
during his detention at the police headquarters. Torture traces were
certified by legal medicine.
15.9, in Izmir, security forces raided the Buca
Prison and wounded 58 political prisoners by beating for two hours. 18
of the wounded prisoners were sent to hospital. Besides, all personal
belongings of the prisoners were destroyed. On the incident, 78
political prisoners went on a hunger-strike.
18.9, police dispersed by using force the parents of
political prisoners gathered in front of the Buca Prison. Some of the
parents were wounded by police.
21.9, Amnesty International decided to ask the
Turkish Government to order an autopsy on the corpse of Temel Ucar who
had been tortured dead after the Sirnak Operation. The daily Özgür
Gündem reports eye-witnesses claiming that his tongue , eyes and
testicles were cut out during the interrogation.
21.9, a political refugee, Haydar Beltan, who had
been detained in January 1992 when he returned from his 12-year
self-exile was released after a 8-month detention. He was accused of
having committed a murder in Mazgirt in 1988 and obliged, under
torture, to sign a statement accepting the charge. But during the
further investigation, it was turned out that in 1988 he was in Paris
and the accusation was completely groundless. He said after his release
that he would apply to justice for asking the account of tortures he
underwent and the 8-month unjust detention.
22.9, a HEP official, Senanik Öner, who had been
detained in August, said after his release that he had been subjected
torture during his 30-day interrogation, his arms and nose were bruised
and his ear-drum was damaged by torturers.
23.9, in Istanbul, two bakers, Sedat Bahadir (18)
and Abdurrahim Ugurlu (36), who had been detained on September 20, said
after their release that they were subjected to torture for ten hours
under detention for having saying that they were not Turks, but Kurds.
25.9, in the town of Genc of the Bingöl province, 30
people were taken into custody during a police raid on some houses.
Same day, two peasants were detained in Tatvan and three in the town of
Diyarbakir.
ARRESTS, TRIALS, BANS
1.9, a demonstration organized by the SHP, junior
partner of the coalition government, on the occasion of the World Peace
Day in Istanbul was banned by the governor.
1.9, the police announced the arrest of seven
alleged Dev-Sol militants
during the raking operations in Istanbul in August.
1.9, in Izmir, 34 people were detained for having
participated in a demonstration to protest against the Sirnak
operation.
2.9, in Sivas, police detained nine alleged Dev-Sol
militants.
2.9, in Istanbul, police detained 32 people during
the opening ceremony of the Association for Fighting Unemployment and
Expensiveness.
3.9, fifteen people detained ten days ago in the
district of Alapli (Zonguldak province) for participating in training
works of an underground organization were released.
3.9, in Istanbul, eight women were arrested by
tribunal for having participated in a demonstration to protest the
Sirnak operation on August 31.
3.9, in Adana, the Association for Rights and
Freedoms of Cukurova was closed down by the governor for leading
political activities.
4.9, the newly founded Trade Union of All
Energy Workers (Tüm Enerji Sen) was banned by the Governor of
Istanbul on pretext that public servants cannot organize in unions.
Besides, the Ministry of Public Works issued an order to ban the
unionization of public servants in the sector.
6.9, security authorities announced the arrest of 13
peasants in the village of Acarlar (Hatay province) and 22 people in
the district of Kiziltepe (Mardin province), for supporting an
underground organization.
6.9, a total of ten top officials of different trade
unions were indicted in Ankara for having organized some
unauthorized actions in Ankara in July to protest the ban on the
unionization of public servants.
7.9, in the town of Hekimhan, Dr. Kaya Ünsalan,
local SHP chairman, was sentenced to a 20-month imprisonment and a fine
of TL 120,000 ($20) for having put on walls an anti-war poster.
7.9, Metin Dikme and Yasemin Okuyucu were sent to
the Istanbul SSC for having participated in Dev-Sol activities. Each
faces capital punishment by virtue of Article 146 of the TPC.
7.9, in Bursa, a demonstration for the union rights
of public servants organized by 5 trade unions was banned by the
Governor.
8.9, in Ankara, eight university students were
detained for setting up an office to help the new students in their
inscription formalities.
8.9, in Istanbul, 13 people were detained for
carrying out actions in favour of the PKK.
8.9, in Van, five Kurds were detained for carrying
red-yellow-green Kurdish flags as going to a circumcision feast.
9.9, in Istanbul, police announced the detention of
five people belonging to illegal organizations.
