Torturers Before Court
A case  began on 23.01.2003 against 6 members of the Turkish gendarmerie (Ali Özsevim, Hasan Ço-ban, Sinasi Bilici, Kenan Gayaker, Oguzhan Tür-koglu and Hüseyin Selçuk), who have been accused of torturing Selahattin Öge, Fesih Ata, Fuat Ata, Mehmet Özen, Mustafa Boylu and Remzi Gerçi from the district of Karliova (Bingöl) in February 2001. The case was adjourned until 13th March. On 21.01.2003 a case continued in Bakirköy’s 1st criminal court against the police officers Nevzat Ayar und Feridun Koc. They are accused of torturing Kenan Ak and Serkan Aksoy who had been arrested on June 5th 2000 on suspiscion of theft. The court has sent the files to the coroners’ court to determine whether the injuries to the backs of the victims did come from torture. (Source: TIHV, 29.01.03)

Journalist Found Guilty 
On 28.01.2003 Istanbul’s state security court sentenced  Kemal Aydeniz, chief editor of the publication “Odak”, to 45 months imprisonment. Grounds for this were 2 articles of which one dealt with the situation in the F-type prisons. The publication was banned for 1 week. (Source: Özgür Gündem, 29.01.03) 

Charged for Beating Student 
Ankara’s public prosecutor has brought action against the police officers Sefa Sevim and Ergün Ates. They are to be charged under § 245 of the Turkish Penal Code (TPC) for ill treating the stu-dent Veli Kaya. In a demonstration from 6.11.2002 against the Turkish education board (YÖK), the student had, under orders from Ankara’s deputy police chief, Zekai Baloglu,  been dragged into a cellar and brutally beaten. Veli Kaya’s lawyer com-plained that the police chief and 2 other officers who were also involved in the incident have not been charged. The lawyer was to make an appeal against this. (Quelle: Radikal, 30.01.03) 

Sick Prisoner Not To Be Released 
The prisoner Sevket Levent Çöplü is not be re-leased from Sincan’s F-type prison despite the fact that he is suffering from schizophrenia. He had been sentenced in 2000 for membership of the Turkish Communist Workers’ Party (TKIP) and, according to medical reports, had already been criminally irresponsible for the offenses between 1994 and 2000. It was also confirmed that his ill-ness could not be treated under prison conditions. (Source: Evrensel from 30.01.2003) 

Torture in Idil
A delegation of IHD members and other organisations investigating the incidents in Idil (Sirnak) arising from an attack on 27.01.2003, have indicated that those arrested afterwards had been tortured. A total of 33 people had been arrested and detained by police and the gendarmerie.
The delegation spoke with some of those held by the gendarmerie and reported that they had to wait blindfolded in the cold and did not get anything to eat. (Source: Evrensel, 31.01.03) 

One Not Guilty Verdict, One Judgement Against!
While the publisher of the Kurdish-Turkish news-paper Dema Nu received a not guilty verdict  for the first time in a case before the 2nd chamber of Istanbul’s state security court, the publisher of Deng was found guilty. In the case against the 37th issue of Dema Nu, the judge passed a not guilty verdict on 21.01.2003 against the publisher. A day later the same court opened a new case against Deng because of several articles in the 62nd edition and also sentenced its former publishers, Bülent Demirel and Fadil Özcelik, each to 3 years and 4 months in prison as well as a fine of 2 billion TL, under the anti-terror law §8 and § 312 TPC. (Source: Dema Nu, 31.01-15.02.03)

Freedom of Speech Continues to be Penalized 
As part of the campaign “to abolish legislation restricting freedom of speech”, a book was pub-lished entitled “Freedom To Express Opinion 2001”. The case continues against the book’s authors, Mehmet Sanar Yurdatapan and Yilmaz Camlibel, who are accused of publishing and publicly presenting the book.
Although a total of 11 authors published the book only S. Yurdatapan and Y. Camlibel have been charged.
The case was opened on 22.01.2003 before the 4th chamber of Istanbul’s state security court and then adjourned. (Source: Dema Nu,31.01-15.02.03)

