From kurdeng at aps.nl  Thu Nov 23 14:52:32 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 23 Nov 1995 14:52:32
Subject: No Subject Given
References: <bac1c849.9501271023.A03532@lionheart.berkeley.edu>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.112095025748Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

13:40:34 -0800


- Bundestagsabgeordneter und PKK-Chef trafen sich in Bagdad

Der CDU-Bundestagsabgeordnete Lummar (sp?) hat sich in der syrischen
Hauptstadt Bagdad mit dem Chef der verbotenen Kurdischen Arbeiterpartei 
PKK Oetschalan (sp?) zu einem zweistuendigen Gespraech getroffen. Die 
Muenchener Zeitschrift "Focus" berichtet, Lummar habe ihr gegenueber die 
Zusammenkunft bestaetigt. Der ehemalige Berliner Innensenator hat, 
wie Focus schreibt, nach eigenen Angaben Oetschalan dazu gedraengt, 
gewaltsame PKK-Aktionen auf deutschem Boden einzustellen. 
Von Oetschalan sei daraufhin zugesagt worden, er wolle zur Gewaltfreiheit 
aufrufen. Ausserdem habe der PKK-Chef angeboten, kuenftig mit der 
deutschen Polizei im Kampf gegen die internationale Drogenkriminalitaet 
zu kooperieren.


           


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Wed Nov  1 01:32:47 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 01 Nov 1995 01:32:47
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.110195005525Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

          id VT24847; Wed, 01 Nov 1995 00:55:52 -0800

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 25 November 1995.         +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/119/95

                                                            27 October 1995

Further information on EXTRA 116/95 (EUR 44/104/95, 29 September 1995) -
Fear of Torture

TURKEY            Ismet Celikaslan (f), Mersin Provincial Board member of
                  HADEP (People's Democracy Party)

Ismet Celikaslan was formally arrested on 2 October, charged with support
of an illegal organization, and committed to prison. She is currently held
in Konya prison awaiting trial.  Ismet Celikaslan had been detained in
Mersin on 27 September, shortly after appearing on television to publicise
the alleged rape of her daughter Leman Celikaslan in police custody in
Ankara.

While she herself was held incommunicado in police custody, Ismet
Celikaslan was reportedly interrogated about her activities for HADEP, a
legal political party with a predominantly Kurdish membership which works
for the civil and political rights of the Kurdish minority.

When Ismet Celikaslan was seen by one of her lawyers in hospital following
interrogation, she was unable to walk unaided.  She kept holding her
kidneys and reportedly looked very yellow in the face. She said that she
had been tortured by electric shocks through her hands and feet, by
beatings and by being hosed with pressurized cold water.  She said that
there had been bruising on her arms, but any visible signs of torture had
since disappeared.  No medical report had been issued on her condition.

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ 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)             +
+      Michel Ehrlich, mehrlich at aibf.be (Belgium)           +
+-----------------------------------------------------------+




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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sun Nov 12 17:17:47 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 12 Nov 1995 17:17:47
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111295152432Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 20 December 1995.         +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/125/95

UA 252/95               "Disappearance"                     7 November 1995

TURKEY            Fehmi Tosun, Kurd from Diyarbakir, construction worker,
                  aged 36


On 19 October 1995 at 7pm, three police officers in plain clothes came to
the house of Fehmi Tosun in the Avcilar district of Istanbul. They grabbed
him in front of the house.  Fehmi Tosun struggled and shouted "They are
taking me to kill me" to the crowd of people who had gathered.  In full
view of his wife and other witnesses, the police officers beat Fehmi Tosun,
forced him into their car, and drove away.

Fehmi Tosun's wife has made inquiries with various police units,
prosecutors' offices and the Gendarmerie Regimental Headquarters in Maslak
as to her husband's whereabouts, but to no avail.  It is now 18 days since
he was detained and he remains "disappeared".  Given that the maximum
detention period in Istanbul is 15 days, Amnesty International is gravely
concerned for his safety.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

People suspected of offences under the Anti-Terror Law can be held in
police custody without access to family, friends or legal counsel for up to
30 days in the 10 provinces under State of Emergency in the southeast and
for 15 days in the rest of Turkey. When not being interrogated, detainees
are held in cramped, airless and insanitary conditions. With no access to
the outside world they are at the mercy of their interrogators. Torture
methods include being stripped naked and blindfolded, hosing with
pressurized ice-cold water, hanging by the arms or wrists bound behind the
victim's back, electric shocks, beating the soles of the feet, death
threats and sexual assault.

Procedures laid down in the Turkish Criminal Procedure Code for the prompt
and proper registration of detainees, and for notification of their
families, are almost universally ignored. Lack of prompt registration and
notification is extremely distressing for the families of detainees, and
creates the conditions in which "disappearances" and torture can occur.

Any person suspected of supporting the PKK or any other illegal armed
organization is at serious risk of torture, "disappearance" or
extrajudicial execution. In 1994 there were more than 55 confirmed
"disappearances", and more than 400 people were killed in unclarified
circumstances. At least 20 cases of "disappearance" in police custody have
been reported in 1995 so far, two of them in Istanbul (see UA 82/95, EUR
44/46/95 and updates of 21 April and 19 May 1995).

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ 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)             +
+      Michel Ehrlich, mehrlich at aibf.be (Belgium)           +
+-----------------------------------------------------------+




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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sun Nov 12 17:18:32 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 12 Nov 1995 17:18:32
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111295152448Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

d VT25898; Sun, 12 Nov 1995 15:52:39 -0800

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/124/95

                                                            7 November 1995

Further information on EXTRA 133/95 (EUR 44/123/95, 6 November 1995) - Fear
of "disappearance" / Fear of torture

TURKEY                  Nevin Yakut (f)
                        Fatma Ayyildiz (f), aunt of Nevin Yakut
                        Fahri Azbay
                        Fatma Kilic (f)
                        Melek ..... (f) family name not known


Amnesty International has been informed that Nevin Yakut and the other four
people named above have been released from police custody.  No further
information is available at present.

No further action is required by the Urgent Action Network.  Thanks to all
who sent appeals on their behalf.


+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ If you would like further information 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)             +
+      Michel Ehrlich, mehrlich at aibf.be (Belgium)           +
+-----------------------------------------------------------+





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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sun Nov 12 20:45:46 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 12 Nov 1995 20:45:46
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.110895191542Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

T25679; Wed, 08 Nov 1995 19:14:18 -0800

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 18 December 1995.         +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/123/95

EXTRA 133/95      Fear of "disappearance" / Fear of torture 6 November 1995

TURKEY                  Nevin Yakut (f)
                        Fatma Ayyildiz (f), aunt of Nevin Yakut
                        Fahri Azbay
                        Fatma Kili=E7 (f)
                        Melek ..... (f) family name not known


Amnesty International is seriously concerned for the safety of the five
people named above who are believed to be in incommunicado police custody
in Diyarbakir.

The five have not been seen since leaving the HADEP building in the Ofis
district of Diyarbakir on 5 November 1995 (HADEP - People's Democracy Party
- is a legal political party with a predominantly Kurdish membership).
Nevin Yakut works in the office of the Diyarbakir branch of the Turkish
Human Rights Association (HRA), but is not a member of the HRA.  The others
are not HRA members either, but members of the local HADEP youth committee.

Appeals on their behalf have been made to the Minister for Human Rights.
Reportedly he was told by an officer at Diyarbakir Police Headquarters that
the five were not in police custody.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Officials and members of HADEP continue to face grave risks. More than 100
officials and members of HADEP and its two predecessor parties HEP and DEP
(both closed by the Constitutional Court for "separatism") have been killed
and numerous others are in prison on charges of membership, or support, of
PKK. Many party offices in the southeast have been closed down.

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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Mon Nov 13 11:26:28 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 13 Nov 1995 11:26:28
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.110895191600Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

       id VT25685; Wed, 08 Nov 1995 19:14:23 -0800

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 10 December 1995.         +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/122/95

EXTRA 132/95            Fear of torture                     6 November 1995

TURKEY            Ibrahim Gahin, Kurd from Van, accountant


Ibrahim Gahin is being held in Van Police Headquarters where Amnesty
International fears he is being interrogated under torture.

Ibrahim Gahin was detained at his office in Van on 3 November 1995 by a
team from the Anti-Terror Branch of Van Police Headquarters, who reportedly
took him away in a white unmarked Ford minibus with darkened windows,
registration number 65 EN 007.  Later he was brought to his family home
while the police conducted a search of the house.

His wife's appeals for information as to his whereabouts were initially
unsuccessful, and one official suggested to her that her husband had been
abducted by "his enemies".  Finally, at 11am on 4 November, Van Police
Headquarters accepted that he was in police custody, but said that he was
not being held at the police headquarters building.  On 6 November,
however, the police and public prosecutor accepted that Ibrahim Gahin was
being held in custody at Van Police Headquarters.

Ibrahim Gahin was secretary of the Human Rights Association (HRA) branch in
Van until he was forced to resign as a result of death threats in 1994.
Several officials of the HRA in Van have been subjected to such threats,
either face to face or while blindfolded in police detention. One official
was told in detention at Van Police Headquarters in early 1994, "You talk
about the contra-guerrilla - we are the contra-guerrilla. Our friends get
killed in the mountains, and we kill the first Kurd we come across. We can
kill you any time."

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Founded in 1986, the Turkish Human Rights Association has 56 branches
throughout the country and a membership of 15,000. The HRA is not linked to
any political party or movement. As well as monitoring abuses by government
forces, the HRA has on numerous occasions condemned human rights abuses by
armed opposition groups. The HRA continues its monitoring of human rights
violations in the face of considerable pressure from the authorities. Many
of its leading officials are standing trial on various charges and several
members are serving prison sentences. Most branches in the southeast had to
close because of police harassment and threats.

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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Wed Nov 15 08:38:17 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 15 Nov 1995 08:38:17
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111495194112Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 8 December 1995.          +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/127/95

EXTRA 136/95            Fear of Torture                     8 November 1995

TURKEY            Necmiye Aslanoglu (f), aged 24, journalist with weekly
                                                            Ozgur Halk
                  Metin Acet, aged 24, journalist with daily Ozgur Politika
                  Nuran Tekdag (f), aged 25, journalist with =D6zg=FCr Halk


On 3 November 1995, the three Kurdish journalists named above were stopped
at a roadblock as they were going to Batman, reportedly to visit a friend.
They were taken into detention, and are now believed to be in Batman Police
Headquarters, where it is feared they are being interrogated under torture.

One of the three, Necmiye Aslanoglu, has been detained four times before.
The first time, in December 1993, she was held for 13 days during which,
she claimed, she was subjected to all kinds of torture.  At the time, she
was working for the Kurdish-owned daily newspaper Ozgur Gundem which ceased
publication in 1994. Most recently she was detained in April 1995 and
subsequently tried on charges of support of the Kurdish Workers' Party
(PKK).  On 3 October she was released by Diyarbakir State Security Court.
Necmiye Aslanoglu was allegedly threatened while in prison, and there were
also reportedly threats that she would be killed if released by the court.

It is not known whether the authorities have acknowledged the detention of
the three journalists.  They may be held incommunicado for a maximum of 30
days under Emergency Legislation, currently in force in Batman province.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Kurdish-owned newspaper Ozgur Gundem (Free Agenda) and its successors
Ozgur Ulke (Free Land) and Yeni Politika (New Policy) consistently reported
human rights violations carried out in the southeast.  Each paper was
forced to cease operating either by official closure or threat of official
closure. Seven correspondents and 11 people distributing and selling these
newspapers were murdered under circumstances suggesting security forces
involvement, and two staff journalists "disappeared".  Scores of their
editors and other staff were detained and tortured. Many of them are still
in prison and on trial or awaiting trial.

People suspected of offences under the Anti-Terror Law can be held in
police custody without access to family, friends or legal counsel for up to
30 days in the 10 provinces under State of Emergency in the southeast and
for 15 days in the rest of Turkey. When not being interrogated, detainees
are held in cramped, airless and insanitary conditions. With no access to
the outside world they are at the mercy of their interrogators. Torture
methods include being stripped naked and blindfolded, hosing with
pressurized ice-cold water, hanging by the arms or wrists bound behind the
victim's back, electric shocks, beating the soles of the feet, death
threats and sexual assault.

Any person suspected of supporting the PKK or any other illegal armed
organization is at serious risk of torture, "disappearance" or
extrajudicial execution. In 1994 there were more than 55 confirmed
"disappearances", and more than 400 people were killed in unclarified
circumstances. At least 20 cases of "disappearance" in police custody have
been reported in 1995 so far.

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ 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)             +
+      Michel Ehrlich, mehrlich at aibf.be (Belgium)           +
+-----------------------------------------------------------+




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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Wed Nov 15 08:43:04 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 15 Nov 1995 08:43:04
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111495194125Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

er 2.20)
           id VT26387; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 23:25:00 -0800

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 15 December 1995.         +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/129/95

EXTRA 138/95      Fear of torture / Fear of "disappearance"10 November 1995

TURKEY            Abdulbaki ISIK, aged 56


Abdulbaki Isik has not been seen since 28 October 1995, when plainclothes
police officers came to his sister's home in the Sehitlik district of
Diyarbakir, grabbed him in front of the house, and took him away.  Despite
his son's inquiries to the authorities, Abdulbaki Isik's detention remains
unacknowledged.  Amnesty International fears that he is being interrogated
under torture and that he is at risk of "disappearance".

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

People suspected of offences under the Anti-Terror Law can be held in
police custody without access to family, friends or legal counsel for up to
30 days in the 10 provinces under State of Emergency in the southeast and
for 15 days in the rest of Turkey. When not being interrogated, detainees
are held in cramped, airless and insanitary conditions. With no access to
the outside world they are at the mercy of their interrogators. Torture
methods include being stripped naked and blindfolded, hosing with
pressurized ice-cold water, hanging by the arms or wrists bound behind the
victim's back, electric shocks, beating the soles of the feet, death
threats and sexual assault.

Procedures laid down in the Turkish Criminal Procedure Code for the prompt
and proper registration of detainees, and for notification of their
families, are almost universally ignored. Lack of prompt registration and
notification is extremely distressing for the families of detainees, and
creates the conditions in which "disappearances" and torture can occur.

Any person suspected of supporting the PKK or any other illegal armed
organization is at serious risk of torture, "disappearance" or
extrajudicial execution. In 1994 there were more than 55 confirmed
"disappearances", and more than 400 people were killed in unclarified
circumstances. At least 20 cases of "disappearance" in police custody have
been reported in 1995 so far, two of them in Istanbul (see UA 82/95, EUR
44/46/95 and updates of 21 April and 19 May 1995).

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ 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)             +
+      Michel Ehrlich, mehrlich at aibf.be (Belgium)           +
+-----------------------------------------------------------+




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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Thu Nov 16 23:27:26 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 16 Nov 1995 23:27:26
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111695150620Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

 id VT26503; Thu, 16 Nov 1995 16:12:29 -0800

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 15 December 1995.         +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/132/95

EXTRA 141/95      Fear of Torture / Health Concern         13 November 1995

TURKEY            Ali Guden, member of Turkish Human Rights Association
                  (HRA)


Turkish Human Rights Association member Ali Guden has been in police
custody in Mersin since 7 November 1995.  Amnesty International fears that
he may be facing torture during interrogation and is particularly concerned
for his health and safety as he is reported to be suffering from a serious
heart condition and there is the possibility of heart failure.  He should
be medically examined as a matter of urgency and receive treatment in a
medical institution.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

People suspected of offences under the Anti-Terror Law can be held in
police custody without access to family, friends or legal counsel for up to
30 days in the 10 provinces under State of Emergency in the southeast and
for 15 days in the rest of Turkey. When not being interrogated, detainees
are held in cramped, airless and insanitary conditions. With no access to
the outside world they are at the mercy of their interrogators. Torture
methods include being stripped naked and blindfolded, hosing with
pressurized ice-cold water, hanging by the arms or wrists bound behind the
victim's back, electric shocks, beating the soles of the feet, death
threats and sexual assault.

Founded in 1986 the Turkish Human Rights Association has 56 branches
throughout the country and a membership of 15,000. The HRA is not linked to
any political party or movement. As well as monitoring abuses by government
forces, the HRA has on numerous occasions condemned human rights abuses by
armed opposition groups. The HRA continues its monitoring of human rights
violations in the face of considerable pressure from the authorities. Many
of its leading officials are standing trial on various charges and several
members are serving prison sentences. Most branches in the southeast have
had to close because of police harassment and threats.

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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Thu Nov 16 23:28:54 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 16 Nov 1995 23:28:54
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111695150644Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>


           id VT26509; Thu, 16 Nov 1995 16:12:35 -0800

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                               AI Index: EUR 44/131/95

                                                             13 November 1995

Further information (7) on UA 81/95 (EUR 44/44/95, 28 March 1995) and follow-
ups (EUR 44/47/95, 31 March; EUR 44/49/95, 6 April; EUR 44/62/95, 26 May; EUR
44/63/95, 1 June, EUR 44/64/95, 2 June 1995 and EUR 44/77/95, 12 July 1995) -
Prisoner of Conscience / Fear of Torture / Fear for Safety  / Medical Concern

TURKEY      Eren Keskin (f), lawyer and member of Istanbul Human Rights
            Association


As a result of legal changes which came into force on 30 October 1995, lawyer
and human rights activist Eren Keskin has been released pending retrial.
Largely as a result of pressure by the European Parliament, modifications were
made to the wording of Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, under which most
prisoners of conscience in Turkey are held.  Although the reform of Article 8
is unsatisfactory and still permits the prosecution of people for their non-
violent opinions, the changes mean that all existing convictions must be
reviewed by the courts.

Eren Keskin told Amnesty International: "On 9 November, I was brought before
Istanbul State Security Court No 3.  The soldiers brought me into court in
handcuffs - this is actually against Turkish legal procedure, but they were
being obstinate.  Anyway, on the judge's insistence they took off the
handcuffs and the court hearing started.  I am now being retried for the same
offence, but while the trial continues I have been released.

"I got cards from various parts of the world - many different places.  They
not only send me messages of support, but also copies of the letters they had
written to the government here in Turkey.  Unfortunately I was never able to
receive the flowers sent by Amnesty International at the time of my arrest.
The prison officials refused to let them in the prison, for fear that I might
injure somebody with the flower-pot!... well, we experience such comic things
here...

"Wherever there are women suffering around the world I now feel closer to them
after my prison experiences.  I felt very strongly the support of Amnesty
International during my months in prison.  But imprisonment has not changed my
opinions or my determination to work for human rights and for women's
freedoms."

Eren Keskin was arrested on 1 June 1995 to serve a two years and six months'
prison sentence for writing and publishing "separatist propaganda".  Amnesty
International considered her to be a prisoner of conscience and continues to
call for her release to be made unconditional and for the charges against her
to be dropped.  Her next hearing is scheduled for 16 January 1996.  However,
no further action by the Urgent Action Network is requested at present.  Thank
you to all who sent appeals on behalf of Eren Keskin.

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


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Thu Nov 16 23:30:34 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 16 Nov 1995 23:30:34
Subject: AI: Turkey bulletin
References: <bac1c849.020695212409Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111695150704Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

          id VT26515; Thu, 16 Nov 1995 16:12:39 -0800

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 15 December 1995.         +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/130/95

EXTRA 139/95            Fear of torture                    10 November 1995

TURKEY            Gevher TOPRAK (f), aged 17
                  Emrullah TOPRAK, aged 14
                  Fatih TOPRAK, aged 9


At 7am on 10 November 1995 Gevher, Emrullah and Fatih Topruk were taken
from their home in Diyarbakir by members of the security forces.  Their
detention was witnessed by three people.  The children's whereabouts remain
unknown - in breach of Statute 2253 of Turkish law which requires that
minors are questioned by the prosecutor only and that their next of kin are
promptly informed of their whereabouts.  Amnesty International is seriously
concerned for their safety while they remain in unacknowledged detention.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The persistence of torture is one of the major human rights problems in
Turkey today. There were 29 reported deaths in custody due to torture in
1994, more than in any year since 1982, and six in 1995 so far. Most
reports of torture come from the major cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir,
Adana and the 10 provinces in the east and southeast, currently under State
of Emergency legislation due to the continuing conflict between the
security forces and armed members of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
Those detained and subjected to torture come from all sectors of Turkish
society and range from political activists held under the Anti-Terror Law
to those held on suspicion of ordinary criminal offences, including
children.

Torture is used mainly in police and gendarmerie stations during the first
days or weeks following detention. It is often applied to extract
confessions, to elicit information about illegal organizations, to
intimidate detainees into becoming police informers or as informal
punishment for assumed support of illegal organizations.

People suspected of offences under the Anti-Terror Law can be held without
access to family, friends or legal counsel for up to 30 days in the 10
provinces under State of Emergency, and for 15 days in the rest of Turkey.
When not being interrogated, detainees are held in cramped, airless and
insanitary conditions. With no access to the outside world they are at the
mercy of their interrogators. Torture methods include being stripped naked
and blindfolded, hosing with pressurized ice-cold water, hanging by the
arms or wrists bound behind the victim's back, electric shocks, beating the
soles of the feet, death threats and sexual assault.