9.9, in the towns of Elbistan and Afsin of the Maras
province, a total of 19 people were detained for participating in
Dev-Sol actions.
9.9, the trial of 12 people accused of having
carried out PKK actions began at the Criminal Court N°2 of Adana. All
of the defendants facing capital punishment said that their depositions
had been obtained under torture.
9.9, six trade union officials were sent to the
Penal Court N° 2 of Istanbul for having addressed to the Workers’
Convention, organized by the Socialist Party in Istanbul in May
1992. DISK Chairman Kemal Nebioglu and his five comrades are
accused of contravening the ban on political declarations by trade
unions.
10.9, in Bursa, seven alleged members of the
Revolutionary People’s Party of Turkey (TDHP) were detained by police.
11.9, in Istanbul, police detained five people for
leading illegal activities. Same day, two children were arrested by the
Istanbul SSC on charges of attempting to burn a sea-bus.
13.9, police announced the detention of ten persons
in Bursa, Inegöl and Orhangazi for taking part in Dev-Sol activities.
13.9, gendarmes raiding the village of Ördek in the
Bitlis province arrested four people for separatist activities.
14.9, three persons were brought before the Criminal
Court N°1 of Bakirköy in Istanbul on charges of having committed a
political murder. Each faces capital punishment. Besides, two other
persons will be tried under the menace of death sentence for taking
part in the armed actions of the Revolutionary Communists’ Union of
Turkey (TIKB).
15.9, in Edirne, police detained ten people during a
raking operation.
15.9, in the town of Söke (Aydin province), six
alleged Dev-Sol militants were detained.
16.9, the public prosecutor of Ankara opened a legal
proceeding against Dogu Perincek, chairman of the defunct Socialist
Party for his criticisms against the Constitutional Court’s decision to
close his party. Accused of insulting the justice, Perincek faces a
prison term of up to 5 years.
16.9, security forces detained 20 peasants at the
villages of the district of Bismil in the Diyarbakir province.
16.9, in Istanbul, police announced the arrest of
five alleged Dev-Sol militants.
17.9, in Adana, 12 alleged PKK militants were
detained by police.
18.9, in Denizli, five people were detained on
charges of taking part in Dev-Sol actions.
18.9, in Gaziantep, eight people were placed under
arrest by a tribunal on charges of making separatist propaganda during
a wedding ceremony.
19.9, in Istanbul, a soirée to commemorate a human
rights activist, Mrs. Didar Sensoy, died in 1987, was banned by the
governor. Same day, in Diyarbakir, the Association of Popular Culture
(HKD) was closed for fifteen days for having inside some forbidden
publications.
19.9, during the raking operations in the state of
emergency region, 18 people were reportedly taken into custody.
22.9, five HEP members were detained in the town of
Ortaklar of the Aydin province. In the town of Ergani of the
Diyarbakir province, police detained four persons during a wedding
ceremony.
22.9, in Izmir, about hundred persons holding a
demonstration in protest against the violence at the Buca Prison were
dispersed by police using force and 32 persons including IHD officials
were taken into custody.
23.9, in Izmir, police detained 7 alleged PKK
militants.
24.9, the trial of 171 people, accused of having
held an unauthorized demonstration on June 30, 1992 in Nusaybin, began
at the Diyarbakir SSC. Each faces a prison term of up to 8 years.
25.9, in Adana, police detained 12 alleged PKK
militants.
29.9, police announced the arrest of 14 alleged
Dev-Sol militants in Istanbul.
29.9, in Ankara, public prosecutor opened a legal
proceeding against 32 officials of 15 different public servants trade
unions. Accused of contravening the ban on the right to organize, each
faces a prison term of up to three years.
29.9, in Adana, police raiding coffee-houses in the
quarters inhabited by Kurds, detained more than 50 people.
POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS
1.9, an armed band shot dead three Kurdish peasants,
Sabri Kesen, Ali Dinler and Musa Onay in the village of Gülmese of the
Mardin province. Same day, in the district of Kiziltepe of the same
province, an alleged Hezbollah militant, Murat Basaran was shot dead by
unidentified people.
2.9, in Izmir, a police team shot dead a 14-year-old
boy, Ibrahim Ilhan, as they were chasing a wanted person.
2.9, a team of village protectors, halting a bus
going from the the town of Yüksekova to the city of Van, shot dead a
23-year old Kurd, Hasan Alkan.
