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 REVlEW~BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RIVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi<br />
West alarmed<br />
.over reports<br />
of internment<br />
in Southeast<br />
Amnesty International fears<br />
children exposed to ill-treatment<br />
By Ism<strong>et</strong> G.lms<strong>et</strong><br />
Turkish Daily News<br />
LONDON- Human rights organizations and<br />
officials in Europe and in the United States are<br />
alarmed over new reports from Turkey that securi.<br />
ty forces have started to s<strong>et</strong> up internment camps<br />
in th<strong>et</strong>roubled Southeast region to hold and interrogate<br />
villagers en masse, a cOߥressional source<br />
in Washington said on Friday. According to the<br />
source, United States officials are also looking<br />
into the claims which have been heard since early<br />
July after the launching of il major Turkish mih~<br />
tary offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan<br />
Workers' Party (PKK) near the province of<br />
Diyarbalar.<br />
. The TDN has been told that at least two such<br />
camps were s<strong>et</strong> up, inDiyaroalar and Hakkari, but<br />
that one of them has already been emptied with all<br />
civilians released.. .<br />
"The reports are truly worrying," said Jonathan<br />
Sug<strong>de</strong>n of the international human rights watch<br />
dog group Amnesty International in London.<br />
'They are worryino for they suggest the beginning<br />
of a new pattern of abuses In the area," he told the<br />
.TDN on Friday. Amnesty is geared<br />
up to launch a campaign on the issue<br />
and to hi~hlight what Sug<strong>de</strong>n refers<br />
to as a situation in which "a large<br />
number of people are. held in ad hoc<br />
camps and, inevitab.1Y, are mo~~<br />
exposed ta torture and iii-treatment.<br />
The or~anization, through i~ own<br />
. sources In Turkey, has confirmed<br />
that at least two such camps were s<strong>et</strong><br />
up in the same week of early July<br />
and that one based in Hakkari reportedly<br />
h?lds over 1,000 ciyihans<br />
including women and children.<br />
Reports coming in from the region<br />
imply that some of the villagers were<br />
evacuated from their s<strong>et</strong>tlements and<br />
<strong>de</strong>tained only after refusing to join<br />
the paramilitary village guards. More<br />
than 1,0QO villages and haml<strong>et</strong>s in<br />
the Turkish Southeast have been<br />
evacuated for security reasons over<br />
the past years and most have been<br />
torched, a recent Turkish Human<br />
Rights Association report had'<br />
claImed. .<br />
70<br />
turkish cfuily news<br />
. .<br />
"The fact that both of the camps<br />
were s<strong>et</strong> up the .same week suggests<br />
there may have been an or<strong>de</strong>r sent.<br />
out. We are now particularly. con"<br />
cerned that children are also<br />
involved.and they are being <strong>de</strong>tained<br />
illegally and are subject to torture,"<br />
Sug<strong>de</strong>n said:<br />
''We have been workin~ publicly<br />
for many months appealing to the<br />
CSCE (Commission on Security and<br />
Cooperation in Europe) to 'send a<br />
missIOn to Turkey. This shows that<br />
now there is an urgent need for this."<br />
According to information reaching<br />
London, the first of the two camps<br />
was s<strong>et</strong> up near a gendarmerie station<br />
in Damlatepe in the Hani district of<br />
Diyarba1ar. At least four villages and<br />
two haml<strong>et</strong>s were evacuated by<br />
troops and the population was moved<br />
to this camp. ''We have been told by<br />
witnesses that Dam]atepe camp is<br />
now empty. Some of the villagers<br />
have gone back to build new houses<br />
and others have moved to (the southern<br />
province of) Adana," Sug<strong>de</strong>n<br />
said on Friday. Damlatepe was s<strong>et</strong> up<br />
on July 6. Kurdish sources in Koln,<br />
Germany, say there has Qeen no<br />
news of the villagers <strong>de</strong>tained by<br />
troops in the three weeks since theIr<br />
s<strong>et</strong>tlements were evacuated and<br />
