Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RwISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
18 Turkish Probe June 16,1995
Human Rights Diary
Deported AI official claims he was denied right to legal counsel:
Amnesty International representative Helmut Oberdiek, who
was deported from Turkey earlier last week under an order issued by
the Interior Ministry, claimed on June 9 that he was denied a lawyer and
the right to make a telephone call during his detention in Adana on June 5.
Talking to the Turkish Daily News from Germany by telephone Oberdiek, said he
was taken away by three plainclothes policemen from his hotel room in Adana .to be
interrogated. "They did not say I was being detained. They just said 'you have to come
with us.' Then they took me to the police department dealing with aliens," Oberdiek said,
continuing: "There they told me that it was illegal for me to enter Turkey and I asked them
which authority had made this decision. They did not want to tell me at first but later said it was
the Ministry of the Interior." Indicating that he received privileged treatment while in detention,
Oberdiek said he was not put into prison. "I was just made to wait in a room and later taken to the
department dealing with terrorism. For eight hours we argued with the policemen there. In other words it
was not like a questioning. But they held me responsible for all the mistakes made by European governments,"
Oberdiek said. He added that his personal belongings had been gone through separately by every
policeman there, saying these included his notes. "My real concern is that those whose names are in my
notes may be under some threat," he said. (Turkish Daily News, June 10)
Acquittal of rights actMsts endorsed by Court of Appeals: The Appeals Court upheld a ruling by the Ankara
State Security Court (OGM) to acquit the administrators of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) and
the Human Rights Association (IHO) of charges of engaging in separatist propaganda. TIHV President Yavuz
Önen, executive board member Fevzi Argün, IHO head Akin Birdal, IHO General Secretary Hüsnü Öndül, and
executive board members Sedat A.slanta~ and Erol Anar had all faced two to five years in prison had they
been convicted by the court. Yavuz Önen and Fevzi Argün were charged with disseminating separatist propaganda
in their book, ''The Torture Case," which deals extensively with the situation in Turkey's Southeast
where security forces are combatting Kurdish separatist terrorism. Akin Birdal, Hüsnü Öndül, Sedat Aslanta~
and Erol Anar where being tried separately for a book published by the IHO entitled "A Cross-section of
Burned Villages," which again deals extensively with the situation in the Southeast. Both the TIHV and IHO
administrators had been acquitted last January of the charges brought against them by the OGM prosecutor.
The outcome of the trial and its endorsement by the Appeals Court is considered a landmark development in
Turkey's difficult struggle to secure full freedom of expression, analysts say, pointing out that an important
legal precedent has thus been set. (Turkish Daily News, June 13)
Justice Minister 'ashamed' of Article 8: Justice Minister Mehmet MoQultay, speaking to the press
upon arrival from the International Labor Organization (ILO) meeting in Geneva. said that Article 8 of the
Anti-Terrorism Law was "Turkey's shame." "An article foreseeing the restriction of thought is
unconstitutional and Turkey should not continue holding on to such laws for much longer," the
Anatolia news agency reported MoQultay saying. He went on to say that if Turkey lifted the article limiting
freedom of thought "the country would neither end up being divided nor be 'saved'like some people believe,"
and added "it will only take us a step further toward democracy." MoQultay concluded by pointing out that the
article "had to be cleared out of the way" in order to start "concentrating" on solutions to other problems in
Turkey. (Turkish Daily News. June 13)
.'
Tur1dsh German deputy makes protest speech in Istanbul: Cem ÖZdemir, the ethnic Turkish Greens deputy
in the German Parliament, on June 12 contributed his signature to a controversial book, expressing his solidarity
with its prosecuted authors. Signing the book entitled "Freedom of Thought and Turkey," in front of
the State Security Court in Istanbul, where the contributing artists and academics are on trial, Özdemir
quipped he had "never committed a crime so easily in all my years in politics." Ozdemir also
slammed the govemment policies which he said werelimiting politicalliberties. Addressing a
news conference later at the Foreign Press Center, Özdemir said Turkey should enter not
only the customs union but the European Union as well, and for that it "had to become
and will become European in the respect of democracy and human rights." Noting
that the East and West were completing the process of unification and the Eastern
European countries had already entered the Western European market,
Özdemir said the Turks living abroad would playa key role in the country's
integration with Europe. "Turkey should not let this chance slip. If it
does, it may never find it again," warned the outspoken Greens
deputy. (Turkish Daily News. June 13)
161