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Justice Delivered for Kurdish Mother of "Disappeared" Children - Turkey Held Responsible by European Court and Fined £70,000 ~ February 28, 2001
Turkish Spy Chief Urges End to Ban on Kurdish TV, Chris Morris ~ Nov. 29
Ex-Spy Spins Web of Collusion in Turkey's War Against Kurds, By Amberin Zaman ~ August 18
The Dark Days of Kurdish Guerrillas, Stratfor, Inc ~ August 1
Euro Court Fines Turkey £¼ Million Over Death in Custody and Torture, Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ June 28
Kurdish Family of 'Disappeared' Receives Justice From Europe, Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ June 14
International Initiative - Freedom for Ocalan - Peace in Kurdistan ~ June 1
Kurdish Writer Mahmut Baksi Ends Hunger Strike, by Azad Daristani ~ May 13
Balfour Beatty Gets Shut Down! by Mark Thomas ~ May 13
Heads of Kurdistan Universities Call on Kurdish Academics to Return Home, Kurdistan Newsline ~ May 12
PUK Representative Participates in the National Party of Quebec’s 15th Congress, Kurdistan Newsline ~ May 12
Letter from IRIC to UNHR Regarding Death of Iraqi Asylum-Seekers, IRIC ~ May 11
Blow To Turkish Legal System as European Court Finds System Riddled With Ineptitude, Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ March 29
Justice Comes from European Court For Murdered Kurdish Journalist, Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ March 29
Kurdish Women Action Against Honour-Killing Pass Resolution, Kurdish Media ~ March 21
Turkish Police Detain 150 Kurds, AP ~ March 21
Newspaper Campaign Results In Damning Judgment Against Turkey. Fifteenth Successful Judgment For Kurdish Human Rights Project Before The European Court Of Human Rights, Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ March 17, 2000
Great Boost for Hasankeyf Campaign. Activists Join Forces to Support the Kurds, Distributed by Kurdish Media ~ March 3, 2000
They Wanted Silenced Kurds, Kurdish Observer ~ Mar 3, 2000
AI Calls on US to Refuse Helicopter Sale, Amnesty International USA ~ March 3, 2000
Kurdish Women Action Against Honour-Killing, Kurdish Media ~ Feb 28, 2000
Turk Court Frees Kurd Mayors Ahead of Trial, by Yilmaz Akinci, AFP ~ Feb 28, 2000
Kurdish Mayor Speaks Out Against Ilisu Dam, Kurdistan Information Center ~ Feb 28, 2000
Ocalan: This is Done by Those Who Are Afraid of Peace, Gemlik, Kurdish Observer ~ Feb 26, 2000
Turkey Imprisons Kurd Leaders, by Chris Morris, Guardian ~ 26 Feb. 2000
Letter from National Congress of Kurdistan to the Turkish PM, Kurdish Media ~ Feb. 26, 2000
Siwan Perwer, a Voice for the Kurdish Identity, By Ellassi Baba, Kurdish Media Writer ~ Feb. 13, 2000
Guerrillas Guarantors of Peace, Kurdish Observer – Feb 13, 2000
15-20,000 in Pro-Ocalan Rally in Strasbourg-AFP – Feb 12, 2000
Turkey Detains 100 Rights Activists, AP - Feb 12, 2000
Famous Turkish Poet Rehabilitated, (AP) Feb. 11, 2000
Our Congress is an Answer to Tomorrow, Kurdistan Observer – Feb 11, 2000
“We Must Never Take Democracy for Granted”: A Kurdish Response to the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, By Kani Xulam and Biseng Amed ~ February 9, 2000
Kurdish Rebels Declare Peace in Turkey, Associated Press -Feb 9, 2000
Stop the Deportation Of Kurdish Asylum Seeker Hikmet Bozat, Kurdistan Information Center – Feb 8, 2000
Abdullah Ocalan Lawyer Charged With Insulting Turkey in Trial, Istanbul, Feb 7 (Reuters)
Arrests and Raids In Belgium And Germany; Attack On The Kurdistan Solidarity Movement, Kurdistan Information Center – January 25, 2000
The Struggle of the Mothers Against Darkness: Their Pain Resembles No Other Pain
Turkish rights group slams government over lack of protection ~ November 30 1999
Declaration of the Democratic Solution of the Kurdish Question, by Abdullah Ocalan
European Court of Human Rights Hands Down Judgement in Fifteen Cases Against Turkey
KHRP Condemns Recent Raids on Mazulm-Der, 6th July 1999
Representatives of the Bar Human Rights Committee and Kurdish Human Rights Project Attend Trial of HADEP (People's Democracy Party) in Ankara 28th June, 1999
Council of Europe says "no significant improvement" in Turkey's human rights record 10th June, 1999
The Kurdish Human Rights Project condemns the imprisonment of Akin Birdal 3rd June, 1999
Justice Delivered for Kurdish Mother of "Disappeared" Children - Turkey Held Responsible by European Court and Fined £70,000
Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ February 28, 2001
Hamsa Çiçek v Turkey (DISAPPEARANCE)
In a judgment handed down yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights found the Turkish State in violation of multiple Articles of the European Convention with regard to the complaints lodged by Kurdish applicant, Hamsa Çiçek, on behalf of her two children who have not been seen since they were detained by Turkish soldiers in May 1994.
The Çiçek case, which the Kurdish Human Rights Project brought to the European Court on behalf of applicant Hamsa Çiçek in November 1994, concerns the disappearance of Mrs. Çiçek's two sons, Tahsin Çiçek and Ali Ihsan Çiçek, who were last seen being apprehended by Turkish officers in the applicant's village of Dernek. In its decision, the Court ruled that the Turkish State "failed to offer any credible and substantiated explanation for the whereabouts and fate of the applicant's two sons" and was therefore responsible for failing to protect their right to life under Article 2 of the Convention. The Court also held Turkey in violation of Article 3 of the Convention for subjecting Mrs. Çiçek to inhuman and degrading treatment due to the uncertainty, "doubt and apprehension she suffered over a prolonged and continuing period of time [which] had undoubtedly caused her severe mental distress and anguish." Significantly, the Court noted the "superficial approach" taken by the public prosecutor in Turkey who failed to make "any meaningful investigation" into Mrs. Çiçek's fears that her sons were missing and in danger. In coming to its judgment, the Court was also careful to point out that while it found the testimonies provided by the applicant and fellow villagers of Dernak to be truthful and accurate, it was simply unable to accept the statements provided by Turkish officials who testified on behalf of the Government.
In addition to violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention, the Court also found a "most grave violation" of Article 5 (right to liberty and security) due to the "complete absence of safeguards" in the soldiers' detention procedure and also a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) due to the fact that Mrs. Çiçek 's fears about her children were "never the subject of any serious investigation" on part of the Turkish authorities. The Court awarded compensation and costs to Mrs. Çiçek and her sons' heirs amounting to £70,000.
Commenting on the judgment, Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of KHRP, said, "In light of the 1999 resolution by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the need for Turkey to enforce better control of its security forces, the State's failure to accurately account for its actions in this case points once again to Turkey's continued failure to live up to European standards."
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
1. The Kurdish Human Rights Project works for the promotion and protection of human rights within the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union.
2. The case of Çiçek v. Turkey concerns the disappearance of Tahsin Çiçek and Ali Ihsan Çiçek, who were detained by Turkish soldiers in May 1994 and have not been seen since. The Court was satisfied that the two must be presumed dead.
3. The application was made by the Kurdish Human Rights Project on 8 November 1994 on behalf of Hamsa Çiçek, mother of the two "disappeared".
4. The Court, in a judgment handed down on Tuesday, 27 February 2001, found Turkey to be in violation of Articles 2, 3, 5, and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
5. Under Article 41 (just satisfaction), the Court unanimously awarded the applicant's sons' heirs £50,000 in pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages, £10,000 to the applicant in non-pecuniary damages and £10,000 for legal costs and expenses.
6. The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.
For further information please contact:
Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director / Philip Leach, Legal Director / Sally Eberhardt, Public Relations Officer Kurdish Human Rights Project / Suite 319 Linen Hall, 162 - 168 Regent Street, London W1R 5TB Tel: 020 7287 2772 / Fax: 020 7734 4927 / Email: khrp@khrp.demon.co.uk
END
Turkish Spy Chief Urges End to Ban on Kurdish TV
Chris Morris in Istanbul, The Guardian ~ November 29, 2000
The head of Turkey's national intelligence agency, MIT, has said that hiscountry should end a ban on Kurdish television broadcasts and not executethe jailed guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan. Senkal Atasagun's comments, published yesterday in local newspapers, mark a new phase in the debate about how Turkey should deal with the Kurdish issue which has blighted the country for so long.
The prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, said Mr Atasagun's argument should be"considered carefully", but other members of the government and the military high command are known to oppose it.
An end to the broadcasting ban and the abolition of the death penalty areamong conditions set out by the EU for Turkish membership.
Since Turkey became a formal candidate for membership a year ago arguments have been raging within the Turkish establishment about the speed of proposed reforms.
Mr Atasagun, however, said that Turkey should simply act in its owninterests. He pointed out that the official ban on broadcasting in Kurdishwas leaving the field open to Medya TV, a satellite channel based in Europewhich supports Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and is widely watched in Turkey's mainly Kurdish south-east.
"They are telling many lies, and everyone is watching these broadcasts bysatellite," Mr Atasagun said. "If we want to win the trust of our [Kurdish]citizens, we have to make them understand us."
The spy chief was quoted as saying that the army agreed with him, but therehas never been any public support from senior generals for meeting Kurdishcultural demands. The military has made it clear that it will opposeanything resembling a concession to the PKK.
Since Ocalan was captured and put on trial last year, the number of violentincidents in south-eastern Turkey has fallen dramatically. By and large, thePKK has followed its jailed leader's orders and redirected its energies intoa political struggle.
It has been hard for Ankara to accept the political demands of even moremoderate Turks, because of the sensitivity of dealing with the PKK. Even so, this month Mr Ecevit admitted that Turkey would "sooner or later" have to think about allowing Kurdish broadcasts. But the prime minister's deputy, Devlet Bahceli, who leads the rightwing Nationalist Action party, argued that such a move would "fuel ethnic clashes and division".
Yesterday the defence minister, Sabahattin Cakmakog, chipped in. Thepersonal opinions of the head of the MIT "are not binding on the state", hesaid.
Turkey is waiting to hear how the European court of human rights will ruleon an appeal lodged by Ocalan against his death sentence. Although manysenior Turkish leaders believe that executing him would be counter-productive, they will not take kindly to another lecture on human rights from a European institution.
The government is already at loggerheads with Europe on several issues. Last week Mr Ecevit accused the EU of deceiving Turkey about the terms of its membership application, and he argued that plans for a new European defence force were "trampling on Turkish rights".
Relations between Turkey and Europe will never be plain sailing, but a realdebate is now under way about proposed reforms which were completely offlimits until quite recently.
In another sign that some things are changing for the better, 15 youths werefound not guilty yesterday of membership of an illegal organistion, after aprevious ruling that their confessions had been obtained by torture nearlyfive years ago.
The trial of the "Manisa children" has been watched by human rights groups at home and abroad as a test of how serious Turkey is about cracking down on torture. Ten policemen involved in the case have been jailed.
END
Ex-Spy Spins Web of Collusion in Turkey's War Against Kurds
By Amberin Zaman, Special to The LA Times ~ August 18
ANKARA, Turkey--For years, Turkey's political establishment faced--and managed to fend off--assertions that it colluded with drug traffickers, hit men and gunrunners in its 15-year war against Kurdish separatists.
Since the separatists' defeat last year, however, the allegations have resurfaced from an unlikely and embarrassing source--a former chief of counterintelligence for Turkey's spy agency.
Mehmet Eymur, who served in the National Intelligence Agency for three decades, is creating an uproar here with his popular 5-month-old Web site, whose reports tarring dozens of officials are picked up daily by Turkey's newspapers and hastily denied by the accused.
From self-imposed exile in Washington, the former spy faces criminal charges at home for divulging state secrets.
But there is little doubt that his painstakingly documented disclosures are bringing new pressure on the government to prosecute officials accused of collaborating with mobsters who trained Kurdish mercenaries to fight Kurdish rebels.
Western governments have faulted successive Turkish administrations for laxity in fighting this country's flourishing drug trade. The State Department has reported that as much as 75% of the heroin seized in Europe last year "transited Turkey, was processed there or was seized in connection with Turkish criminal syndicates."
Turkey's prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, is credited with cracking down on drug lords. An alleged Kurdish heroin kingpin, Urfi Cetinkaya, was arrested in Istanbul this week.
Yet politicians and security officials implicated in drug-related corruption scandals remain untouched. Several, including a man privately described by U.S. drug enforcement officials as a "well-known heroin chemist," were reelected to parliament last year.
Eymur's decision to remove himself to Washington has invited speculation that he is being encouraged by the U.S. government. Some critics say he is trying to discredit Senkal Atasagun, the national intelligence chief who forced him into retirement two years ago.
"He is waging psychological war under the American flag against the Turkish army, in line with the CIA's directives," said Dogu Perincek, the leader of a small leftist party who is on the former spy's list of accused.
In a telephone interview, Eymur vigorously denied the charges, saying he's seeking only "to help Turkish justice" while remaining outside the country and "waiting for Turkey to become a full-fledged democracy."
"If there was even one Turkish official [whom I could rely on], if he could send me his phone number, I would gladly shut down my Web site and call him," Eymur stated recently on the site, http://www.atin.org, which has had nearly 1 million visitors since its March 8 launch.
Among other incriminating evidence, the site carries transcripts of the alleged confessions of a Kurdish rebel-turned-informer named Mahmut Yildrim, who has been linked to the slayings of several prominent Kurdish intellectuals and drug dealers. Yildrim, whose intelligence agency code name was "Green," was promptly freed after telling police interrogators of his connections with top Turkish officials, the site alleges.
In its battle against the separatists, the Turkish state is widely accused of having enlisted many such characters, who, under state protection, killed Kurdish drug dealers and muscled in on their trade. Eymur has claimed that "Green," whose whereabouts remain a mystery, shared drug profits with "various police chiefs and [members of] the gendarmerie. This is not a secret."
Turkish officials have consistently blamed the drug trade on rebels of the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, whose leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was captured, tried for treason and sentenced to death last year as the insurgency collapsed.
But intriguing evidence of ties between government officials and Turkish criminals, including drug dealers, emerged in November 1996 after a car crash in the small town of Susurluk. A police chief and a convicted heroin smuggler were among the dead. Sedat Bucak, a Kurdish lawmaker, survived the crash and claimed to have lost his memory.
A parliamentary investigation into why this unlikely trio was traveling in the same car came to nothing, and critics of the government suspect a cover-up. Bucak has been reelected to parliament.
"Unfortunately," Eymur said, "in Turkey, one scandal ends only to be followed by another."
END
The Dark Days of Kurdish Guerrillas
Stratfor, Inc ~ August 1
Summary
Reports in the region indicate that a significant Turkish military offensive may be underway along the Iranian border, aimed at finishing off remaining elements of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). For years, various Kurdish groups have been used as pawns by the regional states, playing one against one another. It appears now that the PKK has lost most, if not all, of its foreign support and may be nearing the end of its long and violent history.
Analysis
Reports of a Turkish troop buildup are surfacing even as several Kurdish factions have recently made clear they are not aligned with the PKK. Iraqi official radio reported July 25 that Turkey has deployed at least one special forces brigade along the borders where Turkey, Iraq and Iran come together.
On the same day, Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), went to Ankara for a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. The meeting appears to have resulted in improved relations between the two. As recently as this spring, Ankara launched military operations into northern Iraq in cooperation with the PUK in order to flush out PKK rebels. Also during Talabani’s trip to Ankara, he discussed the possibility of cooperating with the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) – a former PUK rival that is reportedly backed by the Turkish military.
On July 27, the Kurdistan Socialist Party (PSK) – an outlawed and low-profile Kurdish faction – issued a statement condemning PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who remains in a Turkish prison and has been sentenced to death. The statement also called on PKK cadres to desert the organization as soon as possible. Ocalan himself, on July 28, said he suspected that the PUK and the KDP were aligning to provoke a war and urged PKK members not to abandon their cause.
Historically, PKK sponsors included Greece, Iraq, Iran and Syria, but in recent years support for the Kurdish rebel group has steadily dwindled. The militant wing of the PKK emerged in the mid-1980s to battle Turkish government forces for separate autonomy in Turkey’s Kurdish populated southeastern provinces. Several political and military factions exist in the Kurdish region, which spans areas in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq and northwestern Iran.
Iranian support to the PKK began to wane as early as 1997 with the election of moderate President Khatami, who pushed a policy of breaking Tehran’s international isolation. However, Osman Ocalan – Abdullah Ocalan’s brother and prominent PKK official – is reportedly still based in Iran. In 1998, Syria pledged to cease its support for the group and even expelled Ocalan, which resulted in his capture. Turkey’s rapprochement with Greece accelerated in 1999 and led to a loss of Athens’ support for the group.
Iraq clearly supported the PKK for years, even allowing the group to open offices in Baghdad. But now, Iraq too may be prepared to sell out the group for political compromise on the crippling international sanctions. Turkish Daily News reported July 28 that it would upgrade its diplomatic representation in Baghdad from charge d’affaires to a full ambassador in an effort to improve bilateral relations. Even though Turkey allows U.S. warplanes to use its Incirlik airbase to enforce no-fly zones, Ankara may have cut a deal with Baghdad to help break the country’s economic isolation. Turkey recently hinted that it may increase water flow to Iraq, according to sources cited by the Turkish Daily News.
Because of its policy of overthrowing Saddam, Washington has lent support to Kurdish groups in the north. Turkey prefers that Iraq’s problems be solved within the country rather than through outside intervention, according to Turkish Daily News. Strategically, the idea of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq not only threatens Saddam’s regime in Baghdad but it also potentially threatens Turkish security.
