From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Sun Dec  1 21:41:47 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 01 Dec 1996 21:41:47
Subject: NDF Web-site
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961201163..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>

Friends, Comrades,

We would like to inform you about the fact that the National
Democratic Front of the Philipines have a web-site now!

The URL is: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2078/main.htm

alternative url: http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/

-- 
Classwar in Turkey and Kurdistan: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk
Kurtulus Nachrichten Zentrale: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/knz
Turkey Mailinglist Mirror: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/mn/maillist.html
email: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 ++++ 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 ++++




From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Sun Dec  1 21:41:58 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 01 Dec 1996 21:41:58
Subject: Crimes By Village Guards In Kurdist
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961201163..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Crimes By Village Guards In Kurdistan

Crimes And Human Rights Violations By Village Guards

(Translated by Arm The Spirit from Kurdistan-Rundbrief #23/96)

Murder, arms dealing, extortion, and other crimes by village guards are 
part of daily life in Kurdistan. But now these allegations, known by the 
Kurds for years, have been officially confirmed by the government in 
Diyarbakir.

A total of 3,687 village guards presently face charges for the offences 
listed above, although the actual number is probably far higher. This is 
just the tip of the iceberg. Observe the following numbers:

108 cases of extortion, 196 murders, 16 cases of aggravated assault, 208 
cases of arms smuggling, 57 kidnappings of women, and 13 rapes!

Many village guards seek to become rich as quickly as possible. Many have 
founded their own mafias with ties to the government. The recent car 
crash of November 3, 1996 unleashed a scandal in Turkey. This crash 
exposed for all to see the links between the state and the mafia.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Mon Dec  2 06:57:45 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 02 Dec 1996 06:57:45
Subject: The PKK: Freedom Fighters or "Terro
Message-ID: <bac1c849&v01540b00aec7ffd6938c@[>

From: akin at kurdish.org (AKIN)
Subject: The PKK: Freedom Fighters or "Terrorists?"

Dear Friends,

We have posted a 46 page article by the Turkish journalist Ismet G. Imset
on AKIN home page.  We thought you should know about it.

As always, we thank you for your interest in the Kurds.

Greetings.

AKIN


----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service
to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship




From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec  3 06:30:31 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 03 Dec 1996 06:30:31
Subject: Two Dead In Kurdish Militia Clashes
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961203012..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Two Dead In Kurdish Militia Clashes In N. Iraq

Two Dead In Kurdish Militia Clashes In N. Iraq 

ANKARA, Dec 2 (Reuter) - Two Kurdish militiamen died in fighting at the 
weekend between rival groups in northern Iraq that could put 
Western-brokered peace talks in danger, an Iraqi Kurdish faction said on 
Monday. 

"KDP forces attacked on November 30 at Didevan, a mountain 30 km (18 
miles) southwest of Koy Sanjak town and they took it from us," Patriotic 
Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Ankara representative Shazad Saib told Reuters. 

"The clashes continued yesterday, killing two PUK fighters," he said. 
Officials from the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) were not 
immediately available for comment. 

The two sides have held several rounds of peace talks under U.S., British 
and Turkish mediation since they declared a ceasefire in October to end 
months of fighting that had increased Baghdad's influence in the 
mountainous region. 

"It is very negative indication for the future of the peace talks," Saib 
said. 

Iraqi troops and tanks helped Massoud Barzani's KDP take the key city of 
Arbil from the rival faction in August, prompting U.S. missile strikes on 
Iraqi targets in retaliation. 

The Kurds broke from Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War. They are protected 
from any Iraqi attack by a U.S.-led allied air force. 

"We heard those reports over the weekend but we are hoping that those 
clashes are local in nature and will not effect their ongoing efforts to 
strenghten the ceasefire," Turkey's foreign ministry spokesman Sermet 
Atacanli told a news briefing. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Wed Dec  4 06:56:28 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 04 Dec 1996 06:56:28
Subject: Turkish PM Still Reeling From Under
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961204015..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Turkish PM Still Reeling From Underworld Scandal

Turkish PM Still Reeling From Underworld Scandal 
               
ISTANBUL, Dec 3 (Reuter) - Turkey's Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan
slammed the state's alleged use of far-right gangsters in its fight
against rebels and said he was confident those involved in any such
illegal relationship would be punished. 

"You cannot have a gang within the state...Nobody can be allowed to do
anything illegal, with no exceptions," Erbakan told Turkish columnists
in an interview widely published on Tuesday. 

Erbakan was speaking in detail for the first time since a scandal over
alleged "state gangs" in the underworld erupted last month following an
accident in which a wanted gangster, Abdullah Catli, and a top policeman
died in the same car. 

A government MP, who heads Turkey's biggest private militia in its fight
with separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was also in
the car but survived with minor injuries. 

"Nothing, including fighting the PKK, can be an excuse for a crime. If
such things happen, those gangs, whatever their make-up, will be
disbanded," said Erbakan in an apparent rebuff to comments by his
deputy, Tansu Ciller, that anyone fighting for the state was a hero. 

Turkey's opposition has accused the Islamist-led ruling coalition of
attempting to cover up the scandal. 

"The state has many layers. If one tries to cover up something, another
section will bring it out into the open," Erbakan said, asked if it was
possible for such a scandal to be covered up. 

Ciller last week defended the mobster, saying "those who fire bullets or
suffer their wounds in the name of this country...will always be
respectfully remembered by us."

Ciller said she had found through enquiries that Catli had no confirmed
conviction in Turkey. Catli had been on the run for 18 years and was
wanted by Interpol for his alleged role in the 1981 attack on the Pope
and in Turkey for the murder of seven leftists 

The media has said Turkey may have ordered Catli or other right-wing
gangsters to carry out death squad killings of an Armenian guerrilla and
suspected PKK rebels, who have been fighting the army for control of
southeast Turkey since 1984. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Thu Dec  5 19:56:03 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 05 Dec 1996 19:56:03
Subject: Interview With Dr. Norman Paech
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961205145..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>

Why Is Germany's Ban On The PKK Illegal?

