Danish-Kurd tortured by Turkish gov

[stk at schism.antenna.nl]

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M.MERLIN at TBX.berlinet.de writes:

## Nachricht zur Information/Dokumentation weitergeleitet
## Orig.-Empf.: /SOC/CULTURE/KURDISH
## Orig.-Abs. : rojbahjat at aol.com (RojBahjat)


 I retrieved this from Rueters:


     COPENHAGEN, Denmark (Reuter) - Denmark said Friday it would
investigate allegations by a Kurd of Danish nationality that he was
tortured while held in a Turkish prison for five weeks.
    ``On the basis of our investigation, we will consider what steps if
necessary to take against the Turkish government,'' Foreign Minister Niels
Helveg Petersen told reporters.

    He added that Denmark might also take the matter up in the European
Union.

    Kemal Koc, a naturalized Dane, was arrested and jailed by Turkish
authorities in Ankara on July 9 while attending his brother's funeral and
charged with giving economic assistance to the Kurdish Workers' Party
(PKK) from Denmark.

    PKK guerillas have been fighting the Turkish army for independence or
autonomy in south-east Turkey since 1984. The fighting has claimed more
than 18,500 lives.

    An Ankara court Thursday ordered Koc freed pending trial in September
but he was expected to be deported to Denmark on Friday, the Danish
Embassy in Ankara said.

    ``I have been treated atrociously in prison. Turkey is a military
dictatorship,'' Koc told Danish reporters in the court.
    Throughout the hearing he repeatedly said he was an innocent member of
a Kurdish cultural organization in Denmark and that a confession he made
to Turkish police was signed after torture.
    Turkey protested to Denmark in March over the holding of a session of
the Brussels-based Kurdish parliament in exile in the Danish legislature.
The vast majority of Denmark's large Turkish immigrant population are
Kurds.

    Turkey's prisons are notorious for their overcrowding and deplorable
conditions. Last month, Turkish prisoners nationwide who were clamoring
for better treatment went on a hunger strike and a number of them  
died.

10:16 08-16-96


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Solidaritygroup Turkey-Kurdistan
Memberorganisation of Foundation Initiativegroup Kurdistan
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stk at schism.antenna.nl
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