Danish-Kurdish Human Rights Council (DKR) Founded 
On 16.01.03, a Danish-Kurdish Human Rights Council was set up in the Danish parliament.
DKR was founded by Kurds and Danes following a proposal from the social democrat party member of parliament, Lars Kramer Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen, who was elected chairperson of the council, said of the DKR’s basic aims: “It’s mainly about informa-tion and clarification on Kurds, Kurdish culture, history and politics”. (Source: Dema Nu, 31.01-15.02.03)

The State of Freedom of Opinion in Turkey 
The radio station is just 3 years old. Broadcast bans by the Turkish broadcasting control board now total 150 days and the chief editor of "Voice of Anatolia" (Anadolu Sesi), Seyfullah Karakurt, is to be impris-oned for 32 years. Istanbul’s state security court has not only charged him. The news reader Selda Demir sis also to be imprisoned. “Voice of Anatolia” has been accused of reporting  on the revolts and death fasts in Turkish prisons at the beginning of 2001. The government had at the time ordered a reporting ban on the events taking place. The Turkish media had obeyed this but “Voice of Anatolia” hadn’t.
The station is one of 150 in Istanbul. Broadcasting on 92,8MHz, it can not be received over the whole of Anatolia but can be heard in the Marmora Sea region. (...)
“Voice of Anatolia” considers itself to be a cultural station and an alternative to the cheap commercial stations. It is also a political station and a voice for the Left. The programme “The Mosaic of Beliefs in Anatolia” presented minorities and in “Letters from Our Fellow Human Beings” individuals could have their say, (...) – prisoners, for example. And it is this which has led to Karakurt’s demise.
At the beginning of 2001 he broadcast a programme with the relatives of eye witnesses and victims of a prison revolt in the Anakara prison of Ulucan. As a reprimand, the all powerful RTÜK, the Turkish board of control for radio and TV, imposed a 90 day broadcasting ban. Before this came into force, the “Voice of Anatolia” gave greater coverage than other stations, and was eventually alone in report-ing, on the death fasts begun by Left wing prisoners in protest against their transfer from communal cells into smaller cells accommodating just 3 or 4 people. This resulted in another 30 days of broad-casting bans. A further 30 day ban was imposed for “Mosaic of Beliefs” and the reading out of prisoner letters. The state did not want such coverage, said Karakurt resignedly with a shrug of his shoulders.
When the station began to broadcast again in 2002 it was to be immediately closed down again – this time for 180 days. This would have meant the end for the station which is financed almost exclusively from advertising. The reason for the closure was a programme in which the lawyer Cemal Yücer and the writer Lütfü Kaleli had discussed the ban on several organisations from the Alevite minority. RTÜK believed that it could detect from this that the station was promoting “separatism”. The station was only saved by Ankara’s administrative court which overturned the RTÜK decision.
But this did not mean the all clear. Istanbul’s state security court has 4 cases against Karakurt and his news reader for those incidents which “Voice of Anatolia” has already received a total of 150 days of broadcasting bans. Three of the cases refer to the infamous paragraph 312 of the Turkish Penal Code which is seen as the gagging paragraph for freedom of opinion. It was reformed last year but the reform is not valid for the cases against Karakurt. The fourth case concerns paragraph 169 concerning the aiding of an “illegal armed terrorist group”. The charge sheet refers consistently to Karakurt’s pro-grammes. It cites the following 6.00pm news report from March 12th 2001 as endangering the state: “Violence is being used against prisoners involved in death fasts; they are held in single cells and the majority are being transferred to hospitals. The death fasters suffer from temporary memory loss and violence is being used against them. Attempts are being made to injure them”. The court has com-bined 2 of the cases concerning the breaching of paragraph 312. Public prosecutor Ahmet Kelebek has called for a prison sentence of 18 years. 
The court recently kept up the worry for Karakurt by adjourning the cases again until May.
In the third case Kelebek has called for a nine year prison term – this is also likely to be adjourned. The case on paragraph 169 is to be heard on March 3rd. The exhausted Karakurt said: “In Turkey the perpe-trators of events are not punished, only those who report on them”. (Source: FAZ, 01.02.03)