Interview With Dr. Norman Paech, Professor of Humanitarian Law and
Political Science in Hamburg, Germany

jW: Three years ago, on November 22, 1993, Germany's Interior Minister
Manfred Kanther banned the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Is it
jurisitically correct, in addition to banning political activity, for
Kurdish demonstrations to be banned, just because the symbols of Kurdish
organizations are displayed?

Paech: Yes, but only if there are concrete fears of an attack. But it's
absurd to outlaw demonstrations just because people wear t-shirts with
pictures of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. By doing so, Germany is doing
the business of the Turkish government. The Kurdish resistance movement
is often labeled as "terrorist" here, even though the Turkish government
is guilty of state terrorism.

jW: The PKK is not represented at international conferences. But isn't
the PKK a legitimate entity in accordance with the 1989 CSCE [Commission
of Security and Cooperation in Europe; now the OSCE ] Vienna Final Act
on the Equality and Self-Determination of Peoples?

Paech: Theoretically, yes. But practically, the PKK are denied these
rights. On January 23, 1995, they were invited to sign the Additional
Protocols of the Geneva Conventions of 1977, just as the ANC in South
Africa and SWAPO in Namibia did. This is a clear indication that the PKK
has international status. The PKK also invited the Red Cross to come to
Turkish Kurdistan to monitor their compliance. But Turkey has not signed
the Additional Protocols and would not allow the Red Cross to enter.

jW: Why does the PKK not have observer status at the United Nations?

Paech: The PKK, as a liberation organization, would need to be
recognized by the Organization of African States, the Arab League, or
the UN. A majority of states do not support this. But the POLISARIO in
Morocco [West Sahara - ATS] or the Eritrean liberation movement also
never received this status - despite decades of legitimate liberation
struggles. According to international law, the PKK is a legitimate
liberation struggle.

jW: So Germany's characterization of the PKK and pro-Kurdish
organizations as terrorist is not in line with international law?

Paech: No. Rather Germany is guilty of discrimination against
pro-Kurdish activity. For one thing, the ban creates disillusionment and
fear, secondly it also forced the issue more. More Kurds are now forced
to confront their Kurdish identity. From the point of view of the
Interior Ministry, this is a negative thing, for it leads to
politicization and a stronger association with the Kurdish liberation
struggle.

jW: But the right of national self-determation for the Kurds, and the
right to use force to obtain it, has been recognized in various UN
resolutions...

Paech: Iran, Iraq, and Syria do not wish to grant autonomy to their
Kurdish populations. The NATO states support Turkey and provide special
treatment in terms of conventional arms. All heavy weapons which are due
to be put out of service are instead sent into battle in the Kurdish
provinces. That is a means of legitimizing Turkey's genocide in
Kurdistan.

(Interview by Knut Henkel; Printed in the German leftist daily "junge
Welt", Friday, November 22, 1996; Translated by Arm The Spirit)


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Thu Dec  5 20:00:35 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 05 Dec 1996 20:00:35
Subject: New News Service
Message-ID: <bac1c849&v01540b04aecbe6c1879b@[>

From: akin at kurdish.org (AKIN)

Dear Friends,

Beginning today, we will be posting the news about Kurds and Kurdistan from
the recent wire reports on our page.  You could find it in the "Kurdish
News" section on our page under the subsection, "Recent Wire Reports."  The
news will be dated and posted  --  as much as possible on a daily basis.

Somehow, if you are can not access our page, please let us know and we
could e-mail the same news via telephone lines.

As always, we thank you for your interest in the Kurds.


Greetings,


AKIN


----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service
to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship




From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Thu Dec  5 20:00:41 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 05 Dec 1996 20:00:41
Subject: Danish Socialist MP Deported From T
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961205145..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Danish Socialist MP Deported From Turkey

Danish Socialist MP Deported From Turkey

     Friday 29. November at 6.45am Soeren Soendergaard, Danish MP
of the Red-Green Alliance and member of the 4th International,
were detained in Ankara Airport while on his way to leave the
country after staying two days in the city.
 
     Soeren Soendergaard had been in Ankara to follow the third
court meeting in the case against Kemal Koc, a Danish citizen of
Kurdish origin, who was arrested in the beginning of July,
tortured and charged of supporting the Kurdish liberation
struggle. After 42 days in prison Kemal Koc was expelled to
Denmark on 16. August, but his trial is still pending.
 
     After being barred from entering the plane Soeren
Soendergaard was put in front of a judge, sentenced to pay a fine
and ordered to leave the country. He was put on a plane the same
evening at 18.05pm leaving directly from Ankara to Frankfurt in
Germany.
 
     The charge against Soeren Soendergaard was his presence in
Turkey which had violated a - secret - entrance ban not to enter
the country which was issued by the Turkish Ministry of Interior
or the Foreign Office. The ban was issued 16. August 1996 and was
based on the assumption that Soeren Soendergaard was a threat to
the security of the Turkish State.
 
     At the same time the Turkish embassador in Denmark explained
the entrance ban with Soendergaards "support of PKK-terrorists,
which among other things should have consisted of hosting a
meeting in the Danish parliament for members of the Kurdish
parliament in exile Thursday 14. March 1996.
 
     According to the embassador there is a list of Danes
unwanted in Turkey because of their support for the Kurds.
Another reason for the entrance ban could be Soendergaards
active support of Kemal Koc. Soendergaard participated in the
first court meeting in this case in Ankara on 15. August - the
day before the entrance ban was issued.
 
     The Soendergaard case made quiet a notice in Denmark. A few
hours after his detention a sharp protest was issued from the
Danish Minister of Foreing Affairs, Niels Helveg Pedersen, who
also called the Turkish embassador to a meeting in the Ministry
where he demanded that the list of unwanted Danes should be made
public.
 
