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

20th Year - N°227 july-August 1996
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  

    Sixteen years after the September 12, 1980, military coup carried out on pretext of protecting secular Republic against Islamist rise and nine months after the ratification of the Customs Union on pretext of raising the electoral chance of DYP leader Tansu Ciller against the Islamists gaining power, Islamist RP leader Necmeddin Erbakan was ushered into prime minister's office by this most corrupted politician of the Republic's history.
    And the military, in return of the acceptance by Erbakan of all repressive and anti-democratic measures imposed by the National Security Council (MGK), have immediately declared their allegiance to the Islamist prime minister.
    As for the United States, the State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns, in an interview to the Turkish Daily News of July 17, approached to the Islamist power with comprehension and said: "I don't believe we have ever said that 'secularism' is something that we feel must continue for us to have a relationship with Turkey."
    Although one of the first thing that the new government did was to impose a 6 percent charge on imports that are financed by foreign credit, European diplomatic missions are still looking optimistically for new gestures of Erbakan and his company to give the hope of a peaceful integration into Europe of the Turkish Islamism tempered with ultra nationalism, militarism and opportunism.
    Pulitzer-winning foreign affairs commentator Jim Hoagland, in The Washington Post of July 10, lashed at the "con artist" coalition leaders Erbakan and Ciller."Turkey's political stability is now hostage to a con game, a pair of Turkish grifters are running on each other and ultimately on the Clinton administration. Erbakan was the one who first made public that Ciller was responsible for the disappearance of millions of dollars while she was prime minister. Erbakan dropped his demand (for a formal inquiry) as part of this week's political deal, but the sword still hangs over her head," he said.
    • In fact, the files of inquiry about Ciller's irregularities and corruptions, dressed by the RP, are still at the Parliamentary committees. However, it is the same RP that is now obstructing at the committees to discuss the matter in return of Ciller's total obedience to the RP's policies.
    • Not only at Parliament, but also at tribunals, Ciller is still the object of legal proceedings started by Prime Minister Necmeddin Erbakan and Justice Minister Sevket Kazan. When the RP in opposition made public Ciller's irregularities, the con lady accused Erbakan of smuggling drugs and embezzling the funds collected for Bosnian people. She also accused Sevket Kazan of being a dishonoured and slanderer man. In three legal proceedings, Erbakan and Ciller demand to condemn Ciller to a total fine of TL 16 billion. The irony of fate, as these files are waiting to be dealt by tribunals, these three persons, Erbakan, Ciller and Kazan, accusing each other of being corrupt, embezzler, smuggler and dishonoured, sit side by side in the same government of the Turkish Republic respectively as Prime Minister, Vice-Prime Minister and Justice Minister.
    • Ciller's most spectacular submission to the RP is no doubt in the field of foreign affairs of which she is the main responsible as the foreign minister. Just after the formation of the RP-DYP government, Ciller, at its first meeting with the ambassadors of Turkey's Western allies, categorically  denied the rumours that Erbakan was to make his first official visit to Islamic countries. However, contradicting his partner, Erbakan started his first official visit to Iran, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia on August 10-20 in a gesture to satisfy his Islamist electorate. Despite the US reaction, he signed a $20 billion natural gas deal with Iran.
    • Earlier, during Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's visit to Ankara on July 11, Erbakan said him that the Moslim Brotherhood leaders who are in Egyptian prisons for terrorism were in fact against any kind of violence and that they should not be treated like terrorists. He also suggested Mubarak that his administration reconcile its differences with the Muslim Brotherhood. Even on such a remark irking the Egyptian President, Ciller had to shut her mouth.
    • One of the first things that the Islamists made in power was to announce on July 15, the building of a mosque in the heart of Istanbul, at the Taksim Square. Beside, RP circles say that their next goal is to reopen Istanbul's Saint Sophia, famous Byzantine church, as a functioning mosque.
    • In another move, the RP obstructed in Parliament the passage to a 8-year fundamental education system so that Imam Hatip (religious) Schools can continue to function as the secondary schools. These schools are known as the main training centres of Islamist militants who are later allowed to enter universities and higher schools and become governors and security chiefs.
    There are some other moves that have no doubt entire consent of Ciller who has privileged relations with the Turkish fascist movement.
    • After forming their government, Erbakan and Ciller rushed one after the other to Cyprus on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of the Turkish occupation of the island. This visits were followed by the arrival of more than 3 thousand Grey Wolves, fascist militants of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), to counter Greek and European bikers protesting against the division of the island. Under the aegis of the Turkish Government and the Turkish commanders in Cyprus, they savagely killed two Greek demonstrators on August 11 and 14.
    • The remains of Enver Pasha (1881-1922), a member of the military triumvirate responsible for the human tragedy during the First World War, particularly for the Armenian Genocide,  were brought from Tajikistan. This symbol of the Turkish expansionism was buried at a memorial hill in Istanbul on August 4 with military ceremonies attended by President Demirel, ministers and top generals.
    • Using as a pretext a provocative act of removing Turkish flag at the HADEP Congress, which led to the arrest of all party leaders, a frenetic campaign was launched throughout the country: "Raise your flag!" As well in Turkey as in foreign countries where a Turkish community exists, the sales of Turkish flags have reached unprecedented levels. In public events and especially during the football matches, thousands of Turkish flags are raised by shouting slogans: "Turkey is the biggest!" Very often Turkish flags are accompanied by the three-crescent and Grey Wolf flags of the Turkish fascist movement, as it was seen on the TV screens during the Turkey-Belgium football competition in Brussels on August 31.
    In the matters of regime, despite their all rhetoric for democracy during opposition years, the Islamists have not delayed in following the path of the preceding governments in immediate submission to the Army's diktat.
    • After a series of mutual visits between Erbakan and Army generals and military briefings, conforming to the NSC's directives, the emergency law in ten Kurdish provinces was prolonged until the end of the year. For the coming years, preparations were started to replace the emergency law by a new legislation giving extraordinary powers to provincial governors.
    • Good-will attempts by some Islamist personalities, including a RP deputy, for a dialogue with the Kurdish national movement were immediately refuted by Erbakan though he seemed favourable earlier. Erbakan's this submission to the military led the PKK to put an end to unilateral cease-fire it proclaimed before the general elections.
    • As seen in the other pages, the violations of human rights continue as before and the government's image has already been tarnished by the death of twelve prisoners on hunger strike.
    • While the RP-DYP Government's stubborn attitude concerning prison conditions led to the death of twelve hunger strikers in prisons, Justice Minister Sevket Kazan favoured 23 Islamists convicted for burning 37 intellectuals in Sivas three years ago and transferred them on August 26 from Kirsehir prison to Sivas so that they could be visited by their relatives more easily.
    • Erbakan, forgetting all his anti-semitic and anti-Israel declarations during his opposition years, made a spectacular U-turn and, under the pressure of the military. The government first ratified the Turco-Israel military training agreement signed in February to which Erbakan firmly opposed as an act hostile to Muslim world when he was in opposition. Recently, on August 28, Erbakan administration signed a second defense cooperation agreement with Israel.
    • The Islamists, in another 180-degree shift, voted on July 30 for the extension of Operation Provide Comfort that prolonged the Western intervention in Northern Iraq..
    • If the RP has become the first political party of the country, it was due to its populist rhetoric criticising anti-social policies of Ciller and her former partners. Already within first two months of their power, the Islamists proved that they are not different from the others. For example, while the monthly food budget alone for a family of four should at least be TL25 million, the government yielding to employers fixed minimum wage at TL17.01 million ($197). Besides, the Islamist government provoked the anger of workers by refusing to pay back the compulsory wage cuts which had been qualified as a pillage when the RP was in opposition.
    • Furthermore, the hostility of Ciller against workers became more aggressive since she became a partner of Islamists. During a visit by trade union leaders to her office on July 30, Ciller she hysterically cried, "Public workers and the Social Security Institute are sucking Turkey's blood! I wrote the workers off my book. What they do? And you still have the face to come and ask pay-rises from me!"

THE ARMY NEEDS $150 BILLION IN THE NEXT 25 YEARS

    Prime Minister Necmeddin Erbakan, in a new move to satisfy the military, urged the domestic Turkish defense industry, on August 11, 1996, to speed up efforts "to become self-sufficient and provide for all the needs of the Armed Forces."
    During a briefing given by officials from both the Armed Forces and the Defense Ministry, Erbakan requested that, if possible, the direct purchase of arms from foreign manufacturers should be suspended and those needs met by domestic sources.
    Erbakan also called for feasibility studies into defense cooperation with Muslim countries, in particular Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan. He also said that attempts would be made to attract Turkish defense experts currently working abroad back home.
    Earlier, the Office of the Chief of General Staff announced on April 5, 1996, that $150 billion would be needed to fund the arms and operations of the Turkish Armed Forces in the next 25 years.
    During this period, the land forces will need 60, the navy 25, and the air force will need 65 billion dollars-worth arms and vehicles.
    The announcement was made during a meeting attended by representatives of ministries, universities and industrial organizations to determine future defense requirements. An extensive reorganisation project was launched in 1990 to restructure and modernise the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). The main goal of the project was "to meet the country's defense needs in the most efficient manner without putting the nation's interests and security at risk, and to establish a dynamic structure for the army as a whole while streamlining the headquarters and base unit organizations."
    The announcement said: "In order to provide the TSK with the modern equipment and vehicles which its projected force structure calls for, the threats that will face Turkey in the future must be taken into consideration. The priority needs of the TSK are command and control systems, communications equipment, computer and intelligence systems as well as electronic warfare systems and guided missiles which the wars of the 21st century will require. In addition, upgrading the main arms systems is considered a top priority."
    The projects which were proposed during the meeting are as follows:

    A) The Joint projects of the forces:

    • TSK Integrated Communications Systems (TAFICS)
    • TSK command control data system
    • Tactical field communications system
    • Frequency hopping and encryption radio.
    • Assault and reconnaissance helicopters.
    • The production of rocket and missile systems.
    • Satellite monitoring system.

    B) Land forces projects

    • New radar systems.
    • Electronic systems for eavesdropping and jamming.
    • Various radio, cryptography, and computer systems.
    • Low altitude air defense systems.
    • Modern anti-tank weapons
    • Armoured personnel carriers, howitzers
    • Tank modernization

    C) Naval projects

    • 'Long Horizon' monitoring-reconnaissance project.
    • Sea patrol and monitoring aircraft.
    • New radars and modernization of existing equipment
    • New satellite terminals, modernization and production.
    • The construction of a Turkish designed frigate.
    • A new generation of mine hunting and anti-mine ships.
    • A new generation of patrol ships.

    D) Air force projects

    • Early warning and command control aircraft.
    • Tanker aircraft.
    • Command control and intelligence satellite systems.
    • Reconnaissance system to transfer and evaluate data.
    • Air defense missile systems.
    • Modern air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons
    • Search and rescue helicopters.

    Officials from the general staff said that 1,523 projects are planned at a cost of $67 billion until the year 2004. They added that one-third of their budget is allocated to modernization programs.
    "Despite current modernization programs, in the next 25 years most of the weapons in the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces will have to be modernized and obsolete weapons will have to be replaced by a new generation of equipment," said officials from the general staff.

    The needs of the Land Forces Command ($60 billion in total):
    750 helicopters, 180 rocket and missile systems, 150 antitank rockets, 12 remote control air vehicles, 3,627 main communication tanks, 1,951 guns and howitzers, 48,564 wheeled vehicles.

    The needs of the Naval Forces Command ($25 billion in total):
    14 frigates, 16 patrol ships, 15 guided assault boats, 9 submarines, 4 anti-mine ships 4 mine sweepers, 35 landing vehicles, one communications backed ship, 25 auxiliary class ships and vehicles, 9 sea patrol aircraft, 38 helicopters.

