Heavy Fines and Prison Sentences for Pro-Kurdish Publications 
Despite the “EU compliance package”, the regime in Ankara are not prepared to implement the “re-formed legislation”.
It was not enough for state security courts Nos. 4 and 5 in Istanbul to impose heavy fines on the fort-nightly Kurdish and Turkish newspaper Dema Nu (New Times) and the magazine DENG (The Voice). They also temporarily shut them down.
The former publisher of DENG, Fadil Özcelik, received a fine in the millions for “separatist propa-ganda” under the anti-terror law § 8, and former chief editor Bülent Demirel received both a fine and prison sentence of 1 year and 4 months. The court also issued a 7-day publication ban.
Concerning Dema Nu, the same court fined the former publisher Fadil Özcelik 100,000,000 TL, again under the anti-terror law §8. The former chief editor was fined 3.9 billion TL and sent to prison for 1 year and 4 months. A week long publication ban was also imposed. (Source: Dema Nu  Nr. 39, 15-31.10.02)

Homecomers Attacked 
In the village of Korukul in the district of Tatvan (Bitlis), the village guard Bahattin Göle, along with 6 other persons, attacked the family of Tahir Alkan with a knife. Tahir Aktan was injured as a result. He stated in the indictment submitted to the public prosecutor in Tatvan, that he had been forced to leave the village in 1996 and had returned 6 months ago. This had not been the first attack by village guards. (Source: Özgür Gündem, 13.10.02)

Mine Explosion
Ehmet Baykara (10) was injured after treading on a mine in Çemikari in the district of Pervari (Siirt). (Source: Evrensel, 12.10.02)

Wounded by Hand Grenade 
Nadir Demir (11) was seriously injured when a hand grenade exploded which she had found near a gendarmerie station in the village of Koçdagi (Xel-kava) in the district of Baskale (Van). (Source: Özgür Gündem, 15.10.02)

Human Rights Report 
The minister of state responsible for human rights informed the prime minister and other ministers on the activities of the human rights councils. There had been 925 complaints made to these, of which 146 ended in court proceedings. Concerning the human rights councils in 81 provinces and 831 districts , a total of 1,293 complaints had been sub-mitted. Of these 115 concerned torture and ill treatment, 19 concerned unjustified arrest, 30 con-cerned the right to life, 575 concerned the right to education, and 123 concerned noise levels and traffic. Regarding ill treatment, there have been 351 criminal investigations and 289 disciplinary hearings. Thirty police officers have been brought before a court and 22 have received disciplinary penalties. (Source: Cumhuriyet, 14.10.02)
 
IHD Diyarbakir Found Not Guilty
On 14th October, criminal court no. 3 in Diyarbakir found the board of the local IHD not guilty in re-spect of an invitation to a Newroz celebration. Former IHD head, Osman Baydemir, and leading members Fikret Saraçoglu, Meral Danis, Reyhan Yalçindag, Abdulkadir Aydin and Pirozhan Dogrul were charged under § 64/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TPC) in connection with articles 6 and 77/1 of the associations law number 2908. Accordingly, any brochures, flyers and written comments must be in Turkish. The IHD board had decided on March 15 to write Newroz with a “w”, which does not exist in the Turkish language, instead of “Nevruz”. In his speech, the public prosecutor said that this was done without intent to commit an offense. The court agreed and found them not guilty.
Another case is to go before the same court against the IHD in Diyarbakir because “Newroz” instead of “Nevruz” had been written on a banner at a Newroz celebration. This cas was adjourned until 18th Feb-ruary 2003. (Source: Özgür Gündem, 15.10.02)

Torture in Istanbul 
The street trader Gülhan Rençber has made public an incident of torture at the tourist police station at the Sultanahmet (Blue Mosque). At a press con-fernce at Istanbul’s IHD she said that on August 14th she was arrested by 2 police officers, despite having sold headscarves for the past 13 years. When she asked the station chief not to hand over her goods to the city council, he got angry and beat her until he became tired. She was then thrown out of the station. Her complaints to the council and governor were in vain. Her lawyer, Eren Keskin, said that legal proceedings had been taken because her client had been certified as being unfit for work for 3 days as a result of the beating. Gülhanim Ren-çber is currently receiving treatment from the TIHV and had been afraid to carry on with her work for more than 2 months. (Source: Özgür Gündem, 16.10.02)

