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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REvIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RMSTA STAMPA..DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASlN ÖZETi
Turkish Probe September 14, 1993
they understood us and that there would be no attempt
to prevent the funeral..
According to a DEP parliamentarian, Çiller appeared
to be so positive that she actually blamed Turkey's
young democracy for the mishaps and told
the delegation .we must try, altogether, to turn
[Turkey] into a mature democracy."
The DEP believed this was a hidden reference to
anti-Kurdish trends surfacing in the Turkish community.
Despite assurances though, when the party actually
tried to carry out its planned funeral, it was faced
with incredible problems. What was observed
throughout the ordeal was that the DEP went out of
its way to prevent any provocation and to cool
down its own supporters.
On the first day, after being told by Çiller that
they had the right to carry out their own funeral ceremony,
the DEP was informed by the Ankara governorship
that they did not. Both the governorship
and the police announced that they would not give
the funeral over to the DEP -- if they insisted on
their own program.
What was not mentioned, publicly, was that the
governor himself was under immense pressure
from the city's police force to send the body out of
Ankara as soon as possible.
Due to the scheduled ceremony, all of the police
were working long and tiring shifts. As of Sunday,
the city's five main entrances had been placed under
control.
Groups coming for the funeral were sent back. In
the city itself, policemen had set up checkpoints
where they preventing citizens of Kurdish origin
from entering some of the districts.
Upon learning of the ban on the funeral, the DEP
decided to attempt retrieving Sincar's body with minimum
risk of a mass demonstration.
A lengthy meeting was held at the party headquarters.
Later, a group of deputies left the building
and in separate cars drove up to Hacettepe hospital.
Unknown to them was that the police had already
taken measures there. Inside, the parking lot
had been blocked by unmarked police cars, instructed
to park there to prevent other vehicles from
doing so.
At the doors of the emergency room, three rows
of riot police stood guard. Inside, at the entrance
of the morgue, about a dozen policemen armed
with semiautomatic guns barricaded the corridor
leading to a chamber where Sincar's body was
kept.
The security measures were so intense that not
even the ambulance, hired to drive Sincar's body
out, was allowed in.
But the deputies got through and entered the
hospital director's office where they waited for about
half an hour until realizing that he had also been
told briefed by officials.
The director, who spoke to the deputies on the
telephone, said he saw no medical reason to prevent
the funeral but was under verbalorders from
the governorship. "They will also be sending the order
in writing,. he added.
Another hospital official complained to the Turkish
Probe that "the police have taken control of
everything."
In the words of Kaya, .Sincar's body was seized
.• What created problems between the DEP
and Ankara appeared to be a demand to bury Sincar
after religious services were conducted in Ankara.
The DEP wanted to pick up the body, place it on
a catafalque in front of the headquarters for one
day, march it over to a mosque some 500 meters
away and then take it to Sincar's hometown of KIzlltepe,
Mardin.
.There is no way," said the Ankara security chief,
"they can march through the streets." From the
very beginning, the police were against the idea.
The prevention of Sincar's funeral led only to reaction
from the DEP which in turn announced -with
the support of the late MP's family -- that it would
not retrieve the body.
A two day showdown started between the party
and Ankara. Aware that its own image was being
tarnished abroad, Ankara tried to convince the
DEP into accepting its own terms and agreeing to
a make-shift ceremony which would last, at the
most, several hours.
The DEP, aware that by keeping Sincar on the
agenda it was attracting attention to its own plight,
insisted on its own demand.
The result: Sincar's body stayed where it was.
Remaining in the Hacettepe morgue and enjoying
protection he never had while he was alive, the dead
MP became the central piece of a chess game
that seemed to have been won by his friends
By Thursday, it was clear that neither ,the DEP
nor Sincar's family had any intention of claiming
the body unless they were allowed to pay tribute to
him in Ankara.
In addition, pOlice pressure on the governorship
had increased. As of Wednesday afternoon, the
police started to insist on sending the body out of
the city and saving themselves the additional work
-- all on behalf of "a Kurdish traitor."
Police brutality in the capital related to the funeral
only served to alienate the police more from the
people in Ankara. Filmed by a private television
station, it has still not been investigated by authorities.
The fury of the pOliceforce could clearly be seen
in InterStar news bulletin footage showing how the
Ankara police had "dispersed" crowds in downtown
. Slhhlye.
Two of these scenes were described in detail in
the Turkish Daily News during the week:
In the first: "Blood spurted out of the victim's mouth
as the first wooden truncheon hit his face. Six
policemen jumped him. He fell to the ground after
an abortive attempt to flee. As he screamed "help,"
the six uniformed officers raised their clubs. Over
and over again they hit him: in the stomach, on the
back, but mainly on the head.
Two of the officers, about half a minute into the
beating, started to kick his head. A boot landed on
the back of his skull. Another crashed into his nose.
The remaining four joined in, jumping up and
down on top of him.
He turned over several times, his face reflecting
nothing but sheer pain and fear. Finally, the offi-
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