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


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Tue Nov 14 17:28:04 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 14 Nov 1995 17:28:04
Subject: Turkey's Killing Machine: The Contr
References: <bac1c849.199502240615.BAA17476@locust.cic>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.ZDVkeD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

Subject: Turkey's Killing Machine: The Contra-Guerrilla Force (part A)


From: David Davidian <dbd at urartu.sdpa.org>
From: aforum at moose.uvm.edu (Arm the Spirit)
Sender: news at emba.uvm.edu
Organization: University of Vermont -- Division of EMBA Computer Facility
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 1994 22:31:44 GMT

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turkey's Killing Machine: The Contra-Guerrilla Force

By Serdar Celik

How The Force Was Set Up

     Turkey joined NATO on April 4, 1952. In the same year, the
organisation known as "Gladio", or officially as "Super NATO",
whose arm in Turkey is the contra-guerrilla force called
Seferberlik Taktik Kurulu (STK - Tactical Mobilisation Group),
started its activities in the building of the CIA organisation
American Yardim Heyeti (American Aid Delegation - JUSMATT) in the
Bahcelievler district of the Turkish capital Ankara. (*1)
     During the 1960s, following on from the experience of Korea
and Vietnam, the American-dominated armies of NATO began to set up
their own special guerrilla warfare units. The 1959 military accord
between the Turkish and US governments envisaged the use of the
contra-guerrillas "also in the case of an internal rebellion
against the regime". (*2)
     The STK was restructured in 1965 and was renamed Ozel Harp
Dairesi (OHD - Special Warfare Department). It comes under the
authority of the President of General Staff and is also known by
other titles such as Ozel Kuvvetler Komutanlik (Special Forces
Command) or Harekat Dairesi (Operations Department).
     Although it was revealed through the "Gladio" affair in Italy
in 1990 that such secret organisations also existed in other member
states of NATO, and that they maintained close contacts with these
countries' secret services and had been involved in a series of
murders and bomb plots, the Turkish military and state authorities
continued to deny the existence of any such organisation in Turkey.
     Only after ex-CIA chief William Colby had revealed that "there
is also such an organisation in Turkey" did the Turkish authorities
withdraw their false pretentions that there was no Turkish Gladio.
On December 3, 1990, General Dogan Beyazit, President of the
Harekat Dairesi (Operation Department) of Turkey's General Staff
and General Kemal Yilmaz, commander of the Ozel Kuvvetler (Special
Forces), issued a press statement. In this statement they revealed
that the title of the special NATO organisation in Turkey was Ozel
Harp Dairesi (Special Warfare Department) and that its task was "to
organise rewsistence in the case of a communist occupation". They
further explained that this organisation had fought in Cyprus in
1974 and against the PKK in Kurdistan in 1980, but that its secret
members, whom they called "patriots", had "no connection with the
contra-guerrilla forces" (1). This latter claim is a blatant lie.
     The bloody dictator of the September 12, 1980 coup, Kenan
Evren, wrote in his memoirs that Prime Minister Suleyman Demiriel
had in the 1970s written to him of his wish to engage the Special
Warfare Department to deal with civil unrest (2). This was denied
by Demuriel. Bulent Ecevit, another Prime Minister of the 1970s,
revealed that: "As Prime Minister I first became aware of its
existence in 1974 through requests from Semih Sancar, chief of the
General Staff, for money for secret payments to the Special Warfare
Department. I was shocked". (3)
     How and why was the Special Warfare Department set up?
     The founding aim of the Department is: "In the case of a
communist occupation or of a rebellion, to use guerrilla methods
and all possible underground activities to bring an end to the
occupation." (4) The special war methods which are taught
supposedly for the prevention of a communist occupation include
among others "assasinations, bombings, armed robbery, torture,
attacks, kidnap, threats, provocation, militia training, hostage-
taking, arson, sabotage, propaganda, disinformation, violence and
extortion." (5)
     Textbooks by American contra-guerrilla experts were translated
into Turkish, and these special war methods were thus introduced
into Turkey. Some of the textbooks written by American experts are:
"U.S. Army FM 31/16" (contra-guerrilla operations), "U.S. Army
Special Warfare School" (contra-guerrilla tactics and techniques),
"FM 31/20" (special forces operational techniques), "FM 31/21
Special Forces Operations" (ST urban assignments, 31/21 guerrilla
warfare and special forces operations ), "FM 31/21 A. Special
Forces Operations (U)" (special forces secret operations). (6)
     The Turkish contra-guerrilla force developed the most complex
and sophisticated methods for its war against the PKK. Since 1985
a series of new textbooks and instructions for the contra-
guerrillas have been published. Just one example is the book "Ic
Guvenlik Konsepti" (The Concept of Internal Security), which was
published by the Special Warfare Command of the General Staff in
1985, and which is used as a textbook in the contra-guerrilla
camps.
     The underground elements of the Special Warfare Department -
 that is, the elements which carry out actions - are called contra-
guerrillas. The Special Warfare Department can be identified with
the contra-guerrillas, since it is the latter who put the
Department's work into practise.
     The Turkish contra-guerrillas have many schools in Turkey, in
which they receive their training - in Ankara, Bolu, Kayseri, Buca
near Izmir, Canakkale and since 1974 in Cyprus. "In the mountain
commando school in Bolu, green berets (Delta Forces) who fought in
Vietnam also got their training". (7)
     The contra-guerrilla teams, who are implanted with a fanatical
hatred of the "peril" of "communism" and "separatism", whose heads
are full of chauvanism, are unleashed against anyone who stands in
opposition to the regime. For their goal, which they pursue with
the support of the USA, is "the establishment of a competent
military and semi-military force which will, jointly with the
security forces, maintain internal security". (9)
     In their eyes not only the "communists", but each and every
democratic movement is a danger which they aim to counter using
guerrilla methods. The American military doctrine as presented in
the textbooks holds that "our security is threatened not only by
open attacks, but also by other types of threats which are even
more dangerous than open attacks but which do not look like open
attacks. These dangers consist of the attampts to bring about
transformations and changes from the inside." (10)
     Selected elements of the Turkish contra-guerrillas together
with the generals were all trained in contra-guerrilla schools in
the USA. The aims of this training are defined as follows: "The
goal of military aid is to educate soldiers from underdeveloped
countries in accordance with U.S. ideology and then to install them
advantageously in the leadership of their countries". (11) During
their training in the USA the contra-guerrilla forces "are taught
about social problems in their countries, and shown films which
demonstrate the aggression and subversion of the communists. They
learn how to handle explosives under the supervision of green
berets in Matamoros near the Mexican border, and they are taught
how to kill, stab or strangle somebody silently, etc". (12). Other
places where Turkish officials are trained are the Escuela de los
Americas in Panama, which is attached to the U.S. base Southern
Comfort, the Police Academy near Washington and the Schongau and
Oberammergau bases in Germany. (*3)
     Part of the Special Warfare Department is made up of officers
from official units known as A-units or Special Operations Units.
As the war became more intense, B-units were formed within the
Special Warfare Department, made up of professional volunteer
commando forces. Both types of units employ contra-guerrilla
tactics.
     The forces built by the Special Warfare Department have
everywhere formed organisations in the form of cells. These
elements, known as "patriots", are placed in front-line duties by
being infiltrated as agents-provocateurs into political parties,
administrative departments and opposition groups.
     The strongest pillar of the Special Warfare Department is the
Secret Service. In Turkey the Secret Service is subordinate to the
General Staff and so also to the Special Warfare Department. The
civilian government has no control whatsoever over the Secret
Service. In Turkey there are various secret services: the MIT
(National Secret Service Organisation) and the Secret Services of
the Gendarmerie, the General Staff, the Foreign Ministry, the
Director of Security (the political police) and the Presidential
Office. These secret services hold quarterly meetings under the
umbrella of the National Secret Service Coordinating Committee.
     The MIT has the greatest influence of all these organisations.
This Turkish secret service organisation was originally called MAH
and was restructured and renamed MIT in 1965. The MIT is a branch
of the CIA and collaborates with the Israeli secret service MOSSAD,
the German BND and earlier (up to 1975) with the Iranian SAVAK.
Many operations of the Special Warfare Department are carried out
in collaboration with the MIT. A third of the MIT's functionaries
are members of the armed forces and the rest are mostly retired
military personnel. It is a legal requirement that the chief of the
MIT must be a member of the armed forces. Since the founding of the
MIT, all the heads have been generals. They are appointed by the
General Staff or by the Special Warfare Department. The 1989 budget
of the MIT amounted to 42,745 million Turkish lira. (*4)
     Another organisation coming under the Special Warfare
Department is the Psychological Warfare Department. On November 9,
1983 this department became the TIB (Ministry for Social
Relations). Its headquarters are in Ankara. Its first chief was
Dogan Beyazit, who was at the same time also head of the Special
Warfare Department. He was in charge of propaganda operations which
the CIA program divided into "white, "grey" and "black" propaganda.
Many professors were employed within the TIB. (*5)
     The TIB has brought out numerous journals and pamphlets and
even comics. It formed satellite organisations under such names as
"The Institute for Research into Turkish Culture", "Turkish World
Research Institute", etc. The main aim of the TIB since the '80s
has been to develop the psychological front in the war against the
PKK.
     With this aim in mind, pamphlets are printed which try to
blame the PKK for massacres committed by the contra-guerrillas.
Such pamphlets are distributed in various languages in Europe,
purporting to originate from such ficticious publishers as "the
Union of Anatolian Women". Or else bogus leaflets attacking the PKK
are distributed under the names of existing or ficticious political
organisations. Posters and leaflets are put about which are full
of ridiculous propaganda such as those claiming that the PKK is an
Armenian organisation. Or television programmes and books are
produced which slander the PKK. In the towns of Kurdistan
professors hold seminars about how "Kurds are really Turks" etc.
The most effective institution from the point of view of the TIB -
 that is the Psychological Warfare Department of the Special
Warfare Department - is the press. Turkish daily newspapers such
as "Hurriyet", "Milliyet", "Tercumann", "Turkiye" and "Sabah",
which have become semi-official organs of the state, are pressured
into carrying out systematic propaganda against the PKK.
     Another area where the Special Warfare Department wields its
influence is of course the political parties. All state politicians
and all bourgeois parties in Turkey are under the control of the
Special Warfare Department. Here are just two examples:
     Turkish President Suleyman Demirel was the first Turk to get
a scholarship from the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship, which is
controlled by the CIA. Later he held for many years the agency
rights for the firm of Morrison, which built the death cells in
Vietnam. (*6) When Demirel was in the USA in 1963, he was sent into
the Adalet Partisi (Justice Party). In 1965 he became the chairman
of this party and is now State President.
     Turgut Ozal, who was Prime Minister from 1983 to 1990 and
President from 1990 until his death in 1993, was an official of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).


(From Kurdistan Report #17 - February/March 1994)


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sat Nov  4 09:44:20 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 04 Nov 1995 09:44:20
Subject: Turkish Press Review
References: <bac1c849.gate.c3VN5c1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.kRV1DD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>



                    ----------------------
                   WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 1, 1995
                   --------------------------

Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press
this morning

CILLER TO VISIT BRUSSELS

Prime Minister Ciller has accepted an invitation to  attend a
conference on energy in Brussels on November 24. Ciller also has
in mind that the EU will be voting on customs union with Turkey
on December 14. During her visit she wants to disperse any
negative feelings that might be evident prior to the vote.

Ciller will go to Brussels with chief advisor Emre Gonensay and
minister responsible for human rights, Adnan Ekmen. /Sabah/


ANKARA CONDEMNS RUSSIA FOR KURDISH MEETING

Turkey handed a protest note to the Russian Ambassador in Ankara
yesterday, following a meeting of the so-called Kurdish
"parliament-in-exile" in Moscow. Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Omer Akbel described the meeting as "seriously overshadowing
and damaging to Turco-Russian relations". "We have learned
with deep sorrow that the meeting started on Monday, despite
our earlier expectations that Russia would act with determination
in accordance with our mutual relations" Akbel said in a written
statement. Akbel noted that Turkey had warned Russia before the
meeting of the Kurdish "parliament-in-exile".

Meanwhile, in a written statement yesterday evening, the Russian
Foreign Ministry condemned the meeting of the "parliament-in-
exile". The statement said: "The Russian Foreign Ministry
condemns such activities and notes that it has no relation with
them. Russia wants to develop its bilateral and multilateral
relations with the friendly country, Turkey, and never
acknowledges such separatist trends whatever their source is".
However, the statement noted that the Parliament's Geopolitic
Issues Committee and International Union of Kurdish Society
Organizations held a "seminar" on the problems of Kurdish
society. Some participants tried to attribute the meeting to the
third General Council of the Kurdish parliament-in-exile, it
added.

Nevertheless, Russian Ambassador in Ankara Vadim Igorevic
Kuznetsov was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday
afternoon and handed a protest note. The note stated that
the meeting should be stopped, or otherwise relations would
be reviewed. /Cumhuriyet-Milliyet-Hurriyet/

US: "PKK IS INVOLVED IN DRUG TRAFFICKING"

Ambassador Robert Gelbard, Assistant Secretary of State for
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, during a
briefing at the Foreign Press Centre said: "We are concerned
about the dramatic flow of drug trafficking through Turkey and
other nations in the region, some of which has been associated
with some individuals who are members of the PKK terrorist
organization". "Another problem which concerns the US
Administration is money laundering in Turkey. I understand
and have been told that the Turkish government has intended to
move forward with legislation ratifying the 1988 Vienna
Convention when a government is formed, just as I understand
that's the case in Austria. I think that would be appropriate
seven years after the agreement was approved" Gelbard added.
/Hurriyet/


STATE OFFICIALS RESIGN TO RUN IN DEC.24 EARLY ELECTIONS

Unal Erkan, emergency rule region governor and Mehmet Agar,
general director of police, resigned from their positions
yesterday to run as candidates in the upcoming election.
Both officials will run on the True Path Party (DYP) ticket.

Meanwhile, Orhan Tasanlar, chief of the Ankara police general
directorate, has been appointed chief of the Istanbul police
general directorate. Tasanlar became the chief of the general
directorate due to the resignation of Necdet Menzir. /All papers/


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sat Nov  4 09:45:53 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 04 Nov 1995 09:45:53
Subject: TDN
References: <bac1c849.gate.i9VPDD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.oRV1DD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>


 US: PKK is involved in drug trafficking

"We are concerned about dramatic flow of drug trafficking through
Turkey and other nations in the region some of which has

been associated with some individuals who are members of the PKK."

By Ugur Akinci

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

WASHINGTON- A senior U.S. Administration official admitted that PKK
members were among those involved in drug trafficking through Turkey.
Ambassador Robert Gelbard, assistant secretary of state for
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, during a briefing
at the Foreign Press Center said, "We are concerned about dramatic
flow of drug trafficking through Turkey and other nations in the
region some of which has been associated with some individuals who are
members of the PKK."

Gelbard also noted that the volume of trafficking in the region was
going up. "We remain concerned, quite concerned, about the increased
level of trafficking through Turkey in significant part because
there's been significant increase in [drug] production coming through
in that direction." Another problem which concerns the Administration
is money laundering in Turkey.

"We remain seriously concerned about the problem of money laundering
in Turkey," Gelbard said and added that the Administration had
"conveyed that to the Turkish government recently.

I understand and have been told that Turkish government has intended
to move forward with legislation ratifying 1988 Vienna Convention when
a government is formed, just as I understand that's the case in
Austria. I think that would be appropriate seven years after the
agreement was approved."

Clinton quiet on Syria's role

Despite all the rhetoric put forward by the Administration, Washington
has been quiet on Syria's alleged role in assisting the PKK. President
Clinton, for example, in his Oct. 22 talk at the United Nations did
not mention Syria among the terrorist nations.

"To take on terrorists, we maintain strong sanctions against states
that sponsor terrorism and defy the rule of law, such as Iran, Iraq,
Libya and Sudan.

We ask them today again to turn from that path." Some observers claim
that the United States is ready to look the other way as long as Syria
is engaged with the U.S.-sponsored "peace process" in the Middle East.

  _________________________________________________________________

 US commends Turkey for amending Article 8

Customs union membership deemed possible if conservative EP members
show up on Dec 14

By Ugur Akinci

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________


WASHINGTON- The U.S. Administration commended Turkey on Monday for its
recent adoption of amendments to Article 8. The U.S. State Department
spokesman Nicholas Burns issued the following statement:

"The United States is pleased to note that on October 27, Turkey's
Parliament approved legislation amending Article 8 of the
Anti-Terrorism Law. We congratulate the Turkish government,
Parliament, and people on this important and positive step forward for
democracy and human rights in Turkey."

On Oct. 27, Mr. Burns again commended Turkey's decision to release
former DEP deputies Ahmet Turk and Sedat Yurttas from jail. A
department press statement said, "We are pleased that two of the
former [DEP] deputies have been released from prison pending final
resolution of their cases."

"We await with interest the outcome of any retrials or appeals which
may be made to Turkey's fully independent courts or to the Court of
Human Rights of the Council of Europe. The Government of Turkey has
said that it would respect a decision by that Court," Burns said.

A senior State Department official the TDN talked with said he was
still concerned that the Socialists and Greens in the European Union
may not see the release of the two former DEP deputies and the
amendments to Article 8 as enough to change the anti-Turkish votes on
Dec. 14, when the European Parliament will vote to ratify Turkey's
European customs union membership.

"However, I also believe that the European Parliament is looking for
an excuse to admit Turkey. So it will all come down to whether the
participation ratio will be high on the day of voting.

Because those who show up are usually the Socialists and Greens (of
the Parliament). Socialists especially have a good group discipline."
If the conservative members who want Turkey show up for voting then
the customs union might well become a reality for Turkey, the official
added.
  _________________________________________________________________

 Article 8 amended without opposition



Discretion: Under the newly-amended version, judges will have
discretion in the commutation of prison terms to fines or suspension

of punishments

By Sinan Yilmaz

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

ANKARA- Jurists have begun criticizing the new version of the amended
Article 8 of the Anti-terrorism Law on the grounds that there is not
much difference between the old and the new. Under the newly-amended
version, judges will have discretion in the commutation of prison
terms to fines or suspension of punishments.

At present, the number of people who have been jailed on charges of
violating this article has reportedly been determined as 152. Also the
number of convicts whose punishments have not yet been upheld by the
High Appeals Court is around 2,600. There are more than 5,000 pending
cases which have been filed under the charges.

The amendments concerning Article 8, which has been seen as one of the
biggest obstacles before Turkey prior to its entrance to the customs
union, were put on the parliamentary agenda immediately and changed
accordingly. It is now the government's duty to bring these changes to
the attention of the European Parliament and public.

The True Path Party (DYP) has given the go-ahead to the amendment of
this article at the end of bargaining over the formation of the new
government. However, it is not happy with the new changes. According
to the DYP, even a minor change in the law has meant making
concessions to terrorism, but the party has remained silent.

Although the Republican People's Party (CHP) was aware that the
amendments would not even satisfy its own jailed grassroots, it had to
approve the new version of the article with the purpose of benefiting
from it as a propaganda tool before entering the customs union.

Motherland Party (ANAP) never wanted Article 8, which it invented, to
be altered. According to ANAP, the changes were a type of amnesty.

Writers, publishers, journalists, scientists, politicians and
socialists who were affected the most since the Anti-terrorism Law
became effective have remained silent as the law amending Article 8
was passed. When the draft law concerning the amendment of this
article was sent to the parliamentary commissions, nothing was heard
from the Human Rights Association, the Contemporary Jurists
Association, the Union of Bar Associations, trade unions, publishing
houses or journalists' organizations.

Thus the bill was passed in Parliament with only the opposition of
ANAP.

The new changes will not affect the status of most of the people in
prisons. Those who have been convicted under only one single charge
will be set free after serving a short period of imprisonment.

Under the amended version of Article 8, the minimum punishment has
been set at one year imprisonment and the maximum at three years. This
punishment may either be commuted to a fine or suspended. In any case,
the judge who is to hear such cases will have full discretion in
determining the amount of punishment. Following the enactment of the
law amending the controversial Article 8, within one month the courts
must re-examine the cases which they heard earlier and render their
decision in view of the amended version of the article. There has been
no such a development yet.

The common view of the jurists who oppose the new changes is the issue
that those inmates who will have to stay in prisons for years will not
benefit from the law under any conditions. For example, Ismail Besikci
has been given a 65-year prison term which has become final. The total
punishments against him amount to nearly 200 years.

Under the new changes, the finalized prison term against him will drop
to 35 years and those which have not yet become final to 100 years.
Isik Yurtcu, editor of daily Ozgur Gundem, is one of those inmates who
faces the same situation.
  _________________________________________________________________

 Ankara condemns Russia for the Kurdish meeting

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

ANKARA- Turkey handed a protest note to the Russian ambassador in
Ankara on Tuesday, following the meeting of the so-called Kurdish
"parliament-in-exile" in Moscow.

Omer Akbel, Foreign Ministry spokesman, described the meeting as
"seriously overshadowing and damaging to Turco-Russian relations."

"We have learned with deep sorrow that the meeting started on Monday,
despite our earlier expectations that Russia would act with
determination in accordance with our mutual relations," Akbel said in
a written statement.

Akbel recalled that Turkey warned Russia before the meeting of the
Kurdish "parliament-in-exile."

The Turkish Embassy in Moscow earlier handed two protest notes to the
Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry.

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Wed Nov  1 19:03:24 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 01 Nov 1995 19:03:24
Subject: ISKD NEWSLETTER - October
Message-ID: <bac1c849.110195150947Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

--------------- Forwarded from : OSI at INFO-IST.comlink.de (OSSI) ----------------

## Nachricht vom 28.10.95 weitergeleitet
## Ursprung : /SOC/CULTURE/TURKISH
## Ersteller: KommAG at ASCO.nev.sub.de

## Nachricht vom 26.10.95 weitergeleitet
## Ursprung : kommag at asco.nev.sub.de
## Ersteller: OSI at INFO-IST.comlink.de (OSSI)

ISKD NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 20 - OCTOBER 25

PEACE AS A POPULAR WORD OR RADICAL ANTIMILITARISM

Today there are mainly two anti-war groups in Turkey: One is the group in
Istanbul which is involved in the periodical Peace Against War (SKB) and
in favour of "peace" and the other is ISKD which defends "a radical
antimilitarist perspective" since its foundation. These groups have
different conceptions of the world, which are quite far to each other.

The group involved in SKB firstly aims to develop a sensitivity in public
opinion along the idea of putting an end to the war in Kurdistan. On this
ground they try to gather intellectuals and persons from different political
ideas around the popular word: Peace. This effort is directed to encourage the
idea of cease-fire and political solution in Kurdistan. ISKD sees cease-fire
and political solution as an urgent need of Anatolia people and supports this
effort in practise. On the other hand, ISKD has an ideological ground that is
against all kinds of wars, militaristic and violent structures; and works to
develop a grassroot movement aiming demilitarization of the society and
abolishment of armies. The foundation of ISKD was not only because of the war
in Kurdistan but mainly because of the idea to organize a struggle against
militarism and violence itself; and to build up a liberterian and nonviolent
culture alongside the politic struggle.

This fundamental differentia between ISKD and SKB (Peace Against War)  
hasbecome more clear since the beginning of this year. Lastly, in the end of
September the ISKD activist Serdar was in Istanbul and participated two
sessions of regular SKB meetings. Serdar told that a new term began by
Ossi's case and both Ossi and ISKD staff were ready to face with the state
and ISKD staff decided to put forward their politic identity in its purest
form. (see. ISKD Newsletter - August/September '95 for more detailed
information concerning the internal discussions of ISKD) Serdar pointed out
that ISKD staff supportedthe work of SKB but would lead their own way
without any compromise from their radicalantimilitarist perspective. The
people involved in SKB almost agreed with Serdar that SKBand ISKD were not
two parts of the same movement but two different groups which should support
each other.


ASSASINATION AT IZMIR BUCA CLOSED PRISON

Sources: Newspapers, TIHV Bulletins, an essay written by a prisoner, the
statement of a prisoner from the 6th Ward, the autopsy report of Turan Kilic
prepared by Forensic Medicine, "Urgent Action News" the e-mail conference of
Amnesty International

On 19 September the left wing prisoners, except for those from PKK, refused
to come out of their wards for roll-call at Izmir Buca Closed Prison in order
to demand an improvement in prison conditions and a halt to ill-treatment and
torture of inmates. The prisoners' action was broken with a bloody intervention
on 22 September.

The tension between the prison administration and prisoners had begun on 17
July by the escape of four DHKP-C (violent illegal revolutionary organization)
prisoners. Prisoners can cause only a limited and temporary improvement in
prison conditions, which are quite bad in general, at the end of long hunger
strikes. The last hunger strike at Buca Prison was occured in February 1995.
But, on the cover of the escape on 17 July, the rights which were gained by
hunger strikes, were taken back step by step by the prison administration.
Ill-treatment and beating became an ordinary event during the way to courts
and hospitals. On 20 July, following the escape of four prisoners, 20 inmates,
who protested at searches of their shoes when being taken to court, were
severely beaten on their way to Izmir State Security Court. Many prisoners
were injured severely and their health situation was reported in the court
records. Although the hearing was postponed and the Court decided the
prisoners to be taken to Forensic Medicine, the gendarmes took them back to
prison. Later, only some of the injured prisoners were taken to hospital.
Standing the court records and health situation reports the lawyers appealed
to the Public Prosecutor Office to demand the gendarmes be judged. But,
the authorities remained silent and no inquiries were opened into the event.
This prepared the ground of later assasination at Izmir Buca Prison.

On 28 August the prisoners sent a petition, that explains the actual
situation in the prison, to the Izmir Bar Association and NGO's. Due
to the fact that the prison administration closed the ways of dialogue,
on 11 September the prisoners started to refuse to come out of their wards
for evening roll-call in order to oppress the administration to halt to
ill-treatment and torture of inmates. This action was a simple and clear form
of civil disobedience. On 19 September they started to refuse the morning
roll-call, too. As a reply to the action, the prison administration prevented
the prisoners to go to refectory and open air. On the same day, the lawyers
who went to see their clients were not allowed by the prison administration.
The lawyers appealed to Izmir Bar of Lawyers with the reason that their right
of defence was prevented by the prison administration. On 20 September and
the day after the lawyers were prevented to enter the prison, too.

On 22 September the gendarmes started an intervention in order to make
roll-call with force in the Wards 1, 3, 4, 6, 7. The inmates in the
6th Ward, where the DHKP-C prisoners stay, barricaded the door with beds and
wardropes. The gendarmes, who were not able to enter into the 6th Ward, dug
through the roof of the ward and threw gas, smoke and sound bombs. Then
they managed to destroy the barricades and took the prisoners out and beat
with truncheons, metal sticks and fetters. The intervention which occured as
like a lynch, continued four hours. During the intervention some parts of
the prison catched on fire.

As a result of the intervention the prisoners: Turan Kilic, Yusuf Bag and
Ugur Sariaslan died, 46 prisoners, 15 of whom were seriously injured, were
taken to hospital. 15 gendarmes and four guardians were also injured or
poisoned because of bombs during the event. After the intervention the
gendarme units left the prison with the slogans: "Long Live Turkey!" and
"Everything is for Country!".

According to the information received from medicine workers, the beating
of prisoners continued during their way to hospital and even in the hospital.
The civil and uniformed security forces surrounded the hospital and prevented
the entry. The gendarme and other security forces interfered to doctors and
other medicine workers in the Emergency Service.

Later the prisoners mentioned that in the hospital even the ones who had
fractures at arms and legs were chained to the beds and teased by security
forces and a small part of the medicine staff joined to ill-treatment.
Union of Doctors of Turkey (TTB) opened an inquiry into the event.

On 23 September the autopsies were made. In Turan Kilic's autopsy report
which was signed by three doctors from Forensic Medicine and a prosecutor,
it was mentioned that the victim died because of fracture in skull and
cerebral haemorhage. His lawyer said that due to the fact that his face
was completely injured, he could not identify Turan Kilic's corpse when
he first saw.

On 23 September morning the members of prisoners' families, represantatives
of medical and human rights organizations gathered in front of the Buca
Prison but were disbanded by the security forces. Due to the fact that a
new intervention might be done in the other wards which were still on
resistance; the families, NGO representatives and lawyers gathered in front
of the prison again in the afternoon. After a while the group made a
press statement and then the security forces attacked. 54 persons, 12 of
whom were lawyers, were beaten and detained. During the event the soldiers
at the main entrance supported the Mobile Force (Anti-Riot Police) with
slogans. 15 persons were seriously injured.