Continuing to support a weakened PKK may not be as valuable a lever for Iraq as it once was. Now, Saddam may have decided that he has more to gain from cooperating with Turkey than pressuring it. This could translate into the PKK losing its last sponsor.
(c) 2000 Stratfor, Inc., 504 Lavaca, Suite 1100 Austin, TX 78701 Phone: 512-583-5000 Fax: 512-583-5025 Email: info@stratfor.com
END
Euro Court Fines Turkey £¼ Million Over Death in Custody and Torture
Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ June 28
BEHIYE SALMAN v. TURKEY (EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLING, TORTURE) NASIR ILHAN v. TURKEY (TORTURE)
The European Court of Human Rights has delivered judgment in two more KHRP cases, finding the Turkish state to be guilty of murder and torture. In only a matter of months, the slow moving organs of the European Court have passed a series of ground breaking judgments in cases taken by KHRP on behalf of victims of state oppression, torture, 'disappearance' and state-sponsored murder in south east Turkey.
The violation of Article 2 (right to life) in the case of Salman v Turkey finds the Turkish state guilty of not only failing to conduct a proper investigation, but of also failing to provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation of his death whilst in custody. Agit Salman was taken into custody in apparently good health on 28 April 1992. Twenty four hours later he was taken to Adana State Hospital and declared dead on arrival. His body was covered by obvious signs of torture, including bruising, swelling and a broken sternum. The Court found that the Government's claims that Agit Salman had died from a heart attack were not in keeping with the evidence taken from the autopsy. The Court also found a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture) and of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy). It awarded Behiye Salman just under £100,000 in damages and legal expenses.
In the case of Ilhan, the Court awarded the applicant just under £125,000 in legal costs and damages as a result of the violation of article 3 (prohibition of torture) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy). The applicant's brother was beaten by soldiers, and remains physically handicapped as a result of the attack. These cases represent the twentieth and twenty-first judgment in KHRP cases.
Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of KHRP, said "The applicants are delighted to see that justice has finally been served. We hope that the state of Turkey will take on board the strong message contained within these judgments, and begin to implement the necessary reforms needed to improve Turkey's human rights record. We also call on Turkey to immediately initiate investigations against the perpetrators of the crimes in these cases."
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
1. The Kurdish Human Rights Project works for the promotion and protection of human rights within the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union.
2. The case of Ilhan v Turkey (torture) concerns ill treatment suffered by the applicant's brother, Abdullatif Ilhan, in Aytepe village, Mardin province, south east Turkey in December 1992. Soldiers came to the village and beat up Abdullatif Ilhan, kicking him and hitting him on the side of his head with a rifle butt. He lost consciousness and was put into a stream to revive him. The temperature was freezing and he subsequently had difficulty walking. After two days, Mr Ilhan was taken to hospital. In February 1993 Abdullhatif Ilhan was prosecuted for resisting arrest. The people responsible for injuring him were not prosecuted. As a result of his injuries, Abdullhatif Ilhan still suffers from physical infirmity. The applicant therefore complained on his brother's behalf to the European Commission in June 1993. The European Commission prepared its report on the case in April 1999 and the case was referred to the Court in September 1999. The Court, in a judgment handed down on 27 June, 2000, found Turkey to be in violation of Article 3 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Under Article 41 (just satisfaction), the Court awarded £80,600 in pecuniary damages and £25,000 in non-pecuniary damages. It also awarded £17,000 for legal costs and expenses.
3. The case of Behiye Salman v Turkey (extra-judicial killing and torture) was commenced in 1993 in respect of the death of the applicant's husband in Adana, south east Turkey, in April 1992. Agit Salman was arrested in April 1992 and taken to Adana Security Directorate. 24 hours later he was dead. The applicant claimed that this was as a result of torture inflicted on him while in detention. Mrs Salman's case, invoking Articles 2, 3, 6, 13 and 18 of the European Convention, was declared admissible in February 1995. The Court, in a judgment handed down on 27 June, 2000, found Turkey to be in violation of Article 2, 3, and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Under Article 41 (just satisfaction), the Court awarded £39,320.64 in pecuniary damages, £35,000 in non-pecuniary damages and £21,544.58 for legal costs and expenses.
4. The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.
For further information please contact: Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director / Philip Leach, Legal Director / Rebecca Wood, Public Relations Officer Kurdish Human Rights Project / Suite 319 Linen Hall, 162 - 168 Regent Street, London W1R 5TB Tel: 020 7287 2772 / Fax: 020 7734 4927 / Email: khrp@khrp.demon.co.uk
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Kurdish Family of 'Disappeared' Receives Justice From Europe -
Kurdish Human Rights Project, June 14
The latest judgment handed down by the European Court of Human Rights finds that the Turkish state and its agents were liable for the death of Abdulvahap Timurtaþ, in violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. This finding contributes to the growing body of judgments against Turkey (see Ertak v Turkey) which find the state of Turkey to be liable for the death of an individual, despite their claims before the Court that the individual concerned had not been taken into custody, and that they were unaware of his/her whereabouts.
The case of Mehmet Timurtaþ v Turkey concerns the disappearance of the applicant's son, whilst he was being held in an unacknowledged detention by the Turkish state authorities. The applicant alleged that his son, Abdulvahap Timurtaþ, a Kurd from south east Turkey, was taken into custody by security forces on 14 August 1993. He has not been seen since.
The Court found, contrary to findings in the similar KHRP case of Kurt v Turkey, that Abdulvahap Timurtaþ must be presumed dead following an unacknowledged detention by the security forces. The Court based these conclusions on the fact that six and a half years had lapsed since the disappearance of the applicant's son; that, contrary to the Turkish state's claims, Abdulvahap Timurtaþ was indeed "taken to a place of detention . by authorities for whom the State is responsible"; and that Abdulvahap Timurtaþ was wanted by the authorities for his alleged PKK activities. As such the responsibilities of the respondent state for his death are engaged.
Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), said "KHRP lodged this application in 1994. Since this time there have been a multitude of 'disappearance' cases in Turkey. Indeed KHRP has received judgment in four of our cases involving allegations of state collusion in the 'disappearance' of an individual. This important judgment gives hope to the families of the disappeared, such as the Saturday Mothers, who have long campaigned for news of their disappeared relatives. We hope that Turkey will take on board the serious lessons to be learned from this case, and that the international community, and in particular the Council of Ministers, will closely monitor the full implementation of this judgment."
The Court also found that the Turkish authorities' failure to conduct an investigation into the allegations led to a further violation of Article 2. In addition, the Court found a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), on account of Turkey's "callous disregard" for the concerns of and anguish suffered by the father of Abdulvahap Timurtaþ in his search for information about the whereabouts of his son. The Court found a violation of Article 5 (right to liberty) and a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), on account of the state's failure both to conduct an effective investigation into Abdulvahap Timurtaþ's disappearance, and the fact that he disappeared during an unacknowledged detention.
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
1. The Kurdish Human Rights Project works for the promotion and protection of human rights within the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union.
2. The application was made by the Kurdish Human Rights Project on behalf of Mehmet Timurtaþ.
3. Mehmet Timurtaþ ('the applicant') lodged the case as a result of circumstances surrounding the disappearance and subsequent death of his son, Abdulvahap Timurtaþ.
4. The Court, in a judgment handed down on Tuesday June 13, 2000, found Turkey to be in violation of Article 2, 3, 5 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
5. Under Article 41 (just satisfaction), the Court awarded £20,000 in non-pecuniary damages in respect of the applicant's son and £10,000 in respect of the applicant himself. It also awarded £20,000 for legal costs and expenses.
6. The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.
For further information please contact: Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director / Philip Leach, Legal Director / Rebecca Wood, Public Relations Officer Kurdish Human Rights Project / Suite 319 Linen Hall, 162 - 168 Regent Street, London W1R 5TB Tel: 020 7287 2772 / Fax: 020 7734 4927 / Email: khrp@khrp.demon.co.uk
END
International Initiative - Freedom for Ocalan - Peace in Kurdistan
The International Initiative organised a Press Conferece in Brussels to enlighten the world public, media, and state representatives on the urgency needed in changing the prison conditions of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan and his necessity of his transfer to another prison with apppropriate prison conditions. The participants in the Press Conference were Kurdish personalities such as Ismet Serif Vanli (President of Kurdistan Natioanl Congress),Yasar Kaya (ex-President of Kurdistan Parliament in Exile ), Mahmut Baksi (Writer, politician, journalist).
We would like to present the Press Statement that was mediated in the Press Conference in Brussels, Belgium organised by the International Initiative. If you would like the Document presented in the press conference we would be hapy to do so (note: it will be an attachment):
Press Statement:
On 15 February 1999 Abdullah Ocalan, Pesident of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was handed over to the Turkish State in a cloak and dagger operation by an alliance of international intelligence agencies. Since taken he has been held captive on the prison island of Imrali in the Marmara Sea under increasingly harsh conditions of isolation.
We're in the first anniversary of the PKK President Mr. Abdullah Öcalan's trial, which was contrary to the norms of international law and unjust the manner by which the death sentence was given. Instead of putting the issue and solution forward; the accusatrans trial and the punishment made on the basis of denial of the Kurdish people and distortion of history is not legal and can not by any means be accepted. According to statements made by his lawyers, Mr. Ocalan's health has been steadily deteriorating over more than sixteen months imprisonment. For some time he has been suffering from a difficulty in breathing and related symptons which his doctors insist are resulting from the damp island climate.
During a visit by his lawyers Mr. Ocalan provided a detailed description of his breathing problems, and attacks of choking; loss of his sense of smell; decreasing of his sense of taste; severe inflammation of the mucus membrane; running of the nose; inflamed eyes and severe sleep deprivation. His doctors insist that given present prison conditions, there is a high probability that he will develop asthma. Mr. Ocalan confirms that the medical treatment he has been receiving has not helped to ameliorate his condition. This was additionally confirmed by a doctor who was called in to examine him and who stressed that treatment under the present conditions was impossible.
The International Initiative for peace are monitoring these critical developments with increased concern. Despite to being sentenced to death Mr. Ocalan continues to press for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question and for democratisation in Turkey, which has led to the PKK's cessation of armed struggle, the withdrawal of its forces outside Turkey, and the launch of a comprehensive peace initiative. Regrettably, political and military leaders in Turkey have so far failed to take any concrete steps towards grasping this historical opportunity for a lasting settlement of the Kurdish Question and the creation of a sustainable peace. To the contrary, the Turkish army has pursued its military operations, and the government has endorsed the closure of human rights organisations, the crimalisation of Kurdish politicians and prohibition of pro-Kuridish democratic newspapers and other publications.
Mr. Ocalan remains a national icon of the Kurdish people. Any further deterioration in his health as a result of a solitary confinement will result in unpredictable consequences concerning the developing process of peace and democratisation in Turkey. Therefore we call upon the international community to exert all due influence on the Turkish government to improve Mr. Ocalan's conditions of detention and to ensure they accord with international standards. We also demand:
- that the solitary confinement in which he is held is lifted immediately.
- an improvement of his living conditions.
- that Mr. Ocalan be transferred to a place where conditions are more suitable
- that he is allowed access to an International Commission of Physicians to investigate the conditions of detention and Mr. Ocalan's state of health .
- an independent Commission to monitor Mr. Ocalan's case and investigate in accordance with the Convention of the Prevention of Torture and other Cruel and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment.
- an investigation by the UN Committee Against Torture, and by the European Council of the EU.
Freedom for Ocalan, Post Box: 100511, 50445 Köln, Germany Telephone: 0221 1301559 Fax: 0221 1393071, E-Mail: info@freedom-for-ocalan.com.
END
Kurdish Writer Mahmut Baksi Ends Hunger Strike
by Azad Daristani, KurdishMedia ~ May 13
(Source: Ozgur Politika - of May 13
Writer Mahmut Baksi, on a hunger strike to protest repression of the Kurdish language and the banning of his books in Turkish Kurdistan, ended his strike the day before yesterday after five days with an appearance on Sweden’s Channel Four television. Participating in the Morning Newsprogram from Sergestor Square in Stockholm, where he was holding his hunger strike, Baksi discussed the issues with a Swedish government representative who was present in the studio.
Swedish Ambassador to the United Nations Pierr Schori promised Baksi that Sweden would put the Kurdish question and the banning of his books in Turkey onto the agenda of the European Union (EU). Schori informed Baksi that Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh had written to both the Turkish government and the Turkish Writers’ Association inquiring into Baksi’s case.
Baksi thereupon announced that he would end his hunger strike, which had continued for five days. Meanwhile, Swedish Foreign Minister Lindh also raised Baksi’s case in a panel discussion at Stockholm’s Olaf Palme Center on the topic "Turkey and the EU – Is a common future possible?" During the discussion, the President of the Swedish Writers’ Union provided to Lindh a translation of the indictment against Baksi prepared by the Istanbul State Security Court. The Writers’ Union announced that, along with the International PEN Club, it would be following Baksi’s trial closely, and also planned to initiate a public campaign on the topic.
Baksi also provided a statement to OZGUR POLITIKA regarding the decision to end his hunger strike after five days. He stressed that he had initiated this action not only due to his own books having been banned, but for the sake of all banned books.
In ending his hunger strike, Baksi said "I first want to thank the Swedish government and former minister Pierr Schori, who is on the EU council. Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said that she has had several telephone conversations with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, and that, with reference to the banning of my books, has said that as long as the books are banned Turkey will not enter the EU."
In his statement, Baksi also noted that several well-known authors who are members of PEN and the Swedish Writers’ Union have published a joint declaration stating that they would continue to raise the issue. Meanwhile, M. Emin Pencewini, speaking for the Executive Board of the Berlin Kurdish Institute, said that the Institute supported and congratulated Baksi for having initiated his protest, and called upon people everywhere to show the same sensitivity that Baksi had.
© Copyright Kurdish Media - 2000
END
Balfour Beatty Gets Shut Down!
by Mark Thomas, KurdishMedia ~ May 13
Below is an article by Mark Thomas, the UK comedian-activist, on the protests at the AGM of Balfour Beatty, the company which hopes to build the Ilisu Dam, with ECA support.
It is not often that I feel the need to express my sympathy for the plight of multinationals and their shareholders but last Tuesday morning in the middle of Balfour Beatty's annual general meeting I did. Balfour Beatty are the UK company involved in the Ilisu dam project, which amongst other things is to receive $200 million of taxpayers money to help finance the eviction of 25,000 Kurds from their homes. The company was obviously expecting some protesters to the AGM, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge.
There was so many Group 4 security staff present I reckon there must have only been about 2 warden's left working throughout the entire prison service. I am convinced a mass jailbreak was possible Tuesday, as all of Group 4 seemed to be protecting the fat and immoral arses of Lord Weir and the rest of the Balfour Beatty board. But the great thing about buying a share in the company is they have to let you in. Which explains why nearly 50 supporters of the Ilisu Dam Campaign mingled with the bankers, fund managers and Kingsley Amis lookalikes, handing out leaflets to bemused shareholders.
As the AGM was about to start, with Group 4 surrounding the room like prefects at a school assembly, the board took to the stage. Before they could sit down 15 people lined up at the back of the room facing the board, each with a t-shirt with one letter printed on it, spelling out "STOP THE ILISU DAM." Cheers and applause filled the room from the supporters and in fact several other shareholders joined in, not quite realising why they were, nodding and clapping approval like they were watching a cricket match.
Lord Weir who was chairing the meeting looked mildly exasperated. It was an expression we were to see used to it's full range throughout the proceedings, especially when he was quizzed about why the board had allowed the company to be embroiled in a controversial project, mired in blood, like Ilisu.
The AGM was always going to be slightly surreal. I sat opposite Lord Avebury (the most consistent and verciferous human rights campaigner in Parliament) and in front of a Big Issue seller called Giles, who had come to express his disgust at the company making Kurds homeless. In front of me sat a man who could frown only in the way that people born and breed in certain parts of Sussex can and whose sole vocal expression was "Tut!"
Questions on the Ilisu Dam Project were promised to be heard by Balfour Beatty. Several Kurds stood and passionately explained how they had lost relatives, victims of Turkish militarism and ethnic cleansing, asking why were Balfour Beatty working with a torturing state? Only to be dismissed with the corporate mantra of "It's not up to us, you should speak to the government." As the question of human rights in South East Turkey/Kurdistan is raised 40 supporters stood holding up pictures of torture victims. One shareholder looked at a picture of Turkish soldiers holding severed human heads like trophies and said "These are probably faked you know, it's easy enough to mock up pictures like this."
Lord Weir looked on at the scene of environmentalists, human rights campaigners, Parliamentarians, Big Issue sellers and Kurds holding these pictures and promptly declared questions on Ilisu over. Suddenly, angry campaigners were all over the room, standing on chairs, trying to get the Board to just look at the photos we had, others rushed towards the Board's platform demanding the company account for their actions. Group 4 started to earn their fee, Lord Weir shouted he was suspending the meeting and the Board fleed the platform amidst catcalls. And we suddenly realised, as Balfour Beatty still had items on its agenda for the meeting; we had just shut the AGM down.
So what did we achieve? We received more coverage for the campaign, which is good. Several shareholders we talked to were shocked that Balfour Beatty are involved in the dam and wanted to find out more, which is really nice. And most importantly a group of people ranging from Kurds to Lords worked together to make sure that the company know one fact for sure. This is just the beginning!
P.S. My moment of sympathy came when holding the microphone I stated to the board "The Lesotho court case, where Balfour Beatty stand accused of bribery and corruption, opened earlier this month. The Ilisu Dam will only attract more adverse publicity. If the share price does go down, as I have done a number of charity fund raising benefits in the past , I would be only too happy to do a benefit concert for the board." I'm not sure they appreciated my offer.