Lawyers Apply for the Release of 
Kurdish Politician Leyla Zana
Lawyers for the well known Kurdish politician, Leyla Zana, recently applied for her release from a 15 year sentence and for her trial to be reheard. The politician, who has been awarded international prizes, was sentenced in 1994, along with 3 other former members of parliament, for alleged support of the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).
A law change, which had been required by the European Union (EU), recently came into force in Turkey whereby judgments by the European Court of Human Rights would enable the reopening of cases before Turkish courts. 
The European court had judged the court case against Zana to have been "unfair". Zana had caused a stir in 1991 by speaking Kurdish in the Turkish parliament and wearing a headband in the traditional Kurdish colours of yellow, green and red. (dpa, 04.02.03)

Law Changes
President of state Ahmet Necdet Sezer has ratified law number 4793, known as the 2nd convergence package, which is to make amendments to specific legislation. 
The law was passed by parliament on 23rd January and entitles former parliamentary members of the Democracy Party (DEP) to retrials. 
Amendments are to be made to the associations law  which will enable associations to make contact with foreign associations and institutions without having to first obtain permission.. 
There will now only be fines instead of prison sentences for producing fly sheets without a com-mittee decision and other such  similar offences. 
The president also ratified a series of UN conven-tions concerning offences which breach national borders. (Source: Radikal-TIHV vom 04.02.2003) 

Politicians and Lawyers Before Court 
A case has begun in Ankara’s state security court against the lawyer Mahmut Sakar, a candidate for the DEHAP party at the last elections, Salih Yildiz, Hakkari candidate, and Irfan Dündar, lawyer for KADEK leader Abdullah Öcalan. They have been accused of supporting an armed organization and spreading separatist propaganda because of inter-views with the TV station Medya TV. (Source: Özgür Gündem from 05.02.2003) 

Journalist Barred from Association 
The journalist Nevzat Onaran has been barred from the Association of Contemporary Journalists  fol-lowing a request from the governor of Ankara. Onaran and Sanar Yurdatapan had each been sen-tenced to 2 months in prison for the book entitled “Freedom of Thought – 38”.  Under law 4454, concerning offences by the press, the prison terms were suspended. (Source: Evrensel from 05.02.2003) 

Case on Torture 
A case has come to an end before the 6th criminal court in Istanbul against 6 police officers who were accused of torturing the following in March 1996 under suspicion of being members of TKEP-L: Bülent Gedik, Devrim Öktem, Zülcihan Sahin, Ali Kiliç, Sinan Kaya, Sevgi Kaya, Arzu Kemanoglu, Levent Bagdadi, Okan Kaplan, Izzet Tokur and Ulas Bati. The case against Atilla Çavdar was dis-missed because the defendant had died. The police officer Mustafa Sara was sentenced to 2 years im-prisonment under § 243 TPC. The cases against the other defendants - Mustafa Taner Paylasan, Ahmet Bereket, Fatih Berkup and Yakup Dogan – were dismissed because the period of limitation had been reached. This period was to expire for Mustafa Sara on April 14th. (Source: Radikal from 06.02.2003) 

Law on Hunger Strikes 
Turkey’s national assembly has passed a law which adds a paragraph to § 307 TPC. Accordingly people who incite others towards hunger strikes or death fasts will be liable to prison terms of 2-4 years. If such action leads to death the penalty will be 10-20 years. If there is permanent damage then § 456 TPC will be applied. In laws on the forced feeding of hunger strikers, body searches of lawyers will only take place if agreed to. (Source: TIHV from 06.02.2003) 