     A number of political parties also protested the detentinon
and the expulsion of Soendergaard. Socialist Peoples Party (SF)
demanded the case raised in the parliaments Foreign Affairs
Committee and the Socialist Group in the European Parliament
demanded that the parliament should freeze the 375 mio. ECU,
which Turkey should have from EU as part of the Custons Union
between Turkey and EU.
 
     "After the arrest of Soeren Soendergaard and the expulsion
of him plus the information that Turkey has a list of unwanted
European politicians there is no doubt: Turkey should not have a
penny," said Kirsten Jensen, chairman of the Danish Social
Democratic members of the EU-Parliament.
 
     After arriving back in Denmark Saturday 30. November Soeren
Soendergaard told radio and TV that he encouraged the
continuation and strengtning of the fight for human rights in
Turkey.
 
     "Even though it makes you wonder the expulsion of my is only
a little thing. The real problem is all those people who are
still detained og who daily must live with human rights abuses,
random jailings and torture. It is them our solidarity should
concern," said Soeren Soendergaard.
 
(Source: Antifa Info Bulletin Supplement #95)  

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From WRI-AG.FOEGA at OLN.comlink.apc.org  Fri Dec  6 06:26:00 1996
From: WRI-AG.FOEGA at OLN.comlink.apc.org (WRI-AG.FOEGA at OLN.comlink.apc.org)
Date: 06 Dec 1996 06:26:00
Subject: TURKEY: Violations Against Homosexuals
Message-ID: <6MLbNW6C.TB@oln-68.oln.comlink.apc.org>

Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

WRI-AG der FoGA                            Tel.: +49-441-203864
Brahmweg  178                              Fax: +49-441-2489661
D- 26135 Oldenburg      email: WRI-AG.FOEGA at OLN.comlink.apc.org
---------------------------------------------------------------

This is a forwarded fax from LAMDA ISTANBUL, a Turkish Gay and  
Lesbian organisation.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Lambda
Istanbul                                              6/12/1996

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are writing you of violations against homosexuals in Turkey.  
This letter is a plea for response from your government and  
organisations on this issue.

The last six months have seen a wave of persecution directed at  
the homosexuals living in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul  
(Uelker, Kazanci and Baskurt streets). Many of these residents  
fear to leave their homes, which are moreover under continuous  
threat of vandalism and arson; stones have been thrown in  
windows, and some homes have been lit on fire. These threats and  
infringements are being perpetrated solely because of sexual  
orientation. The largely homosexual, transsexual and transvestite  
inhabitants of the above-named streets are being harassed when,  
or prevented from, entering or leaving their homes. Thus many are  
in hiding, staying with friends, or coming and going at night,  
unable to use their lights and pretending to be absent. Several  
of these people have been beaten or arrested. Some have been  
forcibly evicted from their residences, even those which they  
personally own.

These systematic violations and provocations have been supported  
and encouraged by the chief of Police for the Beyoglu area, Mr.  
Sueleyman Ulusoy, often with his own personal participation. One  
eye-witness report described the police setting fire to the  
residences of well-known transsexuals. This occured last June  
during the Habitat II conference. A recent development involves a  
campaign to 'hang a Turkish flag outside your door if you are not  
a homosexual'. Homosexual's homes thus are being identified  
similar to the Nazis had done with pink triangles. In this way  
they become easy targets for the malicious actions of  
fundamentalist and extremist organizations; the police has done  
nothing to stop this practice.

The local Council of Beyoglu has closed down or has cancelled the  
licenses of many of the local shops which serve this community.  
Even a drinking-water station was closed by this Council because  
of so-called unhealthy conditions. Delivery boys, who bring food  
from restaurants, as well as taxis, are not permitted in these  
streets.
For these and many other reasons the daily lives of those living  
in even these rare homosexual "ghettos" are very harsh. For  
further information please contact with International Gay and  
Lsebian Human Rights Commission and ILGA.

The writers of this letter are a group of people who have joined  
together with the belief in fundamental human rigths and  
freedoms. As a group we feel helpless and hopeless in our own  
country, and can expect little to no support or assistance from  
local governmental agencies or political organizations. The  
initiatives taken so far in this connection have proved  
ineffective; it appears that we are unable to do more.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations  
declares the right to housing, among others in fringed upon in  
our community, to be a fundamental human right. Since it became a  
member of the United Nations, your state is a signatory to this  
document and its principles. We urge you to inform your  
government of this harsh situation in Turkey, as well as to  
inform institutions and members of your organizations who support  
human rights. Please join us in demanding that these cases be  
investigated, that Turkish authorities ensure that the police do  
not abuse their powers, that the harassment of transvestites,  
transsexuals and homosexuals be stopped.

We kindly ask you to manifest your disapproval of these  
violations. We firmly believe that your response will make an  
important contribution in correcting these peoples' living  
conditions.

Faxes and letters may be sent to the following contacts:

President of Turkey:
Mr. Sueleyman Demirel                 Fax: +90 312 427 13 30
Cumhurbaskanligi k?sk?                         or: 440 72 12
Cankaya, Ankara/Turkey

Prime Minister:
Mr. Necmettin Erbakan                 Fax: +90 312 417 04 76
Basbakanlik Konutu, Ankara/Turkey

Minister of Interior:
Mr. Meral Aksener                     Fax: +90 312 418 17 95
Icisleri Bakanligi, Ankara/Turkey

Govenor of Istanbul:
Mr. Ridvan Yenisen                    Fax: +90 212 512 20 86
Istanbul Valiligi
Cagaloglu, Istanbul/Turkey

Chief of Police for Istanbul:
Mr. Kemal Yazicioglu                  Fax: +90 212 636 18 32
Istanbul Emniyet M?d?rl?g?, Istanbul/Turkey

Contact:
Lambda Istanbul, P.K. 103, G?ztepe - Istanbul/Turkey
Fax: +90 212 224 37 92

-----------------------------------------------------------
Graswurzelrevolution    Kaiserstra?e 24     26122 Oldenburg
Tel.: 0441/2489 663                     Fax:  0441/2489 661
-----------------------------------------------------------
## CrossPoint v3.0 ##

From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Fri Dec  6 14:35:08 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 06 Dec 1996 14:35:08
Subject: Munich Court Sentences Three PKK Me
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961206093..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Munich Court Sentences Three PKK Members

Munich Court Sentences Three PKK Members 

MUNICH, Germany, Dec 5 (Reuter) - A German court convicted three members
of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Thursday of membership in
a terrorist organisation and responsibility for crimes including attacks
on Turkish shops. 

