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A non-government information service on Turkey
Un service d'information non-gouvernemental sur la Turquie

216

18th Year - N°216
October 1994
38 rue des Eburons - 1000 Bruxelles
Tél: (32-2) 215 35 76 - Fax: (32-2) 215 58 60
 Rédacteur en chef: Dogan Özgüden - Editrice responsable: Inci Tugsavul
 

DERSIM VILLAGES IN FLAME

    "Soldiers told us all to get outsideand then burned the place to the ground. Whole families are stranded. We are devastated. Let those who love Tunceli cry for Tunceli!"  cry villagers in their telegrams to the capital.
    Tunceli means the land of bronze!
    Tunceli is an ancestral land of Kurds and Alevis!
    Tunceli was not Tunceli  until the years '30. It was Dersim.
    Dersim was the cradle of many Kurdish revolts against the national repression.
    Dersim had been put in flames many times by the State.
    To have this drama forgotten, the province's name had been turned by the Ankara rulers into Tunceli. 
    Though erased from the official maps of Turkey,  Dersim is still there: Dersim of the Kurds... Dersim of the Alevis...  Dersim of the Popular Resistance!
    It is this Dersim that, in 1994, is once more the target of the State Vandalism!
    .........
    Reuter reports on October 5, 1994 that Turkish security forces torched 17 villages in an intense two-week offensive against separatist Kurds in the remote eastern province of Tunceli. On October 12, it reports that the the number of the torched villages climbed to 30.
    It is the final phase of a big military operation aiming to depopulate Kurdish villages.
    Turkish security forces in southeastern Turkey have depopulated up to 1400 villages and hamlets in their fight against the PKK, according to Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, which has called for an investigation of these practices.
    In  the report entitled Forced Displacement of Ethnic Kurds From Southeastern Turkey, released on October 19, 1994, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki documents a pattern of abuses by Turkish security forces in their 10-year campaign against the PKK guerrillas. In an effort to deprive the PKK of its logistic base of support, security forces forcibly evict villagers from their villages and sometimes destroy their homes. Torture and arbitrary detention often accompany such evictions. Security forces especially target those villages that refuse to enter the village guard system or those that give food or shelter to PKK fighters. The report was sent with a letter to Prime Minister Ciller deploring such practices and urging that they immediately be ceased.
    In its summary, the Report says:
    "Since 1993, civilian displacement from southeastern Turkey has become a widespread phenomenon because of increased fighting by both the PKK and government forces. After coming to power in mid-1993, Prime Minister Ciller's government declared that it would defeat the PKK militarily, while the PKK vowed to increase its operations and recruit even more fighters. Commenting on the state's military strategy against the PKK, former Turkish Chief of Staff Dogan Güres stated that, 'We have changed the concept. We are now implementing area domination. There is no advancing on terrorists... We now apply 'let them stay without logistic support — go hungry and surrender strategy.
    "Such displacement reached a high point in a three-week operation in Tunceli province that began in late September 1994. As 40,000 Turkish troops combed the province in pursuit of the PKK, these forces reportedly burned thirty villages and hamlets. deputy Prime Minister Karayalcin and Human Rights Minister Azimet Köylüoglu visited the region. Köylüoglu called the burnings and displacements "state terrorism," adding that, "Security forces should avoid the psychology of burning and destroying while in their relentless fight against terrorism. The evacuated villagers must be given food and shelter... We can't even give them Red Crescent tents.
    "Until last week, there were no exact, official figures available relating to the number of displaced persons and forcibly evacuated villages. Fully or partly depopulated villages and hamlets were estimated to run as many as 1,000. While some limited out-migration was economically motivated, the majority seems forced. Estimates of the number of displaced civilians in southeast Turkey run as high as two million. On October 11, 1994, Human Rights Minister Köylüoglu stated that two million had been displaced during the ten years of the conflict and that 600 villages and 790 hamlets had been evacuated. more than half of these have occurred since the beginning of 1993. According to the Istanbul Section of the Turkish Human Rights Association, 108 villages and hamlets were depopulated between May 9 and July 10, 1994.
    "The PKK on the other hand, attacks those villages that join the village guard system, often killing whole families along with village guards, as well as punishing anyone who cooperates with the state. During its August 1994 mission to Turkey, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki intended to investigate such PKK violence through direct interviews with victims and asked the Turkish Government to allow unhindered access. While the Foreign Ministry responded favourably, for unexplained reasons the Emergency Rule Governor's Office in Diyarbakir did not allow such meetings."