Turkey: Gül’s Wife Before Human Rights Court 
The wife of Abdullah Gül, Turkey’s prime minister, has made a complaint against Turkey to the Euro-pean Court of Human Rights because she is not allowed to wear a headscarf when studying at state universities. This was revealed by her lawyer, Mehmet Ali Alan, to the newspaper Tercüman.
The secular elite in the Turkish judiciary and mili-tary see the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam and therefore will not permit it in state institutions. Gül’s government of the left leaning Islamic AKP party, want to ease the ban on headscarves. The generals have warned several times about such changes being made.
The head of the AKP governing party, Tayyip Er-dogan, is to be a candidate in a by-election in March, opening the way for him to become prime minister. This was recently revealed in Ankara by deputy prime minister Mehmet Ali Sahin. Erdogan was refused candidacy at the parliamentary elections last November because he had a criminal conviction for incitement. Following a constitu-tional amendment he may now stand as a candidate in the province of Siirt. The election had previously been declared void there. (Source: ( FR, 04.02.2003)

Human Rights Court: Ankara Again Found Guilty 
Turkey has been found guilty by the European Court of Human Rights on several of its court cases against members of the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). The court recently decided that Tur-key must pay the complainants up to €10,000 in compensation. In judgements concerning 14 other complainants, the judges considered the Turkish state security courts not to have been impartial because in the 1990s the military had been involved in cases concerning terrorist activities. (´Source: FR, 07.02.03)

Complaint Against Kurdish Writer Mehmet Bayrak
Books from the Kurdish academic and writer Mehmet Bayrak entitled “Kurdish Music, Dances and Songs” and “Kurdish Women – From Past to Present” were confiscated shortly after their publi-cation by the public prosecutor from Ankara’s state security courts (see WIS from 07.01.03).
It hasn’t stopped just at these confiscations. Charges have also been brought by the 2nd chamber of the state security court in Ankara under § 312/2 TPC. A first hearing against Bayrak is to be heard on 12th March 2003.
Because of the involvement of IMK e.V. and the Kurdish PEN organisation, Bayrak’s case is to be taken on by the Committee for Persecuted Authors from the international PEN headquarters in London. (Source: IMK e.V., 14.02.03)

IHD: Rights Violations Increase 
The Diyarbakir branch of the Human Rights Asso-ciation has issued an overview of the breaches of rights for 2002 in the southeast of Turkey. According to this, rights violations have either again increased or are higher than the figures from 2000. According to the IHD, legislative changes have not been put into practice. (Source: DIHA, 31.12.2002)

Journalists Found Not Guilty 
The journalist Celal Baslangic and chief editor of “Radical” have been found not guilty by the 2nd criminal court in Bagcilar (Istanbul) on allegations of slandering the military. This concerned an article about a conference on “Forced Deportation and the Depopulation of Villages”. The same court also found Enis Berberoglu from “Radical” not guilty for an article from 10.06.02. (Source: Evrensel,08.02.03 )

Sinan Kara Again Free
Sinan Kara, a reporter for the news agency Dogan and proprietor of the local newspaper Datca, was released from prison on 07.02.03. He had been imprisoned on 26.12.02 to serve a sentence im-posed on him for not delivering 2 free copies of his newspaper to the district council. (Source: Cumhuriyet, 08.02.03) 

Mine Explosion
Sait Agirman was killed by a mine explosion on 08.02.2003 near the village of Daline in the district of Beyazsu (Mardin). The children Ramazan Agir-man and Zübeyir Agirman were injured. (Source: Cumhuriyet, 10.02.03)