The detainees were taken to court on 24 September. During the hearing
the police attacked to people who had come to support the detainees.
Three persons were injured.

The conversation between the prisoners and authorities from Ministry
for Justice continued on 23 and 24 September. Members of management
board of Izmir Bar Association mediated the conversation. On September 25
some other lawyers who had clients in the prison, were accepted to the
conversation and played an important role in mediation. On the same day
the problem was solved and the prisoners give up to refuse the roll-calls.

On September 25 a committee was established by the families,  
NGOreperesentatives and lawyers in order to be in solidarity with the
prisoners and observe the developments. The committee organized a
demonstration in which 500 people participated. On the day after the
families made a press statement in front of the prison and the security
forces did not interfere.

On September 28 a group of 10 militants from DHKP-C raided and occupied  
theIstanbul Bar Association for four hours in order to protest the
assasination in the Buca Prison. On the same day the soldiers who were on
duty in front of the Istanbul Province Gendarme Regiment, were murdered with
an armed attack. DHKP-C made a statement and undertook the attack. In the
statement it was mentioned that the attack was made in order to reply the
assasination in the Buca Prison.

THE STUDENT MOVEMENT

Background Information:

The present university system in Turkey was established by the military
dictatorship which got the power by a coup in 1980. The extermination policies
of the junta were also directed to universities. Thousands of students were
arrested and tortured after the coup. A lot of academicians were discharged and
many of them were arrested, too. Police and gendarme stations were built up
in campuses.

All kinds of politics, such as enrollment in associations, parties, etc, were
banned to students. YOK (General Administration Institution of Universities)
was established. So that, universities lost all their autonomy. The content of
lessons was completely revised. A good example is that "The History of Turkish
Republic" became a compulsory lesson. In time universities became profession
schools.

Mass-media supported the policies of the dictatorship. The media and state
created a new image of university students. Most people still believe that the
oppositional university students are manipulated by Turkey's foreign enemies
in order to create confusion. Because of this wide-spread idea, state
oppression at universities are considered right.

In addition, imposing pop culture into universities was an important device
of the state. This policy was practised in parallel with the changing of the
university entrance examination system. By the new system, passing the
examination became more difficult and private university preparation schools
were established. As a result of this, the children of families having higher
incomes, have a better possibility of passing the entrance examination. Today,
poor students are almost a minority, especially in the big universities.
And generally the poor students, who come from small cities, are supported
financially by fundamentalist islamic movements and fascists.

Civil Disobedience In The Aegean University, Izmir

Source: ISKD

The Aegean University, where ISKD activist Serdar is also studying philosophy
in Literature Faculty, was opened on 3 October this year. Every year students
have to renew their registration. For this process, students have to take a
renewal paper and pay a fee to YOK. (Apparently, the universities are not
privatizated, but university students have to pay a fee to YOK for
education expenses every year. This is not a very big amount, but it is more
than most students can give easily).

This year the Vice-Challancery of Aegean University demanded a supplementary
fee of 250.000 TL for stationary expenses. On 4 October students from the
Literature Faculty went to the Student Affairs Office of the Faculty in
order to take their "renewal papers". They were not more than 10 persons
but when it was their turn they told that they wanted to take the renewal
papers without paying any fee and pointed out that they would stand in front
of the office untill they took the papers. Then the Dean of the Faculty came
and they had a quite long conversation. He refused their demand and the
students continued standing in front of the office for three days. Everyday
the number of standing students increased and they got the support of the
officials and academicians. In the end of the third day, on 6 October the
Dean accepted students' demand and the execution was canceled.

The important point of this action is not its subject but its effect in the
faculty. This was the only student action of the last two to three years that
achieved success in the Aegean University. The idea of nonviolent action and
civil disobedience was practised. Even most of the people who took part in
the action were not hopeful in the beginning. In the end of the action
most of the people were partially convinced that such an action style had
a different kind of power based on decisiveness of individual.

Most of the members of the theatre group that was formed in ISKD (but we
should mention that the group is independent) are also studying in the
Literature Faculty. There is a new tendency in the Faculty which is
in favour of general anti-war ideas, human rights and nonviolent action.

Student Meeting In Ankara

Source: Evrensel and Cumhuriyet 21 October

Last year a quite big student organization: Istanbul University Students'
Coordination was founded on the ground of grassroot groups. Some
anarchist-antimilitarist friends who are in contact with ISKD, are
involved in the Coordination. The Coordination started a campaign
against the compulsory fees paid to YOK. The campaign includes several
activities and became wide-spread in a short time. Totally 250.000
signatures were collected in order to protest the fees and state
oppression in universities. Lastly, a general student meeting was
organized in Ankara on 20 October. Thousands of students went to
Ankara from Istanbul, Izmir, Eskisehir, Trabzon, Malatya, Zonguldak,
Bursa, Adana, Mersin and other cities.

The students' demands were:
* Autonomous democratic university and abolition of YOK
* Put an end to privatization in universities
* Put an end to compulsory fees
* Scientific and democratic education instead of reactionary and
fascist education
* Put an end to reactionary establishment in the university staff
* Expelling of police from universities, abolition of Private Security Force,
put an end to university administration-police cooperation
* Accomodation, food, transportation and medicine services without paying
* Put an end to discipline interrogations and detentions

On 20 October early in the morning 400 students from Istanbul and 150
students from Eskisehir were detained at bus and train stations in
Ankara. 30 buses from ODTU (Middle East Technical University, Ankara)
were stopped in the exit of the campuse and students were detained.
100 students were also detained at the meeting place in the early hours.

The meeting was made at Guvenpark, Kizilay, the centrum. The NGO
representatives participated to the meeting, too. The Chairwoman of
Ankara Branch of Human Rights Association (IHD), Chairman of Ankara
Branch of Modern Lawyers' Association (CHD), General Secretary of
The Union of Architects and Engineers Chambers of Turkey (TMMOB),
General Secretary of Trade-Union of Education Workers (Egitim-Sen)
were there.

The demonstrators wanted to walk to the Parliament in order to give
the 250.000 signatures against the fees and state oppression but as
it was expected they faced with police prevention. A delegation went
to the Parliament and gave the signatures to the Deputy Chairman of
the Parliament.

After the delegation came back to Kizilay, the students finished
their demonstration and began to leave the square. After a while
the Mobile Force (Anti-riot police, specially trained for street
fights) attacked to scattered students.  Lots of students were
harshly beaten and detained.

OTHER NEWS

* On 20 September war resisters made a press conference in front of
the Tansas Cafe in Gaziemir district of Izmir, where a bomb had
exploded and four persons had died the day before. The security forces
tried to interfere to the group. Even the statement was signed as
"the war resisters of Izmir", the police instantly asked if the statement
was made by ISKD. Afterwards the group visited the Gaziemir Branch of
HADEP that was bombed early in the morning on the same day.
(Source: ISKD)

* The Ankara representative of the leftist periodical Odak, Sevda Ozden was
sentenced to six months with the charge of "alienating people from military
service" by the Ankara Military Court of General Staff.
(Source: 21 September Evrensel)

* The Army started a new over border intervention into Northern Iraq with
the reason that PKK increased its control in the border zone. The intervention
is supported by KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Mesut Barzani) and
Gardi tribe.
(Source: 26 September Evrensel)

* The Governor of Izmir Kutlu Aktas stated that visa should be imposed to
those migrating to Izmir. He pointed out that the 23th Article of the
Constutition should be revised and the freedom of settling should be limited.
The Izmir Mayor Burhan Ozfatura, Minister for Internal Affairs Nahit Mentese
and Prime Minister Tansu Ciller are also in favour of imposing visa for
the metropols.

Lawyer Mehmet Nur Terzi, who is also involved in ISKD, made a statement  
andmentioned that the elemantary rights of people could not be limited and  
the visa proposalcould not solve migration which was a social problem.
(Source: 29 September Evrensel)

* Salih Subasi who is a conscript, is charged because of his following words
which he said in a civil bus on his way to Istanbul. While talking with other
travellers he said "A lot of soldiers die in Southeast Anatolia and many
will do. Nowadays, it is not wise to be a conscript." Some of the travellers
lodged a complaint against him and he was charged with "alienating people
from military service" (Turkish Penal Code, Article 155) and "breaking the
national resistance will" (Turkish Military Penal Code, Article 58). He will
be judged in Ankara Military Court of General Staff.
(Source: 23 October Cumhuriyet)

* The article about Ossi that was published in the last issue of Peace News
took space in Siyah Beyaz (Black White), a left wing daily. The headline was
"War Resisters of Turkey are on International Press".
(Source: 24 October Siyah Beyaz)

INTRODUCTION

"Turkey Human Rights Report 1994" has been published by the Human  
RightsFoundation of Turkey (TIHV) in September. The English version is  
available
at TIHV.

The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey:
Menekse 2 Sok. 16 / 6-7 Kizilay, 06440 - ANKARA / TURKEY
Tel: + 90 - 312 - 417 71 80
Fax: + 90 - 312 - 425 45 52



---------------------------------------------------------
IZMIR WAR RESISTERS' ASSOCIATION - ISKD
1468 Sok. No:14 ALsancak - IZMIR / TURKEY
Tel: + 90 - 232 - 464 24 92
Fax: + 90 - 232 - 464 08 42
---------------------------------------------------------


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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Wed Nov  1 19:05:24 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 01 Nov 1995 19:05:24
Subject: TDN 30 OCTOBER 1995
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.oLmwDD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>


  _________________________________________________________________

 EU reported warm to customs union as Association Council holds key meeting

Good news: EU ministers reported set to step up political links while
Spain's Solana expected to back Ciller's efforts and

declare technical harmonization complete.

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________



ANKARA- As the Turkey-European Union (EU) Association Council holds a
crucial meeting today in Luxembourg to review the progress in the
implementation of the conditions for the trade pact, general
expectation is that a green light will be lit in tribute to the steps
Ankara has taken so far.

The results of the meeting, the first since the Association Council
ruled March 6 for more homework on Ankara's part, are expected to go
beyond the confirmation, which Turkey seeks, that the required
technical harmonization for the customs integration is completed.

Before leaving Ankara on Friday, Foreign Minister Coskun Kirca said he
was hopeful for a confirmation as Turkey had, by and large, completed
the steps for technical harmonization, and the remaining few would be
completed on schedule.

Noting that by entering the customs union, Turkey will open up its
market to the competition of European producers, Kirca said Turkey
would adapt more easily to the new situation with the "comprehensive
and effective financial support of the EU." Reports from Brussels said
the EU foreign ministers, meeting with Kirca will urge closer
political and economic links between the sides.

The envisaged EU package will reportedly include meetings once a year
between the president and prime minister of Turkey and the presidents
of the EU (ministerial) Council and the EU Commission within the
framework of political consultations. Beside the envisaged
twice-yearly meetings between the foreign ministers, ministerial level
meetings will also be held regularly on judicial matters and domestic
policy issues while ythe top bureaucrats will confer on a broad range
of issues to develop the association, according to the reports.

As a further sign of the importance attached to closer links with
Turkey, the EU Council will reportedly undertake to inform Turkey
regularly of the results of all inter-EU meetings and supply documents
to Turkey regarding security matters and foreign affairs.

Quoting EU sources, Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported that Xavier
Solana, the Spanish foreign minister and the current president of the
Association Council, will announce in his speech at the Association
Council meeting that "no technical obstacle remains for Turkey's
customs union with the EU on Jan. 1, 1996, since Turkey has fulfilled
its technical and legal obligations."

Solana will also pledge support for the coalition Prime Minister Tansu
Ciller will revive with social democrat former partners, and promise
financial assistance.

As indirect backing to the Turkish government whose hardline policy
against the Kurdish separatists has often caused criticism from the
West, Solana will openly condemn the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
which is waging the separatist war in southeastern Turkey, but will at
the same time urge a political solution to the conflict.

The EU official, while noting that the European Parliament will have
the final say on the customs union and the release of the suspended
financial aid, said that the Parliament was expected to draw a
favorable picture of the human rights improvements in Turkey.

In this respect, *Solana is expected to highlight the recent amendment
of Turkey's notorious Anti-terrorism Law so as to prevent the abuse of
the loose definition of "separatist propaganda" to punish the
advocates of a political settlement to the Kurdish issue.

The European Parliament, the increasingly assertive legislative body
for the 15-nation trading bloc, looks less impressed with the human
rights improvements so far. But Deniz Baykal, the social democrat
leader and Ciller's would-be coalition partner, lobbied successfully
with the EU Parliament's Greens and Socialists to soften their
objections to Ankara's customs union membership in a trip to Brussels
earlier this month.

  _________________________________________________________________

 Sezgin: Customs Union will strengthen Turkey's role in Eurasia

By Metin Demirsar

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________


ISTANBUL- A customs union between Turkey and the European Union (EU)
will strengthen Ankara's role in Eurasia, the vast region stretching
from the Adriatic Coast to the Chinese border, Parliament Speaker
Ismet Sezgin told a weekend gathering.

Opening a conference in Istanbul on Turkey's relations with the EU,
Sezgin on Saturday declared that the development will increase the
country's political and economic presence in the region.

"Turkey's leadership role as a political model of secularism and
stability will continue in Eurasia for many years to come after the
customs union," Sezgin remarked.

Turkey will enter a customs union with the EU on January 1, 1996,
pending approval by the European Parliament in a December meeting.
Under the customs union Turkey will have to dismantle all trade
barriers, including import taxes and duties, against goods from the
EU.

The EU, in return, will lift all quotas against Turkish textiles and
provide aid to its weak industries to make them competitive.

The conference was jointly organized by the Konrad Adenauer
Foundation, the Economic Development Foundation of Istanbul and the
Turkish Democracy Foundation.

Sezgin pledged to harmonize Turkey's laws on human rights and the
economy with the European Union, but said there could be slight
differences on interpretation of legislation. He cited parliament's
softening up the notorious Article 8 of the Anti-terror law as an
example of Turkey's commitment to human rights.

The government has used the article, a catchall rule that bans
advocacy of separatism, to arrest supporters of Kurdish causes.

But he warned that international human rights legislation was also
protecting "terrorism" and threatening political stability of the EU
nations and its partners.

"The atmosphere created by terrorism is becoming legalized," he
declared.

Speaking at the same gathering, Bulent Akarcali, an opposition
Motherland Party (ANAP) deputy and head of the Turkish Democracy
Foundation, accused the EU of failing to meet its commitments to
Turkey as part of agreements between Ankara and Brussels.

He urged the EU to allow Turkish workers to circulate freely in the EU
and approve $2 billion in financial aid to Turkey cancelled following
the September 20, 1980 military takeover. Akarcali charged some
European Parliament deputies of attempting to dominate Turkey.

"There are those who want to form sovereignty over our national
assembly," he said, but didn't elaborate.

Peter Kittelmann, a German conservative CDU party deputy, described
Turkey as a "huge market with 60 million people" that could be used as
a stepping stone to reach consumers in Central Asia.

"The big single market of the European Union has to come together with
the giant market of Turkey," Kittelmann told the same meeting.
  _________________________________________________________________

 Turkey's international reserves hit $28 billion


Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

ISTANBUL- Turkey's international reserves, including foreign exchange
and gold reserves of the Central Bank and hard cash deposits of local
banks, have reached a record $28 billion in October, according to a
recent disclosure by the governor of the Turkish Central Bank.

"No country under International Monetary Fund (IMF) supervision has
made such a turnaround in such a short time as Turkey," Central Bank
governor Toruner told a meeting of the Marmara Group, a businessmen's
organization, in Istanbul on Friday.

Toruner said the Central Bank's $16 billion hard cash and gold
reserves were sufficient to meet Turkey's imports for the next seven
months.

Individual banks had additional reserves of $12 billion.

He explained how the Central Bank's tight monetary policies were
improving the Turkish economy by lowering inflation expectations and
increasing savings.

"Bankers and businessmen outside Turkey have more confidence in
Turkey's economy than we Turks do," Toruner declared. An "election
economy", he noted, would not derail the Central Bank's monetary
targets.

"There may be some sacrifices to be made, such as increased wages to
government workers, but the funds for these won't be met by the
Central Bank.

They can be raised in the form of new taxes, or new Treasury
borrowing," he explained.

He also said Turkey had overshot a year end Central Bank target on a
Turkish lira rate, for a currency basket composed of one U.S. dollar
and 1.5 Deutsche marks.

"It is not a fault of Turkey that it has failed to meet the currency
target. But it would have been good to report to the IMF that the
target was met," he added.
  _________________________________________________________________


                  TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 29 OCTOBER 1995


  _________________________________________________________________

 Parliament extends Provide Comfort and emergency rule

TDN Parliament Bureau
  _________________________________________________________________

ANKARA- Acting on government proposals, the Parliament on Saturday
extended the state of emergency in southeastern Turkey for another
four months and gave the Western air force protecting the Iraqi Kurds
a new, but shortened mandate. The government, in turn, acted in line
with an earlier proposal by the National Security Council which brings
together top state, government and military officials.

The legislators voted 215 to 74 to extend -- for the 25th time -- the
emergency rule which gives sweeping powers to local authorities in 10
southeastern and eastern provinces to support the combat against the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party which has been waging a separatist
war that claimed nearly 20,000 lives in 11 years.

The Parliament also extended the stay of the U.S.-British-French air
force based in Incirlik, southern Turkey, patrolling a no-fly zone
north of the 36th parallel to protect Iraq's Kurds from attack by
Saddam Hussein's forces. But the Operation Provide Comfort, the
official name for the air protection, was given a three-month
extension instead of the usual six.

The stay of the Western force was prolonged with 168 votes to 111
following electrified debates.

The opponents of the continuing stay of the foreign warplanes see the
operation as harmful to Turkey's interests, saying the military
protection helps the gradual evolution of an independent Kurdish state
in northern Iraq which is certain to fuel separatist tendencies among
Turkey's own Kurdish population.

The shorter mandate came in the wake of an official visit to Ankara by
Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Saad Abdel Majid al-Faisal who
reportedly renewed Baghdad's calls to the Turkish government to send
away the Western planes. But Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary
Onur Oymen said on Friday that the government opted for the shorter
extension in order to allow the new government, to take power after
the scheduled Dec. 24 elections, to make its own decision on the
issue.
  _________________________________________________________________

 Washington is pleased with the release of DEP deputies

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

Washington- U.S. State Department commended the decision of the
Turkish Appeals Court to release former DEP deputies Ahmet Turk and
Sedat Yurttas. A department press statement said: "We are pleased that
two of the former (DEP) deputies have been released from prison
pending final resolution of their cases."

The court upheld the sentences of four other DEP deputies -- Hatip
Dicle, Leyla Zana, Orhan Dogan, and Selim Sadak .

"We have followed all these cases closely and have expressed our deep
concern over the serious legal and human rights issues involved," the
State Department statement said.

"The government of Turkey has defended the arrest and trial of these
parliamentarians by the need to fight terrorism. The United States
deplores terrorism and supports measures to combat it. We insist,
however, that the fight against terrorism be conducted in accordance
with human rights standards."

"We await with interest the outcome of any retrials or appeals which
may be made to Turkey's fully independent courts or to the Court of
Human Rights of the Council of Europe. The government of Turkey has
said that it would respect a decision by that Court."

The State Department was also asked if this decision will satisfy the
members of the European Parliament who have demanded the release of
all the imprisoned former deputies as a condition for Turkey's
European Customs Union membership. "We are not in a position to speak
for the European Parliament," the State Department said. However the
statement added that "we believe strongly that Turkish accession to
the Customs Union with Europe would strengthen Turkey's economy and
democracy, and enhance Turkey's links with the West.
  _________________________________________________________________

                  TURKISH DAILY NEWS / 28 OCTOBER 1995


  _________________________________________________________________

 Heated debate reaffirms election decision

TDN Parliament Bureau
  _________________________________________________________________



ANKARA- The Parliament on Friday reaffirmed Dec. 24 as the election
date, thus ensuring the holding of the poll even if the Constitutional
Court annuls the new electoral law which foresees the same date.

The parliamentary decision on the Dec. 24 date, taken immediately
after the passage of a controversial new electoral law, caused heated
debates in the legislature and angry exchanges between party leaders.

Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's True Path Party (DYP), and would-be
coalition partner Republican People's Party (CHP) jointly pushed for
the decision.

It ensures that the poll will be held, although, under the former
electoral law, even if the opponents of the December poll manage to
obstruct the application of the new law.

Although the new electoral law retained the 10-percent national
threshold, the parties need to clear to get into the Parliament, it
radically reduced the constituency-level thresholds, to enable smaller
parties to clear them. The motive was generally seen to be preventing
a victory by the pro-Islamic Welfare Party (RP) which is shown in the
lead by some opinion polls.

Although the new law is in the interest of the smaller parties, many
said they would try to obstruct it -- because they feel unready for a
snap poll. A common objection has been that the new law disregards the
obligation for a thorough update of the voter lists, which requires
the holding of a general population census. It also skirts round the
voting rights recently granted to the (over 2 million) Turks living
abroad.

The sealing of the election date for the second time by the plenary
session has created doubts that the president would delay the
ratification of the law or veto it.

On Friday, the parliamentary groups of the True Path Party (DYP),
Motherland Party (ANAP) and the Welfare Party (RP) held separate
meetings to discuss the election decision adopted by the parliamentary
commission.

While the groups of the Republican People's Party (CHP), ANAP and the
Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit opposed holding
debates over the decision to hold elections on Dec. 24, the DYP and RP
groups wanted the parliamentary debates to be held.

ANAP leader Mesut Yilmaz, who took the parliamentary rostrum, recalled
that Prime Minister Tansu Ciller had accused him of shying away from
government when his party called early elections in 1991. Yilmaz said
he would not make the same accusation against Ciller now that she had
called elections. He said the reason why his party wanted elections
was to rid Turkey of Ciller and her gang.

Yilmaz's words caused harsh reactions from among the DYP deputies.
Ciller, who also took the rostrum on the grounds that she was
insulted, said she and her colleagues were trying to form a government
which would solve Turkey's problems, despite the fact that she was not
backed by ANAP and did not have the prospect of a further 18 months in
power. She said that although Yilmaz had 18 more months to go, he had
stated that he could not make a stable program. She also accused
Yilmaz of hindering her from forming a minority government.

While Ciller was addressing Parliament, steady protests came from the
ANAP seats. Amidst these protests, Ciller claimed that ANAP had set up
plots and tried to court her colleagues. She said she and her
colleagues had made efforts to allow Parliament to form a government.

After Ciller finished her response, former DYP deputy Orhan
Kilercioglu who has joined ANAP, stood at the parliamentary rostrum
and wanted to deliver a speech. Immediately, many DYP deputies stood
up to quarrel with him.

Around 30 or 40 DYP deputies led by Kadir Bozkurt and Necmi Hosver
gathered in front of the ANAP rows. When the ANAP deputies stood up,
they started to clash. Parliamentary group deputy chairmen of the
parties and ystaff responsible for parliamentary affairs prevented
them from hitting each other.

Later Mustafa Kalemli from ANAP who chaired the session asked Ciller
if she was referring to Kilercioglu when she had said "deputy
markets." Ciller said she was not. Also Ciller corrected her previous
statement that she and her colleagues had to save the honor of
Parliament and said that she had not intended to humiliate Parliament.


Why was there a need for a parliamentary decision?

In order for the election law to become effective it should be
approved by President Suleyman Demirel and later published in the
Official Gazette. This leaves limited time for the Supreme Electoral
Law before Dec. 24. The president has 15 days to examine the laws.
Even usage of a very small portion of this period makes impossible the
actual holding of elections. In addition, the president has the right
to veto a law whereas a parliamentary decision is not presented for
the approval of the president and becomes effective directly it is
published in the Official Gazette.
  _________________________________________________________________

 Turkey softens human rights on eve of EU meeting

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________



ANKARA- As Foreign Minister Coskun Kirca left to attend a key meeting
of the Turkey-European Union (EU) Association Council, Ankara on
Friday highlighted a radical softening of a controversial penal
article to improve its chances of clinching a customs pact with the
trading bloc.

Detailing the amendments written into the notorious Article 8, Foreign
Ministry Undersecretary Onur Oymen said a rewording of the clause
which stipulates punishment for separatist propaganda eliminated the
-- often abused -- ambiguity as to what constitutes the prescribed
crime.

Until now, the loose definition caused the jailing of scores of
intellectuals calling for a softer approach in the combat with Kurdish
separatists.

The notorious article, while causing frequent criticisms from the
West, also split the Turkish public and threatened government crises
with the strong conservative bloc in the Parliament, which includes
many members of the Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's True Path Party who
say any dilution would serve the cause of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) fighting a a separatist war in southeastern
Turkey. As the TDN went to press, the Parliament was voting on the
amendments. The legislature was expected to endorse the facelift with
but slight additional changes.