© Copyright Kurdish Media - 2000
END
Heads of Kurdistan Universities Call on Kurdish Academics to Return Home
(April 30, ) The presidents of the universities of Suleimani, Salahuddin, and Dohuk issued a call to all foreign-residend Kurdish university professors and diploma holders in the fields of the sciences to begin the return migration back to Kurdistan in order to contribute to the education and training of the new generation of university students. Signing the call to return were President of Suleimani University Dr. Kamal Khoshinaw, President of Saluhhidin University Dr. Sa’di Barzinji, and President of Dohuk University Prof. Ismat Muhammad Khalid. The three presidents also discussed steps of improving communications and coordination between the three universities, so as to develop their capacities and their scientific capabilities.
Observers of the educational scene in Iraqi Kurdistan indicate that this step by the three university heads augers well for a period of increased cooperation on academic and institutional development. The call for Kurdish academics and educators to return to Kurdistan to educate upcoming generations is expected to generate much interest in the Kurdish diaspora.
The text of their joint statement follows:
"As you no doubt are aware, despite the double-layered economic embargo under which we live in Kurdistan and the impact of the withdrawal of the non-Kurdish teaching staff from Salahuddin University after the Kurdish Uprising, our three Kurdish universities do offer their services to the free Kurdish people, thanks to the modest but sincere efforts of educationalists in Kurdistan. Today the universities of Suleimani, Salahuddin and Dohuk work together in constant cooperation and collaboration, in order to provide our people’s children with the scientific and intellectual tools to build more prosperous and rewarding lives in the future.
Brothers and Sisters, whatever the reasons that caused you to depart to foreign lands, we believe that the time is ripe to turn towards our universities and consider them in your future plans. Today we speak to you as presidents of our three universities in Suleimani, Salahuddin and Dohuk and call upon you to commence the counter-emigration, to lead in the return to Kurdistan and take an honorable part in the development of our universities. We are confident of your feelings of patriotism and your good will, and therefore trust that you will view our call in a positive light. We hope you continue to find happiness in your lives."
End of Year Academic Examinations in Iraqi Kurdistan Intending to shed light on how final exams are being conducted in Iraqi Kurdistan this academic year (1999-2000) at all educational levels up till the university level, Mr. Said Abdalla, the Minister of Eduction’s Director of Examinations, made the following statement: "End of year exams begin, at the primary level up until the sixth grade, on May 10th and end on May 17th. For 6th through 10th grade (middle school to mid high school), and all middle school vocational, fine arts and teacher training programs, the exams will be begin on May 20th and continue until May 29th. Technical training institutes will start their exams on June 1st.
Ministerial Exams for mid-grade levels and middle grade Islamics subjects will conducted on June 3rd. Ministerial Exams for college preparatory and vocational and Islamic preparatory classes will be conducted for classes that have completed their course work in these fields on June 4th. Six examination centers have been established under the supervision of a professional committee, and exam questions and answer books have been printed according to the legal specifications.
© Copyright Kurdish Media - 2000
END
PUK Representative Participates in the National Party of Quebec’s 15th Congress
Kurdistan Newsline ~ May 12
At the official invitation of the National Party of Quebec, PUK Canada Representative Salar Doski attended the party’s 15th Congress in Montreal, May 5 – 7. During the Congress banquet hosted by Quebec Premier and National Party President Lucien Bouchard on May 7th, Doski extended the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s thanks to the Quebec Party Congress hosts for their hospitality, and conveyed wishes for progress and success to the French-speaking Canadians of Quebec.
In the course of the Congress proceedings, Doski briefed the Quebecois participants on the current situation in Kurdistan, underlining the on-going Iraqi government campaigns of ethnic cleansing, house evictions and deportations in the areas of Kirkuk, Khaniqin and Sinjar.
Statements by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan on the 12th memorial of the mass extermination campaigns known as the "Anfal" ("Spoils of War") and on the 20th anniversary of the deportation of more than 300,000 "Faili" Kurds were also distributed at the Congress.
© Copyright Kurdish Media - 2000
END
Letter from IRIC to UNHR Regarding Death of Iraqi Asylum-Seekers
IRIC ~ May 11
To: United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, GENVA.
Date: May 11, 2000
Re: Iraqi Refugees Death
To: whom it may concern
Dear, Sir/ Madam
Recently, a total of 400 Iraqi refugees have been drowned after their boat capsized during a storm in attempts to leave Iraq: 157 of them drowned in their way to Australia from Indonesia, and 260 other refugees drowned in the Mediterranean sea between Turkey and Greek. This, obviously proof that how safe the Northern non-fly zone, covered by the UN protection zone is safe!
Despite the exterminated and arduous path and despite of every days tragic news of refugees death on those road located between Iraq-Turkey-Western Europe, refugees have never hesitated and have never stopped from escaping. This is because the condition in Iraqi Kurdistan is unbearable and intolerable: suppression, repression, assassination and insecurity of life are increasing rapidly. The suffocation around people’s life is being intensified daily especially for poor people.
We, as I.R.I.C. in Canada hold UNHCR responsible for those refugees lost of lives and denounce that they are in a irresponsible position towards refugees. Indeed the majority of refugees, whom have drowned, claimed refugees status from UNHCR in Turkey and other countries, but their claims have never been answered and determined. UNHCR has never paid attention to Iraqi asylum-seekers who escape from Iraq, because of political and social reasons.
We demand that UNHCR should look at this important refugee issue in humanity point of view not any other criteria; must take care of refugees and their affairs, and determine their status because only by doing so the refugees will get survived from an inevitable death in Kurdistan, or in their way to west.
Yours respectfully,
Coordinator- Adil Ahmad
Iraqi Refugees and Immigrants Council, 122 Laird Dr. Unit 204, Toronto, ON. M4S 3V3 Canada. Tel/Fax: (416) 4211529
© Copyright Kurdish Media - 2000
END
Blow To Turkish Legal System as European Court Finds System Riddled With Ineptitude
Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ March 29
A litany of failures by the Turkish authorities to fully investigate allegations of state collusion in murder, abduction and torture is revealed in new judgment handed down by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). A Kurdish doctor, suspected of assisting injured members of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), and his colleague, suffered ill-treatment and were later found murdered by unknown assailants. Subsequent reports in the media suggested that Dr. Hasan Kaya and Metin Can, labelled as PKK sympathisers, were killed by contra-guerillas acting with the knowledge and support of the state security forces. The Court found a violation of Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of torture) and Article13 (right to an effective remedy).
Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), said "This ruling provides vital evidence of the level of state involvement in and indifference to the indiscriminate attacks on Kurds in south east Turkey around the beginning of the 1990s. It vindicates the claims by so many that time and time again the Turkish authorities failed in their positive duty to protect the lives of those threatened. This is
reflected in the case of Dr. Kaya where the Turkish authorities, aware of the risk to his life, failed to protect him from abduction, ill-treatment and his subsequent murder. KHRP will monitor the full implementation of the Court's judgment".
Mahmut Kaya, with the assistance of KHRP, lodged an application with the ECHR on behalf of his brother Dr. Hasan Kaya. Dr. Kaya (a medical practitioner in south east Turkey) and a colleague Metin Can (President of the Elazig Human Rights Association) disappeared on 21 February 1993. The next day the police were informed of their disappearance. Six days later, on 27 February 1993, the bodies of the two men were discovered. Both had been shot through the head and bore signs of torture on their bodies.
The Court in particular noted that the investigation by the Turkish authorities was "limited, superficial and dilatory" and that the autopsies conducted on the bodies was "cursory and inadequate". It concluded that "no effective criminal investigation could be considered as having been conducted".
This case, in conjunction with a number of other KHRP cases lodged around the time, has produced a powerful body of evidence to the effect that allegations of the widespread and systematic nature of attacks on the local Kurdish population were conducted in a climate of impunity and the absence of the rule of law in south east Turkey. The Court comments that a substantial body of case work before the Court, lodged from within south east Turkey after events in the early 1990s, produced "a series of findings of failures by the authorities to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by the security forces".
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
1. The Kurdish Human Rights Project works for the promotion and protection of human rights within the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union.
2. The application was made by the Kurdish Human Rights Project on behalf of Mahmut Kaya.
3. Mahmut Kaya ('the applicant') lodged the case as a result of circumstances surrounding the disappearance and subsequent death of his brother, Dr. Hasan Kaya.
4. The Court, in a judgment handed down on Tuesday January 28, 2000, found Turkey to be in violation of Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of torture) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy).
5. Under Article 41 (just satisfaction), the Court awarded £15,000 in non-pecuniary damage in respect of Dr Hasan Kaya and £2,500 in respect of the applicant himself. It also awarded £22,000 for legal costs and expenses.
6. The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.
For further information please contact:
Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director / Philip Leach, Legal Director / Rebecca Wood, Public Relations Officer Kurdish Human Rights Project / Suite 319 Linen Hall, 162 - 168 Regent Street, London W1R 5TB Tel: 020 7287 2772 / Fax: 020 7734 4927 / Email: khrp@khrp.demon.co.uk Website: http://www.khrp.org
END
Justice Comes from European Court For Murdered Kurdish Journalist
Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ March 29
New judgment before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) finds that Turkey failed to protect the life of Kemal Kiliç, despite pleas to the authorities for protection.
Kemal Kiliç, a journalist with the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem petitioned the Governor of Sanliurfa for protection due to the threats and attacks suffered by colleagues working on the newspaper. The Turkish authorities refused to protect him. Two months later Kemal Kiliç was shot dead by four men who waited for him on his route home from work.
The Court found a violation of Article 2 (right to life) and a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy). "This is an important judgment handed down by the European Court, particularly in light of the ruling in favour of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem on 16 March 2000," said Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP). "KHRP has long worked to highlight the extent to which the legal system in south east Turkey systematically fails to protect the local population. This judgment provides conclusive proof of the extent to which the malpractice and
inefficiency of the Turkish legal system failed time and again to protect the lives of its citizens, indeed actually actively contributing to an atmosphere of lawlessness and impunity. We hope that the State of Turkey will now take steps to ensure that lessons learnt from both of these judgments are now implemented on the ground in Turkey."
The Court found that the state authorities, fully aware of the risk of attack, particularly as elements of the security forces were acting alongside contra-guerillas, failed to protect Kemal Kiliç's right to life. It noted in its judgement that the legal framework in the south east of Turkey was inadequate and severely flawed in its ability to deal with
allegations of this nature. The administrative councils used to investigate offences allegedly committed by State officials "did not provide an independent or effective procedure for investigating deaths implicating the security forces".
The failure of the Turkish state to investigate allegations of state collusion was highlighted in the finding before the Court, as was the willingness of the state to rapidly attribute all blame for these attacks to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party). The attribution of blame to the PKK meant that the cases were taken before the State Security Courts (in whose jurisdiction the crime of terrorism falls). These Courts have, in
previous judgments, failed the requirements of independence and impartiality due to the presence of a military judge. The Court concluded that these defects "undermined the effectiveness of criminal law protection" and "fostered a lack of accountability of members of the security forces".
EDITORS NOTES:
1. The Kurdish Human Rights Project works for the promotion and protection of human rights within the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union.
2. The application was made by the Kurdish Human Rights Project on behalf of Cemil Kiliç, the brother of Kemal Kiliç.
3. The Court, in a judgment handed down on Tuesday January 28, 2000, found Turkey to be in violation of Article 2 (right to life) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy).
4. Under Article 41 (just compensation), the Court awarded £15,000 in non-pecuniary damage in respect of Kemal Kiliç and £2,500 in respect of the applicant himself. It also awarded £20,000 for legal costs and expenses.
5. An orchestrated campaign, conducted between 1992 and 1994 against the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem, led to its closure, and to the murder, imprisonment and disappearance of a string of journalists, correspondents and reporters associated with the newspaper.
6. The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.
For further information please contact: Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director / Philip Leach, Legal Director / Rebecca Wood, Public Relations Officer Kurdish Human Rights Project, Suite 319 Linen Hall, 162 - 168 Regent Street, London W1R 5TB Tel: 020 7287 2772 / Fax: 020 7734 4927 / Email: khrp@khrp.demon.co.uk Website: http://www.khrp.org
END
Kurdish Women Action Against Honour-Killing Pass Resolution
Kurdish Media – Mar 21, 2000
Women’s Group in the Kurdish Cultural Centre
Kurdish Women’s Organisation
Kurdistan Refugee Women’s Organisation
Contact email: kwahk@hotmail.com
This resolution is the outcome of a conference on the occasion of the first International Women’s Day in the third millennium. The conference, organised by a group of Kurdish women and held in London on the 5th of March 2000, focused on the issue of honour killing in Kurdistan under the title “Honour Killing Murders Humanity”. Action against honour killing is the first of a series of continuing activities that are being staged to bring this practice into the open and to place pressure on the authorities to put an end to it.
Context:
Women in Kurdistan are deprived of basic human rights and status. Apart from daily oppression, humiliation, beating, mutilation, and murder are phenomena that blight Kurdish society. While in almost all parts of Kurdistan these practices are legitimised within the discourse of traditional consciousness, such that even those who are guilty of murdering women on the grounds of upholding male honour are permitted to walk free, in Iraqi Kurdistan this practice is sanctioned in law. In this part of Kurdistan, devastated by the destruction of war and civil strife, since 1991 more than 4000 women have been killed in the cause of honour. Throughout, the authorities in the area have been complicit with the murderers by their failure to punish the perpetrators of these acts.
After researching, discussing and analysing the situation, we, the members of the three organisations mentioned above, have come to the following decisions:
To publicise the issue within the national and international communities, including human rights organisations, the United Nations and the paymasters of the political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan.
To campaign for the two Kurdish administrations in Erbil and Sulaimaniya, by using their control of the legal, judicial and policing apparatus, to act to eradicate honour killing.
To campaign for the eradication of article number 111 in the Iraqi Punishment Law which is retained by the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan and that permits men to kill female members of their families to preserve honour, together with all the articles in the Civil Status Law that violate women’s rights, so that women can gain, in status and reality, the position of full human beings.
To raise awareness about the absence, yet need for, democracy and human rights.
END
Turkish Police Detain 150 Kurds
AP - Mar 21, 2000
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Police detained more than 150 Kurds on Tuesday after authorities banned public celebrations of the Kurdish New Year in Istanbul and several other cities.
In the southeastern city of Sanliurfa, 10 people were detained for jumping over burning tires. It is a tradition on Nowruz, the Kurdish New Year, to jump over fire and symbolically burn away impurities and memories.
Police detained 92 people in the Istanbul neighborhood of Bakirkoy, where Kurds were said to be planning celebrations of Nowruz, the Anatolia news agency reported. At least 55 others were rounded up in other neighborhoods.
Police said they detained men who were walking in the area and who they suspected were planning to take part in illegal celebrations.
Turkey's pro-Kurdish Democracy People's Party, or HADEP, said police had detained people in about half a dozen other cities throughout the country.
HADEP officials urged Kurds not to violate the government ban in Istanbul, and said they had applied for permission to celebrate Nowruz on Sunday. Istanbul is home to an estimated one million Kurds.
Kurds celebrate their New Year with the arrival of spring on Tuesday, while Iranians, along with people in many Central Asian republics, began celebrations Monday.
Past festivities — an occasion for Kurds to assert their cultural identity in Turkey — have ended in riots that claimed dozens of lives. Turkey does not recognize its 12 million Kurds as a minority, and views Kurdish cultural identity as a threat to the Turkish state.
This year's festivities come after Kurdish rebels announced an end to their 15-year armed struggle for autonomy in southeastern Turkey.
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, in a Nowruz message from his Turkish prison island, urged Turkey to take steps ``in the spirit of brotherhood'' to secure a peace.
More than 20,000 Kurds gathered under heavy security outside Diyarbakir, the largest southeastern city, to mark Nowruz with fires, dances and music in celebrations that the government authorized HADEP to organize.
END
Newspaper Campaign Results In Damning Judgment Against Turkey
Fifteenth Successful Judgment For Kurdish Human Rights Project Before The European Court Of Human Rights
Kurdish Human Rights Project ~ March 17, 2000
The unremitting campaign of murder, abduction, knife attacks and arson attacks against journalists and reporters on the newspaper Özgür Gündem and their offices in Turkey, leading to the closure of the newspaper, amounts to a serious violation of the right to freedom of expression, says European Court.
In what has been termed "the most serious freedom of expression case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)", the Turkish government was found today to have failed to comply with its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights in the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) case of Özgür Gündem v Turkey. The Court found that there had been a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression), unequivocally stating that Turkey had failed in its positive obligation to protect freedom of expression.
Mark Muller, Chairman of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, said "This judgment reaffirms the fact that freedom of expression must form the basis of any democratic society. It is a small irony that just as Turkey has been found to be in breach of Article 10 for unlawful prosecutions brought under its Anti-Terror Law, the British government is intent upon enacting the Anti-Terror Bill which is so vague and potentially all inclusive as to also violate the letter and spirit of Article 10."
Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, said "Turkey's unwarranted interference with journalists and their newspapers has been roundly condemned. We now expect the Turkish state to urgently put in place long-called for political and legal reforms in order to ensure the full implementation of the findings in this judgment".
An orchestrated campaign, conducted between 1992 and 1994 against the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem, led to its closure, and to the murder, imprisonment and disappearance of a string of journalists, correspondents and reporters associated with the newspaper.
Journalists, correspondents and reporters were either gunned down or abducted in the space of eighteen months, whilst news stands selling the paper were subjected to arson attacks, boys selling the newspaper were the subject of knife attacks, and the Istanbul office of the newspaper's successor Özgür Ülke was subject to a bomb attack and to police raids.
Protest letters sent to the authorities, including the Prime Minster and the Governor of the State of Emergency region in south east Turkey, during the height of the attacks, elicited no response. During one period of 68 days in 1993, 41 issues of the newspaper were ordered to be seized. There have been prosecutions in respect of 486 out of 580 editions of the newspaper. A search operation of the Özgür Gündem Istanbul office on 10 December 1993 also led to the arrest of 107 people, including the cook and the cleaner.
The Turkish government claim that Özgür Gündem acted as a propaganda tool for the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) was not substantiated before the Court. The Court found, rather, that even if true, this "does not provide a justification for failing to take steps effectively to investigate and, where necessary, provide protection against unlawful acts involving violence".