The Munich court, which said the three were "professional cadres of the
PKK," gave two of the men suspended two-year sentences and sent the
third to jail for 22 months. 

During the two-month trial, the defendents denied prosecution charges
they were regional PKK leaders for the southern German cities of
Nuremberg, Munich and Freiburg. 

The prosecution said the men, named only as Erhan S., Kemal C. and Fevzi
A., had passed on orders for illegal protests and violent attacks from
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. 

It said these acts ranged from firebombings to murder but did not accuse
the three of participating in any specific indicent. 

The PKK, fighting Ankara for establishment of an independent Kurdistan
including eastern territories of Turkey, has used Germany as a major
exile centre and carried out a series of attacks on Turkish targets
here. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Fri Dec  6 15:22:03 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 06 Dec 1996 15:22:03
Subject: In Turkey The Contra-Guerrilla Is T
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961206101..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: In Turkey The Contra-Guerrilla Is The State

The Contra-Guerrilla Is Not An Autonomous Power Within The State,
It Is The State

     The contra-guerrilla needed and established a large number
of gangs, consisting of traitors, fascists and policemen, to
carry out all the "disappearances", the kidnappings and the
massacres. And now every gang is just interested in its own
profits. The gangs are no longer under control.
     A traffic accident has revealed what hundreds of murders by
"unknown perpetrators", hundreds of "disappearances", had not
made clear to a lot of people already, in a manner pamphlets and
articles could not. In the past years the existence of the
contra-guerrilla was much discussed. The oligarchy and the
parties of the establishment have tried for years to keep the
existence of the contra-guerrilla a secret, they denied
everything. The provocations and activities of the
contra-guerrilla began to mount in the mid-seventies. This was
not a coincidence; those were the years in which the
revolutionary movement grew in strength. The provocation on
MayDay 1977 was a first clue that from now on, the
contra-guerrilla would be employed more often. Then we saw the
bomb explosions in the Sirkeci station and in the terminal of the
Yesilkoy Airport, the arson attacks against the Ataturk Cultural
Centre and the ferry "Ankara" near the Golden Horn. The
contra-guerrilla activities had two goals: the "terror" demagogy
had to be strengthened, and the left, the revolutionaries, were
to be blamed. By accusing the revolutionaries, claiming the
communists were responsible, they tried to denounce the
revolutionaries in the eyes of the people, on the other hand they
used these actions as a pretext for operations. The massacre in
Maras before 1980, and the attempted massacres in Corum and Sivas
showed the contra-guerrilla knew no more limits in its attacks
against the people.
     Since the eighties, the contra-guerrilla organisation (in
its military outfit) has been used all over Kurdistan, in
accordance with the policy of the oligarchy. With the expansion
of the revolutionary struggle, led by the revolutionary movement,
the contra-guerrilla accelerated its institutionalisation by
expanding its terror, its organisation, and its policy. The most
striking contra-guerrilla attacks in this period were the murders
of Muammer Aksoy, Cetin Emec, Bahriye Ucok and Turan Dursun.
These were attacks with a certain goal. They tried to blame the
Islamic organisations for these murders, covering the role of the
state. But this tactic has not been successful. The knowledge of
the people, based on the propaganda and information by the
revolutionaries since the seventies prevented the state from
reaching its goal. Although the state tried to blame the Islamic
organisations, once again, for the murder of Ugur Mumcu, the
demonstrations where tens of thousands yelled "the
contra-guerrilla murdered Mumcu" and "Damn the contra-guerrilla",
showed that the people did not believe these statements anymore.
Thereupon the general staff stated: "....There is no such thing as
a contra-guerrilla. There is a Ozel Kuvvetler Komutanligi
(Special Unit Command), previously known as Ozel Harp Dairesi
(Department for Special Warfare), under the command of the
general staff. With indignation we condemn these contra-guerrilla
accusations, aimed at the Turkish Army..." Thus denying the
existence of a contra-guerrilla on the one hand, conceding on the
other that is does exist under another name. Nowadays nobody,
neither the people, nor the oligarchy, discuss the existence of
the Ozel Harp Dairesi, the contra-guerrilla. Discussed is the
function of the contra-guerrilla and its influence on the policy
of the oligarchy. Since the nineties, the contra-guerrilla is not
just an organisation of gangs, committing murders, it's a camp
where policy is determined. It determines politics, and these are
put into practise by its gangs, by the police and the army.
     With its declaration of war against the people, and because
of its brutality, the power of the contra-guerrilla increased
from the moment it started to determine politics. Apparently all,
especially many in parliament and the bourgeois press are baffled
about this network, revealed by the accident in Susurluk. But
this is not the case. These are connections, known by almost all
circles in the oligarchy, connections they must have known about.
     The power and the hegemony of the contra-guerrilla are quite
demonstrative. The connections are the source where the
contra-guerrilla takes the courage for its brutality from. And it
is this brutality which makes certain circles among the
bourgeoisie say: "This can not be true". Even though the state
does not openly confess to all the variations of murders and
massacres, it now has practically taken responsibility for it.
Since 1990, the contra-guerrilla increasingly used the method of
"disappearances". Now an estimated 4-500 people have
"disappeared". The war has extended to such a level that the
contra-guerrilla is now acting quite openly, no longer feeling
the need to cover its activities. On the contrary, it speaks
quite openly about is existence and its dirty activities, trying
to give the impression it's everywhere and omnipotent, trying to
intimidate the people and the revolutionaries.
     The oligarchy has not been able to prevent the development
of the opposition among the people, it could not prevent the
revolutionary and the nationalist struggle. The more the
oligarchy attacked the people, the greater became the influence
of the contra-guerrilla. This development has caused several
problems for the oligarchy. The contra-guerrilla needed - and
established - a whole range of gangs, consisting of traitors,
fascists and policemen, to carry out its "disappearances" and its
massacres. Nowadays these gangs are only concerned about their
own personal profits. The gangs are no longer under control.
Those who are the enemies of the people have come even closer
together in their front against the people, against the
revolutionaries and the national people's movement, but they did
not succeed in fully solving their internal conflicts. The
opposition among the bourgeoisie has been silenced with similar
methods as were applied against the people. That's why nobody
should be astonished about the gangs, revealed in recent months,
and their connection with the contra-guerrilla. In reality, these
connections are nothing new, but the extension of the war
influences and extends this network. At present some circles
still discuss whether the contra-guerrilla is a body, autonomous
from the state, which is nested inside the state structures, or
not. Some of those who do not deny and cover everything in order
to protect the state, hope - confronted with the seriousness of
the situation - the contra-guerrilla is independent from the
state. Some, certainly because they are afraid, try to assess the
situation like that, because they would otherwise risk the wrath
of the state. But some, especially in the circles of the
reformists who believe in the existence of a - albeit a defective
- democracy and who don't see through the state apparatus and its
characteristics, can not let go from their babbling about "secret
structures" and "dark forces".
     In essence everybody who has a functioning brain, and who
says "at present the MGK (Military Security Council) rules the
state", knows that this is actually the centre of the
contra-guerrilla; the MGK is in fact the contra-guerrilla. The
contra-guerrilla has never been independent from the state,
because it was set up by the state itself. What it has to do, and
how, its strategy and its tactics are determined by the state.
Maybe it could be argued that the parliament did not have a clue
and that it did not steer the activities of the contra-guerrilla.
But this is hardly surprising in a system which is a fascist one,
and where the parliament, elections and delegates are merely
window dressing.