"FILE OF TORTURE" CONFISCATED

    The Prosecution Office of the Ankara SSC has recently launched an investigation in connection with the booklet File of Torture 1980-1994 prepared by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV). Within the frame of the investigation launched under Article 8/1 of the Anti-Terror Law, confiscation of the booklet was decided.
    In case that a trial is launched against TIHV Chairman Yavuz Önen and Administrative Board member Fevzi Argun who allegedly disseminated separatist propaganda through publication, they will be tried at the Ankara SSC on demand of imprisonment terms ranging from 2 to 5 years.
    The booklet in question deals with the torture cases and deaths in detention places or prisons, another dimension of human rights abuses observed between the 12 September 1980 Coup and 12 September 1994.
    The booklet states that a total of 420 persons died during the last 14 years since the 1980 Coup. 390 of those persons died in detention places while being interrogated or in prisons. 13 of them during hunger strikes staged in prisons on demand of improvement in prison conditions, and 17 of them because of illness due to torture in detention places or prisons, or because they could not receive necessary medical treatment.
    "Effects of the system formed by the 12 September Coup have always been felt although three general elections were held following the coup, different governments came to power and hundreds of promises were made," states the booklet.
    "The Constitution and many main laws prepared during the military period have been in effect for 14 years, and have become a mainstay for inhuman implementations and pressure. Promises on change in this system were not kept. 'Democratisation' remained a word used during election campaigns while 'respect to human rights' did not go beyond a concept remembered while giving statements.
    "Insignificant retouches and certain legal amendments made following the military junta period, lost their meanings among the common human rights abuses. Even, some of these new applications drew results which made people to miss the former ones. On the one hand, martial law application was ended, on the other hand changes were made on the Law on Police Duties and Authorities, and emergency state law was made permanent; on the one hand Articles 140, 141, 142 and 163 of the Penal Code were lifted, on the other hand the Law to Fight Terrorism was issued; on the one hand, the political parties closed down in the 12 September period were enabled to be opened again, on the other hand other parties were closed down.
    "Approach of the government towards the Kurdish problem was not so different from the logic of the 12 September generals. The Kurdish problem became more complex day by day. demands for a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem were ignored. Military methods were introduced as the only solution and applied. On the other hand, the PKK which staged a guerrilla war as of 1984, increased the dose of its attacks as of 1990 to a great extent. As a result of the struggle between the administers who insisted on military solution, and the PKK which increased the dose of its attacks, the Kurdish problem was jammed in a triangle of violence, pressure and death, and became almost unsolvable.. The picture becomes more clear when we take into consideration that the number of the persons who died was more than 13,000 while that of the wounded was more than 30,000 during the 10-year period between 15 August 1984, when the PKK staged a guerrilla war, and 15 August 1994. The gap between the Turkish and Kurdish people  The gap between the Turkish and Kurdish people widened. The Kurdish problem also caused a great damage to the Turkish economy. The bill of this economic bottleneck was brought before workers, civil servants and people of small income.
    "Although many things were said in the statements or uttered in explanations about torture, neither torture cases decreased, nor attempts to prevent the torture cases were witnessed. The deaths in detention, missings after being detained, infirmities because of torture, and cases of rape and torture were neither prevented, nor wanted to be prevented. Perpetrators were protected, encouraged and rewarded. Investigations into the torture cases remained only a figurehead. Manner of the pending trials or trivial sentences played a major role in the increase of torture cases."

    Torture victims    Medical reports    Female    Rape-Abuse    Children

1989-90    329    213    44    8    7
1991    552    218    53    9    15
1992    594    188    93    24    11
1993    827    160    126    22    29
1994 (7 months)    387    127    117    12    16

TOTAL    2689    906    433    75    78

    Deaths in detention    Deaths during hunger strikes    Deaths du to torture    Total

1989    11    -    1    12
1990    12    -    3    15
1991    21    -    -    21
1992    17    -    -    17
1993    29    1    7    37
1994 (8 months)    14    -    -    14

TOTAL    390    13    17    420

HUNGER STRIKES IN TURKISH PRISONS

    Hunger strikes are spreading in prisons throughout Turkey in protest against ill-treatment and brutality .The action began over the death of a detainee, Ramazan Özüak, who was killed in Diyarbakir prison during a prison riot.
    The riot was sparked off on October 3 by a police attempt to take a fellow prisoner to police headquarters for a second interrogation.
    At least 45 detainees were wounded during the police raid, many cells were badly damaged and could no longer be used.
    After the bloody incidents, 300 out of 1,350 inmates of the Diyarbakir Prison were transferred to another prison in Gaziantep, about 370 km to the Southwest of Diyarbakir.
    About 3,000 inmates are on hunger strike in the prisons of the following provinces: Diyarbakir, Konya, Gaziantep, Malatya, Mardin, Batman, Adiyaman, Elazig, Bursa, Canakkale, Urfa, Ceyhan, Cankiri, Nevsehir, Ankara, Sivas, Yozgat, Buca, Aydin and Bartin.
    The prisoners' relatives allege that the police opened fire on the inmates during the Diyarbakir riots and "hundreds" were injured, some receiving bullet wounds.
   
    The prisoners' relatives and human rights activists accuse the police of maltreating or torturing detainees during questioning.