The Court found that the newspaper Özgür Gündem was forced to cease publication due to the campaign of attacks on journalists and others associated with the newspaper and due to the legal steps taken against the newspaper and its staff. The applicants also claim that the Turkish authorities were complicit in the orchestrated attack against the newspaper leading to its eventual closure.
The Court found that the Turkish government failed to comply with their positive obligation to protect Özgür Gündem in the exercise of its freedom of expression. The Court also found that the search operation on 10 December 1993 was disproportionate and unjustified in the pursuit of any legitimate aim, and that no justification was provided for the seizure of the newspaper's archives, documentation and library.
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
1. The Kurdish Human Rights Project works for the promotion and protection of human rights within the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union.
2. The application was made by the Kurdish Human Rights Project on behalf of Gurbetelli Ersoz, Fahri Ferda Cetin and Yasar Kaya, and the company Ulkem Basyn ve Yayyncylyk Sanayi Ticaret Limited.
3. The Applicants allege that there has been a concerted and deliberate assault on their freedom of expression, through a campaign targeting journalists and others involved in Ozgur Gundem and its successor, and involving murder, disappearances, abduction, threats and use of violence and also threatened and actual prosecutions, seizure and confiscation of editions of the newspaper and the imposition of heavy fines. They raise issues under Articles 10 and 14 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention.
4. The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 November 1998 a full-time Court was established, replacing the original two-tier system of a part-time Commission and Court.
For further information please contact:
Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director, Philip Leach, Legal Director, Rebecca Wood, Public Relations Officer, Kurdish Human Rights Project, Suite 319 Linen Hall, 162 - 168 Regent Street, London W1R 5TB, Tel: 020 7287 2772 / Fax: 020 7734 4927, Email: khrp@khrp.demon.co.uk, http://www.khrp.org
END
Great Boost for Hasankeyf Campaign. Activists Join Forces to Support the Kurds
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign – March 3, 2000 ~ Destributed by Kurdish Media
Report of the public meeting "Ilisu Dam, a human rights disaster in the making" in the grand committee room, House of Commons, on 29 February hosted by Rudi Vis MP.
The campaign to save the ancient Kurdish city of Hasankeyf and halt the Ilisu dam project received a boost in support with a highly successful meeting attracting some 120 people. What was most encouraging about the meeting was the broad range of people who had come together to show their concern about what one speaker called a potential crime against humanity and the enthusiasm for campaigning to force the British government to reverse its decision to provide a public subsidy for Balfour Beatty via its Export Credit Guarantee Department. The grand committee room of the House of Commons was packed with lawyers, journalists, politicians from all parties, members of church groups, environmentalists, human rights activists, British and Kurdish people. This impressive show of support was despite the last minute decision of the Mayor of Hasankeyf to cancel his visit.
That Mayor Vahap Kusen, a member of President Demirel's True Path Party, was compelled to take such an abrupt decision to cut short his European speaking tour on the Ilisu Dam should be seen as a stark reminder of the denial of democracy and free expression in Turkey. All the speakers reiterated this point emphasising in particular the duty of the British government to reconsider its view that the people of the region can ever be truly consulted about anything in a country where their elected representatives like Kusen are prevented from speaking freely about important issues of concern for the local community. People were urged to draw their own conclusions about the mayor's silence after he had received a late night phone call from his party in Turkey while in Paris for what was supposed to be the start of a Europe wide publicity tour.
Kerim Yildiz, executive director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, described the circumstances surrounding the departure of the mayor stating that how he was called back to Turkey amounted to intimidation . He went on to set the concern about the dam in the context of human rights violations by Turkey - the disappearances, torture, rape, suppression of free expression especially in the Kurdish region - which continue despite the assistance Turkey is receiving from Europe. He listed the recent arrest of three leading HADEP mayors accused of PKK links and the sentencing of another 18 senior HADEP members. The British government could not really believe that people in the region can be properly consulted in view of these events.
Fiona Darroch, an environmental lawyer who participated in a KHRP delegation to Hasankeyf last September, described the cultural significance of the 10,000 year old city. She said the settlement was being excavated by a lone archaeologist from Ankara who had little official backing and only a small budget for his work on a site he regarded as important as Ephessus. So far he had only reached the 14th century and would need possibly another 100 years to conduct a proper excavation, which of course ill become impossible if the place is flooded by the dam. Ms Darroch produced some detailed illustrations of the ancient monuments, including the remarkable cave dwellings where some families still remain. She said the archaeologist had claimed that up to 80 percent of the population of Hasankeyf had been born in those caves and that the majority of the people forced to leave the area under threat of the dam would immediately return if the project was cancelled.
Jean Lambert , one of two Green MEPs from Britain, questioned why the world needed to build big dams at all. Now that Turkey was an applicant member of the EU, European politicians had the right to intervene in Turkish affairs and question its human rights record. Green MEPs had already raised the issue of export credits in the European Parliament claiming that they were a distortion of competition law. She said the Ilisu dam did not even meet the criteria the government itself had laid down and as such campaigners should be prepared to fight it in the courts if the government went ahead with the deal.
This determination was repeated by Tony Juniper from Friends of the Earth who described his group's wider campaigns on the export credit system's impact on developing nations. It was in 1990 that FoE began seriously to examine the role of the ECGD and discovered it was a body that effectively paid no reference to human rights, democracy and the environmental impact of its decisions. FoE had threatened legal action and forced the Department of Trade and Industry to release two official reports on the environmental and local impact of the Ilisu Dam before Christmas. Tony Juniper believed that the Prime Minister was behind the announcement from Industry Secretary Stephen Byers that he was "minded" for the project to go-ahead in the face of these official reports that paint a bleak picture of a disaster in the making. Tony Blair wanted Labour to be seen as business-friendly and Britain to take advantage of the Helsinki process which saw Turkey accepted as an EU applicant member. Ilisu was therefore a test case on how much Labour can be trusted on ethics and foreign policy. He said FoE was committed to continuing the campaign to embarrass the government and urged people to protest directly to Tony Blair.
Lord Avebury accused Balfour Beatty, the leading British company involved in the consortium, of falsifying the truth. He attended a meeting about a year ago with company representatives where it was claimed that the local people were only interested in jobs on the project. It was clear that Balfour Beatty had not done any consultation with elected representatives. "The absence of the mayor from tonight's meeting speaks volumes about the situation in Turkey," Lord Avebury said to applause, asking how it was possible to consult in a region where some three thousand villages had been razed and more than three million people displaced. He cited a new US State Department report which catalogued widespread human rights violations in Turkey. He warned that the emergency region where the dam was to be built was potentially highly unstable despite the PKK’s recent renunciation of armed struggle. He felt that the Kurdish people would not easily settle down and accept annihilation. They will continue to assert their national identity and would suffer a terrible grievance if the dam went ahead. Planners must address how relations between Turks and Kurd are likely to develop over the next 30 years.
Satirist and broadcaster Mark Thomas laid down a challenge to ministers and the Labour Party to immediately seek guarantees for the mayor's security back in Turkey. He asked Rudi Vis MP, who was chairing the meeting, to write to trade minister Richard Caborn whom the mayor had been scheduled to meet. He robustly condemned Caborn for making a facile comparison between the flooding of valleys in the North of England and the flooding of Hasankeyf. He felt that Balfour Beatty was very unhappy about public protests and read this as a challenge to embark on more demonstrations against the company. He strongly felt that the present moment presented a great opportunity not only to halt the dam project but to expose the ECGD and change how it currently operates. It was a scandal that the ECGD did not consider criteria other than financial ones when taking decisions. The public should be morally outraged about what is going on. He condemned Stephen Byers for holding a succession of meetings with business lobbyists, while refusing to talk with Kurdish groups. Finally, Mark Thomas repeated his call to redouble the protests against both Balfour Beatty and the ECGD because neither liked being put under the spotlight.
Mark Muller, vice-chairman of the Bar Human Rights Association, asked why it was that the government was "minded" even to go-ahead with the project in view of the widely known human rights abuses in Turkey. He said the Ilisu dam had been on paper since 1984 and there had been no provision for consultation. It was significant that Byers had spoken of Turkey drawing up resettlement plans without mentioning how they should be implemented or independent monitoring. In the light of the systematic village destruction, any resettlement plan from Turkey must be treated with scepticism. It was necessary to press the government further for details on what conditions they intend to attach. Muller was concerned that despite the Foreign Office's stated policy on human rights this commitment did not stretch to either the MoD or the DTI. He felt the flooding of Hasankeyf was equivalent to the destruction of Stonehenge, except that one involved Kurdish rather than British citizens.
Martin Hogbin, speaking for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, pointed to Turkey's strategic role in the Middle East and how arms sales were a major consideration for British companies and the government. Turkey was expanding its arms industry and had close links with numerous UK companies from Vickers to British Aerospace. Several deals on assault rifles and tanks had recently been concluded or were now awaiting approval.
Kurdistan National Congress member Kamal Mirawdeli described the threatened destruction of Hasankeyf as a crime against humanity and said that the KNK was determined by peaceful means to defend the rights of the Kurdish people. He thought it vitally important that the British public is made aware of the full implications of the dam project. He condemned the apparent corruption in the decision-making process and the secrecy of the ECGD.
The success of the meeting was seen in the attendence of numerous campaigners from diverse areas that had come together to save Hasankeyf.
Such support gives encouragement to all those working for the rights of the Kurdish people. Many ideas were raised for developing and broadening out the campaign work at various levels from preparing a legal challenge to more popular activities, protests and publications.
The Anti-Ilisu Dam Campaign Network includes the following organisations: Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, Friends of the Earth, The Cornerhouse, Kurdish Human Rights Project, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, The Green Party, Kurdistan National Congress.
If you would like to become actively involved in the Anti-Ilisu Dam Campaign Network ring either:
Estella (Peace in Kurdistan): 0171 250 1315 or 0171 586 5892 (UK)
Nick Hildyard (The Cornerhouse): 01258 817518 (UK)
END
Kurdish Observer - Mar 3, 2000
Former DEP parliamentarian Ahmet Turk, who was stripped from his parliamentarian seat with his DEP colleagues and current Democracy Movement Member Ahmet Turk released a statement in the 6th anniversary of the incident. Turk said, "March 2, 1994 was a coup d'etat against those who wanted to solve Kurdish issue democratically." Turk said that the government did not like when Kurds represented themselves with their identity in Turkish parliament. Turk said, "Kurds from Turkey became a political force and they informed the world about Kurdish rights very seriously.
Government became paranoid with our movement and started the coup because government wanted to silence Kurds." Turk said that even government was very positive that they (DEP) did not have any relationship with PKK, but government did not feel comfortable with their proposal for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue. Turk continued, "This is very important. We held meetings outside and we presented our ideas. Government did not like the fact that we made politics with our identity and brought this to the parliament. Chief of Staff of that time General Dogan Gures publicly said that he did not want us in the parliament."
Turk said that the recent arrest of the HADEP mayors from Amed, Siirt, Bingol and Agri was very similar to the coup in 1994 (Four DEP parliamentarians are still in prison- the most prominentr one is Leyla Zana. They were sentenced to 15 years in prison). Turk said that government did not feel comfortable with European delegations' visits to the Kurdish mayors. Turk said, "The government is saying that she will not let PKK to become a political party. They are afraid that Kurds will become a political force. The recent arrests of mayors show that the fear is still continuing in the government. They are trying to create a society were Kurds are silenced. The conspiracy against Mayors was a proof of this. However, all these obstacles will overcome when democracy fully established.
END
AI Calls on US to Refuse Helicopter Sale (AI-USA Mar 3)
Amnesty International USA -March 3, 2000
(WASHINGTON, DC) Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is calling on the Clinton Administration to refuse an export license for $4 billion of attack helicopters for the Turkish army because of clear evidence that Turkey has failed to make concrete and significant progress on the Administration’s human rights benchmarks.
The Turkish government is expected to award the contract for the advanced attack helicopters on Monday. Two U.S. companies under consideration, Bell-Textron and Boeing, are mounting a major effort to have an export license approved despite continuing severe human rights violations in Turkey.
In 1998, the State Department formulated a series of eight human rights benchmarks based on priorities articulated by Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz to President Clinton in a December 1997 meeting, and made approval of an export license contingent on Turkey meeting the benchmarks.
In the Turkey chapter of its annual human rights report last week, the State Department stated, "The security forces continue to torture, beat, and otherwise abuse persons regularly... Torture, beatings, and other abuses by security forces remained widespread, at times resulting in deaths... Security forces at times beat journalists." The State Department and Amnesty International have reported the use of helicopters to both attack Kurdish villages in Turkey and to transport troops to regions where they have tortured and killed civilians.
"Based on the State Department’s own annual human rights report, Turkey fails to meet the human rights benchmarks," said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of AIUSA. "Despite minor improvements, the Turkish government has failed to make significant and concrete progress on human rights, and therefore the Clinton Administration should deny the export license."
This week, Turkish parliamentarians found torture equipment at a police station that had reportedly tortured children. Last month Turkey detained three mayors from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HADEP) for nine days after they met with a European delegation.
The State Department’s human rights benchmarks for Turkey include:
decriminalizing freedom of expression;
releasing imprisoned parliamentarians and journalists; prosecuting police who commit torture;
ending harassment of human rights defenders and re-opening non-governmental organizations;
returning internally displaced people to villages;
ceasing harassment and banning of political parties;
ending the state of emergency;
and adopting clear rules of engagement and end-use monitoring for U.S.-supplied weapons.
END
Kurdish Women Action Against Honour-Killing
Kurdish Media – Feb 28, 2000
LONDON (Kurdish Media) Feb 28, 2000 – On the March 5th, 2000 a Kurdish women organisation known as “Kurdish Women Action Against Honour-Killing” organise an event to mark the anniversary of the international women day. The organisation is set up to campaign against the “honour-killing”.
The event intended to achieve two objectives, to commemorate those women who have been murdered under the banner of honour-killings and to campaign against these types of murders.
The organisers want to put this issue on the top of socio-political agenda of the Kurdish society, in particular the Kurdish political parties. That is why the event’s slogan is “terror of women is murder of humanity”.
Nazand Begikhani, one of the organisers, told Kurdish Media, “the event is to press for the campaign against honour-killing and we also commemorate those women who have been murdered by their husbands, bothers, fathers or cousins. Our objective is to increase public awareness of this type of crime and to pressures the Kurdish Regional Governments, in southern Kurdistan, to take appropriate measures to stop the massacre of innocent women.”
END
Turk Court Frees Kurd Mayors Ahead of Trial
Yilmaz Akinci, AFP - Feb 28, 2000
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Three Kurdish mayors whose arrest on charges of links to armed rebels sparked international concern were freed on bail Monday to cheers from a waiting crowd.
Police used batons to disperse part of a chanting crowd welcoming the mayors as they stepped out of a high-security jail in Diyarbakir, regional capital of the mainly Kurdish southeast.
"Justice has been served,'' Diyarbakir mayor Feridun Celik, who was released together with the mayors of Bingol and Siirt, told reporters in the city.
A state security court in the city decided earlier in the day the men should be set free pending trial on charges of aiding Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdish separatist guerrillas.
The arrest of the three People's Democracy Party (HADEP) mayors nine days ago sparked protests both at home and from the European Union. Riot police broke up protests last week in support of the mayors.
Those scenes were repeated Monday as police with batons dispersed a section of the crowd of some 4,000 lining the route from the jail to the city center.
Ankara's main ally the United States said the detentions were ``deeply puzzling and deeply disturbing'' while the EU, for which Turkey is a membership candidate, made a formal complaint.
Neighbor Greece, which has undergone a warming of ties with Turkey in recent months, welcomed the court decision. ``It is a positive development, even though it has resulted from international pressure,'' said Greek spokesman Dimitris Reppas.
HADEP campaigns for cultural rights for Turkey's estimated 12 million Kurds, but authorities suspect it of operating hand in glove with Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), accused by Ankara of responsibility for over 30,000 deaths over 15 years.
HADEP said Turkey should now reverse a decision to remove the mayors from office.
The mayors came to office in April when HADEP swept to power in local polls across the southeast, benefiting from frustration over what many in the region see as government failure to address critical issues and some resentment over the treatment of PKK leader Ocalan. Ocalan was shown on television blindfolded and bound after his capture in Kenya last February.
Ocalan is now awaiting a European Court of Human Rights verdict on his appeal against his death sentence.
He has ordered his guerrillas to abandon the armed struggle and seek a political role.
Six months of relative peace have followed which many fear could be jeopardised by the mayors' arrests or by the execution of Ocalan.
END
Kurdish Mayor Speaks Out Against Ilisu Dam
Kurdistan Information Center Feb 28
Vahap Kusen, the Mayor of Hasankeyf is speaking out in Europe about the impact of the Ilisu Dam. The dam will flood the ancient town of Hasankeyf, a major historic centre for the Kurds and an archeological treasure trove. As many as 36,000 people could be affected by the dam: already 19 villages have been cleared at gun point. No resettlement plan has yet been drawn up by the authorities and there has been no consultation with local villagers or their representatives. A UK government report on the project admits that there is near universal opposition to the dam.
At one point he had decided to cancel his travel abroad after receiving a late night telephone call advising him not to proceed with his intended itinerary.
The Mayor, who was due to speak the next morning at a press conference in Paris, said the call was from his political party, the DYP (True Path Party). Tensions have risen in the Hasankeyf area recently following the arrest of three mayors from Hadep (Peoples' Democracy Party), a pro-Kurdish party. UK journalists who have visited the area also report being constantly shadowed by secret police.
Commenting on the Mayor's decision, Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth said: "It looks as if the Mayor's party felt that he could face repercussions on his return from Europe. The Turkish authorities do not look kindly on critics. The absence of genuine democracy in the region is one very good reason why the Ilisu Dam should not receive British government backing."
The dam has been described by Friends of the Earth as "a disaster for the environment, a tragedy for the Kurdish people and a threat to peace". It would be built by an international consortium including UK firm Balfour Beatty, and would require a £200m guarantee from the Export Credit Guarantee Department, an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.