Penalties for Banned Music 
Nevzat Bingöl, who ran the local TV station Gün TV in Diyarbakir, must pay a penalty of 2.9 billion TL (nearly 2,000 Euro) because he played music from Ahmet Kaya with titles such as “Happy Birth-day”. This was ordered by the No. 1 criminal court in Diyarbakir because he has not yet paid a previous fine of 4 billion TL. During the legal proceeedings, Nevzat Bingöl said that he had not been informed by the governor for the state of emergency region,  of the ban on these songs. (Source: BIA, 16.10.02) 

Teachers Found Not Guilty 
The state security court in Diyarbakir has found the leadership of a teachers’ union not guilty on charges relating to the use of Kurdish sentences in its invitations to the Day of the Teacher. The former union head, Hayrettin Altun, and senior members  Medeni Alpkaya, Niyazi Er-çek, Süleyman Yilmaz, Hasan Hayri Kiliç, Zemzem Fedai and Mehmet Atlihan from the TIS union, had been accused of supporting the kurdish party. (Source: Özgür Gündem, 17.10.2002)

Kurdish Names
The civil court in Siirt has judged a case against 20 families who had given their children Kurdish names between 10th July 1997 and 19th March 2002, to be beyond its jurisdiction. The case was intended to compel the parents to give their children other names. (Source: Özgür Gündem, 18.10.02)
 
Mine Explosion
Adalet Güngör (20) gas died following a mine ex-plosion near the village of Güneyce in the province of Sirnak. The cousins Zahide Güngör (16) and Elmas Güngör (16) were injured. (Source: Zaman, 18.10.02)

Turkish Judiciary Begin Legal Proceed-ings against Islamic Political Party
Just 2 weeks prior to the Turkish elections, the Turkish chief public prosecutor began legal proceedings to ban the Islamic Justice and Devel-opment Party (AKP). This was recently revealed by the news agency Anadolu. The party, under the leadership of Istanbul’s former mayor, is seen as a favorite in the elections on November 3rd. The elec-toral board only recently banned Erdogan from standing as a candidate. This ban had been criticized in the recent EU commission report on Turkey. (Source: dpa)

Turkey Wants Wealth in Northern Iraq 
Frantic war preparations are taking place in the region towards Iraq’s harsh northern mountains. Washington’s important NATO ally, Turkey, is now prepared for the unavoidable. 
Tents, food, medical equipment, medicines and other supplies have been stored ready in south east Anatolia to give first aid to a possible flood of refu-gees. If the USA make a major strike, Ankara reckon with at least 80,000 people, possibly more, coming from its neighboring state and looking for refuge in Turkey.
Military preparations by NATO’s second largest  strike force are also running at full pace. A unit of 15,000 men have already been stationed at the bor-der. Ankara officially imply that they reject a war against its neighbor, with whom they have recently again established intensive economic relations. Public opinion is decisively against a US strike. It has been officially denied that Ankara has agreed to a request from Washington to use air bases and ports for military action and to permit US soliders from Turkey to be sationed in northern Iraq.

Turkish leadership driven by territorial ambitions 
Ankara fear that a war might cause severe damage to its ailing economy. According to official figures, the 12 years of sanctions against Iraq has cost Tur-key 30 billion dollars in lost trade. More worrying for them though is that in the turbulence of a war an independent Kurdish state might be created which would then rekindle the desire for independence from the oppressed Kurdish minority in Turkey.
Behind the scenes, government representatives openly say that Ankara cannot oppose the wishes of the USA, its most important ally. But one does expect some kind of return for cooperation. There is talk of generous economic aid but also a guarantee from the super power that in the reconstruction of Iraq following a collapes of the current regime, any Kurdish national ambitions would be suppressed. Almost daily, prime minister Bülent Ecevit warns that Turkey would not shy away from military intervention if the Kurds sought “excessive auton-omy” in northern Iraq. 
Nationalist circles also sense unexpected opportunities in the event of an Iraq war to make good “historical” injustices. Defense minister Saba-hattin Cakmakoglu recently said: "Turkey considers northern Iraq to be directly within its sphere of influence". The minister recollected that northern Iraq lies within the borders defining Turkish terri-tory which were outlined in the 1920 “National Pact” following the collapse of the Ottoman Em-pire.