Turkey: Court Upholds Party Ban 
The ban on the radical-Islamic Welfare Party in Turkey does not breach the European Convention on Human Rights. This was recently decided by the supreme chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The court said that the ban made in 1998 by the Turkish constitutional court had been necessary to protect democracy.
Basic rights to assembly and freedom of opinion and religious affiliation had therefore not been violated. The court said that a political party which strove for a change to the constitutional order of a state must use lawful and democratic means.
In 2001 a sub chamber of the court had dismissed a complaint from Erbakan, the former Turkish prime minister and founder of the party. He then appealed against the decision.
His party was banned in 1998 because according to the constitutional court it had misused religion for political aims and wanted to convert Turkey to an Islamic religious state. (Source: FR, 14.02.03)

Al-Qaeda Collaborators Murder Member of Kurdish Regional Parliament in Northern Iraq 
On 08.02.2003 members of the terrorist group Ansar Al-Islam (Helpers of Islam) carried out an attack near Sulaimania in northern Iraq against Shawkat Haji Mushir, member of the Kurdish re-gional parliament and member of the PUK political party. He was killed as well as 6 others, including his attendant , 3 of his bodyguards and 2 passers by.
Ansar Al-Islam has links to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network and considers itself a sub-group of Al-Qaeda. Ansar Al-Islam maintains a 700-900 strong military force in the surrounding regions of Su-laimania in northern Iraq near to the border with Iraq. 
Since its founding, or renaming from Jund-Al-Islam, in 2002, Ansar Al-Islam have carried out attacks against officials of the Kurdish regional parliament, against police and Kurdish military positions and carrying out terrorist attacks against the public. Their aim is the realization of Al-Qaeda’s terrorist network and the establishment of an Islamic regime such as the former Taliban re-gime in Afghanistan. (Source: PE von PUK, 09.02.03)

Turkey Wants a Say After Iraq War 
On the declaration by the head of the Turkish governing party AKP, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to permit the stationing of US troops in Turkey for a war against Iraq, the conservative Dutch newspaper "Telegraaf" wrote:
"The war will not benefit the Turkish government at all. They don’t just want to prevent it out of hu-manitarian reasons. The Turkish people are against the war. It is therefore unpopular to give the Ameri-can troops a green light.. (...) However, Erdogan, under pressure from his own military, has decided in favour of the US. (...) Turkey wants a say after the war in any talks concerning the region. It would be unimaginable for Ankara to have an independent Kurdistan on its doorstep, having large oilfields in Mosul and Kirkuk under the control of Iraqi Kurds while Turkey would be condemned to silence by America”. (Source: De Telegraaf, 05.02.03)

Iraqi Regime’s Arabisation Campaign in South Kurdistan Reaches Dangerous Dimensions 
On 10.01.03 the Iraqi military violently and com-prehensively evacuated the 5 Kurdish villages of Machschume, Schiraweh, Schechan, Gerdlanke and Omarawa, deporting within hours their inhabitants to the free Kurdish regions. Five days later the villages were destroyed and razed to the ground. Parallel to this the regime is concentrating its troops on the borders to Kurdistan. Such Arabization is taking place with the aid of armed units of the so-called “People’s Mujahadeen Iran”, who are now also stationed with the Iraqi military on the border to Kurdistan. In an open letter the “Association Against Arabization in Kurdistan”  have appealed to Kofi Annan, the UN Security Council, the Euro-pean Parliament and international human rights organisations to put pressure on Saddam Hussein and to take action for the return of expelled Kurds to their villages.  (Source: Berayeti, Nr.3606, 01.02.03)                                                                                                                
 