-----
Classwar in Turkey and Kurdistan: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk
Kurtulus Nachrichten Zentrale: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/knz
Turkey Mailinglist Mirror:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/mn/maillist.html
E-mail: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 ++++ 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 ++++



From stk at schism.antenna.nl  Thu Dec  5 21:05:00 1996
From: stk at schism.antenna.nl (stk at schism.antenna.nl)
Date: 05 Dec 1996 21:05:00
Subject: Turkey mailinglist online and searc
Message-ID: <120596190517Rnf0.77b9@schism.antenna.nl>

------------------------------ forwarded message -----------------------------


Hello,

We are happy to inform you about the fact that, thanks to the friendly
cooperation from our ISP XS4ALL and a new Cyberactivist organization
CONTRAST.ORG, we have been able to put online, a searchable database regarding
the struggles in Turkey and Kurdistan.

Originally the pages at
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/mn/maillist.html started as a mirror
from the Turkey mailing-list, based in the Netherlands. However
because of several factors (dupes, mall-formed higher ASCII
characters, etc.)  we now maintain these pages by hand. This is also
an opportunity to get the the complete mailing-list online in stead of
the last 250. We also splitted the list by language. The url
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/mn/maillist.html will dissapear in the
near future. We will maintain a page on the ozgurluk-site that
functions as gateway to the three searchable databases.

Check out the following URL's:

http://www.hacktic.nl/ftdb/cgi-bin/ftw?menu=1.10&in=f Dutch
http://www.hacktic.nl/ftdb/cgi-bin/ftw?menu=1.11&in=f English
http://www.hacktic.nl/ftdb/cgi-bin/ftw?menu=1.12&in=f German

Any comments should be send send to ozgurluk at xs4all.nl

Subscriptions to the Turkey mailinglist can be send to
listserv at dzs.xs4all.nl. In the body of the message you write:
SUBSCRIBE turkije

La Luta Continua!

-- 
Classwar in Turkey and Kurdistan: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk
Kurtulus Nachrichten Zentrale: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/knz
Turkey Mailinglist Mirror: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/mn/maillist.html
email: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl




----------------------------- end forwarded message --------------------------

**********************************************************
Solidaritygroup Turkey-Kurdistan
P.O. Box 85306
3508 AH Utrecht
The Netherlands
stk at schism.antenna.nl
Turkey Mailinglist Mirror: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/mn/maillist.html
**********************************************************

From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Sat Dec  7 08:25:04 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 07 Dec 1996 08:25:04
Subject: Press Release From The Parliament O
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961207032..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Press Release From The Parliament Of Kurdistan In Exile

Press Release From The Parliament Of Kurdistan In Exile

The Parliament Of Kurdistan In Exile Holds Its Meeting In Oslo,
Norway As Australian Bureaucrats Persist With Toadying And
Servile Demeanour! 