    The needs of the Air Forces Command ($65 billion in total):
    640 fighter jets, 79 operations airplanes, 160 training aircraft, 68 transportation airplanes, 25 helicopters, 442 air defense weapon systems.
    Pointing out that the cost of the resources which will be needed within the period has been computed as nearly $150 billion at 1995 prices, general staff officials have recalled that the only way to keep that money within the country is to develop the national defense industry.
    Noting that at present only 21 percent of the main weapon, equipment and spare parts needs of the TSK could be met by domestic production, and that 79 percent of the needs were supplied from abroad, the general staff officials said:
    "Our concept on the issue of modernization can be summarized as to support our national defense industry in order to keep the resources which will be spent to meet the needs of the TSK within the country as much as possible.
    "Except in urgent cases, the issue means not procuring former technology product arms, equipment and material even through donation. However since the meeting of the entire needs of the TSK within a short time through national production does not seem possible, either technology transfer is carried out or works to participate in the arming cooperation projects of NATO and the Western European Union. Turkish industrialists are considered likely to get significant business shares from such consortia, and support them accordingly. It is believed that our country will, reach at a stage where it produces and exports technology during every phase of production instead of being a purchasing country."
    General staff officials pointed out that countries had allocated large resources for research and development activities in order to progress their defense industries and to protect the level they had reached. Whereas, they continued, according to the data of 1990, the resources which Turkey had allocated for research and development activities was only 0.3 percent of GNP. They said that the portion of that amount which was allocated to the defense industry was one percent. They recalled that at present Turkey was a NATO member which tendered defense industry business. They said except the United States and Canada, 25 percent of the $4.8 billion tender had been opened by Turkey within the past three years. They noted that following Saudi Arabia, it was regrettable event that Turkey was the biggest arms importer in the area.
    General staff officials pointed out that while existing defense industry organizations in Turkey belonged to the public sector, there existed many private companies with the capacity to undertake projects in the defense field. They listed measures for the improvement of the defense industry as follows:
    The principles and aims in this field should be determined by the state, and the necessary legal provisions must be made so that organizations of vital importance be maintained. A central organization should be established to carry out production in rational way, to ensure coordination with other organizations and to guide research and development works. In fact, it was declared, a study has been launched at the TSK for this purpose.
    When the TSK needs have been decided on by the Chief of the General Staff and approved by Parliament, appropriate budgetary provision will be made to encourage private industry to invest in the field of defense, the officials said. Priority must be given to critical areas in which the country presently depends on foreign products. Resources must be allocated for research and potential in Turkish universities must be explored.
    In cases of cooperative ventures with foreign countries, the existing capabilities and capacities of Turkey's defense industry must be protected and consortiums should be preferred to partnerships with individual countries. Turkey should retain control of administering every phase of such ventures.
    General Cevik Bir, the deputy chief of General Staff, military officials, under-secretaries of the prime ministry, the Foreign Affairs ministry and the Energy Ministry, deputy under-secretaries of other relevant ministries, the rectors of METU and Bilkent universities, Halis Komili of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD), Rahmi Koc, Bulent Eczacibasi, Faruk Suren and general directors of private sector enterprises and public organizations attended the meeting at the General Staff headquarters.

TURKEY TO PRODUCE ITS ARMY'S HELICOPTERS

    In a significant step toward its policy of meeting the country's defense industry needs through local production, Ankara has decided to set up its own helicopter industry. Defense industry sources say that the country will choose to build either an "assault" helicopter or a "third generation" helicopter and will produce 95 percent of the aircraft locally.
    A working group was formed on July 25 during a meeting at the Chief of Staff's Office to take the preliminary steps.
    The group is comprised of representatives of the Turkish Aircraft Company (TUSAS) and the Foundation for the Strengthening of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSGV), and will be under the coordination of the Defense Industry Under secretariat (SSM).
    The helicopter chosen for production will be from among those on Turkey's "national production" list; namely, the A-129 International (Mangusta) built by the Italian company Augusta, the French-German Tiger built by the joint venture Eurocopter, Russia's M1-28, as well as American products such as Bell's King Cobra, which is an advanced version of the Super Cobra, McDonnell Douglas's Apache, the Sikorsky, or Boeing's Comanche.
    Turkey will produce the helicopters with one of these companies with 95 percent local input or will jointly produce a brand-new, third generation helicopter with the selected company.
    Once the model and the production method are determined, the project, in which the Turkish Aviation Industry (TAT), Aselsan and Havelsan will take part along with a number of private sector establishments, will be ready for production by the year 2000. Initially, 100 helicopters are expected to be produced.
    There are plans to produce the second phase of a project for 30 Cougar helicopters which Turkey had decided to buy from France using 30 percent local input.
    The initial plan had called for the helicopters to be built with 20 percent local input. Negotiations are underway with France to raise that rate to 30 percent.
    Officials note that 18 percent local input is being envisaged for the Black Hawk helicopters.

CONTROVERSIAL MI-17 COPTERS PUT INTO SERVICE IN SOUTHEAST

    Despite the harsh criticism of Turkey's purchase of Mi-17s, Turkey has been using the Russian-made helicopters for transport and medical evacuations in operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Southeast, military officials said on July 10, 1996.
    The $65 million purchase of 19 Mi-17s in 1995 was attacked by defense experts and the media. The critics said that the lack of spare parts and maintenance support for the helicopters were the main problems, adding that the Mi-17s were incompatible with NATO standards.
    The helicopters stood idle in Ankara for months until sufficient spare parts were flown in and the helicopters could be put into service in the Southeast.
    Although the Mi-17 are capable of performing an attack role when their weapons pods are loaded, the officials said it was impossible to use them for such missions because of their low performance and poor agility.
    During operations, the Mi-17s steer clear of battle fields, according to military officials.
    Compared to the other helicopters in use in the Turkish Armed Forces such as the Cobras and Sikorskys, the Mi-17s have primitive technology, the officials said, adding that the Mi-17s' mechanical engineering lags 30 years behind the electronic systems of the Sikorskys.
    The $65-million agreement signed by Turkey and Russia in 1995 for the 19 Mi-17 copters was the result of a Russian proposal to cover its nearly $200-million debt to Turkey.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF 12 HUNGER STRIKERS

    The hunger strike in Turkish prisons which reinforced the Midnight Express image in the world opinion with the death of 12 strikers ended at 11.30 p.m. on July 27th, on its 69th day and on the 25th day of death fast.
    By July 26th, 355 prisoners were on death fast and 2 thousand 174 were on hunger strike in 43 prisons at 38 cities. Of the arrested and convicted inmates who had participated in the hunger strike and the death fast, 170 were taken under treatment. The condition of 18 prisoners is reportedly serious and 7 out of these are kept at the intensive care unit.
    Minister of Justice Sevket et Kazan, accepted the demands by prisoners, first and foremost the transfer of the 102 prisoners at the Eskisehir Special Type Prison. Accordingly, 20 out of the prisoners in Eskisehir shall be transferred to Istanbul Umraniye and 82 to Gebze Prison.     Besides, the following demands by the prisoners were acknowledged:
    - Closing of the Eskisehir Special Type Prison for political prisoners,
    - Ending of violence experienced during the transfers to hospitals and courts,
    - Ending of the violence and detentions directed against the families,
    - Allowance of publications (which are not banned) inside the prisons,
    - Unimpeded social relationships among the prisoners,
    - Establishment of a committee to observe whether the legal rights are utilized or not,
    - Prisoner representatives' maintenance of the communication between the prison administration and the prisoners.
    The Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), Yavuz Önen, on the agreement to put an end to hunger strike, issued the following statement:
    "We insist that those responsible for the death of 12 people should be prosecuted. The Turkish Government in general, and Justice Minister Sevket Kazan in particular are responsible for the death of 12 people. The prisoners had humane and acceptable demands, but the Government was not eager to reach an agreement even when the deaths were taking place one after another. Indeed, Kazan had made provocative expressions during this period, and in a press conference held on July 26th, he created the impression that risking the death of numerous prisoners, intervention would take place in the prisons.
    "We are very glad that the hunger strike ended, although belatedly, in consensus. However, the prisons have always been a bleeding wound of Turkey. Killing and beating of the prisoners, inhuman treatment and bans continuously took place in the prisons. Rights obtained after hunger strikes have been taken back within a short time. In order to avoid any arbitrary implementation in the future, the problems in the prisons should be taken into consideration within a general judicial reform programme, and discussed among the representatives of the prisoners, the Government and the NGOs. A permanent solution should be found for the problems in the prisons, living conditions should be improved, and humane standards of living should be adopted through laws. And finally, the NGOs should be able to make observations in the prisons, and their reports should be taken into consideration by the Government."
    On August 21, it was reported that many of the promises given by the Justice Minister were not yet held. Political prisoners in Erzurum and Amasya were still on hunger strike. The Prisons Monitoring Committee warned the government to implement the conditions on which the consensus was built or otherwise their failure would give rise to further mass hunger strikes in Turkey's prisons.
    The Turkish Medical Union (TTB) claimed that ex-strikers were not receiving adequate treatment because of bureaucratic tangles between the Justice, Health and Interior ministries.
    [To illustrate better the prison conditions in Turkey, we are reproducing in the further pages the extracts of a new file isdsued by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) in March 1996.]

HADEP LEADERS IMPRISONED ON A FLAG PROVOCATION

    The People's Democracy Party (HADEP), just like its predecessors defending the rights of the Kurdish people, has become the target of the State terrorism. Following a provocation during its congress held in Ankara on June 23, 1996, 41 party leaders were arrested and sent to extraordinary court as the party itself is being menaced by closure.
    During the HADEP congress, despite all the security measures taken by party officials, some unidentified individuals removed the Turkish flag from behind the stage and replaced it with the banner of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and a poster of its leader, Abdullah Öcalan.
    Using this act as a pretext, the police encircled the sports hall where the congress was taking place and arrested HADEP Chairman Murat Bozlak and other party officials. As the party leaders were taken to police headquarters, the police attacked delegates who were protesting against the arrests and tens of them were seriously injured.
    As the delegates were returning to their home provinces in the night, the leaders of the HADEP Elbistan section were machine-gunned by a death squad near to Kayseri. Parallel to this, throughout Turkey attacks were started against the HADEP members.
    Although HADEP officials qualified the removal of the Turkish flag by unidentified persons as a provocation, the judiciary authorities immediately started legal proceeding against the party leaders.
    Finally, on August 26, the Ankara SSC indicted HADEP Chairman Murat Bozlak and 40 other party officials under Article 5 of the Anti-Terror Law and Article 168/1 of the Turkish Penal Code.
    Accused of "leading an underground organization", Chairman Murat Bozlak, Deputy Chairmen Osman Özcelik and Ismail Arslan, secretary General Bahattin Günel, party officials Zeynettin Unay, Seracettin Kirici, Cihan Sincar, Mehmet Nuri Günes, Isa Karakurt, Abdullah Akin, Ahmet Cihan, Ali Riza Yurtsever, Aynur Gürbüz, Serap Mutlu, Veli Aydogan, Ziya Arikan, Melik Aygül, Musa Kulu, Hikmet Fidan, Hasan Cemalettin Ezman, Hamit Geylani, Cabbar Leygara and Edip Yildiz face prison terms of up to 22.5 years.
    Accused of "being members of an illegal organization," the following party officials face prison terms of not less then ten years: Celalettin Erkmen, Kudret Gözütok, Firat Anli, Kemal Okutan, Yasar Küpeli, Ferhan Türk, Etem Bingöl, Babür Pinar, Bayram Önal, Tevfik Kaya, Dursun Turan, Nebahat Altiok, Meliha Özcan, Ibrahim Elveren, Ilhan Akalin, Ömer Doyuran and Rasit Pirinc.
     Sirri Sakik, who was sentenced alongside six other DEP MPs in 1994, is to be tried under Article 8 of the anti-terror law - against separatist propaganda - which has a maximum three-year jail sentence.
    Before HADEP, the People's Labour Party (HEP), the Democracy Party (DEP) and the Freedom and Democracy Party (ÖZDEP) were closed down one after the other and their leaders subjected to legal actions.
    According to Reuters, the trial could bring further problems for Ankara abroad over its human rights credentials and undermine promises by Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to improve justice and tackle a 12-year Kurdish insurgency in the spirit of "brotherly love."

