Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO<br />
DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi<br />
:<br />
Debate on Article 8 continues, while 166 prisoners<br />
still <strong>de</strong>tained for crimes of expression of thought<br />
Coal~tion partners appear to have agreed on the need to remove Article 8 of the Anti-<br />
TerrorismLaw,'but the conservative wing ofl}YP 3till 'fiercely'rejects the changes,<br />
,and CHP says crimes of expression of thoughtwtll still exist after amendments<br />
By Sinan ytlmai<br />
Turkish Daily News<br />
ANKARA- The coalition partners,<br />
the True Path Party (DYP) and the<br />
Republican People's Party (CHP),<br />
seem to have agreed to remove Article<br />
8 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, which<br />
concerns crimes of. expression of<br />
thought. But it appears that neither the<br />
conservative <strong>de</strong>puties of the DYP nor<br />
the country's 166 prisoners <strong>de</strong>tained<br />
for such crimes are satisfied with this<br />
state of affairs.<br />
The conservative wing of the DYP<br />
"fiercely" rejects the removal of<br />
Article Eight and the addition of a<br />
clause to Article 311 of the Criminal<br />
Law, which would caH for a prison<br />
term of b<strong>et</strong>ween six months and two<br />
yèars for those found guilty of spreadmg<br />
propaganda in line With the purpose<br />
and activities of terrorist organizations<br />
which threaten the indivisible<br />
integrity of the state.<br />
Meanwhile, members of the CHP<br />
argue that crimes related to the expression<br />
of thought will still most <strong>de</strong>finitely<br />
persist after the removal of Article<br />
8. The coalition partners are preparing<br />
to promote and focus on the release of<br />
two prisoners <strong>de</strong>tained for crimes of<br />
expression of thought, Fikr<strong>et</strong> B~kaya<br />
and Haluk Gerger, as symbols of the<br />
government's success m "providing<br />
for expression of thought." Ba~kaya<br />
and Gerger are currently serving 20-<br />
month prison terms. Ba~kaya started<br />
serving his sentence on March 17 last<br />
year and will be released on June 14,<br />
whereas Gerger was sent to jail on<br />
June 27, 1994, so is to be released on<br />
Sept. 24. If granted a reprieve, Gerger<br />
could be released in June. Those<br />
<strong>de</strong>fending human rights claim that<br />
tsmail Be~ikçi must be taken as the<br />
symbol of "freedom of expression"<br />
instead of Ba~kaya and Gerger.<br />
Be~ikçi has so fàr been sentenced to<br />
65 years in prison, and is sure to serve<br />
12 years of this. Some provisions of<br />
the Execution of Punishments Law<br />
may aHow Be~ikçi to serve only nine<br />
years of his sentences.<br />
If Article 8 is amen<strong>de</strong>d, authors<br />
such as Ya~arKemal, Orhan Pamuk,<br />
Nur Sürer, Orhan Aydm, and Dogu<br />
Perinçek could still face jail sentences,<br />
since although they will not be tried at<br />
the State Security Court (DGM), they<br />
could still be tried at criminal courts,<br />
So expression of thought will still be a<br />
crime, but it will be out of the DGM's<br />
hands.<br />
The problem of preparing a list of<br />
those in prison for crimes of expression<br />
of thought has been causing a big<br />
problem for many years. The list prepared<br />
by the Justice Ministry has given<br />
names of prisoners who were actually<br />
free, while the names of others who<br />
were said to be free, have appeared on<br />
the list of those in prison, ~repared by ,<br />
the Human Rights AssociatIOn(IHD).<br />
We prepared a list by bringing<br />
tog<strong>et</strong>her the information contained in<br />
the documents prepared by the !HO<br />
and the Justice Mirnstry. This leads us<br />
to conclu<strong>de</strong> that there are 166 people<br />
<strong>de</strong>tained in prison for crimes of<br />
expression of thought, althou~h the<br />
numbers are continuously changmg, so<br />
preparing such a list is difficult.<br />
Some of the imprisoned writers and<br />
politicians are: Fikr<strong>et</strong> Ba~kaya,Numan<br />
Bakta~1Ismail Be~ikçi, Mehdi Zana,<br />
Haluk Gerger, ~ükrü Ayçiçek, M<strong>et</strong>in<br />
Baklcl, Ibrahim Polat, Bülent<br />
Abbasoglu, lIknur Bülbül, Hatip Dicle,<br />
Leyla Zana, Ahm<strong>et</strong> Türk, Orhan'<br />
Dogan, Selim SadaIe.<br />
Demirel' s misquoted<br />
remark causes storm<br />
Furor: Presi<strong>de</strong>nt never ma<strong>de</strong> claim<br />
for the Iraqi province of Mosul or<br />
request for redrawing of bor<strong>de</strong>r<br />
TDN with Wire dispatches<br />
A.."lKARA- A misquoted general statement by Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Süleyman<br />
Demirel about a possible future renegotiation ofTurkey's bor<strong>de</strong>r with<br />
Iraq that passes over rugged terrainhas alarmed Irilq and caused an<br />
international stir. '<br />
In a special interview with the Turkish Daily News on Monday,<br />
Demirel observed that having a bor<strong>de</strong>r passing over the ridges of<br />
2,800-m<strong>et</strong>er mountains was "wrong" and that Turkey en<strong>de</strong>d up being<br />
unable to prevent the infiltration by separatist rebels entrenched on the<br />
slopes of Mountains on the Iraqi Si<strong>de</strong>.Providing historical background<br />
on the <strong>de</strong>marcation of the bor<strong>de</strong>r during the partition of the Ottoman<br />
Empire at the end of the First World War, he said the bor<strong>de</strong>r had been<br />
drawn u.f a.cco.rding to the specifications of geologists and "according<br />
to the oi {<strong>de</strong>posits)]" -left on the Iraqi si<strong>de</strong>. ,<br />
He said although the Turkish Republic -<br />
which recovered parts of the rartitioned domain<br />
during the 1919-1922 War 0 In<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>ncedid<br />
not recognize the partitioning and lay a claim<br />
to the oil-rich provinces of Kirkuk and Mosul, it<br />
could not fress its case.<br />
Demire told the TON, however, that a bor<strong>de</strong>r<br />
readj\lstment was "not a question for today."<br />
But some newspapers who interviewed<br />
Demirel after the TON did quoted the presi<strong>de</strong>nt<br />
as calling for a bor<strong>de</strong>r readjustment and as laying<br />
a claim to Mosul.<br />
The Turkish Foreign Ministry <strong>de</strong>nied reports<br />
that Turkey sought a bor<strong>de</strong>r readjustment.<br />
But Iraq, wary ofTurkey's direct contacts with<br />
Iraqi Kurdish rebels, said on Thursday it would<br />
use all means at its disposal to fend off any<br />
attempt by Ankara for a re-<strong>de</strong>marcation of the<br />
international bor<strong>de</strong>rs, Reuters reported.<br />
"Iraq <strong>de</strong>clares, with aH <strong>de</strong>termination, that it<br />
will resist any violation of its national bor<strong>de</strong>rs<br />
and unity of its territory with alliegitimate<br />
means," the ruling Baath Party newspaper al-<br />
Thawra saidin a front-page editorial. AI-Thawra<br />
said "no obstacle will stand in Iraq's fàçe" to<br />
<strong>de</strong>fend its bor<strong>de</strong>rs if Ankara translated statements<br />
on a new<strong>de</strong>marcation into action.<br />
37