3.9, Turkish military forces, during an operation on
the mountain of Cudi, destroyed the villages of Caglayan and Hisar by
bombing. A 45-year old woman, Bedi Özdemir was killed and two peasants
wounded. On the other hand, Interior Minister Ismet Sezgin reported
that the villages of Yogurtcular, Balveren and Dagkonak in the province
of Sirnak too were bombed by security forces. Claiming the population
of these villages are supporters of the PKK, the minister said: “If one
enters a Turkish bath, sweating is unavoidable!”
4.9, a team of Hezbollah shot dead a 30-year old
teacher, Ahmet Koyun, in Nusaybin.
4.9, in Istanbul, 44-year old Fikri Uzun was shot
dead in the street by a police team as they were chasing another person.
5.9, in the village of Yagmurdüsen (Agri province),
14-year old shepherd Fuat Keskin was shot dead by a gendarmery team.
About 70 animals pastured by the shepherd were killed by gendarmes as
well.
7.9, the corpse of Vedat Fidanci, kidnapped on
August 24 by unidentified persons at the village of Yolac in the
Diyarbakir province was founded near to the village of Yesilgül. The
forensic medicine certified that he had been killed under torture.
During the kidnapping of Fidanci, his father Emin and his relatives,
Ahmet and Mehmet Fidanci had been assassinated. His mother, Mevlude
Fidanci claimed that the murders had been committed by the Hezbullah.
7.9, in Cizre, the corpse of 15-year old Mesut
Öztürk, kidnapped two days ago, was found near to the village of Sulak.
Fidanci had reportedly been strangled by kidnappers.
7.9, in Agri, 22-year old Reis Adiyaman was shot
dead at the village of Adimova.
7.9, at the village of Cimenli in the Hakkari
province, gendarmes opened fire on a group of Kurdish peasants who came
to the post for lodging a complaint against the raid that they had
carried out earlier in the village and wounded three of them.
11.9, in the town of Silvan of the Diyarbakir
province, 23-year old Muzaffer Dogrul was wounded by unidentified
persons opening fire from a car passing by.
14.9, in Adana, police announced that two youths,
Erol Poyraz and Ali Sahin, were shot dead during an armed skirmish with
a security team. However, eye-witnesses denied the police’s claim and
said that two youths were executed by shooting after being apprehended
by police as they were distributing tracts.
14.6, teacher Sirin Gökdelen was shot dead by the
Hezbollah in the town of Silvan of the Diyarbakir province.
16.9, in Nusaybin, 41 year-old Semsettin Aytimur was
shot dead by unidentified persons. The murder is attributed to the
Hezbollah.
16.9, the Hezbollah shot dead two peasants, Sehmuz
Kaya and Ali Kaya in the village of Haliören of the Diyarbakir province.
17.9, the Hezbullah shot dead 27-year old Medeni
Aslan in the town of Silvan of the Diyarbakir province and 47-year old
bank director Ahmet Arikan in the town of Kiziltepe of the Mardin
province.
19.9, the Hezbollah assassinated 21-year old
Ercan Buhar in Silvan, 35-year old worker Halil Güleryüzlü and 45-year
old Selahattin Kinis in Batman. Besides, two persons were wounded by
the Hezbullah in Silvan.
21.9, unidentified persons shot dead 59-year old
Mehmet Can in Nusaybin, Dersim Tanis in Silvan and Mahmut Oguz in
Batman.
22.9, the TIHV reports the killing of the following
persons by unidentified gunmen: Eyup Ayas (27) in Viransehir, Halil
Aslangiray (24) and Edip Kilinc (32) in Batman, Esref Bebek (28) in
Silvan.
23.9, the TIHV reports the killing of the
following persons by unidentified gunmen: driver Sami Isik in Batman,
Dersim Tanis (19) in Silvan, Ibrahim Karaslan (41) in Diyarbakir and
Ismet Demirci (43) in Ergani.
24.9, the TIHV reports the killing of the
following persons by unidentified gunmen: Cengiz Demir (22) in Batman,
Rauf Kirtay (33) in Silvan and Halil Katikci in Ceylanpinar.
24.9, in Mersin, a police team shot dead in the
street a youth named Recep Balta during a control.
26.9, the TIHV reports the killing of the following
persons by unidentified gunmen: Fevzi Demir in Batman, Serif Kanat (35)
in Cinar (Diyarbakir), Necdet Aslan (39) in Midyat, Bedir Yildirim in
Malazgirt.
