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

REVUE DE PRESSE~PRESS REVIEW~BERHEVOKAÇAPÊ~RNISTA
STAMPA~DENTRO DE LA PRENSA~BASIN ÖZET;
Bonn prepares campaign
for human rights in Turkey
• Campaign to start after Bonn sorts out security and rights
problems related to Turkeyand Turks in Germany
By Murat Yetkin
Turkish Daily News
BONN/ANKARA- The German government is making
preparations for a campaign regarding human
rights violations in Turkey sources in Germany have
said,
The campaign is expected to start after Bonn sorts
out security and civil and human rights problems related
to Turkey and Turks in Germany,
Talking to the TON on the condition of anonymity,
German government sources said that Bonn:s cautious
approach in accusing Turkey of not preventmg human
rights violations.should not be mi- independent Kurdish state carved
sunderstood as suggesting that it is out ofTurkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria,
no longer interested in the subject. the PKK has been waging an armed
Being a major and a harsh critic campaign since 1984 In which m~
untillast year of human rights abu- re than 7,100 people have been kilses
in Turkey, Germany has been led in eastern and southeastern Turcareful
in raising the subject in re- key. The organization operates in
cent contacts with Ankara.
Germany under a number of cover
Chancellor Helmut Kohl's visit or~anizations. The Kurdistan Comto
Turkey on May 19-21, and Pri- mlttee in Cologne and the Popu~ar
me Minister Tansu ç iller's visit to Front for the Liberation of Kurdls-
Germany on September 20-22 have tan, ERNK (the so-called poli~cal
provided examples of this appro- wing of the PKK) offices are Just
ach. German government sources two,of f!1ese.Turkey argues that !Jrsay
they do not want to link the gamzatlOns such as these, wh~ch
close and historical relations bet- have been established by making
ween the two countries to human uSe of the flexibility of German
rights violations in Turkey, and es- laws, work as recruitment and fipecially
to the Kurdish problem. nancial support o.ffices, for the
But, they indicate, they still are fol- PKK, an~ ~as ~een .a~~mg Gerlowing
closely developments in many to lmut therr actIvltles becauthese
areas. German officials also se of this. The Moslem fundamenbelieve
that more time ~hould ~e tali,st net~or~ of Cemalet~in Kapgiven
to Turkey to fulfillts proml-' Ian s, which aIms to establIsh a Feses
and complete legal arrange- deral Islamic State in Turkey with
ments for more democracy in the Istanbul as its capital, and the Gercountry,
"Now we are tryingto sort many based extensions of Turkey's
out our own problems m the con- armed gangs on the fringe left, are
text of human and civil rights, so- among the other problems consldeme
of which are directly related to red in this framework. German of-
Turker and Turkish citizens in Ger- ficials say they sympathize with
many' , said one high ranking offi- Tu~key's complaints ~d, are ~rying
cial. "Germany has understood that their best for legal revISIons 10 orit
has to solve its own human rights der to curtail the activities of these
problems before criticizing those in groups. On the other ~and, sources
other countries". German officials 10 Germany say, the differences of
list these problems that have to be opinion between the German intelsolved
as follows:
ligence organization BND, the Co-
• Curtailing of anti-Turkish ac- uncil. fo~ the Protection .of t,he
tivities based in Germany: The ma- Constitution, the German mtenor
jor problem in this field is .the acti- ministry, ll!1dthe foreign ministry
vities of the secessionist Kurdistan is responsible for the delays In
Workers Party (PKK). Seeking an taking the necessary steps for a legal
action against these groups,
• Curtailing of xenophobic and
neo-Nazi activities aimed at ~uestworkers
and immigrants livIng in
Germany:
Officials say the high increase in
the number of attacks against foreigners
in Germany is proportionate
to increasing unemployment and
migration following the collapse of
the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the reunification
of Germany:
The Solingen incident on May 29
in which 5 members of a Turkish
family in Germany were murdered
in an arson attack, was a milestone
in the Gernlan government's approach
to organizations on the rightist
fringe in the country. Neo-Nazi
groups.were blamed in that attack.
Two neo-Nazi's suspected of an
earlier attack in Moelln are still on
trial. German officials believe that
such attacks do not only worsen
Turkish-German relations, but also
discredit Germany in international
fora and revive World War II memories.
The activities of some of
the groups mentioned here have already
been restricted, because they
are in violation of German laws.
• Regulating the civil rights of
foreigners in Germany: Dual citizensnip
is the major issue regarding
the civil rights being demanded by
more than 1.8 million Turkish citizens
in Germany,
A Turkish Citizen actually has
the rißht to become a German citizens
If she/he fulfils certain conditions.
But Turkish citizens refrain
from becoming German citizens,
fearing they Will lose inheritance
rights in Turkey and end up with
lesser rights to buy real estate and
work in their motherland. German
officials say the Turkish government
also has some responsibilities
in this respect and it should make
the necessary legal amendments to
make things 'easier for its citizens.
But sources in Germany say that
these problems are not the only
ones regarding dual citizenship.
The German government does not
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