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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
Turkish Daily News FRIDAY,MARClf7,1997
More than 1,300
Turkish Kurds
seek refuge in Iraq
Iraqi authorities remain silent Bn:Kurds left the Atrush camp in
over the presence of pro- PKK the Iraqi
P
eople in their territory Kurdish-controll~ part o~ north-
. . em Iraq after the Vmted Natlons
but also officIally orgamze High Commissioner for Refuge~s
tour for journalists to (UNHCR) abandon~ the camp .10
January, saying Kurdish separatlsts
meet the retugees fighting against Turkey had settled
there and were blocking aid work.
Turkey had long sought the closure
Ain SufnVIraq • Reuters
of the camp, claiming the Kurdistan
Works Party (PKK) was using it as a
base. The refugees said they moved
to Ain Sufni, 100 km (60 miles)
from the Turkish border and 43 km
(27 miles) north of Mosul, to seek
Iraqi protection from Turkish
attacks.
"We appeal for the Iraqi government
to supply us with a safe place
• More than 1,300 Turkish Kurdish
refugees who left a troubled camp in
northern Iraq appealed to Iraq to provide
them With security and basic
necessities.
The men, women and children
arrived in the area last week and set
up a camp along a muddy village
road running from Dohuk, to Mosul
in northern Iraq.
Ain Sufni village where they set
u....the camp is on the edge of a zone
controlled by the Iraqi government
just a few meters south of the area
ruled by Iraqi Kurds, the Kurdistan
Democratic Party led by Massoud
as soon as possible," Ibrahim Jankiz,
a refugee in charge of the camp told
reporters.
"We are wanted in Turkey ...Either
we carry guns to fight for the
Turkish government or we cannot
live there," said Shafiqah Sadaq.
Jankiz, who spoke through an
inte~reter, said more than 3,000
Turkish Kurds were still in Atrush
'camp, waiting for the Iraqi government
to allow them to come to Ain
Sufni. The UNHCR, which said it
could only provide aid to the Kurds
if they 16ft Atrush, encouraged the
refugees to move to two temporary
transit sites - Muqibla and Balkus
- set up to allow them to freely
decide their destination in smaller
groups. But 1,319 Turkish Kurd
refu~ees from the camp showed up
in Ain Sufni, the UNHCR has said.
Jankiz said they were not PKK
fighters but they "are civilians who
support the PKK."
There has not been any official
Iraqi response so far to their appeal
but Western reporters were taken to
the camp by the Iraqi Ministry of
Culture and Information.
UNHCR and the Iraqi authorities
are distributing relief aid to the displaced,
who lack electricity, medication
and drinking water.
Jankiz said sanctions-hit Iraq was
supplying them with available medical
services and foodstuffs like rice,
sugar, cooking oil, meat and other
essentials but there were not sufficient
supplies.
Atrush, 60 km (38 miles) from the
Turkish border, was set up in 1994'
for Kurds fleeing into northern Iraq
from southeast Turkey, where villagers
are caught in the middle of a
terrorist campaign by the PKK.
More than 21,000 people have died
in the 12-year-old conflict.
German foundation aims to
boost human rights in Turkey
Turlœy is due to its status as a rela-
Ankara- Turklsh Daily News tively stable factorcompared to its
• The chairman of the Konrad
Adenauer Foundation, Dr. Gerd
Langguth, said on Thursday in
Ankara that his group is ~ming to
bolster human rights and democracy,
strengthen self-rule, fight poverty and
expand dialogue between cultures in
the world. The chairman commented
on his group's vision of Turkey as an
important country in this effort, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
Speaking at a promotion for the
foundation, Langguth said that the
extra importance they place on
neighbors, Iraq, Iran, Syria. .
. Turke~ is the only Muslim country
ID the reglOn ruled by a democratic
regime and the 2 million-plus Turks
living in Germany link the two
nations in trade and traditional relations
as well. Langguth said that the
foundation supports Turkey's
attempts enter into the European
Union (EU) through a process of
political and economic reforms and
added, "Relations between Germany
and Turkey, the EU and Turkey, contain
certain tensions. Thus, our foundation
especially values the intensification
of the thought and exchange of
dialogue in all fields." The new representative
of the foundation, Dr. Wulf
Schonbohm. said they moved to
Ankara in order to promote the
enhancement of Turkish-German .
relations, which are not always in top
form. Indicating that the group only
works in countries where it can find
local partners, Schonbohm said they
will be working with the Turkish
Democracy Foundation, the SmaIland
Medium-scale Management
Professional Members' and
Administrators' Foundation, and the
Turkish Municipalities Foundation.
The foundation members also
announced they will run 200 education
events, 15 international seminars,
30 publications and 30 research studies
throughout 1997 in Turkey and
will cQ9perate with the secretariat of
the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Conference as well.
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