80,000 men ready to march into northern Iraq 
The region was later “taken from Turkey by agres-sion” and given to Iraq under the British mandate.
Furthermore, northern Iraq does have massive oil reserves. The majority of new fields discovered in the past 20 years lie in the Kurdish regions of Zakho, Erbil and Barzan, as well as in the former oil center, Kirkuk, which lies outside of the protec-tion zone patroled by the Americans and British since 1991.
 A recent constitutional proposal from the “Democratic Party of Kurdistan” (KDP) and the “Patriotic Union of Kurdistan” (PUK) for a federal, democratic Iraq, included Kirkuk in the Kurdish region. Ankara was angered and is now trying to play the Turkoman card. Most of the the tiny Turkoman minority of 20,000 people live in Kirkuk. Turkey claim there is a risk to their safety and, according to parliamentary spokesman Omer Izgi, there might be a “national duty” for military intervention like that of the 1974 defense of Turkish Cypriots. Therefore, an 80,000 strong troop is ready for a possible inva-sion into northern Iraq. (Source: Salzburger Nachrichten, 17.10.02)

Human Rights Activist Before Court: Turkish Judiciary Continue to Take Ac-tion Against Denouncers of Sexual Torture in Prisons 
Cases are currently piling up in Turkey against women who publicly speak about sexual torture and rape in prisons. A case was again opened in Sep-tember against the human rights activist and lawyer Eren Keskin. She is a co-founder of the Womens’ Legal Aid Office in Istanbul which cares for women victims. She has been charged in respect of a speech at an event on “Women’s Rights Are Hu-man Rights” on March 8th in Cologne. She is ac-cused of publicly inciting people to “hatred and hostility”.
The case was adjourned until November but the national lawyers’ association has suspended Erin Keskin for one year because of earlier judgments against her. Written confirmation of this has not yet been received but it is likely that Eren Keskin will not be able to represent any women in the campaign against sexual torture.
Eighteen women and 1 man may also suffer as a result of this. Their cases had begun last year and entered the fifith round just recently. The defen-dants are accused of slandering and offending the Turkish state and its security forces by organizing a congress in 2000 on the issue of sexual torture in prisons. The event had been authorized. It was the first time that women could publicly speak on the issue at an organized event. The fifth hearing also brought nothing new and was adjourned until 25th February 2003.
Frequently, women who denounce sexual torture become subject to public smear campaigns. A mas-sive smear campaign began in the media against the group of 19 following the issuing of charges con-cerning Cologne. The journalist Fatih Altayli threatned Keskin in a radio broadcast and in the newspaper Ikinci, with sexual assault. Because of these comments he is now himself before a court. Criminal and compensation claims are being made against him. (Source: junge Welt, 16.10.02)

Police found Guilty of Torture 
A court in the west Turkish town of Manisa re-cently sentenced 10 police officers to between 5 and 11 years imprisonment after finding them guilty of torture. It is still open as to whether they must serve their sentences because they have made appeals against the judgments.
The case has occupied the Turkish judiciary for the past 7 years and has also aroused international at-tention. The police officers were accused of tortur-ing a group of 16 youths in police custody between 26th December 1995 and 5th January 1996. The youths, aged between 14 and 18 at the time, had been arrested for allegedly spraying extreme Left wing slogans on a house wall. They claimed that the police officers beat them, stripped them naked, hung them by their arms tortured them with electric shocks and sexually assaulted them. 
By chance, a member of parliament witnessed the torture. Sabri Ergül, member of parliament for the social democratic CHP party, was waiting in the police headquarters in Manisa for a meeting with the chief of police when he heard screams behind a door. He opened it and saw police torturing several, partially naked youths. Ergül demanded an investi-gation and took the case before parliament, but nothing happened. He then hung a notice from the police headquarter’s door which said “Torture Takes Place Here”. This awakened the media’s interest.
The youths first received long term prison sentences from a state security court for being members of a criminal organization but on appeal were released after 5 years. They have made a claim of 800,000 Euros compensation against the state.
The accused police officers were found not guilty in 2 cases from 1998 and 1999. The court of appeal then revoked both judgments and called for a re-trial. This was possible because of the seriousness of the allegations but also because its was seen as a test case regarding torture. The EU commission said in its recent human rights report that the case was an example of inadequate punsihment against the perpetrators of torture and ill treatment. (Source: FR, 17.10.02)

