News From 'Kurdistan Rundbrief #20/

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

Subject: Re: News From 'Kurdistan Rundbrief #20/95'

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

News Translated From 'Kurdistan Rundbrief #20/95'

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Military Confrontations Between PKK And KDP Continue

	During the continuing confrontations between military units of 
the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party 
(KDP) in Iraqi-Kurdistan, fighting has taken place in the regions of 
Gare, Xanike, Sideka, and Mt. Ciyaye Sipi.
	On September 23, guerrilla units from the People's Liberation 
Army of Kurdistan (ARGK), the military wing of the PKK, captured a KDP 
military station in Kasre in the Xanike valley. During the fighting, 8 
KDP peshmergas were killed. It is not know how many guerrillas were killed.
	On Mt. Ciyaye Sipi, there was also fighting between PKK 
guerrillas and KDP peshmergas. A 700-man KDP unit was attacked by the 
ARGK as it made its way up Mt. Ciyaye Sipi. During the fighting, 5 KDP 
peshmergas were killed and many others were wounded. The guerrillas 
suffered no losses.
	ARGK units also carried out attacks against KDP forces stationed 
between Sideka and Sexzade. The guerrillas captured the area in a short 
period of time. Guerrillas reported no losses on their side, yet several 
dead and wounded among the peshmergas.
	During a clash between ARGK guerrillas and Turkish army units 
stationed near the city of Ertus, 12 soldiers and 2 guerrillas were 
killed. Another 6 guerrillas were wounded. The guerrillas confiscated a 
large arsenal of weapons during the attack.
	According to reports from the area, a planned advance by KDP 
forces in the Gare region was halted by attacks from the ARGK. The KDP 
units are now retreating.

(DEM News Agency - September 26, 1995)

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Turkish-Kurdistan: Mysterious Explosion In Military Station

	A mine exploded for unknown reasons inside a military garrison in 
Findik, setting off explosions which blew up the station's arsenal. 
Reports indicate that 13 soldiers died. Some observers note that the 
incident may have resulted from internal conflicts within the garrison.

Refugees As "Human Shields"

	Recent reports from villagers in the Farasin regions have 
indicated a new wave of refugees fleeing from Van province. Reports 
indicated that the Turkish military are attempting to force the refugees 
into the city of Beytulsebap. Once there, refugees are to be placed in 
camps in order to serve the defensive needs of the military there.
	The residents of Farasin have suffered from heavy repression at 
the hands of the military, after the agha (feudal lord) of the village 
told the military that residents in the area were aiding the PKK by 
showing them escape routes into South Kurdistan.
One Dead Following Military Attack On Kurdish Village

	During an attack by Turkish soldiers on the village of Kele near 
the city of Lice in Diyarbakir province, 1 man was killed and his 
daughter was wounded.

(DEM News Agency - September 21-30, 1995)

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Balance Of The Kurdistan Liberation Struggle In August 1995

	During 420 confrontations between our forces and the fascist 
Turkish army in the time period of August 1-31, 1995, for which the 
results are known to us, 531 soldiers were killed, including 1 troop 
commander, 2 lieutenants, 11 NCOs, 5 sergeants, as well as 156 village 
guards, including 3 village guard leaders; 67 soldiers and village guards 
were wounded. Also, 8 policemen were killed.
	During the same time period, we also took 42 persons as 
prisoners, including 1 Turkish soldier, 39 village guards, 1 sentry, and 
1 Turkish agent. Another 8 people and 8 Turkish civil servants were 
detained and questioned for being in territory under our control without 
our permission. One of these people has since been released.
	During the month of August, we destroyed the following: 10 
panzers, 69 military vehicles, 49 pieces of machinery, 1 TV station, 2 
factories, 6 buildings used as Turkish army quarters, 2 wood silos, 14 
power pylons, 2 water towers, and 5 tractors. We also shot down 1 
helicopter and destroyed 1 tank and 1 military transport vehicle.
	Furthermore, we sabotaged the Kerkuk-Yumurtalik oil pipeline and 
blew up 3 oil rigs.
	In the month of August, 92 ARGK fighters fell as martyrs and 29 
other comrades were wounded.