28.9, the corpse of Fuat Deger, kidnapped on
September 26 was found by the village of Arikli of the Mardin province.
29.9, in Istanbul, two women and a man were shot
dead during the police raid on two houses in different quarters.
30.9, in Istanbul, a policeman shot dead 24-year old
Bülent Cakmak as he was looking from his balcony.
PERSECUTION OF THE MEDIA
2.9, the State Security Prosecutor of Ankara started
a legal proceeding against poet Adnan Yücel for his book entitled
Children of the Fire and the Sun. Accused of separatist propaganda, the
poet faces a prison term of up to nine years.
2.9, the issue N° 46 of the weekly Yeni Ülke was
confiscated by the decision of the Istanbul State Security Court for an
interview with the PKK leader Öcalan and an article by Serhat Bucak on
the Sirnak operation.
2.9, two correspondents of the daily Özgür Gündem,
Mustafa Cetinkaya and Emine Ince were taken into custody as they were
covering the opening ceremony of the Association for Fighting
Unemployment and Expensiveness.
8.9, the ceremonies organized in commemoration of
the Cannes prize-winner film director Yilmaz Güney, died in exile, was
forbidden by the Police Directorate of Istanbul.
8.9, the issue N°10 of the weekly Mücadele was
confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
9.9, the Cukurca correspondent of the daily Özgür
Gündem, Saban Parlak, who had been detained as covering some incidents
in Cukurca on August 25, was placed under arrest by a tribunal.
12.9, a poster produced by the Socialist Union Party
(SBP) on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the September 12, 1980
Coup was banned by the Governor of Istanbul.
14.9, the issue N° 11 of the weekly Mücadele and the
issue N° 73 of the fortnightly Emegin Bayragi were confiscated by the
Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
15.9, the issue N° 48 of the weekly Yeni Ülke was
confiscated for separatist propaganda.
16.9, the issue N°4 of the bilingual (Kurdish and
Turkish) review Serketin was confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for
separatist propaganda.
18.9, the Izmir offices of the daily Özgür Gündem
and of two periodicals, Özgür Halk and Gercek, were raided and searched
by police. Some documents and publications inside were
confiscated. Same day, the Diyarbakir offices of the periodicals Özgür
Halk and Newroz too were raided and four persons inside detained.
20.9, the issues dated September 19 and 20 of the
daily Özgür Gündem were confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for articles on
torture practice in the state of emergency region.
22.9, the daily Özgür Gündem was confiscated by the
Istanbul SSC for containing an announcement by PKK leader Öcalan in
memory of assassinated journalist Musa Anter. Besides, the issue N° 23
of the monthly Özgür Halk was confiscated by the same court for
separatist propaganda.
25.9, the issue N°3 of the monthly Iscinin Yolu and
the issue N° 15 of the monthly Odak were confiscated by the Istanbul
SSC for separatist propaganda.
26.9, in Gaziantep, Abdullah Sabri Kocaman and
Mümtaz Sahin, respectively chief editor and columnist of the newspaper
Dogus, were sentenced each to imprisonment of 3 month and 15 days for
having criticized a court sentence.
28.9, the new issues of the weeklies Gercek and
Mücadele and the fortnightly Emegin Bayragi were confiscated by the
Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda and praising some outlawed
organizations.
29.9, the State Security Court of Istanbul began to
try 18 journalists altogether for having published in their periodicals
a common text against the Spring offensive by security forces. Accused
of separatism, Nazim Taban (Emegin Bayragi), Seyit Nusret Öztürk
(Ekimler), Salih Bal (Medya Günesi), Mehmet Cangi (Devrimci Mücadele),
Erdal Cinar (Kurtulus), Haydar Üc (Parti Yolunda), Zekeriya Özdinc
(Barikat), Asli Günes (Hedef), Ertugrul Karatas (Yeni Demokrasi), Naile
Tuncer (Devrimci Proletarya), Özer Degistirici (Direnis), Süleyman
Altun (Özgür Halk), Zeynep Yengil (Haziran), Fatma Karabacak (Newroz),
Sadik Gülec (Özgürlük Dünyasi), Fethi Özdemir (Komün), Garip Töre
(Emek) face imprisonment of up to five years each.
30.9, the issue N°50 of the weekly Yeni Ülke and the
issue N° 15 of the fortnightly Devrimci Proletarya were confiscated by
the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda. So, the number of the
confiscated issues of this weekly reached 41.