STILL NO EDUCATION IN THE SOUTHEAST

    Statistics issued by the Education Ministry clearly show that political violence in Turkey's Southeast has seriously disrupted education in the region and has deprived locals of security in their everyday lives.
    According to Turkish Education Ministry, 4-5,000 of the 20,000 teachers posted to southeastern Turkey have not reported to their jobs because of fear of the PKK.  591 schools have been closed down because of staff shortages, while 4,000 schools have remained closed due to lack of security. To date 117 teachers have been killed in the Southeast.
    The PKK has targeted teachers and educational institutions in its ten-year fight against the Turkish state. According to the 1993 Annual Report of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV)., in 1993, the PKK murdered thirty-four teachers.
    In the past two months fourteen school teachers have been murdered by the PKK, according to Turkish press reports:
    On September 11, 1994, the PKK killed six teachers in the village of Karikent, Mazgirt district of Tunceli: Metin Kaynar (29), Ali Ihsan Cetinkaya (29), Vedat Inan (25), Buminhan Temizkan (27), Rüstem Sen (29), and Mustafa Kaynarca (29).
    On September 17, a bus travelling from Tunceli to Nazimiye was stopped by the PKK; one teacher was killed and another seriously wounded.
    On September 22, PKK fighters raided the village of Cevrimova; Besiri district, Batman province and executed teachers Adnan Tunca (37) and Mustafa Gümüs (24).
    On September 29, the PKK murdered a teacher, Sait Korkmaz, in an attack on Kazan village, Dogubeyazit district, Agri province.
    On October 10, 1994, PKK members executed teachers Nurullah Sarac (25), Ali Bulut (27) and Ersoy Yorulmaz (28) in an attack on Taskesenli village, Tekman district of Erzurum province.
    That same night the PKK murdered educator Ragip Köse (26) in a raid on Katranli village in the same region.
    In a special report on the matter, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Jeri Laber criticizing the PKK, said:  "The murder of teachers is a clear violation of humanitarian law."

TURKISH UNIVERSITIES PARALYSED

    All Turkish universities have been paralysed since the beginning of the new academic year because of a country-side boycott staged by university professors in protest against their living conditions.
    A university researcher receives TL 7 million ($195) per month while a professor receives TL 19 million ($ 528).
    Academics who are demanding more pay are not coming to classes and students are not even bothering to go to the university.
    The University Members Association has declared October 31 as a "day of warning" and called on all teachers to assemble in the gardens of Istanbul University and not to attend classes that day.