Visit to Death Faster 
Writers Intervene in Conflict 
Just a few days prior to the second anniversary of the beginning of the hunger strikes against the high security prisons and “isolation detention” in Tur-key, two prominent Turkish writers, Yasar Kemal and Orhan Pamuk, have been active in finding a solution to the problem. According to the news agency Anadolu, they visited a woman taking part in the “death fasts” in her house in Istanbul. "A problem can not be solved if it is just ignored", said Orhan Pamuk. "Perhaps we will be listened to", said the nearly 80-year-old Yasar Kemal who re-ceived the 1997 peace prize from the German book traders organization.
The dispute on the transfer of extreme Left prisoners into modern institutes has cost nearly 100 people their lives to date. However, the Turkish government persistently refuse to talk with hunger strikers. (Source: dpa - taz, 16.10.02)

German Foundations inTurkey Threat-ened with Legal Action for Spying 
German foundations in Turkey are in danger of having legal action taken against them for “secret arrangements against the security of the (Turkish) state”. Following month-long investigations the public prosecutor in Ankara has completed its charge sheet, says the semi-official news agency Anadolu.
The prosecution have called for prison sentences of between 8 and 15 years against representatives of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation and the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation as well as that of the Orient-Institute.
Together with Turkish “partners” the party political foundations are accused of carrying out activities which were “contrary to the unity of the country and to the secular republic”. The charges also state that there was “serious evidence of unlawful spying activities”. (Source: dpa, 23.10.02)

German Foreign Ministry Confirm Threat of Legal Action Against Foundations 
The German Foreign Ministry have confirmed that German foundations in Turkey risk legal proceded-ings before a state security court. A spokesperson recently told journalists in Berlin, “The German government has received information concerning a complaint that has been submitted to the state secu-rity courts against German foundations in Turkey”,.
The semi-official news agency Anadolu had previ-ously reported that the foundations were at threat of legal proceedings for “secret arrangements against the security of the (Turkish) state”. The prosecution have called for prison sentences of between 8 and 15 years against representatives of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation and the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation as well as that of the Orient-Institute.
The foreign ministry spokesperson said that the allegations were unfounded. They were sure that this would quickly be proved in any legal proceed-ings and “the foundations would eventually be rehabilitated”. According to the foreign ministry, an indictment had not yet been made and that they did not have any detailed information.
The charge sheet says that together with Turkish “partners”, the party political foundations have been carrying out activities which were “contrary to the unity of the country and to the secular republic”. There was also “serious evidence” of spying activi-ties. (Source: dpa, 25.10.02)

End for Dam Project in Eastern Turkey - Ancient Town of Hasankeyf Survives
The ancient town of Hasankeyf in the Kurdish re-gions of eastern Turkey appears to have been saved from the threats posed by a dam project. After many of the project’s European financial backers pulled out, the German government have now de-clared that they would not be issuing any Hermes export guarantees for the building of the dam. This should now mean the end for this major dam pro-ject.
The German government’s petitions committee submitted an official petition containing thousands of signatures against the granting of export guaran-tees for the dam project. The committee pointed out that the petition had received special consideration by the government, the parliamentary party leader-ship and ministers.
Human rights organizations, environmentalists and archaeologists had told of the disastrous conse-quences of the dam during their year-long campaign under the slogan “Save Hasankey”. Apart from the displacement of 25,000 people from 70 towns and viallges, a process which had already begun, the dam’s flooding of the Tigris would have also led to the destruction of archaeological treasures. Hasankeyf is the oldest town in upper Mesopata-mia. In 400BC a road led here which later became the silk route. The threatened flooding of the town was seen by Kurdish organizations as part of the denial and destruction of Kurdish identity by the Turkish state. (Source: JW, 18.10.02)

