HAK-PAR Protests Against Ban Pro-ceedings

The leadership of the new pro-Kurdish party HAK-PAR (Party for Rights and Freedom), which was founded at the beginning of 2002, has protested in a press statement against the closure proceedings being brought by the chief public prosecutor of the Court of appeal in Ankara. 
The party head, Abdulmelik Firat, described the prosecution’s indictment against his party, and the attitude of the Turkish government, as anti-democ-ratic, unlawful and arbitrary.
The state prosecutor’s indictment, submitted to the constitutional courts 3 weeks following the party’s founding and based on  the party’s manifesto, ac-cuses HAK-PAR of the following,:
- that they referred to a minority with the term “Kurds” in the party’s claim that “the Kurdish ques-tion was a basic problem of Turkey and that as long as the Kurdish question was not resolved it would be difficult to resolve Turkey’s other problems, and in resolving the Kurdish question the party would take on an active role in Turkey’s future and well being”. 
- The party’s demand for “native language tuition in Kurdish” indicated a desire to bring an end to Tur-kish as a mother language. 
- The party’s call for “a decentralization of Turkey by strengthening regional autonomous administ-rations, lessening the powers of the state apparatus and promoting production and self organization” aimed to divide Turkey into regions.
Party head Firat says the proceedings are not in compliance with Turkey’s EU membership process nor with the Copenhagen Criteria.
The party leadership have therefore called into being a lawyers’ commission to unmask these poli-cies at both national and international levels.
The party head also said that the legal proceedings would not force his party to refrain from its activi-ties throughout the country..
The complete HAK-PAR press statement is avai-lable under www.kurden.de. (Source:  HAK-PAR, 18.04.02 and IMK e.V.)
 
 

Double Standards by EU Commission 

According to international and Turkish media re-ports, the EU commission, under pressure from the Turkish government, have placed the PKK on their list of terror organizations. The PKK had been dissolved at its last conference and had taken on the new name of KADEK. 
The PKK has been active for many years in all EU member states and their activities and organi-zational structures have been known to the com-mission and to the states’ intelligence services. The organization has even been banned in many of the EU member states.
Despite all this, the commission have until now not even considered officially declaring the party as a terrorist organization. 
An EU commission, which expects strict compli-ance to the Copenhagen Criteria from all EU mem-ber candidates, gives in to pressure from one candidate and places the PKK on a list of terrorist organizations.
This is a double standard and must be condemned because Turkey has for years carried out state ter-rorism against ethnic and religious minorities, as well as against people who have called for a just solution to the Kurdish question, a civil society and democratization.  (Source: IMK e.V.)
 

Schizophrenic State Logic 

From Turkish press reports, periodicals and statements from various Kurdish and pro-Kurdish organizations, the Turkish administration has for some time now been taking a hard line towards the Kurds.
Along with legal proceedings to ban the 2 pro-Kurdish parties HAK-PAR and HADEP, the Ecevit government and state organs have been merciless towards any activity associated with Kurdish iden-tity. 
- All Kurdish new year events were banned by governors in Kurdish regions or in the west of Tur-key if invitations or posters for such wrote the word NEWROZ with a “W” instead of a “V”. 
The authorities justified the bans by stating that the letter “W” did not exist in the Turkish alphabet. This also applied to the letters “Q” and “X” which do exist in the Kurdish language as well as in other Latin languages. 
According to the bans administrator, use of such letters weakened national unity and would lead to separatism. 
But the ladies and gentlemen of the ruling classes forget that their brothers and sisters in Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Greece use the Cyrillic and not the Latin alphabet, and that Turks and Turkmen in Arab states use Arabic. What would happen if the Turkish leadership also banned the use of the al-phabets in these states as they have done to the Kurds?
- In the first quarter of this year the Interior Minis-try gave instructions to the governors in the Kurdish provinces to take action against parents who at-tempted to register new borns with Kurdish names.
Just 2 years ago, following a 7 year court case, Turkey’s Court of Appeal acknowledged the right of a Kurdish father to give his children Kurdish names. The basis for this judgment was that the majority of Turkish names originated from Arabic, Persian and European languages and that Kurdish parents therefore also had the right to give their children Kurdish names. This right did not flout Turkish culture or traditions.
This judgment from Turkey’s highest court does not interest the Interior Minister in Ankara at all. He continues to pursue the state’s assimilation policies.
- Two years ago a Kurdish woman who registered herself in Mersin as an interpreter in the Kurdish language, became a victim of the state prosecutor. However, the court did not uphold the prosecutors complaint and permitted her registration as a Kurd-ish interpreter. 
Despite this judgment, in nearly all court procee-dings Kurdish speaking is not allowed nor an inter-preter permitted because this would weaken Turk-ish national feelings and would promote separatism. 
All publications which use the geographical term “Kurdistan” are confiscated and those responsible brought before a court.
But the term continues to be used in Ottoman, Ara-bic, Persian and western history books. Kurdish regions in Iraq and Iran continue to be referred to today as Kurdistan.
When reporting on Kurdish parties in Iran or Iraq, the Turkish media still refer, for example, to The Democratic Party of Kurdistan-Iraq, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or the Democratic Party of Kurdistan-Iran.
This is not an offence. But if Kurds in Turkey refer to their region with the historical term “Kurdistan”, then they are deemed separatist.
If this isn’t schizophrenic logic of those in power in Turkey, then what is? (Source: PSK-Bulletin, Febru-ary-March 02 and IMK e.V.)