THE LABOR PARTY (EP) UNDER THE MENACE OF CLOSURE

    A law suit was filed at the Constitutional Court against the Labor Party (EP), two months after its establishment, by the Chief Public Prosecution Office of the Supreme Court. The section in the Party Program under the heading "A democratic popular solution to the Kurdish problem" was shown as the ground for the closure demand.
    In protest again this menace of closure, a group of EP members gathered before the EP headquarters in Ankara on June 24. All of a sudden, the group was attacked without warning by the anti-riot police forces.
     At the attack, more than 200 demonstrators were wounded, thirty of them seriously. Policemen aimed their truncheons blows at the demonstrators' heads in particular and did not allow ambulances' access to the street so that the wounded could be hospitalized.
    More than 250 people were detained, either in front of the EP headquarters or at the hospitals where they were being treated.
    In a press conference attended by the representatives of democratic organizations as well as by two members of European Parliament, Claudia Roth and Magda Aelvoet, EP chairman Levent Tüzel accused the State authorities of attacking everyone asking democracy and peace in the country.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN APRIL-MAY-JUNE 1996

    The Human Rights Association (IHD) issued on July 30 its report on human rights violations that occurred in Turkey during in April, May and June 1996. Stating that there were still 136 prisoners of opinion at the end of June, the report holds the security forces mainly responsible for the deaths, disappearances and torture in detention which occurred especially in the south-eastern part of Turkey.
    Below are the IHD figures on human rights abuses in April, May and July:
    Unsolved murders    10
    Deaths in detention    32
    Deaths during clashes    730
    Civilian deaths    18
    Missing after being detained    36
    Cases of torture    50
    Police detentions    6342
    Court arrests    354
    Evacuated villages    12
    Bombings    29
    Associations or media offices shut down    29
    Associations or media offices raided    19
    Detained journalists    106
    Confiscated publications    48
    In addition, prosecutors demanded sentences of 62 years and 9 months imprisonment in charges against journalists.
    Tribunals pronounced 35 years and 6 months imprisonment and a total fine of TL 1 billion 549 million in trials for opinion.

13,665 UNSOLVED MURDERS AT SSC

    A total of 13,665 murder cases remained unsolved at the end of 1995 but are still under investigation by the eight State Security Court prosecutors' offices, the Anatolia News Agency reported on August 1.
    According to data from the General Directorate of Criminal Records and Statistics, the prosecutors received files on 2,401 new murder in 1995, to be added to the 11,264 cases left over from previous years.
    The court in Diyarbakir has the greatest number of unsolved cases, with 11,699. The court in Malatya takes second place with 879 unsolved murder cases, followed by Erzincan with 695, Izmir with 11, Istanbul with 83, Ankara with 73, Kayseri with 37 and Konya with 22.
    The ratio of unsolved murder cases to the total workload of the SSCs was 56.4 percent.

NO RETURN TO THE EVACUATED VILLAGES

    Despite the claims of the new government that the victims of village evacuations are authorized to return to their homes, CHP Spokesman Sinan Yerlikaya said on August 5 that there were no activities taking place in parallel to this promise.
    "I made a study in the Southeast, there is no village where reverse migration is taking place. There are a few villages of which the people were forced to be village guards. Those who have migrated to cities are in streets, in coffee shops and trying to survive in tents and stables. There is neither agriculture nor social activities."
    On July 10, the human rights association Mazlum-Der announced that in last years a total of 4,185,000 persons in the southeastern were forced to leave their villages and hamlets and to migrate to big cities.
    Many of these forced migrants have been installed in the following cities with the indicated numbers:
    Adana    1,200,000
    Diyarbakir    1,150,000
    Sanliurfa    450,000
    Gaziantep    400,000
    Van    350,000
    Mardin    250,000
    Batman    230,000
    Elazig    70,000
    Hakkari    50,000
    Malatya    35,000

THE "ACCIDENTAL DEATH" OF A WITNESS TO POLICE BRUTALITY

    A woman named Hanim Gül, the "only living witness" of a police operation which left four persons dead, was reported on July 23 to have committed suicide while under police observation at Taksim Emergency Hospital in Istanbul.
    It all began on July 14 when police raided Gül's house on the grounds that it was the safehouse of an illegal leftist organization. During the raid Hanim Gül saved her life by jumping from a window. She was taken to the hospital to be treated for a bullet wound and the trauma arising from her fall.
    Police announced that during the incident the family's 16-year old daughter Suna Gül was killed, branding her as a terrorist. On the next day Suna Gül, very much alive, appeared to say that she was not a terrorist and that she was somewhere else during the raid.
    And a few days later her mother Hanim Gül was killed after falling from a hospital window.
    Hanim Gül's death adds a new link to the chain of suspicion about the police, particularly because she was the only living person able to speak about what happened at the police attack in Gültepe.

POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST THE "SATURDAY MOTHERS"

    Among different ways of protest against State terrorism, the periodic meetings of the mothers of disappeared people each Saturday in Istanbul has been one of the most spectacular events of Turkey.
    The protest started after the disappearance of Hasan Ocak during the disturbances that took place in the Gaziosmanpasa district on March 12, 1995, and have continued to grow throughout all four seasons — despite rain, snow, wind, burning sun ad police pressure.
    The protesters take their inspiration from the Plaza Del Mayo Mothers of Argentina. For 52 weeks the protests were peaceful, but since the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul they have been marked by the brutality of the police which considered that the demonstrations would negatively influence the image of Turkey,
    On June 22, police violently intervened against Saturday Mothers when they attempted to lay carnations in Galatasaray Square. That day all people carrying carnations in their hands in Istiklal Caddesi, the main pedestrianized shopping street that leads to Galatasaray Square, were arrested by police.
    In July, as the new government was talking of more democratization, the police violence against Saturday Mothers reached dreadful dimensions. Each Saturday, hundreds of mothers or relatives as well as many people, including women, lawyers, writers and artists have been subjected to police brutality.     In August, when it became evident that police cannot prevent Saturday Mothers from gathering each week, the neo-fascist MHP started to gather the mothers of those soldiers or policemen who died in armed confrontation with the PKK at the Edirnekapi Military Cemetery every Friday. As Saturday Mothers are being ill-treated, Friday Mothers are openly supported by police and army chiefs and by the big media in such a way that the suffering of mothers serves to a further polarization in Turkish society.

CONCERNS OF INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL ORGANISATIONS ON TURKEY

    An international delegation representing American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Berlin Medical Association, Doctors of the World, the US Helsinki Commission and Physicians for Human Rights, after a visit to Turkey on July 1-6, 1996, expressed concerns about torture and other human rights issues, and especially challenged continuing attack on medical ethics.
    The delegation attended the trial of Tufan Köse, physician, and Mustafa Cinkilic, representative of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) in Adana. Both are accused by Turkish authorities for their efforts to treat and rehabilitate victims of torture.
    They also met with Dr. Seyfettin Kizilkan, who has appealed a 3 year and 9 months sentence on charges of aiding the PKK. After having examined legal evidence that appears to be fabricated in this case and having discussed the case with many people, urged the Turkish Government to drop the charges against Dr. Kizilkan and to reinstate him to his position as Chief Physician of Diyarbakir Social Security Hospital.