In the news conference, Oymen also said the amendments also reduced
the stipulated jail sentences from 2-5 years to 1-3 years, and
introduced "qualitative changes" as to the nature of the penalties.

The retroactive amendments, will enable the courts to review the cases
of people jailed under the article, to allow their release or a
shortening of their sentences.

Oymen assured that the Parliament's constitutional commission, which
passed the amendments on Wednesday, had acted on the demands of the
Turkish public and was not motivated by considerations to appease the
EU critics threatening to bar Turkey's entry to the customs union.

Foreign Minister Kirca, speaking earlier, said Turkey had largely
fulfilled the technical requirements for the customs agreement, and
those remaining would be carried out shortly. The European Parliament
is expected to decide on Turkey's eligibility for the customs pact in
mid-December.

Kirca said Turkey was open to a dialogue (regarding the improvement in
human rights performance) but would not accept any pressure.

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Wed Nov  1 19:07:41 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 01 Nov 1995 19:07:41
Subject: mainstream news on costum union/KPE
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.oiNwDD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

Subject: mainstream news on costum union/KPE-meeting in Russia


By Jonathan Clayton

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 30 (Reuter) - The European Union and Turkey finalised details
of their customs union on Monday and called on the European Parliament to
approve an accord which will shore up western Europe's fragile southern flank.

Spanish Foreign Minister Javier Solana said agreement on three outstanding
aspects of a lucrative customs union with Ankara was a "step in the
consolidation of relations between the European Union and Turkey." He said
accords on textiles and car exports had removed the final technical obstacles
to the entry into force on January 1 next year of the customs union which was
of immense "strategic, political, and economic importance."

The accord must now receive the backing of the European Parliament, which has
been deeply critical of Turkey's human rights record and demanded the freeing
of six Kurdish MPs jailed for alleged involvement with terrorist activities.

Last week, Ankara released two but four remain behind bars.

Solana, seated alongside Turkish Foreign Minister Coskun Kirca, said recent
attempts by the government to adjust its human rights record and particularly
reforms of Article 8 of the Constitution showed Turkey was now on the right
road. "It is up to the European Parliament to do its duty. We sincerely hope
the vote will be a positive one," he told a press conference.

Kirca said there were no remaining obstacles in the way of adopting the customs
union, which would give Turkey better access to EU markets than any other
non-member, and appealed to the parliament not to make unacceptable demands.
"The parliament should not try to impose further conditions, impose
unacceptable conditions. I believe the parliament will act in its historic
role," he said.

The parliament is due to vote in December but may come under pressure to
postpone a decision until next year.

Critics, including the leader of the parliament's socialist group Pauline
Green, say the changes to the catch-all anti-terrorist Article 8 are cosmetic
and want to see all jailed Kurdish MPs released before the accord comes into
force.

In Turkey Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's coalition government, which made the
pact one of its key foreign policy goals, is hanging on by a shoestring and
faces elections in December. Ciller's minority government lost a vote of
confidence on October 15 and now holds power on a caretaker basis, making it
difficult to resist pressure from conservative hawks in her True Path Party
who argue against relaxing Turkish anti-terror laws because of European
pressure.

External Affairs Commissioner Hans Van Den Broek told reporters a rejection
of the customs union by parliament could result in a "severe backlash in
Turkey" where only Moslem fundamentalists are against closer ties with western
Europe. "There is now every reason for the European Parliament to approve this
accord," he said.

The customs union with Turkey is part of a broader EU strategy to build up its
southern flank. EU ministers will also debate a far-reaching economic accord
with Morocco, which they would like to adopt before a major meeting in
Barcelona next month, on how to spread security and stability in the volatile
Mediterranean region.

The customs union with Turkey also envisages giving financial aid of some 375
million European Currency Units (ECUs) ($488 million) spread over five years
starting in 1996 and access to loans from the European Investment Bank of a
further 300 million ($390 million) to 400 million ECUs ($520 million). From
1996, the EU is also planning to make available supplementary soft loans which
could total as much as 750 million ECUs ($975 million).

(5)

By Servet Yildirim

ANKARA, Oct 30 (Reuter) - Turkish businessmen expect a landmark customs union
with Europe in 1996 to go ahead, despite concerns that Turkey's poor human
rights record may yet block its bid for the deal to be completed this year.

"The European Union shouldn't reject the customs union and I think they will
not, because European firms and economies will benefit from the union," said
Hakan Oker, head of a construction company Izoteksan which represents four EU
firms.

EU and Turkish foreign ministers were to meet on Monday to complete technical
work on the trade pact. Ali Tigrel, Prime Minister Tansu Ciller's chief adviser
for the EU, said political issues were not on the agenda at the meeting.
"Turkey is ready for the customs union. All preparations have been more or less
completed," he told weekly Intermedya Ekonomi.

Turkey last week softened an anti-terror law in a move to appease rights
critics in the European Parliament, reducing jail terms and paving the way for
the release of scores of people jailed under the country's restraints on
freedom of expression. But political analysts say the move may fail to satisfy
some Euro MPs, still seeking broader changes. The European Parliament is
expected to vote on the customs union in December.

Turkey has put into force many of the legislative and technical provisions
needed for customs union. It must still establish customs and intellectual and
industrial property rights, create competition council and reduce import duties
by end-1995.

Turkish officials pledge to complete them on time. The Turkish parliament is
expected to vote on Monday on a draft which imposes jail terms and fines on
those infringing the laws of intellectual and industrial property rights.

Sakip Sabanci, chairman of leading Sabanci Holding, said he expected "a
positive response" from the EU. "Obstacles before the customs union have been
removed," he said in a statement.

Turkish businessmen say Ankara needs a financial aid package from the EU to
offset the losses Turkey will incur in lost revenues. Officials estimate the EU
loans and assistance over the next five years at up to 2.5 billion ECUs, saying
that the abolition of tariffs and duties will cost Turkey up to $3 billion a
year.

Turkey's economy has long been coping with high inflation and budget and trade
deficits.

Manufacturers, borrowing at a cost of up to 150 percent a year, fear that some
technology-intensive sectors, which enjoyed high tariffs and quotas for decades
-- such as iron and steel, petrochemicals, processed food and automobiles --
may fail to compete with European rivals after shields are removed.

Some other sectors -- textiles, glass and ceramics -- see the customs union as
an opportunity for more exports. Sector officials say textiles exports,
currently at around $5 billion a year, may double when they enter European
markets freely.

Moreover, Turkish producers, seeking fresh funds to expand business in the
newly emerging Central Asian, Caucasian, East European and Middle Eastern
countries, say joint investments with European partners will ease their access
to these markets.

Turkey hopes the customs union may spark a wave of direct foreign investment
both from EU and non-EU countries. Japanese and South Korean car makers,
including Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, have already invested in the country.

Economy officials say the accord may ease inflation -- now at around 80 percent
-- by allowing free entry of cheaper European goods, increasing competition and
reducing the cost of imported inputs. The customs union will force local
producers, who have been protected by customs shields since the Turkish
republic was founded in 1923, to produce higher quality goods to European
markets.

(6)

By Andrei Khalip

MOSCOW, Oct 30 (Reuter) - The Kurdish separatist parliament- in-exile met in
Moscow on Monday for a three-day session organised by a Russian parliament
committee, its third session since its inauguration earlier this year.

"We are guests of the Russian parliament," Darwich Hasso, a member of the
group, said. A committee of the State Duma (Russian lower house) had organised
the session at their request.

Hasso said it was too early to speak of any decisions by the gathering. "We
discussed the political situation in Kurdistan, the international situation
and position of some of our members who want to stay away from the struggle
for independence."

The Kurds inaugurated their "parliament-in-exile" in The Hague in April,
sparking a diplomatic incident between the Netherlands and Ankara. Turkey
suspended Dutch military purchases and recalled its ambassador. "We are here in
Russia because of the democracy -- no one can exercise pressure on us here. In
addition, Russians and Kurds have historically been very close," Hasso said.
He said it was the third session of the Kurdish assembly. The parliament last
met for a four-day session in the Austrian capital in August.

The elected 65-seat assembly draws its members from all exiled Kurds, including
members of Turkey's outlawed pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) and the PKK,
whose rebels are fighting a separatist war in southeast Turkey.

The Kurdish group wants Turkey to start talks with the Kurdistan's Workers'
Party (PKK) to end the rebels' 11-year-old campaign for independence. More than
17,500 people have died in the insurgency since 1984.

Turkey says the parliament-in-exile is controlled by armed Kurdish extremists.
In March, Turkey launched an offensive against PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq,
arguing that Kurds were using the region as a springboard in their fight.

(7)

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Oct 30 (Reuter) - Two primary school teachers working in
southeast Turkey, where separatist Kurdish rebels are battling the army, were
found dead on Monday after being kidnapped from their homes, security officials
said.

The regional emergency rule governors' office in Diyarbakir said Gurkan Ariturk
and Okkes Kaya were killed by rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
which has murdered scores of teachers in the region to protest against what it
calls the forced assimilation of Kurds into Turkish society.

(8)

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Oct 30 (Reuter) - Two Kurdish village guards and a
shopkeeper were killed on Monday after the two members of the state-armed
militia opened fire in a jewellery store in Diyarbakir, police said.

Another village guard and four other people were seriously wounded in the melee
when the shopkeeper returned fire, police said.

In a separate incident, two primary school teachers were found dead after being
kidnapped from their homes in nearby Mardin, security officials said. The
government blamed separatist Kurdish rebels.

The 60,000 village guards in the the region, beset by an 11-year war with
Kurdish guerrillas for autonomy or independence, are supposed to help defend
their villages from attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Police said the attack by guards from the village of Gulecoba was part of a
long-running feud with a rival family that owned the store. The incident
underlined human rights complaints that some village guards use the
government-supplied guns for their own purposes. Local human rights monitors
accuse some village guards of extorting money or other items from innocent
Kurds.

Monitors also say the Turkish security forces often threaten to forcibly
evacuate villages if the people do not agree to become village guards. Village
guards are paid about $140 a month.

Security officials in Diyarbakir, the administrative centre of the largely
Kurdish southeast, said teachers Gurkan Ariturk and Okkes Kaya were killed by
PKK rebels, which has murdered scores of teachers in the region to protest
against what it calls the forced assimilation of Kurds into Turkish society.

(9)

BONN, Oct 30 (Reuter) - Unknown attackers threw a petrol bomb into a Turkish
advice bureau in the German town of Heilbronn early on Monday but the fire was
discovered and the residents of the tenement above were unhurt, police said.

Germany's Turkish community has been the target of a wave of similar attacks in
the last three years. Some of the bloodiest have been the work of right-wing
extremists. But authorities attribute most of the recent attacks to militants
campaigning for a Kurdish homeland in Turkey.


DYP-CHP COALITION: 52ND GOVERNMENT

Prime Minister: Tansu Ciller, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister: Deniz Baykal, State Ministers: Necmettin Cevheri, Cavit
Caglar, Aykon Dogan, Abdulkadir Ates, Ali Dincer, Ayvaz Gokdemir,
Munif Islamoglu, Omer Barutcu, Ali Ekmen, Mehmet Sevigen, Coskun
Kirca, Isilay Saygin, Mehmet Alp, Salim Ensarioglu, Defence
Minister: Vefa Tanir, Finance: Ismet Attila, Education: Turhan
Tayan, Public Works and Housing: Adnan Keskin, Health: Dogan
Baran, Agriculture: Nafiz Kurt, Labour: Mustafa Kul, Industry:
Fuat Cay, Energy: Sinasi Altiner, Culture: Fikri Saglar, Tourism:
Irfan Gurpinar, Forestry: Hasan Ekinci, Environment: Hamdi
Ucpinarlar

The 52nd government was approved by President Suleyman Demirel.

RUSSIA WELCOMES PKK

Moscow, which has assured Turkey that Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) meetings would not be allowed in Russia, has opened its
doors to a meeting of the so-called Kurdish Parliament-in-exile.
The PKK held its first two meetings in the Netherlands and
Austria and yesterday held its third meeting in an official
building in Moscow. Holding the "3rd General Council Meeting of
the Parliament-in-exile" in a Moscow building belonging to the
Russian Parliament, the PKK wants to send a message to Turkey
that Russia continues to support their activities.

Russian Parliamentarian Valeri Ustinov gave a speech at the
meeting and called for a change in the Lausanne Treaty
preparatory to a new agreement to protect Kurdish rights.
Chairman of the Russian-Greek Culture Association, Georgi
Trapeznikov, said that Kurdish, Armenian and Greek societies were
victims of Turkey's ultra-nationalist policies. Ankara has sent a
protest to the Russian Federation through Turkey's Ambassador to
Moscow, Bilgin Unal, who will convey the protest orally to the
Russian Foreign Ministry. /Milliyet-Hurriyet/

ONLY THE POLITICAL HURDLE LEFT

In connection with Turkey's customs union with the European Union
(EU), positive signals are coming from the Europeans. Problems at
the technical level are resolved and only the political hurdle
remains to be crossed.

Now the ball is in the European's court. The EU member countries
are left with the decisive vote. Turkey has done all that the EU
member countries requested as preconditions to customs union.
Despite some misgivings in some areas, the general feeling is
that the Europeans are much more positive about Turkey joining
them in the vital customs union lead up to full membership.
Leading EU figures, including EU Commissioner in charge of
foreign relations, Hans Van Den Broek, have all sent out signals
suggesting that Turkey is on the way to full membership in the
EU.

Turkey's success in meeting the conditions for customs union is
already being described as a "victory" for Turkey. Prime Minister
Ciller said yesterday that within three years she would take
Turkey into the EU as a full member. In the meantime, contacts
between Turkey and the EU remain intense as the final steps are
taken to complete years of preparation. /All papers/


TURKS IN GERMANY FOUND A POLITICAL PARTY

The German Democratic Party, founded by German citizens of
Turkish origin, has held its first meeting. Sedat Sezgin, one of
the founding members was elected party chairman. The party was
established in reaction to the increasing xenophobia in Germany,
and aims to assist foreigners, and especially people of Turkish
origin, with their problems encountered in Germany. /Milliyet/

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sat Nov  4 09:41:57 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 04 Nov 1995 09:41:57
Subject: articles taken from the Economist
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.gRV1DD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>


[Articles provided by ARIF N KILIC. ]

These two articles are taken from The Economist magazine (10/21/1995 issue):

Article#1 (page 20):

{bold} TURKEY FACING EUROPE
{bold} What are the priorities for Tansu Ciller's new government?

Fragile, prickly and strategically placed where Europe meets Asia, Turkey has
been staggering through yet another political crisis. Mrs Tansu Ciller, its
much-battered prime minister, has become the Elizabeth Taylor of Turkish
alliances, shedding, gaining, even regaining coalition partners with gusto, as
her compatriots yearn for steadier times and gasp at her knack for survival.
Her new government-remarkably similar in make-up to the one that collapsed a
month ago-may not last long: a general election, which she cannot be sure of
winning (see page 54), is due to be held at the end of the year, though the
date could slip to next spring or summer. Time, in any case, is not on Mrs
CIller's side. She needs to act with renewed speed and determination if she is
to keep her country moving in the right direction.

Pushing through the changes needed to bring Turkey into a customs union with
the European Union-her prime aim- will be tricky. The EU's governments are
ready to welcome the Turks, but Mrs Ciller still needs to do more to improve
her country's human rights laws, especially those that affect its large
Kurdish minority, if she is to persuade the Europen Parliament to give its
consent.

The customs union would give the Turks many economic benefits that full
members of the EU enjoy. To be refused it would come as a grievous economic,
political and psychological blow to them. It would tilt a lot of Turks,
including some in Mrs Ciller's own party, away from Europe to the muddle and
intolerance that scar many of Turkey's Middle Eastern neighbours. It would
give heart to such already burgeoning groups as the Welfare party, which
preaches a brand of Islamic fundamentalism that is less wild than most but
that nonentheless calls for Turkey to leave NATO, castigates Mrs Ciller's
drive for western investment, and opposes the secular values that have
tempered Turkish nationalism since the time of Ataturk. All of this would be
bad for Turkey.

Mrs Ciller has taken a number of steps to meet European concerns. Earlier this
year her government put through a string of constitutional ammendments that
broadened political freedoms. With mixed success, she has imposed an austerity
plan, backed by the International Monetary Fund, to make Turkey's currency
more stable and to shrink the public-sector borrowing requirement. She has
tried to curb inflation. Economic liberalisation, the beginnings of
privatisation and an explosion of private broadcasting have loosened the
state's grip and opened Turkish eyes more widely to the outside world. There
are hints of new Turkish flexibility over Cyprus. In all these things, Mrs
Ciller has taken broadly the right decisions.

{bold} One more heave, please

But Turkey needs to go further. With a bit of luck, it now can. Its courts
should start freeing Kurdish members of parliament imprisoned under its
catch-all security laws. And it should amend -or, better still, abolish- the
obnoxious article 8 of its anti-terrorism law, which deems criminal anything
that "damages the unity of the state". This has been streched to cover even
the peaceful espousal of Kurdish cultural rights or of regional
self-government. Mrs Ciller is still committed to this change. If she fails,
she can expect a rebuff from the EU.

That would be a pity all round. Europe-and not only its EU countries- needs
Turkey, for years a bastion of relative stability at a dangerous global
crossroads, just as Turkey needs Europe.But even Mrs CIller does clinch her
customs deal, Turks still need to come to terms with Kurdish nationalism.
Turkish businessmen and democrats are both slowly starting to realize that a
more liberal approach to the Kurds would be good for teh country as a whole.
Most Kurds want the freedom to preserve theris cultural identity and to run
more of their own affair; they do not want secession. Denying them those
things merely strokes Kurdish separatism-and prevents Turkey from assuming the
role of healthy democracy linking Asia and Europe.

*******
Article#2 (page 54)

{bold} Turkey
{bold} Full Circle

Tansu Ciller, Turkey's prime minister, was rescued at the 11th hour by the man
who jilted her in the first place. The fickled fellow in question is Deniz
Baykal, leader of the left-leaning Republican People's Party, who last month
walked out of their coalition. Mrs Ciller then cobbled together a
strange-looking minority government with the backing of another small left
wing party and shady little one on the nationalist far right. It lost a vote
of confidence. The, when all hope for the lady seemed gone, back rode Mr
Baykal with an offer to rekindle the alliance. Odly, Mrs Ciller's topsy-turvy
fortunes may have left her stronger than before. Maybe Turkey will benefit
too.

Mrs Ciller is tough. The many people who have written her off have been proved
wrong again. Back in March last year, in the currency crisis, her True Path
party still managed to get more votes that anybody in the local elections.
This time, with her back to the wall again, she kept cool, mocking Mesut
Yilmaz, the leader of the biggest opposition group, the centre-right
Motherland Party, and sacking a dozen backsliders in her own party.

Mr Baykal gained too. He has shown that he is not Mrs Ciller's lapdog. He made
her sack Istanbul's bellicose police chief for sneering at the Republicans'
stand in favour of human rights. Mr Baykal's politicking also ensured that
public sector workers, who went on strike during the crisis, would get a
better deal (which will not help Turkey's anti-inflation drive). Such
muscle-flexing, he hopes, will stop voters drifting away to support the rival
Democratic Left Party, led by a former prime minister, Bulent Ecevit.

More important for Turkey, Mr Baykal has helped to free Mrs CIller from her
dependence on parliamentary votes from the nationalist hard right. She now has
a better chance of changing article 8 of anti-terrorist law, which makes
illegal anything that "damages the unity of the state" and has been used to
suppress demands for freer use of the Kurdish language and for Kurdish
self-government. The European Parliament has demanded the article's abolition
as a precondition for Turkey's admission to a custom union with the European
Union. Mr Baykal has already gone to Brussels to persuade fellow social
democrats to give Turkey the nod.

Yet Mrs Ciller's revamped coalition, though useful, may be short-lived. The
main parties' leaders have agreed to a general election on December 24th. The
european Parliament is due to vote on Turkey's customs union admission in
mid-December. Most Turks would like it to say yes . Mrs Ciller would then, not
surprisingly, want a poll as soon as possible.

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sat Nov  4 09:46:43 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 04 Nov 1995 09:46:43
Subject: Turkey Leading Pro-Kurdish Party Wi
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.TRV1DD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

Subject: Turkey Leading Pro-Kurdish Party Will Participate in Election


Turkey Leading Pro-Kurdish Party Will Participate in Election
      By Aliza Marcus

    ANKARA, Turkey (Reuter) - Turkey's biggest pro-Kurdish party said Tuesday
it would take part in an impending general election despite fears the early
December timetable and pressure from security forces will blunt its chances
for success.

    ``Despite the anti-democratic nature of these elections, and the pressure
our party has faced from the state, we realised our constituents wanted us to
take part,'' Ismail Aslan, assistant head of the People's Democracy Party
(HADEP), told Reuters.

    HADEP's decision to contest the Dec. 24 election means the return to
Turkish politics of nationalist Kurds for the first time since MPs from a
predecessor party were ousted from parliament in 1994. Six were later jailed
for ``separatism.''

    The party's platform revolves round an open call for Kurdish cultural and
political rights in a country where writing a book about Kurdish history can
mean a jail sentence for ``separatism'' and where Kurdish-language broadcasts
are banned.

    But HADEP, whose three predecessor parties were closed by the
constitutional court for separatism because of statements in favor of Kurdish
rights, faces a number of obstacles to getting into parliament.

    The party, which analysts say commands strong support among the roughly
four million people in the mainly Kurdish southeast, may have trouble getting
voters to the ballot boxes in a region where snow can close villages for much
of the year.

    Party officials will be campaigning in an area where Turkish security
forces wield practically total control because of an 11-year-old separatist
Kurdish guerrilla war for autonomy or independence.

    Human rights activists say hundreds of thousands of Kurds, potential
HADEP supporters, have been forcibly evacuated from their villages by
security forces intent on breaking ties between the people and the
guerrillas.

    New voters and people changing their voting district have only until Nov.
9 to register.

    Most HADEP offices in the southeast have been shut, with people afraid
openly to support a party that hardliners in the Turkish government say is a
front for rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

    ``Soldiers block HADEP from many parts of the region, but we should use
these elections as a way to show the repression of the Turkish state,'' said
Ishak Tepe, a party official who fled the southeast after, he said, he had
received death threats from the security forces.

    At least 104 officials from HADEP and its predecessor parties -- the
first pro-Kurdish People's Labor Party (HEP) in Turkey was formed in 1990 --
have been mysteriously murdered.

    During the 1991 general elections, the streets of the southeast were
often thronged with supporters of the HEP, which won 22 seats by joining
forces with the social democrats before the elections.

    But by late March 1994, when local elections were held, one Kurdish MP
had been murdered, six were in detention and the pro-Kurdish party decided to
boycott polls to protest against conditions.

    That tactic may have backfired. Although Kurdish activists say many
people boycotted the elections, the pro-Islamic Welfare Party swept the polls
and critics accused the party of staying out because it was afraid it would
lose.

    ``It's not possible to have free elections in this situation,'' said
Abdulemelik Firat, an independent Kurdish parliamentarian.

    ``But if the people want us to run, then we should,'' he said.

Turkey Protests To Russia Over Kurdish Meeting
      ANKARA, Oct 31 (Reuter) - Turkey said on Tuesday it had protested to
Russia about a meeting in Moscow of a Kurdish ``parliament-in-exile'' which
includes representatives of rebels fighting for self-rule in southeast
Turkey.

    ``This development has cast a shadow over Turkish-Russian relations and
we see this as something injurious,'' foreign ministry spokesman Omer Akbel
said in a statement.

    Akbel said the protest was made to the Russian Ambassador in Ankara.

    The Kurdish group started a three-day session on Monday in Moscow. The
meeting was organised by a Russian parliament committee.

    The Kurds inaugurated the group in The Hague last April, sparking a
diplomatic incident between the Netherlands and Ankara.

    The elected 65-seat assembly draws its members from exiled Kurds,
including members of Turkey's outlawed pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) and
the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

    The Kurdish group wants Turkey to start talks with the PKK to end the
11-year-old conflict in which more than 18,000 people have died.

Turkish Court Begins Review of Terror Law Cases
      ANKARA, Turkey (Reuter) - A Turkish court Tuesday began reviewing cases
of people charged or convicted under a tough anti-terror law with an eye
toward lightening their sentences in line with amendments in parliament last
week, prosecutors said.

    The chief prosecutor at Diyarbakir state security court said the court
had begun to look at the cases of 58 people charged or convicted under
Article 8 of the anti-terror law.

    ``According to the new amendments, when the sentences are reduced ...
they can be suspended and converted to fines if the defendant does not have a
criminal record,'' Bekir Selcuk told the Anatolian news agency in the
southeastern city.

