AI: Turkey bulletin

[root at newsdesk.aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl (Tabe Kooistra)
Subject: Re: AI: Turkey bulletin
Reply-To: root at newsdesk.aps.nl

---------- Forwarded from : Ray Mitchel <rmitchel at amnesty.gn.apc.org> ----------


+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 29 March 1995.            +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL (for general distribution)  AI Index: EUR 44/32/95
                                     Distr: UA/SC

UA 38/95     Possible "disappearance"    15 February 1995
             / Fear for safety

TURKEY   Osman Kundes, Kurdish trade unionist, father of six

There is grave concern for the safety of Osman Kundes, who has
not been seen or heard of since 6 February 1995 when he was
abducted in front of his house in Batman, southeast Turkey.
He is the President of the Municipality Workers' Union's
(Belediye-Is Sendikasi) branch in Batman.

At 4.30pm on 6 February, Osman Kundes came home from his
office in his trade union car.  His 16-year-old son saw him
arrive and went outside to greet his father. The son then
witnessed two men aged between 20 and 25 approach his father
and ask him to come with them on some urgent business. Osman
Kundes told them that he was hungry and would prefer to talk
after the evening meal or the following day, but they insisted
that it was urgent. So Osman Kundes asked his son to come with
them. The son went briefly inside the house to get his coat,
but minutes later, when he came back outside, his father and
the two men had gone.

A woman who had observed the scene, later said that she saw
Osman Kundes sitting in the front passenger seat of his trade
union car, while one of the men drove and the other sat in the
back.  A second car was following.  The trade union car was
found abandoned the following day about 70 kilometres away on
the road between Batman and Kozluk.

The family's inquiries with the authorities for information
about Osman Kundes's whereabouts have so far been
unsuccessful.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The conflict in southeast Turkey between government forces and
guerrillas of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) has claimed
more than 14,000 lives since it began in August 1984. Police
operations against suspected PKK supporters and other Kurdish
activists are being carried out all over Turkey. A state of
emergency remains in force in 10 provinces in the east and
southeast including Batman.

Any person suspected of supporting the PKK is at serious risk
of torture, "disappearance" or extrajudicial execution. In
1994 there were more than 50 reported "disappearances", and
more than 400 people were killed in unclarified circumstances.
In most cases the victims were shot by unidentified assailants
in the streets of cities in the southeast such as Batman,
where a member of parliament was shot in 1993.  Relatives
believe that they have been killed for political reasons by
agents of the state. Reports indicate that eight people became
victims of unclarified murders in Batman in January 1995.

In February 1993, a cross-party parliamentary commission was
established to investigate these "murders by unknown persons",
but two years later, when the total death toll has risen to
well over 1,200, the commission has still not submitted a
final report nor proposed any concrete measures to put a halt
to the murders.

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ Supporters of Amnesty International around the world are  +
+ writing urgent appeals in response to the concerns        +
+ described above. If you would like to join with them in   +
+ this action or have any queries about the Urgent Action   +
+ network or Amnesty International in general, please       +
+ contact one of the following:                             +
+                                                           +
+      Ray Mitchell, rmitchellai at gn.apc.org (UK)            +
+      Scott Harrison, sharrison at igc.apc.org (USA)          +
+      Guido Gabriel, ggabriel at amnesty.cl.sub.de (Germany)  +
+      Marilyn McKim, aito at web.apc.org (Canada)             +
+-----------------------------------------------------------+

----------------------------- End forwarded message --------------------------