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(en) [AFIB] Turkey: Democracy at Gunpoint
From
Tom Burghardt <tburghardt@igc.apc.org>
Date
Tue, 12 May 1998 12:16:40 -0700 (PDT)
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A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
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|| * -- SPECIAL -- * - May 12, 1998 - * -- EDITION -- * ||
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* SPECIAL EDITION *
* * *
_________________________________________________________________
TURKEY: `DEMOCRACY AT GUNPOINT'
_________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
------
1. (KICN) KURDISTAN INFORMATIE CENTRUM NEDERLAND: Turkey -
Democracy at Gunpoint
2. (AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS: Leading Turkish Human Rights
Activist Shot
3. (ICFP) INFORMATION CENTRE FOR FREE PEOPLES: An Appeal
to Monitor the Trial Against the `Kurtulus'
Magazine in Istanbul
4. (jW) junge WELT: Kurds Protest Virtually Alone in
Hamburg; Solidarity with 10,000 Prisoners on
Hungerstrike
5. (DHKC) REVOLUTIONARY PROPLES LIBERATION FRONT: Now It's
Our Duty to Ask It! Where Are They?
* * *
AFIB EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION: Since the end of World War II
Turkey has played a pivotal role in Washington's geo-
political domination of the Middle East. Along with Israel,
Turkey is among the largest recipients of US military aid
and assistance. Today's "dirty war" against the Turkish and
Kurdish peoples is an outgrowth of NATO's anticommunist
"stay behind" operations, a decades-long program responsible
for training and arming thousands of covert "soldiers," the
vast preponderance of whom have been linked to neofascist
gangs across Europe. "Gladio" (Sword) and similar programs
were a critical component of Washington's "Cold War" against
the former USSR and the socialist and anarchist workers'
movements in general. In Turkey, the National Security
Council (MGK) works closely with the neofascist National
Action Party (MHP) and its paramilitary arm, the CIA/drug-
linked terror gang known as the Grey Wolves. Like Colombia,
another recipient of US military largesse in the so-called
"war against drugs," Turkey's covert war against its own
citizens freely employs "plausibly deniable" right-wing
death squads linked to international narco-capitalists;
Turkey: a US-backed "genocidal democracy."
* * *
* KURDISTAN INFORMATIE CENTRUM NEDERLAND *
Postbus 58092 1040 HB Amsterdam
Tel: 020-681 01 01
Fax: 020-488 82 82
E-mail: kicadam@xs4all.nl
Web: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kicadam/index.html
Web: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kicadam/colofon.htm
-----
`Assassination attempt against Turkey's leading human rights
activist'
_________________________________________________________________
TURKEY: DEMOCRACY AT GUNPOINT
_________________________________________________________________
*
Akin Birdal, President of Turkey's Human Rights Association
was attacked today, 12 May 1998, by two armed men in his office
in Ankara. He is reported to have been seriously injured and
received six bullets, two to his chest, to his body and currently
being kept under intensive care in a hospital in Ankara. We
categorically condemn this attack.
Akin Birdal has been a long standing human rights advocate
in Turkey. He was particularly active on promoting the Kurdish
rights in Turkey. Turkish state has recently portrait Mr Birdal
as the Turkish State's enemy. Turkish officials claimed that Akin
Birdal, a respected human rights activist, was working for the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey accused him of "putting
Turkey in difficult position abroad".
Birdal participated at several international platforms on
Turkey and Kurdish question and particularly assisted individual
cases to the European Court of Human Rigths.
It is clear that Turkish authorities deliberately prepared
the ground for an attack against him. The assassins of Birdal are
appointed by the state to carry out their jobs. The assassins of
Birdal are the Susurluk forces. Turkish state is clearly
determined to repress any democratic opposition to its policy of
extermination on the Kurdish question.
Turkey's allies, the West, must see this reality and put a
stop to this regime of oppression.
Democracy has always been in gun point in Turkey.
Progressive forces have sacrificed numerous activists in the name
of democracy and human rights. Kurdish issue is the heart of
democracy and human rights problems in Turkey. The Kurdish people
and their friends will not stop their struggle for freedom and
democracy.
We demand from the international community to act
immediately. Silence has always meant the approval of Turkey's
state policy.
* * *
_________________________________________________________________
SATURDAY MOTHERS ATTACKED ON THE EVE OF MOTHER'S DAY
_________________________________________________________________
*
Saturday Mothers (Mother's of the Disappeared) were attacked
by police during their 155th-week sit-down protest in
Galatasaray, in Istanbul on 9 May 1998.
"The Mother's of the Disappeared" who have been protesting
against disappearances under police custody and demanding
information about their relatives, were told last Saturday that
there will be no 156th-week to their protest.