Before Christmas, the Government announced that it was "minded" to approve the ECGD credit. FOE understands that the decision was taken by the Prime Minister, over-ruling advice from the Foreign Secretary that it would undermine Labour's commitment to an ethical dimension to foreign policy.
The proposed dam site is on the Tigris River, forty miles upstream from the Turkish/Iraqi/Syrian border. It will flood 15 towns and 52 villages and displace up to 20,000 Kurdish people. Because of the war between the Turkish army and Kurdish guerillas, local opposition to such schemes cannot easily be voiced for fear of state reprisals. Towns which will be lost include Hasankeyf, the only Anatolian town to have survived since the Middle Ages. In 1978, the Turkish Government's Department of Culture gave the town "complete archeological protection".
For more information, please contact: IAN WILLMORE, MEDIA CO-ORDINATOR for FRIENDS OF THE EARTH at 0207 566 1657 (w), 0208 885 3779 (h), 07774 114642 (mobile), 07654 588869 (pager), 0207 490 0881 (fax)
END
Ocalan: This is Done by Those Who Are Afraid of Peace
Gemlik, Kurdish Observer – Feb 26, 2000
PKK President Abdullah Ocalan said that the arrests of the HADEP mayors were perpetrated by certain circles who do not wish to see a peace in Turkey. Ocalan said that people should protest this very cautiously to avoid provocation. Ocalan also said that if this period of uncertainty lasts for a long time, the peace process may be damaged.
Ocalan's lawyers Dogan Erbas, Aydin Oruc, Fehim Gunes, and Aysel Tugluk, his brother, Mehmet Ocalan, and sister Fatma Ocalan visited him. The visit lasted for about an hour.
"The period uncertainty should not last for a long time"
Mehmet Ocalan talked to Ozgur Bakis about their visit, saying, "His health and moral was high. I talked to him with my sister Fatma for an hour. He knew about arrests of the mayors. He heard on the radio. He said that the people who do not wish to see peace in Turkey arrested these mayors. He said that people who were uncomfortable with latest positive developments played this game. In regard to peace developments, he said, 'We did our part. Now, they need to take solid steps on the path to democracy.'
"Protests need to be democratic"
Mehmet Ocalan said, "PKK President Ocalan said that the public needs to be very careful when protesting. He said that the protests need to be carried out in the context of the democracy. Provocations need to be prevented."
Translated by Baran
END
CHRIS MORRIS, Guardian - 26 Feb 2000
ANKARA- Turkey's judiciary launched a fresh offensive against Kurdish political activism yesterday, jailing 18 people for supporting the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and charging three prominent Kurdish mayors with similar offences.
The leader of Turkey's main Kurdish party, Ahmet Turan Demir, and his predecessor, Murat Bozlak, were among the group of Kurds who received sentences of at least three years each.
They were found guilty of organising demonstrations and hunger strikes early last year in support of the imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Their party, the People's Democracy Party (HADEP), was already facing a legal challenge that could close it down.
The campaign against Hadep has dashed hopes that the establishment might relax restrictions on peaceful forms of Kurdish politics after the sentencing of Ocalan.
European institutions have been quick to express concern about the detention of the three Kurdish mayors, who were also members of Hadep. Under emergency regulations, they were detained and questioned for four days without legal representation.
The Council of Europe has criticised Turkey for "imprisoning elected leaders", whom it believes were campaigning for peaceful reform.
The fear now is that the crackdown on Hadep could mark the end - at least temporarily - of the most peaceful period the south-east has experienced for a long time. After 15years of conflict between the security forces and the PKK, a rebel ceasefire has been holding.
END
Russian NGO letter to the Turkish PM
Letter from National Congress of Kurdistan to the Turkish PM
Kurdish Media – Feb 26, 2000
Russian-based NGO’s wrote to Turkish PM to condemn the arrest of Kurdish Meyers and politicians. Dr. Svetlana V. Foursova asked the PM to change Turkish National policy. Kurdish Media publish the letter here.
Mr. Bulent ECEVIT
The Turkish Prime Minister
Ankara/ TURKEY
25/02/00
Dear Prime Minister!
Now in Turkey there is unprecedented on the scales and forms an approach to the basic democratic principles and freedom of words, thoughts, consciences and caucus.
Despite of the public applications for the adherence to a democratic course, Turkey prolongs to be a totalitarian country, abusing cultural and political rights of the citizens. The bright endorsement of that is served by arrest of the mayors of cities Diyarbakir, Siirt and Bingol, chairman of National Democratic party (HADEP) - Ahmet Turan Demir and the former president of HADEP Murat Bozlak, and also several hundreds citizens who were taking part in the meetings of protest. All these are citizens of Turkish Republic, and you were obliged to represent itself as the guarantor of implementation of their constitutional laws, and thus to rise on protection of the democracy in country.
Dear Prime Minister!
We express the steep disturbing concerning further destiny of democratic reforms in Turkish Republic and degrading of human rights. A main condition of democratization of Turkey is the prompt sanction of the Kurdish problem by non-predatory, civilized methods. We hope that the Turkish government will change the national policy and will give liberty to all Kurdish patriots, located in prison on the political causes!
Dr. Svetlana V. Foursova
Tambov, Russia, TSTU
Letter from National Congress of Kurdistan to the Turkish PM
Kurdish Media – Feb 26, 2000
The National Congress of Kurdistan, Russia, in a letter asked the Turkish PM to “grant to the Kurdish people all rights and freedom” Kurdish Media publish the letter here.
Mr. Bulent ECEVIT
The Turkish Prime Minister
Ankara/ TURKEY
25/02/00
Dear Prime Minister!
Events, descending in the Turkish Republic, bound with arrest of a mayors of the Kurdish cities, arrests of the members of legal political organization HADEP, rendition of a death sentence to the leader of Kurdish people Abdullah Ocalan, have called a broad surge of the protest and disturbance all over the world. All world progressive sociability demands to stop a dirty genocide of the peoples living in Turkey, which one is conducted by a dominant regime of this country.
Declaring about that Kurds are not a national minority in Turkey, you should grant to the Kurdish people all rights and freedom, which one use Turkish nationality. First of all we demand granting to the Kurdish people their right for study and usage of the native language in educational institutions, on televisions and radios, the preservation of the culture and national originality. We protest against violations in the field of political rights - right on meetings and demonstrating. The Kurdish people, being equivalent among the all nationalities of Turkey, should have the right of voice and demand an observance of their rights and freedom!
We demand the freedom for all in Turkish prisons for political reasons - Abdullah Ocalan, lawfully elected mayors of Kurdish cities, members of HADEP and PKK!
A member of the National Congress of Kurdistan
Jamal SHAMOYAN
END
Guerrillas Guarantors of Peace
Kurdish Observer – Feb 13, 2000
PKK Leadership Council Member Mustafa Karasu, answering questions from listeners on MEDYA TV the night before last, said regarding the guerrillas that “The existence of our military force is also the guarantee of peace.” Stressing that the PKK decided at its Seventh Extraordinary Congress to put an end to the war, Karasu said that “We have developed means of democratic struggle.
“Our forces are in a defensive mode”
Stressing that the PKK decided at its Seventh Extraordinary Congress to put an end to the war, Karasu said that “We have developed means of democratic struggle. The method of democratic struggle is essential to the new phase of the struggle. We have taken this as our principle, and we are reorganizing ourselves and planning on this basis.”
Drawing attention to the important steps that the PKK has taken in response to the requirements of the new strategy, Karasu continued as follows: “We have taken our armed forces out of the offensive mode and withdrawn them outside of Turkey’s borders. This force, far from being an obstacle to democratic development and change, will in fact be supportive of this process. This force has now become a force for peace.”
He said that until the possibility emerges of joining in a Democratic Republic, the People’s Defense Forces will remain in a purely defensive posture.
New peace delegations
Responding to a question as to whether new peace delegations would be sent to Turkey, Karasu said that “We have shown our intentions. The first delegations’ members were simply thrown into prison. It would have been good, from the standpoint of removing the tensions and problems between the Turkish and Kurdish peoples, for the atmosphere of peace created by these peace delegations to have been strengthened. But there was an insufficient response to these gestures. We’ll send new peace groups as appropriate. Our Congress has given the Party Assembly the authority to send peace delegations.”
“We’re prepared for alliances”
In response to a question as to whether or not the PKK would form alliances with other parties and organizations in order to conribute to a resolution of the Kurdish issue, Karasu spoke as follows: “On this topic, we want to form a new political unity with all circles, without any preconditions. And not just with Kurdish groups: we want to work in concert with all the democratic groups in Turkey. We are ready to form an alliance across a very broad spectrum which is based on democratic change.”
Peace with the Kurdish people
Karasu said that the problem will not be solved by the passage of laws such as “repentance laws”, and that such laws were humiliating. He spoke as follows: “It is fallacious to think that such a fundamental problem can be resolved with laws like this. A great many “repentance laws” have been passed, and none of them have had any effect. Tens of thousands of the children of the Kurdish people are now in prison, and similar sufferings have filled our past history. To contribute to the current process through a general amnesty would be very much in Turkey’s interest. We don’t consider a “repentance law” to be appropriate, and don’t think that it is the proper political approach. Democratizaton means, first and foremost, making peace with the Kurdish people. Consequently, we consider that declaring a general amnesty is a priority need.”
Noting as well that certain forces, both within Turkey and abroad, want the war to continue, Karasu said that “When these circles are taken into consideration, we can say that any continued temporization on the issue will be dangerous for Turkey.”
Responding to another question, Karasu said that “We think that the period leading up to Newroz (Kurdish holiday of 21 March) should be exploited as a period of national unity in which the Kurds exert a positive influence towards a democratic and legal organization.”
END
Siwan Perwer, a Voice for the Kurdish Identity
Kurdish Media – Feb 13, 2000
By ELIASSI Baba, Kurdish Media Writer
Siwan Perwer, a hero of a divided and dispersed nation, who resist to safeguard his culture, he perpetuat the tradition millennium of bards of Kurdistan.
He had respectively concerts, in France in the following regions and cities:
On February 3 in Angoulême, on 4 in Amiens, on 5 in Vandoeure-les- Nancy, on 7 in Verdun and on 8 in Briiançon.
On August 26 1989, under the Grand Arc of Defense, Isabel Allende, harlem Desir, L’abbé Pierre, Wole Soyinka et other personalities came to express their commandments to the human rights occasion, in which dozens of artists and singers contributed (Le Monde, August 21, 1989).
Among them, Sivan Perwer is a Kurdish singer in exile and no one knew him in the gathering. “When he sang Halabja, he gave a quite thrill to the meeting.” Kandal Nezan, the director of Kurdish Institute in Paris, expressed his feeling when he was invited to France Culture by Caroline Bourgine, last week.
Halabja relates one of the episodes in the history of the Kurdish nation. On March 16, 1989, the Iraqi warplanes bombarded six villages in Kurdistan, in the region of Halabja. As a result, in Halabja alone, 5,000 people were killed and as much as wounded.
END
15-20,000 in Pro-Ocalan Rally in Strasbourg
AFP – Feb 12, 2000
STRASBOURG, France, Feb 12 (AFP) Between 15,000 and 20,000 protestors turned out Saturday for a midday rally to protest the arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya a year ago.
Organizers, who counted 20,000 protestors, said it was the largest pro-Ocalan demonstration ever held in France. Police said 15,000 people took part.
More than 300 coach-loads of demonstrators from France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium chanted slogans calling for Ocalan’s release. Many of the protestors were women and children in traditional Kurdish dress. Ocalan was sentenced to death by a Turkish court after his arrest on February 16, 1999, though the planned execution was halted in January pending a ruling by the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.
On Wednesday, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) renewed its pledge not to halt the armed struggle against Turkey and to pursue a resolution of the Kurdish question through peaceful means.
Meanwhile in Ankara, lawyers for Ocalan announced Saturday they had stopped releasing written statements from the rebel leader addressed to the government and to his followers, saying they had been accused of acting as Ocalan’s spokesmen.
The lawyers also said the length of time they were allowed to spend with the rebel leader had been reduced since January.
END
Turkey Detains 100 Rights Activists
AP - Feb 12, 2000
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Police on Saturday detained more than 100 activists preparing to march through central Istanbul to demand an end to human rights violations in Turkey.
Turkey’s independent Human Rights Association, which organized the march, said at least 111 people were detained, including the head of the association’s Istanbul branch, Eren Keskin.
Riot police lined one of Istanbul’s main commercial streets and detained the activists before they reached the square where the march was to begin. Police had not given authorization for the march.
“No to torture! Pressure will not stop us!” a group of activists chanted while police hauled them into buses. Human rights groups say torture is widespread in police stations.
Turkey has vowed to improve its human rights record. Ankara formally became a candidate for the European Union in December and EU leaders said human rights are key to its accession to the union.
END
Our Congress is an Answer to Tomorrow
Kurdistan Observer – Feb 11, 2000
PKK Presidential Council drew attention to the historic meaning and the importance of its 7th Congress in a written statement issued on February 7. It was emphasized in the statement that the Congress has been held in a great unity and integrity so destroyed the some circles’ hopes and expectations of dissipation and weakening of the PKK. The statement of the Council is:
Kurds reached to a state that they can engage politics for themselves
Our Congress with its extraordinary quality put the changes and transformations at political level, the renovation and reconstruction on its agenda. It is very well known fact that from this point of view, our congress is also complementary and continuation of our 6th congress, which was tried to be prevented by an international plot.
Furthermore, it is evident that our Congress was held in an atmosphere that international plot and within this framework several attacks against our Party and people have been continuing, and that everybody was trying to influence and making several plans about our party and its struggle. In this atmosphere, our Party had noting other than high Party consciousness, loyalty, and values of its struggle and militant resistance.
Our Party’s successful realization of 7th congress in a such atmosphere that the several pressure was being applied and it was difficult even to overcome the affects of shocking attacks coming from all directions, and the formation of its new strategic line without loosing its balance, by staying away from reactionary attitudes, with a strong-minded and outstanding attitude is a historical event from the Kurdish people’s point of view. It has shown the fact that for the first time the Kurds reached a state that they can engage politics for themselves. This situation is the most concrete proof that displays the strength of President Apo and the PKK. Our Congress is also the expression of establishment of the reality of the Leadership within the soles, knowledge and life of its cadres and people.
History will prove the victory of the PKK’s new line
Our Congress has enlarged the PKK’s claims and determination before the history on the basis of belief in the formulated new line, which constitutes an answer to the history, present and future. As in the past, presently, everybody including from primitive Kurdish nationalists to Turkish leftists and to the dominant circles are trying to blacken the name of the PKK and saying that the PKK had transformed under compulsion. The past history of our party’s struggle has clearly shown that these kinds of remarks and allegations were not true. These remarks and comments had never been successful in the past and it is evident that they are not correct evaluations now either. History will shortly prove that the PKK’s new line will win the victory.
Self-criticism to the armed struggle
Our Congress has made a comprehensive and complete evaluations of our Party’s thirty-year-old struggle. On this ground, our Party founded at a process of national annihilation and great impossibilities, has drawn attention to the Kurdish National Resistance, which was created by our Party’s miraculous struggle relied on completely on its own strength, and the great democratic revolution of Kurdish people, and the developments caused by this revolution in Turkey and the Middle East.
Along with these, our Party has displayed a self-critical approach specifically to the thorough investigation of armed struggle. It has revealed the presence of some events, which went beyond the law of wars and caused harms, although they were at limited levels and individual cases within the struggle. Our Party has criticized and condemned its inability to prevent these events although they were the results of the feudal-tribal mentality.
The disadvantages of becoming distant from Turkey
Our Congress has concentrated comprehensively on the strategic transformation, which is on the agenda since 1993, and the serious coercive results and the damages of spreading the transformation in time instead carrying out at the time being. Our Party has evaluated this situation in connection with the international plot and reached the correct conclusions by investigating thoroughly the negative effects of specifically becoming partly distant from masses and Turkey.
It is a new beginning just like first Congress The extraordinary 7th Congress of our Party, has been a Congress of new beginning and foundation like the 1st Congress. The decisions taken and the resolutions adopted are at this historical level. The organization and the political struggle leap that will be progressed on this ground will show this fact to everyone soon. Our Party’s renewal itself on the basis of strategic change have been possible with its existent struggle values such as a creative leadership, thousands of martyrs and its unshakable mass power. The President Apo and our martyrs will show us the right way at all time.
The peerless support of our people will enable the success of our Party even at the most difficult conditions. The Leader has drawn the new path, the people have given their support and our 7th Congress has started the new process of struggle and development that will create concrete success for our people. The practical work of our cadres and the struggle of the people will determine the rest of it. On this ground, we are calling our party cadres, our people and our friends to be the successful creative of the new process by renewing and equipping themselves with the PKK’s sole of unity and struggle
Translated by Hanife
END
Famous Turkish Poet Rehabilitated
The Associated Press, 11 Feb, 2000
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Nazim Hikmet said he loved Turkey, but after spending years in Turkish prisons, he died in exile, stripped of his nationality and branded a traitor.
Thirty years later, Turkey’s best known poet, whose works have been translated into more than 50 languages, is now being hailed by the state as a key figure of Turkish culture.
At an international summit in November, President Suleyman Demirel quoted Hikmet’s poetry, and Culture Minister Istemihan Talay recently asked UNESCO to help organize celebrations for the 100th anniversary of Hikmet’s birth in 2002.
The state is “at least asking for forgiveness after his death,” Dogan Hizlan of Hurriyet newspaper wrote of Hikmet and the proposal to honor his birth.
The rehabilitation of Hikmet comes as the European Union considers Turkey’s application for membership. The EU agreed to make Turkey an official candidate but said the country had to improve its record in human rights.
Turkey, meanwhile, has pledged to reform laws curbing freedom of expression, recently lifting an 18-year ban on a Cannes Film Festival winner, “Yol.” The director, Yilmaz Guney, a communist, was imprisoned for murder and died in exile.