    He said Turkish courts had been given up to one month to review Article 8
cases. He did not mention the possibility of cases being dropped, nor did he
say if other security courts had begun a similar review.

    Under the amended law, the maximum prison sentences were dropped to three
years from five, jail terms can be commuted to fines or suspended and courts
must prove the defendent intended to disrupt the territorrial unity of the
Turkish republic.

    Article 8, banning ``separatist propaganda,'' has in Europe become a
symbol of Turkey's alleged abuse of human rights. Members of the European
Parliament have said they would oppose a customs union with Ankara unless
real changes are instituted.

    The law has been used to jail scores of writers, lawyers, and others who
demanded broader freedoms for Turkey's Kurdish minority or criticised alleged
abuses.

    Pressure from European allies was seen as the catalyst that led
parliament to approve the changes, which will allow many of the some 100
people now in prison to be released.

    But many analysts say the changes are cosmetic, and do little to widen
freedom of expression in Turkey, charging the reforms will not prevent people
going to jail for things they say or write.


"Reporters Without Borders" Criticizes New Press Law
      PARIS (Reuter) - A press watchdog group Tuesday criticized changes
agreed by the Turkish parliament to an anti-terror law, saying the ``minor
amendment'' did almost nothing to loosen restrictions on freedom of
expression.

    Dubbing the change a ``true false reform,'' Reporters Without Borders
(RsF) said in a statement it believed the amendment was a ``purpose-made
cosmetic measure aimed at enabling ratification of the customs union by the
European Parliament.''

    Turkey's parliament last Friday accepted the changes, paving the way for
the release of intellectuals, lawyers and politicians convicted for publicly
demanding greater rights for the country's 10 million Kurds.

    The changes, sponsored by Prime Minister Tansu Ciller and championed by
her social democratic allies, allows for reduced jail terms or freedom for
those already convicted under the law.

    Turkey's partners in the European Union had for months been seeking the
changes in return for a lucrative customs union worked out early this year.

    But some in the European parliament had sought broader changes such as
gutting or even scrapping the 1991 law that bans ``separatist propaganda.''

    It is not yet clear if the changes will satisfy them.

    The Paris-based RsF said the amendment did nothing to change the fact
that people can be tried for their opinions.

    It said written and oral propaganda, as well as meetings and
demonstrations ``aimed at damaging the indivisible unity'' of the Turkish
republic were still punishable offenses.

    The group also noted that the maximum prison sentence under article 8 of
the 1991 law had been reduced to between one and three years from between two
and five years previously, but the principle of sentencing offenders to
prison had been retained.

    Although article 8 has become ``a symbol of the struggle for freedom of
expression,'' there are many other laws and articles of the penal code and
constitutional provisions which represent a threat to freedon, the group
said.

    It cited the case of Reuter correspondent Aliza Marcus, who it said was
not charged under article 8 of the anti-terrorist law but under article 312
of the criminal code.

    Earlier this month a Turkish security court rejected a call to drop the
case, which stemmed from a Nov. 25, 1994, story referring to forcible
evacuation of Kurdish villages as part of a military strategy against
separatist Kurdish guerrillas in southeast Turkey.


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sat Nov  4 09:47:28 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 04 Nov 1995 09:47:28
Subject: U.S. to help Turkey monitor Iraq bo
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.XRV1DD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

Subject: U.S. to help Turkey monitor Iraq border

20)
           id VT25176; Fri, 03 Nov 1995 22:35:09 -0800


U.S. to help Turkey monitor Iraq border

          ANKARA, Nov 1 (Reuter) - A U.S. official said on Wednesday
that Washington would provide technical assistance to help NATO
ally Turkey monitor its mountainous border with Iraq against
infiltration by separatist Kurdish rebels.
          ``What we're looking to be able to do is find the right
technical assistance that can help Turkey move ahead with steps
Turkey is already taking,'' Lynn Davis, U.S. under secretary of
state for arms control and international security affairs, told
a news briefing.
          Lt. General Daniel Christman, assistant to the chairman of
the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a meeting with Turkish
officials would be held in the next 24 hours on the issue.
          Turkey's 330-km (200-mile) border with Iraq is difficult to
patrol and a source of irritation to Ankara, facing an
11-year-old battle by Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy or
independence in the country's southeast.
          Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas often launch
attacks into Turkey from bases in northern Iraq, controlled by
Iraqi Kurds and protected from Baghdad attacks by a Western
allied air force based in Turkey.
          Prime Minister Tansu Ciller and U.S. President Bill Clinton,
in a Washington meeting last April, agreed to work together to
improve border monitoring facilities.
          That decision came as Turkey wound down a six-week operation
in northern Iraq where about 35,000 Turkish troops went in to
flush out PKK bases. Since then, Turkey has launched several
small cross-border raids against the rebels.

PKK Leader Killed In Fight With Turkish Army Unit
Turkish army kills a Kurdish rebel leader
Date: 95-11-01 08:00:25 EST
From:  NewsAgent at aol.net

          TUNCELI, Turkey, Nov 1 (Reuter) - Turkish soldiers have
killed a top Kurdish rebel leader and 25 guerrillas in a clash
in Tunceli province in eastern Turkey, army sources said on
Wednesday.
          The death of rebel leader Suleyman Sahin -- confirmed by his
relatives in the region -- is likely a blow to the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), fighting an 11-year battle for autonomy or
independence in southeastern Turkey.
          The former Ankara University biology student was killed on
October 30 while crossing into neighbouring Bingol province from
Tunceli with a group of about 100 rebels, army sources said.
          Sahin, in his late twenties, had been with the PKK for about
seven years and was recently appointed to head the rebel fight
in Bingol province, sources said. He was considered the
right-hand man of Tunceli regional commander Semdin Sakik.
          The regional governor's office for the 10 southeastern
provinces under emergency rule said nine rebels were killed on
Wednesday in four separate clashes.
          Another eight rebels and five soldiers were killed on
Tuesday night in fighting in Mount Ararat, where some people
believe the biblical Noah's Ark came to rest.
          More than 18,000 people have died since fighting broke out
in 1984.

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sat Nov  4 12:05:09 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 04 Nov 1995 12:05:09
Subject: KDP peace on US effort
Message-ID: <bac1c849.110295192819Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

02 Nov 1995 19:33:19 -0800

---------------------- Forwarded from : (Alex Atroushi) ------------------------


The KDP leadership convened on Oct. 30 to assess the outcome
 of the two rounds of peace talks held in Aug. and Sep. in Ireland 
under the US auspices.
Although the Dublin talks made limited progress towards reaching
 an agreement  due to regression and reinterpretation of the Drogheda 
Agreement of principles signed by all the participants on Aug. 11,1995, by the 
other party, the KDP views the US effort as a process that has accomplished 
a significant achievement.

The KDP leadership appreciate the US government in Kurdish peace process
 and recognizes that the US effort is aimed at helping the KDP and PUK to
 reconcile their differences and achieve a comprehensive agreement.
There is no ulterior motive in the Kurdish peace talks that undermines
 the unity of Iraq or the security and territorial integrity of neighboring countries.

The KDP leadership has resolved to continue to work to complete a workable and
verifiable agreement based on the Drogheda Agreement of principles. 
The KDP goal in these talks is a wise outcome reached efficiently and amicably 
on the basis of principle and establishing lasting peace.

The KDP reaffirms its commitment to the US peace initiative to bring about peace
and stability in Iraqi Kurdistan




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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sat Nov  4 12:08:12 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 04 Nov 1995 12:08:12
Subject: TURKEY: LEGAL CHANGES WILL NOT
Message-ID: <bac1c849.110395212125Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

Subject: Re: TURKEY: LEGAL CHANGES WILL NOT RESTORE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

rver 2.20)
           id VT25146; Fri, 03 Nov 1995 22:34:44 -0800

---------------- Forwarded from : Amnesty_International at io.org -----------------

This News Service is posted by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ (Tel +44-71-413-5500,
Fax +44-71-956-1157)
Sender: Amnesty_International at io.org
Precedence: bulk
AMNESTY-L:
********************
/
/ _____
                                                          
News Service 205/95
AI INDEX: EUR 44/120/95
30 OCTOBER 1995

TURKEY: DISAPPOINTING LEGAL CHANGES WILL NOT RESTORE FREEDOM
OF EXPRESSION

Amnesty International expressed deep disappointment over the
modifications to Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law agreed by
the Turkish parliament and president over the weekend. 

      "We can find little to applaud in changes which leave
intact legislation under which people can be jailed for
expressing non-violent opinions," Amnesty International said
today.

      "The changes in the Anti-Terror law neither secure the
release of prisoners of conscience currently in custody, nor
rule out future prosecutions and prison sentences for people
expressing non-violent opinions."

      Under the revision ~separatist propaganda~ remains an
imprisonable offence, even when the defendant has in no way
advocated violence, but the phrase ~irrespective of the
methods and aims and ideas~ has been removed. Maximum
sentences were reduced from five years to three years, and in
dealing with first offences, courts are given discretion to
fine or give suspended sentences. Prisoners already serving
sentences will, however, be considered for possible release
by State Security Courts during the next month. 

      Pressure for change to Article 8 increased during 1995,
largely as a result of the European Parliament~s condition
that a planned customs union between the European Union (EU)
and Turkey could only be approved after clear progress in
human rights. As it became obvious that the Turkish
government was not even considering the urgently needed
broader reform, including measures for the prevention of
torture and ~disappearance~, argument began to focus on
Article 8 as a minimum gesture. This minimum gesture has now
been trimmed almost to insignificance.

      Amnesty International noted that as pressure for change
increased, prosecutors switched to alternative articles of
the Turkish Penal Code (TPC) in their prosecution of 
dissident writers, artists, journalists and human rights
activists. Aliza Marcus, a Reuters correspondent currently on
trial in Istanbul State Security Court for a news dispatch
issued by the news agency in November 1994, is one of a
growing number of people tried under Article 312 which covers
various forms of incitement. On 23 October Fevzi Gercek,
president of  a health workers' union, began a two year
sentence under Article 312 for an article in a minor
political journal.

ENDS\

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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sat Nov  4 17:17:54 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 04 Nov 1995 17:17:54
Subject: TDN 2 Nov.
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.ui72DD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>



 United States hits PKK parliament's meeting in Moscow
'No civilized country should provide legitimacy to PKK'

Amb. Kandemir sends letter to US Congressmen who want to recognize PKK
parliament

By Ugur Akinci

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

WASHINGTON/ANKARA- U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns on
Tuesday said the Clinton Administration has relayed its concerns to
the Russian government concerning the meeting of the so-called
"Kurdish Parliament-in-Exile" at the Russian Parliament building in
Moscow. Burns said the "Kurdish parliament" was financed by the PKK.

The Russian Foreign Ministry the same day denounced the meeting and
denied any part. But, despite strong protests from Ankara, it did not
intervene in the meeting, which continued on Wednesday.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Omer Akbel on Wednesday said the
Russian explanations had not satisfied Ankara, arguing that, despite
Moscow's statement, nothing had been done to prevent the meeting.

"The (Russian) explanation will be taken note of but such explanations
have failed to satisfy Turkey. It falls on the Russian side to rapidly
heal the wound caused to Turkish-Russian relations, otherwise, Turkey
will negatively draw the necessary conclusions," Akbel told a press
briefing.

In Washington the U.S. State Department spokesman confirmed to the TDN
that the meeting was in progress, "I know the Kurdish
Parliament-in-exile, KPIE, is holding meeting in Moscow from October
29 to tomorrow, November 1," Burns said.

"As we have acted with other European countries in the past, when KPIE
was held in those countries, as the case with Netherlands a couple of
months ago, we shared our concerns about this organization with the
Russian government.

This is an organization which is financed directly by the PKK,
Kurdistan Workers' Party. That is a vicious terrorist organization
that attacks Turkey and Western Europe, threatens the lives of
Americans, as well as Turks and other nationalities. We repeatedly
made it clear that neither the PKK nor the KPIE should acquire or
receive any legitimacy, any support, any hospitality from civilized
countries." the U.S. official said. Burns also added that the Russian
Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying they are opposed to holding
this meeting in Moscow.

Burns noted that it a very encouraging statement to see from his
colleague, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman. The Russian Foreign
Ministry, keen to avoid tension with Turkey, on Tuesday condemned a
meeting of the Kurdish separatist parliament-in-exile in Moscow,
Reuters said Tuesday quoting the Russian wire service Tass.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry denounces such actions and declares that
official Russian authorities have nothing to do with them," Tass
quoted a ministry statement as saying. The statement said the meeting,
organized by a Russian parliamentary committee, had originally been
billed as a scientific seminar.

"Russia consistently favors developing comprehensive, mutually
beneficial relations with neighboring, friendly Turkey," the statement
said. "It does not back or encourage separatist tendencies wherever
they might come from."

Turkey protested Moscow on Tuesday over the development. Ankara's
protest note was handed to Russian Ambassador Vadim Kuznetsov, to add
to the two earlier notes handed to the Russian Foreign Ministry in
Moscow.

Omer Akbel, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, described the
meeting as "seriously overshadowing and damaging to Turco-Russian
relations."

Akbel said the meeting disappointed earlier expectations that Russia
would act with determination (against the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) believed to be stage-managing the KPIE) in keeping with
bilateral relations.

Amb. Kandemir's letter

On Tuesday, Ambassador Nuzhet Kandemir sent a letter to all the
members of the U.S. Congress who sent a letter to president Clinton on
Oct. 6 urging the recognition of the Kurdish Parliament-in-exile.

"As you must very well know, the idea for the creation of such an
organization was inspired by the PKK terrorist organization," Kandemir
said. He reminded that some former DEP parliamentarians were involved
in the formation of this parliament.

"It is no coincidence, therefore, that during a July 22, 1994 briefing
at the Helsinki Commission, Mr. Remzi Kartal stated that 'we do not
view the PKK as a terrorist organization,'" Kandemir said.

After recalling the State Department's view that the PKK is a brutal
terrorist organization, Kandemir said, "in the light of the above, it
is equally disturbing to note that you and your distinguished
colleagues would even choose to support Mr. Kartal and his agenda."

The Oct. 6 letter to President Clinton was signed by the following
members of the U.S. Congress: Porter; Andrews (Robert); Eshoo;
Traficant; Torres; Brown (George); Towns; Pallone; Maloney; Jacobs;
Furse; Oberstar; Lewis (John); Davis (Thomas); Hinchey; Lipinski;
Brown (Sherrod); Ackerman; Fox; Cardin; and Meehan.

The letter said: "We have reason to believe that these two gentlemen
[i.e. Kartal and George Aryo] are sincere in their mission to seek a
nonviolent political solution to the Kurdish question.

We should give them a chance by recognizing the Kurdish
Parliament-in-exile as the body to resolve the Kurdish quarrel with
the Turks by means other than the force of arms. A dialogue between
representatives of these recently estranged peoples, the Kurdish
Parliament-in-exile and the Turkish government, if encouraged by the
United States and supported by the international community, probably
holds out the only prospect for peace in the region."
  _________________________________________________________________

 Russia denounces Kurdish 'parliament' session

Reuters
  _________________________________________________________________


MOSCOW- The Russian Foreign Ministry, keen to avoid tension with
Turkey, on Tuesday condemned a meeting of the Kurdish separatist
parliament-in-exile in Moscow, Itar-Tass news agency said.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry denounces such actions and declares that
official Russian authorities have nothing to do with them," Tass
quoted a ministry statement as saying.

The statement said the meeting, organised by a Russian parliamentary
committee, had originally been billed as a scientific seminar.

"Russia consistently favours developing comprehensive, mutually
beneficial relations with neighbouring, friendly Turkey," the
statement said. "It does not back or encourage separatist tendencies
wherever they might come from." Turkey, which says the
parliament-in-exile is controlled by armed Kurdish extremists, has
protested to Russia about the meeting.

The Kurds inaugurated their "parliament-in-exile" in The Hague in
April, sparking a diplomatic incident between the Netherlands and
Ankara. Turkey suspended Dutch military purchases and recalled its
ambassador.

The assembly last met for a four-day session in the Austrian capital
in August.


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sat Nov  4 17:18:53 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 04 Nov 1995 17:18:53
Subject: Turkish Press Review 2 Nov.
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.Zi72DD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>



US HITS BACK AT PKK MEETING IN MOSCOW

US State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns on Tuesday said the
Clinton  Administration  had relayed its concerns to the Russian
government  over  the  meeting   of   the   so-called   "Kurdish
parliament-  in-exile"  at  the  Russian  Parliament building in
Moscow.  Burns said the "Kurdish parliament" was financed by the
PKK.   The  Russian  Foreign Ministry the same day denounced the
meeting and denied any part.  But, despite strong protests  from
Ankara,  it  did  not  intervene in the meeting, which continued
yesterday.  Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omer  Akbel  said
yesterday  that  the  Russian  explanations  had  not  satisfied
Ankara, arguing that, despite Moscow's  statement,  nothing  had
been done to prevent the meeting.  "It falls on the Russian side
to rapidly heal the wound caused to  Turkish-Russian  relations,
otherwise,   Turkey   will   negatively   draw   the   necessary
conclusions" Akbel told a press briefing yesterday.

In Washington,  Burns  said:   "As  we  have  acted  with  other
European    countries   in   the   past,   when   the   "Kurdish
parliament-in-exile" (KPIE) was held in those countries,  as  in
the  case  of  the Netherlands a couple of months ago, we shared
our  concerns  about  this   organization   with   the   Russian
government.   This is an organization which is financed directly
by the  PKK,  Kurdistan  Workers'  Party.   That  is  a  vicious
terrorist  organization  that attacks Turkey and Western Europe,
threatens the lives of Americans, as well  as  Turks  and  other
nationals.  We repeatedly made it clear that neither the PKK nor
the KPIE should acquire or receive any legitimacy, any  support,
any hospitality from civilized countries".  Burns added that the
Russian Foreign Ministry had issued a statement saying they were
opposed  to  the  meeting  in Moscow.  Burns noted that it was a
very  encouraging  statement  from  his  collegue,  the  Russian
Foreign Ministry Spokesman.

On Tuesday, Ambassador Nuzhet Kandemir sent a letter to  the  21
members  of  the US Congress who had previously sent a letter to
President Bill Clinton on October 6 urging  recognition  of  the
KPIE.  "As you must very well know, the idea for the creation of
such  an  organization  was  inspired  by  the   PKK   terrorist
organization"   Kandemir   said.    After  recalling  the  State
Department's  view  that  the  PKK  was   a   brutal   terrorist
organization,  Kandemir said:  "In the light of the above, it is
equally disturbing to  note  that  you  and  your  distinguished
colleagues  would  even  think of choosing to support the KPIE".
/Hurriyet-Milliyet-Cumhuriyet/

ISRAELI NAVAL COMMANDER IN TURKEY

Adm.Ami Ayalon, the commander of Israel's Naval Forces,  arrived
in  Turkey on Tuesday as the official guest of Adm.Guven Erkaya,
commander of the Turkish Naval Forces.  Adm.Ayalon visited  Gen.
Ismail  Hakki  Karadayi, chief of the general staff, and Defence
Minister  Vefa  Tanir  yesterday.   Tanir  said  that  relations
between  the  two  countries  had  deep historical roots.  Today
Ayalon will visit Adm.Salim Dervisoglu, commander of  the  Navy,
and  Adm.   Alper  Tezeren,  commander  of  the  Naval  Academy.
Adm.Ayalon will leave Turkey tomorrow.


17 SEPARATISTS KILLED, THIRTEEN CAPTURED

Nine militants of the PKK  terrorist  organization  were  killed
during  clashes and 13 militants were captured in the southeast.
A spokesman for the Diyarbakir-based emergency rule region  said
that  three  militants  were killed in Batman's Gercus district,
three in Tunceli's Hozat  district,  two  in  Hakkari's  Cukurca
district, and one in Mardin's Kiziltepe district.  A total of 13
militants were captured during military  operations  in  Bitlis,
Bingol,  Siirt  and  Tunceli,  and  a  militant  surrendered  in
Batman's Kozluk district.

Meanwhile, eight PKK militants and  five  soldiers  were  killed
during  military operations on Mount Ararat.  Military officials
said that weapons were confiscated and military operations  were
still continuing in the region.  /Sabah/

TURKEY AND US COOPERATE ON BORDER SECURITY

Dr.Lynn Davis, US  Undersecretary  for  Weapons  Inspection  and
International  Security,  and  an  accompanying  delegation have
arrived in Ankara to discuss  security  issues,  and  especially
Turco-Iraqi  border  security.   In a press conference after the
meetings, Davis said that the aim of the contacts was to improve
Turkish   defences   against  terrorist  activities  and  border
infiltrations.    With   NATO   being   a   high-level   defence
organization,  Turkish  border  security  issues  concerned also
Turkey's NATO allies, US  officials  noted.   US  Ambassador  to
Ankara, Marc Grossman, said that US-Turkey discussions on border
observation systems were continuing and added that  an  eventual
agreement  would  be discussed in bilateral meetings planned for
December.  /Cumhuriyet/

SWISS CONFERENCE ON TURKEY

A "Look at the Liberalization Process" conference  was  held  in
the  Turkish  Embassy in Bern yesterday.  In his opening speech,
Ambassador Riza Turmen discussed the reasons for the differences
in  Turkish  and  European  outlooks  on  statehood.  Prof.Bakir
Caglar, who also participated in the conference, said that  with
recent  the  amendments in Article 8 of the Constitution, Turkey
had  acquired  Anti-Terrorism  Law  at   the   European   level.
/Hurriyet/

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Nov  7 21:46:11 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 07 Nov 1995 21:46:11
Subject: Info On Uprising In Turkish Prison
Message-ID: <bac1c849.199511051605.LAA08402@locust.cic>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Info On Uprising In Turkish Prison By Left-Wing Prisoners

ISKD Newsletter - September 20-October 25, 1995 (An Excerpt)

(The following is an account of the resistance by political
prisoners in September - ATS)

Assassination At Izmir Buca Closed Prison

Sources: Newspapers, TIHV Bulletins, an essay written by a
prisoner, the statement of a prisoner from the 6th Ward, the
autopsy report of Turan Kilic prepared by Forensic Medicine,
"Urgent Action News", the e-mail conference of Amnesty
International.
     On September 19, 1995, the left wing prisoners, except for
those from PKK, refused to come out of their wards for role-call
at Izmir Buca Closed Prison in order to demand an improvement in
prison conditions and a halt to ill-treatment and torture of
inmates. The prisoners' action was broken with a bloody
intervention on September 22, 1995.
     The tension between the prison administration and prisoners
had begun on July 17 by the escape of four DHKP-C (violent
illegal revolutionary organization) prisoners. Prisoners can
cause only a limited and temporary improvement in prison
conditions, which are quite bad in general, at the end of long
hunger strikes. The last hunger strike at Buca Prison was occured
in February 1995. But, on the cover of the escape on July 17, the
rights which were gained by hunger strikes, were taken back step
by step by the prison administration. Ill-treatment and beating
became an ordinary event during the way to courts and hospitals.
On July 20, following the escape of four prisoners, 20 inmates,
who protested at searches of their shoes when being taken to
court, were severely beaten on their way to Izmir State Security
Court. Many prisoners were injured severely and their health
situation was reported in the court records. Although the hearing
was postponed and the Court decided the prisoners to be taken to
Forensic Medicine, the gendarmes took them back to prison. Later,
only some of the injured prisoners were taken to hospital.
Standing the court records and health situation reports the
lawyers appealed to the Public Prosecutor Office to demand the
gendarmes be judged. But, the authorities remained silent and no
inquiries were opened into the event. This prepared the ground of
the later assassination at Izmir Buca Prison.
     On August 28, the prisoners sent a petition, that explains
the actual situation in the prison, to the Izmir Bar Association
and NGO's. Due to the fact that the prison administration closed
the ways of dialogue, on September 11 the prisoners started to
refuse to come out of their wards for evening role-call in order
to press the administration to halt to ill-treatment and torture
of inmates. This action was a simple and clear form of civil
disobedience. On September 19 they started to refuse the morning
role-call, too. As a reply to the action, the prison
administration prevented the prisoners to go to refectory and
open air. On the same day, the lawyers who went to see their
clients were not allowed by the prison administration. The
lawyers appealed to Izmir Bar of Lawyers with the reason that
their right of defence was prevented by the prison
administration. On September 20 and the day after the lawyers
were prevented to enter the prison, too.
     On September 22 the gendarmes started an intervention in
order to make role-call with force in the Wards 1, 3, 4, 6, 7.
The inmates in the 6th Ward, where the DHKP-C prisoners stay,
barricaded the door with beds and wardrobes. The gendarmes, who
were not able to enter into the 6th Ward, dug through the roof of
the ward and threw gas, smoke and sound bombs. Then they managed
to destroy the barricades and took the prisoners out and beat
them with truncheons, metal sticks and fetters. The intervention
which occured like a lynch mob, continued for four hours. During
the intervention some parts of the prison caught on fire.

