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 DE LA PRENSA#BASIN OZET;<br />
Papers express doubt over<br />
state authority in Southeast<br />
• Lash out at state officials<br />
for bungled policies<br />
Turkish Daily News<br />
ANKARA- With Turkish dailies complying<br />
with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'<br />
Party (PKK) <strong>de</strong>mand to close their bureaus<br />
in what it calls "Kurdistan" (the Southeast)<br />
and with kiosks forced not to sell any<br />
papers, state officials have come un<strong>de</strong>r fire<br />
from the press for their bungled management<br />
of the affair. "Is there no state?" asked<br />
the high-circulation Milliy<strong>et</strong> in its banner<br />
headline Tuesday.<br />
"The Southeast and East have become<br />
places where fear and uncertainty rule.<br />
Taking advantage of the power vacuum<br />
there, terrorist organi~a!ions do as they<br />
please. As terrorist aC~lVlty~nd unsol~ed<br />
mur<strong>de</strong>rs continue, now Journahsts are bemg<br />
threatened and dail,ies cannot be distributed<br />
or sold," Milliy<strong>et</strong> said. ..<br />
"Despite the fact that terrons~ Isnow targ<strong>et</strong>ing<br />
the press, those responsible for state<br />
affairs do nothing but utter empty words and<br />
sta~e shows," Milliy<strong>et</strong> protested.<br />
. Newspaper offices m the Southeast have<br />
been forced to close by the PKK. Besi<strong>de</strong>s,<br />
the PKK has announced that it will force all<br />
reporting activity to cease in 22 to 23<br />
provinces, including eastern Turkey. Alas,<br />
this in effect means that the sovereIgnty of<br />
the Turkish state in the region is blatantly<br />
ignored. The PKK is saying it is the sole<br />
power in the region," wrote Yalçm Dogan, a<br />
columnist for the paper.<br />
Urging Turkish politic~llea<strong>de</strong>rs to. reach<br />
a consensus on a solutIOn to the Issue,<br />
Dooan said the same kind of threat could be<br />
dir~cted aoainst political parties as well.<br />
''The PKKecould soon <strong>de</strong>clare it is suspending<br />
political party activity until further<br />
notice," he ad<strong>de</strong>d.<br />
In a front-paoe editorial Tuesda¥,<br />
Cumhuriy<strong>et</strong>, wbife qualifying the PKK s<br />
threat as "tragic," criticized government<br />
officials for their efforts to downplay the<br />
gravity of the situation and c~I1ed on<br />
Parliament to convene to tackle the Issue.<br />
"To ensure the individual's right to life is<br />
the primary responsibility of a state. If this<br />
is not the case, the existence of the state in<br />
any country is questionable," Cumhuriy<strong>et</strong><br />
argued.<br />
"The time has come for state officials to<br />
ascribe a name to the even(s surging through<br />
the country. Some sayan un<strong>de</strong>clared civil<br />
war is raging in the country." "The. PK~<br />
forced press members to stop reportmg m<br />
the regIOnon the pr<strong>et</strong>ext that the oress has<br />
been serving' ag a mere lackey Of the<br />
Southeast Emergency State Governorship.<br />
The curious thing is that Interior Minister<br />
Mehm<strong>et</strong> Gazio~lu went as far as to accuse<br />
press members of 'not having informed<br />
police and going to the me<strong>et</strong>ing, ",<br />
Curnhuriy<strong>et</strong> saId.<br />
"The coalition government must <strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong><br />
wh<strong>et</strong>her there is a war raging in Turkey. If<br />
an outlawed authority strong enough to<br />
force Turkish papers to close their offices in<br />
the Southeast has come into existence, then<br />
the Turkish government must clarify the<br />
issue and not tI)' to sweep it un<strong>de</strong>r the rug.<br />
If the state is bemg eradicated in the eastern<br />
part of Turkey and the country is running<br />
the risk of division, attempts by the governmentto<br />
'naturalize' the issue and downplay<br />
it are highly hazardous," Curnhuriy<strong>et</strong> maintained.<br />
Hürriy<strong>et</strong>'s Oktay Ek~i, also chairman of<br />
the Press Council, directed severe criticism<br />
against Interior Minister Mehm<strong>et</strong> Gazioglu<br />
for his statements concerning the PKK ban<br />
on Turkish dailies.<br />
"Consi<strong>de</strong>ring his previous conduct, no<br />
one could have expected a consistent statement<br />
from Gaziogfu. Y<strong>et</strong> when he criticized<br />
the press members in DiyarbaIor for failing<br />