CHP'S REOPENING SHAKES THE COALITION
The reopening of the Republican People's Party (CHP)
has led the present DYP-SHP coalition to a shaky situation. As both the
Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) and the Democratic Left
Party (DSP) were quickly losing parliamentarians and rank-and-file
members to CHP, this drastic change of the political balance left the
ruling coalition government with a majority of three in the 450-seat
parliament.
At the first CHP convention after its reopening,
held on September 9, 1992, former SHP Secretary General Deniz Baykal
was elected as chairman by taking two-third of the valid votes
against the other candidate, Erol Tuncer. This substantial
victory made him the fourth chairman of the Turkish Republic's first
political party, founded by Atatürk and later led by Ismet Inönü and
Bülent Ecevit.
Erdal Inönü, deputy prime minister and SHP leader
supported Erol Tuncer as a candidate to bring about a merger between
CHP and SHP. However, Baykal, who had tried unsuccessfully to unseat
Inönü as SHP leader, won this contest on a platform of no merger and a
rebirth of CHP.
The CHP was banned in 1981 by the military junta
along with all other parties and was recently reopened after the
government pushed through a law allowing all former parties closed down
by the military to function again.
After the CHP's reopening, the social-democratic
movement in Turkey has been divided into three parties.
In the 450-seat Parliament, three social-democratic
parties have only a total of 76 deputies. SHP: 52, CHP: 21 and DSP: 3.
The SHP, despite its participation in the government, has lost 37
parliamentarians in one year. Because of the repression carried on
against the Kurdish population, 18 deputies had earlier left the
SHP and joined the People's Labour Party (HEP).
As for the right wing parties, the numbers of
deputies that they had in the Parliament by the end of October 1992
were as follows:
Correct Way Party (DYP) 178, Motherland Party (ANAP)
112, Welfare Party (RP) 40, Nationalist Labour Party (MCP) 13, Union
and Peace Party (BBP) 3.
As closed political parties are now being given
permission to reopen, Turkey is seeing a profusion of new parties --39
in total-- being established or reestablished. According to the
Political Parties Registration Office, 39 new parties have been
founded, and 23 of them closed since the return to parliamentary system
in 1983. Out of sixteen parties legally open, but not necessarily
politically active, only the DYP, the ANAP, the SHP, the RP, the DSP,
the MCP, the HEP, the Reformist Democracy Party (IDP) and the Workers'
Party (IP) have the necessary political qualifications to take part in
elections.
US MISSILE KILLED TURKISH SAILORS
A U.S. aircraft carrier blasted a Turkish destroyer
with a missile on October 1 during a NATO exercise in the Aegean Sea,
setting the vessel ablaze and killing five Turkish sailors, including
the destroyer's commanding officer.
The US authorities claimed that the aircraft carrier
USS Saratoga accidentally launched two Sea Sparrow missiles and struck
the Turkish destroyer Muavenet. The incident occurred about 130
kilometres west of Izmir during the NATO exercise "Display
Determination '92."
However, Turkish newspaper were in uproar over the
incident. Even though a NATO spokesman said it was too soon to
say whether human error was to blame, the front page headlines read
"Stupid Johnny" in Milliyet, "It cannot be an accident!" in Sabah, "The
USA should account for this" in Tercüman, "Murderer Saratoga hits: five
martyrs" in Cumhuriyet.
Hürriyet noted that there are four security catches
to be released before such missiles can be fired, and remarked that the
tragedy had shown how dangerous it was for Americans to keep their
armament systems in a ready-to-fire position during allied exercises.
Islamist Necmeddin Erbakan, leader of the Welfare
Party (RP) appealed to check "the ethnic background of those in the
missile control room of the US carrier. "They might have been of
Armenian or Greek origin," he said.