Torture in Antep
Yüksel Bulut, a reporter with ”Atilim” and Eylem Çolak, member of the trade union Egitim-Sen, were arrested on April 8 in Antep and released on April 19. They held a press conference at the IHD in Antep claiming that they had been hung by their arms while in police custody, sprayed with high pressure water and sexually abused. (Source: Evrensel from 21.04.2002 )
 
Hizbullah Court Case
The State Security Court in Ankara has passed judgment against 29 suspected members of Hizbul-lah. Mehmet Emin Alpsoy, Mustafa Gürlüer and Seyhmus Alpsoy have been sentenced to death under § 146 of the Turkish Penal Code. Aysel Aldanmaz, Ayse Sudan, Veli Ince, Halit Karsli, Ahmet Akbulut and Hüseyin Tamer were found not guilty. Abdulsamet Yildiz, Sadullah Arpa and Abdurrahman Alpsoy were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for membership. Another 15 defen-dants each received prison sentences of 45 months. Mahmut Kaya and Ismail were sentenced to 3 years because they were under 18 at the time of the of-fence. (Source: Cumhuriyet from 20.04.2002)
 

Memed Uzun Found Not Guilty

The State Security Court in Diyarbakir has found the writer Memed Uzun not guilty for a speech he made in January 2000 at a conference of the teach-ers trade union Egitim-Sen in Diyarbakir. Many foreign observers were at the trial, mainly from Sweden. (Source:  Yedinci Gündem from 20.04.2002)
 

Mine Explosion

On April 20 Ercan Torun (12) was wounded when he stepped on a mine near the village of Asagi Kayalar in the district of  Semdinli (Hakkari). (Source: Cumhuriyet from 21.04.2002)
 

Mine Explosions

Hülya Kaçar (20) died on April 24 as she stepped on a mine near the village of Derebasi (Gireçolya) in the district of Silopi (Sirnak). Teybet Arsu (45) was severely wounded. Amongst the people rushed to the state hospital in Silopi, one suffered a heart attack and died. (Source: Yedinci Gündem from 26.04.2002)
 

New Charges Against Eren Keskin, Lawyer and Head of Istanbul Branch of Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD).

