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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RwISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASLN OZETÎ
Trying to defend humanrights violations
52
IInur Çevik
EDITORIAL
W .e are listening to the same aid
story over and over again in
. Turkeythat "as long as terror-
. .. ism exists' in Qurcountry "we
have to vioiate hùman rights. ' .
. Thisis completely wrong and we have
to make fundam'eptal changes in our .
explanations if we are to be convincing.
It is true that we ,have a teIf(;>rismproblem
in Southeastern. Turkey and thus the
extraordinary situation in this part of the
country calis for extraordinary measures
just Iikethose that are being taken in
Northern ireland. But this does not give
us the pretext for widening the scope of
the extraordinary measures to the whoie
of the country and preparing the ground
•..for widespread human rights vioiations.
, . Elected people dre peing takenàway
'.from. the'gdte.s of Parliament tobe
thrown into prison. Is this what happens
in a democratic coun!ry?Deputies'qre
being taken iMo custody for expressing
their views oreven for their speeches ,
made in thé Pariiament and are being
put in the same ba~ket as some deputies
.who are charged with directiy aiding terrorists.
Is this what happens in q demac:
rbtic country?
People are still being tortured or mistreated
in Turkishdetention centers.
Writers, journalists and thinkers are being
sentenced to long prison terms for mere'iy
expressing their views simply pecause
the anti-terrorism law regards them as
terrorists. Do such measures exist in civilized
parliamentary democracies?
Such things do not happen in contemporary
Western democrbcies arid thus
should not exist in Turkey. But they do
and our Western friends are complaining
about it. .," .
We said last week that tlie Turkish
authorities had run out of explanations
on why we have to violate human rights
and fail to improve out substandard
democracy ... Just toprove. our point
Foreign Minister Hikmet Çetin sent letters
to Interior Minister Nahit Mentese and
Justice Minister Seyfi Oktay voicing his
reseNations on the lack of human rights
and the anti-democratic measures
taken. by the police and the prosecutors
and saying that. it is the Foreign Ministry
which isput in the very difficult position
of having to do the "expiaining' to the
West. Mentese, instead of taking proper
measures to prevent mistreatment of
detainees, apparentiy iSsueda "secret'
memorandum to the pOiice force urging
them not to mistreat their prisoners ... Just
the simplistic mentàlity that has plunged
us into the current mess. Last week main .
opposition leaderMesut'Yllmaz had.
lunch with the ambassadors of the .
European Union and once again:.' .
explained to them that Turkey cou)d not
compromise on its fightagainst terrorism
and that we could live with the current
substandard democratic conditions ...
It seems that while there are people in
Turkey who feelthe urge to implement
democratic reforms and clean up our
human rights image there are still a iarge
number of people ranging from the president
to the main opposition leader who
have to chang~. their inentality.
Turkshave to understand that the reason
why our frien(js are so particular
about Turkey's substqndard democracy
and human rights vioiations is because
they want to see usas ci part of the ciub
of nations with civilized parliamentary
democratic systems..They do not regard
us a a mere third world country or a
banana republic which they can disregard
but a member of the club of the
elite. So they say we have to obey the
rules of'the 'club: .
Yet, while saying this, our Western
friends are givingso much emphasis to
Kurdish rights that at, times their mes-
sages to Turkey become distorted and
. are misunderstood both bythe Turkish
public and in official circles ..
Freedom of expression, .a democratic
'me~ta/~'Y.and all the other basic rights of
the IndiVidual have been a problem in
Turkey for the past two 'decades. Laws
hav~ changedbut instead of securing
~he fights of the individual they have
Introduc;ec! further veiled or unvelied
restrictions,
Now there is a dialogue of the de~f
between Turkey and the West. We have
to carry on this dialogue in a more
meaningful and constructive manner
c;mdso secure a viable place for Turkey
In the Western system instead of pushing
it into isolation.
.'