     As a result of the intervention, 3 prisoners, Turan Kilic,
Yusuf Bag and Ugur Sariaslan, died. 46 prisoners, 15 of whom were
seriously injured, were taken to hospital. 15 gendarmes and four
guards were also injured or poisoned because of bombs during the
event. After the intervention the gendarme units left the prison
with the slogans: "Long Live Turkey!" and "Everything is for
Country!".
     According to the information received from medical workers,
the beating of prisoners continued during their way to hospital
and even in the hospital. The civil and uniformed security forces
surrounded the hospital and prevented the entry. The gendarme and
other security forces interfered with the doctors and other
medical workers in the Emergency Service.
     Later the prisoners mentioned that in the hospital even the
ones who had fractures at arms and legs were chained to the beds
and taunted by security forces and a small part of the medical
staff took part in the ill-treatment. The Union of Doctors of
Turkey (TTB) opened an inquiry into the event.
     On September 23 the autopsies were made. In Turan Kilic's
autopsy report, which was signed by three doctors from Forensic
Medicine and a prosecutor, it was mentioned that the victim died
because of fracture in skull and cerebral haemorhage. His lawyer
said that due to the fact that his face was completely injured,
he could not identify Turan Kilic's corpse when he first saw it.
     In the morning of September 23 the members of prisoners'
families and representatives of medical and human rights
organizations gathered in front of the Buca Prison but were
dispersed by the security forces. Due to the fact that a new
intervention might be done in the other wards which were still
resisting; the families, NGO representatives and lawyers gathered
in front of the prison again in the afternoon. After a while the
group made a press statement and then the security forces
attacked. 54 persons, 12 of whom were lawyers, were beaten and
detained. During the event the soldiers at the main entrance
supported the Mobile Force (Anti-Riot Police) with slogans. 15
persons were seriously injured.
     The detainees were taken to court on September 24. During
the hearing the police attacked to people who had come to support
the detainees. Three persons were injured.
     The negotiations between the prisoners and authorities from
Ministry for Justice continued on September 23 and 24. Members of
management board of Izmir Bar Association mediated the
negotiations. On September 25 some other lawyers who had clients
in the prison, were accepted to the negotiations and played an
important role in mediation. On the same day the conflict was
resolved and the prisoners gave up their refusal to the
role-calls.
     On September 25, a committee was established by the
families,  NGO representatives and lawyers in order to be in
solidarity with the prisoners and observe the developments. The
committee organized a demonstration in which 500 people
participated. On the day after the families made a press
statement in front of the prison and the security forces did not
interfere.
     On September 28, a group of 10 militants from DHKP-C raided
and occupied the Istanbul Bar Association for four hours in order
to protest the assassination in the Buca Prison. On the same day
the soldiers who were on duty in front of the Istanbul Provincal
Gendarme Regiment, were murdered in an armed attack. DHKP-C made
a statement and claimed the attack. In their statement it was
declared that the attack was made in order to retaliate for the
assasination in the Buca Prison.

---------------------------------------------------------
IZMIR WAR RESISTERS' ASSOCIATION - ISKD
1468 Sok. No:14 ALsancak - IZMIR / TURKEY
Tel: + 90 - 232 - 464 24 92
Fax: + 90 - 232 - 464 08 42
---------------------------------------------------------

Forwarded from : OSI at INFO-IST.comlink.de (OSSI)



 ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
   ++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++
     ++++ see http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++

+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist collective based
in Toronto, Canada. Our focus includes a wide variety of
material, including political prisoners, national liberation
struggles, armed communist resistance, anti-fascism, the fight
against patriarchy, and more. We regularly publish our writings,
research, and translation materials in our magazine and bulletins
called Arm The Spirit. For more information, contact:

Arm The Spirit
P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1P7 Canada

E-mail: ats at etext.org
WWW: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/Politics/Arm.The.Spirit
+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++== 



From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Sat Nov 11 11:32:33 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 11 Nov 1995 11:32:33
Subject: Kurdish survey warns of trouble in
Message-ID: <bac1c849.199511102237.RAA01402@locust.cic>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Kurdish survey warns of trouble in western Turkey

Kurdish survey warns of trouble in western Turkey

    By Firat Kayakiran

    ANKARA, Nov 7 (Reuter) - A report by a large Turkish union
on Tuesday warned of unrest in western Turkey after years of
migration from the southeast, scene of an 11-year-old Kurdish
insurgency.
    The report, released by the Turk-Metal union, said the
hundreds of thousands of Kurds who had migrated to the west had
developed a radical brand of Kurdish nationalism due to
disillusionment in their new environment.
    ``Turkey must prepare itself for a problem in the west,''
Umit Ozdag, who oversaw the report, told a news conference.
    ``It will soon be difficult to talk of the 'Kurdish problem'
(only) in the southeast, but...we can see that the elements of
the problem are even more valid in the west,'' the report said.
    Turk-Metal's report includes a rare survey of 10,660
mainly-Kurdish people in 10 southeastern provinces under
emergency rule and six western provinces, where many Kurds from
the southeast have migrated to escape the effects of the
insurgency.
    A report released by an influential business group in August
included a canvass of 1,200 people -- also mostly Kurds. Until
that report, past high-profile studies had largely neglected the
views of Kurds affected by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)'s
fight with the army, in which over 18,000 people have died.
    Turk-Metal's report says Kurds from the southeast, moving
into a strange, more Western-oriented environment, lived in
``ghettos'' and faced discrimination and alienation.
    ``Under these circumstances...they take refuge in the
'Kurdish identity'. This leads to radicalisation.''
    Kurds in western Turkey were more likely to have links with
the PKK than those in the southeast, Ozdag said.
    The report said more than 20 percent of the Kurds asked in
western Turkey said they only accepted Turkish nationality for
lack of choice and many more sought greater ethnic freedom. Most
in the southeast said they wanted to remain part of one nation.
    Turk-Metal is Turkey's third-biggest trade union.
    Its report said the real problem in the mainly- Kurdish
southeast -- and the main impetus behind migrations to the west
-- was more about economics than ethnicism or security problems
in a region where investment and employment were low.
    ``As the main reason for terror in the region, 58.2 percent
of those asked said ``the poverty of the people,'' 22.7 percent
said 'lack of state interest in the region,''' it said.
    Most Turkish leaders refuse to see the problem as anything
more than a security issue caused by separatists. The state's
hardline methods have led the European Parliament linking a
planned customs union with Turkey to Ankara improving its human
rights record.
    Turk-Metal's report said Turkey should accept that the PKK's
fight was not about to end, and plan accordingly, offering tax
incentives to the private sector as compensation for working in
difficult conditions in an unfashionable part of the country.
    The government should provide the southeast with skilled
employees able to develop a dialogue with the people, rather
than using it as a place of exile for junior, incompetent or
misbehaving bureaucrats, the report said.
Reut11:30 11-07-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sun Nov 12 17:16:52 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 12 Nov 1995 17:16:52
Subject: Kurdish survey warns of trouble in
References: <bac1c849.199511102237.RAA01402@locust.cic>
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111295150903Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

Subject: Re: Kurdish survey warns of trouble in western Turkey

r 2.20)
           id VT25886; Sun, 12 Nov 1995 15:52:26 -0800

------------------------ Forwarded from : ats at etext.org ------------------------

Kurdish survey warns of trouble in western Turkey

    By Firat Kayakiran

    ANKARA, Nov 7 (Reuter) - A report by a large Turkish union
on Tuesday warned of unrest in western Turkey after years of
migration from the southeast, scene of an 11-year-old Kurdish
insurgency.
    The report, released by the Turk-Metal union, said the
hundreds of thousands of Kurds who had migrated to the west had
developed a radical brand of Kurdish nationalism due to
disillusionment in their new environment.
    ``Turkey must prepare itself for a problem in the west,''
Umit Ozdag, who oversaw the report, told a news conference.
    ``It will soon be difficult to talk of the 'Kurdish problem'
(only) in the southeast, but...we can see that the elements of
the problem are even more valid in the west,'' the report said.
    Turk-Metal's report includes a rare survey of 10,660
mainly-Kurdish people in 10 southeastern provinces under
emergency rule and six western provinces, where many Kurds from
the southeast have migrated to escape the effects of the
insurgency.
    A report released by an influential business group in August
included a canvass of 1,200 people -- also mostly Kurds. Until
that report, past high-profile studies had largely neglected the
views of Kurds affected by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)'s
fight with the army, in which over 18,000 people have died.
    Turk-Metal's report says Kurds from the southeast, moving
into a strange, more Western-oriented environment, lived in
``ghettos'' and faced discrimination and alienation.
    ``Under these circumstances...they take refuge in the
'Kurdish identity'. This leads to radicalisation.''
    Kurds in western Turkey were more likely to have links with
the PKK than those in the southeast, Ozdag said.
    The report said more than 20 percent of the Kurds asked in
western Turkey said they only accepted Turkish nationality for
lack of choice and many more sought greater ethnic freedom. Most
in the southeast said they wanted to remain part of one nation.
    Turk-Metal is Turkey's third-biggest trade union.
    Its report said the real problem in the mainly- Kurdish
southeast -- and the main impetus behind migrations to the west
-- was more about economics than ethnicism or security problems
in a region where investment and employment were low.
    ``As the main reason for terror in the region, 58.2 percent
of those asked said ``the poverty of the people,'' 22.7 percent
said 'lack of state interest in the region,''' it said.
    Most Turkish leaders refuse to see the problem as anything
more than a security issue caused by separatists. The state's
hardline methods have led the European Parliament linking a
planned customs union with Turkey to Ankara improving its human
rights record.
    Turk-Metal's report said Turkey should accept that the PKK's
fight was not about to end, and plan accordingly, offering tax
incentives to the private sector as compensation for working in
difficult conditions in an unfashionable part of the country.
    The government should provide the southeast with skilled
employees able to develop a dialogue with the people, rather
than using it as a place of exile for junior, incompetent or
misbehaving bureaucrats, the report said.
Reut11:30 11-07-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service


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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Sun Nov 12 01:36:42 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 12 Nov 1995 01:36:42
Subject: contacts
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111095154525Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

--------- Forwarded from : tkomitee at newsdesk.aps.nl (Turkije Komitee) ----------

-------- Forwarded from : U.ROTERMUND at CL-HH.comlink.de (Ute Rotermund) ---------

Hi ***** and ****!

I think you've been waiting for my first letter for a very long time  
already.
Of course, one of the reasons is that we are involved into a whole pack of  
work these days. At the other hand there is nothing new about the  
prisoners we're supporting. Still more kind of social work - costs time  
(and, unfortunately, money),  causing several nervous breakdowns, most of  
the time but just boring: talking with advocates, journalists, subscribing  
newspapers, ordering, asking for approval and delivering books, tapes and  
so on; arranging a concert of Haco and a Kurdish festival in Bremen and  
selling books both to earn some money and to do some PR ...

The three prisoners we are supporting are quite well; especially the two  
women are really powerful and never miss to pull the legs of the officers  
of BKA (Bundeskriminalamt) and their official  translators. Despite the  
short visiting time (only 2 hours per month are allowed) they sometimes  
even try to explain them the necessity of their struggle  and the role of  
Germany in the Turkish war against Kurds. It's just unbelievable: they  
really didnt lose their sense of humour, not to talk of their strength   
(Last month Azime said: "In a way it is not us who are isolated; it's  
them" - shaking the head in direction of the BKA man- "who are. No one is  
able to cut our connections to Kurdish people and the Kurdish  liberation  
movement. But who are they? Whom do they have?...")
Yeah, to talk with them is a pleasing part of our work.

Yet much is to be done in the field of finding and connecting  several  
groups who are supporting the  other 129a prisoners (and - I'd be glad if  
it could work out - to connect the several advocates: you know, they never  
have time and are so nervous and unconcentrated). Meetings of some  
solidarity groups are taking place now regularily and are supposed to  
become a good working net of solidarity and change of informations. Still  
we are lacking of people, but the project seems to develope. For the next  
time the Kurdistan InformationsStelle (KIS) takes up the work of  
collecting and spreading all informations inside the net. I told them who  
you are and gave them your adress. Hope they'll send you fine and new
material!

But first I'll give you a short report of what happended  during the last  
weeks here in Germany:
During the last weeks - might be you've read it already in newspapers -  
there were lots of campaigns against Kurdish organisations: police raids,  
arrestings, controllings and registrations of identity, damage of Kurdish  
public utilities, confiscations of material and so on.
        In Frankfurt a woman was arrested and is going to be accused in  
sense of 129a. Three men had also been arrested at the airport of  
Frankfurt, but they were set free already.
        One man was arrested in Berlin after a raid in the Kurdistan  
Centre and is now charged to be the "head of the terrorist section inside  
PKK in Germany".
        On 15th of October the police  made a raid in the Kurdish parents   
association in Munih. 19 people had been arrested, 3 of them they kept: a  
man and a woman are accused to have "offended against the association law"  
(both proceedings are still in danger of turning into 129a), one man is  
charged on base of 129a. During the raid police forced a 9 years old girl  
to undress; children as well as adults had been controlled and registered,  
the equipment was partially damaged...
        Near Gie_en 177 (!!!) Kurds had been arrested. In Ulm a Kurdish  
meeting was broken up; about 80 persons have been controlled and  
registered, among them lots of children; might be, some of the adults were  
arrested, too. I still don't know whether some of them all and if, then  
how many are still kept and on what base they are accused - we are trying  
to get new informations about that.
        In Stuttgart the second process on base of 129a has already  
started: against a 29 years old woman supposed to have been (inside the  
"terrorist section of PKK in Germany") responsible for Munih, a 28 years  
old man supposed to have been responsible for Ulm, the other man (45 years  
old) accused having been responsible for Stuttgart. Two people are  
supposed to support them there in Stuttgart - still we don't know who they  
are and how it is going. Hope there's gonna be something new about that  
next days.

The two processes which have already started - in Frankfurt and in  
Stuttgart - are the most important ones, for us as well. The sentencees of  
the first processes are easy to be taken over by  the judges of the other  
processes; and if puclic campaign runs out negative over there, the press  
has already formed their (pre-)judgement and for shure won't change it in  
a way we liked it.

So altogether there must be about 20 or more Kurdish 129a-detainees by  
now, and the number is likely to be increasing next weeks...


One of the very important points about our publicity work is inviting  
people to observe the processes. The observers  shouldn't be only German  
solidarity  groups, but prominent people, personalities of public life,  
advocates and, of course, people from other countries as well. You can  
interpret the last sentence as an invitation as well - it would be great  
if you'd support us this way! Spreading such informations in Netherlands  
would also be helpful.

So, I think that's enough for tonight. Hope you can understand my clumsy  
English. And hope you understand German, 'cause I think the further  
informations you're gonna get from KIS will be in German.

                        So then, ROJBAS!
                                                ***






## CrossPoint v3.02 ##


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

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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Tue Nov 14 17:23:51 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 14 Nov 1995 17:23:51
Subject: Turkish planes bomb Kurd rebel area
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.NDVkeD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

Subject: Turkish planes bomb Kurd rebel area after attack

95 17:34:21 -0800


Turkish planes bomb Kurd rebel area after attack
       TUNCELI, Turkey, Nov 8 (Reuter) - Turkish fighter planes on
Wednesday bombed a mountainous area in eastern Tunceli province
after five soldiers were wounded in an attack by separatist
Kurdish rebels, security sources said.
          The soldiers were in a vehicle travelling near Cicekli
village, southwest of Tunceli city, when rebels from the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked them on Tuesday.
          Security sources said one officer and four non-commissioned
officers were wounded in the rocket attack on the the vehicle.
          Just over a year ago Turkish security forces launched a
major operation to drive the PKK from Tunceli.
          More than 18,000 people have died since 1984, when the PKK
took up its battle for autonomy or independence in the mainly
Kurdish southeast.


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Tue Nov 14 17:25:02 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 14 Nov 1995 17:25:02
Subject: Reuter on bombing of Kurds Nov. 8
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.RDVkeD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

995 17:34:26 -0800


(1)

TUNCELI, Turkey (Reuter) - Turkish fighter planes Wednesday bombed a
mountainous area in eastern Tunceli province after five soldiers were wounded
in an attack by separatist Kurdish rebels, security sources said.

The soldiers were in a vehicle travelling near Cicekli village, southwest of
Tunceli city, when rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked them
Tuesday.

Security sources said one officer and four non-commissioned officers were
wounded in the rocket attack on the the vehicle. Just over a year ago Turkish
security forces launched a major operation to drive the PKK from Tunceli.

More than 18,000 people have died since 1984, when the PKK took up its battle
for autonomy or independence in the mainly Kurdish southeast.


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Tue Nov 14 17:26:33 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 14 Nov 1995 17:26:33
Subject: TDN 8 Nov. Rabin's death may help T
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.VDVkeD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

Subject: TDN 8 Nov. Rabin's death may help Turkey with customs union

         id VT26090; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 17:34:31 -0800


Think-tank : Rabin's death may help Turkey with customs union
makovsky: "The timing of Turkish election helps cu ratification as
well"

Turkish daily news

washington - a senior u.S. Think-tank analyst told the tdn that the
assassination of former israeli prime minister yitzhak rabin might
help Turkey's chances of getting into the european customs union (cu).

The european parliament will vote to ratify Turkey's membership on
dec. 14. alan makovsky, an expert on Turkish politics and senior
fellow at the washington institute for near east policy who also
served at the u.S. State department, said rabin's assassination
increased the sense of instability in the region.

This may be an additional factor to predispose the european parliament
to ratify Turkey's cu membership for fear that not doing so may play
into the hands of anti-western forces in Turkey and thus contribute to
political instability in the middle east, makovsky explained to the
tdn.

In a "policy watch" analysis paper, makovsky also said that Ciller
timed the Turkish election pretty well, for dec. 24, Ten days after
the ep ratification vote.

"The december 24 election date could itself enhance prospects for
ratification, since many euro-mps are sensitive to the electoral
benefit that a refusal will bestow on the pro-islamic welfare party".

Makovsky praised the fact that the recent government crisis which
ended up with Ciller receiving the vote of confidence for Turkey's
52nd cabinet on nov. 5, " Has been handled strictly under civilian
auspices and constitutionally prescribed legal process."

however he also pointed to the fact that personal rivalries among
political leaders still presented a serious problem for Turkey.

"One of the tendencies that has most bedeviled the development of
democratic culture of Turkey, the propensity of politicians to put
personal rivalries ahead of national interest, remains a serious-
though perhaps abating - problem," he said.

"The Ciller-baykal game of chicken caused Turkey to lose more than a
month at one of the most important junctures in its history.

Had Ciller failed to reform article 8 for want of a viable government,
it would have been because of the chaos she largely brought on herself
and prospects for Turkey's on-schedule entry into customs union
would have virtually disappeared."


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Tue Nov 14 17:29:20 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 14 Nov 1995 17:29:20
Subject: Turkish court orders release of Kur
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.5DVkeD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

Subject: Turkish court orders release of Kurdish politician

T26102; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 17:34:42 -0800


          ANKARA, Nov 10 (Reuter) - A Turkish court on Friday ordered
the release of former Kurdish mayor Mehdi Zana, jailed for a
speech made at the European Parliament, in line with changes to
an anti-terror law restricting freedom of expression.
          Jailed in 1994 for four years, Zana is among some 90
prisoners ordered released so far after parliament amended
Article 8 last month. It was not clear if the decision meant he
would be freed immediately.
          Zana is married to Leyla Zana, a Kurdish member of
parliament serving a 15-year sentence for links with Kurdish
guerrillas who on Thursday won the European Parliament's
prestigious Sakharov prize for freedom of thought.
          ``After the changes to Article 8, his sentence was reduced
and we decided that he could be freed,'' Talat Salk, deputy
chief prosecutor at Ankara's state security court, told Reuters.
          ``We have faxed his prison and said they can release him
pending any other sentences against him in Istanbul's state
security court. We have no further business with him.''
          The Istanbul state security court could not be reached for
comment on Zana.
          Zana, a former Sakharov prize nominee, was convicted of
making ``separatist propaganda'' in a speech before a commission
of the European Parliament. He and his wife were held in the
same Ankara prison.
          Foreign Ministry officials said on Friday 90 people jailed
under Article 8 had been ordered released, but not all had left
jail as they had other cases pending.
          The changes to Article 8 still keep restrictions on speeches
and writings, but reduce maximum jail sentences from five years
to three and require proof of intent to commit a crime.
          Leyla Zana's jailing along with five other Turkish members
of parliament led to an outcry from European parliamentarians
and calls for a key customs union with the European Union to be
put on ice until they were released.
          More than 18,000 people have been killed in the 11-year-old
fight of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with the Turkish army
for independence or autonomy in southeastern Turkey.


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Thu Nov 16 23:31:38 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 16 Nov 1995 23:31:38
Subject: FLUGI ZUR POLIZEIAKTION AM SAMS
Message-ID: <bac1c849.111695192255Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

Subject: Re: FLUGI ZUR POLIZEIAKTION AM SAMSTAG (30.9.)

------------ Forwarded from : stk at schism.aps.nl (stk at schism.aps.nl) ------------

IG-H at TRILOS.han.de (Infogruppe Hannover) writes:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         INFOGRUPPE HANNOVER                          <<
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       Hannover, 15.11.95.
Informationsstelle Kurdistan e.V.
Maxstr. 50
53111 Bonn
Tel./FAX: 0228-656127



12.11.1995

Mitteilung an die Presse


Protest gegen Demonstrationsverbot

Die bundesweite Demonstration "Fuer eine politische Loesung in Kurdistan",
die am 18.11.1995 in Koeln stattfinden soll und zu der mehr als 100
Gruppen, Initiativen und Parteien aufgerufen haben, soll nach dem Willen
der Koelner stellvertretenden Polizeipraesidentin Weisz verboten werden.

Entgegen einer Darstellung der Koelner Polizeipraesidenten im Koelner
Stadtanzeiger vom 11.11.1995, wonach "bis zu 15.000 Kurden" erwartet
wuerden, erklaert das Vorbereitungskomitee fuer die Demonstration:

Vom Anmelderkreis, bestehend aus einer Bundestagsabgeordneten (Ulla
Jelpke, PDS, anmerkung KommAG), einem Vertreter des Bundesvorstandes
der Roten Hilfe e.V. und einem Vertreter der Informationsstelle
Kurdistan e.V. wurde die erwartete TeilnehmerInnenzahl auf max. 5.000
Personen angegeben. Da fast ausschlieszlich unter der deutschen Vffent-
lichkeit fuer die Demonstration mobilisiert wird, ist - leider -, von
einer groeszeren Zahl auszugehen. Ziel der Demonstration ist es, die
bundesdeutsche Opposition gegen das Verbot von PKK, ERNK und anderer
kurdischer Organisationen sowie fuer eine politische Loesung in Kurdistan
nach Koeln zu mobilisieren.

Mit der Demonstration soll gegen die Verfolgung von Kurden und KurdInnen
in Deutschland protestiert werden, ebenso gegen Verbote kurdischer Ver-
sammlungen und Demonstrationen. In dem Aufruf erklaeren die ueberwiegend
deutschen Gruppen, Initiativen und Parteien ihre Solidaritaet und sprechen
sich ausdruecklich fuer eine politische Loesung in Kurdistan aus. Nun
diesem Protest gegen Verbote mit einem Verbot belegen zu wollen, kenn-
zeichnet ein eingeengtes und rueckwaertsgewandtes Weltbild. Offenbar soll
nun auch die deutsche Oppositionsbewegung gegen das sog. "PKK-Verbot" und
gegen die billigende Haltung der Bundesregierung gegenueber der
tuerkischen Regierung und dem Krieg in Kurdistan, mundtot gemacht werden.

Wir protestieren gegen das beabsichtigte Verbot der Demonstration "Fuer
eine politische Loesung in Kurdistan" am 18.11.1995. Wor fordern dazu auf,
sich dem protest anzuschlieszen. Es kann nicht hingenommen werden, dasz
international durchgesetzte Grundrechte in Deutschland auszer Kraft
gesetzt werden sollen.

Gegen die Verbotsverfuegung werden rechtliche Schritte eingeleitet.
Das Recht auf Demonstrationsfreiheit und die freie Meinungsaeuszerung musz
fuer Nicht-Deutsche und Deutsche gleichermaszen gelten. Weder dieses Recht
noch unser Recht auf Solidaritaet mit den verfolgten Kurden und KurdInnen
werden wir uns nehmen lassen.