Hikmet was first arrested in 1924 for working for a leftist newspaper. He escaped from prison and fled to Russia, attracted by the Bolshevik revolution.
A declared communist, he returned to Turkey after a general amnesty in 1928, only to spend 15 of the next 22 years in prison. He wrote some of his best poems from jail, including his masterpiece, “Human Landscapes.”
With the Soviet bloc reaching both Turkey’s eastern and western borders after World War II, Turkey allied with the West and the state championed anti-communism.
Hikmet’s poems were smuggled out of Turkey and published abroad, bringing him international fame. An international committee, including artist Pablo Picasso and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, campaigned for his release.
Hikmet was freed in 1950 but within a year, after two attempts on his life, he left Turkey never to return. The poet was stripped of his nationality and became a Polish citizen.
His poetry remained banned in Turkey until 1965, two years after his death. Even after the ban was lifted, many would hide their copies, fearing to be branded communists.
One of his poems, “I love my country,” describes his deep feelings for his homeland:
I swung in its lofty trees, I lay in its prisons.
Nothing relieves my depression
Like the songs and tobacco of my country
Orhan Pamuk, an internationally acclaimed Turkish novelist, says Hikmet’s rehabilitation does not signify an end to state pressure on political writings.
“Communism is dead, no one is afraid of it. So Hikmet doesn’t threaten anyone,” said Pamuk. But “If Nazim Hikmet were alive, of course he would be writing about the treatment of Kurds, and violation of human rights and they would still reject him.”
Dozens of journalists and writers have been jailed for writings deemed sympathetic to Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s Southeast.
END
“We Must Never Take Democracy for Granted”
A Kurdish Response to the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust
By Kani Xulam and Biseng Amed
February 9, 2000
In organizing the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz last month, Prime Minister Persson of Sweden and other sponsors sought not only to remember an historical event but “to highlight and discuss such values as compassion, democracy and the equal value of all human beings using the Holocaust as a starting point.”
Furthermore, the purpose of this international event was “to give the participating countries an opportunity to manifest their will to combat racism, anti-Semitism, ethnic and other conflicts.”
Given these laudable purposes of such importance at the opening of a new century and millennium, we are puzzled and troubled by some striking omissions in the list of delegations invited to attend this Forum.
Specifically, we are troubled by the apparent absence of any delegates representing the Republic of Armenia, the yet-unrecognized Nation of Kurdistan, or Indigenous Nations from several continents of the world where the “racism” this Forum was designed to combat has manifested itself in especially devastating and still often unacknowledged forms.
We feel that the inclusion of the Republic of Turkey in this conference, coupled with the absence of Armenian representatives, is especially inappropriate in view of Turkey’s continued denial of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, whose 85th anniversary will be commemorated on 24 April 2000. This case of 20th-century genocide, involving the murder by the Young Turk regime of 1.5 million people, has a special relevance to the European Holocaust of 1939-1945.
In August of 1939, only weeks before attacking Poland with genocidal intent, Hitler asked his senior officers and advisors: “Who still speaks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?” He argued that the moral issues raised by such an act of mass murder were unimportant to a world which “believes only in success,” and that Germany could likewise proceed with impunity to exterminate the Jews, Poles, and other “inferior” races.
However, as Hitler was coming to power in the Germany of 1933, a Jewish writer understood the lessons and moral imperatives of history. In the fateful spring of that year, Franz Werfel published “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh”, an historical novel based on the true story of a group of Armenian villagers in the region of Musa Dagh, or the Mountain of Moses. Faced with impending deportation orders meaning death in the Syrian desert or outright slaughter along the way, the people took refuge on Musa Dagh and organized a desperate armed resistance which in fact held off the Turkish Army until French and British ships happened upon the scene and rescued them.
For Werfel, well aware of the unfolding calamity of Hitlerism for Germany and Europe, published his book not only as a tribute to the Armenian survivors such as the children he had met in a carpet factory in Damascus, but as a warning to the Jewish people of the ordeal they might soon themselves face.
Werfel once remarked that the Armenians of his book, while uniquely representing their own people and history, can also stand for the Jewish people. Is not the point of this Holocaust Forum precisely to promote such a recognition of human unity and solidarity? Why, then, was the Turkish government represented, but not the Republic of Armenia or some appropriate non-governmental organization giving voice to the Armenian people whose genocide Turkey still denies?
Another leading theme of this Forum declares: “We must never take democracy for granted.” In the region of Asia Minor and the Middle East, no one can speak to this theme more eloquently than the people of Kurdistan, a Nation of 40 million people yet without its own country. Again, we find it regrettable that a Turkish government known to the European Union and the world as a persecutor of the Kurds was given a voice, but not the Kurdish people themselves.
One most apt delegate and presenter from Northern or Turkish Kurdistan would have been Mehdi Zana, who was duly elected as Mayor of the principal city of Amed (or Diyarbakir) in 1978, but was arrested only 12 days after the brutal Turkish military coup of 12 September 1980. A target of repression both as a champion of democracy and as a Kurd, he was not only imprisoned for over a decade but subjected to severe torture, while many of his fellow prisoners were tortured to death.
We find it moving that Elie Weisel, the Chairman of this Holocaust Forum, wrote a preface to Mehdi Zana’s book “Prison No 5: Eleven Years in Turkish Jails”. As a survivor of torture and an internationally acclaimed advocate of the struggle for democracy in Kurdistan and elsewhere by nonviolent means, Mehdi Zana might have contributed a unique perspective to an appreciation of the Shoah of 1939-1945 and its meaning for those who today still must face torture or murder in order to affirm the most basic human values.
In Northern Kurdistan, the “Nacht und Nebel” (“Night and Fog”) disappearances of Holocaust Europe repeat themselves in the disappearances and “mystery killings” carried out or sponsored by the Turkish government. According to the Human Rights Association of Turkey, least 1964 such killings and disappearances have occurred in the last decade. The Saturday Mothers of Istanbul, who demonstrated publicly to demand an accounting of their missing loved ones until prohibited from doing so by Turkish authorities, might have also eloquently represented the basic human values for which the Holocaust Forum stands.
The people of Southern or Iraqi Kurdistan, also, might have been represented by a delegate with a unique perspective on the experience of hatred and genocide: Timor Abdullah Ahmed. At the age of 12, Timor and his family were deported to the deserts of Southern Iraq to be shot as part of the Ba’athist regime’s notorious “Al Anfal” genocide campaign of 1987-1989 ordered by Saddam Hussein.
Like the Jewish and other victims of the “Special Killing Groups” operating in Eastern Europe during the Shoah, and especially in its earlier phases, many Kurds including Timor and his mother in 1988 were selected for death by mass shootings. Led into a burial pit along with his mother by soldiers, Timor was grazed a bullet, and ran up to the soldier who had shot him. This soldier was ordered to place him back in the pit, and did; Timor was grazed by another bullet, and pretended to be dead until the soldiers left. He then ran into the desert and walked for perhaps two hours until he reached a Bedouin village where—like the “righteous gentiles” during the Shoah—a family gave him refuge and had him taken to another Bedouin family in the Arab town of Samawa where his wounds were treated and he found shelter for two years. In 1990, he finally was able to return to Kurdistan.
We find regrettable the absence from the Holocaust Forum of delegates not only from the Armenian and Kurdish Nations, but also from the many Indigenous Nations of other continents, ranging from the Maori of Aoterra (New Zealand) to the Mayas of Mexico and Central America and the Haudenosaunee or Six Nations whose sovereign lands are now located within the borders of Canada and the United States. These survivors of physical and cultural genocide might have also lent their “voices of the voiceless” to a truly inclusive appreciation of the Shoah and its lessons for today’s world.
Please let us emphasize that we call not for the exclusion from this and future conferences of Turkey or any other state, but for the inclusion also of delegates from the Armenian, Kurdish, and other oppressed Nations whose subjection to “ethnic cleansing” and genocide is still ignored or denied by an “international community” which makes “business as usual” its first priority.
In 1933, Franz Werfel understood that what could be done to the Armenians in 1915 could also be done to the Jews. In the year 2000, it is imperative that the world not only learn this lesson in theory but apply it in practice. In its declaration that “We must never take democracy for granted,” this Holocaust Forum has stated a theme which we hope will be reflected in more representation and participation at future Holocaust education events for Armenian, Kurdish, and Indigenous “voices of the voiceless.”
The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2600 Connecticut Avenue NW # 1, Washington, DC 20008-1558 / USA
Tel: 202.483.6444/Fax: 202.483.6476 ~ Web-site: www.kurdistan.org / E-mail: akin@kurdish.org
END
Kurdish Rebels Declare Peace in Turkey
ISTANBUL, Feb. 9 (AP) The outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party announced today that it will end its 15-year armed struggle to create an autonomous Kurdish homeland in Turkey and instead will launch a political campaign to defend Kurdish rights.
The announcement is part of a push by the party to transform itself from a guerrilla force that has been effectively routed by the Turkish army into a political organization that can negotiate with the Ankara government. The shift in strategy follows the arrest and imprisonment a year ago of party founder Abdullah Ocalan, who has been sentenced to death on charges of treason and fomenting separatism. The sentence has been put on hold pending a ruling on Ocalan’s appeal by the European Court of Human Rights.
The Ankara government has rejected previous overtures from the longtime rebel group as insincere and has said the party’s estimated 4,500 guerrillas must surrender unconditionally. In its statement, the party said it would continue its battle for Kurdish rights within the “framework of peace and democratization.” It said that the party’s armed wing would be reorganized but that phasing it out would depend on the “democratic transformation of Turkey and the resolution of the Kurdish question.” Peace also is “inseparably” linked to the fate of Ocalan, the statement said.
Previous rebel peace gestures have been welcomed in Europe, and several analysts noted that their latest move may be intended to increase European pressure on Turkey, now that Ankara has been accepted as a candidate to join the European Union.
The guerrillas have fought a violent campaign to establish a Kurdish homeland in Turkey’s overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast. An estimated 35,000 people—mostly Kurds—have died in fighting in the region.
END
Stop the Deportation Of Kurdish Asylum Seeker Hikmet Bozat
Kurdistan Information Center – Feb 8, 2000
Distributed by Kurdish Media
Hikmet Bozat, a 37-year-old Kurdish teacher has been in British prisons since November 1993 after being convicted of conspiracy to attack a Turkish bank in London. His 15-year sentence was later reduced to 12 years by the Court of Appeal with the original recommendation of deportation being upheld on the condition of an improvement of the situation in Turkey in regard to Kurds. Despite being granted parole in December 1999 Hikmet has still not been freed from prison. The Home Office is still considering whether to grant asylum to Hikmet or not.
Hikmet improved his language skills extensively to a level where he followed an Open University degree course on Social Sciences. He has always been supported by his TWO brothers and other family members who live in Britain with refugee status and who are looking forward to having him back in the family once he is released.
We, the undersigned, demand that Hikmet Bozat should not be deported, on grounds that the situation of Kurds has not improved because disappearances and torture are still routinely faced by Kurdish and other human rights activists. His family ties in Britain as well as the education he received here puts him in a situation where he can easily fit into society with the view of serving as a teacher once he is released. We hope that the British authorities consider Hikmet's and his family's situation on the basis at the suffering that the Kurdish people have to endure and do not deport him from Britain to Turkey where he would face a possible death or a second prison term which will mean a punishment twice over for him.
NAME
ADDRESS
SIGNATURE
Please fax signed copy to 0171 250 1317 or 0181 80-2 9963
KIC 0171 250 1315 and Halkevi 92-100 Stoke Newington Road, Hackney, N16
END
Abdullah Ocalan Lawyer Charged With Insulting Turkey in Trial
ISTANBUL, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A lawyer for Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan said on Monday he had been charged with insulting Turkey and its army while defending the guerrilla chief.
Istanbul prosecutors filed two separate cases against lawyer Ahmet Zeki Okcuoglu for alleged breaches of the penal code in comments outside the courtroom during the high-profile treason and murder trial.
Ocalan was sentenced to hang last June for leading an armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule that has cost 30,000 lives.
Okcuoglu told Reuters he had not seen the charge sheet and did not know what possible jail sentences he faced. His trials on the two charges are scheduled to start in April.
"I did not intend to insult any person or any state institution,'' Okcuoglu said. He said the cases against him would limit suspects' right to a fair defence.
Ocalan, captured last February in Kenya and brought back to Turkey for trial, is appealing his sentence to the European Court of Human Rights.
Turkey's government has agreed to shelve the execution process until the court rules on the appeal but warned that it could begin the process again if Ocalan issues any threatening statements from jail through his lawyers.
The Ocalan case has been closely watched in Europe. Turkey is a candidate for membership in the European Union, and the EU has warned that executing Ocalan would poison relations. Many of Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas have withdrawn outside Turkey on Ocalan's orders, seen by officials as a bid to escape hanging.
END
Arrests and Raids In Belgium And Germany; Attack On The Kurdistan Solidarity Movement
Kurdistan Information Center – January 25, 2000
Distributed by Kurdish Media
Early in the morning on January 25, 2000, Belgian special police units, accompanied by German federal investigators, staged a raid in the Belgian city of De Haan and arrested 8 friends who are active in the Kurdistan solidarity movement in Germany, including people who work at the 'Informationsstelle Kurdistan' (Kurdistan Information Desk). Homes and offices were also raided in Cologne and Hamburg, including the offices of 'Kurdistan-Solidaritaet Hamburg'. Computers and disks were confiscated, data and Internet web files copied, and the work in the office was obstructed.
The raids were based on Paragraph 129a of the German penal code, "membership in a terrorist association". We strongly protest this police action. The charges are completely baseless, and are simply an expression of power, as was the case with the raid on the Informationsstelle Kurdistan two years ago. This is yet another attempt to defame and criminalize the Kurdish liberation movement led by the PKK. The Kurdish people and their institutions and supporters in Germany are still suffering under the ban on the PKK, which is still in force.
At a time when the PKK is seeking to end the armed struggle in Turkey and adopt a completely political approach, the politics of the German state are still based on supporting Turkish state terrorism against the Kurdish right to self-determination, in the form of German tanks for the Turkish military, racist asylum policies, Paragraph 129a, and so on.
We demand:
Away With The Ban On The PKK And The Criminalization Paragraph 129a! Drop The Charges Against Our Friends! No Arms Exports Or Deportations To Turkey!
Kurdistan Information Desk
(Source: ISKU; Translated by Arm The Spirit)
END
THE STRUGGLE OF THE MOTHERS AGAINST DARKNESS:
THEIR PAIN RESEMBLES NO OTHER PAIN
Their names could be Elif, maybe Ayse, maybe Hatice... It could be Maria or Rosanne... Maybe Selvi or Bese...
No matter what their names are, their also known with another name and this one is the same everywhere: mother. Yes, they're mothers... They have different languages, different religions, but what they've gone through and what they feel is the same...
The feelings of a mother are love. The love of a mother for her child is one of the strongest loves. Her child is like a source of life. When the child feels a small pain, she feels it in her hearth a thousand times more. The oppressors in several countries have made the mothers feel another kind of pain during the last decades. Their children are "disappearing".... It's impossible to describe the pain these mothers feel. It's said that time heals all pain, but for the mothers of the disappeared it is different. The pain in their hearts darkens the days, it darkens the hours... The darkness has become a blackness. Are they still alive? Their bodies have never been found...
"I want my son", "I want my daughter"
"They have made my child disappear! Bring it back! I want it back alive, or at least give me the body".
Who knows, these words could have been repeated in all languages of the world. In Chile, in Argentine, Columbia, Peru, all over the world. Their faces, their eyes, they are always the same. There is always some hope in their eyes, even though it isn't much. There is also hate, incomparable hate.
There is pain, like no other pain. It's not easy to bear their looks. They are the same everywhere. Callous hands, wrinkles faces, white headbands, sometimes red ones. Some wear red flowers. They never give up. They ask everybody and everywhere for their children.
There is still some hope... The thought of "maybe I'll find his body", although they don't want to think about that, keeps them going. "Maybe I'll find his grave"... Otherwise they couldn't bear the pain. They carried their children for months. They raised them for years and one day they are fetched away. They are thrown in deep well, in dark cellars... They can't breath anymore. A cry, a loud cry, then the songs of sorrow, touching. Tears stream from their eyes, unstoppable. Every drop flows over the wrinkles in the face, every drop a drop of pain... The question "Why" comes up with great anger, great hatred. It's wrong to compare this pain with the pain of loosing a child, it's different. Hope is drawn from the smallest of signs. A piece of clothing, a shoe, a shirt - maybe bloody -, a voice, a cry... When the telephone rings, "maybe it's...". When someone knocks at the door, "maybe someone brings news"...
The hope never disappears
Is it so easy to forget? Is it easy to think they never existed? What heart could understand that? How can one understand that? How can we ask them to forget? How can we ask them it never happened? Still, there are those who expect them to do so. The photos in their hands, the flowers in their clothing, the white headbands are seen as a crime. They are beaten, dragged across the floor, brought to torture chambers, maybe the same ones where their sons, their daughters, their husbands were taken to. They want them to stop, they shouldn't search anymore, they must forget. Because the anger of the mothers is a terrible anger.
Their hatred scares the enemies. The enemy fears these eyes, the thousand tones of pain, these thousand kinds of anger. They know one day, a day which is not so far anymore, this hatred will cause their end. They have arrested their children, their husbands, and they made them disappear. But every time the mothers show up with the pictures of those who they have made disappeared, they get frightened. As if they people they made disappear, the people they murdered, are still alive! As if the people they murdered under torture, they buried in the middle of the night in unknown graveyards or rubbish-dumps, or thrown into the sea from planes, are standing up again, demanding justice.
Our mothers will never forget their children. They will go on looking for them with their pictures in their hands, with anger in their hearts and hope in their eyes... They will look for their children on rubbish-dumps, in unknown graveyards. They will get those who made their children disappear, and they will repeat the same question again and again:
"Where is my child?"
