TIHV Need Support in Treating Hunger Strike/Death Fast Survivors and 
those  Injured in the Operation against Turkish Prisons
They survived the hunger strikes/death fasts and the operation against 
the prisons. To be able to continue their lives they are dependent on 
appropriate medical treatment. The Turkish Human Rights Foundation 
(TIHV) require prompt support to be able undertake and maintain such 
treatment.
The Justice Ministry have for a while now been temporarily releasing 
groups of remand and convicted prisoners who were seriously ill as a 
result of hunger strikes/death fasts. Amongst those released are prisoners 
who survived the extensive prison operation, named "Return to Life" by 
the government, from December 19th 2000. Nineteen of these are 
suffering from the effects of severe burns.
Because most of these prisoners have only been temporarily released on 
health reasons, and therefore retain their status as remand or 
convicted prisoners, their lives continue to be under state supervision. The 
Justice ministry should therefore still be responsible for their care. 
However, instead of providing them with the specialist care necessary for 
long term hunger strikers, the Justice Ministry have simply left them 
to their fate.
The TIHV have for some time now been treating remand and convicted 
prisoners whose health has been impaired by hunger strikes/death fasts or 
the prison operation. To date 214 applications have been made to the 
TIHV for treatment, 156 of them to the Istanbul branch. New applications 
are being received daily. The reason for the high demand for treatment 
is the specialist knowledge that the foundation has acquired in the 
treatment of more than 6,000 torture victims since 1990, with applicants 
and their families therefore being able to trust the organisation.
The health problems arising from long hunger strikes include, in 
particular, loss of hearing and sight as well as mobility problems resulting 
from damage to the central nervous system. There can also be functional 
impairment with temporary or permanent memory loss as well as 
infections resulting from damage to the immune system. Such symptoms require 
specialist treatment. For example, if the initial symptoms of damage to 
the central nervous system are not recognised and the necessary treatment 
being provided, this can than lead to "Wernicke-Korsakoff-Syndrome" 
condemning the patient to a life-long dependency on others with functional 
impairment to the brain. Therefore, treatment is vitally important 
requiring specialist care, precision and expert knowledge.
Today, the necessary experience is available for such treatment but 
treatment requires large financial resources. Despite the work and 
self-sacrifice of TIHV volunteers, around 2,000-2,700 DM is required for each 
patient. By burns victims this figure rises to at least 20,000 DM. 
Because of prisoner releases and the continuation of the hunger 
strikes/death fasts in Turkish prisons, the TIHV's financial resources will be 
over-stretched for months, perhaps even years, to provide such medical 
treatment. Therefore, the TIHV made a "Solidarity Appeal" on July 19th.
"We, the volunteers from the foundation, believe that all those who do 
not wish to remain passive observers of the suffering, will take notice 
of this appeal. We call for solidarity with the TIHV not to allow those 
who remain alive to become victims of the Wernicke-Korsakoff-Syndrome". 
Contact: TIHV Istanbul Temsilciligi, Hocazade Sokak No. 10, 
Siraselviler Cad., Beyoglu - Istanbul, (oder Postfach:) P.K.: 6 Galatasaray 
postanesi, Beyoglu - Istanbul, Tel.: 0090-212-2493092, Fax: 0090-2517129, 
E-Mail: ihvist@turk.net, http://www.tihv.org.tr/ Turkisch / English) *Bank 
Account:* Vakifbank Taksim Sb., Istanbul, No. 2006369
 

Higher Education Council (YÖK) Penalises Students for Demanding 
Education in Kurdish
The Higher Education Council (YÖK) has decided that students who 
initiated actions to make Kurdish a subject of choice at universities are to 
be punished for their "separatist activities", with penalties ranging 
from a disciplinary hearing through to expulsion. YÖK head Kemal Gürüz 
justified the decision on the following grounds: "It has been confirmed 
that the PKK had instructed their supporters to initiate campaigns for 
education in Kurdish. In this respect, action was taken in our 
universities and colleges whereby issues of Kurdish identity were in the 
foreground. Applications were made for education and training in Kurdish. 
Disciplinary inquiries are taking place against students involved in these 
activities".
The student activity in colleges and universities, a thorn in the side 
of YÖK, include the submission of applications, speaking Kurdish during 
lectures, writing in Kurdish, giving answers to tests in Kurdish, 
podium discussions and conferences held in Kurdish, theatre performances in 
Kurdish, posters and banners in Kurdish, demonstrations and many other 
such actions.
The YÖK head said that the submission of applications did not just 
concern harmless applications from individuals but rather a unified, 
directed action. Investigations have been initiated by college principles 
into the students involved.
The Turkish Human Rights Organisation (IHD) have condemned the attitude 
of YÖK as a violation of basic rights. According to them, to be 
penalised for requesting education in a native language was an 
incomprehensible attitude in the present day. YÖK, which was established through the 
1982 constitution by the military junta, describe the IHD as an obstacle 
to freedom, democratisation and the civil society in Turkey. (Sources: 
Cumhuriyet, Radikal, 28.11.01; IHD-Istanbul, 29.11.01)
 