Appeal to Peace Movement 
Iraqi refugees in a camp at Berde Qareman/ north-ern Iraq, have called on the peace movement and war opponents to not just  oppose a possible US war against Iraq but also against the manufacture of war materials, the trade and export of weapons of murder as well as against the dictator Saddam and his regime.
The reign of terror by Saddam Hussein, who does not recognize human rights, democracy or freedom, has led to the wiping out and flight of millions of people over the years. (…)
In a region of Kurdistan occupied by Iraq, Saddam is perpetrating a brutal war against the Kurdish population there. The regime are carrying out his policies through the use of chemical and biological weapons and the mass murder of its own people. Under Saddam’s leadership chemical weapons have not only been used against the Kurds but also sev-eral times against its neighbour Iran.
Arrests, disappearances, millions of people killed and buried in mass graves, the destruction of vil-lages, expulsion of their inhabitants, the destruction of the economy and means of living are  the daily acts of this brutal regime. They continue to try and arabize the Kurds by compulsory name changes and the resettlement of Arabs into these regions.
By toppling Saddam’s bloody regime “peace, hu-man rights, democracy, equality, recompense, neighbourliness, reconstruction, and world peace” would all return to the country. Hundreds of thou-sands of Iraqis living abroad could also return to their homeland. (…)  (Source: Appeal by the spokesperson in a refugee camp in Berde Qareman in South Kurdistan / Northern Iraq, 15.01.03) Refer also to www.kurden.de

Borders Sealed Off
Neighbour states, the UNHCR and many aid organisations are preparing themselves for an ex-pected flood of refugees from Iraq (from Thomas Uwer and Thomas von der Osten-Sacken).
The borders of northern Iraq to neighbouring Tur-key are hermetically sealed; the border to Iran is mined; initial measures to counter refugees have been made. While the public attention is fixed on the US march towards the Gulf, aid organisations and the UN High Commission for Refugees in northern Iraq are preparing themselves for an ex-pected flood of refugees. Over the previous weeks the UNHCR have been stocking warehouses in the region to enable the  immediate setting up of “tent cities” and the providing of  emergency care in the event of a crisis. 
German organisations are already collecting dona-tions for emergency aid. “The UN estimates around 1.5 million people will attempt to leave the country in the event of a war” said Thomas Gebauer head of the organisation Medico International in mid-January following talks with the German develop-ment minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. 
Reference was made to the mass of Iraqi refugees during the last Gulf war, when nearly 2 million people tried to cross the borders in the north of the country. Most of these were not fleeing from the war itself but rather from Iraqi troops trying to bring the region under its control following a failed mass uprising. 
How many will flee this time depends on the type of military strategy used against Saddam Hussein as well as the response to it from Saddam. He has declared that he would put up an unrelenting de-fence. The Kurds in northern Iraq, described in official government jargon as “Zionist agents” and “Israel’s Fifth Colony” have for a long time been blamed for the country’s tragedies, are considered to be particularly at risk if Saddam manages a retaliatory strike. His deputy Tarik Aziz recently said on Qatar TV that the Kurdish politicians M. Barzani and J. Talabani would then be “swept away”. 
In view of such threats the people in northern Iraq have been preparing themselves since the beginning of the year for the worst. To guarantee the welfare of the population in the event of a renewed chemi-cal attack, assembly points and emergency medical stations have been set up. The regional government have been waiting in vain for support and aid from Germany. (Source: JW, 8 - 12. 02.03)

Iranian Security Forces Rape and Shoot Dead a Kurdish Woman and Her
Daughter 
A Kurdish woman named Scheler Qaderzadeh (38) and her daughter Zolaycha Qader Amhadi (20), a student in the Kurdish town of Sardascht, were arrested on 25.01.03 by the Iranian military near the village of Miraweh on the border to South Kurdi-stan. They wanted to travel to South Kurdistan to visit relations. They were brutally raped and then shot dead. Their bodies are still being held by the military and have not been handed over to their family. The father and husband of Scheler and Zolaycha, Qader Ahmadi, had also been executed by Iranian security forces a few years ago. He had been accused of working together with the Kurdish opposition parties. (Source: Medya, Nr. 141, 02.02.03)
 
Two Iranian Asylum Seekers in Turkey Commit Suicide 
Jawad Azimi and Schehram Zergari were 2 refugees from Iran and living for years as asylum seekers in Turkey. Their bodies were taken to the hospital in the Turkish town of Belltschik on 30.01.2003. They had belonged to a group known as the “12 Head Group” who had decided to commit suicide in protest against their miserable living conditions, the threat of deportation and the refugee policies of the UN in Turkey. They arrived too late in hospital to be saved and died shortly afterwards from their injuries. The “Association of Iranian Political Prisoners in Exile” had often written to the UN authorities warning against deporting them to Iran. (Source: Press Satement from “Association of Iranian Political Prisoners in Exile”, 31.01.03)
 