Send your protest letter to:
President Süleyman Demirel, Office of the President, Cumhur Baskanligi, 06100 Ankara. Fax : + 90 312 427 13 30
Prime Minister M. Yilmaz, office of the Prime Minister, Basbakanlik, 06573 Ankara, Turkey. Fax : + 90 312 417 04 76
Interior Minister, Kutlu Aktas: Fax: + 90 312 417 39 54
END
Turkish Rights Group Slams Government Over Lack of Protection
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 17:26:36 +0100
ANKARA, Nov 30 (AFP) - The Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) on Tuesday accused the government of failing to protect the organization whose offices were attacked last week by protestors demanding the execution of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
In a letter to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, its chairman Husnu Ondul said police stood by as protestors stormed into the group's Ankara headquarters, ripping posters off the walls, smashing furniture and assaulting him and a member of the IHD executive board.
The incident occurred last Thursday after the appeals court upheld the death sentence handed down to Ocalan on treason and separatism charges.
"Public officials cannot bring demonstrators to our door and make them destroy our building. You cannot allow public officials and some citizens the freedom to commit crime," Ondul said in his letter.
He also accused the government of assigning incompetent police officers to protect the organization, violating several international documents under which Ankara has pledged to protect and facilitate human rights activity.
"The IHD does not regulate its relations with those in power according to their political beliefs," Ondul said. "We expect public officials and those in power to also evaluate us objectively."
The IHD, Turkey's main human rights watchdog, has frequently been accused by ultra-nationalist media of links with Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a 15-year-long war against Ankara for Kurdish self-rule in the country's southeast.
IHD's former president Akin Birdal was shot and seriously wounded by far-right extremists in May 1998 following press reports of alleged cooperation between the group and the PKK.
END
DECLARATION ON THE DEMOCRATIC SOLUTION OF THE KURDISH QUESTION, by ABDULLAH OCALAN
The Defence Arguments that Abdullah Ocalan, the Head of the PKK Presented at his trail.
I - INTRODUCTION
My defence is not so much based on detailed replies to the charges in the indictment prepared by the Chief Prosecutor [of the State Security Courts], but rather, is it about what I see as a more important topic: how to reach a historic reconciliation from a revolt under the leadership of the PKK and increase the possibility of a solution to the Kurdish issue. I have created an opportunity for peace to these [armed] activities that could very well be called a law-intensity war.
Actually, I voiced these views for the first time as a response to President Turgut Ozal's call [for a ceasefire?]. At the historic press conference on 15 March, 1993 [where I declared the ceasefire], this is exactly what I said: "We are not demanding an immediate separation from Turkey. We are realists on this subject. Do not interpret this [ceasefire] as a simple tactic [serving a hidden agenda]. There are many reasons as to why [we are realists]. Those who understand the historic, political and economic situation of the two peoples [the Kurds and Turks], know well that separation could not take place. They [the Kurds and Turks] are intertwined like flesh and bone. I have emphasised this in many interviews. We want the relations to be rearranged. Knotted relations and contradictions of a thousand years await untangling. Our fundamental understanding rests on a free and equal rearrangement of [Kurdish-Turkish relations]. To dub us "separatists" at every opportunity, is in fact the attitude that aims to fan separatism. The current arrangement of relations is hugely draining the life and the wealth of both the Turkish and the Kurdish people."
Here is what I clearly said on the occasion of our latest unilateral ceasefire on 1 September 1998 before I was handed to Turkey at the end of a plot carried out by an international force: "The war, if not originating from a very important contradiction, is a madness. Especially, meaningless terror and violence should never be part of human affairs. If this huge oppression of us is let up a bit and stopped; if human rights and democracy are promoted to improve our relations; and if problems are solved through dialogue, I don't think you will find any other people and organisation that are as thirsting for peaceful methods as us." I continued with these words, "right now the most fundamental problem of Turkey is to take democracy out of its state of demagoguery and trust it to the care of the people. This should not be taken as bashing the Republic. Especially, divisive and separatist, it never is. If anything, it is a wish for democratizing the Republic. This indeed is in the interest of Turkey. This is, if anything, to resuscitate Turkey from its currently choked off state. Those who speak and act in the name of the Republic must do something about this counter-democracy. This is basically what I said about violence."
“We are the side that has suffered the most from this violence. Who could blame us if, in this state of horrific imbalance of forces, in order to avoid extermination, we were forced to defend ourselves, our most legitimate rights, our identity and culture? The UN Constitution and even the Constitution of the Turkish Republic recognizes [the legitimacy of] the defense of these rights." I am quoting these because, some people might falsely interpret that I have adopted these views due to the harsh conditions of my solitary confinement. I have the impression that even in the indictment, my statements advocating the same views - taken under interrogation - were by-passed.
However, [my statements] also express the need to transform the structure of the PKK, its narrow and strict ideological approach - a remnant of the fiery 1970s -, and its political structure in the light of the developments in the world and in Turkey in the 1990s. I have emphasised the need for reviewing, revising and updating its principles and programme in the aftermath of a huge experience. Throughout these years, I have increasingly searched to broaden [the PKK's worldview]. The same is true about my views on violence. [Excessive] violence even in defence of basic human rights, identity and cultural survival is rejected. It is well known that I have struggled within the organisation against practices of violence that went beyond the basic minimum. The indictment does not touch on these points. Also, it is not objective to heap under the rubric of "terror" all the negativity on one side [of the warring parties]. I do not feel compelled to criticise these aspects much. I do not find it necessary to defend myself on these points. Perhaps, my lawyers could open these matters more in their defence that concentrates more on the legal aspects.
The most important thing for me - irrespective of its name, origins and rationale - is to lay bare the necessity of peace for this extensive armed movement which is even officially dubbed a "low intensity war". To find a reasonable solution, remembering the rule that "each war has a peace", became the main focus of my defence. It is of great importance [for me] to evaluate the past, to update the programme and the political line [of the Kurdish movement] in the light of the current, concrete facts in order to facilitate a solution. This is also one of many things expected from me. It was the most practical thing to transform [the PKK platform]into a platform for peace since this is what I was striving to do just before my abduction. In general, the PKK's [ideological] defences have followed the two opposing extremes: Either a stubborn defence of the classical line, or the abandonment of that line. This, in a sense, is the same as having no solution. In my defence, I made it a point to I go beyond this.
In my defence, I did not revert to either a classical Kurdish nationalist line or a leftist interpretation of a similar tendency. Developments went beyond [both tendencies]. I did not find it very necessary to go into lengthy discussions of the historical, social, and identity issues. It was more appropriate to leave them to social scientists as topics for research. Otherwise, my leaving them aside does not emanate from any serious political concerns. Also, we had several similar expositions and evaluations in the past. For the same reason I did not go into a political criticism of Turkey either. To reiterate often-debated points did not appeal to me as creative. The same point is valid for the PKK's programme, its structure and actions. Rather than discussing these topics which I have done elsewhere extensively, I found it important to emphasise as to what kind of transformation is needed to satisfy the need for a solution at this time. Political parties are a means to an end. If they do not transform themselves as time requires, they will become an obstruction, outdated and inevitably defeated. An unproductive repetition, no matter how heroic, cannot contribute much to the ideal of freedom.
In my defence statement, I am not concerned with a legalistic defence for myself. It is so obvious to me that even the most basic rules of the existing constitution [in Turkey] are violated in my case. In addition, at a time when [the state] is insistent on denying the [Kurdish] identity, what is essential is to emphasise the ethical and political need for resistance. This, perhaps, will not change the outcome of the trial. However, it will leave for future [generations] a very precious legacy of solving the problem. I especially made sure that I paid attention to this [poignant issue].
I have put the issues into writing in the form of theses without being overly concerned with more details. Under these circumstances, I did not deem it necessary. Besides, I have not had much opportunity [to have access to defence materials] anyway.
The main thread that runs through my defence, even if repetitious at times, is the concept of a "democratic solution". This time I went into details of this approach which I had touched on in a limited way previously. Leslie Lipson's book The Democratic Civilisation which accidentally reached my hands, contributed to [my understanding of this [detailed approach]. "The right of nations for self-determination" which was fashionable in the 1970s, and which in practical terms meant establishing a separate state, was, in fact, a blind alley in this specific [context]. In the case of Kurdistan, it was obstructing the solution rather than solving the problem. In my practice, I have tried to surpass these [limitations]. When I saw in practice, how backward and sometimes obstructive even the alternatives such as establishing a separate state, federalism, autonomy and similar approaches were in comparison to the rich mode of solutions democracy offered. It became very important for me to concentrate on the democratic system. The gradual occlusion of the military approaches, that is the armed struggle also has a share in this change of [directions] in our movement. Especially, given the traditional [Kurdish] uprisings where the rebellion - suppression cycle predominates, an approach that did not contain force and violence was urgently needed, not only in the Kurdish movement but also globally.
The uniqueness of Turkish - Kurdish relations, the inviolability of the national pact borders, and the current political and military situation necessitated a solution within a democratic system not only as historically correct, but nearly the only alternative. The urgent need for a comprehensive peace yearned for by everyone constituted the basis of our offer. Due to these reasons, the charming richness of the "democratic mode of finding a solution" is superior to the obstructing military and even to the [old] political style. [This offer] soothes the fundamental problem of Turkey and this historic stage of its general democratisation like a [well-prescribed] medicine. And moreover, the key approach of the state - which unobtrusively and gradually shaped policies and programmes and even reflected to us - was also along the same lines. As such, I did not shy away from opening it out with hope and doing all I can to make it a success. However, at this stage, it would be extremely optimistic - and even dangerous - to say that "the two sides are reaching an agreement". However, I strongly believe and I am of the impression that, sooner or later, this is the most suitable way of solving the problem among all else.
The last part of my defence is related to my personal situation. Perhaps there was not much of a need for it. However, I found it necessary for it completes the overall picture. To investigate in depth the search for a great freedom that also relates to my case, has become the methodology for me. I had to apply it to myself. A reply of this kind to the indictment would be very instructive. Here is what I observed: What characterises [marks] my life is the motto of "Give me my freedom or give me death." Any other stance is unthinkable. However, to open its essence, to show its intricacies was very instructive. At this point, my greatest fear is the non-completion of this humanitarian project. Therefore, my greatest expectation from life is [to have a chance] to reach from an overly-competent character of a rebel for freedom to that of a struggler for peace which contains freedom. To analyse the character of a man of peace and that of a society of peace do require more than what is assumed, not only in terms of a political and social analysis, but also, a theoretical endeavour that requires a detailed psychological analysis. As I have emphasised, a war (or all kinds of violent actions) which do not aim at a noble, sacred and very necessary peace, is madness. In accordance with this rule [understanding], it was important that I should analyse in depth, not only the theoretical but also the moral, political and practical aspects of the character (in the Turkish text the literal word is personality) of the man of peace.
With such features, my defence lays bare in a remarkable and creative way the necessity of both, how the profound democratic stirrings Turkey is currently going through should become a fundamental attribute of the Republic and how the Kurdish question with its democratic spirit of unity, soul and will should unify at this historic stage with the Republic. My defense also emphasizes the need for change in our organization and in our people to incorporate the above transformations. Instead of the now classical kill - get killed cycle, [my defence advocates] that it is much better to live and let live as our modern times require. [My defence] concludes with the hope of a 21st Century that ushers in a new period of history which is possible only within the framework of a democratic republic, in democratic unity and its unparalleled power of solving problems, instead of the nearly two hundred-year -old tradition of the rebellion and the consequential suppression-and-denial policies of Turkey.
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EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS HANDS DOWN JUDGMENT IN FIFTEEN CASES AGAINST TURKEY
ONE MORE KURDISH CASE REFERRED TO THE EUROPEAN COURT
On 8th July 1999, the European Court of Human Rights handed down its judgment in two more cases brought by applicants from the Kurdish regions, with the assistance of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, finding breaches of the European Convention of Human Rights on the part of the Turkish government in both cases.In the case of Izzet CAKICI v Turkey (disappearance) the applicant argued that his brother, Ahmet Cakici, had been taken into custody by the Turkish security forces in November 1993, and has not been seen since. Despite evidence from several witnesses who had seen Ahmet Cakici being taken away by the security forces, and from others who had been held in the same detention centre as Mr Cakici, the Turkish government claimed that he had never been taken into custody nor detained on remand. Prior to his disappearance, Ahmet Cakici had complained that he had been tortured many times while in custody.
In 1994, Izzet Cakici brought a claim against the Turkish state under Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture), 5 (right to liberty and security), 13 (right to an effective remedy), 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and 18 (limitation on the restrictions allowed by the Convention) of the European Convention on Human Rights. On 15th May 1999, the European Commission of Human Rights declared his claim admissible. On 12th March 1998, the European Commission adopted a report concluding that Turkey had breached Articles 2, 3, 5 and 13 of the Convention. The case was referred to the Court.
In its judgment, the Court ruled that the Turkish state had committed breaches of:Article 2, on the ground that Ahmet Cakici's disappearance after being taken into custody had given rise to a presumption that he had died. In the absence of any explanation by the government as to what had happened to him during his detention, the government was liable for his death.
Article 3, on the ground that there had been an inadequate investigation into the disappearance of Ahmet Cakici.
Article 4, on the ground that Ahmet Cakici had been tortured while in custody.
Article 5, since the disappearance of Ahmet Cakici during an unacknowledged detention disclosed a particularly grave violation of the right to liberty and security of person. The Court referred in particular to the lack of accurate and reliable records of persons taken into custody by gendarmes and the lack of any prompt or meaningful enquiry into the circumstances of Ahmet Cakici's disappearance.
Article 13, since the national authorities were under an obligation to carry out an effective investigation into the circumstances of the disappearance of Ahmet Cakici: this they had failed to do.
The Court awarded £11,534.29 in pecuniary damages to Ahmet Cakici's wife and children, £25,000 for non-pecuniary damage for Ahmet Cakici's heirs, £2,500 non-pecuniary damage for Izzet Cakici, and £20,000 for the costs and expenses of the case.
In the case of Selma TANRIKULU v Turkey (extra judicial killing) the applicant brought proceedings under the European Convention in respect of the killing of her husband, Dr Zeki Tanrikulu, outside the District State Hospital in Silvan, south east Turkey, by two unidentified assailants in September 1993. The applicant claimed that members of the police had stood by and allowed the assailants to flee from the scene.
Mrs Tanrikulu brought an application against the Turkish state under Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture), 6 (right to a fair trial), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention of Human Rights. Her
application was declared admissible on 28th November 1995. In April 1998, the European Commission adopted its report on the case, concluding that there had been breaches of Articles 2, 13 and 25 (freedom to exercise right to complain under the Convention) on the part of the Turkish state. The case was referred to the Court.In its judgment, the Court found that the Turkish state had breached the following Articles of the European Convention:-
Article 2, on the grounds that there had been no effective investigation capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible for the killing of Dr Tanrikulu. The examination carried out at the scene of the incident could have been no more than superficial, there was no record of any attempt having been made to find the bullets which had hit the applicant's husband, there was a limited amount of forensic evidence available, and the applicant's statement had not been taken until more than a year after the event. The Court was struck by the fact that the public prosecutor had indicated that this was a terrorist killing, although there did not appear to have been any evidence supporting this conclusion.
Article 13, in view of the lack of an effective investigation into the killing.
Article 25, since the applicant had been questioned by the chief public prosecutor at the Diyarbakir State Security Court about the authenticity of the power of attorney which had been submitted in respect of her claim to the Commission. The Court held that this was inappropriate, and could have been interpreted as an attempt to intimidate the applicant. In addition, the Court was of the opinion that a deliberate attempt had been made on the part of the authorities to cast doubt on the validity of the application to the Commission and therefore the credibility of the applicant.
The Court awarded £15,000 in non-pecuniary damages to Mrs Tanrikulu, and awarded £15,000 for costs and expenses incurred in bringing the case.
In the cases of Munir CEYLAN v Turkey, Gunay ARSLAN v Turkey, Haluk GERGER v Turkey, Edip POLAT v Turkey, Huseyin KARATAS v Turkey, Umit ERDOGDU and Selami INCE v Turkey, Fikret BASKAYA and Mehmet Selim OKCUOGLU v Turkey, Ahmet Zeki OKCUOGLU v Turkey, Kamil Tekin SUREK and Yucel OZDEMIR v Turkey, SUREK (No 1) v Turkey, SUREK (No 2) v Turkey, SUREK (No 3) v Turkey and SUREK (No 4) v Turkey (all freedom of expression cases), found
Violations of Article 10 (right to freedom of expression) in 11 cases. The applicants had, variously, been prosecuted in Turkey for writing books, poems, speeches and articles on the grounds that they contained propaganda against the indivisible integrity of the state in breach of the Turkish Anti-Terror Law.
Violations of Article 6 in 9 cases, where the applicants had been tried in the National Security Courts, where one of the three judges was a military judge.
Violation of Article 7 (no punishment without law) in 1 case.
Damages were awarded to the applicants in all of the cases.
In the case of Behiye SALMAN v Turkey (death in custody) the applicant brought an application in 1993 in respect of the death of her husband in Adana, south east Turkey, in April 1992. Agit Salman was arrested in April 1992 and taken to Adana Security Directorate. 24 hours later he was dead. The applicant claimed that this was as a result of torture inflicted on him while in detention.
Mrs Salman's case, invoking Articles 2, 3, 6, 13 and 18 of the European Convention, was declared admissible in February 1995. In March 1999, the European Commission adopted its report in the case, finding breaches of Articles 2, 3, 13, 18 and 25 of the Convention.
The case has now been referred to the European Court of Human Rights for judgment.
Comment: Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, commented on the recent judgments as follows:-"On 9th June 1999, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, in an unprecedented move, condemned Turkey for the human rights abuses committed by Turkish security forces in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. The Committee of Ministers referred to twelve cases brought by Kurdish applicants with the assistance of KHRP.
In these latest judgments, Turkey has once again been found responsible for gross human rights violations against its Kurdish population. Yet KHRP continues to work with many other applicants with complaints against Turkey. There are currently over 2,500 cases pending against Turkey under the European Convention.