Raids by Istanbul Police on 18 Associations and Cultural Centres
On 19.11.2001 eighteen associations and cultural centres and offices in 
various parts of Istanbul were stormed by large units from the Istanbul 
police. Many people were taken into police custody and archives were 
confiscated.
The Mesopotamian Cultural Centre was the first target of these raids. 
Civilian police forced their way into the building stating that they had 
a search order from the state security courts. Following the search two 
people, whose identities have not yet been confirmed, were taken into 
custody under the pretext that arrest warrants existed against them.
Under the same order, other institutions were also searched including 
the Zend Foundation for Science, Culture and Education, the Dicle 
Women's Centre and the editorial offices of the Magazine 7th Gündem and the 
Kurdish Institute. A total of 17 people were arrested and taken to the 
Istanbul police's anti-terror unit.
The Istanbul branch of the IHD criticised the raids and claimed them to 
be anti-democratic attacks against freedoms of organisation and 
opinion. (Source: IHD-Branch Istanbul, 29.11.01)
 

Legal Proceedings Against TTB Honorary Members
A case has been initiated by the state prosecutor Levent Tacer in 
Ankara, against the honorary members of the Association of Turkish Doctors 
(Türk Tabipler Birligi). The doctors had spoken out against the force 
feeding of death fasters in a leaflet they issued on 17.04.2001. 
According to the state prosecutor, in this way they were guilty of 
persuading prisoners to commit suicide. He has called for prison sentences 
of 3-10 years. The accused doctors consider the charge to be libellous 
and have called for a not guilty verdict because, according to Dr. 
Falik Celik, they demanded respect for the lives of the prisoners and not 
their deaths. Lawyers from the Lawyers Chambers in Istanbul and Ankara 
have also called for an immediate not guilty verdict. The court 
adjourned the case for a week. (Source: Radikal, 28.11.01)
 

States of Emergency Extended for the 44th Time
For the 44th time the states of emergency in Diyarbakir, Hakkari, 
Tunceli and Sirnak have been extended by another 4 months. Only the 
off-shoot parties from the Islamic Fazilet Party (Saadet Party and AK Party) 
and the DYP member of parliament, Kamer Genc, opposed the extension and 
rejected the government bill.
Minister of the Interior Rüstü Kazim Yücelen justified the extension by 
the current situation in these regions. He said that terrorist events 
there had reduced significantly but that a terrorist threat to public 
order still existed. Since the beginning of 2000, 4,739 Hizbullah 
terrorists had been apprehended. Since 1999 there have been 1,282 incidents, 
185 members of the security forces have lost their lives and 517 have 
been injured. 975 terrorists have been killed,
Yücelen indicated that work would continue in social, cultural, health, 
economic and training areas as part of the south-east action plan for 
which the government had set aside 3.2 trillion Turkish Lira. In the 
"Return to the Villages Project" 4,803 people had returned to 75 villages 
in October 2001. Hundreds of houses had now been built with 769 being 
completed in 11 districts alone in August. Another 435 would soon be 
available. Between June 2000 and October 2001, 30,224 people had returned 
to 318 villages and pasture lands.
Schools which were closed for security reasons in these areas are to be 
reopened. In response to a question from the ANAP member of parliament 
Segbetullah Seyda-oglu from Diyarbakir, Yücelan revealed that because 
of the threat of terrorism, as well as other reasons, 1,195 villages and 
2,260 pasture lands had been evacuated. (Sources: Anadolu Ajansi, 
27.11.01; Radikal, 28.11.01)
 