Strike Continues in Teheran By
Poisoned Kurdish School Children 
According to a report from the Iranian newspaper “Entechab” from 29.01.03, 15 Kurdish school pu-pils and their mothers are striking in a prayer room of the Iranian health department in Teheran. They are 74 school pupils from the Kurdish village of “Islam Abad”  near the town of “Sardascht”. They are victims of a chemical experiment by the Iranian regime in April of last year, and were used as guinea pigs. Alleged officials from the Iranian health department had gone to the village spreading rumours of a dangerous illness. They went to a school and demanded the pupils let themselves be inoculated. Shortly afterwards the school pupils showed signs of poisoning and were taken to hospi-tal. Doctors could not diagnose the illness and requested the authorities to take the children to Teheran. The request was refused, however, and the village and hospital were blockaded. Doctors and parents were threatened with harsh consequences if they told anyone of the incident. Some of those affected did manage to travel to Sulaymaia in South Kurdistan to receive treatment there. The criminal act by the Islamic Iranian Republic was then made public. Complaints by the parents have until now been unsuccessful. They continue to be threatened and told not to say anything. The authorities have also strictly refused any treatment from being re-ceived abroad.
They have now traveled to Teheran to make the public aware of their fate by striking in the minis-try. They require urgent support and awareness. International human rights organisations are there-fore being called on to put whatever pressure they can on the Iranian regime, to finally allow these innocent people to travel abroad for urgent treat-ment. (Source: Website Hamid. Com)
  
Iranian Death Squads Still Active 
Reliable sources say that 2 Kurds were recently found dead near the Kurdish town of Mariwan. They bodies showed signs that they had been tor-tured. They have now been identified. The body of Sirwan Salami, son of Sheik Mahmoud residing in the town district of Drseyran in Mariwan, was found near the town on  30.01.03. Another victim was “Ata” born in the village of Serdosch and residing in the town district of Kanidinar. He was found dead in his home on 01.02.03. This has not been the first time that Kurdish activists have been killed in this way. It is suspected that Iranian death squads were involved in these incidents. (Source:Press Report from KOMALA, No. 99, 02.02.03) 

Death Sentence Lifted Against Iranian Reformer 
A judge has recently revealed that Iran’s highest court has lifted the controversial death sentence for blasphemy against the reformer and university professor Hashem Aghajari. Aghajari’s sentence had sparked off week long protests and led to pub-lic criticism of the judiciary. 
The revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, eventually became involved to resolve this political crisis. He instructed the judiciary to investigate the judgement. (Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 15th February 2003, No.38)

Immigration: Five EU States Want a Stop to Refugee Ships 
Five EU states have pledged mutual support against illegal entry into their territories. Spanish interior minister Angel Acebes said that an agreement had been made between Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Britain on the joint use of patrol boats in the Mediterranean and Atlantic to stop refugee ships. Acebes said that Operation Ulysses could become the foundation for a planned European Union police force. 
Patrol boats are to be initially put into service in the western Mediterranean. Crews are to identify sus-pect ships and, in emergencies, board them and compel them to sail to the nearest EU port. In the coming months the operation is to be extended to Atlantic coast of Africa. Spain want to sail 2 ships and the other 4 nations 1 each. Headquarters are to be set up in the southern Spanish town of Algeciras. (Source: (ap) FR, 29.01.03)