INDEX OF THE 16TH YEAR INFO-TÜRK COLLECTION
NOVEMBER 1991, N° 181
DYP-SHP Coalition in power - Will they keep their
promises? • Scandalous attack on two Kurdish deputies • Democratization
package • What is the choice: Dialogue or war? •Allergy to Kurdish
tricolours • Will State terrorism continue? • Socialist Party to be
closed? • Heavy sentences to Dev-Sol members • Human Rights Association
on trial • State terrorism in the new era • Besikci's never-ending
torment • Post-electoral persecution of the media • European Parliament
resolution on Kurds
DECEMBER 1991, N° 182
1992 Agenda for democracy in Turkey • State
terrorism in Kurdistan: The military fire upon civilians • Other
victims of State terror in December • Other State terror in December •
Growing pressure on Kurdish deputies • Helsinki Watch Report on
suspicious deaths • Amendments proposed by lawyers • Death sentence
remains • Pressure on the media in December • DISK leader Bastürk
passed away • Human rights organizations in Turkey •
JANUARY 1992, N° 183
A new Helsinki Watch document: Torture of children
in Turkey • Democratization: Parties are closed down, arrests, tortures
and man-hunts still carried on • Six torture victims speak • State
terrorism in January • Journalist Teztel's trial • Other media
prosecutions in January
FEBRUARY 1992, N° 184
New European report on Turkey • Turkish deputies
against the rights of minorities • Restriction of children rights
MARCH 1992, N° 185
Spring syndrome • Assassination of Kurdish
journalists • Human right violations over 100 days • SHP criticized by
Kurdish deputies • Dicle and Zana resigned from the SHP • US support to
anti-PKK campaign • Avalanches in Kurdish area • State terrorism in
February • Never-ending man-hunts • New torture allegations • US report
on torture in Turkey • Reinstatement of Turkish citizenship • Police
attack journalists • TBKP closure to Strasbourg • Ankara's opening to
Central Asia • Armenia alarmed by Turkish manoeuvres • Suspicious death
of a TV coordinator • Persecution of the media in February
APRIL 1992, N° 186
Bloodshed in Kurdistan • A SHP report contradicting
the government • Turkish bombing of Kurdish villages • US support to
Turkish operation • Hezbollah-Police collaboration • Emergency state
prolonged • No more support to the government • Discrimination against
Kurdish prisoners • Kurdish deputies resigned from the SHP • Ten
innocent demands of the Kurds • Turco-German tension after Newroz •
Kurdish newspaper forced to stop • A journalist killed by the military
• State terrorism in March • Government support to fascist party •
persecution of the media in March • Coal mine disaster in Zonguldak •
Police terror at Bosporus University • Earthquake disaster in Erzincan
• Turkish-Kurdish week-end in Brussels
MAY 1992, N° 187
Two European Parliament reports as regards Turkey •
Explanatory statement on EC-Turkey relations • Explanatory statement on
the rights of the Kurdish people •
JUNE 1992, N° 188
The 6th month of "democratization" • Grey Wolves
came to power in Azerbaijan • State terrorism and air attacks in
Kurdistan • 22 Kurdish deputies face capital punishment • 290
intellectuals pursued for a petition to the ONU • A Kurdish journalist
assassinated • Besikci sentenced to a fine of $130,000 • The Kurdish
Institute's sign-board was removed by police • A journalist imprisoned
for criticizing the Army • May Day celebrations and strikes are still
forbidden • Virginity test led two teenage girls to commit suicide •
2-month state terrorism • 2-month persecution of the media • The
European Parliament condemned Turkish attacks in Kurdistan • Mandela
rejected Atatürk peace award • Amnesty International report on Turkey
JULY-AUGUST 1992, N° 189-190
Dark picture of human rights • Assassination of
journalists • Rights activists disappointed • State of emergency
extended • Özal vetoed judicial reform law • Socialist Party banned •
Murder of human rights activists • The security forces sparked off
Newroz bloodshed • State terror in June-July • Persecution of the media
in June-July
SEPTEMBER 1992, N° 191
Sirnak ruined by the State • A 75-year old Kurdish
journalist assassinated • A strike • International reactions to
assassinations • Judicial reforms withdrawn • Chief justice for state
terrorism • HEP tried by the Constitutional Court • Turkey accused of
torture • Doctors involved in torture • State terrorism in August • Ne
progress in Turco-EC relations • Turkish attack on European Parliament
• Council of Europe criticizes Turkey • Parliamentarians condemn Turkey
• Turkish generals in Central Asia • Turkish-Nazi cooperation •
Persecution of the media in August
OCTOBER 1992, N° 192
Background of the Peshmergas-Turkish Army Complicity
• Betrayal.... Annihilation... • The Government for military solutions
• HEP Congress for a dialogue with the PKK • 12 HEP delegates arrested
• Anti-Kurdish terror extended • Turkish Gladio opened its doors •
Torture cases in September • Arrests, trials, bans • Political
assassinations • Persecution of the media • CHP’s reopening shakes the
coalition • US Missile killed Turkish sailors
