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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RwISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
turkish daily news Wednesday, June 8,1994/
..
Onen in Washington decriesTurkish human rights violations
Turkish hUl1um rights chief to meet with Rep. Porter, Amnesty International and Amb. Abramowitz
By ugur Akmel and the 1992 victüry üf True Path Party
Turkish Daily Nç,ws (DYP) and Social Democrat Peüple's Party
WASHINGTON- Yavuz Onen, president (SHP) cüalitiün under the leadership üf then
üf the Turkish Human Rights Fü.undaüün prime minister (~nd nüw president)
(HRF), has presented a bleak pIcture üf Süleyman Demirel. Onen said the 1980 cüup
Turkish human rights viülatiüns to. a grüup had led to.a ban ün the activities üf all traoe
, üf lawyers and jüurnalists ün his visit to. uniüns and demücratic ürganizatiüns and
Washingtün, ' cünstituted a seriüus setback für the democ- '
Talking at a briefing spünsüred by the ratizatiün process in Turkey. This era also
Intelnatiül).al Human Rights Law Grüup witnessed the escalatiün üf human rights
(IHRLG), Onen presented a fact-filled pre- viülatiüns, In 1992, two.parties - the DYP
sentatiün ün the viülatiüns.He also. broke and SHP - who. üpposed the 1980 regime
the bad news that three Kurdish business- came to.power with prümises üf a transparmen
were füund murdered yesterday - a ent güvernment and rapid democratizatIün.
, cünfrrmatiün, he implied, üf his cüntentiün They pledged to. remüve anti-demücratic
that extrajudicial murders are still cüntinu- laws and even included such prümises in
ing in Turkey. Turkish Daily News editür their cüalitiün prügram. "That's why peüple
, tsmet G. tmset was..alsü present at the meet- vüted für them. Yet, once in püwer, they
irig, translating Onen s cümments into. cüuld nüt get any suppürt früm the Turkish
English für the American jüurnalists and Parliament and the demücratizatiün program
hUJIlanrights advocates. was cüntinuüusly püstpüned." ..
Onen's Washingtün prügram isbeing A big reasün für such delays, Onen sugcüspünsüred
by IHRLG and the Center für gested, is the Kurdish prüblem. Armed
Victims üf Türture, a human rights advocacy clashes and viülence escalated despite a uniür$anizatiün
with headquarters in lateral cease-fire annüunced in 1993, he
MInneapülis, Minnesüta. When a grüup üf " said. "The Kurdish media indexed all
IHRLG-IDember lawyers visited Turkey last demo.cratizatiün requests to. the PKK (üutmünth,
Onen's HRF hüsted them and facili- lawed Kurdistan Würkers' Party) and crititated
their cüntacts in Turkey. Onen shared cized any such attempts. The Turkish
with the participants hüw he and bis associ- Natiünal Security Cüuncil similarly lüüked
ates started the Human Rights Assüciatiün at demo.cratic refürm attempts with suspi-
(üf Turkey) back in 1986 with 93 füunding ciün. Demirel gave lip service to. tbe
members. "In 1989 we fürmed the HRF to. 'Kurdish reality' but cüuld never e~lain
rehabilitate the türture victims. Since we what it was." Prime Minister Tansu ~ilIef,
brüught up the tüpic üf türture, üur establish- previo.uslya state minister within the cüali" '
ment was d~)ayed by Turkish üfficials für tiün güvernment when it was headed by
üne year," Onen saId. "In 1990 we were D~mIrel, even mentiüned the Spanish
allüwed to. establish the HRF after we took, ' ,"Basque Müder' .as' an üptio.n to sülve the
üut the würd 'türture' from üur bylaws." The KuidIshprüblem. She talkedabüut giving
füundatiün is invülved in two. main types üf the Kurds their cultural and linguistic rights
würk: dücumentatiün and repürting üf including the right to. establish KurdishTV
human rightsviülatiüns; and the rehabilita- statiüns. But tbe chief üf staff and the
tiün üf türture victims. Für the fürmer pur- Natiünal Security Çüuncil reacted negatively
püse the HRF publishes a daily bulletin and and warned her abüut the repercussiüns üf ,
an annual repürt, büth in English and her aRpro.ach. So. nüthing ..came üut üf
Turkish. In additiün,' the ürganizatiün alSo. çil).er s üriginal suggestiüns, Onen said. ,
releases interim repürts evaluating the güv- ,Onen mentiüned that the "barracks
ernment's perfürmance. As für helping the regime" üf 1980 is still in effect in Turkey.