Security and Permanent Protection Demanded for Victims of Iraqi Dictator-ship in Germany 
Lowering of Iraqi Refugee quota due to imminent war and misrepresentation by German Foreign Office. 
Security and permanent protection demanded for victims of Iraqi dictator in Germany.
The special path taken by Germany in respect of Iraq does not only concern its foreign policy. While a possible military conflict in the Gulf daily draws nearer, the acceptance quota for Iraqi refugees reached an historical low point in January. Accord-ing to latest figures from the German department for migration only 12% of asylum seekers were granted the right of stay in first hearings. In 2000 and 2001 this figure was around 65%. “The so-called German special way followed by the gov-ernment means that Iraqi refugees are being sent straight back to their country of persecution”, said Thomas Uwer, spokesperson for the aid organisa-tion WADI e.V. 
That there is a turn around of the acceptance quota exactly at the same time of a foreseeable war in Iraq, can not just be chance. The human rights situation in Iraq has not improved since then. On the contrary, the regime is already suppressing any potential resistance because of the possibility of change of leadership. Respected international or-ganisations estimate the number of victims since Saddam took power to number from 500,000 to 1 million, excluding those from the two Gulf wars. “The German government seem to be giving those Iraqi refugees no protection who might be difficult to deport in the event of a regime change or an end to the embargoes “, said Uwer.
The foreign department’s reports on the asylum relevant situation in Iraq is the most important em-pirical basis for governmental decision making and for judges hearing appeals against rejected asylum claims. Since the beginning of 2002 these reports have suddenly been referring to “UN refugee camps” in Kurdish northern Iraq, which “also ac-cept people from central Iraq”. The Kurdish autonomous regions have also since then been con-sidered as a “safe refugee alternative”, even for those Iraqis not from these autonomous regions. Uwer, whose WADI organisation has been active in northern Iraq since 1993, describes such reports as having been “snatched out of the air”. The existence of UN refugee camps has just been made up. The UNHCR do not have any mandate to care for refu-gees within Iraq because Kurdish northern Iraq is still part of Iraqi territory . 
Both organisations consider the claim to be danger-ous  that the Kurdish regions are a safe haven for refugees. It may be true that the Iraqi state is not currently active in the region but there does not exist any legal nor material defense capabilities in the region which could guarantee protection from an Iraqi military attack. Such a safe haven could quickly turn into a death trap for refugees if Hus-sein’s army wanted to exact revenge on the Kurds. Human rights and refugee organisations have for years been  having direct talks with the foreign office to have the passages concerned reworded. “This threat, a main reason why people are fleeing the region, is simply not being taken seriously by the German foreign department”, said Hans Bran-scheidt from the Coalition for a Democratic Iraq, a coalition of Iraqi opposition groups and German human rights organisations. “If the lives of refugees are at stake it is not enough to speculate on every-thing turning out ok”. 
The organisations are calling for an ad-hoc revision of the foreign department’s report and not just a “suspension on decision making” – i.e. then being able to deport refugees following a war. Because of the deep involvement of German firms in Iraq, who once armed Iraq with the support from the German government, they call for a generous uptake and permanent residency guarantees for Iraqi refugees already living in Germany. (Extracts from a WADI e.V press statement., 06.02.03)
 
 
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:

· Barham Salih: South Kurdistan has been independent for the past 10 years
· Kofi Annan, Kurds can present evidence to UN
· Sala, Rashid, Kurds Hope for Regime Change 
· Ein ganzes Dorf im Nordirak ist auf der Flucht vor Islamisten (German)
· Iraqi people have a voice – KDP
· Irakisches Öl von Mosul und Kirkuk lässt auch Türkei nicht ruhen (German)
· Turkey attempts to ban Kurds on world's largest web catalog (english)
· IMK e.V press statement from 07.01.2002 (German and English)
· Comments of German Foreign Office’s State of Affairs Reports (German)
· Open Letter to German Government on possible Turkish EU entry (German)
· Thoughts on the subject of Iraq I and II, by Alexander Kauz (German)
· Campaign against impunity - “Justice Heals” (German)
· “Squaring the Circle”, by Ofra Bengio (German and English)
· 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 anniversary 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 English)
· 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
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