Human Rights in Turkey Only On Paper
At a seminar for the human rights board of Istanbul's local government, 
Dr. Osman Dogru from Marmar University's Law Faculty, said that human 
rights in Turkey could only existed on paper.
The seminar entitled "Programme for Human Rights Education" concerned 
personal freedoms and economic rights. The head of the human rights 
board of Istanbul's local government, the lawyer Vildan Yirmibesoglu, said 
that 69 higher school teachers would take part in the 30 hour training 
programme, spread over a 4 month period. As part of the course, 
gendarme leaders and heads of public services would also be offered seminars. 
In this way, a wide section of the public sphere would be informed on 
human rights.
Dr. Osman Dogru spoke for stricter action against family violence and 
said that families need to have explained the legal possibilities 
available to them and to be encouraged to use these instead. State 
intervention in violence within families would mean a collapse of the family. 
Therefore, it would be important for the state to provide social security 
to women and children who are the victims of such violence. 
Dr. Gönül Balkir from Kocaeli University's Legal Faculty, said in her 
talk that the state had a duty to provide the individual with work. This 
was a social obligation of the state. To bring into effect a right of 
work the state must provide the individual with social security. 
(Sources: Cumhuriyet, 28.11.01)
 

Dispute Escalates Over the Film "Salkim Hanim"
A fierce dispute has erupted between the Istanbul MHP member of 
parliament Ahmet Cakar and minister of state Yilmaz Karakoyunlu, on a film 
about the genocide of the Armenians. Cakar claims that the film 
contradicts the state's official line on the Armenian genocide and therefore 
plays into the hands of its enemies. He has brought legal charges against 
Karakoyunlu who is the author of the book of the film. According to him 
it was a disgrace that the film "Salkim Hanim'in Taneleri" was being 
broadcast on the state station TRT. Both the main characters were 
non-muslims and in the script they were portrayed as Armenians. The film says 
that the Turkish Republic had caused suffering to its Armenian 
population and had sent them into exile. Cakar asked, "If the Armenians now 
come and claim that their suffering has been documented in the official 
state organ of the TRT, how do we explain this to the world?". 
Karakoyunlu said that Cakar had not understood his book at all. (Sources: Sabah, 
28.11.01)
 

AI Urgent Action Turkey Risk of Torture and Ill-treatment
Suspected State Murder Leading HADEP Member Arrested
As well as K. Kilic, R. Kilic, M. Kilic Savas Kilic (8) Injured, Ms. Selma (Gurbet) Kilic (18), Necdet Demirkandan and a Syrian National Killed
Adil Kilic, Kasim Kilic and Resit Kilic, who were arrested on 
17.10.2001 in a raid on their house, have been transferred to the prison in 
Silvan. According to available information, they have been tortured. Other 
members of the family arrested during the operation have meanwhile been 
released. Mesut Kilic, an alleged witness to the killing of Selma 
(Gurbet) Kilic, was arrested on 19.11.2001 and is at great risk of being 
tortured in police custody.
Information with AI confirms that Selma Kilic was a victim of state 
murder. On 26.10.2001 a state security court judge in Diyarbakir initiated 
legal proceedings against a gendarme who had participated in the raid. 
However, the state prosecutor has not to date taken any statements from 
family members nor from the suspects. 
According to reports gendarmes had beaten Adil Kilic, Kasim Kilic and 
Resit Kilic during the raids, and had hit them about their heads. They 
bound the 3 men's eyes and threatened to kill them. As K. Kilic realised 
that his daughter was being shot at he tried to get to her but was 
brutally beaten by the gendarmes with a gun then being held to his head.
The men were then systematically tortured and abused, initially at a 
police station in Silvan and later in the police headquarters in 
Diyarbakir. They were forced to undress and were sprayed with high pressure 
water. Police crushed their testicles and tortured them with electric 
shocks to the tongue, fingers, nipples and genitals. They then had to sign 
statements which they could neither read nor understand. According to 
reports, the police used a new method of torture whereby the victim was 
laid on his back and had to stretch his arms above his head. His arms 
and legs were then wrapped in blankets. Police then sat on their limbs 
with the men again being tortured with electric shocks. They almost 
suffocated.
The police who took Adil Kilic, Kasim Kilic and Resit Kilic to prison 
warned them beforehand against saying anything about the torture. 
Despite doctors' and police requests to leave the room, security forces were 
present during the entire examination. UA 260/01-1 ai-Index: EUR 
44/086/2001 23rd November 2001 - bs, Further information on UA 260/01 (EUR 
44/075/2001, 17th. October 2001)
 