to inform security forces of their me<strong>et</strong>ing<br />
with the PKK and said they would have<br />
done whatever was necessary, no ohe<br />
thought he could be such a dreamer," Ek~i<br />
wrote in his column on Tuesday. "He says,<br />
'Such threats by the PKK are common;<br />
we'11protect journalists.' As if journalists<br />
were kids of five. As if they would believe<br />
what he says.<br />
If Gazioglu can, he must unearth those<br />
base killers who have been mur<strong>de</strong>ring so<br />
many of our fellow journalists," he wrote.<br />
In a written statement on Monday, Ek~i<br />
again lashed out at government offiCIais for<br />
failure to ïmprove the condition of journalists<br />
based in the Southeast and for their frequent<br />
assault and battery of reporters. "Just<br />
as previous threats and pressures by .security<br />
forces could not silence the press, so the<br />
PKK threat cannot manaße to silence it,"<br />
Ek~i said. Except for Eksi s column and the<br />
abbreviated text of an announcement by the<br />
Brussels-based FU (International Fe<strong>de</strong>ration<br />
of Journalists) <strong>de</strong>nouncing the PKK's threat,<br />
Hürriy<strong>et</strong> chose not to highlight the issue at<br />
all. .<br />
Sabah, another mass-circulation paper,<br />
followed a similar policy of downpIaying<br />
the inci<strong>de</strong>nt - except that the paper's economic<br />
editor Necati Do~ru warned that<br />
Turkey was on the road to'becoming another<br />
Bosnia in the face of recent <strong>de</strong>velopments.<br />
"Anatolia wil1 become another<br />
Bosnia if things go on like this," he wrote.<br />
"Kurdish parents do not advise their offspring<br />
to lead brotherly lives with Turks. On<br />
the other hand, Turkish parents keep alive<br />
the seeds of thought that might lead to a<br />
comp,rehensive counter-cleansing operation,<br />
, Dogru maintained. Aydmhk, a lowcirculation,<br />
hard-line, leftist daily, said the<br />
whole inci<strong>de</strong>nt was a "trap s<strong>et</strong> by the state."<br />
"From now on, reportmg will be the job<br />
of the Emergency Rule Governorship, the<br />
military's Photography and Motion Pictures<br />
Center, TRT (state TV), and the (semiofficialJ<br />
Anatolia news a~ency in the Kurdishdominated<br />
provinces,' Aydmhk said.<br />
"The state has already prevented the distribution<br />
of AydlOhk 10 the region," the<br />
r.aper said in a. front-page editorial.<br />
'Therefore, the PKK ban does not mean<br />
anything to us in effect. It is only the ratifi.<br />
cation of a practice by another power.<br />
In fact, previous pressures on Aydmhk<br />
for<strong>et</strong>old an imminent (Nazi) S5 regime. The<br />
Turkish Army knows that a military operation<br />
will claim an 'extraordinary number of<br />
lives.' It is only part of preparations for a<br />
military operation to create conditions that<br />
would allow only state-run media organizations<br />
10 report the operation."<br />
"The PKK has fallen into the trap s<strong>et</strong> by<br />
the state. With the press leaving the region<br />
for good, the place will be one where neither<br />
the media nor the people will have a<br />
say," the daily went on to say.<br />
Ertugrul I\.ürkçü, a columnist with the<br />
pro-Kurdish Ozgür Gün<strong>de</strong>m, the only paper<br />
the PKK has not banned in the Southeast,<br />
criticized the mainstream Turkish press for<br />
their meek compliance with so many "ultimatums"<br />
by the Turkish Army. "Therefore,<br />
the selfsame Bablali (generic term to refer<br />
to the Turkish press en bloc) cannot stand<br />
up against the PKK ban in the name of the<br />
'free~om of the press' without being guilty<br />
of usmg 'double standards, '" Kürkçü wrote.<br />
"Those who bow down before the state's<br />
armed forces will have to bow down before<br />
the PKK's armed forces, too," he said.<br />
Kürkçü ad<strong>de</strong>d, however, that the adoption<br />
of a critical stance toward the ban was necessary,<br />
consi<strong>de</strong>ring the fact that force had<br />
been used against the press.<br />
"Even if it were the case that that which<br />
uses force had moral and intellectual norms<br />
based on the loftiest press <strong>et</strong>hics, inequality<br />
would emerge," he said.."So it is now up to<br />
Ozgür Gün<strong>de</strong>m to adopt a stance where it<br />
can criticize the one with the power."<br />
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