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 OZETÎ<br />
INTERNATIONAL HERAW TRIBUNE, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1994<br />
U.s. Urges<br />
Ankamto<br />
EndAbuse<br />
O/Kurds<br />
TM A$$ocioted Pras<br />
ANKARA - Citing allegalions<br />
of torture and abuses in<br />
.lhe military campaign against<br />
Kurdish rebels, a U.S. State Department<br />
official on Tuesday<br />
urged Turkey to move quickly<br />
to improve human rights.<br />
John Shattuck, an assistant secr<strong>et</strong>ary<br />
of state, said: "The. reports<br />
have grown more senous<br />
recently, particularly in the areas<br />
of alleged restrictions on<br />
freedom of expression, allegations<br />
on the use of torture<br />
against pr<strong>et</strong>rial <strong>de</strong>tainees and<br />
alleged abuses against civilians<br />
in the militaryoperations<br />
against terrorists in the southeast."<br />
Mr. Shattuck, who <strong>de</strong>als with<br />
questions of <strong>de</strong>mocracy, human<br />
rights and labor, arrived here<br />
Sunday to discuss the allegations<br />
with Turkish officials and<br />
civilian groups.<br />
Turkey has come un<strong>de</strong>r increasing<br />
criticism from the<br />
United States, Western Europe<br />
and various international institutions<br />
for abuses during its<br />
military campaign to crack<br />
downfbn the Kurdish guerrillas;<br />
who have been fighting for autonomy<br />
Turkey's Kurds for the<br />
past to years.<br />
Turkey <strong>de</strong>riies human rights<br />
violations.<br />
"We recognize that some of<br />
these problems are in the context<br />
of Turkey's legitimate<br />
struggle against terrorist acts,"<br />
Mr. Shattuck said. But he<br />
stressed that basic human rights<br />
should not be abandoned in the<br />
fight against terrorislJl.<br />
The House of Representatives<br />
has attempted to link U.S.<br />
aid to improvement in Turkey's<br />
humanrights status. The Council<br />
of Europe's parliamentary<br />
assembly voted to send a <strong>de</strong>legation<br />
to Turkey to investigate<br />
the Kurdish problem. The Con-<br />
on Security and Coop-<br />
o ferenee<br />
eration in Europe also <strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong>d<br />
on a fact-finding mission.<br />
Turkey's image was further<br />
damaged abroad after the Parliament<br />
voted to lift the immu-<br />
,nitYof six Kurdish <strong>de</strong>puties on<br />
chargesofpropagating Kurdish<br />
separatism, paving the way for<br />
their imprisonment in March.<br />
A state security court on<br />
Tuesday arrested two more former<br />
Kurdish <strong>de</strong>puties who lost<br />
their parliamentary membershit>following<br />
the shutdown of<br />
theu pro-Kurdish Democracy<br />
Party last month on similar<br />
charges.<br />
Mr. Shattuck said he visited<br />
some of the jailed former <strong>de</strong>puties<br />
in Ankara.<br />
"There is wi<strong>de</strong>spread concern<br />
in the United States, especially<br />
in our Congress, about<br />
their freedom of speech, their<br />
freedom of expression and the<br />
possibility that they have been<br />
jailed for speeches that they<br />
ma<strong>de</strong> in the United States when<br />
they were visiting our Congress,"<br />
he said.<br />
turkish daily news Wednesday, July 13,1994<br />
As we run out of explanations ...<br />
IInur Çevik<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Süleyman Demirel m<strong>et</strong><br />
with politicallea<strong>de</strong>rs on Tuesday<br />
to discuss the mounting Western<br />
pressures on Turkey to me<strong>et</strong> the<br />
norms of civilized parliamentary <strong>de</strong>mocracies<br />
... Earlier, the presi<strong>de</strong>nt held a similar<br />
me<strong>et</strong>ing with high-ranking state officials<br />
on the same issue in the absence of<br />
Prime Minister Tansu Çiller ...<br />
At last, Turkishstate officials have<br />
come to terms with the realities of the<br />
world: Turkey can no longer pr<strong>et</strong>end to<br />