allegedly burned down. They fear<br />
that the victims may be subject to<br />
torture. The PKK, which has<br />
imposed a self-styled ban on the<br />
Turkish press, has refused to comment<br />
on the <strong>de</strong>velopment.<br />
According to reports reaching<br />
London from local Kurdish sources,<br />
the internment camps appear to be<br />
part of Turkish efforts to contain terrorist<br />
activities in the region and to<br />
cut off local militia supr0rt for the<br />
PKK. Previously Turkey s policy of<br />
evacuation was criticised by human<br />
rights activists on the grounds that<br />
villagers ~ere not being compensated<br />
for theIr losses or shown where to<br />
res<strong>et</strong>tle. Observers believe this new<br />
pattèrn could also be a military filter-<br />
Ing process for displaced Kurds.<br />
questioning them be.fore they are<br />
allowed to migrate tg;o~er parts of<br />
Turkey ..Regional Kp,rdlsh sources<br />
claim that at least wee such camps<br />
have been s<strong>et</strong> up although the presence<br />
of only two cQuid be in<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>ntly<br />
confrrmed. ';<br />
Amnesty fears' that wh~tev~r the<br />
reason thIS new pattern ID vllla~e<br />
evacuations could lead to further dISappearances<br />
ofKlridish ~ivilians.<br />
Such disappearances ~~ve Increased<br />
steadilv• in__ the. reoion I> smce 1993.<br />
Saturday, lul>'.23, 1994<br />
According to a TDN source in<br />
Diyarbakrr the Damlatepe camp was<br />
initially sei up when commando and<br />
~endarmerie forces cracked down on<br />
me PKK in the fust week of July in<br />
the Hani-Lice-Genc triangle, <strong>de</strong>clari~g<br />
the àrea off-limits to all outsufers.<br />
.<br />
Kurdish sources say there was no<br />
news from the villagers who were<br />
iaken to the camp until they were<br />
released. The women and children<br />
were the first to be J<strong>et</strong> out of the<br />
Damlatepe camp. One of the villages<br />
evacuated and <strong>de</strong>stroyed during the<br />
said operation has been i<strong>de</strong>ntified as<br />
Seleheydan.<br />
Since then, all telephone lines to<br />
the area have been cut an<strong>de</strong>ven<br />
Kurdish activists agree that information<br />
'coming out of the region may<br />
not be reliable.<br />
There are local claims, however,<br />
that a second campwas s<strong>et</strong> up in<br />
Topcular, also close to a gendarmerie<br />
post. Kurdish activists in Europe say<br />
the people from villages in the Selvi<br />
(Sivan), Shelmenzin and Caxit dis- .<br />
tricts of Genç have also been<br />
<strong>de</strong>tained and taken to the camps. .<br />
There have also been allegations<br />
from Kurdish circles that on July 8,<br />
troops accompanied by village<br />
guards rai<strong>de</strong>d. the Kerwas village of<br />
Diyarbakir along with the Mexle<br />
haml<strong>et</strong> of the same village and<br />
torched more than 30 houses on the<br />
grounds that the civilians had refused<br />
tojoin the paramilitary village guard<br />
forces. 'Over 200 people fled to<br />
Diyarbakir city center following this<br />
raid. According to Amnesty, the second<br />
major inte.rnmentcamp has been<br />
s<strong>et</strong> up In Beytussebap, Hakkari and<br />
currently holds some 1,400 civilians<br />
including èhildren. The population of<br />
the camp consists of villagers evacuated<br />
from their s<strong>et</strong>tlements. They<br />
have béen stripped of their ID cards,<br />
an essential requirement for travel in<br />
the war zone, and told by troops that<br />
they cannot enter the town. But some<br />
have 'managçd to escape and to tell<br />
their story. Sources in Hakkari say<br />
that 'troops, especially in the Mezra<br />
district of Beytussebap, have<br />
besie~ed several villages and banned<br />
the CIvilianpopulation from leaving<br />
the area - imposing at the same<br />
time a major food embargo,<br />
explained locally as a m<strong>et</strong>hod to prevent<br />
supplies from reaching the<br />
PKK. The issue is expected to lead<br />
to further international pressure on .<br />
Turkey related to the country's<br />
unsatisfaciOIYhuman rights record.