STATE TERRORISM IN OCTOBER

    3.10, HADEP Yüregir chairman Rebih Cubuk and another party official, Sefer Cerf, are shot dead in Adana by unidentified gunmen.
    3.10, former IHD Istanbul Secretary Eren Keskin claims to have been tortured and insulted during his three-day detention at the Political Police Centre.
    3.10, in Adana, a woman named Kadriye Gökmen is shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
    4.10, in Denizli, during the funeral of lawyer Fuat Erdogan, shot dead by police on September 28 in Istanbul, 24 people are taken into police custody. Among them is also IHD Denizli Chairwoman Huriye Coban.
    4.10, two children, Ilyas Yigit (6) in Cat and Adil Boztas (10) in Kagizman fall victims of bomb explosions.
    4.10, in Midyat, Halil Acar and Ismail Alkan, kidnapped on September 16 are found assassinated near to their village.
    5.10, the number of the people detained in Izmir for Rizgari activities rises to 37.
    6.10, in Istanbul, six people are placed under arrest by a tribunal for belonging to the Revolution Party of Turkey (TDP). In Diyarbakir, HADEP member lawyer Mehmet Cem is taken into police custody.
    6.10, in Midyat, Cemalettin Akbulut is shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
    6.10, in Midyat, two children fall victims of a bomb explosion and two other children are wounded.
    7.10, in sason, unidentified gunmen shoot dead Cemalettin Baran.
    8.10, in Istanbul, security forces raiding a house shoot dead two alleged Dev-Sol militants, Yilmaz Uytun and Güler Ceylan.
    9.10, in Adana, Ahmet Dizman claims to have been tortured after being kidnapped by police on October 4. A medical report certifies that he was incapable to work for 25 days because of torture.
    10.10, in Ankara, lawyer Murat Demir whose office was raided by police on September 29 is placed under arrest by the Ankara SSC. He was detained together with two other persons as they were preparing a file in view to prevent the sending to Turkey of Dev-Sol leader Dursun Karatas, under arrest in France.
    10.10, the chairman of the Sea Port Workers' Union (Liman Is), Hasan Biber is placed under arrest by the Ankara SSC on charges of being Dev-Sol member. Besides, another Liman Is official, Kerim Necefoglu, is detained in Mersin.
    10.10, police detain Hasan Bölücek and Aysel Bölücek in Ankara, Yasar Yagan in Izmir.
    12.10, the Ankara SSC Prosecutor opens a legal proceeding against IHD leader, Chairman Akin Birdal, Secretary General Hüsnü Öndül, Vice-Chairman Sedat Aslantas and Press Officer Erol Anar for having published a document concerning the burned villages. Each faces a prison term of up to two years.
    12.10, security forces detain 18 alleged PKK members in Manisa and eight alleged TIKKO members in Istanbul.
    12.10, in Diyarbakir, Aydin Kismir who had been detained on October 6 together with his two brothers, is returned dead to his family. His brother Turan Kismir says that Aydin Kismir was tortured at police station.
    13.10, lawyers Ahmet Düzgün Yüksel and Murat Demir, detained on September 27, claim to have been tortured  by police and insulted by the Ankara SSC prosecutor during their interrogation.
    13.10, municipal worker Mesut Yildirim is shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Nusaybin.
    13.10, in Semdinli, lorry driver Nevruz Sevim is killed by the explosion of a mine laid by security forces.
    13.10, the Izmir SSC sentences three PKK defendants to life-prison and four others to prison terms of up to 12 years and six months.
    14.10, in Diyarbakir, cook Veysi Sizlanan is shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
    16.10, in Ankara, lawyer Nesrin Hatipoglu announces that her client, Kenan Bilgin has disappeared since his detention by police on September 12.
    16.10, in Istanbul, Bayram Dursun is found dead in police custody. His father Ali Dursun accuses the police of having tortured Bayram Dursun.
    16.10, security forces detain three musicians, Sirin Esmer, Mehmet Bilir and Yahya Güler at a wedding ceremony in Iskenderun and 17 people in Tekman.
    17.10, unidentified gunmen shoot dead Fikret Un in Diyarbakir and Ahmet Siyahtas in Van.
    18.10, the Istanbul SSC sentences eight people to life-prison and two others to prison terms of up to three years and nine months for a sabotage act they committed in Istanbul on December 25, 1991.
    18.10, in Izmir, police announce the arrest of 18 people for underground activities. Two of the detainees are later released and claim to have been tortured during their interrogation.
    18.10, Osman Siyahkoc who was shot by unidentified gunmen on October 16 in Dargecit dies in a Diyarbakir hospital.
    19.10, the Diyarbakir SSC sentences  four PKK defendants to life-prison and eight other defendants to prison terms of up to 18 years and nine months.
    19.10, a group of village protectors raiding the village of Sekinek in Cemisgezek shoots dead Hasan Polat and Mustafa Yildiz.
    19.10, a 70-year Kurdish peasant who was kidnapped on September 30 at the village of Dogancay in Midyat is found assassinated in a cave near to the village.
    20.10, the Istanbul Governor, on the directive of the Interior Ministry, refuses to authorise the opening of the Anti-War Association.
    20.10, security forces arrest nine alleged TIKKO members in Istanbul and eight people in Batman in relation with PKK activities.
    20.10, unidentified assailants assassinate Mehmet Mutlu in Diyarbakir.
    20.10, the Malatya SSC sentences ten defendants to prison terms of up to 22 years and six months for illegal activities.
    24.10, during his trial at the Criminal Court of Izmir, former policeman Cigdem Koparan claims to have been tortured during his interrogation.
    24.10, the trial of five top officials of the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity With the Victims of Repression (Mazlum-Der), Chairman Ihsan Arslan, Mehmet Pamak, Mustafa Islamoglu, Hasim Hasimi and Abdullah Ünalan, begins at the Ankara SSC. They are accused of having made separatist propaganda in their speeches delivered at a conference on Kurdish Question.
    24.10, Serafettin Erci and an unidentified woman fall victim of the explosion of a mine laid by security forces in Yüksekova.
    24.10, unidentified gunmen shoot dead Murat Tasan in Batman and Mehmet Binbay in Urfa.
    25.10, in Gebze, two youths named Öner Yildirim and Sunay Ekinci claims to have been tortured at the police station under custody.
    26.10, ten alleged members of the Revolutionary Communists' Union of Turkey (TIKB) are placed under arrest by the Izmir SSC. Besides, three attendants of a HADEP meeting in Izmir are taken into custody.
    26.10, unidentified gunmen shoot dead Ismet Gün in Diyarbakir and Mahsun Kavak in Adana.
    27.10, in Batman, Cemil Yildirim is shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
    28.10, security forces have detained 65 people in Yüksekova and two youths in Diyarbakir.
    28.10, in Beytüssebap, Kurdish peasant Ferman Timur claims to have been tortured because he refused to be a "village protector."
    30.10, "The Festival For Peace and Fraternity", organized by the HADEP Istanbul Section is banned by the Governor.
    31.10, a one-year imprisonment and TL 100 thousand in fine against IHD Balikesir Chairman Mahmut Akkurt are ratified by the Court of Cassation. On the decision, Akkurt is put in the Kepsut Prison.
    31.10, the trial of 6 alleged PKK members begins at the Istanbul SSC. The prosecutor demands capital punishment of three defendants.

BESIKCI'S FOUR NEW CONDEMNATIONS

    Sociologist Ismail Besikci has recently been sentenced in four different cases to a total of six years and ten months in prison and TL 750 million in fine.
    So, the total of imprisonments against Besikci rises to 58 years and nine months, and fines to TL 4 billion 284 million. Besikci is already serving in Ankara Prison a part of 14 years and 6 months of these sentences ratified by the Court of Cassation. A part of TL 850 million of his fines too have been ratified.
    27.9, the Istanbul Criminal Court N°2 sentences Besikci to ten months in prison for insulting the Turkish Republic in an article published by Özgür Gündem. The court also sentences the daily's editor Kemal Sahin to a fine of TL 1.5 million.
    29.9, Besikci is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to two years in prison and TL 250 million in fine for an article he wrote for Özgür Gündem. The court also sentences the daily's editor Besim Döner to six months in prison and TL 50 million in fine and publisher Yasar Kaya to a fine of TL 126 million for the same article.
    30.9, Besikci is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to two years in prison and TL 250 million in fine for an article he wrote for Özgür Gündem. The court also sentences the daily's editor Kamil Celikten to six months in prison and TL 68 million in fine and publisher Yasar Kaya to a fine of TL 136 million for the same article.
    18.10, Besikci is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to two years in prison and TL 250 million in fine for his book containing one of his appeals to the Court of Cassation against his earlier condemnations. The court also sentences the director of the Yurt Publishing House, Ünsal Öztürk to six months in prison and TL 100 million in fine for having printed the said book.