     Members of the Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile held their
latest quarterly meeting in Oslo where they were warmly welcomed
by many Norwegian parliamentarians, human rights activists, civic
and community leaders as well as ordinary citizens. Since its
formation in April 1995, the Parliament has met in Vienna,
Moscow, Copenhagen and Rome where caring people have expressed
their support for the Parliament's primary mission to find a
peaceful solution to the senseless persecution of the Kurds by
brutally repressive regimes controlling Kurdistan.
     The Turkish foreign ministry protested the gathering in Oslo
and hinted at adverse impacts on trade between Norway and Turkey.
In response, the Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman in polite
but no uncertain terms said, "We have freedom of expression and
assembly in our country." That was enough to shut up the Turkish
foreign ministry officials.
     In a dramatic contrast to this development, the Australian
bureaucrats in Paris shamelessly exhibited their toadying and
servile demeanour towards the likes of Saddam Hussein and the
murderous gang of Turkish generals by refusing a visa to the
Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament to attend a conference
at Deakin University in Melbourne. Efforts to find out why has so
far produced some bureaucratic gobbledygook to the effect that
his presence in Australia might prejudice Australia's relations
with a foreign country.
     The attitudes of the Australian bureaucrats in Paris and the
Norwegian spokesman perhaps reflect the two countries' respective
histories. These days the mention of Scandinavia brings to mind
glamorous blondes rather than fierce Vikings. Yet, the
Scandinavians are, of course, the descendants of the Vikings who
did not nurture a culture of kissing shoes to get what they
wanted! In the penal colony of Australia, on the other hand,
cringing became a survival technique when standing up for what
was right and just brought swift and painful punishment. Quite
likely, this is what the late Australian historian Mr. Manning
Clark had in mind when, in a gross generalisation, he described
Australians as "cretins".
     It is foolish, of course, to suggest that all or even the
majority of Australians approve of toadying and servile demeanour
so shamelessly exhibited by the Australian bureaucrats in Paris.
These bureaucrats prefer to keep the Australians in the dark by
preventing a Kurdish leader from coming to Australia to inform
interested Australians of what is really happening in the Middle
East. Apologists for the likes of Saddam Hussein and the Turkish
generals have, of course, no trouble with entering and leaving
Australia as they please.
     We live in the hope that what makes the Australian
Ambassador in Paris, Mr. R. Hilman, and the Principal Migration
officer, Ms. Julia Niblett, choose to be partners in crimes with
Saddam Hussein and the Turkish generals against the Kurdish
people will some day come to light - and be dealt with at once by
all fair-minded fellow Australians!

November 26, 1996

For further info please contact:

Ms. Ajda Yurdakul
Assistant to the Hon. E. Bawermend
Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile

----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public
service to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 ++++ 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 ++++



From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Sun Dec  8 18:33:21 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 08 Dec 1996 18:33:21
Subject: "Remembering Leyla Zana" And Other
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961208132..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: "Remembering Leyla Zana" And Other Kurdish News

Remembering Leyla Zana

December 8, 1996 will mark the second anniversary of Leyla Zana's formal
imprisonment in Turkey's Ankara Closed Prison.  She was arrested by police
in the Turkish parliament on March 5, 1994, after her mostly Turkish
colleagues voted to lift her parliamentary immunity and that of several
other Kurdish deputies.

Leyla Zana was the first Kurdish woman ever to serve in the Turkish
parliament.  She was elected to serve the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir by an
overwhelming margin on October 20, 1991.  She had run a campaign of
validating the civil rights of the Kurds.

In Diyarbakir, Ankara, Paris, Bonn, London and Washington or for that
matter wherever she went, she advocated an end to the civil war raging in
southeast Turkey.  On May 17, 1993, she was invited to Washington together
with Ahmet Turk, another Kurdish parliamentarian, to brief the members of
the United States Congress at the Helsinki Commission.  The day after, at
another briefing, this time at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, Mr. Morton Abramowitz, the former United States Ambassador to
Ankara, asked his guests what they meant when they said at the commission
briefing: "[We are] dedicated to advocating the rights of the Kurds by
political means?"

Mr. Turk noted the existence of the Kurds in Turkey as an historical truism
and the absence of their rights in the present Turkish constitution.  He
went on,  "Some 15 million Kurds live in Turkey that has a population of 58
million people, but they are deprived of their most basic human rights.
Their very identity is not recognized; the Kurdish language is banned.  We
seek to get back these political rights of ours through our political
work."

Leyla Zana said that in Turkish Kurdistan the international codes are
suspended to keep the struggle of the Kurds for political rights at bay.
"In Batman, [a Kurdish city in Turkish Kurdistan] the police have changed
the traffic lights combination from the standard, red, yellow and green at
the city streets to red, yellow and blue.  The red, yellow and green happen
to be Kurdish national colors; by changing the color green to blue, the
Turkish authorities hope to suppress the Kurdish yearnings for rights.  We
want the Kurdish colors and we want the International standards too."

The speeches Leyla gave in Washington were used against her in the State
Security Court in Ankara in her sentencing on December 8, 1994.  To be
sure, there were other charges, but all stemming from her desire to make
the lot of the Kurds better.  The 16 page indictment cited, a speech here,
a speech there and another one somewhere else. The panel of Turkish civil
and military judges decided Leyla had spoken too much.  She was given a
fifteen year sentence.

Last year, the Norwegian parliament nominated Leyla Zana for the Nobel
Peace prize.  Her name reportedly was among the last five finalists.  This
year, the European Parliament awarded her with the 1995 Sakharov Freedom
award.  Dr. Klaus Hansch, the President of the European Parliament,
speaking for the 15 country European union, had this to say: "In awarding
the prize to Leyla Zana, we are honoring a woman of exceptional courage,
dynamism, intelligence and fortitude."  The city of Rome recently chose her
as its honorary citizen.

The former first lady of France, Madame Daniel Mitterand, has kept a steady
correspondence with the imprisoned Kurdish parliamentarian as have her two
children who now live in exile in Europe.  Prominent visitors are barred
from visiting her, though the Turkish authorities could not refuse John
Shattuck, the U. S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights.

Last month, in a news-hour interview on PBS, this year's Nobel peace
laureate, Jose Ramos-Horta, was asked how he felt about receiving such a
high honor.  Expressing his gratitude for the award, he added, he could
think of others who were worthy of the award that had just been given to
him and he cited, "Leyla Zana from Kurdistan who is now in jail," as one of
his choices.

In the United States Congress, on May 17, 1993, addressing the members of
the Helsinki Commission, Mrs. Zana had described the Kurdish question in
words that were troubling then as they are today.  "To have you glimpse at
the toll, the Kurds have suffered, just last year alone, reminds one of Eli
Wiesel and his reflections on the Jewish Holocaust.  300 villages have been
burnt.  ..."  Today, the number of destroyed villages has risen to 3,134,
according to figures by the respected Turkish Human Rights Foundation.