Turkey No Longer Opposed to US Strike Against Iraq
From Turkey's view point, there are good reasons to be opposed to any 
new Iraqi offensive. A toppling of the regime in Baghdad could 
destabilise the whole region. The government are concerned above all about 
possible developments in northern Iraq. In one of the UN guaranteed safe 
zones, Iraqi Kurds have, since the Gulf War, established 
self-administration. If the Saddam regime collapsed, one consequence could be the 
founding of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq. This might also encourage 
Turkish-Kurd efforts on autonomy.
However, in the regions of Mossul and Kirkuk there are wealthy oil 
fields which were part of the Ottoman empire until Turkey had to give up 
the territory as part of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. At the end of 1925 
it was acceded to Iraq following a decision by the League of Nations. 
During the Gulf War the Turkish president of state of the time, Turgut 
Özal, already toyed with the idea of marching into northern Iraq. The 
then head of the general staff, Necip Torumtay, said in his memoirs that 
Özal had considered the annexation of northern Iraq. Leading members of 
the military had urgently warned against such an "adventure".
Now such ideas are again going around in some people's heads. The US 
economics publication Forbes proposed a scenario whereby the US would 
reward Turkey for support in an offensive against Saddam Hussein with 
control of the oil rich northern region. A similar suggestion was recently 
made by the former FBI director James Woolsey in a guest commentary in 
the Washington Post. Turkish concerns can be sorted out, wrote Woolsey, 
if Ankara "is given a role in stabilising northern Iraq and access to 
the oil fields there".
Now, Turkey no longer fundamentally rules out any US attack on Iraq. 
According to the news agency Anadolu, the Turkish defence minister 
Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said, "We have always said that we do not desire any 
operation against Iraq, but new conditions can lead to new evaluations". 
What these new conditions could be, he didn't say. 
US president George W. Bush recently called on the Iraqi government to 
again allow UN weapons inspectors into the country giving speculation 
of imminent military action. (Sources: afp, 28.11.01; FR, 30.11.01)
 

Security Services Monitor Internet
Iraqi security forces have made even more difficult the already 
restricted access to the internet. There are only a few Internet Cafes in 
Baghdad and some of the larger provinces. The first Internet Café was 
opened in 1999 in Baghdad with only 15 computers for a population of more 
than 5 million people. For the whole population of around 19 million 
people there are just 200 computers with Internet access.
The state Internetfirma, the only provider in Iraq, blocks access to 
sites and employees monitor computers linked to the internet. Visiting 
sites with anti-Iraqi content, which have escaped the censor, is 
dangerous.
Private access to the Internet is forbidden but universities do offer 
courses on using the Internet. Many Iraqis see the Internet as the only 
way of making contact to the outside world.
The Iraqi regime are afraid to allow its population to get any view of 
the outside world. Satellite equipment, modems and faxes are still 
banned. It is very unlikely that free access will be given to the Internet.
In northern Iraq, in the provinces of Dohuk, Arbil and Suleymaniya, 
there is Internet access without any government control. Three Internet 
providers enable uncontrolled and uncensored access. (Source: Iraq Press, 
27.11.01)
 

Iraq Continues its Policies of Ethnic Cleansing in Kirkuk
(Kirkuk, 30.10.2001). Iraqi authorities have confiscated the land from 
the inhabitants of the Kurdish village of Galabat in the district of 
Jabar, and forcibly deported the inhabitants to the free regions of 
Kurdistan. Baki Nareeman, who together with his family are victims of the 
Iraqi regime's Arabisation policies, reported that Iraqi security forces 
began persistently harassing the village's 35 families until they 
deported them and took away their entire goods and property.
The Iraqi security force, Mukhabarat, already had a list of 200 Arab 
families who were to receive the confiscated land for permanent 
settlement.
Nareem confirmed that the Iraqi security forces deported anyone who 
refused to change their ethnic origin from Kurdish or Turkmenish to 
Arabic.
The Iraqi presidential office have decreed that no public employee of 
Kurdish origin may remain in government service in Kirkuk after the end 
of 2001.
Members of the Baath party have recently placed Kurdish districts under 
special surveillance to find out the political allegiances and 
connections of the districts' inhabitants and whether there are family gangs 
who are members of the Kurdish Peshmerga defence forces. Abnormal 
security measures include the stationing of a military special unit as 
reinforcements for the Rahumawa police and deportation centre.
Four residents of the village of Khan Khurma have bee detained without 
any charges being brought against them. In the Kurdish town of Tuz 
Iraqi authorities have set up 3 new check points along the main link roads 
of Tuz-Kirkuk, Tuz-Tikrit and Tuz-Bagdad. (Sources: Kurdistan Newsline 
No.: 08 from 30.11.2001)
 