(Press Office of the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan - ARGK)

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KDP Attacks Ertus Refugee Camp; 4 People Murdered

	The Ertus refugee camp in South Kurdistan, which is home to 
thousands of expelled villagers from North Kurdistan, was attacked by KDP 
peshmergas and Turkish army officers. The KDP claims that there are 
weapons hidden in the camp, which is overseen by the UN and under its 
"protection", and whose residents are very well organized, complete with 
their own elected officials. The UN official in charge of the camp 
granted permission for the KDP to search the camp and even handed over a 
list of names of all the camp's inhabitants. KDP members proceeded to 
arrest several people, some of whom were taken across the border back 
into Turkey by Turkish officers.
	When the camp's residents protested against the raid and the 
arrests, KDP members opened fire on the crowd in full view of UN 
officials. The UN officials, however, simply looked on and refused to 
intervene.
	One woman and three men were killed in the shooting. Later, camp 
residents took 7 UN workers hostage. The residents promised not to harm 
their UN captives, but said they would not release them until the camp's 
security was guaranteed.
	Abdallah Saieed, the UNHCR representative in Iraq, declared that 
no weapons or military equipment had been found in the camp, and that 
Turkey had often made such false accusations in the past. No previous UN 
inspections in the camp had turned up any weapons either.

(Ozgur Politika - September 16, 1995)

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Returning Refugees Fired Upon By Turkish Soldiers; 2 Dead

	After Turkish prime minister Tansu Ciller gave assurances that 
all refugees would be allowed to return to their villages, parts of the 
population attempted to return to their homes in recent days.
	Residents of the villages of Sise (Yolacan in Turkish), Derxust 
(Dibek), Husneyik (Arikli), and Cinezur (Cagdas) near Lice, who were on 
their way home, were stopped by Turkish army units. The soldiers insulted 
them and asked: "Where are you going? Are you bringing food for the 
terrorists?" The villagers explained that they were returning to their 
homes, as the prime minister had said they could. To this, the soldiers 
replied: "So where in the prime minister? We are the kings here." They 
then fired upon the crowds of people. During this random shooting, two 
people, Kamil Mentese (20) and Mehmet Ikkaya (58), were killed and many 
others were wounded.
	One man who witnessed the shooting described it as follows: 
"During the incident, two of our friends were killed and many others were 
wounded. I myself only missed the soldiers' bullets by chance, and I 
still don't know what happened to some of my friends. I heard the 
soldiers talk on their radios about a fight. Later, the governor said 
that 'two terrorists were killed in a fight'."

(DEM News Agency - September 25, 1995)

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Battle Between Soldiers In Siirt

	Fighting broke out between the soldiers of a mobile gendarme unit 
in the Siirt-Pervari region and Turkish and Kurdish soldiers in a 
military station in the village of Dogan Koyu. The fighting broke out 
after Turkish soldiers began shouting racist and nationalist slogans and 
began insulting Kurdish soldiers following a military operation. During 
the shooting which followed, 15 soldiers were killed.
	The governor of Siirt announced a news black-out and cut the 
village of Dogan Koyu off from the outside world. Residents have been 
threatened and told not to speak about the incident.

(Ozgur Politika - September 16, 1995)

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Preparations For "Kurdistan Democratic Federal Front"

	As operations by the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK) 
against the KDP in South Kurdistan continue, high-ranking members of 
seven South Kurdistan organizations have met to discuss a PKK initiative 
to establish the "Kurdistan Democratic Federal Front". The seven 
organizations declared their solidarity with the PKK and stated that they 
would support the PKK in its operations against the KDP.
	The "Kurdistan Democratic Federal Front" will be comprised of the 
following organizations: Partiya Kesen Serbuxa, Hizbullah u Soresger, 
Yekitiya Nistimane Demokrata Kurdistan, Biziknave Rizgari Nistimani 
Kurdistan, Partiya Parezger, Partiya Koministiya Kurdistan, and the 
Partiya Zahmetkesan. The PUK has not yet decided if it will participate 
in the Front. It seems as thought the PUK are waiting to see the outcome 
of the PKK-KDP conflict before deciding whether or not to join.