Pervin Buldan, member of Saturday Mothers Organising
Committee and wife of Savas Buldan, a Kurdish businessman who was
abducted and a few days later found dead, said that the protest
of the mothers will continue and that they urge women all over
the world to give them their maximum support.
Nimet Tanrikulu, member of the executive committee of the
Human Rights Association, Tomris Ozden, Birgul Kutan, Hanim
Tosun, Ali Ocak, Fatma Morsumbul, Emine Duman, Aynur Kocak,
Kiymet Tosun and Kiymet Cengiz were taken into custody during the
police attack last Saturday.
Source: Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and
Kurdistan!
Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org
E-mail: ozgurluk@xs4all.nl
*****
_________________________________________________________________
LEADING TURKISH HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST SHOT
_________________________________________________________________
AP.international (05-12) 07:10:37
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Two assailants shot and wounded a
leading Turkish human rights activist in his Ankara office today.
An ultranationalist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Akin Birdal, president of Turkey's independent Human Rights
Association, was in critical condition with six bullet wounds in
the leg, chest and shoulder, said Tevfik Ali Kucukbas, chief
physician at the private Sevgi hospital.
Two men entered Birdal's downtown office and opened fire, an
association official, Meral Bekar, told The Associated Press. The
association is the largest organization of its kind in Turkey.
Birdal, widely respected by international rights
organizations, has been fighting Turkey's government over alleged
human rights violations, including torture and forced village
evacuations in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.
The Turkish Revenge Brigade claimed it carried out the
attack, private NTV television reported. Little is known about
the ultranationalist group, but it has been vocally opposed to
Turkey's Kurds.
The group, which has claimed responsibility for killing
several Kurdish and leftist journalists, did not give a motive
for the attack on Birdal.
Husnu Ondul, general secretary of the Human Rights
Association, said without elaborating that Birdal had been
receiving death threats and had requested protection from the
government, to no avail.
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
*****
* INFORMATION CENTRE FOR FREE PEOPLES *
Kalkarer Str. 2 - 50733 Cologne
Tel: (00 49) - 221 760 76 56
Fax: (00 49) - 221 760 28 87
E-mail: informationzentrum@kurtulus.com
For more information about the Kurtulus, see:
http://www.ozgurluk.org/kurtulus
- Saturday, 9 May 1998 -
-----
_________________________________________________________________
AN APPEAL TO MONITOR THE TRIAL AGAINST
THE `KURTULUS' MAGAZINE IN ISTANBUL
_________________________________________________________________
*
To the INTERNATIONAL PRESS and the PUBLIC
We appeal to the international public, especially the
lawyers and journalists who see themselves as democrats, to join
an international delegation to monitor the trial against the
weekly magazine Kurtulus. We would like to present you this
detailed statement of the "People's Lawyers Office", HALKIN HUKUK
BUEROSU.
"KURTULUS for the people" is a socialist weekly. During the
time it has been published till now, again and again editions of
the paper were confiscated by the State Security Court in
Istanbul. According to the figures of the Press Council, 2
co-workers are imprisoned at the time, according to Reporters
without Borders 17 are in jail at present. Last January, the
paper's representative in Adana, Mehmet Topaloglu was murdered in
the house of his uncle, two years ago the 17 year old Irfan Agdas
was murdered when he distributed the paper in Alibeykoey/
Istanbul. Both were murdered by the police. The correspondents of
the weekly have been arrested and detained countless times. The
owners and chief editors have been sentenced to dozens of years
imprisonment and billions in fines.
On February 17, 1998, the central offices of the paper in
Cagaloglu were searched on orders of the 1. State Security Court.
Two reasons were given.
1. Supposedly there were persons inside the building against
whom warrants had been issued by the State Security Court. 2. The
many press organs inside the office rooms were to be confiscated.
On that day, a large number of plainclothes policemen,
uniformed police and Special Units were gathered in front of the
building. Without referring to the court order, they tried to
break in through the entrance of the paper's office. The
co-workers of the paper asked for the reason why the door was
broken open, and they were answered by insults and threats. Only
after the co-workers in the editorial offices tried to protect
themselves by building barricades, the policemen declared they
had to "carry out a search". The co-workers of the paper pointed
to their rights: "If you are in the possession of a search
warrant, and if the state prosecutor and our lawyers are present,
then you can carry out a search." The police, unable to break
through the door, decided to wait for the lawyers. After they
arrived, the following was agreed: "Only 4 police officers are to
enter to check the identity papers. A proper search, without
damaging or messing up the inventory in any way, is to be carried
out in mutual agreement." After this was agreed, the persons
inside the offices opened the door. However, dozens of policemen
stormed into the editorial offices, identity checks were carried
out and 7 persons were arrested after being beaten, pushed down
the stairs and pulled by their hair. One co-worker of the paper,
Zehra Kurtay, fell into a coma as a result of this severe attack.
