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
~se.of article 312 underscores the J1!.yriadlaws which can be used to
lurut debate] although Western attentIOn recently has focused on .article
8 of the antI-terror law, a catch-all ruling which bans "separatist propaganda".
Human rights officials say as pressure mounts on Turkey to lift
article 8, prosecutors are increasingly applying 312. .
Altan's column two months ago caused a furore because he imagined
what the country would be like if Turkey's revered founder Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk liad been a Kurd instead il a Turk. Altan who comes
from a distinguished journalistic family, wrote that Turkey would be
called "Kurdey", Turkish would be banned and Turks defending their
ethnici~ woufd be jailed. The column turned on its head the prOblems
Turkey s K~rds face,.from the burning of civilian villages in the southeast
by soldIers fightmg rebel Kurds to torture faced oy detainees and
Turkey's attempts to forcibly assimilate Kurds.
"People think that if you write something that makes them angry then
you are guilty of a.crime.:.but this is what democ~cy .means," AI~ told
Re~ters.The no~onous wcle 8.h~ been used to Impnson scores of journalISts,
academIcs and trade UnIOnIsts,usualJy for written or verbal state-.
ments cnucising Turkey's human rights record or limits on Kurdish cult~l
and politic~ .expres~io~. Turkish law b~ocks ~urdish-Ianguage educatIon
and televIsIon or radIO broadcasts. DISCUSSIonof KurdIsh nalionalist
aspira~ions and h~story