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 <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Bastn Öz<strong>et</strong>i<br />
AI INDEX: EUR 44/33/97<br />
9 MAY 1997<br />
News Service: 83/97<br />
BRIEFING ON SANAR YURDATAPAN'S CASE<br />
Sanar Yurdatapan, spokesperson for the "Tog<strong>et</strong>her for Peace" initiative (BIBA - Ba~ lçin Biraraya)<br />
and a leading composer and performer of contemporary music, was <strong>de</strong>tained at Istanbul Atatürk<br />
Airport late on 16 April 1997 on his r<strong>et</strong>urn from a brief visit to Germany. Amnesty International<br />
issued an urgent action(l). After being held in incommunicado <strong>de</strong>tention for nearly six days, Sanar<br />
Yurdatapan was formally arrested by Istanbul State Security Prosecutor on 22 April. He now faces<br />
charges for possession oftwo false passports and for supporting an illegal armed organization.<br />
What is not disputed is that Sanar Yurdatapan entered Turkey in possession oftwo forged or<br />
falsified passports - an offence un<strong>de</strong>r the Turkish Penal Co<strong>de</strong>. Wh<strong>et</strong>her or not Sanar Yurdatapan<br />
knowingly imported false or falsifiedpassports would be a question for a court to <strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong>. Should any<br />
person be found guilty of such an offence after a fair trial, Amnesty International would not wish to<br />
oppose the application of punishments provi<strong>de</strong>d for in Turkish law.<br />
However, the circumstances surrounding the imprisonment of Sanar Yurdatapan are extremely<br />
complicated and difficult to follow for a foreign audience which, unlike the Turkish public, has not<br />
witnessed the wealth of evi<strong>de</strong>nce implicating the State in political mur<strong>de</strong>r and other crimes, which<br />
has emerged in the wake of the famous Susurluk car crash of 4 November 1996.<br />
In this fatal road acci<strong>de</strong>nt a high-ranking police chief, a wanted right-wing mafia lea<strong>de</strong>r, and a<br />
Kurdish tribal lea<strong>de</strong>r -- who is also a Member of Parliament and heads a private army of several<br />
thousand village guards -- were found to be travelling tog<strong>et</strong>her in the same car with a quantity of<br />
weapons, silencers, passports and other documents un<strong>de</strong>r assumed i<strong>de</strong>ntities.<br />
Since the event, investigative journalists have tried to unravel the emerging links b<strong>et</strong>ween the<br />
mafia un<strong>de</strong>rworld and the state, whose security have agencies engaged in a 12-year-war against the<br />
separatist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). These links led to the door of the then Prime Minister<br />
Tansu Çiller herself, now Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, and the then Interior Minister<br />
Mehm<strong>et</strong> Agar, former General Director of Security, who has since been forced to resign. Allegations<br />
of attempts to cover up the scandal abound.<br />
The two men for whom Sanar Yurdatapan had brought the passports, Murat Ipek and Murat<br />
Demir, were at one time members of the PKK. After their capture by Turkish security forces more<br />
than five years ago, they both turned state witnesses in exchange for reduced prison sentences un<strong>de</strong>r<br />
the "Repentance Law". The two men -- like many people popularly known as "confessors", who<br />
AMNESTY INTEANAnONAL<br />
INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT<br />
1 Easton Stre<strong>et</strong>, london WC1X aDJ, United Kingdom<br />
Tel: Int. Co<strong>de</strong>: (44) (171) 413 5500. UK Co<strong>de</strong>: (0171) 413 5500. Fax: Int. Co<strong>de</strong>: (44) (171) 956 1157. UK Co<strong>de</strong>: (0171) 956 1157.<br />
E-mail: (GreenN<strong>et</strong>)amnestyis@gn.apc.org.(GaoN<strong>et</strong>)amnesty-is@mcr1.geon<strong>et</strong>.<strong>de</strong><br />
Telegrams: Amnesty london WC1 Telex: 28502 AMNSTY G<br />
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