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-RlVlSTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi<br />
in the me<strong>et</strong>ing went to Salahuddine in<br />
Northern Iraq, where they were<br />
"warmly welcomed by the KDP lea<strong>de</strong>r<br />
Mr. Massoud Barzani."<br />
"I am planning to r<strong>et</strong>urn to Iraqi<br />
Kurdistan within the next few days<br />
and I will certainly me<strong>et</strong> Mr. Massoud<br />
Banani there. EffOlts are being ma<strong>de</strong><br />
to hold a me<strong>et</strong>ing in Turkey arid I am<br />
ready for this," he said. .<br />
A spokesman for Bmani's KOP,<br />
meanwhile, was quoted by Reuten as<br />
saying the agreement sipd by PUl<br />
and KDP lea<strong>de</strong>rs in Silopi was hold.<br />
ing. "We hope that all differences will<br />
be solved throu~ dialogue," he said.<br />
Several prevIous cease-fire agreements<br />
have failed to halt fighting<br />
which has claimed several huadred<br />
lives in parts of Nortbem Inq.<br />
A U.N. official in BI2hdàd said on<br />
Monday that fighting 'ad spread to<br />
Irbil, the regional capitallnd the<br />
seat of the Kurdisb Parliament, fOr<br />
the fIlSt time since the clashes began<br />
on May 1.<br />
Talabani said he was r<strong>et</strong>urnin& to<br />
Northern Iraq through Turkey wiÜ1in<br />
the next two days and that he would<br />
me<strong>et</strong> with Banani "to reinforce tbe<br />
agreement" .<br />
The PUK lea<strong>de</strong>r told Reutas he bad<br />
been unable to go back to Northern<br />
Iraq earlier because security was not<br />
guaranteed. ''The situation now is different,"<br />
he ad<strong>de</strong>d. Talabani said tbe<br />
Kurdish regional government should<br />
remain in power but hinted some ministers<br />
should be changed and portfolios<br />
given to Arabs. I<br />
"A serious reconsi<strong>de</strong>ration of the<br />
whole working programme in the area<br />
should be conducted by the PUl., the<br />
KDP and the Iraqi National Congress<br />
in or<strong>de</strong>r to adopt a new policy tbat<br />
would reinforce stability and <strong>de</strong>mocracy,"<br />
he ad<strong>de</strong>d.<br />
Talabani said there was no need to<br />
rush for new elections u polls would<br />
be held in July, 1995. The comin.<br />
months will be "a test for all to see<br />
how they are reacting to the new situa.<br />
tion," he said.<br />
'Terrorist' union lea<strong>de</strong>r to go tojail today<br />
By Sinan Yllmaz<br />
Turldsh DIllr New.<br />
ANKARA. The <strong>de</strong>cision by-the U.S. House of<br />
Representatives to link one-fourtb of Turkey's<br />
foreign aid to human rights and the Çyprus issue<br />
is currently one of the most wi<strong>de</strong>ly <strong>de</strong>6àted topics<br />
in the country.<br />
"Turkey does not have a buman rights ~lem'<br />
what it does have is a serious tenorism J?foblem,;:<br />
has been the official reply to these cillms from<br />
several political parties as well as the government.<br />
In reality, the issue of human rights bas<br />
never been absent from Turkey,'s political agenda<br />
and it appears as though it WIll remain a salient<br />
domestic concern for some time. The most recent<br />
inci<strong>de</strong>nt to affect Turkey's human rights record<br />
will take place today wIth the imprisonment of<br />
Münir Ceylan, former chainnan of the P<strong>et</strong>roleum<br />
Workers Union (P<strong>et</strong>rol-I~), in tbe Saray prison<br />
located in Tekirda' where he will serve out bis<br />
20-month sentence.<br />
Ceylan has been tried un<strong>de</strong>r Article 312 of the<br />
Turkish Penal Co<strong>de</strong> following the ~blication.of a<br />
controversial article he wrote for the Yeni Ülke<br />
newspaper during his tenure as P<strong>et</strong>rol-I, chairman.<br />
The former chairman was accused of fueling<br />
separatism in his article, although his link to a terror<br />
organization was never ~roven by the court.<br />
Ceylan is not the tirst example of a human rights<br />
violation in Turkey and certainly will not be the<br />
last... Ismail Be~ikci, known for his numerous<br />
books on the Kurdish problem, has s~t a total<br />
of 13 years in jail and is waiting for the day he<br />
will be released.<br />
However, new cases regarding his writings are<br />
still being processed by the National Security<br />
Court (NSC) making an early rel~ase appear<br />
unlikely since he is expected to receive an additional<br />
70 years or so.<br />
The author is also one of the few - if not the<br />