American Kurdish Information Network
December 5, 1996

-----

Headline: Economics and image building on Islamic agenda
Wire Service: RTna (Reuters North America)
Date: Sat, Dec 7, 1996
 Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole
or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    By Ian MacKenzie
     JAKARTA, Dec 8 (Reuter) - Moslem nations, holding their annual meeting
of foreign ministers this week, will seek to increase economic cooperation
and counteract what they see as Western misconceptions too often linking
Islam with violence and terrorism, officials said.
     Indonesia, hosting the ministerial meeting of the Organisation of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) for the first time, is eager to promote economic
cooperation and development among its 53 member states.
     "The OIC ought to spend more time and focus...on economic cooperation
among member states to enhance the economic welfare of its members,"
Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told a news briefing ahead of the
five-day meeting which starts on Monday.
     He said OIC members were also conscious of the need to boost their
image in a world in which Islam has too frequently been equated with
violence and terrorism.
     "We are trying to develop a cultural information programme to combat
this," he said, adding that "fundamentalism" was not synonymous with
"extremism."
     Alatas said it was Indonesia's long-standing policy to promote
economic cooperation, but this did not mean that important political topics
should be pushed to the side.
     Diplomatic sources said key issues on the political agenda included
Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process and Bosnia.
     Another likely topic was "extraterritorial applications of domestic
law," a reference to U.S. sanctions against countries such as Iran and
Libya.
     Kuwait was expected to introduce a draft resolution covering its
confrontation with Iraq, which diplomatic sources said would be
unacceptable to Baghdad.
     Sources said Turkey was likely to raise the issue of the Moslem
minority in Bulgaria, and of divided Cyprus.
     Afghanistan will not be represented at the meeting.
     Senior officials who met to set the agenda at IOC headquarters in
Jeddah last month decided not to invite a delegation from Kabul because no
one could agree on who should represent Afghanistan.
     The hardline Islamic Taleban militia seized Kabul on September 27.
Forces loyal to ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani and ethnic Uzbek
leader Rashid Dostum are trying to retake the city.
     "The ministerial conference will try to find a way out of this
problem," Indonesia's Alatas said.
     The ministers will also have to find a successor to the OIC's current
secretary-general, Hamid Algabid of Niger, whose time expires at the end of
the year. He has been nominated as a candidate for the job of U.N.
secretary-general.
     The OIC gathering has been preceded by the first International Islamic
Conference for Science, Technology and Human Resource Development.
     Indonesia's President Suharto, who will formally open the IOC meeting
on Monday, told 400 Islamic leaders and intellectuals at the start of the
science and technology conference that Moslems must seek a common vision,
resolve conflicts and improve political stability to face the challenges of
the future.
 REUTER

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

Headline: Kurdish rebels kill two in Turkish southeast
Wire Service: RTw (Reuters World Report)
Date: Sun, Dec 8, 1996
 Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole
or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    TUNCELI, Turkey, Dec 8 (Reuter) - A soldier and a member of an
anti-guerrilla village militia were killed on Saturday in clashes in
Turkey's southeastern province of Tunceli, a military official said on
Sunday.
     The men were taking part in a large military operation in the area
against guerillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Another soldier was
injured in the clashes.
     In a separate incident, a police station near a dam construction
project 10 km (six miles) from the provincial capital, was fired upon and a
lorry set on fire, the official said.
     More than 21,000 people have been killed in the 12-year-old conflict
between the Turkish security forces and the PKK who are fighting for
independence or autonomy in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
  REUTE

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

Headline: Turkish rights group wins international award
Wire Service: RTna (Reuters North America)
Date: Sun, Dec 8, 1996
 Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole
or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    BERLIN, Dec 8 (Reuter) - A women's human rights group which holds
weekly vigils in Istanbul to campaign against torture, extrajudicial
killings and "disappearances" of political dissidents in Turkey, won an
award in Berlin on Sunday.
     "Saturday's Women," comprised mostly of wives and mothers of victims
of human rights abuses in Turkey, holds vigils every Saturday to protest
against the rights record of the Turkish government and raise worldwide
public awareness.
     Two of the organisation's members, Nimet Tanrikulu and a woman
identified as Yelda, accepted the International League for Human Rights
medal in Berlin on behalf of the group.
     The medal is named after German journalist Carl von Ossietzsky who
fought against fascism and won the Nobel peace prize in 1935. He was
interned in a concentration camp during World War Two and died in 1938.
     The Paris-based International League for Human Rights has bestowed the
medal annually since 1962 on persons or groups fighting against
state-sponsored oppression.
     "This award is a warm greeting across the borders," Tanrikulu said as
she accepted it, speaking in Turkish through a translator. "It has granted
our voice a voice."
     According to "Saturday's Women," at least 827 people have been
reported missing after being seized by police in Turkey since 1990. Human
rights organisations list such cases as "disappearances."
     Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union by 2000, has faced
heavy criticism of its human rights record from the 15-nation body.
     The awards ceremony launched a week-long programme of human rights
demonstrations and seminars by Berlin human rights organisations, including
Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
 REUTER


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

Headline: U.N. oil experts leave for northern Iraq
Wire Service: RTw (Reuters World Report)
Date: Sun, Dec 8, 1996
 Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole
or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    BAGHDAD, Dec 8 (Reuter) - A small team of U.N. experts went to northern
Iraq on Sunday to supervise Iraq's resumption of limited oil exports for
the first time since sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990.
     A U.N. source said four of the 10 experts who arrived in Baghdad on
Saturday left to take up position at the metering station of Zakho on the
Iraqi-Turkish twin pipeline close to the border with Turkey.
     The other six, the source said, would leave for southern Iraq to
inspect the export terminal of Mina al-Bakr on the Gulf on Monday.
     Iraq last month agreed to U.N. conditions on partial exports of $2
billion in six months to help it buy food and medicine to alleviate
suffering of its sanctions-hit population.
     The deal had been delayed by fighting in northern Iraq which erupted
in August when Baghdad's army joined forces with one Kurdish faction
against another.
     Oil Minister Amir Muhammad Rasheed said on Friday he expected Iraqi
oil exports to resume early on Tuesday. But U.N. spokeswoman Sylvana Foa
doubted that would be the case.
     The experts are led by Briton Paul Edward and they have to be in
position before Iraq resumes exports.
     Under the deal Iraq has to pump the bulk of its partial exports via
Turkey and the rest through Mina al-Bakr. Iraq intends to use both outlets
simultaneously.