Three DPK-I Members Executed by Iranian Regime 
Shortly after it was revealed  that on 08.10.2002 the Iranian regime had executed a member of the De-mocratic Party of Kurdistan –Iran, named Hamze Ghaderi, the party was then informed that 2 further party members had also been executed - Chalid Schauqi, 50 years old, married, born in “Geli Ghas-semlu” and imprisoned in the town of Urmiye (Wurme), and Jalil Ziwey, 30 years old, from the town of Sardascht. The regime forced the families to to bury the bodies at night without any publicity and without a funeral.
Chalid Schauqi was a longstanding member of the party. In 1989 he left the country after no longer being able to work full time for the party because of family reasons. He hoped to be able to live in an-other country without being persecuted. However, he was arrested in Turkey and deported to Iran. He was sent straight to prison  where he was persis-tently tortured and then condemned to death for membership of the DPK-I. (Source: Brayeti, 17.10.02) 

New Wave of Executions in Eastern Kurdistan 
Along with a new concentration of Iranian troops in Kurdistan, the Mullah regime in Teheran has inten-sified repression against the Kurdish people. Kurd-ish political parties have reported further executions of members of their organizations. Three DPK-I members had been executed in the past few weeks. Many other prisoners will suffer the same fate. It was not by chance that Hachemi Rafssanjani, for-mer president and current head of the “Inspection Board of the Islamic System”, unexpectedly arrived in Kermaschah (the largest Kurdish town). There is currently talk of an imminent US military strike against Iraq and at the same time the Kurdish par-liament has been meeting for the first time for 9 years, mainly to prepare for new elections, to unite the 2 administrations and to ratify a new proposal for a federal state post Saddam Hussein. Iran, like Turkey, fear that the positive elements in southern Kurdistan might be an example for Kurds in the other regions of Kurdistan. Turkey intend to pre-vent the establishment of a federal Kurdistan, even by resorting to military means, and at the same time is calling for greater autonomy and rights for the Turkomen minority living in Kurdistan.
Rafsanjani also visited army leaders in Kurdistan to  give his support in any war against the Kurds. His current trip to Kurdistan and the simultaneous new wave of executions is intended to send a threatening message to the Kurds in Iran not to be encouraged by the new developments taking place in southern Kurdistan. By concentrating and strengthening troops on the border to southern Kurdistan and closing down the border crossing, the regime want ot increase pressure on the southern Kurdistan political parties to prevent the establishment of a federal Kurdistan. According to a report from a Persian language radio broadcaster in Israel, the current Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, said that any enlargement of Kurdish autonomy in Iraq would be resisted. (Source: Peyke Iran 16.10.02)  

Stoning in Eastern Kurdistan 
On 25.10.2002, the Iranian security services stoned a women named “Goli Nickchu” and a man named “Junes Asaadi” in the town of “Naghadeh”. They had been arrested 12 years ago and have been in prison since then. They were accused of having a relationship outside of marriage and were therefore sentenced to death by stoning according to Islamic law. They were buried to their waists in a square in the town center and then were publicly stoned until they were dead. (Source:Press report from Komala, No. 85, 18.10.02)    

Iran also Want to Prevent, by any Means, the Creation of a Kurdish State in South Kurdistan 
The Mullah regime in Teheran has spoken out in even harsher tones against the creation of an independent Kurdistan. The current Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, who was staying in Istanbul because of a meeting of the EKO member states, said that a  Kurdish state was a danger to Iran and to other states in the region. His country would use all means to prevent this happening. The Mullahs have until now only tolerated the administration in Iraqi Kurdistan. Khatami also said that the Islamic Republic of Iran was in principle against any inde-pendence for nationalities and religious or ethnic groups. Every state in the region should support the maintenance of Iraq’s territorial integrity. Since the re-opening of the Kurdish parliament, Iran has massively increased its comments against Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan and the oppression of its own Kurds in Iran. Those in power in Teheran fear that a Kurdish federal state in northern Iraq could be an example for the Kurds in Iran. In Teheran, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry “Hamidreza Assefi” also spoke out against the new developments in Kurdistan and said that in the interests of his own country, any developments leading to the creation of Kurdish state would be resisted with all means available.
It is interesting to note that Haidar Alijew, president of the former Soviet Union and todays independent Aserbaijan, is also against an indpendent Kurdistan. He was also at the EKO meeting in Istanbul. He said in an interview, “the creation of a Kurdish state can not be tolerated”. In the past weeks and months Kurdish political parties have assured Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq that they do not want to create a sovereign state. They want to remain within Iraqi territory and to campaign, together with other Iraqi opposition groups, for a democratic Iraq which guarantees their national rights.  (Source: Radio Israel in Persian, 19.10.02)

