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-Basln Özeti
There are 37 elected Kurdish mayors, and many observers had hoped that their political
leadership would provide a nonviolent alternative to the bloody civil war in Turkey that
since 1984 has t~en 37,000 lives, most ofthem Kurds .
. The timing of the $4-billion helicopter deal is wrong. If either Boeing or Bell Textron gets
the green light from Turkey, the Clinton administration should hold up the arms sales until
Ankara shows a willingness to deal democratically with its ethnic population.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
March 3, 2000
$4 Billion Attack Helicopter Sale to Turkey Administration Must Honor Pledge And Refuse Export License
(WASHINGTON, DC) Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is calling on the Clinton Administration to refuse an
export license for $4 billion of attack helicopters for the Turkish army because of clear .evidence that
Turkey has failed to make concrete and significant progress on the Administration?s human rights benchmarks.
The Turkish government is expected to award the contract for the advanced attack helicopters on Monday. Two
U.S. companies under consideration, Bell-Textron and Boeing, are mounting a major effort to have an export
license approved despite continuing severe human rights violations in Turkey.
In 1998, the State Department formulated a series of eight human rights benchmarks based on priorities articulated
by Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz to President Clinton in a December 1997 meeting, and made
approval of an export license contingent on Turkey meeting the benchmarks.
In the Turkey chapter of its annual human rights report last week, the State Department stated, "The security
forces continue to torture, beat, and otherwise abuse persons regularly Torture, beatings, and other
abuses by security forces remained widespread, at times resulting in deaths Security forces at times beat
journalists. "The State Department and Amnesty International have reported the use of helicopters to both
attack Kurdish villages in Turkey and to transport troops to regions where they have tortured and killed
civilians.
"Based on the State Department?s own annual human rights report, Turkey fails to meet the human rights
benchmarks," said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Dir.ector of AIUSA. "Despite minor improvements, the
Turkish government has failed to make significant and concrete progress on human rights, and therefore.
the Clinton Administration should deny the export license."
This week, Turkish parliamentarians found torture equipment at a police station that had reportedly tortured
children. Last month Turkey detained three mayors from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party
(HADEP) for nine days after they met with a European delegation.
The State Department?s human rights benchmarks for Turkey include: decriminalizing freedom of expression;
releasing imprisoned parliamentarians and journalists; prosecuting police who commit torture; ending
harassment of human rights defenders and re-opening non-governmental organizations; returning internally
displaced people to villages; ceasing harassment and banning of political parties; ending the state of
emergency; and adopting clear rules of engagement and end-use monitoring .for U.S.-supplied weapons.
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