STATE TERRORISM IN TWO MONTHS

    3.6, during the trial of the Workers'-Peasants' Liberation Army of Turkey (TIKKO) at the Istanbul SSC, gendarmes beat all defendants for having launched political slogans. Eight defendants are later taken to hospital.
    3.6, security forces, raiding the village of Bay in the province of Hakkari, take into custody about 50 villagers and force many of them to eat excrement of their animals. The villagers inform the IHD that an 80-year old ailing woman, Sedika Beyter is killed during the razzia.
    4.6, a penal court of Ankara starts to try 155 students, of whom 26 under arrest, for having taken part in a demonstration in protest against the hike of university fees.
    4.6, in Yüksekova, an Iranian woman named Seddighe Cahani is shot dead by gendarmes on pretext that she did not obey to the order to stop her car.
    5.6, in Bismil, a 15-year old girl, G.Ö, claims to have been tortured and sexually harassed for 16 days at the Commandos Battalion after her detention for not carrying an identity card.
    5.6, four officials of the Anti-War Association (SKD), Osman Murat Ülke, Ali Serdar Tekin, Ayse Tosuner, Canan Kilic and Funda Aktürk are sentenced by a penal court of Izmir to three months in prison each for having sent a representative to a meeting of a German peace organisation in 1994.
    5.6, the police of Ankara announce the arrest of eighteen people in last two weeks for having taken part in PKK activities.
    5.6, in Istanbul, HADEP secretary for the district of Maltepe, Faruk Özkan is kidnapped by two unidentified persons carrying fire-arms and wireless.
    8.6, a four-year imprisonment against worker Ahmet Kemal, for having participated in Newroz celebrations in 1992 in Cizre, is ratified by the Court of Cassation. Kemal is put in the prison of Cizre.
    9.6, in Kiziltepe, 17-year old Kutbettin Kuru is shot dead by two unidentified gunmen.
    9.6, in Adana, Mrs. Kamile Kabak claims that her son Hüsnü Kabak has disappeared after his detention by police two days ago.
    9.6, in Tunceli, the village of Ulukale is raided by security forces and many houses are set on fire.
    10.6, the Chief Prosecutor starts two legal actions against the administrative board of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türk-Is). for having organized two protest demonstrations in 1995.
    11.6, twenty-six top officials of a series of trade unions and democratic organizations are brought before a penal court of Ankara for having supported a protest action of university students.
    11.6, security forces detain six peasants in the village of Günbagi in Erzincan and seven students in the city of Iskenderun.
    11.6, the Malatya SSC sentences three PKK members to life prison and thirteen other defendants to different prison terms of up to ten years.
    12.6, the Court of Cassation ratifies a prison term of three years and nine months against Nurettin Özatar, the former president of the Students' Association of the Political Sciences Faculty in Ankara. He is accused of being member of an underground organization.
    12.6, in Gemlik, two alleged members of the TIKKO are placed under arrest by a tribunal. In Aydin, police take into custody 18 people for participating in PKK activities.
    13.6, in Van, the villages of Arcun, Avan and Askan are depopulated by security forces on pretext of public security.
    13.6, in Mersin, 15 year old G.Ö, is again taken into custody along with her mother and sister. G.Ö had already been detained for fifteen days in February 1996 in Bismil. After her release she had claimed to have been tortured by the military.
    13.6, in Van, security forces raiding a number of houses arrest many students. Same day, in Adana, police detain nine people.
    14.6, the headman of the village of Ciftlik in Maras, Gürmo Agac is taken into custody by a military team raiding the village. He had denounced to the daily Demokrasi that the villagers were forced by security forces to be village protectors.
    17.6, in Gaziantep, Dr. Bayram Bozbeyoglu is taken into custody for having given medical care to hunger strikers in prison.
    16.6, in Diyarbakir, the chairman of the Chamber of Doctors in Medicine, Seyfettin Kizilkan is sentenced by the Diyarbakir SSC to three years and nine months in prison for aiding the PKK. The tribunal also decides to deprive Dr. Kizilkan of the right to perform his profession for three years.
    16.6, in Batman, a former trade union official, Siyamet Yilmaz (Egitim Sen) is taken into custody together with his two relatives.
    17.6, the daily Demokrasi reports that, in Istanbul, Ibrahim Kanat has been kept under custody for one week together with his wife Emine Kanat and their two children of whom one is three years old and the other six years.
    17.6, in Lice, a bomb explosion in the house of Avni Babür causes to the death of his three children and the wounding of two.
    17.6, in Istanbul, a detainee named Ümit Aydin is reported thrown out from the third stage of the Political Police Centre in Aksaray. Although hospitalised, Aydin's life is reportedly in danger.
    18.6, the Izmir SSC sentences a member of the Islamist organization IBDA-C to life prison.
    18.6, security forces arrest eight people in Istanbul in Istanbul and 23 people in Izmir. Among the latter is also a young women who gave birth to a baby three days ago.
    19.6, in Urfa, three people are taken in custody by police.
    20.6, in Eskisehir, 46-year old Ramis Hatipoglu who was taken into custody on charges of theft is found killed at the Carsi Police Station.
    20.6, security forces arrest HADEP members Mehmet Sahin and Selam Sahin in Hakkari, another HADEP member, Ihsan Elcicek, in Izmir. Besides, ten people are detained in Adana,
    20.6, in Gaziantep, the chairwoman of the Women's Foundation for Freedom (ÖKV), Berivan Bozkurt is taken into custody.
    21.6, the trial of Türk-Is leaders begins at a penal court of Ankara.
    21.6, the public prosecutor starts a legal proceeding against the chairman of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), Ufuk Uras, and 14 other top party officials for a press release criticising the operations by special teams in the South East.
    22.6, in Iskenderun, the local CHP chairman Nihat Parlas is sent to a heavy penal court for trial because of a declaration he made at the IHD against anti-democratic practices of security forces.
    23.6, security forces detain three people in Izmir and three people in Istanbul, Afyon and Tunceli.
    24.6, the Kayseri SSC sentences DHKP-C member Mustafa Sarikaya to an imprisonment of twelve years and six months.
    25.6, in Izmir, IHD members Güzin Barmasiz and Emrah Dertli are kidnapped in a minibus by unidentified assailants.
    25.6, twenty people, relatives of political prisoners, are sent to a penal court of Ankara for having organized a protest action in the capital city.
    26.6, the Ankara SSC sentences 21 members of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey/Young Communists' Union (TDKP/GKB) to different prison terms of up to 12 years and 6 months.
    26.6, in Mardin, security forces raiding the village of Edi detain the village headman Abdurrahman Temel and 22 other villagers.
    27.6, the Istanbul SSC sentences five PKK members to life-prison and eight other defendants to different prison terms of up to 22 years and 6 months.
    27.6, security forces raid the Kocaeli office of the Socialist Power Party (SIP) and confiscate all documents inside. Same day, in Izmir, a meeting organized by the ÖDP against the privatisation of public transport is prevented by police force.
    27.6, security forces raiding the village of Kocatepe in Mardin arrest twenty people.
    28.6, the mayor of the town of Kilavuz in Mardin, Abdurrahman Bozkurt is placed under arrest together with  his two son on charges of aiding the PKK. Bozkurt is a member of the DYP, coalition partner.
    29.6, the daily Demokrasi reports that 62-year old Keko Polat who was detained on June 10 by gendarmes raiding the village of Lazvan in Tunceli is under treatment at a hospital in Elazig because of tortures he underwent.
    2.7, security forces raiding a house in Istanbul detain ten people.
    3.7, the daily Evrensel reports that seven trade union officials belonging different unions have been kept under arrest in Istanbul.
    3.7, the Istanbul SSC sentences four DHKP-C members to life prison, 19 other defendants to different prison terms of up to 18 years and 6 months.
    4.7. the IHD chairman Akin Birdal is sentenced by the Konya SSC to one year in prison and TL 300 thousand in fine for a speech he gave in 1995 on the occasion of the World Peace Day.
    4.7, the Istanbul SSC sentences five TDKP members to prison terms of up to three years and nine months in prison.
    4.7, in Sivas, security forces arrest three alleged TIKKO members in Sivas, two persons in Istanbul, a 50-year old person in Van.
    5.7, the chief public prosecutor starts a legal proceeding in a view to have the Islamist Resurrection Party (IDP) on grounds that this party has not participated in last two general elections.
    5.7, the trial of 32 people, accused of being leaders and members of the underground Revolutionary Way (Dev-Yol), starts at the Istanbul SSC. Seven defendants face capital punishment and the rest prison terms of up to 22.5 years.
    5.7, in Istanbul, police detain trade unionist Kenan Öztürk and seven workers during a protest action.
    6.7, in Cizre, Mehmet Inanc is assassinated by unidentified gunmen.
    6.7, in Istanbul, policemen raiding a house arrest four people.
    6.7, in Ankara, a group of Grey Wolves raid the Cankaya office of the HADEP. In Izmir, a HADEP meeting in the town of Buca is banned by the governor's decision.
    6.7, in Adana, security forces raiding some houses detain four municipal workers. Same day, two persons are arrested in Suruc, six persons in Antalya, four persons in Manavgat.
    7.7, former Kurdish deputy Mahmut Alliance is brutally beaten by policemen in Ankara as trying to prevent a police attack to the relatives of political prisoners.
    7.7, in Batman, Meryem Arasan is paralysed following the torture she underwent after her detention on June 3.
    7.7, in Kiziltepe, Kenan Demir falls victim of an armed attack.
    8.7, in Milas, 15-year old M.C. claims to have been tortured after being detained on June 18 by the gendarmery.
    8.7, the Court of Cassation ratifies a 18-month imprisonment against former RP deputy Hasan Mezarci for having insulted Atatürk. Mezarci is currently in Germany. If returns to Turkey, he will be put in prison.
    9.7, in Izmir, two CHP officials, Nedim Güllü and Ismet Atici claims to have been tortured during their detention at the Anafartalar Police Station.
    9.7, in Istanbul, the chairman of the Municipal Servants' Union (Bem-Sen), Ali Bingöl is taken to police custody. In Diyarbakir, the house of Kadri Gökdere, official of the Teachers' Union (Egitim Sen) is reportedly under a constant police occupation.
    9.7, security forces detain six PKK militants in Izmir, six peasants in Suruc and two persons in Istanbul.
    10.7, another Bem-Sen offical, Hanifi Saglam is taken into custody in Istanbul.
    10.7, in Batman, security forces raiding a house shoot dead three persons accused of being PKK activists.
    10.7, the Court of Cassation ratifies death sentences against four DHKP-C members and prison terms of up to 15 years against four other defendants.
    11.7, security forces have reportedly taken into custody 12 trade union officials in last days. Two of them, Saglik-Sen chairman Tolga Köseoglu and administrative board member Songul Aytermir are placed under arrest by the Istanbul SSC.
    11.7, in Diyarbakir, a police team raids the house of the local chairman of the Highway Workers Union (Yol-Is), Enver Ölmez by breaking the door with sledge-hammers. After beating his children, Feyzullah (15) and Yeliz (19), policemen take him into custody.
    12.7, in Istanbul, Ibrahim Kanat who had been detained together with his wife and his to children in June, claims that police tortured himself and her wife in front of their children.
    12.7, the trial of 139 people detained during a protest demonstration in front of the National Education Ministry starts at a penal court of Ankara. For unauthorised demonstration, each faces a prison term of up to three years.
    14.7, in Istanbul, a police team raiding a house shoots dead four youths in a retaliation to an alleged DHKP-C attack to a police station ended in the death of two policemen.
    14.7, in Osmaniye, lawyer Hamza Yilmaz announces that his client Abdülhamit Calkap was subjected to torture under police detention.
    15.7, security forces announce the arrest of 13 people in Izmir, twelve in Ankara, three in Istanbul, four in Mersin and one in Antalya.
    16.7, in Gaziantep, during a press conference of a group of textile workers on strike, security forces detain about 60 people. Among the detainees are also officials from political parties, trade unions and human rights organizations.
    16.7, security forces detain thirteen people in Izmir and fourteen people in Bursa for PKK activities. Same day seven HADEP officials too are taken into police custody in Antalya.
    17.7, a former official of the Health Workers' Union (Tüm-Saglik-Sen), Mahmut Konuk is detained in Ankara.
    18.7, the Kayseri SSC sentences six PKK militants to different prison terms of up to 12 years and 6 months.
    18.7, the Diyarbakir SSC places under arrest two trade union officials, Vezir Perisen (Belediye Is) and Enver Ölmez (Yol Is).
    19.7, security forces detain three persons in Dörtyol, one person in Pazarcik and three students in Istanbul four underground activities.
    19.7, in Lice, three persons are found killed by burning.
    21.7, a meeting organized by democratic organizations in Istanbul for fundamental rights and freedom is banned at the last moment by the governor's office.
    21.7, in Kastamonu, seven officials of the Atatürkist Thought Association (ADD) are tried by a penal court for having put a poster on the association's wall with a sentence from Atatürk's speeches. Each faces prison term of up to one year.
    22.7, in Adana, Muzaffer Adiyaman who was detained on June 24 claims to have been tortured and violated for 21 days by policemen at the city's security headquarters.
    22.7, in Antakya, nine HADEP members are taken into custody on charges of taking part in PKK activities.
    22.7, the local chairman of the Democracy and Peace Party (DBP) Veli Koparan and two other party officials are detained in Hakkari. Same day, a former HADEP official, Ekrem Kaya, is detained in Istanbul together with his wife, mother and daughter.
    24.7, in Istanbul, eleven people are taken to police custody for taking part in the activities of the Union of Revolutionary Communists of Turkey (TIKB).
    28.7, thirteen Islamist militants are indicted for the assassination of journalist Cetin Emec, writer Turan Dursun and an opponent of the Iranian regime. Two of the accused face capital punishment.
    28.7, security forces detain ten people in Istanbul and thirteen people in Ankara for taking part in DHKP-C activities.
    30.7, security forces announce the arrest of about ten EP officials in Kocaeli, Adapazari, Gebze and Karadeniz Ereglisi. Same day HADEP Istanbul Secretary Cemal Coskun is taken into custody.
    31.7, in Iskenderun, six people are taken into police custody on charges of taking part in the activities of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) and the TIKKO.

RECENT FIGURES OF THE VIOLATION OF THE FREEDOM OF OPINION

    According to a survey published on August 8 by the daily Cumhuriyet, the number of the prisoners of opinion in Turkey rose to 150 in the first half of 1996. This number was 100 in 1994 and 121 in 1996.
    Despite the modification of Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, the sentences, both demanded and given against the accused, have considerably increased instead of decreasing. In six months, prosecutors have asked a total of 877 years imprisonment for opinion crimes and tribunals pronounced a total of 140 years imprisonments. The total of the demanded imprisonments for opinion crimes was 1081 years in 1994 and 1712 years in 1995. The total of the pronounced imprisonments for the same crimes was 533 years and 5 months in 1994, and 172 years and 8 months in 1995.
    Cumhuriyet also reports that among the prisoners of opinion are five former DEP deputies, Orhan Dogan, Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak, Sirri Sakik; HADEP leaders; sociologist Ismail Besikci, journalist Isik Yurtcu, members of the musical groups Kutupyildizi, Yorum, Özgürlük Türküsü and Munzur.
    On the other hand, the Ankara branch of the Journalists' Trade Union of Turkey (TGS), in a report made public on August 12, gave the following 6-month data concerning the violation of press freedom from January 1 to June 30, 1996:
    Journalist assassinated: 1
    Journalist victim of terror: 1
    Journalists aggressed: 2
    Journalists attacked by security forces: 17
    Journalists attacked by party officials: 2
    Journalists attacked by unidentified people: 2
    Attacks on journalist's house or car: 2
    Journalist beaten by newspaper manager: 1
    Journalists taken into custody: 38
    Journalists under court arrest: 6
    Journalists kidnapped: 2
    Raids on newspaper offices: 5
    Journalist association raided by police: 1
    Confiscations: 13
    Bans on publication: 3
    Bans on radio-TV broadcasting: 7
    Radio banned indefinitely: 1
    Warning to radio-TV: 4
    Direct censorship by Prime Minister: 1
    Tribunals have given, in that period, a total of 3 years, four days and 10 days imprisonment and a total fine of TL 256 million for writers and publishers. Besides, owners of newspapers and magazines have been sentenced a total fine of TL 3 billion 278 million.
    According to another report issued by the Journalists' Association of Turkey on July 15, the number of the journalists sentenced to prison in the first half of 1996 reached 44 and the newly opened or ongoing trials against journalists in the same period rose to 33. The number of the journalists or writers detained or placed under arrest in six months reached 73. Of the accused journalists, fourteen have been tried by state security courts or military courts. Authorities confiscated eight books and 33 newspapers or magazines in the same period. Tribunals have decided to ban the publications of 12 different periodicals.

PUBLISHER AYSE ZARAKOLU IMPRISONED AGAIN

    The editor of the Belge Publishing House Mrs. Ayse Nur Zarakolu was put in prison on August 29 for serving a prison term. She was sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to a 113-day imprisonment for having published Faysal Dagli's book entitled Birakuji - The Civil War of Kurds. The court condemned Zarakolu for a 7-page reportage within the 300-page book.
    On the ratification of the sentence by the Court of Cassation, Zarakolu was arrested and sent to the Sagmalcilar Special Type Prison in Istanbul.
    As entering the prison, Zarakolu said: "The book was written by a journalist. The book's subject is the civil war happened in the Kurdish region of Iraq in 1992. A reportage with the commander of the Kurdish organization ARGK was considered as a crime.
    "Yesterday the word Kurd was forbidden. Ismail Besikci was tried and sentenced for having used this word. However, today almost all of the political parties have issued a report on the Kurdish Question. Many of them are talking of a peaceful solution. To seek a peaceful solution means to accept the existence of a war. Since this fact is admitted by all the people, how can a book on this war be considered as a crime? Then, all political trials concerning the Kurdish Question should immediately be lifted."
    On the other hand, the Istanbul SSC sentenced Zarakolu on July 31, 1996, to a prison term of six months and a fine of TL 50 million for having published former Diyarbakir Mayor Mehdi Zana's book entitled Dear Leyla, That Night Was a Long Exile. The tribunal also issued a warrant of arrest in absentia for Zana who was at a voyage in Europe at that time.
    Zarakolu will be tried for a second time on September 11 by the Istanbul SSC for having published Yves Ternon's book on the Armenian Genocide.

