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

REVUE DE PRESSE#PRESS REVIEW#BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ#RNISTA STAMPA#DENTRO DE LA PRENSA#BASIN ÖZETi
Turkish Probe May 19,1995
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security forces were brought to centers like the
emergency service of the state hospital, where
security is. very tight, and "the next morning he is
brought before a judge and public prosecutor and
his case is handled at the discretion of the person in
charge there. Officials want a report stating that 'no
blows have been made to the body' from the emergency
service of the state hospital. If I say, 'Take off
your clothes, I want to examine you' to the person
coming from there, this is interpreted by the officials
as taking the opposite side. Let's suppose that I
confirm this and write a report, that report may
immediately be torn up. I have experienced this.
The official can ask, 'What are you writing doctor?'
He might ask, 'Did you give him a report?', then, he
can get the report he wishes from other places," the
physician added. According to the Medical
Association, some physicians in the region have
been interrogated, arrested or even sentenced on
grounds that they have treated "offenders" including
"Dr. Abdullah Boleal, who was the only internal diseases
specialist in Cizre, was beaten and exiled
from the region on grounds that he had treated an
offender. In Diyarbakir, Dr. Ilhan Diken was arrested
and then sentenced because he helped treat an
offender. He is still in Diyarbakir Prison. In Bitlis, Dr.
Ersan Ta~cl was arrested, accused of providing
medical aid to an offender and spent a long period
in prison. Dr. Seyfettin Klzllkan, the head physician
of the Social Security Institution Hospital was interrogated
several times and kept in detention for two
nights on allegations that he had treated an offender
at his examination office." The Medical Association,
saying that doctors should be able to practice their
profession without any restriction, recalled the principles
of medicine: "In accordance with all the international
and national regulations and as required by
the medical profession, physicians are obliged to
save human life and offer their medical knowledge
to people without considering differences such as
sex, race, nation, religion, political opinion, etc."
(Turkish Daily News, May 18)
Boyner testifies
Cem Boyner, leader of the New Democracy
Movement party (YDH), said on May 16 following a
hearing at the Ankara top prosecutor's office that
there was no difference between bandits and state
officials who break laws. Boyner was called by the
prosecutors office to testify as part of an investigation
launched before last week's religious holiday
concerning a statement he made in a speech at a
party meeting in which he refers to government
"banditry." After his half-hour testimony, Boyner,
who was accompanied by several other YDH party
members, told reporters that there cannot be any
differentiation made between officials who violate
human rights and bandits.
(Turkish Daily News, May 17)
Union leader
Ayçin goes to jail
Atllay Ayçin, chairman of the Aviation Labor
Union, entered Bayrampa~a Cezaevi prison on May
16, the Anatolia news agency reported. He will start
serving a one year and eight months prison sen-
tence imposed on him after his conviction for "propagating
separatism" in a speech he made at a meeting
of the Human Rights Association in 1991.
(Turkish Daily News, May 17)
Greece preparing to jail
second ethnic Turkish mufti
An elected local Muslim leader of Turkish origin in
the Greek town of Gümülcine (Komotini) is likely to
be sentenced to prison on the grounds that he is
"illegally using the title of mufti," Turkish diplomatic
sources said on May 16. Ibrahim $erif, who was
elected as the Gümülcine mufti (local religious
leader) by the Turkish minority in the area, was sentenced
to an eight-month term in prison by a
Gümülcine court in December. He appealed, and a
higher court in the regional center of Selanik
(Salonika) will now decide his case on May 24. The
diplomatic sources said the court was likely to ratify
$erif's sentence based on the precedent of a previous
decision against another Turkish mufti. Mehmet
Emin AQa, elected mufti in the Greek town of Iskece
(Xanthia), was sentenced in January to 10 months
in prison for the same reason. The diplomatic
sources said the cases opened against the muftis
were another example of Greek moves to intimidate
the country's West Thracian Turkish minority, whose
rights have been legally guaranteed in several bilateral
and international agreements. The Athens government
banned mufti elections in a 1990 decree
passed in violation of the 1923 Lausanne Treaty,
which guaranteed the rights of the Turkish minority.
The decree also ordered Greek authorities to
appoint local Muslim leaders. The law has prompted
legal authorities in Western Thrace to sue elected
muftis. (Turkish Daily News, May 17)
'Missing' Hasan Ocak's murder
provokes strong reactions
The case of Hasan Ocak, who disappeared after
his alleged detention by police on March 21 and
was discovered dead in Istanbul on May. 16, has led
to angry reactions from human rights groups. At a
joint press conference held in Ankara on May 17,
Akin Birdal, the chairman of the Human Rights
Association (IHD), and Yavuz Önen, chairman of
the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV),
said the "government was responsible for Ocak's
murder. Onen also said Prime Minister Tansu Çiller
was "the murderer of Hasan Ocak." "The prime minister
has to find out who murdered Hasan Ocak or
she has to resign. We will not allow certain forces to
turn Turkey into a country of unsolved murders,"
Önen added. Birdal, who spoke on behalf of both
the IHD and TIHV at the press conference, spoke of
the effort made by human rights groups to find
Hasan Ocak after his disappearance and the lack of
results. "In 1994, a total of 327 people were reported
missing to the IHD and unfortunately none of the
prosecutors in this country take action to investigate
the cases of missing people," Birdal said. "It is said
that villagers found his body in the forest area of
Istanbul-Beykoz and took him to the forensic medicine
department, then he was buried in the
Küçükçekmece paupers' cemetery. The government
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