PERSECUTION OF THE MEDIA IN OCTOBER

    1.10, in Istanbul, the office of the magazine Fabrika is raided by police and sixteen people inside taken into custody for fifteen days.
    2.10, in Trabzon, the office of the left-wing newspaper Özgür Karadeniz is destroyed by a bomb explosion.
    4.10, the editor of the defunct periodical Iscinin Yolu, Asiye Zeybek is placed under arrest by the Istanbul SSC for some articles.
    4.10, Özgür Gündem's Diyarbakir office is again raided by police, correspondents Nevzat Aydin and Ismail Hakki Kelleci, and teacher Salih Aykac taken into custody.
    4.10, the first issue of a new weekly, Jiyana Nû, and Mücadele N°112 are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda and praising outlawed organizations.
    6.10, in Diyarbakir, Özgür Ülke distributor Sehmuz Baskan is taken into police custody.
    7.10, in Istanbul, two Özgür Ülke correspondents, Serpil Korkmaz and Selda Sürmeli are detained as covering a demonstration against the burning of villages in Tunceli.
    8.10, the publisher of the new Kurdish weekly, Jiyana Nû, Selman Ciman is placed under arrest by the Istanbul SSC for some articles he wrote.
    9.10, Jiyana Nû N°2 and the first issue of a new periodical, Atilim, are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda and praising outlawed organizations.
    11.10, Özgür Ülke editor Yusuf Sit is placed under arrest by the Istanbul SSC. So, the number of the newspaper's editors under arrest rises to eight.
    11.10, the editor of the Kurdish newspaper Welat, Mazhar Günbat is tried by the Istanbul SSC. The court does not allow him to make his defence in Kurdish language.
    12.10, the chairman of the Anti-War Association, Arif Hikmet Iyidogan is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to two years in prison and TL 250 million in fine for some articles he published in the magazine Zafere Dogru.
    12.10, the Istanbul SSC sentences Gencligin Sesi editor Seher Karatas to five years in prison and TL 41 million in fine, and Gercek editor Pelin Sener to a fine of TL 75 million.
    13.10, two Adana correspondents of the magazine Atilim, Mahmut Karadag and Ibrahim Yardimci claim to have been tortured after being detained on October 11.
    13.10, the Istanbul SSC confiscates Denge Azadi N°21 and Devrimci Mücadele N°13 for separatist propaganda and praising outlawed organizations.
    14.10, the governor of Ordu province bans the sale and distribution of musi-cassettes of famous popular singers Ahmet Kaya and Ferhat Tunc.
    15.10, in Erzincan, the 4th Musical Concert for Friendship and Solidarity organized by a local private radio is banned by the governor.
    15.10, dramatist Numan Bektas is detained in Ankara to serve a 20-month imprisonment for his play entitled The Law of Resistance and Renewal. He had been sentenced by the Ankara SSC to 20 months in prison and TL 208 million in fine for separatist propaganda. The sentence was recently ratified by the Court of Cassation.
    16.10, Özgür Ülke Mersin correspondent Ismet Bakac claims to have been tortured after being detained by police.
    17.10, Jiyana Nû N°3 and Kizil Bayrak N°9 are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    19.10, the Istanbul SSC confiscates for separatist propaganda two books issued by the Belge Publishing House: The Zagros - The Diary of a Journalist and Our Ferhat - The Anatomy of A Murder.
    19.10, the periodicals Newroz N°35 and Hedef N°36 are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC by virtue of the Anti-Terror Law.
    23.10, the last issue of the magazine Medya Günesi is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    25.10, the Istanbul SSC confiscates Atilim N°3 and Denge Azadi N°23 for separatist propaganda. Same day, 750 exemplaries of Özgür Ülke are confiscated in Diyarbakir by the military.
    26.10, in Arpacbahsis (Mersin), security forces raiding a house shoot dead Mücadele Adana correspondent Ahmet Öztürk and his friend Zeynep Gültekin, accused of being Dev-Sol members. During the raid, a woman named Sevgi Erdogan is wounded and taken into custody.
    27.10, journalist Oral Calislar is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to two years in prison and TL 250 million in fine for his book containing interviews with Kurdish leaders Öcalan and Burkay. The court also sentences the director of the Yar Publishing House, Muzaffer Erdogdu, to six months in prison and TL 50 million in fine.
    27.10, Özgür Gelecek N°37 is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda and praising outlawed organizations.
    28.10, former DEP Chairman and Özgür Gündem publisher Yasar Kaya is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC  to two years in prison and TL 250 million in fine for an interview he gave to the TV Kanal 6 on January 17, 1993.
    28.10, the Court of Cassation ratifies two fines against two journalists of the weekly Aktüel, TL 210 million for editor Alev Er and TL 421 million for publisher Ercan Arikli, for having published a report titled "A United Front of Kurdistan founded."
    31.10, the Court of Cassation ratifies a two-year imprisonment against the editor of Ak-Zuhur, Mustafa Asik. The court also approves a fine of TL 200 thousand against Asik and TL 50 million against the review's publisher Hayrettin Soykan.
The latter is already in prison for serving a 10-month imprisonment.