TRIAL ON METIN GÖKTEPE'S ASSASSINATION KIDNAPPED

    On 15 July 1996, a delegation from RSF attended the opening in Istanbul of the trial of the policemen accused of beating journalist Metin Göktepe to death on 8 January 1996.
    The trial was transferred to the city of Aydin, some 400 miles from Istanbul, for security reasons. RSF is concerned at the pressure on one of the main defence witnesses, Deniz Ozcan, who was kidnapped and suffered ill treatment for two days.
    RSF has appealed to Turkish and European authorities expressing deep regret that the trial was transferred to Aydin; expressing concern at the pressure on the main defence witness; noting that the progress of the trial will be a test of the Turkish authorities' commitment to democratic principles and to international agreements; and urging that European authorities ensure that the trial follows the basic rules of international law.
    Evrensel journalist Metin Göktepe, aged 27, died in suspicious circumstances after being detained by police on 8 January, 1996

POLICE ATTACK TO JOURNALISTS' ASSOCIATION

    On the afternoon of 15 July 1996, police officers beat five photographers and reporters who were covering a demonstration against police brutality held in front of the office of the Governor of Istanbul. According to eyewitness accounts, policemen intentionally targeted journalists, beating them and breaking their cameras.
    Several reporters fled the police and took shelter in the office of the Turkish Journalists Association. Three police officers chased these journalists. The officers forced their way into the office of the Association.
    The Secretary General of the Journalists Association, Leyla Tavsanoglu, objected to the police raid and told the policemen that they were pursuing legitimate journalists. The policemen told her that the journalists were terrorists.     The policemen proceeded to drag several journalists out of the Association's office. Among those beaten and detained were Ms. Hatice Tuncer, a reporter for the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, and Ms. Sevil Erdogan, a reporter for the daily Siyah Beyaz. The journalists were later released.
    In a press release, the Committee to Protect Journalists points out that this is not an isolated incident. CPJ wrote to Turkish authorities in March about a similar attack by police. Since then, CPJ has documented two additional incidents of police harassing and detaining journalists who were trying to cover breaking news.

A TURKISH JOURNALIST ASSASSINATED IN CYPRUS

    Kutlu Adali, editorial writer for the Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Düzen, an organ of the left-wing Turkish Republican Party (CTP), was shot dead outside his home in the Turkish sector of Nicosia, in the early hours of 7 July 1996.
    According to Reporters sans frontières (RSF), he was hit in the head and died instantly. A left-wing intellectual who often criticised political figures in his editorials, Kutlu Adali had been receiving death threats. He was known as an advocate of peaceful co-operation with the Greek-dominated State of Cyprus.
    In Nicosia, an anonymous caller telephoned the editorial staff of the newspaper Kibris to claim responsibility for the killing, saying the murder was committed on the orders of the extreme right-wing group the Turkish Revenge Brigade.
    According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Turkish Revenge Brigade first emerged several months ago when it circulated pamphlets in Northern Cyprus warning it would punish those who oppose the cause of the Turks in Cyprus.

NEW SENTENCES AGAINST ISMAIL BESIKCI

    Although already sentenced to hundreds years of prison, sociologist Ismail Besikci is still being tried and sentenced by extraordinary courts for his opinion.
    Besikci is sentenced on June 22 by the Istanbul SSC to one year, three months and 16 days in prison and TL 129 million in fine for an article on individual complaints to the European Human Rights Commission that he wrote in 1994 to the daily Özgür Ülke.
    On June 27, he was sentenced again by the Istanbul SSC to twenty months in prison and TL 133 million 333 thousand for his book entitled A Nation Discovering Itself: The Kurds. The tribunal also sentenced the book's publisher, Ünsal Öztürk, to a fine of TL 50.9 million.
    At his second trial because of his book entitled The Bans Losing Their Function - Bans on Thought, on July 8, Besikci was sentenced by the Ankara SSC to one-year imprisonment and a fine of TL 145 million. The publisher of the book, Ünsal Öztürk too was sentenced to a fine of TL 26 million.
    As serving his prison terms in the Central Prison of Ankara, Besikci was transferred to the Metris Prison in Istanbul on August 20, 1996, because of the fact that his further cases will be dealt by the State Security Court of Istanbul.

MED-TV BACK ON AIR DESPITE ANKARA'S PRESSURE

    On July 2, Kurdish television Med TV's daily transmissions were stopped due to the pressure of the Turkish State on the European satellite company Eutelsat. Ankara also put political and economic pressure on all European countries for denying Med-TV any access to satellite facilities.
    However, after a silence of 45 days, the Med-TV recommenced regular daily broadcasts on August 15 through the American satellite company Intelsat.
    At a press conference simultaneously held in Brussels and in London before the restart of the broadcasting, Med-TV directors said "We are saddened to say that many countries which declare themselves as democratic have supported Turkey in its efforts to close Med TV down. Certain companies supplying satellite space breached their contracts with Med TV because of their own country's political stance. This goes against the idea of free trade and freedom of expression. However, Med-TV now has a secure contract with Intelsat in the USA "
    Broadcasting on the first day commenced with news, music and entertainment. Later, on the anniversary of the PKK's armed uprising (which began on August 15, 1984), PKK Chairman Öcalan was invited to a debate programme to discuss the possibility of a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey.
    During the first hours of the broadcast, transmissions were illegally jammed by an unidentified extern interference. However, Intelsat immediately took steps to alleviate the problems.
    Med-TV director Ilhan Kizilhan said: "This kind of jamming broadcast did not occur for the first time. Earlier, on December 15, 1995, our broadcasts had been jammed in the same manner. At the time, Med-TV was transmitting a programme on the possible peaceful settlement to the Kurdish issue in Turkey. We suspect that the Turkish State is responsible for the illegal attempts to silence Med-TV. Earlier this year, certain Turkish newspapers reported that the state is entitled to use such methods and the occupied northern part of Cyprus is used as the headquarters for such operations."