Pollster Arrested Because of Survey Results 
The Iranian opinion pollster, Behruz Geranpayeh, has been arrested because of pro-American survey results. According to the state newspaper Iran, the  judiciary accused the head of the national opinion research institute (Nirs) to have falsified the results of two surveys. Seventy-five percent of those questioned had agreed to the uptake of diplomatic relations with Iran’s enemy, the USA. The survey results caused fierce reactions within conservative circles. Nirs had carried out the survey under instructions form reformist politicans. The parlia-ment’s foreign affairs committee has confirmed several times the accuracy of the results.
The member of parliament from the reformist wing,  Ahmed Burqani, and the head of the news agency Irna, Abdullah Nasseri, were therefore invited be-fore the court. Geranpayeh is now to be charged with spreading lies. (Source: Frankfurter Rundschau, 18.10.2002)

Blackmail in South Kurdistan
PCDK, an arm of KADEK (the PKK-successor party) in South Kurdistan has forced farmers from the villages of “Horneh” and “Berehschken” in the border region of “Sedekan”, to pay a sum of 50 Iraqi Dinar. They were agricultural and animal farmers who move into the mountains in the summer to graze their animals. PCDK people have also demanded money from other inhabitants in the region. The farmers feel they are being blackmailed and say that because of the poor economic situation in the region, they have not been able to sell their produce this year.    (Source: Media, Nr. 134, 15.10.02)
According to a report from Hawelati, om 11.10.02 KADEK guerillas forced their way into the village of “Kolitan” and demanded payment of 50 to 100 Dinar from each household. KDP Peschmergas were informed and gunfire was exchanged between the two groups. Nobody was killed or injured. The KADEK people were forced to retreat under pressure from the Peschmergas and villagers. (Source: Hawelati, No. 95, 21.10.02)

Human Rights Office in South Kurdistan Appeal to UN Human Rights Organization to Cooperate in Explaining the Fate of 182,000 Anfal Victims 
The following is a letter from the Kurdish Human Rights Office:
Dear co-workers from the Human Rights Organiza-tion of the United Nations,
Dear Andreas Mafromatis, responsible for the maintenance of human rights in Iraq, 

Following its founding in 1945, the United Nations, in § 1 of its Declaration, guaranteed to uphold basic  human rights, to maintain the peace for all people and declared that all people have the right to live in peace and freedom, on the basis of equality, and to have the right to self-determination. All members of the United Nations, including Iraq, were then duty bound to follow and practice this.
However, Iraq, since its foundation, has not once fulfilled these duties, but instead, contrary to all international agreements, has broken the rules and commited major human rights abuses.
Since the taking of power by the Baath party in 1968, the Iraqi regime has breached the elementary rights of its citizens many times. In particular, the Kurdish people suffer under these terrible acts. The Kurdish people are constantly subjected to persecu-tion, expulsions, ethnic cleansing, massacres and annihilation  by chemical weapons from the regime. This has all been proven and documented by human rights organizations.    
The regime is now internationally isolated and under pressure because of its human rights abuses. We therefore appeal to you under § 25, paragraph 39, 40 and 41 of the United Nations to compel the Iraqi government to immediately do the following:

1. Explain the fate of 182,000 Kurds who disappeared without trace during the infa-mous Anfal operations. 
2. Explain the fate of 8,000 Barzani Kurds and thousands of Faili Kurds who were transported under the orders of the so-called Iraqi Revolutionary Council and for whom there has been no trace since.
3. Free all political prisoners and explain the fate of political prisoners who have disap-peared since 1968 without trace. 
4. Establish a commission of human rights organizations who can carry out an unre-stricted inestigation of prison conditions for all known and secret prisons. 
5. Permit the entry of human rights activists to monitor the maintenance of human rights in the whole of Iraq. 
6. Immediately end the policy of ethnic cleansing 
(Source: Kurdistani Newe,,  No. 2896, 23.10.02)  