only - prisoners of conscience to have been sentenced<br />
twice for the same book. Assistant<br />
Professor Fikr<strong>et</strong> Ba~kaya also belongs to tbe<br />
newly formed group of prisoners of conscience<br />
bran<strong>de</strong>d as "terrorist professor assis1lDts" .by the<br />
government who bave been tried at the NSC and<br />
sentenced to prison un<strong>de</strong>r that title. Bqkaya, who<br />
used to lecture at the Abant Izz<strong>et</strong> Ba~sal<br />
University, was sentenced to 20 months in pnson<br />
and was fined TL 41 million after publisbiDg his<br />
book entitled<br />
"The Failure of the Paradigm." The assistant<br />
professor continues to serve his sentence at the<br />
Haymana Prison. .<br />
The above listed individuals are those who are<br />
publicly known, but there are also the unknown<br />
names of people wbo have ~n tried and sentenced,<br />
along with the 75 journalists and writers<br />
still serving m various state prisons.<br />
All these victims were convicted un<strong>de</strong>r the<br />
anti-terrorism law. These days, Assistant<br />
Professor Haluk Gerger and Human Rights<br />
Association (HRA) Secr<strong>et</strong>ary-General HdsnU<br />
ÖndUl, both convicted because of their political<br />
views, are preparing to . serve their sen.<br />
tences.<br />
Professor Gerger was sentenced to 20 months<br />
in prison due to a message he bad sent to a me<strong>et</strong>ing<br />
held in commemoration of Deniz Gezmi~,<br />
woo was hanged for his alleged involvement in<br />
terrorism ÏD the 19701.<br />
HUsnU Ondül was sentenced to a 6-month jail<br />
tenn after Ismail ~~ikçi's artiçle wu published<br />
in the HRA bullehn, of which Öndül was the editor.<br />
Besi<strong>de</strong>s infringing upon the freedom of expression,<br />
the state is also committing other human<br />
rights violations, such as torture, extrajudicial<br />
executions and even mur<strong>de</strong>r.<br />
Most of the time, serious investigations and trials<br />
are not conducted since the ~overnment security<br />
forces involved in such incJ(ients are protected<br />
by the law. In cases where these inci<strong>de</strong>nts are<br />
pursued, the consent of the Provincial<br />
Administration Board must first be obtained in<br />
or<strong>de</strong>r to try government security forces according<br />
to the law governing the prosecution of civil servants.<br />
In most cases, the administrative board<br />
<strong>de</strong>nies the requests to prosecute. And evea if the<br />
cases do make it to court and the <strong>de</strong>fendants are<br />
found guilty, the punishments tend to be ineffective.<br />
.<br />
For example, the punishment for a <strong>de</strong>ath resulting<br />
from torture is a 5-year prison term, whicb is<br />
usually reduced so that the prisoner rarely has to<br />
serve out his entire tenno<br />
Even if the government claims that the country<br />
bas a "terrorism problem and not a human rights<br />
problem," it has y<strong>et</strong> to convince the public oftOat.<br />
Human rights violations are now ~n1y committed<br />
and cannot be pusbed un<strong>de</strong>r the clJ'P.Ct<br />
an~ by ~ps whO prefer to <strong>de</strong>ny the existence<br />
of sucb Inci<strong>de</strong>nts.<br />
One question must be asked: "Do all these<br />
journalists, writers, union members and others<br />
who have been accused of separatism and terrorism<br />
by the government even bow how to fire a<br />
guIl?<br />
The government's "<strong>de</strong>mocratization package"<br />
bas bein announced but an effective proposal<br />
<strong>de</strong>signed to rectify human rights abuses bas not<br />
been inclu<strong>de</strong>d in die pI'OpC!SIl.<br />
The Social Democrat People's Partts (SHP)<br />
lack of respc>ns<strong>et</strong>o the OmiSSIOllof the crimes of<br />
conscience" clause from tbe <strong>de</strong>mocratization<br />
package bas been criticized harshlf althoup the<br />
p-arty bas repeatedly stated its position in favor of<br />
ihe clause.<br />
UnfOl1unately these critics have not mentioned<br />
the SHP' s efforts to transfer prisor.en of conscience<br />
convicted un<strong>de</strong>r the anti-terrorism law<br />
from "E-~" .Prisons - maximum security pris.<br />
ons <strong>de</strong>siped for the <strong>de</strong>teo1ion of terrorists - to<br />
normal. , with the bel of the SHP .ustic:e<br />
minister~ liP. of tb<strong>et</strong>!'IdJ, it iselk that<br />
1'wtey must CODl1nu<strong>et</strong>o wort on its human rights<br />
problem.<br />
11