TWO-MONTH PRESSURE ON THE MEDIA

    1.6, the weeklies Aydinlik and Sosyalist Iktidar are confiscated by a penal court of Istanbul for having criticised the Minister of Justice. Same day, the periodical Tavir is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    2.6, the periodical Özgür Gelecek, N°76 is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for the propaganda of an outlawed organization.
    3.6, a book entitled The History of Human Rights, written by the IHD Deputy Secretary  Hasan Anar, is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    4.6, a book of memoirs, HEP, DEP and the State-From Parliament to Prison, written by former Kurdish deputy Mahmut Alinak, is confiscated by a penal court of Istanbul on charges of insulting the National Assembly, state security forces, the government and the justice.
    5.6, the periodical Özgür Genclik, N°24, is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC on charges of revolutionary propaganda.
    5.6, the projection of a film entitled Istanbul is under my wings is forbidden in Kayseri by the decision of the city mayor. This film, directed by Mustafa Altioklar, comments a period of the Ottoman Empire with a view contrary to the Islamist interpretation.
    7.6, in Izmir, a concert of famous folk singer Ferhat Tunc is banned by the governor's office.
    8.6, the periodical Söz, N°69, is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC under Article 8.
    8.6, in the province of Cizre, the headman of the village of Yesilyurt, Abdurrahman Mustak, is indicted for having listened to the Kurdish MED-TV. Listening to this radio was banned on February 5, 1996, by the Super Governor of the Emergency Law Region. Mustak faces a prison term of up to six months for contravening this ban.
    9.6, a book entitled To A Young Businessman, written by Emre Yilmaz, is confiscated by a penal court of Istanbul for containing some chapters against public morality.
    9.6, the Higher Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) decides to ban the emission of Kanal D TV for one day on charges of broadcasting a programme incompatible with the bans of the electoral period.
    10.6, a penal court of Ankara takes a decision to prevent the weekly Aydinlik from publishing a news report about the Justice Minister Mehmet Agar's relations with the Turkish mafia.
    10.6, three officials of the Mesopotamia Cultural Centre (MKM), Vehbiye Tüzün, Serhat Karatas and Erdal Ceviz as well as an official of the Kurdish Institute, Mehmet Safi Ekinci, are taken into police custody in Istanbul.
    10.6, correspondent Irmak Ugurlu from the periodical Özgür Atilim is taken into police custody as covering a meeting at a graveyard of Istanbul, organized for commemorating the victims of disappearances under custody.
    11.6, a correspondent of the periodical Kurtulus, Arzu Uzun, is taken into custody in istanbul together with her mother Ipek Uzun.
    11.6, a correspondent of the periodical Özgür Gelecek, Zeynel Salt is kidnapped by four unidentified gunmen in Istanbul. He is released after being beaten for three hours.
    11.6, Kurdish writer Recep Marasli and a former DEP official, Abdulcabbar Gezici, are sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to 20 months in prison and TL 133 million in fine each under Article 8 for their talks at a Kanal 6 TV programme on the Kurdish Question. As for the program-makers, Ahmet Alktan and Nese Düzel, they are acquitted.
    12.6, Erzincan correspondent of the daily Demokrasi, Düzgün Akbaba is detained by a military team raiding his house.
    13.6, the projection of the film entitled Istanbul is under my wings is forbidden in Urfa by the decision of the city mayor.
    15.6, the Istanbul SSC bans the publication of the periodical Emekcinin Alinteri for one month. The last issue of the periodical Proleter Halkin Birligi is confiscated by the same tribunal for separatist propaganda.
    17.6, the Higher Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) decides to ban the emissions of Inter Star TV for three days, Kanal D, ATV and Show TV for one day each.
    17.8, security forces prevented two picnics organized for their readers by the periodical Alinteri in Silifke and by Kurtulus in Gaziantep.
    19.6, three Evrensel correspondents, Mete Karakul, Cengiz Simsek and Baris Erbektas are taken into custody as covering the arrest of the parents of prisoners in front of the DYP office in Istanbul.
    19.6, a local correspondent of the daily Demokrasi, Ömer Faruk Kaynak is detained in Urfa. Same day, in Ankara, Aksam correspondent Fehmi Calmuk and two Interstar TV correspondents, Ahmet Takan and Noyan Inal, are taken into custody as covering the works of forming a new coalition government.
    20.6, the last issue of the daily Evrensel is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for an article criticising the Justice Minister. The June issue of the periodical Kervan is confiscated by a penal court of Istanbul for containing articles concerning the anniversary of the historical workers' resistance of 1970.
    21.6, the publisher of a book entitled Introduction to the Kurdish Literature, Yusuf Yesilöz is taken into custody when he comes to Istanbul Airport from Switzerland. For this book, the Istanbul SSC had already issued a warrant of arrest in absentia.
    21.6, Four members of the musical group Yorum, Kemal Sahir Gürel, Ufuk Göker, Irsad Aydin and Özcan Senver are again taken into custody.
    23.6, the periodicals Odak, N°55 and Öncü Yurtsever Genclik, N°1, are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    23.6, the Adana office of the periodical Kurtulus is raided by police and all the material inside confiscated. An employee; Yildiz Gemicioglu, is taken into custody.
    24.6, the last issues of the periodicals Kurtulus, Özgür Atilim and Genclik are confiscated by the Istanbul SSC.
    25.6, the projection of the film entitled Istanbul is under my wings is forbidden in Balikesir and Meram by the decision of the city mayors.
    26.6, the chief editor of the periodical Odak, Erhan Duman is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to one year in prison and TL 100 million in fine for separatist propaganda. The tribunal also decides to suspend the publication of the review for one month.
    26.6, two Adana correspondents of the periodical Zafer Yolunda Kurtulus, Yildiz Gemicioglu and Mehmet Kargilar, are arrested in Adana.
    27.6, Demokrasi correspondent Menaf Avci and three employees of the same newspaper, Semsettin Yildirim, Haci Osman Sarban and Ali Kocyigit, are taken into custody as going to their homes in Istanbul.
    28.6, in an extended raid operation, security forces detain following journalists: Demokrasi correspondents Abdullah Kaplan, Turabi Sen and Nurcan Turgut in Elazig, Özgür Halk correspondents Emin Konan and Seher Sabit in Elazig, Özgür Halk correspondent Dilber Aydemir in Adana, Özgür Atilim editor Mustafa Süke in Istanbul, Kurtulus correspondent Mehmet Balci in Gaziantep and Kurtulus correspondent Ferit Yildiz in Antakya.
    28.6, a concert organized in Samandag by the periodical Insancil and the Samandag Popular House is forbidden by the decision of the Hatay governor. Authorities also forbid a theatre representation on Nazim Hikmet in Gebze and a cultural evening for the newspaper Evrensel in Zile.
    1.7, poet Abdullah Riza Ergüven is sentenced by a penal court of Istanbul to twenty months in prison for insulting the religion in his book entitled Forbidden Sentences. The publisher of the book, Ismet Arslan too is sentenced to the same imprisonment, but this punishment is later commuted to a fine.
    2.7, in Izmir, during a meeting in commemoration of the Sivas Massacre, security forces attack journalists and wound Arif Cayan (Ege TV), Dilek Eski (Gazete) and Necati Aygin (Cumhuriyet).
    2.7, the periodical Kurtulus, N°52, is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for the propaganda of an outlawed organization.
    3.7, the Istanbul SSC decides to suspend the publication of the periodical Atilim for one month on charges of separatist propaganda.
    4.7, two members of the musical group Yorum, Kemal Sahir Gürel and Ufuk Satilmis Lüker, are placed under arrest on charges of being members of an underground organization.
    5.7, the former editor of the periodical Kizil Bayrak, Güray Ülkü is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to four months in prison. The tribunal also decides to ban the periodical's publication for three months.
    5.7, poet and writer Yilmaz Odabasi is indicted for having criticised in the periodical Özgür Yasam the harassment of the HADEP. Facing a prison term of up to one year, Odabasi will be tried by a criminal court in Istanbul.
    5.7, the responsible editor of the defunct Kurdish newspaper Roj, Mustafa Yilmaz is taken into custody.
    6.7, Odak Adana correspondent Mahir Yilmaz Sari, detained on June 3, claims to have been tortured in police custody.
    6.7, in Iskenderun, Ersen Korkmaz, founder of the newspaper Demokrat Iskenderun and Iskenderun correspondent of the daily Evrensel, is stabbed by a group of Grey Wolves.
    6.7, the last issue of the daily Evrensel is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for containing a reportage with a former police agent revealing the provocation by State forces. The issue N°52 of the periodical Kurtulus too is confiscated by the same tribunal for the propaganda of the DHKP-C.
    10.7, the daily Evrensel is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for having published a declaration of German deputy Cem Özdemir. The same tribunal also decides to ban the publication of the periodicals Özgür Halk and Proleter Halkin Birligi for one month. The latter is sentenced to a fine of TL 42.4 million as well.
    11.7, the Istanbul SSC sentences the daily Evrensel to a total fine of TL 735 million 851 thousand 250 (±$ 9 thousand) for some articles published in three different issues.
    11.7, the chief editor of the women review Roza, Fatma Kayhan is brought before the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    11.7, in Istanbul, Evrensel correspondents Mustafa Kara, Zafer Kütük and Mehmet Fatih Yurt, are taken into custody by police raiding their houses.
    12.7, the periodical Yeniden Newroz is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for separatist propaganda.
    12.7, the responsible editor of the periodical Hedef, Celal Dönmez, and an Alinteri correspondent, Pervin Abduloglu, are taken into custody in Istanbul.
    12.7, the prosecutor of the Diyarbakir SSC starts a legal action against the local Can TV for having used Kurdish music in some of its programmes.
    13.7, in Adana, periodical Azadiye Welat distributor Mesut Aslan is taken into custody.
    13.7, Özgür Atilim correspondent Ferhat Akcay takes a medical certificate confirming that he was beaten and wounded on July 11 as covering a protest action in Istanbul.
    14.7, Alinteri Ceyhan representative and IHD official Süleyman Aksoydan is taken into police custody in Adana.
    15.7, the Istanbul SSC confiscates Proleter Halkin Birligi, N°17, and Kurtulus, N°53, for separatism and propaganda of outlawed organizations.
    15.7, it is the first time that a TV programme is banned directly by the decision of the Prime Minister. Premier Erbakan, using his power given by Article 25 of the Radio-TV Law, bans Interstar TV to put on the air a reportage with the hunger strikers.
    16.7, security forces detain Kurtulus correspondent Deniz Fidan and Atilim correspondent Vahit Yurttas in Ankara, and Evrensel correspondent Sevda Cetinkaya in Gaziantep.
    16.7, the head office of the daily Evrensel in Istanbul is raided by police on pretext of searching a wanted person.
    16.7, socialist leader and writer Mihri Belli is sentenced by the Istanbul SSC to one year and 40 days in prison and TL 111 million in fine for an article he wrote to the defunct Özgür Ülke. The execution of the punishment is later suspended for five years.
    16.7, six EP militants are sentenced by the Izmir SSC to two years in prison each for having put the party's posters on walls in Izmir.
    17.7, the chairman of the Workers' Party (IP), Dogu Perincek is sentenced by a penal court of Ankara to nine months in prison for having insulted the Constitutional Court in a press conference. The prison term is later commuted into a fine of TL 2.7 million.
    17.7, Özgür Halk Diyarbakir correspondent Necmiye Arslanoglu is detained by police raiding her house.
    18.7, Alinteri, N°76 is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for the propaganda of an outlawed organization.
    18.7, Partizan Sesi correspondents Özlem Akin and Hakan Oksar are taken into custody in Istanbul as covering a meeting in solidarity with hunger strikers.
    20.7, a special issue of Özgür Gelecek on hunger strikes is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC on charges of instigating the people to hatred.
    22.7, the RTÜK decides to suspend the broadcasting of Kanal D and Flash TV for two days, Kanal 6, Cine 5 and Show TV for one day. Besides, the Can TV in Diyarbakir receives a warning from the RTÜK for having used Kurdish songs in its programmes.
    23.7, in Antakya, the office of Kurtulus is raided by police. The Istanbul SSC confiscates the periodicals Uzun Yürüyüs, N°5, Emek, N°45, and Roj, N°24, for separatist propaganda.
    23.7, in Bursa, police raid Alinteri office and detain two correspondents, Özgür Akbaba and Sabahat Yaman.
    24.7, police raiding the office of the periodical Kurtulus detain 15 people.
    25.7, in Istanbul, the public prosecutor starts a legal action against the administrators of the Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural Association for having supported a workers' resistance last year. Among the accused is also famous theatre and cinema actor Ilyas Salman.
    25.7, Devrimci Emek, N°45, is confiscated by the Istanbul SSC for propaganda of an underground organization.
    26.7, a correspondent of the Anka News Agency, Ebru Dönmezoglu is beaten by police in Ankara as covering a protest action of the relatives of prisoners.
    28.7, the Istanbul SSC confiscates two last issues of the daily Evrensel and the issue N°18 of the periodical Proleter Halkin Birligi for articles concerning hunger strikes.

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ACTIONS ON TURKEY

    In view of the critical situation in Turkey, on July 24, the Chairman of the foreign affairs committee, Mr Gerardo Fernandez-Albor (EPP, E), sending a letter to Commissioner Hans van den Broek, strongly urged the EC Commission to draw up a mid-term report on the human rights situation in Turkey before Parliament's September part-session.
    Parliament's assent to the EU/Turkey customs union was conditional on such a report being submitted each year - a condition which the Commission accepted.
    Mr Fernandez-Albor also called on the Commissioner to put pressure on the Turkish authorities with a view to improving prison conditions.
    Earlier, The European Parliament, at its June 20 session, adopted the following resolution on  human rights and the situation in Turkey:
    "The European Parliament,
    "- having regard to the human rights clause included in the proposal for a Council Regulation regarding the implementation of a special financial cooperation measure for Turkey,
    "- having regard to the Barcelona Declaration of which Turkey is a signatory,
    "A. anxious to achieve good relations with Turkey, but recalling its numerous previous resolutions on human rights and statements made by the Turkish authorities prior to the approval of the Customs Union, promising improvements,
    "B. deeply concerned at the recent military operations undertaken by the Turkish armed forces in Eastern Turkey and the refusal to attempt to achieve a peaceful settlement despite the declaration of a cease-fire by the PKK on 15 December 1995,
    "C. whereas Kurdish prisoners in many Turkish prisons have been on hunger strike in protest against repressive measures introduced by Mr Mehmet Agar, formerly Chief of Security and subsequently Minister of Justice,
    "D. concerned by reports that medical treatment is being obstructed and that the health of various prisoners participating in the prison hunger strike is now in grave danger,
    "E. deeply concerned by reports of ill-treatment against prisoners which, inter alia, has resulted in four deaths in January 1996 in Istanbul's prison,
    "F. deeply disturbed by the fact that the former Members of Parliament of Kurdish origin, Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan have still not been released from prison, and have joined the hunger strike by other political prisoners,
    "G. unable to accept that the prosecutions of the writer Yasar Kemal and the sociologist Ismail Besikci and the treatment of political prisoners in general are compatible with internationally accepted standards of human rights,
    "H. condemning the bans on assembly and demonstration, the violence, the arrests and baton charges by the police during the HABITAT II conference,
    "I. concerned that the president of the Diyarbakir medical association and committed human rights activist, Seyfettin Kizilkan, has been sentenced to over three years' imprisonment by a state security court, although observers assume that the charges were fabricated,
    "J. taking fully into account the uncertainty prevailing on the Turkish political scene following the fall of the present Government and the resignation of the Prime Minister, Mr Mesut Yilmaz,
    "1. Appeals to the incoming government to commit itself to recognise and uphold human rights in Turkey, in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights of which Turkey is a signatory, and to undertake further and substantial legislative reforms required to prevent their infringement;
    "2. Requests the new government to declare a general amnesty designed to secure the release of prisoners convicted of offences under laws in conflict with the principles of free speech and human rights and to terminate court actions against those still on trial, and in particular renews its call for the immediate release of Mrs Leyla Zana and the three other members of the DEP;
    "3. Calls on the Turkish Government to end its military operations in the southeast of the country and to open negotiations with all Kurdish organizations in order to overcome the deadlock and move towards a peaceful political settlement of the problem;
    "4. Asks the Turkish authorities to recognise the rights of all Kurds within Turkey and to facilitate the return of all displaced Kurds to their homes;
    "5. Presses the Council to put the Kurdish issue in Turkey on the agenda of the OSCE and to seek other ways to promote initiatives designed to assist in resolving the problems of human rights and the Kurds in Turkey;
    "6. Calls on the new government to take firm steps to end the practice of torture and to make provision for the International Red Cross to visit prisons and political prisoners;
    "7. Considers that such disregard of obligations with regard to both international law and human rights instruments, is seriously inconsistent with the spirit of the EU/Turkey Customs Union, and therefore calls on the Council and the Commission to urge the Turkish Authorities to take steps to ensure that ill treatment of prisoners and the obstruction of medical treatment stops;
    "8. Calls on the Commission to meet its commitments as regards monitoring the human rights situation in Turkey and asks it to forward the second interim report on human rights in Turkey to Parliament as soon as possible;
    "9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, the Government of Turkey, and to all Member State governments."

OSCE CALLS ON ANKARA TO A PEACEFUL SOLUTION

    The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), adopting a resolution at its meeting of July 9 in Stockholm, called the Turkish Government to a peaceful solution on the Kurdish Question.
    In its resolution, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly:
    "Calls upon the Turkish Government and Parliament to abolish Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, Article 312 of the Penal Code and other statutes which violate the principle of freedom of expression,
    "Urges the Turkish Government to take urgent action to halt widespread use of torture by police and other officials, and to end its persecution of medical professionals and NGOs who provide treatment to victims of torture and expose human rights abuses;
    "Calls upon the Turkish Government to promote economic, social, cultural, legislative and other peaceful means to solve internal problems, in particular those concerning the Kurdish population in southeastern Turkey;
    "Urges the Turkish Government to establish consultative mechanisms with non-violent Kurdish-based organizations, which recognize the territorial integrity of Turkey, to defuse sources of conflict and propose strategies to resolve the crisis in Southeastern Turkey."