Wir moechten Sie auf die bereits angekuendigte Pressekonferenz zur
Demonstration hinweisen:
Mittwoch 15.11.1995  11.00 Uhr, Presseclub Bonn, Heinrich-Bruening-Strasze

--------------------------------------------------------------------------




--------------------------------------------------------------------------
InfoGruppe Hannover (IG-H)   c/o Infoladen, Kornstr. 28/30, 30167 Hannover

## CrossPoint v3.1 ##

********************************
Solidaritygroup Turkey-Kurdistan
P.O. Box 85306
3508 AH Utrecht
The Netherlands
stk at schism.aps.nl
********************************

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

From kurdeng at aps.nl  Thu Nov 16 23:32:49 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 16 Nov 1995 23:32:49
Subject: mainstream news 15 Nov.
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.3LwoeD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>


ANKARA, Nov 15 (Reuter) - Turkey's interior minister on Wednesday announced
tight security measures for general elections set for December 24, which remain
under threat of cancellation after a constitutional challange by a group of
MPs.

"Our ministry...is planning a series of measures with all its power to prevent
even the smallest incident or action," Interior Minister Teoman Unusan told
reporters before starting a meeting with senior military representatives and
bureaucrats.

He did not specify what kind of security measures would be taken but said
authorities were trying to keep roads and communications open to facilitate
polling in eastern and southeastern villages, where winter is harsh.

Kurdish rebels have been active in the southeast for 11 years but have never
managed to seriously disrupt voting. A Kurdish MP was shot dead by unknown
gunmen in the southeastern city of Batman in 1993.

Unusan said he would head meetings with governors in five different regions and
ask them to report what kind of measures they had taken.

Turkey's Constitutional Court last week began reviewing a challenge to the
elections by 93 deputies who handed in a petition on November 3 asking for the
voting to be delayed, saying that voting lists could not be updated in time.


ANKARA, Turkey (Reuter) - An influential Western human rights group Wednesday
criticized Kurdish rebels for targeting civilians in their separatist war in
southeast Turkey.

The Human Rights Watch/Helsinki group said the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
had not kept promises by its leader Abdullah Ocalan to abide by the Geneva
Conventions on conduct in conflicts.

"The PKK forces continue to summarily execute so-called 'state supporters',
kill civilians in attacks on villages ... take hostages among journalists and
tourists and plant bombs in non-military targets," the group said in a
statement.

More than 18,000 people have died in the PKK's 11-year fight for autonomy or
independence in southeast Turkey.

"Fighting is marked by abusive behavior on both sides," Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki said. It said more than 2,600 villages and hamlets had been
forcibly evacuated by both sides, most of them emptied by the government
counterinsurgency campaign.

BONN, Nov 15 (Reuter) - German prosecutors said on Wednesday they had charged
three supporters of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) with attempting
to murder a party critic.

Prosecutors accused two women, whom they identified as Azime Y. and Meryem Y.,
of being leading figures in the PKK and of ordering a three-strong death squad
to kill the fellow Kurd in the northern city of Bremen in October last year.

The victim, Fuat Karaarslan, was a friend of Kurdish dissident Selim Curukkaya,
a critic of the PKK leadership.

The third suspect, a man identified as Sait B., is accused of luring the victim
to the would-be assassins. They allegedly beat him with a hammer and a baseball
bat, and stabbed him four times. An operation saved his life.

Prosecutors have also charged the two women with belonging to the PKK which is
banned in Germany. The man has also been charged with supporting the
organisation.

The PKK is also banned in Turkey, where it has been waging a struggle against
the authorities for autonomy or independence in the southeastern part of the
country.

Police have blamed the PKK for a string of arson attacks on dozens of Turkish
properties in Germany.

(7) EU Info Memo Press Release

Green Group President Claudia Roth Comments on the Sakharov Prize:

Award to Leyla Zana is an act of friendship toward Turkish democracy

Brussels, 9 November 1995. Green Group President Claudia Roth hailed today's
selection of Leyla Zana, imprisoned Kurdish member of the Turkish Parliament,
as "a significant act of friendship toward all those in Turkey who are
striving for democracy, human rights and a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish
problem."

"This award shows that Europe's democratically elected representatives consider
Turkey more than simply a trade partner or a strategically located NATO
member," she said. "We understand Turkey in terms of its people and their
aspirations for democracy and civil peace."

"This human dimension of partnership must take precedence over all others,"
she said. "This means that Members of the European Parliament cannot be
expected to ratify the Customs Unions with Turkey so long as their colleagues
in Turkey are imprisoned for having exercized their most basic political
rights," Ms Roth stressed.

Leyla Zana, elected to the Turkish Parliament from Diyarbakir, is the only
woman among four members of the banned Democracy Party (DEP) currently serving
long prison sentences on charges of supporting Kurdish separatism, for having
urged peaceful settlement of the Kurdish problem that has plunged much of
Turkey into civil war.

Her husband, Mehdi Zana, the freely elected mayor of Diyarbakir, capital of
Turkish Kurdistan, deposed, tortured and imprisoned by military putschists in
1980, is currently serving a four-year prison sentence for his 1992 testimony
on Turkish human rights violations to the European Parliament. Already last
year, the Green Group proposed Ms Zana and her husband Mehdi Zana as joint
candidates for the Sakharov Prize.

(8) EU Session News Press Release

EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee (B4-1419/95) Wednesday, 15 November -
Parliament has passed a resolution to unblock the work of the EU-Turkey Joint
Parliamentary Committee, which was frozen in September 1994. The resolution
states that recent events in Turkey demonstrate the need for a dialogue with
that country regarding Parliament's demand for democratisation. The vote was
354 in favour to 46 against with 20 abstentions.

Iraqi Kurds say they besiege Turkish Kurd bases

ANKARA, Nov 15 (Reuter) - Iraqi Kurds said on Wednesday they had mobilised
thousands of troops to flush out the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
rebels from their remaining bases in northern Iraq.

"On Tuesday, thousands of KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) peshmerga moved
against the PKK's remaining bases in Nerwa and Rekan region...close to the
Turkish border," the KDP said in a statement from London.

"The operation is aimed at driving out PKK fighters from the region,
dismantling the group's guerrilla infrastructure and eliminating the PKK
terrorist threat to the local population."

The KDP, which shares power with a rival militia in Kurdish-controlled northern
Iraq, said its peshmerga guerrillas inflicted hundreds of casualties on the
PKK, cut off its supply roots and forced its militants to retreat to the
unpopulated Nerwa and Rekan region in more than two months of fighting.

It said it had dislodged the PKK from strategic mountain ranges on Tuesday.
There was no independent confirmation of the KDP claims.

A KDP spokesman told Reuters that the militia's leader Massoud Barzani had last
week asked PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan to visit him in northern Iraq for talks on
the fighting between the two groups that began in late August.

In a speech broadcast on Kurdish radio from his base in the northern Iraqi town
of Salahuddin, Barzani also called on Kurdish politicians and writers to attend
the meeting. Ocalan is believed to be living in Syria.

The Iraqi Kurds resumed U.S.-sponsored peace talks in northern Iraq on Monday
in a bid to end a 17-month feud that has split the area between rival militias,
the KDP said earlier.

A U.S. delegation, led by Robert Deutch, head of the State Department's North
Gulf Office, arrived on Sunday to mediate in the third round of a peace
settlement between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), it said.

The rival groups have been battling for effective control of northern Iraq,
which is protected from Baghdad's forces by U.S.-led allied air power. Two
earlier rounds of talks held in Ireland, in August and September, yielded only
limited results.

Analysts say the PKK wants to set itself up as a third force in the region and
send a warning that only an agreement that takes the PKK into consideration
will be tolerated.

The PKK uses bases in northern Iraq in its fight for self-rule in southeast
Turkey. Turkish troops crossed into Iraq earlier this year in a bid to
eliminate PKK positions.


UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 (Reuter) - Turkey and the United Nations are still
negotiating rules on the rights of Turkish citizens attending or employed by
the world body at a global conference on cities, housing and homelessness in
June, U.N. officials and diplomats said.

The last major U.N. conference of the century, known as Habitat II on human
settlements, is scheduled in Istanbul from June 3-14 and billed as a global
effort to exchange ideas among governments, mayors, city planners and
scientists.

Turkey, according to U.N. sources, does not want immunity from prosecution for
its own citizens attending the conference as representatives of local
governments or private groups, or for those the United Nations hires for the
gathering.

U.N. chief spokesman Joe Sills said still under discussion were questions "of
privileges and immunities of Turkish citizens, both locally recruited staff
people and Turkish nationals made available by the government, as well as
Turkish participants, which would include non-governmental organisations."

The Turkish daily Milliyet said on Sunday the government fears the conference,
which will tackle issues such as housing and city planning, will be used for
pro-Kurdish propaganda.

Both Turkish and U.N officials have denied the conference was in jeopardy.
There is "every indication this will be worked out and the conference will go
ahead as scheduled," Sills said.

A Turkish diplomat told a General Assembly committee on Wednesday that the
paper was misinformed and that the process for completing an agreement was
going well.


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Fri Nov 17 17:19:09 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 17 Nov 1995 17:19:09
Subject: TDN 15 Nov.
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.sF7PeD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>


 Europeans warn Turkey to expect heavier after finalization of customs union

Prospects: Foreign diplomats say current prospects 'slightly
unfavorable' but expected to improve in two weeks

Lobbying: Left-wing leaders in Britain and Germany are trying to
convince their parliamentarians to vote favorably

By Ilnur Cevik

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

ANKARA- Turkey, which has come under much pressure from the European
Parliament in recent months to improve its human rights record and
implement democratic reforms, will face even more severe and constant
pressure from abroad to improve its democratic performance if the
European Parliament gives the go-ahead for its entry into the customs
union on Dec. 14, ranking foreign diplomats told the Turkish Daily
News.

According to leading diplomats of the European Union member nations
who asked not to be named, the governments in the union are explaining
to European Parliamentarians that if Turkey's entry into the customs
union is delayed until democratic reforms are implemented "they may
wait for a long time and the reforms may never happen."

They are apparently explaining to European Parliamentarians that,
according to their past experience, legislating reforms in Turkey is
an extremely slow process and what is done is mostly insufficient.

The European Commission as well as the member governments are
reportedly telling the parliamentarians that "allowing Turkey into the
customs union may well accelerate the democratization process in the
country."

However, the diplomats are also warning the Turkish side that if and
when Turkey enters the customs union it will be under the constant
supervision of the European Commission, the member governments as well
as the European Parliament over its democratic performance and will
feel constant pressure to implement reforms.

"When you are in the European integrated system all member countries
expect reciprocal controls and surveillance of their performances," a
leading ambassador told the TDN. He said that, thanks to such a
system, his country had been forced to make reforms in its welfare
system.

The diplomats say that at the moment the mood in the European
Parliament is "slightly unfavorable" but stress they expect things to
improve in two weeks after intensive lobbying by the Turkish
government, the European Commission and member governments.

They say that currently the German and British social democrats lead
the front against Turkey's membership of the customs union.

The member governments are explaining to these parliamentarians that
"reinforcement of democracy in Turkey will come with a 'yes' vote for
a customs union while a 'no' vote will makes things even more
complicated." British Labour Party leader Tony Blair is said to be
positive about Turkey's entry into the customs union but still has to
convince the British left-wing members of the European Parliament to
vote in favor of Turkey. Blair reportedly exchanged messages with
French President Jacques Chirac over the issue.

German Social Democrat Party Chairman Rudolf Scharping is also said to
view Turkey positively but he too has to convince his own
parliamentarians to vote "yes."

The French socialists have reportedly been told about the consequences
of a "no" vote and are inclined to vote "yes." The diplomats, however,
stress that those who have voted in favor of Turkey will feel indebted
to the cause of democracy and will thus apply permanent pressure on
Turkey to improve its democratic performance and its human rights
record.
  _________________________________________________________________

 "We treat Turkey as most favoured nation"

Eurocopter chief Bigay seeks to compete US firms in military sector,
hopes to be major partner of Turkish defense

By Yavuz Baydar

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

PARIS- Jean Francois Bigay is an industrial leader of a rather rare
kind. Perhaps due to the nature of the company he chairs, his plans
for the future are deeply intertwined with world politics and the
ever-changing power balances in various corners of the earth.

When Bigay speaks rather apologetically about global policies and
Euro-American relations his intent is clear: to maintain Eurocopter's
lead in the civilian helicopter market and break America's
stranglehold on the military sector.

Eurocopter, a merger between the French Aerospatiale (70 percent) and
the German DASA (30 percent) employs around 10,000 people and serves
over 1,500 civilian and military clients in 126 countries.

"Our difference with the Americans is that we produce and adjust to
the special demands of the clients. Americans want clients buy their
'copters as they are prepared. With this strategy we believe we are
more attractive," he says. Although Eurocopter leads in the civilian
market and is proud of earning over 55 percent of its sales via
exports, its urge to increase its 15 percent slice of the military
sales pie is strong.

Thus Bigay implies, strategies designed to carry Eurocopter into the
next millennium are based on identifying which regions and countries
are hungry for helicopters.

As he ticks off South Korea, India and Turkey in this category, he is
quick to emphasize that those projections are not the results of "war
potentials" in certain areas.

"We simply calculate the factors of development, cooperation and
economic growth in those countries," he explains. "We are determined,"
Bigay says, to return Eurocopter to the Middle East, where the company
had good relations with some countries.

Why is Turkey seen as so important for Eurocopter? Bigay believes
Turkey can never be dependent on one country. "It will reject
monopolies in the weapons market. It needs to have, due to its
geopolitical situation, a powerful rapid deployment ability. In fact,
Turkey is using different alliances and strategic constellations in
the new world to its own benefit," he explains.

He pointed out that Turkey concluded a very good deal with Eurocopter.
Turks told them they wanted to buy 50 Cougars, and after having 20
Cougars ready, they were told to wait. Now Turkey has cheap Cougars
expected to be delivered soon. Bigay sees no problem with that, as it
is the long term vision that interests him.

Knowing most of the prominent personalities in Turkey, including
President Demirel, he calls himself as a friend of Turkey. It is
apparent that he wants a total Turkish approach into the European
system.

This means, naturally, that Turkish interests for the American market
must wane to a certain degree.

In his European vocation he does not mince words about the American
approach to the continent, saying he believes America actually prefers
not seeing Turkey in the Customs Union. "The United States, really,
the only obstacle to this project," he argues.

"We are very close to Turkey, much more than those countries in
Northern Europe, as France and Turkey share many similar things in
culture."

He concludes that the work for getting Turkey into Customs Union is
mostly done, although he sees serious problems on the way.

"I believe that the final decision will not take place on December
14th, I think the EU will prefer to wait. The fact that the early
elections will be held in the end of December creates difficulties for
the friends of Turkey," he says.
  _________________________________________________________________

 Turkey seeks deeper ties with the WEU

Turkish Daily News
  _________________________________________________________________

ANKARA- Turkey is trying to enhance its presence within the Western
European Union (WEU), in which it is an associate member, reported the
Anatolian news agency from the organization's autumn meeting of
foreign and defense ministers in Madrid on Tuesday.

Anatolia said that Turkish Minister for National Defense Vefa Tanir
had made four key requests with the WEU in line with this aim.

According to these, Ankara wants the number of Turkish officers
present at the WEU Planning Cell to be increased to three from the
present four.

Turkey, which is also represented in Madrid by Foreign Minister
Baykal, wants to participate in the activities of the WEU Space Group
and to avail itself of the opportunities this provides.

Talking to Turkish reporters in Madrid, Tanir also said Turkey want to
participate in the European Land and Naval Forces and in European
Corps projects.

He said that under a previous arrangement Turkey was allowed to
participate in the first stage of the three-stage "Command Location
Maneuvers," while it was only allowed to participate as an observer in
the remaining two stages.

Tanir said this had changed later so that Turkey could only
participate in all three stages as an observer and added that Ankara
wanted to go back to the original arrangement.

"In order for the European security perspective to be more successful
it has to be placed on a broader basis," Tanir said. Anatolia said
that a key issue being taken up at the meeting of WEU foreign and
defense ministers in Madrid involved the relationship between this
organization and the European Union. Turkey is said to oppose a drive
which effectively makes the WEU the military wing of the EU and thus
turns it into an "exclusive club."

Ankara wants the WEU to develop parallel with NATO and for all the
European members of NATO to also be members of the WEU.
  _________________________________________________________________

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From KommAG at ASCO.nev.sub.de  Fri Nov 17 13:19:00 1995
From: KommAG at ASCO.nev.sub.de (KommAG at ASCO.nev.sub.de)
Date: 17 Nov 1995 13:19:00
Subject: Kurdisches Exilparlament in KASSEL
Message-ID: <5y2UqPDOibB@kommagp.asco.nev.sub.de>

## Nachricht vom 17.11.95 weitergeleitet
## Ursprung : /REGIONAL/UNI
## Ersteller: KommAG at ASCO.nev.sub.de


>Welche politische Loesung braucht Kurdistan ?

>Informationsveranstaltung
>mit VertreterInnen des kurdischen Parlaments im Exil

*8.12. 19.00 Uhr*

*Neue Mensa der Gesamthochschule Kassel*
*Hollaendischer Platz*



>Das kurdische Exilparlament

Das kurdische Exilparlament versucht als demokratische Vertretung der  
kurdischen Gesellschaft Beziehungen zu internationalen Institutionen  
aufzubauen. Es will den Rahmen fuer eine friedliche, politische Loesung  
schaffen.

"Das kurdische Exilparlament darf nicht als Teilung der Tuerkei betrachtet  
werden. Dieses Parlament zielt auf die Gleichberechtigung und demokratische  
Einheit sowohl von Tuerken als auch von Kurden. Das kurdische Parlament im  
Exil wird fuer alle Menschen Kurdistans, ohne einen Unterschied im Nationalen,  
Religioesen und Kulturellen zu machen, das Organ sein, das ihre demokratischen  
Wuensche verwirklicht. Das Parlament betrachtet den Befreiungskampf des  
kurdischen Volkes als legitim. Es wird diesen Kampf unterstuetzen und  
entwickeln. Das Parlament ist gegen jede Art der Fremdherrschaft. Es stuetzt  
sich auf die nationale Befreiungsbewegung. Es unterstuetzt und entwickelt die  
Existenz des kurdischen Volkes im Ausland. Es wird die hierfuer notwendigen  
Beschluesse fassen und sich selbst nach diesen demokratisch zustandegekommenen  
Richtlinien orientieren."
(Yasar Kaya, Praesident des kurdischen Parlaments im Exil)



>Die Entstehung

Das kurdische Exilparlament trat am 12. April 1995 in Den Haag (Niederlande)  
erstmals zusammen. Unter den 65 gewaehlten Abgeordneten sind 5 Parlamentarier,  
die bis zu ihrem Verbot die Demokratiepartei DEP im tuerkischen Parlament  
repraesentierten.
Nach ihrer Vereidigung verabschiedeten sie das 31 Punkte umfassende Programm.
In dem Programm wird ein international kontrollierter beidseitiger  
Waffenstillstand gefordert. Voraussetzung fuer eine politische Loesung ist die  
Anerkennung des Selbstbestimmungsrechts. Das Parlament verurteilt  
Menschenrechtsverletzungen und versucht, die Verantwortlichen vor  
internationalen Gremien zur Rechenschaft zu ziehen.
Der Krieg in Kurdistan ist kein "Terrorismus-Problem", wie es die tuerkische  
Regierung beschreibt, sondern ein "internationaler Konflikt" im Sinne der  
Genfer Konventionen.


Nach der Gruendung der Republik Tuerkei verschaerfte sich die Unterdrueckung der  
Kurdinnen und Kurden.
In den letzten Jahren eskalierte der Krieg. Ueber 3.000 kurdische Doerfer  
wurden bisher zerstoert, die Bevoelkerung zur Flucht in die Staedte gezwungen.  
Tuerkische und kurdische Oppositionelle wurden inhaftiert. Viele von ihnen  
wurden verschleppt, gefoltert und ermordet.
Der Konflikt wird mit grosszuegiger finanzieller und militaerischer  
Unterstuetzung der Bundesrepublik, der USA und anderer Staaten im Rahmen des  
NATO-Buendnisses geschuert.

Wie nun ist der Kurdistan-Konflikt, dessen Folgen auch in der Bundesrepublik  
zu spueren sind, politisch loesbar?

Wie kam es zur Gruendung des kurdischen Exilparlaments?

Was sind Ziele des Exilparlaments?

Was ist anders an diesem Weg zur Selbstbestimmung?

Wie kann die BRD zur Loesung des Konflikts beitragen?



Eingeladen sind Xane Alkan, Nejdet Buldan, A. Ekber Kuru


VeranstalterInnen:
Buendnis 90/DIE GRUeNEN, DGB, IG Medien, Friedensforum, SPD Kassel-Stadt, AStA  
der GhK, StudentInnengruppe Kurdistan, Zentrum fuer kurdische Sprache und  
Kultur

im Rahmen des bundesweiten friedenspolitischen Ratschlags in Kassel am 9. und  
10.12.95


V.i.S.d.P.: StudentInnengruppe Kurdistan



>Chronologie des Strebens der KurdInnen nach Selbstbestimmung ab 1. Weltkrieg

1920 Friedensvertrag von S?vres, geschlos-sen mit den Alliierten, empfiehlt  
die Schaffung eines freien Kurdistan

1923 Vertrag von Lausanne: Er hebt den Vertrag von S?vres wieder auf,  
Kurdistan wird der Tuerkei zugeschlagen. Atatuerk gruendet die Republik Tuerkei

1925 Aufstand des Sheikh Said Piran im tuerkischen Teil Kurdistans

1927 Gruendung der nationalen kurdischen Liga. In weiten Teilen Kurdistans  
Aufstaende

1930 Grosse Widerstandsbewegung um den Berg Ararat

1931 Aufstand Mahmoud Barzandjehs in Sued-Kurdistan

1933 Aufstand Barzanis in Sued-Kurdistan

1936 Aufstand von Sayyed Reza Dersimi im tuerkischen Teil Kurdistans

1945 Gruendung der Republik Mahabad im Iran, nach einem Jahr niedergeschlagen

1961 Militaerputsch

1970 Militaerputsch

1978 Gruendung der Arbeiterpartei Kurdistans PKK

1980 Militaerputsch, Zerschlagung der Opposition, Massenverhaftungen

1984 PKK nimmt den bewaffneten Kampf auf

1990 Aus der Sozialdemokratischen Partei ausgeschlossene kurdische  
Abgeordnete gruenden die Partei "Arbeit des Volkes" HEP

1991 22 Kandidaten der HEP werden ins Parlament gewaehlt

1992 Erscheinen der oppositionellen Tages-zeitung Oezguer Guendem

1993 Schliessung der Zeitung Oezguer Guendem, Verbot der HEP. Gruendung der  
"Demokra-tischen Partei" DEP. Dreimonatiger Waffen-stillstand der PKK.
Verbot kurdischer Vereine und Organisationen in der BRD

1994 Erscheinen der Tageszeitung Oezguer Uelke. Kandidaten der DEP fuer die Kommu- 
nalwahlen werden verhaftet, daraufhin Aufruf zum Wahlboykott.
Verbot der DEP wird von der Nationalversammlung bestaetigt. Aufhebung der  
Immunitaet der Abgeordneten, Verhaftung.
Oezguer Uelke wird zerbombt.

1995 Erscheinen der Tageszeitung Yeni Politika, nach deren Verbot Oezguer  
Politika.

Gruendung des kurdischen Exilparlaments



From kurdeng at aps.nl  Tue Nov 21 22:01:34 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 21 Nov 1995 22:01:34
Subject: Mainstream news Nov. 16
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.w62XeD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

; Tue, 21 Nov 1995 20:55:59 -0800


STRASBOURG, Nov 16 (Reuter) - The European Parliament's vote on the
controversial EU-Turkey customs union will take place on December 13, the
parliament's political group leaders decided on Thursday.

The decision indicates a gradual change in mood among MEPs, who only last week
seemed set to postpone their vote until after the Turkish elections on
December 24.

The parliament is under great pressure to give its assent next month so that
the customs union can come into force on time on January 1, 1996.

Whether the plenary vote actually takes place on December 13 depends of course
on whether the foreign affairs committee approves the motion on the customs
union drafted by Spanish United Left MEP Carlos Carnero Gonzalez.

The committee has three course of action open to it.

It may, as planned, vote on the motion on November 22.

If human rights reforms in Turkey have made insufficient progress by then, the
committee may decide to put off its decision until December 7, the Friday
before the December plenary session of the parliament.

Or else the committee may decide to postpone the vote until after the Turkish
elections.

Their opinion may be swayed by the Turkish constitutional court's decision on
whether the elections should take place, expected on Saturday.

ZAMAN

- Court drops case against 20 policemen accused of killing 7 civilians in
  clashes in Istanbul riots in March.

