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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO
DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
:
Debate on Article 8 continues, while 166 prisoners
still detained for crimes of expression of thought
Coal~tion partners appear to have agreed on the need to remove Article 8 of the Anti-
TerrorismLaw,'but the conservative wing ofl}YP 3till 'fiercely'rejects the changes,
,and CHP says crimes of expression of thoughtwtll still exist after amendments
By Sinan ytlmai
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- The coalition partners,
the True Path Party (DYP) and the
Republican People's Party (CHP),
seem to have agreed to remove Article
8 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, which
concerns crimes of. expression of
thought. But it appears that neither the
conservative deputies of the DYP nor
the country's 166 prisoners detained
for such crimes are satisfied with this
state of affairs.
The conservative wing of the DYP
"fiercely" rejects the removal of
Article Eight and the addition of a
clause to Article 311 of the Criminal
Law, which would caH for a prison
term of between six months and two
yèars for those found guilty of spreadmg
propaganda in line With the purpose
and activities of terrorist organizations
which threaten the indivisible
integrity of the state.
Meanwhile, members of the CHP
argue that crimes related to the expression
of thought will still most definitely
persist after the removal of Article
8. The coalition partners are preparing
to promote and focus on the release of
two prisoners detained for crimes of
expression of thought, Fikret B~kaya
and Haluk Gerger, as symbols of the
government's success m "providing
for expression of thought." Ba~kaya
and Gerger are currently serving 20-
month prison terms. Ba~kaya started
serving his sentence on March 17 last
year and will be released on June 14,
whereas Gerger was sent to jail on
June 27, 1994, so is to be released on
Sept. 24. If granted a reprieve, Gerger
could be released in June. Those
defending human rights claim that
tsmail Be~ikçi must be taken as the
symbol of "freedom of expression"
instead of Ba~kaya and Gerger.
Be~ikçi has so fàr been sentenced to
65 years in prison, and is sure to serve
12 years of this. Some provisions of
the Execution of Punishments Law
may aHow Be~ikçi to serve only nine
years of his sentences.
If Article 8 is amended, authors
such as Ya~arKemal, Orhan Pamuk,
Nur Sürer, Orhan Aydm, and Dogu
Perinçek could still face jail sentences,
since although they will not be tried at
the State Security Court (DGM), they
could still be tried at criminal courts,
So expression of thought will still be a
crime, but it will be out of the DGM's
hands.
The problem of preparing a list of
those in prison for crimes of expression
of thought has been causing a big
problem for many years. The list prepared
by the Justice Ministry has given
names of prisoners who were actually
free, while the names of others who
were said to be free, have appeared on
the list of those in prison, ~repared by ,
the Human Rights AssociatIOn(IHD).
We prepared a list by bringing
together the information contained in
the documents prepared by the !HO
and the Justice Mirnstry. This leads us
to conclude that there are 166 people
detained in prison for crimes of
expression of thought, althou~h the
numbers are continuously changmg, so
preparing such a list is difficult.
Some of the imprisoned writers and
politicians are: Fikret Ba~kaya,Numan
Bakta~1Ismail Be~ikçi, Mehdi Zana,
Haluk Gerger, ~ükrü Ayçiçek, Metin
Baklcl, Ibrahim Polat, Bülent
Abbasoglu, lIknur Bülbül, Hatip Dicle,
Leyla Zana, Ahmet Türk, Orhan'
Dogan, Selim SadaIe.
Demirel' s misquoted
remark causes storm
Furor: President never made claim
for the Iraqi province of Mosul or
request for redrawing of border
TDN with Wire dispatches
A.."lKARA- A misquoted general statement by President Süleyman
Demirel about a possible future renegotiation ofTurkey's border with
Iraq that passes over rugged terrainhas alarmed Irilq and caused an
international stir. '
In a special interview with the Turkish Daily News on Monday,
Demirel observed that having a border passing over the ridges of
2,800-meter mountains was "wrong" and that Turkey ended up being
unable to prevent the infiltration by separatist rebels entrenched on the
slopes of Mountains on the Iraqi Side.Providing historical background
on the demarcation of the border during the partition of the Ottoman
Empire at the end of the First World War, he said the border had been
drawn u.f a.cco.rding to the specifications of geologists and "according
to the oi {deposits)]" -left on the Iraqi side. ,
He said although the Turkish Republic -
which recovered parts of the rartitioned domain
during the 1919-1922 War 0 Independencedid
not recognize the partitioning and lay a claim
to the oil-rich provinces of Kirkuk and Mosul, it
could not fress its case.
Demire told the TON, however, that a border
readj\lstment was "not a question for today."
But some newspapers who interviewed
Demirel after the TON did quoted the president
as calling for a border readjustment and as laying
a claim to Mosul.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry denied reports
that Turkey sought a border readjustment.
But Iraq, wary ofTurkey's direct contacts with
Iraqi Kurdish rebels, said on Thursday it would
use all means at its disposal to fend off any
attempt by Ankara for a re-demarcation of the
international borders, Reuters reported.
"Iraq declares, with aH determination, that it
will resist any violation of its national borders
and unity of its territory with alliegitimate
means," the ruling Baath Party newspaper al-
Thawra saidin a front-page editorial. AI-Thawra
said "no obstacle will stand in Iraq's fàçe" to
defend its borders if Ankara translated statements
on a newdemarcation into action.
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