TURKEY CRITICIZED AT THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

    The Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Miguel Martinez, headed a mission to Turkey at the beginning of September. He submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly his information report at the sitting of October 3, 1994.
    Using a rather moderate language, Mr. Martinez said:
    "We encountered a complex situation, one not always familiar in its extreme ramifications, and one which is not always perceived with total objectivity and accuracy in some of our countries; a situation fraught with definite threats which are just as serious for Europe and the process of European construction as they are for Turkey.
    "We also noted some conspicuous and hardly acceptable shortcomings, incompatible with the standards and values on which the Council of Europe is based. But we also met Turkish leaders and parliamentarians who are honestly, conscientiously and courageously committed to overcoming these shortcomings and ensuring that the standards in question become a reality for their people, that is to say for all the citizens of Turkey whatever their ethnic identity.
    "The general conclusion we wish to pass on to our colleagues in the Assembly is that the situation in Turkey can be looked at with some hope. It now lies with us, for our part, to do our utmost to ensure that his hope becomes a reality and to monitor current developments with extreme vigilance, in order to make sure that the undertakings given in our presence by the various Turkish authorities are respected in accordance with the scheduled timetable, that is to say during the next session of the Turkish Grand National Assembly."
    In his report, Martinez drew the attention to the danger of fundamentalism in Turkey. "It is also our duty to point out that we were confronted with fundamentalist ideas which were put to us by the Vice-Chairman of the Welfare Party. He gave a politely negative reply when we asked whether his party shared our principles with regard to human rights and whether it was in favour of Turkey's participation in the process of European construction. Strengthened by their showing at the last municipal elections, the Islamic fundamentalists are extremely dangerous to Turkish democracy, not only on account of their actual activities, but also because of the radicalising effect which their brand of nationalism has on all the other political forces. But the rise of fundamentalism also seems to us to pose equal dangers to the Europe we are committed to building."
    However, the moderate tone of the Martinez Report led to severe criticisms of a number of European deputies.
    Ole Espersen (Denmark):
    "During the 1980s, the Scandinavian countries withdrew an application that we had lodged against Turkey regarding the serious violation of its human rights. We did that because Turkey made certain promises and the Commission of Human Rights accepted those promises.
    "It is now eight or nine years since we received clear promises from Turkey to meet its human rights obligations. We have been deceived and I am afraid that we are still being too patient. The report concludes that we can have some hope. If those time-limits are not observed, it is our obligation to take action. If not, we can no longer be proud of our Organization or maintain that human rights is the most vital subject of the Council of Europe."
    Lord Kirkhill (United Kingdom):
    "I have read the report carefully and with considerable interest, but I have to say that the situation of the detained members of parliament is mentioned barely at all. It is surprising that an ad hoc committee led by the President of the Assembly should make such limited reference to the core issue which led to its making the visit to Ankara. I stress that those members of parliament are still in prison after more than six months; that the experience of such trials in Turkey has shown that they can last for many years; and that, if nothing changes, those members may remain in prison for the entire period of their trial."
    Mrs Baarveld-Schlaman (Netherlands):
    "I am not optimistic about the situation. Did the delegation try to meet the parliamentarians who had had their immunity lifted; what was the reaction of the authorities when this question was raised: and what follow-up would there be to the visit of this ad hoc committee? If a country refuses to allow any participation in solving its problems from international bodies such as the Council of Europe it should be prepared to give up membership in such bodies."
    Hadjidemetriou (Cyprus):
    "The issue that we are discussing is not only a legal one; it is also a matter of the mentality and practice of the Turkish authorities. Turkey should understand that problems are not solved by the arrest of members of parliament and journalists, by violence and by the use of arms and the imposition of the will of the powerful. I am astonished that the ad hoc committee visited Turkey and failed to meet the HADEP, which succeeded the Democracy Party, and the six members of parliament who were arrested. After the rather limited report, the question remains: how long will the Council of Europe continue to wait to see the promises of the Turkish authorities materialise?"

CSCE PROTEST LETTER TO CILLER

    The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), on October 5, sent a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Ciller, decrying the "trial of six former deputies of the Turkish Grand National Assembly."
    The letter, signed by 43 members of the US House of Representatives and 19 senators, says "this trial raises serious questions about Turkey's commitment to free speech and other principles which underlie democracy. In Turkey's Kurdish citizens continue to be denied a voice in the political process, an important avenue for resolving the Kurdish issue will have been cut off and extremists on all sides strengthened. We believe the violence responsible for 13,000 deaths since 1984 will intensify if your government fails to distinguish between acts of terrorism and the legitimate exercise by individuals of their rights of free speech."

TURKEY TRIED AT STRASBOURG

    The Strasbourg based European Commission of Human Rights agreed at its meetings of October 18 and 19, 1994, to investigate a series of human rights violations in cases brought by Kurds against Turkey.
    In four cases brought before the commission, victims claimed the Turkish government was "pursuing a policy of death and destruction directed against Kurdish areas, including the burning of villages and the expulsion of their inhabitants."