 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurdeng at aps.nl  Wed Nov 22 17:15:29 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 22 Nov 1995 17:15:29
Subject: TDN 19 Nov.US: Terrorist organizati
Message-ID: <bac1c849.gate.c1aZeD1w165w@newsdesk.aps.nl>

Subject: TDN 19 Nov.US: Terrorist organizations have no place in 'international life'

0)
           id VT27290; Wed, 22 Nov 1995 12:39:31 -0800


US: Terrorist organizations have no place in 'international life'

Burns hasn't seen the HRW letter to Apo

By Ugur Akinci

Turkish Daily News

WASHINGTON- U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns on Thursday
said that he had not seen the letter Human Rights Watch\Helsinki (HRW)
sent to Abdullah (Apo) Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK).

Burns also said terrorist organizations like the PKK should have no
place in such international treaties like the Geneva Convention. The
HRW letter in question invited Ocalan to abide by the rules of that
convention as though the PKK was a bona fide "state." "I'm just not
aware of the specific letter that you are referring to," Burns told
the Turkish journalist who asked the question. When asked if he
thought a terrorist organization could be a party to the Geneva
Convention, Burns said: "We don't deal with terrorist organizations.
We don't talk to them. We don't believe they should be part of
international life. We don't believe the country should allow these
organizations or their so-called parliaments-in-exile to meet
anywhere. We made that clear. We are just not going to have anything
to do with these people."

Turkish Embassy responds

In a statement released on Thursday, the Turkish Embassy in Washington
said the letter reveals "a seriously impaired and prejudicial approach
on the part of the human rights organization that carries with it
grave implications regarding the status of the PKK, an internationally
recognized terrorist organization.

"It is paradoxical and deplorable that the HRW would even address a
letter to the PKK's head," the embassy statement said.

"This, in itself, is a controversial point, suggesting that Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki recognizes the PKK and its terrorist leader and
willingly engages in official correspondence, be it in the form of
direct letters or open statements, with members of this terrorist
organization."

The HRW "does not ever condemn -- or even criticize -- the vile
terrorist acts of the PKK; it only cites them as proof of how the PKK
is violating the Geneva Conventions," the statement said.

"Calling on the PKK to abide by the Geneva Conventions is...tantamount
to appropriating legitimacy to the PKK... Ironically, this is
precisely what the PKK seeks.

Without question, the HRW's approach, in this instance, may very well
be construed as a contribution to the agenda of the PKK to this end,
under the guise of objectivity," the embassy concluded.
[end]


---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Wed Nov 22 20:59:18 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 22 Nov 1995 20:59:18
Subject: mass arrest in Cologne
Message-ID: <bac1c849.199511222040.PAA28662@locust.cic>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>

COLOGNE, Germany (Reuter) - Police Saturday detained around 220 left-wing
protesters who tried to stage a banned demonstration in Cologne against
Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish population, a police spokesman said.

Authorities had forbidden the demonstration, saying they feared it could end in
violence. But the protesters, most of them Germans, gathered in the shadow of
the city's famous twin-towered cathedral to try to defy the ruling.

Hundreds of police officers dragged the demonstrators to nearby buses, then
transported them away from the scene.

Some protesters chanted: "Freedom for Kurdistan, freedom for us!" while others
shouted support for the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is fighting
for autonomy or independence in southeastern Turkey.

Germany is host to more than 400,000 Kurds, most of whom are from Turkey.

---
 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)




From kurdeng at aps.nl  Thu Nov 23 14:54:39 1995
From: kurdeng at aps.nl (kurdeng at aps.nl)
Date: 23 Nov 1995 14:54:39
Subject: 2 Women Charged as PKK Leaders,
Message-ID: <bac1c849.112095144708Rnf0.79b6@newsdesk.a>

Subject: Re: 2 Women Charged as PKK Leaders, Murder Plotters

6; Mon, 20 Nov 1995 15:11:03 -0800

-------------- Forwarded from : nytmx at mit.xs4all.nl (NY Transfer) --------------

Kurds charged in Germany for attempted murder

    BONN, Nov 15 (Reuter) - German prosecutors said on Wednesday
they had charged three supporters of the banned Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) with attempting to murder a party critic.
    Prosecutors accused two women, whom they identified as Azime
Y. and Meryem Y., of being leading figures in the PKK and of
ordering a three-strong death squad to kill the fellow Kurd in
the northern city of Bremen in October last year.
    The victim, Fuat Karaarslan, was a friend of Kurdish
dissident Selim Curukkaya, a critic of the PKK leadership.
    The third suspect, a man identified as Sait B., is accused
of luring the victim to the would-be assassins. They allegedly
beat him with a hammer and a baseball bat, and stabbed him four
times. An operation saved his life.
    Prosecutors have also charged the two women with belonging
to the PKK which is banned in Germany. The man has also been
charged with supporting the organisation.
    The PKK is also banned in Turkey, where it has been waging a
struggle against the authorities for autonomy or independence in
the southeastern part of the country.
    Police have blamed the PKK for a string of arson attacks on
dozens of Turkish properties in Germany.

Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service


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

From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Fri Nov 24 03:00:40 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 24 Nov 1995 03:00:40
Subject: Turkey offers $94,000 bounty for to
Message-ID: <bac1c849.199511240233.VAA28522@locust.cic>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Turkey offers $94,000 bounty for top Kurd rebel

Turkey offers $94,000 bounty for top Kurd rebel

    TUNCELI, Turkey, Nov 21 (Reuter) - Turkish authorities are
offering a 5 billion lira ($94,000) cash bounty for information
leading to the capture -- dead or alive-- of an elusive Kurdish
rebel commander, provincial officials said on Tuesday.
    The governor's office in the eastern province of Erzurum
will reward anyone with information leading to Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) regional commander Semdin Sakik, the officials said.
    ``The reward is being offered because he is one of the PKK's
top men,'' an official told Reuters by phone from Erzurum.
    Known also as ``Fingerless Zeki'' after he lost a thumb
while firing a rocket in Northern Iraq, Sakik has evaded several
large security operations aimed at capturing him.
    The Kurdish fighter is based mainly in the rugged province
of Tunceli but commands guerrilla forces in much of eastern
Turkey.
    More than 18,000 people have been killed in the rebels'
11-year-old campaign for independence or autonomy in southeast
Turkey.

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Fri Nov 24 03:00:47 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 24 Nov 1995 03:00:47
Subject: Rights group says U.S.-NATO weapons
Message-ID: <bac1c849.199511240242.VAA28692@locust.cic>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Rights group says U.S.-NATO weapons misused by Turkey

Rights group says U.S.-NATO weapons misused by Turkey

    WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuter) - An influential Western human
rights group on Monday said U.S. and NATO weapons played a
central role in alleged abuses committed by Turkish security
forces in their campaign against Kurds.
    The Human Rights Watch group said in a report on 29
incidents between 1992 and 1995 that Turkey used U.S.-supplied
fighter-bombers to attack civilian villages. The report said
American helicopters were used to support ``a wide range of
abusive practices, including the punitive destruction of
villages, extrajudicial executions, torture and indiscriminate
fire.''
    Turkish forces have been fighting insurgents of the
Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, in the southeastern part of
the country.
    The human rights group said Turkish forces have also relied
on British armoured cars, German-designed rifles and machine
guns, Belgian rifle grenades and German armoured personnel
carriers.
    The United States over the past 10 years has supplied Turkey
with $5.3 billion in military aid.
    Human Rights Watch also accused the PKK of substantial
violations of the laws of war, including summary executions,
indiscriminate firing and intentional targeting of
non-combatants.
    The group called on NATO members to freeze arms shipments to
Turkey and for the Ankara government to allow access to
prisoners and areas of the country from which outside monitors
have been barred.

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service



From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Sat Nov 25 12:36:00 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 25 Nov 1995 12:36:00
Subject: Firebombers again hit Turkish targe
Message-ID: <bac1c849.199511250502.AAA23061@locust.cic>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Firebombers again hit Turkish targets in Germany

[NOTE: In Germany, Turkish soccer clubs and "cultural" centres are
often just front for fascist/nationalist organizations such as
the MHP/Grey Wolves ("Bozkurt" in Turkish. - ATS]

Firebombers again hit Turkish targets in Germany

    BONN, Nov 23 (Reuter) - Firebombers attacked Turkish targets
in Germany for a second consecutive night, damaging property but
causing no injuries, police said on Thursday.
    In the western town of Ahlen, unidentified vandals set fire
to two cars and a Turkish tea house on Wednesday night, causing
about 100,000 marks ($70,000) worth of damage.
    In the nearby city of Dortmund, the front of a Turkish
cultural centre was set on fire but the blaze was quickly
discovered and extinguished before it could do any damage.
    Unknown attackers had firebombed the headquarters of a
Turkish football club in the western town of Hagen the previous
night. No one was hurt in that incident.
    Turks have been among the main targets of several series of
attacks since German unification in 1990. Authorities have
blamed separatist Kurd extremisist for most of the attacks this
year that have unsettled the two million-strong Turkish
community in Germany.

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service



From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Sat Nov 25 19:36:52 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 25 Nov 1995 19:36:52
Subject: URGENT: U.S. Proposes Missile Sale
Message-ID: <bac1c849.QQzrkn01379.199511251919@alterdi>

From: akin at kurdish.org (American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN))
Subject: URGENT: U.S. Proposes Missile Sale To Turkey


Media/activist alert
November 22, 1995


                                         contact: Lora Lumpe 202/675-1018
                                                  Paul Pineo 202/675-1016
                                            Arms Sales Monitoring Project
                                        Federation of American Scientists
                                     http://www.fas.org/pub/gen/fas/asmp/


ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES MISSILE SALE TO TURKEY

The Clinton Administration is expected to notify Congress of the proposed
Foreign Military Sale to Turkey of 120 Army tactical missiles (ATACMS) on
Monday, 27 November. Congress will then have 15 days to review the sale
before the administration may go forward with the $90 million deal. Export
to Turkey of this weapon system---which has not previously been sold to any
foreign government---is objectionable on many grounds.

Weapon profile

According to the U.S. Army handbook Weapon Systems 1992, ATACMS is a
"ground-launched, conventional, surface-to-surface, semi-guided ballistic
missile," with a maximum range of 165 km. The system is used to attack
soft, stationary and semi-fixed targets. The missile carries a cluster
munition (M74) warhead, containing 950 bomblets. This
anti-personnel/anti-materiel cluster warhead spews shrapnel over an area of
150 square meters. ATACMS are launched from the M270 launcher, the same one
used for Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). Turkey would fire ATACMS
from the 12 MLRS launch vehicles which It currently has in stock. The Army
is now extending the ATACMS range to over 300 km by reducing the payload
weight. This improved ATACMS will carry only 275 M74 bomblets.

Program history

Loral Vought, of Dallas, TX is the prime contractor. ATACMS entered
low-rate initial production for the U.S. Army in 1989 and became
operational in August 1990. Production was speeded up to permit the
system's use in Operation Desert Storm. The Army fired 32 ATACMS during the
war, destroying Iraqi surface-to-air missile sites, logistics and refueling
sites, convoys, and multiple launch rocket and howitzer batteries.
According to Conduct of the Persian Gulf War (DOD, April 1992), "During one
ATACMS strike, more than 200 unarmored vehicles were destroyed as they
attempted to cross a bridge." ATACMS has not been sold to any country.

Cost/financing

The sale will cost Turkey nearly $90 million. The missiles are
approximately $250,000 each. Although Turkey is slated to receive XXX
million in security assistance from the United States in fiscal year 1996,
Turkey reportedly would finance this deal out of national funds.

Missile proliferation concerns

The Army's Weapons Systems 1994 handbook identifies variants of the
Soviet-made Scud missile, the Soviet made SS-21 and the Israeli-made
Jericho missile as ATACMS "foreign counterparts." These systems are covered
by missile export restrictions embodied in the Missile Technology Control
Regime (MTCR), the 25 member missile non-proliferation effort initiated by
the United States in 1987. Turkey, while a member of NATO, is not a member
of the MTCR. Although the range of the current model ATACMS is below the
300 km threshold of the MTCR, the U.S. has argued in the past for
prohibitions on the export of any missile that could be modified to travel
a distance of 300 km, which ATACMS clearly can be. The administration says
that it has addressed MTCR concerns by including software modifications
which render the rocket motor un-removable. This statement, however, is
unlikely to be persuasive to other countries which the United States and
its allies are pressuring to limit such missile sales.

Unexploded ordnance

Each of the 120 ATACMS warheads contains 950 bomblets. The bomblets are
said to have a low dud rate of 4 percent or less. This dud rate translates
into 38 bomblets per missile. If 10 ATACMS were fired, approximately 400
pieces of unexploded ordnance would remain on the ground, posing a hazard
similar to that posed by anti-personnel landmines.

Kurdish war

The Turkish armed forces have cheaper means available to fight their war
against Turkish Kurds (cluster and gravity bombs, artillery, helicopter
launched missiles). However, as the above excerpt from Persian Gulf War
notes, ATACMS are very effective against convoys and other soft targets.
Mitigating against their use is the observability of ATACMS firings by
satellite and other reconnaissance means; it would be impossible to hide
the use of these weapons. However, since the U.S. has accepted the use by
Turkish armed forces of other U.S.-supplied arms against the Kurds, use of
this system might be presumed acceptable as well. (See State Department
report to Congress dated 1 June 1995 on use by Turkey of U.S. supplied
arms.)

Justification

Turkey claims it needs the ATACMS as a deep strike anti-armor weapon
against a potential threat posed by several thousand tanks in Syria, Iran
and Iraq. However, ATACMS is an offensively oriented weapon, and one that
is not particularly effective against hard targets. Moreover, Turkey
already has several defensive anti-armor options available. It has F-16
fighter-attack jets and attack helos with anti-armor missiles. For
closer-in defense against an armor attack, Turkey has MLRS launchers and
missiles with a range of 32 km nearly 1,000 heavy tanks imported from the
United States over the past several years. Political reasons are likely
playing into the administration decision to sell this system now: an effort
to maintain access to Incyrlik air base for use in Operation Provide
Comfort (enforcement of no-fly zone in northern Iraq); support for Tansu
Ciller's shaky government; show U.S. staunch support for Turkey to bolster
Turkey's effort to join the EU Customs Union. Each of these political
objectives could be achieved in some other manner.



----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2309 Calvert Street NW, Suite #3
Washington, DC 20008-2603

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476

E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
http://burn.ucsd.edu/~akin
----




From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl  Sun Nov 26 04:29:11 1995
From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl)
Date: 26 Nov 1995 04:29:11
Subject: APS = GONE
Message-ID: <bac1c849.199511260400.AA19764@xs1.xs4all.nl>

Friends,

Recently there was a drastic reorganisation in my internet 
connection. APS, no longer exists...
This means that kurdeng at aps.nl and ecn-l at aps do no longer exist. 
Please do not send mail to any adres related to aps.nl!
For the Kurdish and Turkish national Liberation struggle I kindly 
suggest to you all: http://www.xs4all.nl~ozgurluk

Please be so kind and drop a note...

        Hasta, Biji Kurdistan and Ozgurluk...

        Hakliyiz kazanacagiz!


Tabe

From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Mon Nov 27 01:58:28 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 27 Nov 1995 01:58:28
Subject: German intelligence meets Kurdish P
Message-ID: <bac1c849.199511270146.UAA01015@locust.cic>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: German intelligence meets Kurdish PKK head

German intelligence meets Kurdish PKK head

    BONN, Nov 25 (Reuter) - An aide to Chancellor Helmut Kohl
confirmed on Saturday that a top German domestic intelligence
official had held talks with the leader of the banned Kurdish
separatist PKK in the last few months.
    At the same time, police in the southern town of Ulm
detained some 70 Kurds during an unauthorised demonstration,
some of them suspected activists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK), and confiscated weapons and PKK insignia.
    Bernd Schmidbauer, Kohl's intelligence service coordinator,
said the weekly Focus was correct in reporting a meeting between
an official of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution
(BfV) and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
    He told Reuters at a meeting of Kohl's Christian Democrats
in Ravensburg that he assumed the talks had taken place, and
that such contacts served the interest of ordinary people.
    Focus said the meeting was held in Syria. It said Ocalan
indicated in response to BfV urging that the PKK would end its
campaign of violence against Turkish targets in Germany.
    Ocalan said the PKK, fighting a guerrilla war for
independence or autonomy in southeastern Turkey, wanted to be
recognised as a political force, Focus reported.
    The BfV is responsible for gathering intelligence on
political extremism and subversion within Germany's borders.
    Germany banned the PKK in 1993, accusing it of masterminding
several series of spectacular attacks on Turkish consulates,
shops, travel agencies and social clubs in Germany and across
northwestern Europe.
    Despite the ban, authorities say the PKK has continued to
organise attacks on Turkish properties across Germany to back
its autonomy campaign and protest against what it says is Bonn's
military assistance for Ankara's action against the Kurds.
    There are more than 400,000 Kurds in Germany -- the biggest
community outside their homeland -- among a Turkish population
of some two million.
    Police in Ulm used batons to break up an unauthorised
demonstration by around 200 Kurds who slipped through a police
cordon to protest against conditions in a Kurdish refugee camp
on the Turkish-Iraqi border.
    City authorities had banned the march because they believed
it was intended to show support for the PKK.

From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Mon Nov 27 16:35:26 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 27 Nov 1995 16:35:26
Subject: ERNK Press Release Re: U.S. Missile
Message-ID: <bac1c849.QQzrrk19050.199511271611@alterdi>

From: akin at kurdish.org (American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN))
Subject: ERNK Press Release Re: U.S. Missile Sale To Turkey

Kurds Respond To U.S. Missile Sale To Turkey

We received the following statement from the ERNK office in Brussels,
Belgium. It follows for your perusal verbatim:

-----
National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK)
Press Release - November 26, 1995

        The Clinton Administration has agreed to sell 120 army tactical
surface-to-surface missiles (ATACMS) to Turkey. As if the Kurdish people
have not suffered enough atrocities at the hands of the Turkish
military--artillery barrages fired on their homes, tanks patrolling their
streets, American-made helicopters destroying their villages--now they will
be the victims of ballistic missiles capable of carrying their payload of
more than 950 small bombs over distances of close to 200 km.
        As the Peace Process between the Israelis and the Palestinians
advances, as the bloodshed in Bosnia nears its end, and as President
Clinton prepares to travel to Northern Ireland to validate the cease-fire
there, why must the Kurdish people be subjected to ever more destruction?
        Just last week, on November 21, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
published a report entitled Weapons Transfers and Violations of the Laws of
War in Turkey. This report offered documented proof of serious human rights
atrocities committed by the Turkish armed forces. Human Rights Watch put
the figures for the war thus far at 19,000 dead, 2,000 Kurdish civilians
murdered by Turkish death squads, more than two million internally
displaced persons, and over 2,000 villages destroyed. Although we feel the
real figures are tragically higher, no one can deny that a profound human
tragedy is taking place in Kurdistan. The Human Rights Watch study found
that "weapons supplied by Turkey's NATO partners, especially the United
States, play a central role in abuses committed by Turkish security
forces". It then recommends that the U.S. government "End all military
sales and security aid to Turkey until such time as Turkey no longer
engages in a pattern of gross human rights violations, as required by
section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act". We agree wholeheartedly with
this recommendation.
        The Kurdish people continue to ask for peace, so why is it that our
calls are continually ignored? On October 13, 1995, the leader of the PKK,
Abdullah Ocalan, sent a letter addressed specifically to President Clinton,
stating once again that the Kurdish forces were willing to agree to an
immediate unilateral cease-fire if Turkey would call off its own attacks.
As the PKK leader stated, continuing to insist on a military solution to
the Kurdish question would only "cause more bloodshed in Kurdistan and harm
the interests of the people of Turkey". President Clinton never responded
to this letter.
        The National Liberation Front of Kurdistan is of the opinion that
it would be a moral and political mistake for the U.S. government to go
ahead with its sale of ATACMS missiles to Turkey. America should cease
being a party to the genocide being carried out against our people. The
sale of these weapons would only serve to destabilize the region even
further. Representative John E. Porter, Co-chairman of the Congressional
Human Rights Caucus, outlined such concerns in a November 15th letter to
Secretary of State Warren Christopher. In reference to past American arms
sales to Turkey, Porter siad, "Our military aid and equipment is being used
to prolong a brutal war which is overwhelmingly opposed by the Turkish
people."
        To quote Representative Porter again, "The Kurdish side has
repeatedly shown a willingness to find a political solution, only to be
flatly refused by the government." We remain committed to finding peaceful
and democratic solution to the Kurdish question. But it would make it
harder for us to continue our repeated overtures for peace if the West's
only response is to arm the Turkish forces with even deadlier weapons.
        Rather than promoting war and destruction, the U.S. government
should use its influence in the Middle East to promote human rights and
democratic forces. It is not in America's long-term interest to continue
supporting the war-mongers in Ankara. The time is right for a peaceful
solution to the Kurdish question. America should not spoil this potential
by selling ATACMS missiles to Turkey.

ERNK European Representation
-----




----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2309 Calvert Street NW, Suite #3
Washington, DC 20008-2603

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476

E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
http://burn.ucsd.edu/~akin
----




From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Nov 28 21:03:22 1995
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 28 Nov 1995 21:03:22
Subject: Turkish Intellectuals Support Kurdi
Message-ID: <bac1c849.199511282051.PAA21812@locust.cic>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Turkish Intellectuals Support Kurdish Parliament

Statement From The Federation Of Turkish Intellectuals In Europe To The 
Kurdish Parliament In Exile

Dear representatives of the Kurdish people,

	The organization of Turkish intellectuals in Europe welcomes the 
founding of the Kurdish Parliament in Exile as a legitimate expression of 
the will of the Kurdish people for human rights and national 
self-determination. We support your initiatives and greet your intentions 
to seek a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem. Convinced that we 
represent the opinions of a large sector of the Turkish population, we 
wish you all the best in your efforts to spread this just idea.
	Your struggle is your inalienable right. Your struggle is also 
our struggle. It is an indivisible part of the struggle by Turkish 
intellectuals to seek guarantees for basic human rights and freedoms in 
Turkey and for its future as a democratic European state. A just solution 
to the Kurdish problem would be the best way to preserve the 
democratization of our state.
	True to democratic principles, we, Turkish intellectuals, support 
your demands for the right to use and be educated in your native 
language, as well as for administrative and cultural autonomy within the 
Turkish state. We are convinced that such is the only proper solution to 
the Kurdish question. That's why we warmly welcome Abdullah Ocalan's 
offer to lay down the weapons and pursue a peaceful solution as a sign of 
wisdom and political maturity. We offer our solidarity with the statement 
from your Parliament and we call on Turkey to recognize these demands and 
to be ready to sit down at the bargaining table.
	We condemn the Turkish government's refusal to engage in a 
political dialogue concerning the southeast. We oppose the conduct of the 
Turkish army: ethnic cleansing, violence, and terror against a part of 
the state's own population. On the one hand, the government claims that 
it wishes to protect the Muslims in the Balkans and it condemns the acts 
of the Bosnian Serbs, on the other hand it has launched its own form of 
military extinction of the Muslim Kurdish people, both here at home as 
well as in neighbouring Iraq.
	To carry out such policies will be disastrous for the future of 
our state. These policies only serve the interests of a 
military-bureaucratic clique, the real rulers of the state hiding behind 
the mask of a "lady", people unwilling to abandon their Ottoman illusions 
and ambitions.
	Such policies shake the very foundations of the state, wasting 
its potential in a civil war between brothers which will only to lead to 
division and catastrophe. These politics have no respect for democracy or 
for Ataturk's promise to grant the Kurds autonomy. These politics ignore 
the public's voice. Turkish intellectuals and representatives of public 
life who appeal for a just solution to the Kurdish question are also 
victimized by these policies. Scientists, authors, journalists, and 
popular representatives are persecuted, brought to court, and even 
killed, simply because they recognize that the Kurds have a right to 
self-determination.
	The politics put forward by Ankara are deadly for both the 
Kurdish and the Turkish peoples. The fate of both our peoples are closely 
tied together. To stand the test of time together, both peoples bear the 
burdens of this civil war, because it is carried out against their will. 
Our past and our future require us to go forward together, so that we 
might leave behind an honorable and democratic state for coming generations.
	United in our efforts, let us resist the policies of Ankara and 
toss the final militarist remains of the Ottoman Empire on the dust heap 
of history!
	Let us work together to build a democratic and progressive 
Turkish-Kurdish state!

Vienna, October 1995



 ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
   ++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++
     ++++ see http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++

+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist collective based
in Toronto, Canada. Our focus includes a wide variety of
material, including political prisoners, national liberation
struggles, armed communist resistance, anti-fascism, the fight
against patriarchy, and more. We regularly publish our writings,
research, and translation materials in our magazine and bulletins
called Arm The Spirit. For more information, contact:

Arm The Spirit
P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1P7 Canada

E-mail: ats at etext.org
WWW: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/Politics/Arm.The.Spirit
+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==