türture victims, Onen said that 923 peüple "Kurds had to. evacuate üver 800 Kurdish
had been treated so.far. The ürganizatIün has villages and hamlets accürding to. üfficial
an annual budget that allüws für the rehabili- figures. There's an üutmigratiün to.the West.
tatiün üf 488 türture victims in centers lücat- Lately, they started to. flee to. nürthern Iraq
ed in Istanbul, Ankara and tzmir. In the as well." , "
Süutheast, the HRF develüped a "five city The HRF president srecifically fücused
project" arüund Diyarbalar to. provide simI- ün the negative effectS 0. Articles 8 and 6 üf
lar services to. thüse who. need it. Hüwever, the anti-terro.rismlaw, which "in additiün to.
Önen said that Diyarbalar proved to. be too the arrest üf six DEP (prü-Kurdish
dangerü.us a lücatIün to. establish a service De!ßocracy Party~ deputies! alSo.sent m,any
center directly. 'wnters, aCademICIanSand Intellectuals Into.
Önen summarized the recent histüry üf jail für raising the .Kurdi~his.~ue."He added
Turkey since 1980 by underlining the impor- that the pro.-KurdIsh daIly Ozgür Gündem
tance üf two. main events: the 1980 cüup; had üver 100 Co.urtcases filed against it.
40
Fürty percent o.f the 2,530 Co.urtcases filed
against the media in Istanbul invülved the
me))tÎünüf the "Kurdish issue," he said.
Onen, giving an' example üf the difficult
cünditiüns under which his o.rganizatiünwas '
üperating, mentiüned the fact that six executIves
üf the Turkish Human Rights
Associatiün (HRA) had been killed. In addi.
tiün, HRA üffices had been ransacked, and
14 HRA branch bureaus in the emergency
regiün had been clüsed düwn. HRA
Secretary-General tsmail Be~ikçi was sentenced
to. two. years in prisün and was fined
TL 100 millio.n. Anüther HRA üfficial,
Hüsnü Öndül, was also. sentenced to. six,
münths in jail and was fined TI. 50 milliün
für defending Kurdish rights. '
"Weare nüt hülding ünly Turkey responsible
für lack üf demücratic rights in the
cüuntry. Europe and the Uni~ed States are
equally respünsible as weH," Onen said.
Answenng questiüns früm the TDN ün
the U.S. Cüngress' recent propüsal to.cut 25
percent üf Turkey's rnilitl!!'Yaid if human
rights viülatiüns cüntinue, Onen said the cut
was "tüü little to.ülate."
LabelingTurkey, Israel alld Egypt as the
'~,thr.ieüppressive regimes üf the regiün,"
Onen SaId that in his talks with üffiCIalSin
Washingtün he wüuld advücate defending
human nghts in the Middle East by ending
assistance to. the aggressive regimes (i.e.
Turkey, Israel and Egypt) in the regio.n.
"Turkey is, nüt an aircraft carrier. The U.S.
shüuld cease to.think üf Turkey as thüugh it
was nüthing but a big carrier," he said.
, Ret,uming to a theme r.iiÏsed~y many in
Washingt~' these, days; Onen ~Iterated the
tièëd' fdra' "'pblitfèa1'~?lirtiün"~