We welcomed the Committee of Ministers resolution in June. And we welcome the European Court judgments. But despite continued condemnation of Turkey by the European organs, the abuse continues. KHRP calls on all member states of the Council of Europe to bring Turkey to account for its appalling treatment of its Kurds. Only then will the judgments against the Turkish state cease."
For further information please contact:
Kurdish Human Rights Project
Suite 319 Linen Hall
162 – 168 Regent Street
London W1R 5TB
Tel + 44 171 287 2772
Fax + 44 171 734 4927
Email: khrp@khrp.demon.co.uk
Website http://www.khrp.orgThe Kurdish Human Rights Project works for the promotion and protection of human rights within the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union.
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KHRP CONDEMNS RECENT RAIDS ON MAZLUM-DER
FOR IMMEDIATE USE – 6th July 1999
Over the weekend of 19th and 20th June 1999, the headquarters and branches of Mazlum-Der (the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for the Oppressed in Turkey) and the homes and offices of its executive members were searched in a raid by the police. The warrant from the interior ministry had authorised the search on the basis of the alleged existence of "documents and evidences indicating that Mazlum-Der works against the Republican regime and the unity of the country".Mazlum-Der is an independent human rights organisation focussing particularly on issues of freedom of religion and conscience. It was established in 1991 and has 15 branches and 5,000 members throughout Turkey. Since the National Security Council declared the Islamist movement in Turkey as the primary enemy, Mazlum-Der and its members have been subjected to continuous repression and harassment at the hands of the Turkish authorities. Branches in Sanliurfa in south east Turkey and in Malatya were closed down by the police in late 1998 and early 1999.
In the most recent raids, the doors of branches were broken down, books, journals and videos were seized, and members' telephone numbers were recorded. Lawyers' offices were searched in the absence of judicial warrants and the attendance of a prosecutor, in breach of Turkish law.
The persecution of Mazlum-Der mirrors the treatment of other human rights organisations within Turkey, including the Human Rights Association of Turkey (IHD) whose former president, Akin Birdal, began a one year prison sentence at the beginning of June 1999 for daring to suggest a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question.
KHRP requests the international community to call Turkey to account for the recent oppression of Mazlum-Der.
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REPRESENTATIVES OF BAR HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE AND KURDISH HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT ATTEND TRIAL OF HADEP (PEOPLE'S DEMOCRACY PARTY) IN ANKARA
The Bar Human Rights Committee and the Kurdish Human Rights Project call on Turkey to respect the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and the right to receive a fair trial enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory.Trial under Article 169 of the Penal Code
On 23rd June 1999, representatives from the Bar Human Rights Committee and the Kurdish Human Rights Project attended the trial of 55 members of HADEP at the State Security Court in Ankara. The trial stems from events in November 1998, following hunger strikes at HADEP offices in response to the detention of PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Italy. 3,200 individuals were detained at HADEP offices all over Turkey, following which 55 HADEP members were charged under Article 169 of the Turkish Penal Code for ‘knowingly [giving] shelter, assistance, provisions, arms or ammunition to [an armed] society or band or facilitating their actions'. 18 of the accused, including the President of HADEP, Murat Bozlak, have been refused bail and are still held in custody.Trial under Article 168 of the Penal Code
The BHRC and KHRP representatives also attended a trial of 40 HADEP members charged under Article 168 of the Turkish Penal Code in 1997 for producing a calendar allegedly containing PKK propaganda. The calendar contains the names of HADEP members and human rights activists who have disappeared, or who have allegedly been killed by Turkish security forces, over the years.
Article 168 deals with the establishment, management and membership of armed societies and gangs. The punishment for executive members is at least twenty-two and a half years, while members face a minimum of fifteen years in jail.
Both trials were adjourned until July 1999. The Court said that it could not proceed because the identities and personal details of the defendants were not before the Court: an extraordinary state of affairs given that many of the defendants have been in custody since November 1998.
History of persecution
The history of state persecution of HADEP is long. The party is a successor of DEP (the Democracy Party) and HEP (the People's Labour Party), both banned by the Turkish Constitutional Court. In June 1996 42 people were detained and 50 charged following the
HADEP General Congress, when a masked individual pulled down the Turkish flag. The trial is still continuing. In January 1999, Turkey's Chief Public Prosecutor, Vural Savas, issued an indictment demanding a ban on HADEP, claiming that ‘there exists an organic link between HADEP and the PKK'. The Turkish Constitutional Court has banned 14 parties since the present constitution was passed in 1983.Despite this, HADEP secured 4% of the national vote in the April 1999 elections, and won 38 provincial mayoral seats, including 7 provincial capitals.
The proceedings against HADEP are based on a constitution which prioritises the indivisible integrity of the State. In the indictment relating to the 1996 General Congress the prosecutor writes:-
"....there is only one nationality in Turkey and that is Turkish. Any demands for recognition of the Kurdish cultural identity would be a secret and serious step towards dividing the country. There is only one State, one country and one nation in Turkey. These principles can never be compromised. Anyone who attempts to compromise these principles will be treated as traitors...."The Council of Europe has called for the release of four DEP MPs imprisoned in 1995 on the grounds that their ‘continued imprisonment .... remains a serious violation of human rights and negates the very essence of parliamentary democracy'. The Turkish government has committed itself to protect and promote human rights in Turkey in an understanding that conforms with contemporary and universal standards, and to prevent practices which are incompatible with human rights.
There are grave concerns that the continuing proceedings against HADEP and its members may contravene Turkey's international human rights commitments. The Bar Human Rights Committee and the Kurdish Human Rights Project call upon the international community to observe the trials closely, and encourage the Turkish state to ensure that all international obligations are observed.
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THE KURDISH HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT EXPRESSES SERIOUS CONCERN ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE ARREST AND DETENTION OF THE PKK LEADER, MR. ABDULLAH OCALAN, AS WELL AS HIS SUBSEQUENT TRIAL AND SENTENCE.
On 16 February 1999, Mr. Ocalan was arrested in Kenya by Turkish security forces and removed to Turkey by force. Since this time he has been incarcerated on the prison island of Imrali, off of the coastal town of Mudanya, Turkey. He was charged under Article 125 of the Turkish penal code with treason and held responsible for the deaths of some 30,000 people as a result of the fifteen year armed rebellion against the Turkish state led by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).The trial of Mr. Ocalan commenced on 31st May 1999. On 29th June 1999, Mr. Ocalan was sentenced to death. His case will automatically be referred to the Court of Appeal, a process which is normally expected to take between three and seven months. If the appeal is unsuccessful, the case will then be referred to the Turkish parliament for ratification of the death penalty. The death penalty has not been carried out in Turkey since 1984 and there are currently 36 death sentences awaiting ratification by the Turkish Parliament. In the event that the death penalty is upheld, it is expected that Mr. Ocalan will pursue a case before the European Court of Human Rights.
The circumstances surrounding the Turkish authorities' treatment of Mr. Ocalan give rise to the following serious concerns:
1. There is concern about the legitimacy of Mr. Ocalan's arrest in Kenya. Under international law, when a person is arrested and charged with a criminal offence, it is a valid ground of objection to the exercise of the trial court's jurisdiction that the prosecuting authority secured the accused's presence before the court by forcibly abducting him from within the territory of another State in violation of the laws of that State and in disregard of available procedures to secure his lawful extradition. It is far from established that these issues were examined by the Turkish court at the time of the arrest.
2. Following his arrest, Mr Ocalan was held without access to legal representatives for a period of ten days. Turkish law permits four days' incommunicado detention. A ruling of the European Human Rights Commission Council of State prohibits detainees being held incommunicado for more than four days and six hours.
3. Mr. Ocalan's legal representatives filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights concerning his arrest and detention, alleging breaches of Articles 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. They also asked the Court to indicate the interim measures that Turkey should adopt. On 4th March 1999 the European Court requested the Turkish authorities to secure compliance with Mr. Ocalan's rights under Article 6 of the European Convention in respect of the domestic legal proceedings, including his right to see and have unrestricted, effective and private access to his lawyers.
Despite the European Court's direction, Mr. Ocalan's access to legal counsel was subject to the most severe restrictions. Meetings with legal counsel were limited to one hour and took place within the sight and hearing of military personnel. Legal representatives were not allowed to take notes of their communications with Mr. Ocalan and were not allowed to take the case files into the interview room.
4. Mr. Ocalan's trial was held before the Turkish State Security Court. The European Court had ruled in the cases of Incal v Turkey (9 June 1998) and Ciraklar v Turkey (28 October 1998), that the fair trial requirements of Article 6 of the European Convention were not satisfied as the presence of a military judge presiding on State Security Courts undermined the independence and impartiality of the Court. On 24 May 1999, in a bid to deflect international criticism, the Turkish parliament passed a bill that resulted in the removal of the military judge from State Security Courts. The final hearings in the case of Mr. Ocalan were held without the presence of a military judge. However, a military judge had been involved in the case and had participated in the Court's rulings prior to the adjournment of the case on 8th June 1999.
KHRP welcomes the reform of the much criticised State Security Court by the Turkish government. However KHRP continues to call for the following action:
Turkey should adopt the 6th Protocol of the European Convention of Human Rights which calls for the abolition of the death penalty
the Turkish government must comply with the interim measures requested by the European Court in relation to the domestic proceedings against Mr. Ocalan
the Anti-Terror Law and associated procedures must be suspended in the light of Turkey's international human rights obligations
the international community should assist Turkey to establish a democratic dialogue with the Kurds in order to bring an end to the current conflict.
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Council of Europe says "no significant improvement" in Turkey's Human Rights Record.
On 9th June 1999, in an unprecedented move, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted an interim resolution condemning human rights abuses committed by the Turkish security forces in the Kurdish regions of Turkey.The Committee refers to thirteen cases adjudicated by the European Court of Human Rights and the Committee of Ministers etween 1996 and 1998, where serious violations of the European Convention on Human Rights were found to have taken place, all in consequence of actions by the security forces in the south east of Turkey. Twelve of these cases were brought by individual applicants with the assistance of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, namely: Akdivar and others v Turkey (village destruction case), Aksoy v Turkey (detention and torture), Cetin v Turkey (denial of right to effective remedy), Aydin v Turkey (rape while in detention), Mentes and others v Turkey (village destruction), Kaya v Turkey (extra-judicial killing), Selcuk and Asker v Turkey (destruction of homes), Kurt v Turkey (extra judicial killing), Tekin v Turkey (ill-treatment in custody), Ergi v Turkey (village destruction), Yilmaz and others v Turkey (destruction of homes), and Yasa v Turkey (extra-judicial killing).
The Committee's resolution notes that while steps have been taken within Turkey to train the members of the security forces to show respect for human rights, and while some changes have been made to the criminal procedures:
investigations into the human rights violations disclosed by the European Convention cases "have as yet not given concrete and satisfactory results"
"still, more than two years after the first judgments of the European Court of Human Rights denouncing the serious violations of the human rights at issue here, the information provided to the Committee of Ministers does not indicate any significant improvement of the situation with regard to offences falling within the jurisdiction of the state security courts and/or committed in the regions subject to a state of emergency"
"efficient criminal investigations will require an important reform of criminal procedure in Turkey"
The Kurdish Human Rights Project also notes that there are currently close to 2,500 outstanding applications against Turkey under the European Convention of Human Rights, including numerous allegations of extra-judicial killing, torture, village destruction and improper detention brought by applicants from the Kurdish regions. There have been more applications against Turkey than against any other country in the Council of Europe.
The Kurdish Human Rights Project supports the recommendations and conclusions of the Committee's report, calling on Turkey to:
continue to train members of the security forces in order to ensure respect for human rights in the performance of their duties
reform the present system of criminal proceedings against the security forces
ensure rapid reparation for victims of human rights committed by the security force
continue to raise awareness and improve the training of judges and prosecutors
The Kurdish Human Rights Project hopes that this resolution will encourage the Turkish government to work with the international community and non-governmental organisations to ensure respect for human rights throughout the country in order to bring an end to the cycle of abuse which has brought misery to the Kurdish regions for so long.
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As the trial of Mr Abdullah Ocalan enters its fourth day, the Kurdish Human Rights Project continues to express concern about the likelihood that he will receive a fair trial
Mr Ocalan stands trial on the island of Imrali off the coast of Turkey on charges of treason. He is accused of being responsible for the deaths of an estimated 30,000 people, caught up in 14 years of guerrilla warfare waged in the south east of Turkey between the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and the Turkish security forces.KHRP joins with other international human rights bodies in calling attention to the substantial grounds for concern that Mr Ocalan will not receive a fair trial in accordance with the standards of international law and the European Convention of Human Rights.
1. There is concern about the legitimacy of the arrest in Kenya in February 1999. Under international law, when a person is arrested and charged with a criminal offence, it is a valid ground of objection to the exercise of the Court's jurisdiction to try him that the prosecuting authority secured the prisoner's presence within the territorial jurisdiction of the court by forcibly abducting him from within the jurisdiction of some other State, in violation of international law, in violation of the laws of the State from which he was abducted and in disregard of available procedures to secure his lawful extradition. It is far from established that these issues were examined by Turkey at the time of the arrest.
2. Following his arrest, Mr Ocalan was held incommunicado, without access to legal representatives, for a period of ten days. Turkish law permits four days' incommunicado detention. A ruling of the European Human Rights Commission Council of State prohibits detainees from being held incommunicado for more than four days and six hours.
3. On 4th March 1999 the European Court of Human Rights requested the Turkish state to secure compliance with Mr Ocalan's rights under Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights to see and have unrestricted access to the lawyers representing him in private. Assistance of legal counsel is also guaranteed in Principle 1 of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and Principle 17 of the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. Despite this, Mr Ocalan's access to legal counsel has been subject to the most severe restrictions. Meetings with legal counsel have been limited to one hour and take place within the sight and hearing of military personnel. Legal representatives are not allowed to take notes of their communications with Mr Ocalan and his representatives are not allowed to take their case files with them.
4. Mr Ocalan's trial is before the Turkish State Security Court. Yet the European Court of Human Rights has ruled, in the cases of Incal v Turkey and Ciraklar v Turkey, that this tribunal does not satisfy the requirements of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights as a result of the presence of a military judge. The Turkish government's recent announcement to the effect that it intends to remove military judges from State Security Courts has little immediate impact on the trial of Mr Ocalan.
5. The media coverage surrounding the trial gives rise to serious doubts as to whether Mr Ocalan can conceivably receive a fair hearing. Everyone has the right to presumption of innocence, yet members of the Turkish government have even gone as far as to suggest that there is no need for a trial.Given that Mr Ocalan is charged under Article 125 of the Turkish penal code and could face the death penalty if convicted, the issues raised above are of particular concern.
Mr Ocalan's case is currently before the European Court of Human Rights where Turkey is accused of violating Articles 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the European Convention. As mentioned above, the Court has already taken the unusual step of taking interim measures under Article 39 of the Rules of Court, requesting that the Turkish state take measures to ensure that Mr Ocalan's rights under the Convention are preserved.
KHRP joins the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union and Amnesty International in calling for a fair trial for Mr Ocalan.
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The Kurdish Human Rights Project condemns the imprisonment of Akin Birdal
Today one of Turkey's leading human rights activists will be imprisoned for daring to attempt to promote a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question.Akin Birdal, President of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (IHD) will begin his jail term of nine and a half months today on charges of promoting Kurdish separatism and using the term "the Kurdish people". In September 1996, Birdal made a speech at the World Peace Day calling for a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. In July 1998 he was sentenced for "inciting people to hatred and enmity on the basis of class, race or regional difference".
Not only does he face months languishing in a Turkish jail, but he could completely lose the use of his right arm if he continues to be denied the crucial medical treatment abroad that he has been demanding ever since the assassination attempt saw him hospitalized and fighting for his life in May last year.
Birdal was sentenced in accordance with Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code.
Amnesty International will now consider Akin Birdal a prisoner of conscience. The imprisonment of Birdal represents a wider policy of harassment against the Human Rights Association of Turkey as the Turkish government seeks to ensure the widespread closure of the branch.
The Kurdish Human Rights Project reiterates its call for restrictions on freedom of expression in Turkey to be lifted. The Turkish authorities, with the aid of the international community, should examine the provisions of Turkish law, including the Penal Code and the Anti-Terror Law, to ensure compliance with Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Turkey's other international legal obligations.
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The Kurdish Human Rights Project and the Bar Human Rights Committee Have Today Published Two Reports Scrutinising Turkey's Human Rights Record
‘Policing Human Rights in Turkey' reports on the recent trial of committee members of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (IHD) in Diyarbakir. This trial hit at the heart of the silenced human rights community in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. The Diyarbakir branch of the Association was closed in 1997 and ten committee members prosecuted over allegations of "making propaganda for" and assisting illegal organisations.The report is written by lawyers who travelled to Diyarbakir on four occasions to observe the trial. It documents the trial process, putting it into context as part of the Turkish authorities' attempt to disband an association that has, in the face of continuous repression, battled to provide an objective critique of Turkey's notorious human rights record from within its borders. It exposes the impact of the closure of the branch over a two year period. "without the IHD, we have nowhere to go" says one resident of Diyarbakir.
Happily, the trial resulted in an acquittal, but the closure of the branch in the intervening period has far reaching effects in the region.
The second report, ‘Intimidation in Turkey', provides an analysis of interviews with lawyers, human rights activists and politicians in Istanbul in March 1999. The delegation, representing KHRP, BHRC and Howe & Co, solicitors, reports on a frightening lack of respect for human rights in Turkey, and an increased level of repression in the run up to the 1999 elections and following the capture and detention of Abdullah Ocalan in February 1999.
Both reports call on the international community and the Turkish government to work together to ensure that Turkey meets international standards of fundamental human rights, including the right to a fair trial and the rights to freedom of thought, opinion and expression.
Both reports are available from the Kurdish Human Rights Project (0171 287 2772).
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