AT LAST SHAMEFUL EUROPALIA-TURKEY FESTIVAL CANCELLED

    The Europalia-Turkey Festival, already reported from September 1996 to September 1997, was definitively cancelled by the decision of The Europalia Foundation on July 17 because of the difficulties caused by the Turkish side.
    The organization of such a festival in the name of a country where human rights are systematically violated had already given rise to protests from democratic organizations and personalities.
    Info-Türk editor Dogan Özgüden, in an open letter (Le Soir, December 23, 1994), urged the Belgian opinion that the festival, if held, was condemned to be a "festival of shame" as long as intellectuals and artists remain in Turkish prisons and the rights of other national and religious communities of Turkey are systematically violated.
    On reactions, the Belgian authorities refused to subsidise the organization of the festival and the Europalia Foundation had to suspend the preparations in March 1995 for "financial reasons."
    However, after the ratification of the Customs Union by the European Parliament, the Belgian authorities, taking no heed of the systematic violation of human rights in Turkey, gave green light for an Europalia-Turkey in 1997.
    Despite this unbelievable European capitulation, Turkish side has never fulfilled its financial and cultural commitments until July 1, 1996, an ultimate date for the start of organization, and the Belgian side had to abandon this shameful project.
    The Commissioner of the Europalia Festival, Ambassador Jan Hollants Van Loocke said at a press conference: "After a profound examination and consultation with the interested circles, it was decided to report sine die Europalia 97 Türkiye. It means a long provisional abandonment."
    By creating themselves the reasons for the cancellation of a festival which would have served to the propaganda of their own repressive regime, Turkish authorities have proved once more how far are they credible in their cooperation with their foreign partners.
    What is the most important for Belgium, it has saved itself, if not voluntarily, from the shame of giving an international rostrum to the only repressive regime of Europe.

RISE OF TURKISH BUSINESSMEN IN EUROPE

     The number of Turkish citizens living in Western European countries who seek to become self-employed is rapidly increasing and has already risen to more than 50 thousand. .     Turkish businessmen are no longer just involved in the sectors of the economy that traditionally have been their domain, such as restaurants and catering but are investing in many different areas. This development is closely related to the creativity of the second and third generation Turks who have grown up largely in Europe. It is also very interesting that the target group of customers for these businesses are not solely Turks any more.
    Presently they have joined under two umbrella associations. The Federation of Turkish-German Businessmen Associations (TIDAF) includes many businessmen organizations from the different regions of Germany. Another organization is the Association of Turkish Businessmen in Europe (ATIAD).
    According to the data of the Centre for Studies on Turkey in Essen, 49,300 Turkish migrants have established their own businesses throughout Europe. 40,500 of them are in Germany. There are also 3,300 Turkish businessmen in France, 2,600 in Netherlands, 2,000 in England and 900 in Belgium.
    The total investment by these businessmen in Germany has reached 8.3 billion DM and the total turnover is 34 billion DM. These businessmen have also created new work places, providing jobs to 168,000 people.
    According to the data given by the ATIAD on February 21, 1996, the number of Turkish businessmen in Europe rises to 55,000. The total investment by these businessmen in Europe has reached 12 billion DM and the total turnover is 45 billion DM. They have created works for 180 thousand people in Europe.
    In another survey by the Centre for Studies on Turkey, a majority of the 14,500  Turkish university students in Germany indicate that, although they believe that chances for employment and conditions in Turkey are good, they desire to work in Germany in the future.

TIHV REPORT ON DEATHS IN TURKISH PRISONS

    The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) issued in March 1996 a new File Of Torture, detailing deaths in detention places or prisons in Turkey from September 12, 1980, to September 12, 1995.
    Below we are reproducing the chapter concerning the situation of Turkish prison which is the principal reason of the recent hunger strikes ended in the death of twelve political prisoners:

    Inhuman prison conditions

    With the 12 September Military Coup, policy of systematic extermination and pressure was put into practice in prisons. The prisons were turned into places where the most cruel attacks, pressure, torture and inhuman applications were carried out in the guise of "military discipline". Because of such applications in the prisons, tens of people died or were killed, tens of others were crippled (12 of them in then Diyarbakir Military Prison), while the number of prison prisoners who got permanent illnesses was incredibly high . Torture and inhuman applications in the Erzurum Dagkapi, Ankara Mamak Istanbul Metris and Diyarbakir military prisons reached an incredible level.
    [Torture cases, systematic extermination practices, brutal murders in the prisons were also witnessed following the 12 September military coup. However, this time the military prisons were replaced by the prisons of the Ministry of Justice, i.e. "civilian" prisons. Convicted and arrested prisoners transferred from the Eskisehir Special Type Prison to the Aydin E Type Prison, were ruthlessly beaten by the personnel of the prison they had been sent to on 2 August 1989. Due to the beating, 2 arrested prisoners, Mehmet Yalcinkaya and Huseyin Hüsnü Eroglu died, 6 arrested prisoners got wounded. The attempt to take away an arrested prisoner in the Diyarbakir E Type Prison for a new interrogation on 3 October 1994 upon directives by the Public Prosecution Office, provoked incidents. Other prisoners, protesting the attempt to take away the arrested prisoner, erected barricades in front of the doors and started a resistance movement. Upon this, on 4 October an operation was carried out against the wings where the resistance continued. During the operation, an arrested prisoner named Ramazan Ozuak suffocated to death as he was stuck, over 50 prisoners were injured (some with gunfire), and the prison was damaged. Some of the prisoners were forcibly transferred to the Gaziantep E Type Prison on the morning of 5 October. Süleyman Ongun, one of those wounded, died on 20 January 1995 in the Gaziantep Prison. Süleyman Ongun who had 20 wounds on his body, had been receiving treatment at the prison infirmary. Arrested and convicted prisoners in the Gaziantep Prison declared that Süleyman Ongun had not been hospitalised even after his condition deteriorated, so that his wounds had become infected and he had died due to lack of proper care.]
    The number of the prisoners who died in the Diyarbakir Military Prison because of torture, hunger strike, suicide or negligence was more than 40. In this prison, the prisoners were subjected to most cruel methods such as forcing to rape each other, inserting truncheon into anus, making waiting sewer pit.
    Pressure and torture in prisons gave way to resistance. By 1985, many hunger strikes and various resistance acts were staged in the prisons. Thousands of prison prisoners put their bodies forward to fight against torture and pressure. The hunger strikes which continued for weeks and even for months took place in prisons. As a result of the hunger strikes, a total of 12 people died, 8 of whom in the Diyarbakir Military Prison while the rest in the Istanbul Sagmalcilar Prison. This number reached 13 when a prisoner in the Mus E Type Prison died during a hunger strike in 1993.
    [Those arrested and convicted because of PKK trials launched an indefinite/non-alternate hunger strike on 14 July 1995. Nearly thousand arrested and convicted prisoners serving in more than 20 prisons participated in the hunger strike staged with political demands. The hunger strike in the prisons was supported by the relatives of the arrested and convicted prisoners through various acts such as hunger strikes, sit-in acts in the political party buildings, marches. Most of the acts confronted intervention by the security officers, political party buildings were emptied by the police, some people were beaten, some got wounded. Hundreds of people were detained, some of the detainees were arrested. The hunger strike which turned into an indefinite one as of 13 August 1995, ended on 19 August 1995 with a declaration stating that "the protest had achieved its goal". During the hunger strike, 2 convicts, Fetish Beyazcicek serving in Yozgat E Type Prison and Remzi Altintas serving in the Amasya E Type Prison, died. With the death of Fetish Beyazcicek and Remzi Altintas, the number of those died in the hunger strikes reached 15.]
    Efforts in and out of the prisons occasioned a decrease in torture and pressure. In 1986, torture cases in the prisons did not stop, but decreased to a great extent. However, poor living conditions in prisons did not seem to be improved. To wear uniform cloths was obligatory and because of this application people were tried and convicted. Books and newspapers were deemed as luxury. Prisoners could hardly meet and communicate with their families. Health, nutrition and ventilation problems started to threaten lives of prisoners.
    On demand of improvement in living conditions, hunger strikes were staged in all of the prisons in the summer of 1987. Screams of "We want to live as a human being" climbed over the stone walls of the prisons and spread throughout the country. Relatives of the prisoners, and human rights activists supported the resistance in the prisons via the mass activities they organized. Within the framework of these activities, a group of the prisoners' relatives, who departed from Istanbul on 28 July 1987 arrived in Ankara after stopping by Çanakkale, Bursa and Eskisehir. The group was beaten at the entrance of Ankara and at the gate of the National Assembly to where they wanted to submit a petition on 1 September, the World Peace Day, on demand of improvement in prison conditions. Because of the beating, Didar Sensoy, one of the founding members of the Human Rights Association, died going into an insulin coma.
    The death of Didar Sensoy increased the concern for the prisons and broke the resistance of the government in charge at that time insistent on not improving poor living conditions. Certain measures to improve the prison conditions were put on to the agenda. Compulsory wearing of the uniform clothes was lifted. Positive changes were made in the living conditions. However, all of those amendments were neither sufficient nor permanent. Whatever obtained in consequence of the activities was attempted to be taken back with a decision known as "1 August Circular". Thus, the prisons witnessed various activities in October, November and December. The mass of the activities and the support by public eventuated in pending of 1 August Circular. The 1 August Circular was put into practice on the pretext of flights from some prisons m the midst of 1989. The Circular was removed from practice after lengthy efforts and resistance. However, the prisons could not attain peace and comfortable living conditions. The significant increase in the number of prisoners as of 1991, affected the living conditions negatively. Stability could not be secured in the prisons. Certain rights given to the prisoners convicted or arrested in connection with ordinary cases (such as free visits, right to be transferred to district prisons, being released after serving two fifth of their imprisonment term) were not granted to political prisoners by the 'taw to Fight Terrorism" which entered into force on 12 April 1991.
    Now, the prisons are still a scene of beatings, hunger strikes, illegal applications and arbitrary behavior and continues to be the still-bleeding wound of Turkey. The inhuman treatment and hunger strikes in the prisons occasion a series of problems for the relatives of prison prisoners and continue to be a source of great sorrow.
    [Political convicts in the 2nd and 3rd wings of the Aydin E Type Prison were beaten by the guardians and gendarmes who entered the wings in question on 24 June 1994. In the incident, 14 people were wounded. The convicts stated that provocation by prison director caused the incident. After the incident, pressure in the prison intensified and many rights acquired through hunger strikes by prisoners were taken back. Thereupon, 102 of the convicts in the prison went on a hunger strike on 1 July 1994 with the demand of improvement in living conditions and an end to the pressure. The hunger strike ended on the evening of 30 July 1994 when negotiations held between the SHP leaders and Ministry of Justice authorities, and the representatives of the prisoners resulted in consensus.
    On the morning of 19 August 1994, guardians and gendarmes carried out an operation in the 5th wing of the Ankara Central Closed Prison where the PKK trial defendants were kept. During the operation 16 prisoners were wounded and the arm of a guardian was broken. The incident arose when 3 arrested prisoners, Ibrahim Ata, Ismet Ayaz and Burhan Altun, were attempted to be transferred to the Cankiri E Type Prison in order to be put in cells. The official statement concerning the incident claimed that the incident had arisen after the prisoners had attempted to revolt. IHD Secretary General Hüsnü Ondul said: "The attack on the prisoners is publicized as a revolt. It is obvious that people having no means to defense do not revolt." On the same days, 4 prisoners were beaten and wounded by the guardians in the Konya Prison.
    About 500 arrested and convicted children at the Ankara Kecioren Reformatory, rebelled on the night of 12 April 1995 against the ill-treatment by the guardians. The rebellion was put down by the police that got in the reformatory. During the putting down of the rebellion, some got wounded and the building was damaged. The children who spoke to the journalists after the putting down of the rebellion, stated that their problems were intentionally left unsolved, and said, "The guardians abuse us sexually. We are continuously beaten and humiliated."
    During the operation carried out by the guardians and the gendarmes against the wings of those arrested or convicted for political reasons in the Elbistan E Type Prison on 3 May 1995, 10 prisoners were wounded. In protest of the incident, 85 prisoners staged an alternate hunger strike as of 3 May. The hunger strike ended on the evening of 9 June 1995 when most of the demands of the arrested and convicted prisoners were accepted by the prison administration.]
    Not only political prisoners but also ordinary ones have to live in distressing conditions in the prisons. A report prepared in 1993 by the IHD Istanbul Branch stressed that suppression and inhuman treatment were applied not only to political prisoners and that ordinary prisoners were also facing serious problems in the prisons. The following are some excerpts from the report: "Up till now, only the situation of political prisoners have been discussed, and what prisoners accused of ordinary crimes have experienced, has been ignored. In the wings where the ordinary prisoners and convicts are kept, a disgusting order has been ruling which is based on the triangle of administration/guardians, wing leaders and drug mafia. In these wings, drug trade prevails and the prisoners are encouraged to become addicts. It is frequently witnessed that juvenile prisoners are sexually abused and raped. The weak, out of the arrested and convicts, are forced to give tribute and used as slaves. Problems in the prisons where ordinary prisoners are kept are consciously neglected." The report also pointed out that problems in the prisons concerned not only the relatives of the prisoners, but all people, and particularly the politicians should handle this issue sensitively.
    Sanitary problems and inadequate conditions for necessary treatment of the arrested and convicted prisoners are among the vital problems of the prisons. There are numerous prisoners who died, became crippled or suffered from permanent illnesses because of poor living conditions, lack of necessary medical means or because of not being taken to hospital on time.
    An important development concerning the prison prisoners was experienced in 1991. This was the conditional release application which was brought out by the 'taw to Fight Terrorism" which entered into force on 12 April 1991. The application foresaw significant decreases in the sentences passed on the people tried or convicted because of the crimes committed by 12 April 1991. Thus, almost half of the prisoners in the prisons (approximately 20.000) were released. Nevertheless, the application excluded Articles 146 and 125 of the Turkish Penal Code under which left-wing prisoners were prosecuted or convicted. Therefore only 708 (most of whom were right-wing) of about 3,500 political prisoners in the prisons at that time, were released.
    With its decision made on 22 July 1991, the Constitutional Court removed the inequality which arose in connection with the sentences passed under Article 146 of the Turkish Penal Code. About 1,500 prisoners benefited from the decision. A thousand of them were released in August 1991. The Constitutional Court preferred to keep silent about the cases launched in connection with the Kurdish organizations, particularly with the PKK, under Article 125 of the Penal Code.
    [The decrease in the number of the arrested and convicted prisoners in the prisons did not last long. The number of the arrested and convicted prisoners which decreased as to 20 thousand in 1991, increased to 32 thousand by the end of 1993, to 40 thousand by the end of 1994, and to 50 thousand in 1995. The increase in the number of the arrested and convicted prisoners for political reasons was more striking. The number of the political prisoners which was 4,284 in 1993, reached 6,379 in the midst of 1994. This number exceeded 8 thousand by the end of 1994, and 10 thousand by the midst of 1995. This number was around 900 in November 1991, as the DYP-SHP coalition government came to power.]
    The Constitutional Court did not annul the provision which foresaw that no defendants tried under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code in connection with the Kurdish organizations, particularly with the PKK, may benefit from the conditional release, not in 1992 either. The decision was made by 7 votes against 4 votes. According to the decision, in the trials launched in connection with the Kurdish organizations, defendants sentenced to death will have to stay in prison for 20 years instead of 10 years, and defendants life sentenced will serve in prison for 15 years instead of 8 years. A member of the Constitutional Court said- "The most important reason for our decision is that crimes under this article are still committed. The organizational element of other crimes disappeared, and they became individual ones. However the number of the crimes under Article 125 which is based on the integrity of Turkey, have not decreased, but on the contrary increased recently."
    This decision has illustrated that two different standards are used for Turkish and Kurdish organizations, which is in violation of the equality principle stated in the Constitution.
    [After 12 September 1995, the prisons became a scene for bloody incidents and widespread actions. The roll call prevention act by those kept under arrest for political reasons in the Izmir Buca Closed Prison, which had started on 19 September 1995 to protest certain practices in prison, was repressed with a bloody operation on 21 September. During the incidents 3 prisoners died and 58 prisoners were injured, 25 of whom severely. The autopsy performed on the killed prisoners Ugur Sanaslan, Yusuf Bag and Turan Kilinç revealed that all the three prisoners had died because of brain haemorrhage and in internal bleeding due to beating. The physicians who performed the autopsy stated that the traces on the corpses and the breaks in the bones of the dead had proved that the prisoners had been ruthlessly beaten, and noted "suspicious death" on the autopsy reports. The official complaints lodged ended in vain.
    During the incidents that broke out in the Istanbul Umraniye Special Type Prison on 13 December 1995, 14 gendarmes, 12 policemen, 2 guardians and 36 arrested and convicted prisoners were either wounded or poisoned due to the gas bombs. The incidents calmed down at about 4.00 p.m. on 15 December. However, the problems experienced in prisons continued and tension went on. Tension in prison caused bloody incidents on 4 January 1996. During the incidents which broke out when the gendarmes carried out an operation in the morning and at noon against 2 wings in the prison, 3 arrested prisoners named Abdulmecit Seckin, Orhan Ozen and Riza Boybas, were beaten to death while 36 arrested or convicted prisoners, 21 gendarmes and 10 guardians got wounded. The result of the autopsies on Abdulmecit Seckin, Orhan Ozen and Riza Boybas showed that "internal bleeding in brain, fractures and caving at skull due to blow to head with an hard object" had caused the deaths. The heads and faces of the killed people were reportedly torn to pieces in a manner that it would be difficult to identify them. Gültekin Beyhan who got wounded during the incidents lost his life on 11 January 1996, and thereby the number of killed during the incidents increased to four. The official complaints lodged ended in vain.]