OBSTACLES TO AI ACTIVISTS IN TURKEY

    Although the new Turkish foreign minister, Mümtaz Soysal, was an AI activist during his opposition years, AI activists of today are denied entry to Turkey for human rights researches.
    According to a statement released on October 26 by Amnesty International in London, a researcher was scheduled to collect information about human rights violations in Turkey but was notified of the government's decision to deny entry on October 16 by the Turkish Embassy in London.
    Article 8 of Turkey's Law of Passports prohibits entry of individuals whose "motives in Turkey are proved to be detrimental to the security and public order of the country."
    "By denying our researcher access to Turkey, the government is choosing to hide and to deny the torture and killings carried out by its police and gendarmerie rather than confront its worsening human rights violations and take the necessary steps to end them," AI stated.
    On the other hand, a Kurdish human right activist, Abdülkerim Demirer, was arrested on October 21 in Hakkari, while he was on his way to deliver some documents to John Shattuck, US Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs who was visiting Turkey. During the arrest, police confiscated all the documents he carried.
    Amnesty International representative Maryam Elahi, in Washington, said that Demirer, Chairman of Hakkari Branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD), was someone AI had worked with in the past and was regarded as a reliable reporter of human rights violations in Turkey.

ERNK SPOKESMAN DETAINED IN LONDON

    British police detained on October 26, 1994, the ERNK's Representative, Kani Yilmaz,  visiting London and said he would be deported to a third country as soon as arrangements were made.
    Yilmaz was taken into custody on his way to a meeting with British parliamentarians at the House of Commons and held overnight at a central London police station before being sent to a detention house.
    A spokesman for New Scotland Yard said that Yilmaz was arrested under his true name of Faysal Dumlayici.
    Interpol department of Turkish General Directorate of Security immediately asked for the extradition of Yilmaz from Britain.
    British newspapers reported that Yilmaz was arrested on orders issued by Home Secretary Michael Howard, which implied Turkish pressure on the British government  may have been the reason for the arrest.
    Prior to his arrest by British police, Yilmaz told the press that the PKK was opting for a new and substantial offer for dialogue to solve the ongoing crisis in southeastern Turkey and this was one of the reasons he visited Britain.
    Lord Avebury, Parliament's human rights commission chairman and a supporter of Kurdish rights, issued an immediate statement objecting strongly "that somebody invited by a member of Parliament should be unceremoniously arrested. In fact, Yilmaz was invited to the country by John Austin-Walker, Labor MP for Woolwich.

KURDISH CONVENTION IN MOSCOW

    A convention of Kurdish organizations from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Moscow decided on October 31 to establish a "Kurdish Union" which will have the PKK as its nucleus.
    According to the daily Al-Hayat, the convention brought together 80 delegates representing 35 Kurdish organizations.
Yuri Nebiev, a Lachin Kurd from Armenia who was elected to head the union, said the El-Hayat that they consider the PKK to be the most important Kurdish political and military force and the nucleus of their future national state.
    Turkey through diplomatic channels had tried to halt the conference, arguing that it was PKK-related, while Moscow has denied this and presented the convention as a gathering of CIS Kurds.
    The Turkish press claims that Moscow has been trying to "get back at Ankara" through such conferences and conventions in order to signal to Turkey "to keep its hands off the Turkic and Muslim peoples" within the Russian Federation and the former Soviet Union.
    According to the Turkish Daily News of October 18, 1994, the ERNK representatives are currently holding meetings in all CIS countries. The PKK has increased its influence in a number of countries over the past months, including Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia.

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY UNDER MENACE

    Armenian Patriarch Karekin Kazanciyan, in a letter of October 23, 1994, to the Turkish authorities, asked the Turkish Government to take an interest in the threatening letters which the Armenian community in Istanbul received.
    These letters say "Oh you parasites who think yourselves citizens! We nourish you snakes in our bosom and you both eat our bread and will destroy our souls and blood? The time to put a halt to this has long come and gone." and call on Armenians living in Turkey to leave immediately. "This is a last warning to you. Turkey is only for the Turks and not for snakes like you. This is final and don't forget it," they concluded.
    These letters began to arrive at Armenian addresses from October 16 onwards and because of the groundless claims of relations between the PKK and Turkish Armenians. A right-wing newspaper published a photograph in which PKK leader Apo is shaking hand with a man in religious gown and titled it as a proof of PKK-Armenian cooperation.
    Armenian Patriarch Kazanciyan, holding a press conference on October 18, stated that the man pictured with Apo was a man from Aleppo who belonged to a Christian community which was not Armenian.
    The Patriarch referred to "a tactic in psychological warfare" by which Armenians would be shunned by the very neighbours they had lived side by side with, and by friends whose roots were very different from theirs.
    Kazanciyan questioned whether the people who were responsible weren't trying to make the word Armenian a swear word, create hatred between Muslims and Christians, prevent Armenian children from playing in the streets and Armenian women from going shopping in the markets, and creating a situation in which Armenian businessmen could not work.