Saddam’s Regime Bans Kurdish Language Lessons 
Until now there have been just 2 schools in the Kurdish town of Machmur where Kurdish children have had Kurdish lessons. The town is still under control of the Iraqi regime. Parallel to the Arabization campaign by the central government in Baghdad against all that is Kurdish, Saddam Hussein has now had the remaining Kurdish schools (Machmur- and Missaghschule) closed doen by the authorities. The school children have been transferred against their will to an Arab school (7.Nissan Schule). (Source: Birayeti, Nr. 3816, 14.10.02) 

Immigrants: Bodies on Lesbos
Greek coastguards recently discovered the bodies of 6 immigrants on the Aegean island of Lesbos. Coastguards suspect that they drowned while trying to cross the straits between Turkey and the island. (Source: dpa,17.10.02)
 
Dear Readers,
IMK e.V. in cooperation with the Medizinischen Flüchtlingshilfe Bochum is to carry out a series of events on the theme of “Trauma and Treatment”. The first event is to take place on 21st September 2002 in Cologne. The complete programme is available on our Website..
The programme is also available on the weekend conference on “Kurds in Iraq and Turkey – their future between Agas, Sheiks and oil multinationals” from 6.12. until 08.12.2002, in the Ev. Akademie Bad Boll, Germany. It can also be downloaded from our WEB-Site www.kurden.de.
 

New Publication

Dear Friends,

The IMK e.V. would like to inform all those involved in refugee work about the dissertation by Mehmet Bayval on “Psychosocial Development of Child Refugees”. 

The dissertation studies the conditions under which child refugees live in Germany. It looks at aspects of psychology, sociology, ethnology, politics and law.  
· The first part of the dissertation deals with definitions, refugee causes, statistics and international and national law. The issues referred to are the right to stay, residency and procedures concerning entry.. 
· The second half focuses on actual living situations, psychosocial development of child refugees,– e.g. in the areas of accommodation, education and identity, and outlining measures which would influence the living conditions of young refugees. 

The dissertation is available (in German) for the sum of  6,-- Euro ( incl. post). 
 

As before, please let us know your e-mail address. E-mail is faster and cost effective.
We would also like to refer you to our Web page where the following interesting articles are available:
· A joint press statement from the GfbV, KOMKAR, Kurdish Communities in Germany and the IMK e,V, from October 24th (German)
· A report from the Turkish Daily News on the village guard system (German and English)
· IMK e.V press statement on the 40th annivesary of Syria’s racist census (German)
· An analysis of the behavior of the Turkish media during the German general elections (German) 
· An annual report from the PSK on developments in Turkey and north Kurdistan (German and Englisch)
· IPPNW-Report on the actual situation in Turkey and Kurdistan (German)
· An article byAshiti Amiron on Syria and Syrian Kurdistan (German)
· PSK statement on Turkish Parliament’s “EU Compliance Package” (German and English)
· The Article “Kurds and Kurdistan” by Shahin Sorekli from Australia (English)

These do not necessarily reflect our opinions but do concern the current debates on the issues we deal with. Visit us at www.kurden.de
Best regards,
The Editorial team

   ISSN 1438-2016   Publisher: IMK e.V.,  Postfach 20 07 38,  53137 Bonn,  Germany  Telephone: + 49 – 228 – 36 28 02, Fax: + 49 – 228 – 36 32 97   e-mail: IMK-Bonn@t-online.de  and   imkkurds@aol.com    Visit our website at: http://www.kurden.de  Director: Abubekir Saydam  Subscriptions (annualy): Institutions, foundations, political parties, governments, and international organizations: Eu 92,00  Courts, lawyers, human-rights organizations, refugee counseling centers: Euro 48,00  Solidarity subscriber:  Euro 31,00   Bank account: Volksbank Bonn (Bank code number: 380 60 186),  Account number: 201 246 9023