Iraqi Regime Continue to Allow Tongue Amputation
On the first day of Ramadan there would have been a large demonstration 
in Baghdad against Saddam's militia if security forces hadn't quickly 
dispersed the crowds. 
One eye witness reported that a large number of Saddam's militia had 
assembled in a Baghdad square and, before the eyes of everyone present, 
led the 50-year-old Iraqi citizen Muheen Abdul-Hadi into the square. His 
hands were tied behind his back and a sheet was stuck to his chest upon 
which was written: "This is the fate of anyone insulting the leader". 
The militia cut off a part of his tongue, undeterred by the cries and 
pleas of the crowd. They then left him bleeding from his mouth on the 
square. Old women in the square protested and shouted "God is bigger than 
the oppressor". To avoid an escalation, security forces took the man to 
hospital.
After the crowds had been dispersed, businesses closed up shop in a 
public display of protest against the Saddam Hussein clique. Tongue 
amputation is becoming more common as a punishment for criticising or 
offending the leader. (Source: KurdishMedia.com, 29.11.01 aus: Iraq Press)
 

Renewed Attacks from the Regime Against the Inhabitants of the Village 
of Freijat in the District of Ali al-Gharbi in the  Proince of Ammarah
On 2.11.2001, the Iraqi regime's machinery of oppression carried out a 
new attack against the village of Freijat in the district of Ali 
al-Gharbi in the Province of Ammarah. 
According to our sources, armed units of the so-called state of 
emergency troops and Party units brutally attacked the village under the 
pretext of searching for members of the opposition. 
Following house searches, whereby women and children were intimidated, 
it is alleged that any family suspected of cooperating with the 
opposition was arrested. Eight women and six children were arrested after they 
and other family members had been beaten and abused.
Furthermore, 2 babies died because of lack of baby food and the poor 
treatment to which the mothers had been subjected in prison. The 
authorities have indicated that the women and children will only be released 
from prison after they inform on the suspects. (Source: The Supreme 
Council for Islamic Resistance in Iraq, 20.11.01)
 

Reporter Sans Frontiére Award Iranian Journalist
The journalist association Reporter Sans Frontiére have honoured an 
imprisoned Iranian journalist for his efforts regarding press freedom.
The association said of its decision that in spite of several death 
threats the regime critic Resa Alidschani was "one of the few journalists 
who dared to defend freedom of the press in Iran in interviews with 
foreign broadcasters as well as in national and international newspapers". 
The 39-year-old has been in prison since February. Last year the 
Iranian judiciary had banned his magazine "Iran-e-Farda". (Source: afp, 
28.11.01)
 

Iraq Kurdistan Coordination Network - IKCON Founded
On 02.05.2001 a variety of people and organisations in Frankfurt/Main, 
set up a network for improved coordination of the activities for and 
with refugees from Iraq and Kurdish northern Iraq. This network is a 
response to political and asylum law developments within Europe, enabling 
better cooperation, regular exchange of information and collective 
discussion and examination of asylum law, asylum practices and 
political-strategical problems.
The organisations represented in the network (IMK e.V., WADI e.V., Pro 
Asyl, Flüchtlingsrat Schleswig Holstein, medico international, Prime 
Vluchtelingen in de Knel) want to establish a collective structure at 3 
levels to improve the work for Iraqi and Iraqi-Kurdish refugees:

1.) Assembling of facts, analysis and interpretation of local 
situations
2.) Actual asylum practices within Europe
3.) Analysis of (refugee) policy plans and the development of own 
strategies 

Problems on the policies towards refugee and asylum law for Iraqi and 
Iraqi-Kurdish refugees can only be fully understood in connection with 
the above. This understanding is to be established in practice through 
the networking of various organisations and initiatives. 
The network has its starting point in Germany but does not necessarily 
have to be confined to one national framework. Repressive resistance to 
refugees is not just a German problem. Refugees in all European states 
are being confronted with increasing repression and restrictions. The 
EU, who are on the way towards a collective asylum law, have long since 
coordinated their practice on asylum, making European cooperation in 
supporting refugees even more necessary. Abuse by single states in 
establishing grounds for deportation is relevant to all European states. The 
IKON Homepage has been set up: www.iconet.org
 

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