(Ozgur Politika - September 20, 1995)

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Kanther Wants To Ban All PKK Statements

	In issue #18 of Kurdistan Rundbrief, we reported on the German 
interior ministry's decision to seek criminal indictments against 
Kurdistan Rundbrief. In the meantime, the police in Cologne have followed 
up on these efforts by the federal interior ministry. It now seems as 
though the German government is seeking to make any public distribution 
of statements from the PKK or the ERNK illegal as "support for a banned 
organization". According to this logic: the PKK and ERNK are illegal; 
Kurdistan Rundbrief publishes statements from the PKK and the ERNK; 
therefore, Kurdistan Rundbrief must be made illegal. If the courts accept 
the interior ministry's logic, publishing statements from the PKK/ERNK 
will become a criminal offence. This would criminalize lots of people, 
not only Kurdistan Rundbrief and other leftist publications, but even 
Stern magazine and the TV program "ZAK", just for publishing statements 
from the Kanther's nemesis, the PKK and the ERNK. By denying access to 
authentic documents from the Kurdish side of this conflict, the public 
would no longer have a free and accurate picture of the situation. The 
editors of this paper, in any case, do not see how the federal interior 
ministry's attempts at censorship will make it past the courts.

----
>From The German Media:

Deserter Substantiates Allegations Against Turkey

	New evidence has arisen which suggests that German weapons are 
being used by Turkey in its fight against the Kurds: a Kurdish 
asylum-seeker in Bremen claims he was in a special unit of the Turkish 
army in 1991/92 and that he rode in a former East German panzer when 
deployed against Kurds. The federal government has denied that panzers 
supplied as part of a military agreement with Turkey were ever used 
against Kurds.
	Hans-Eberhard Schultz, lawyer for the 28-year-old Kurd, said on 
Thursday in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau that his client 
was a solider stationed in Mardin at the time. With an East German BTR-60 
panzer, he fired at the mountains when shots from alleged rebels were 
heard. He said BTR-60 panzers were also used during attacks on Kurdish 
villages. His client, the lawyer continued, said he was not confusing the 
East German panzer with a similar Russian model. In 1992, the man 
deserted from the army while on vacation so that he would no longer have 
to fire upon his own people.

(Frankfurter Rundschau - September 22, 1995)

Good For Blohm & Voss; Finances Approved For Turkey Frigates

	The federal budget office has approved a request for 150 million 
DM to finance the building of two frigates for Turkey, despite opposition 
from Greens and the SPD. The money had been frozen in March in response 
to Turkey's incursion into northern Iraq.
	The two warships will be built by a German consortium which 
includes the firm Thyssen Rheinstahl and the Hamburg wharf of Blohm & 
Voss. The total value of the contract is 800 million DM. Blohm & Voss 
have already started work on the two ships.
	One of the two Meko frigates will be built entirely in Germany, 
while parts for the second will be delivered to Turkey.
	The federal government had argued that funds for the project 
should be released since the grounds for freezing them were no longer 
relevant since the Turkish military had pulled out of the Kurdish regions 
of northern Iraq.
	Green MP Angelika Beer characterized the move as a slap in the 
face for all forces struggling for democracy and human rights in Turkey. 
SPD budget spokesman Eckhart Kuhlwein told the Abdenblatt that social 
democrats feel it is "unwise" for additional military assistance to be 
given to Turkey.

(Hamburger Abdenblatt - September 21, 1995)

Turkish Human Rights Activist Honored

	The German Judges' Union (DRB) sharply criticized mistreatment 
and torture in Turkish prisons as well as the suppression of freedom of 
expression in Turkey while handing out its 1995 Human Rights Award. Union 
chief Rainer Voss criticized the excessive use of charges of "separatism" 
and "separatist propaganda" by state security courts in Turkey. All those 
in Turkey who belong to an ethnic minority, he said, must anticipate 
punishment. This year's DRB Human Rights Award was given to Turkish 
lawyer Husnu Ondul, "also in the hope of providing him with some degree 
of protection".
	Ondul is a lawyer in Ankara and was one of the founders of the 
Human Rights Association (IHD) and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, 
which operates centers for victims of torture. A total of seven political 
indictments have been filed against Ondul; during one visit to the 
Kurdish regions, his delegation was fired upon.
	(...) Voss cited figures from Human Rights Association for 1994: 
1,000 cases of torture; 298 people dead in police custody or police 
raids; in another 328 cases, the Human Rights Association documented 
"disappearances following arrests by the police".
	In his acceptance speech, Ondul mentioned his murdered 
colleagues: Metin Can, head of the Human Rights Association in Elazig, 
and Sevket Epozdemir, head of the Human Rights Association in Tatvan. He 
accepted the prize in the name of all those people in prison in Turkey 
because of their work on behalf of the Human Rights Association.

(Suddeutsche Zeitung - September 26, 1995)


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P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
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