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-Basm Öz<strong>et</strong>i<br />
Turkish Daily News FRIDAY,MARClf7,1997<br />
More than 1,300<br />
Turkish Kurds<br />
seek refuge in Iraq<br />
Iraqi authorities remain silent Bn:Kurds left the Atrush camp in<br />
over the presence of pro- PKK the Iraqi<br />
P<br />
eople in their territory Kurdish-controll~ part o~ north-<br />
. . em Iraq after the Vmted Natlons<br />
but also officIally orgamze High Commissioner for Refuge~s<br />
tour for journalists to (UNHCR) abandon~ the camp .10<br />
January, saying Kurdish separatlsts<br />
me<strong>et</strong> the r<strong>et</strong>ugees fighting against Turkey had s<strong>et</strong>tled<br />
there and were blocking aid work.<br />
Turkey had long sought the closure<br />
Ain SufnVIraq • Reuters<br />
of the camp, claiming the Kurdistan<br />
Works Party (PKK) was using it as a<br />
base. The refugees said they moved<br />
to Ain Sufni, 100 km (60 miles)<br />
from the Turkish bor<strong>de</strong>r and 43 km<br />
(27 miles) north of Mosul, to seek<br />
Iraqi protection from Turkish<br />
attacks.<br />
"We appeal for the Iraqi government<br />
to supply us with a safe place<br />
• More than 1,300 Turkish Kurdish<br />
refugees who left a troubled camp in<br />
northern Iraq appealed to Iraq to provi<strong>de</strong><br />
them With security and basic<br />
necessities.<br />
The men, women and children<br />
arrived in the area last week and s<strong>et</strong><br />
up a camp along a muddy village<br />
road running from Dohuk, to Mosul<br />
in northern Iraq.<br />
Ain Sufni village where they s<strong>et</strong><br />
u....the camp is on the edge of a zone<br />
controlled by the Iraqi government<br />
just a few m<strong>et</strong>ers south of the area<br />
ruled by Iraqi Kurds, the Kurdistan<br />
Democratic Party led by Massoud<br />
as soon as possible," Ibrahim Jankiz,<br />
a refugee in charge of the camp told<br />
reporters.<br />
"We are wanted in Turkey ...Either<br />
we carry guns to fight for the<br />
Turkish government or we cannot<br />
live there," said Shafiqah Sadaq.<br />
Jankiz, who spoke through an<br />
inte~r<strong>et</strong>er, said more than 3,000<br />
Turkish Kurds were still in Atrush<br />
'camp, waiting for the Iraqi government<br />
to allow them to come to Ain<br />
Sufni. The UNHCR, which said it<br />
could only provi<strong>de</strong> aid to the Kurds<br />
if they 16ft Atrush, encouraged the<br />
refugees to move to two temporary<br />
transit sites - Muqibla and Balkus<br />
- s<strong>et</strong> up to allow them to freely<br />
<strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong> their <strong>de</strong>stination in smaller<br />
groups. But 1,319 Turkish Kurd<br />
refu~ees from the camp showed up<br />
in Ain Sufni, the UNHCR has said.<br />
Jankiz said they were not PKK<br />
fighters but they "are civilians who<br />
support the PKK."<br />
There has not been any official<br />
Iraqi response so far to their appeal<br />
but Western reporters were taken to<br />
the camp by the Iraqi Ministry of<br />
Culture and Information.<br />
UNHCR and the Iraqi authorities<br />
are distributing relief aid to the displaced,<br />
who lack electricity, medication<br />
and drinking water.<br />
Jankiz said sanctions-hit Iraq was<br />
supplying them with available medical<br />
services and foodstuffs like rice,<br />
sugar, cooking oil, meat and other<br />
essentials but there were not sufficient<br />
supplies.<br />
Atrush, 60 km (38 miles) from the<br />
Turkish bor<strong>de</strong>r, was s<strong>et</strong> up in 1994'<br />
for Kurds fleeing into northern Iraq<br />
from southeast Turkey, where villagers<br />
are caught in the middle of a<br />
terrorist campaign by the PKK.<br />
More than 21,000 people have died<br />
in the 12-year-old conflict.<br />
German foundation aims to<br />
boost human rights in Turkey<br />
Turlœy is due to its status as a rela-<br />
Ankara- Turklsh Daily News tively stable factorcompared to its<br />
• The chairman of the Konrad<br />
A<strong>de</strong>nauer Foundation, Dr. Gerd<br />
Langguth, said on Thursday in<br />
Ankara that his group is ~ming to<br />
bolster human rights and <strong>de</strong>mocracy,<br />
strengthen self-rule, fight poverty and<br />
expand dialogue b<strong>et</strong>ween cultures in<br />
the world. The chairman commented<br />
on his group's vision of Turkey as an<br />
important country in this effort, the<br />
Anatolia news agency reported.<br />
Speaking at a promotion for the<br />
foundation, Langguth said that the<br />
extra importance they place on<br />
neighbors, Iraq, Iran, Syria. .<br />
. Turke~ is the only Muslim country<br />
ID the reglOn ruled by a <strong>de</strong>mocratic<br />
regime and the 2 million-plus Turks<br />
living in Germany link the two<br />
nations in tra<strong>de</strong> and traditional relations<br />
as well. Langguth said that the<br />
foundation supports Turkey's<br />
attempts enter into the European<br />
Union (EU) through a process of<br />
political and economic reforms and<br />
ad<strong>de</strong>d, "Relations b<strong>et</strong>ween Germany<br />
and Turkey, the EU and Turkey, contain<br />
certain tensions. Thus, our foundation<br />
especially values the intensification<br />
of the thought and exchange of<br />
dialogue in all fields." The new representative<br />
of the foundation, Dr. Wulf<br />
Schonbohm. said they moved to<br />
Ankara in or<strong>de</strong>r to promote the<br />
enhancement of Turkish-German .<br />
relations, which are not always in top<br />
form. Indicating that the group only<br />
works in countries where it can find<br />
local partners, Schonbohm said they<br />
will be working with the Turkish<br />
Democracy Foundation, the SmaIland<br />
Medium-scale Management<br />
Professional Members' and<br />
Administrators' Foundation, and the<br />
Turkish Municipalities Foundation.<br />
The foundation members also<br />
announced they will run 200 education<br />
events, 15 international seminars,<br />
30 publications and 30 research studies<br />
throughout 1997 in Turkey and<br />
will cQ9perate with the secr<strong>et</strong>ariat of<br />
the Black Sea Economic Cooperation<br />
Conference as well.<br />
45