After this, the remaining people pushed the policemen out of the
offices, barricades were set up again behind a door, and then
they began to wait. The Special Operation Unit was then
strengthened to more than 500 officers. To overpower the persons
inside the rooms, they carried gas grenades. The deputy chief of
police, and chief of the Security Department, Hueseyin Arpaci,
talked with the co-workers inside the building and stated: "I
promise you'll be released immediately after your identity has
been checked in the Security Department, nobody will be handed
over to the Political Department. This is a promise by Hueseyin
Arpaci." Later, 32 persons in total, including some people who
came to the building to express their solidarity, were brought to
the Security Department. The next day, 24 of these persons were
handed over to the Political Department.
JUDICIAL STEPS AND REQUESTS:
Claiming there was "a suspicion of an organization", the
state prosecutor of the State Security Court in Istanbul gave the
permission to keep 24 arrested people in police custody for 4
days. The 8 persons who had been arrested in front of the
building on February 18, were brought to court for carrying out a
"unlawfull action". They were released after they had been heard
by the state prosecutor. On February 20, 1998, the lawyers of the
arrested journalists appealed against the methods of arrest and
against the 4 days police custody. On February 21, 1998, the
state prosecutor of the State Security Court asked for an
extensions of police custody. The judges of the State Security
Court, after considering both motions, decided to extend police
custody for 2 days, arguing that "because of the number of
accused, the identification and the confrontation protocols have
not been finished yet". After the trial was opened, it became
clear that not a single confrontation protocol was in the files.
It was clear from the first moment that a confrontation had not
been necessary regarding the co-workers of the paper because they
were all known to the police. On February 23, 1998, 15 of the 24
people who had been brought to court were released after being
heard by the state prosecutor. Custody in jail was requested for
9 people. The requests of the assigned lawyers of the "Baro CMUK
Service" to see the files, then speak to the detained and the
participate during the interrogation by the state prosecutor were
all rejected.
When the 9 persons were interrogated by the judge, the
presence of the lawyers was allowed. The request to "remove the
officers from the court who have carried out the arrests and who
participated in the interrogation in the police stations, using
torture", was rejected by the judge, arguing that the "policemen
are present for the security of the accused, respectively to
prevent their escape, therefore the request is not in order."
After this kind of proceedings, the co-workers of the paper Hamdi
Kaysi, Banu Guedenoglu, Zehr Kurtay and Ecevit Uluvar, the owner
of the magazine TAVIR who was in the Kurtulus office at the time
- Aynur Cihan -, and Cem Kilic, arrested in front of Bayrampasa
Prison, were officially detained and sent to Umraniye Prison.
Among the detained is also the Kurtulus co-worker Senguel Akkurt
against whom a detention order existed from the State Security
Court in Malatya. The appeal against the detention order of
February 24 was rejected by the 4. State Security Court. As a
result of the investigations, the trial against the 9 persons who
had been shown to the judge, as well as against the later
detained and released again owner and chief editor of the paper,
was opened on March 10, 1998. The indictment is "supporting the
organization DHKP/C". According to the indictment, a computer
which had been confiscated in the office was considered to be a
"organization computer". As a reason for opening a trial because
of support for an organization, it was stated that "coded
documents of the DHKP/C and the `Draft of a People's
Constitution'" had been found. The mentioned `Draft of a People's
Constitution', published by the Platform for Rights and Freedom,
and confiscated on orders of the State Security Court, is a
proposal for a new constitution. The co-workers of the paper
refused all statements to the police. This was interpreted in the
interrogation protocol as follows: "The persons refused
statements, acting in an organized manner, to cover their own
actions and activities and to protect the other militants of the
organization with whom they are in contact from being exposed."
The first trial session against the co-workers of the paper,
arrested on February 17, 1998, will take place on May 15, 1998 at
10.40 a.m. before the 6. State Security Court in Istanbul.
PEOPLE'S LAW OFFICE
The lawyers of the People's Law Office not only expect long
prison terms for the accused, although there is no evidence.
Because the Kurtulus is a opposition paper, and therefore subject
to severe oppression by the state, the lawyers think there is a
possibility that they will try to ban the paper altogether. To
prevent a justice of political arbitrariness, it's necessary that
foreign watchers monitor the trial. We ask for your participation
in a delegation, organized for this purpose by the Information
and Prison Watch International. In case you have any questions,
please address Sandra Bakutz at the address above.
There's the possibility to ask for a brochure with
background information about the Kurtulus. We'll send you this
brochure in exchange for 1,50 DM postage costs.
Source: Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and
Kurdistan!
Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org
mailto:ozgurluk@xs4all.nl
*****
* junge WELT *
http://www.jungewelt.de/
- Monday, 11 May 1998 -
-----
_________________________________________________________________
KURDS PROTEST VIRTUALLY ALONE IN HAMBURG;
SOLIDARITY WITH 10,000 PRISONERS ON HUNGERSTRIKE
_________________________________________________________________
*
Around 500 people, nearly all of them Kurds, demonstrated on
Saturday in Hamburg, Germany for an end to the war in Kurdistan,
which the Turkish government is waging with a new military
offensive. The demonstration was led by 60 Kurds from Hamburg who
are on a solidarity hungerstrike, trying to raise consciousness
about the hungerstrike by 10,000 political prisoners in Turkey.
The action was also to protest Germany's military and political
support for the Turkish government.
Isaac Velazco, European spokesman for the Peruvian MRTA
liberation movement, spoke to the demonstrators as well. He
mentioned the suppression of the Peruvian people and called for
solidarity to prevent a massacre of jailed guerrillas in Peruvian
prisons.
The action by Kurds in Hamburg received little support from
the German left, who are not directly affected by the
consequences of the war in Kurdistan. This lack of solidarity
stands in stark contrast to the massive participation by Kurds in
the "international bloc" of the May Day demonstration in Hamburg,
which several thousand people participated in.
Source: Arm The Spirit, ats@locust.etext.org
For A Free And Independent Kurdistan!
KURD-L Archives - http://burn.ucsd.edu/archives/kurd-l
*****
* REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLES LIBERATION FRONT (DHKC) *
[Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi]
DHKC Informationbureau Amsterdam
E-mail: dhkc@ozgurluk.xs4all.nl
Web: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc
List info: english-request@ozgurluk.xs4all.nl
- Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 -
-----
_________________________________________________________________
NOW IT'S OUR DUTY TO ASK IT! WHERE ARE THEY?
_________________________________________________________________
*
It's now time to ask the attention of the democratic public
opinion. It's now time to find out and judge why innocent people
are being captured by the police and the counter-guerilla units
and taken away from their house without knowing where they are
heading. And this everything happens in Turkey and Turkish-
Kurdistan. Neslihan Uslu, Hasan Aydodan, Metin Anda, Mehmet Ali
Mandal. These are the people who are captured and taken away by
the police on 31 March 1998 in Yzmir (West-Turkey). From then we
receive no news from these four people.
Because of this fact it's now time to ask: Where are these
four people? They are not the first and unfortunately not the
last four who disappeared after that they were taken by the
police. Without doubt we know that the police had arrested these
four people on 31 March 1998 but none of the government
institutions gives us information about their fate. It's the
responsibility of the government to know where the four people
are. "Even if there a sheep is missing, it's my responsibility to
know where it is."
NOW WE ARE ASKING! WHERE ARE THESE FOUR PEOPLE!!!
NESLIHAN USLU: She was a student at the Faculty of
Literature in Istanbul. She was standing for a democratic
educational system and she fought for it. She had
participated in the struggle to establish a real democratic,
just and totally independent country. Because of these facts
the police has arrested her on March the 31st. From then we
obtained no news.
MEHMET ALI MANDAL: Born in 1958 in Menemen-Aliada (Yzmir).
Because of the family circumstances en poverty he couldn't
finish his education. He has fought for equality and justice
and been arrested with his 3 comrades on 31 March 1998.
After that time we obtained no news from him.
HASAN AYDODAN: Born in 1974 in Tokat (Northern Turkey). He
was one of the seven children of a poor family. After the
secondary school he couldn't continue with studying. While
his friends at the same age were going to school he began to
work just like the thousands of children in our country. He
fought for a democratic and just system. The police had
arrested him on 31 March 1998. We obtained no news from him
after that time.
METIN ANDA: 46 years old. He was a poor farmer in a village
nearby Bergama (Western Turkey). In 1989 a company called
Eurogold to settle down in the neighborhood of his village.
Eurogold made use of "cyanide", a very poisonous material,
to search gold on the mountains of Bergama. This material
has damaged the nature and health of the people living
there. Metin Anda mobilized the people to protest against
this poisonous company and succeeded to establish a people's
council in Bergama. Because of this fact the police had
arrested him on 31 March 1998. After that time we obtained
no news from him.
Addresses:
President Suleyman Demirel, Office of the President, Cumhur
Baskanligi, 06100 Ankara. Fax: + 90 312 427 13 30 Telegram:
President Demirel, Ankara, Turkey.
Prime Minister M. Yilmaz, office of the Prime Minister,
Basbakanlik, 06573 Ankara, Turkey. Fax: + 90 312 417 0476
Mrs. Ismail Cem, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Disisleri Bakanligi 06100 Ankara Turkey.
Fax: + 90 312 419 15 47
Mr. Olatan Sungurlu, Minister of Justice, Adalet Bakanligi,
06659, Ankara, Turkey. Fax: + 90 312 417 39 17
Mr. Basegioglu, Ministre de l'Interieur, Fax: + 90 312 419 16 64
* * *
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