    Deaths in detention places or prisons

    The most evident characteristics of the systematic application of torture in Turkey is the deaths in detention places or prisons. This case became more evident as of the 12 September Military Coup and the number of those killed under torture is too high to count. Torture turned into a habit of primitive, primary and extrajudicial punishment.
    Deaths because of torture were not limited to the military junta period. When the cases of deaths, detailed breakdown and full list of which are placed on the following pages, are examined, it will be apparent that the applications during the junta period and the deaths because of torture continued during the period of the subsequent governments. The evaluation as to the cases of deaths is as follows:
    • A total of 434 people died during the 15-year period between 12 September 1980 and 12 September l995. 419 of those people died in detention places or prisons and 15 of them during the hunger strikes staged on the demand of improvement of inhuman living conditions in prisons. When we add the previous figure to the number of people who died (a total of 26) because of illnesses due to torture in detention places or prisons or because they could not receive necessary medical treatment, a black balance sheet displaying the deaths of 460 people during the last 15 years appears. When we take into consideration that the number of the people who died or were killed because of torture in detention places or prisons between 1968-1980, the period during which Turkey witnessed various political fluctuations, was about 20, we will realise that torture has been applied without any restraints since 12 September Military Coup.
    • 190 out of 460 death cases were witnessed during the junta period between 12 September 1980 and 12 December 1983, 162 of them during the period under the power of the ANAP between 13 December 1983 and 20 November 1991, and 108 of them during the True Path Party-the Social Democratic Populist Party coalition government.
    • 252 of the death cases were between 12 September 1980 and the end of 1985. Starting from 1986 to the end of 1990, there was a decrease in the deaths because of torture (a total of 81 people). Death cases started to increase as of 1991 (a total of 127 people). This situation showed that being a signatory to some international accords, opening for international inspection on the subject of torture, lifting Articles 141, 142 and 163 of the Turkish Penal Code or making certain legal arrangements such as the Code of Criminal Procedures (CMUK) were of no use for prevention of torture.
    • 359 of those who died, were detained or put into prison because of political crimes while 101 of them because of ordinary cases.
    • Courts, prosecution offices or other authorised offices accepted that 70 of 419 people (this number does not include those who died during hunger strikes or because of illnesses due to torture) who died in detention places or prison, had been killed under torture. Besides, 9 people committed suicide in protest of torture and inhuman applications
    • 80 of the remaining 340 people allegedly "committed suicide", 29 of them were allegedly "shot while escaping or being tried to be caught", 9 of them allegedly "became victims of murders by unknown assailants". Either various allegations were made (such as "Fell sick and died.", "Was never detained" or "Died during a hunger strike.") or no official information was given about the remaining 222 people.
    • As a result of the concluded trials, condemnation was passed in connection with only 26 death cases. In 6 death cases, courts accepted the affect of torture in the deaths, however prosecuted security officers were acquitted due to lack of evidence. Trials concerning about 30 cases of death are under way.
    Approach of the authorities towards the cases of deaths in detention places or prisons was not so different from that towards torture cases which are summarized in the first section. Cases of deaths were not seriously investigated, offenders were not condemned in a real sense. Imprisonment terms passed on the offenders were no more than 1 year or 2 years. Condemned officers who escaped were connived. Attempts to cover up the cases of deaths with trivial justifications also showed themselves during the activities directed towards international organizations and public opinion. For example; in the report submitted by Turkey to the United Nations in October 1990 in accordance with the "Convention Against Torture", it was alleged that many people claimed to have been tortured to death, had died because of illnesses such as AIDS, tuberculosis which had been verified by medical reports.
    Turkey undersigned the UN Convention for Prevention of Torture in 1988, and submitted the report she prepared in accordance with Article 19 of the Convention, to the United Nations 22 months after she signed the Convention. Many parts of the report formed of 3 sections and 79 articles, contained repetition of the provisions concerning torture and ill-treatment in the Constitution and laws and of the signed international conventions. In the report, no measures against torture cases were mentioned and it was defended that the existing laws were efficient for prevention of torture. The report exemplified only 3 deaths because of torture, without giving the names of victims, and stated that at the end of the trials launched in connection with the 3 death cases, it was decided to pay compensation to the families of the victims who had died under torture. It was also stated in the report that 508 trials had been launched in 1989 in connection with torture claims and 15 police officers had been sentenced to various imprisonment terms.
    [This approach was reflected in a signaller way in all official statements, in reports submitted and answers given to the international organizations. All of the studies conducted in connection with the torture cases in Turkey were falsified on such grounds as "Exaggerated", "Written under the influence of groups of state opponents", or "Are not true."]

BALANCE SHEET OF TORTURE FOLLOWING THE 12 SEPTEMBER COUP

    Deaths in detention places or prisons    Deaths during hunger strikes    Seaths due to illnesses because of torture    Total
1980 :    43    -    -    43
(Between 12 September 1980-31 December 1980)
1981 :    73    1    -    74
1982 :    49    4    -    53
1983 :    20    -    1    21
1984 :    23    6    3    32
1985 :    27    -    2    29
1986 :    19    -    1    20
1987 :    18    -    -    18
1988 :    14    1    1    16
1989 :    11    -    1    12
1990 :    12    -    3    15
1991 :    21    -    -    21
1992 :    17    -    1    18
1993 :    29    1    7    37
1994 :    34    -    1    35
1995 :    9    2    5    16
(Between 1 January 1995-12 September 1995) (*)

TOTAL    419    15    26    460

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(*) Later deaths in detention places or prisons continued uninterruptedly. For example, Mustafa Akbulut detained by the gendarmes in the Hisar Hamlet of Pagir Village of Araban, Gaziantep on 23 November 1995; Abdulmenaf Zengin detained by police in the Afetevler Quarter of Mersin on the night of 18 December 1995; a child named Cetin Karakoyun (14) detained by police in Mersin on 8 January 1996; journalist Metin Göktepe detained by police in Istanbul on 8 January 1996; Ali Ormanci detained by police in Bursa on 21 January 1996; Hamdi Deniz kept in detention at the Kocaeli Derbent Gendarmerie Station on 11 February 1996, lost their lives. Besides, during the operation in the Izmir Buca Prison on 21 September 1995, arrested prisoners Ugur Sariaslan, Yusuf Bag and Turan Kiliç; and during the operation in the Istanbul Umraniye Prison on 4 January 1996, arrested prisoners Abdulmecit Seckin, Orhan Özen, Riza Boybas and Gültekin Bayhan were beaten to death.