nINDEX OF THE 18th YEAR INFO-TÜRK COLLECTION

November 1993, N°205

    • Escalation • Guernica-style assault onto Lice • Turkish death squads in Europe • Anti-Kurdish operations in Europe • PKK's demonstration of force • Ciller-Güres tandem's threats • Christian village depopulated • British unionist detained • Turkey condemned by the UNO for torture • 2-month State terrorism • Appeal by Amnesty International • 2-month persecution of the media • Turkish banks in Europe • Scandal of fictituous exports

December 1993, N°206

    • 1993: The Year of Hawks • New escalation in the Dirty War • Poised Hammer extended • New attack on Özgür Gündem • Joint action with Iran against Kurds • DEP elected a radical chairman • State terrorism in December • Persecution of the Media in December • General Güres' attack on the media • Güres' son to shoot journalists • Intellectuals' declaration of unity • Scandal in the Turkish press • Failure of tax reform • Army arrests journalists

January 1994, N°207

    • Human rights record of 1993 • 54 journalists in prison • 31 journalists murdered since 1992 • 1000 victims of Anti-Terror Law • Pressures on the media in January • Dirty War costs $8.2 billion • Military service extended • PKK calls for liberated zones • Hunger strikes in prisons • Ill-treatment of foreigners • The Army's finance holding • USA: Torture persists in Turkey • State terrorism in January • One-million bank-notes in the offing • Turkish migrants no longer send money • New coalition in TRNC

February 1994, N°208

    • Towards an upser in Turkish politics • Anti-Kurd operation extended to Belgium • Fundamentalist RP phenomenon • Threat of a new military coup • State of emergency extended • The Green Party closed down • Human rights disaster in February • State terrorism in February • Turkish jets hit Iraq and Iran • Nazim Hikmet's book banned • A Laz editor indicted • Pressure on the media in February • Fear fuels Christian exodus

March 1994, N°209

    • Electoral shock • Spectacular fall of two coalition partners • Tansu Ciller's manoeuvres • Scandalous arrest of DEP deputies • Brussels conference on Kurdistan • Two Kurdish women's suicide in Germany • Europalia 96-Turkey • State terrorism in March • Pressure on media in March • Professor Baskaya imprisoned • The Armenian Taboo confiscated

April 1994, N°210

    • File on Islamist rise • Complicity of all politicians • Fundamentalists in ANAP and DYP • A Sheikh-ul-Islam in Germany • Rebirth of extremist parties • Alarming rise of extreme right • "National Vision" in Belgium • Islamist shock at 1992 elections • Fundamentalist offensive • Rise of Islamist violence • Islamic investments in Turkey • Attacks on journalists and intellectuals • The Sivas Pogrom by islamists • A report on fundamentalist education •

May 1994, N°211

    • EXODUS: Mass Kurdish escape from Turkey to Northern Iraq • Suffocation of the press in Turkey • Ciller's conversation tapped • Police brutality on May Day • The Turkish press lost readers • Radio-TV Law criticised • Turco-German tension on Kurds • US aid to Turkey reduced • General Güres against Russia • Özgür Gündem and Azadi banned • Belgian mission to Kurdistan • Solidarity with Kurdish lawyers • State terrorism in April • Pressure on the media in April • The Council of Europe resolution • European Parliament resolution

June 1994, N°212

    • Urgent appeal • The DEP closed • Condemned for defence in Kurdish • State of emergency extended • Ciller destroys Turkish economy • Second conquest of istanbul by the Islamists • RP mass meeting in Belgium • Trade unionist imprisoned • "In torture rooms of Turkey" • Virginity control of women in Turkey • Ciller threatens Greece • State terrorism in May • A file on the oppression of Assyrians • Pressure on the media in May • New racist attacks on Turks in Germany

July-August 1994, N° 213-214

    • 10th year of the war • Internment camps in Turkey • Kafkaesque trial of DEP deputies • Human rights report of June-July • The Council of Europe Resolution • CSCE to send missions to Turkey • Human Rights Minister resigns • Anti-semitism rising in Turkey • Human rights violations in 1993 • Scandalous case of the Sivas Pogrom • RP again the only rising party • Dirty affairs of RP Islamists • Ciller's wealth shakes the Government • State terrorism in last two months • Intellectuals in prison or under arrest • Record penalties against Besikci • Pressure on the media in two months • Publisher Zarakolu's challenge • Foreign debts reach $67.3 billion • A ridiculous minimum wage • A mass labour action • Trade unions complain to ILO • National income per capita: $1,980 • The new rules on the Straits

September 1994, N°215

    • Women of Turkey: In power and In Detention • By-elections for fooling the world opinion • European Parliament suspends all contact with Turkish Parliament • "A 10 percent honourable policy" • Publisher tortured in Turkey • CPJ urges the Turkish Government • Dev-Sol leader arrested in France • Persecution of Orthodox Christians • 2-Month State terrorism • Persecution of the Media

October 1994, N°216

    • Dersim villages in flame • "File of Torture"confiscated • Hunger strikes in Turkish prisons • Still no education in the Southeast • Turkish univesities paralysed • State terrorism in October • Besikci's four new condemnations • Persecution of the media in October • Turkey criticized at the Council of Europe • CSCE protest letter to Ciller • Turkey tried at Strasbourg • Obstacles to AI activists in Turkey • ERNK Spokesman detained in London • Kurdish Convention in Moscow • Armenian community under menace.