be a full fledged parliamentary <strong>de</strong>mocracy<br />
while it is actually a substandard<br />
<strong>de</strong>mocracy where people are imprisoned<br />
in an arbitrary manner for expressing<br />
their views ...<br />
The arrogant behavior of many people<br />
in Turkey have contrIbuted to this sorrowfuloutcome.<br />
Now the very same people<br />
have been put in a position to seek solutions<br />
to the impasse. We had warned<br />
too many times in the past through this<br />
column and through many others In the<br />
TurkishDaily News that if Turkey insisted<br />
on its negative attitu<strong>de</strong> toward <strong>de</strong>mocracy<br />
and human rights it would sooner or<br />
later face isolation. Foreign friends visit-<br />
ing Turkeyare issuing the same warnings<br />
that Turkey is heading with great speed<br />
toward isolation among the civilized<br />
nations of the world because of its attitu<strong>de</strong>.<br />
The problem of course lies with the<br />
fact that the hearts and minds of offi-.<br />
cials. and especially a majority of the<br />
parliamentarians, are not <strong>de</strong>mocratic.<br />
For many of them, human rights is a luxury<br />
while in Western countries it issimply a<br />
wayoflife.<br />
Now we have to face the bitter truth.<br />
Either we play the game according to<br />
the rules that prevail in all contemporary<br />
<strong>de</strong>mocracies or we face isolation.<br />
We and our friends in the West have to<br />
iron out some of the misun<strong>de</strong>rstandings.<br />
We have to ÇJgre<strong>et</strong>o the fact that the<br />
problem in Turkey is not really the Kurdish<br />
issue but it is a more general issue concerning<br />
the lack of <strong>de</strong>mocratic norms<br />
and values that have to be instituted in<br />
our country. So the West has to talk in<br />
general terms about Turkey and should<br />
not use the Kurdish issue as a trump card<br />
because that will only antagonize Turkish<br />
public opinion, causing people to say,<br />
"The West wants to divi<strong>de</strong> us and thus<br />
we do not need their <strong>de</strong>mocracy or<br />
their norms and values. N The West has to<br />
tell Turkey it has a right to fight separatist<br />
Kurdish terrorism with every possible<br />
means. but also stress tbat Turkey has to<br />
honor its word that every citizeh of the<br />
TurkishRepublic is a first class citizen<br />
which inclu<strong>de</strong>s people of Kurdish <strong>et</strong>hnic<br />
origin.<br />
Turkshave to be told bluntly that they<br />
had been treated too softly over the<br />
<strong>de</strong>ca<strong>de</strong>s with the expectation that they<br />
would sooner or later make the necessary<br />
reforms on <strong>de</strong>mocratization and<br />
human rights. Thistreatment has been<br />
misun<strong>de</strong>rstood by certain circles here as<br />
meaning that Turkishadministrations can<br />
g<strong>et</strong> away with anything and that the<br />
West will tolerate this. So, military coups,<br />
interventions, repressive civilian regimes<br />
and authoritarian rule of any kind will no<br />
longer be tolerated and Turkey will either<br />
put its house in or<strong>de</strong>r or face moral and<br />
financial isolation in the West<br />
The TurkishForeign Ministry and Turkish<br />
parliamentarians, who have recently visited<br />
Europe, hove hod a very bad time<br />
because of the lack of <strong>de</strong>mocracy and<br />
human rights in Turkey. They have simply<br />
run out of explanations ...<br />
Demirel, Deputy Prime Minister<br />
Murat Karayalçln, Parliament Speaker<br />
Hüsam<strong>et</strong>tin Cindoruk, Foreign Minister<br />
Hikm<strong>et</strong> Ç<strong>et</strong>in and Parliament Foreign<br />
Relations Committee Chairman Erdal<br />
Inönü seem to have realized the<br />
urgency and seriousness of the situation.<br />
Now it is the turn of the hawkish parliamentarians<br />
and Prime Minister Çill~r to<br />
come to terms with the bitter facts.<br />
39