On 25.11.2001, the “International Day Against Violence Against Women”, Istanbul’s branch of the IHD held an event on the theme of “Violence Against Women”. The well known lawyer Eren Keskin, head of the Istanbul branch of the IHD and co-founder and lawyer for the project “Legal Aid for Women Who have been Raped or Sexually Abused by State Security Forces”, appeared along with other speakers at the event to report on the project’s activities. She has now been charged by Istanbul’s State Security Court under Article 8 Paragraph 1 (“separatist propaganda”) of the Anti-terror Law. The first hearing took place on 11.4.2002.
The next hearing will be on 4.7.2002, at 9.00 am in the 1st Chamber of the State Security Court in Is-tanbul.
The state prosecutor’s charge sheet from 22.1.2002 (File No.: 2002/68, Hz. 2002/28, Esas 2002/68) states that:
“ ...during her presentation the accused claimed: a woman being detained in the Kurdish region, had no opportunity of informing on sexual abuse she had suffered. According to statistics, at the top of the list of offenders of sexual abuse to women detained in penal institutions in Mardin – Midyat during the war in Kurdistan, were police, gendar-merie and village guards….”. Through these com-ments the accused is guilty of oral propaganda against the indivisibility of the Turkish Repub-lic….” 
In her statement for 11.1.2002 during the on-going investigation Ms. Keskin said:
“ ...We represent 150 women victims. I used the term “Kurdistan” during my speech out of habit. This term was already being used during the Seld-shuken epoch. Even Mustafa Kemel Ataturk used the term in his letters to the commandants in the eastern provinces. I am for the coexistence of Kurds and Turks. I am not guilty of any breach of Art. 8 Para.1 ATL (Anti-Terror-Law) and I did not use the term Kurdistan in the sense of separatism.” 
In the initial hearing on 11.4.2002 she said further:
“I did make the speech referred to in the charge sheet. I work in an office which provides legal support for women who have been sexually abused by state forces. Everything I said at the meeting was the truth. I did use the term Kurdistan as stated in the charge sheet. But I did not use this term in sup-port of the view that a separate state needs to be established. From the secret minutes of the Turkish National Assembly, which I have handed over for the files, it can be seen that even Mustafa Kemel referred to this region as Kurdistan. I am not of the view that the term Kurdistan can divide Turkey. If Turkey should become partitioned then it would be because of militaristic policies...”
The defense also indicated that Art.8 of the ATL was amended shortly after the charge sheet had been drawn up and that therefore the charges should be reviewed. The court adjourned the case until 04.07.2002 to correct personal information in the charge sheet concerning Erin Keskin and to allow the state prosecutor to prepare its case.
 

Turkish President Rejects Controversial Amnesty Law 

A dispute on the shortening of prison sentences in Turkey, from which the Pope-assassin Mehmet Ali Agca would also benefit, has entered a new round. President of state Ahmet Necdet Sezer rejected an amnesty law passed by parliament which had been heavily denounced by the Turkish media. If parlia-ment again votes for it, the president will have to accept it.
The extension of the amnesty from 2000, voted for by parliament and to include prisoners serving longer than 10 years, follows a decision made by the Constitutional Court. The court judged that it was unjust to exclude such prisoners from reduc-tions in sentences. There has been particularly heavy criticism in Turkey that serious offenders, such as rapists, will benefit from this as well as businesspeople who have been responsible for the collapse of several banking institutions.
Around 20,000 prisoners have been released under the Amnesty of 2000. The aim was to relieve the overfull Turkish prisons.
Through the amnesty, Agca’s sentence would be reduced from 15 to 5 years. After spending 19 years in prison in Italy for attempting to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1982, he is now serving a prison sentence in Turkey for armed robbery and the mur-der of a journalist in 1979. (SourceNewsBote 27.4.2002)
  

Human Rights in Turkey 
Repression Against Doctors

Members of health professions who treat torture victims or record evidence of torture, are at risk of being sent to prison or of being banned from their professions. 
On 07.09.2001, Turkish police searched the Human Rights Foundation’s torture victim treatment center in Diyabakir and confiscated all patient files. The center is now in danger of being closed down and its 2 doctors being transferred to remote regions because they dared to treat torture victims and to document their injuries. A court case was opened at the end of November against 9 members of the board of the Turkish Medical Association because, in a fly sheet, they had opposed the forced feeding of hunger striking prisoners. They are liable to between 3 and 10 years imprisonment. These are only 2 examples reflecting the current friction con-cerning democracy and human rights in Turkey. In particular, in the campaign against torture there are many doctors and other health professionals, who in the face of violence and repression – often unno-ticed by the public – risk life, limb and losing their jobs. To maintain their own dignity and integrity, they opt, in vitally important situations, to risk everything. Life for them would otherwise lose its meaning. 
A list of 40 doctors who have been subjected to state repression can be found in the Internet under www. aerzteblatt.de 
 

TIHV Annual Report 2001

We publish here extracts from the above report. The complete report is available at our Website www.kurden.de.
In 2001 the Turkish government drew up a series of regulations to prevent human rights abuses. 
Despite this positive effort, the conflict between state security policies and norms for human rights has remained a fundamental problem in the year 2001. 
Under the shadow of “protecting principles of terri-torial integrity and national security as well as state and national unity” the festivities and cultural life, for example, of citizens and groups are subjected to serious abuses. All activities and publications from political parties such as HADEP and EMEP are banned or severely restricted. Party members are subjected to interrogation, arrest and persecution. HADEP have been the main target for such prac-tices. 
Freedom of communication for radio and TV was restricted by Articles 159, 169 and 312 and Articles 7 and 8 of the Anti-Terror-Law.
Many intellectuals, journalists, academics, trade unionists, human rights activists etc. as well as radio and TV stations have, over the year, been persecuted or banned. 
The right to life has also remained under threat during 2001. Although there have been fewer mur-ders by unknown persons in comparison to the previous year, there has still been expulsions from villages, disappearances, and deaths in custody. 
Haphazard methods by the security forces have also led to breaches of children’s right to life. The 11 year old Gazal Beru from the province of Bingöl was hounded and killed by dogs. 
Land mines remain one of the major risks to safety, particularly for children.
In conclusion, we can say that the campaign for human rights has become more difficult and gains urgency with every passing day. 
 

23 Months Prison for 
Iranian Journalist

Another journalist in Iran has been sentenced to 23 months in prison for undermining the Islamic sys-tem. This was reported in the Iranian daily newspa-per "Bonyan". The journalist, Ahmad Zaydabadi from the reform oriented newspaper "Hamschahri", told "Bonyan" that the Tehran court also accused him of endangering national security. He said that he has also been banned from his job for 5 years. The judiciary in Iran is controlled by the conserva-tive opposition. Within the past 2 years more than 45 reform orientated publications have been closed down for alleged undermining of the Islamic sys-tem and the slandering of hard-liners. (Source: News Bote 29.4.2002)
 

Kurd May Stay Because 
Of Sick Father

The 18 year old Kurd Mehmet Demir, who was to be deported, may now remain in Germany. This was recently decided by the Administrative Court of North Rhein Westphalia in Münster (Az.: 18 B 586/02). He will now be released from detention in Büren where he has been held since the beginning of April. The mayor and town council of Löhne, the local church, school friends and other groups had given Demir lots of support. The Kurd fled Turkey as a 13 year old in 1996 with his younger brother and father, who claimed he had been tortured while in prison there. Demir had been attending class 11 at school. The court put the well being of the family in the foreground. There had been “mutual support, protected by Germany’s Basic Law, between Demir, his ill father, who is a suicide risk, and his brother. (Source: Frankfurter Rundschau, 24.04.2002)
 

Church Asylum
Fine for Priest 

The Bishop’s office in Osnabrück in Germany has said there would be no legal contest concerning a priest from Papenburg who gave church asylum to a Kurdish family. The priest would pay the fine of 2,050 Euros. (Az: SS 52/02). (Source: taz , 26.04.2002 dpa)
 

Italian Police Apprehend 32 Illegal Im-migrants in Heavy Goods Vehicle 

Italian police discovered 32 illegal immigrants in the cargo space of a heavy goods vehicle. Many of them were half starving and ill, said the authorities. The majority were Kurdish refugees. The vehicle had left Athens 2 days earlier on board a ferry. The Bulgarian driver, who police stopped near Potenza in southern Italy, was arrested on suspected human trafficking. The immigrants were taken either to hospital or a reception area for immigrants. (Source: dpa 28.4.2002)
 

 
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