----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service
to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
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Arm The Spirit
P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1P7 Canada

E-mail: ats at etext.org
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   ++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++
     ++++ see http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++





From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Mon Dec  9 10:10:48 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 09 Dec 1996 10:10:48
Subject: PKK Rebels Kill Two In Clashes
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961208214..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>

PKK Rebels Kill Two In Clashes 

DERSIM, Kurdistan, Dec 8 - A soldier and a member of an anti-guerrilla
village militia were killed on Saturday in clashes in Turkey's
southeastern province of Tunceli, a military official said on
Sunday. 

The men were taking part in a large military operation in the area
against guerillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Another soldier
was injured in the clashes. 

In a separate incident, a police station near a dam construction project
10 km (six miles) from the provincial capital, was fired upon and a
lorry set on fire, the official said. 

More than 21,000 people have been killed in the 12-year-old conflict
between the Turkish security forces and the PKK who are fighting for
independence or autonomy in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

(Source: Reuters)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
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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
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E-mail: ats at etext.org
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From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Fri Dec 13 01:32:06 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 13 Dec 1996 01:32:06
Subject: Turkey Arrests Soldier Released By
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961212202..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Turkey Arrests Soldier Released By Rebel Kurds

Turkey Arrests Soldier Released By Rebel Kurds 

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Dec 12 (Reuter) - A Turkish security court on
Thursday arrested a Turkish soldier, released this week by Kurdish
rebels who had held him hostage, for praising the guerrillas in a
televised speech, a court official said. 

The soldier, Ibrahim Yaylali, spoke in a complimentary way about his
life with the rebels on the Kurdish-language MED-TV, a channel banned in
Turkey for being a tool of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the
official at the Diyarbakir court told Reuters. MED-TV broadcasts from
Europe by satellite. 

The official gave no more details. 

Yaylali and five others had been held hostage by the PKK in
Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq for 18 months until an Islamist MP and
their families travelled to the region to take them back earlier this
week. 

More than 21,000 people have died during the 12-year conflict between
security forces and PKK guerrillas, fighting for autonomy or
independence from Ankara. 

In the latest fighting, the emergency rule governor's office of
Diyarbakir said in a statement on Thursday that security forces had
killed 32 Kurdish guerrillas in a week of clashes in southeast of the
country. 

The statement said the clashes took place in six southeastern provinces.
It gave no figures for military casualties. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
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   ++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++
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From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Mon Dec 16 12:42:08 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 16 Dec 1996 12:42:08
Subject: Kurdish Traitors Destroy "Free" Kur
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961216073..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Kurdish Traitors Destroy "Free" Kurdistan

Kurdish Traitors Destroy "Free" Kurdistan

     On September 3, 1996, the imperialist armed forces of the
Unites States launched cruise missile attacks against targets in
southern (!) Iraq in response to an invasion by Saddam Hussein of
the so-called "safe haven" for Kurds in northern Iraq. U.S.
officials were quick to point out that "this has nothing to do
with the Kurds; this is between us and Saddam Hussein". And
indeed this was true, for America's involvement in northern Iraq
was never modivated by a concern for the plight of the Kurdish
people, rather the desire to protect American oil interests in
the region.
     In the days before the U.S. missile strike on Iraq, dozens
of Iraqi tanks and artillery, backed by Kurdish traitors from the
KDP militia group, captured the city of Erbil, formerly the
capital of "free Kurdistan" and the site of its federated
parliament. Even after the Americans "punished" Saddam for this
aggression, Iraqi-backed Kurds (known as "jash" in Kurdish,
meaning something like "little donkies") moved on to attack other
Kurdish towns, including the major intellectual center
Suleymania, effectively bringing all of northern Iraq (South
Kurdistan) under Saddam Hussein's control once again. Iraqi
agents and secret police, known for their brutal methods of
torture and terror, have once against swarmed into Kurdistan.
People who once felt a taste of freedom must now once again in
fear for their lives; tens of thousands have fled towards Iran
and Turkey where the situation for Kurds is no better.

The Status Of The Kurds

     In order to understand the recent events in South Kurdistan
and what impact they will have on the Kurdish national liberation
struggle in general, it is important to take a look at recent
events in Kurdish political history.
     The Kurds, the world's largest stateless nation, number some
35 million, divided in the aftermath of World War I and the fall
of the Ottoman Empire between the colonialist-established states
of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. In each of these regions, Kurds
have been to subjected to forced assimilation, intense
repression, and in the case of Turkey and Iraq, outright attempts
at genocide. Largely disregarded by the world's media, the full
tragedy of the Kurdish plight was brought home to many people by
the horrible images of Saddam Hussein's posion gas attack on the
city of Halabja on March 17, 1988, which killed some 5,000
Kurdish civlians. But this was not the first horrid attack by
Saddam Hussein upon the Kurds, no would it prove to be the last.
     The most brutal wave of repression against Iraqi Kurds was
carried out in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war. From 1987-89,
a special operation of genocide was bureaucratically engineered
by the Ba'ath Party against the Kurds of northern Iraq. Known as
the "Anfal" Campaign, towns and villages with populations of as
many as 70,000 people were sytematically destroyed by Saddam's
military by burning, bulldozing, and bombing. It is estimated
that at least 182,000 Kurds were murdered during the Anfal
Campaign by the Iraqi forces (Lazier, p.1). Mass graves
unearthered following the creation of the UN "safe haven" in 1991
revealed the true barbarity which was unleashed upon the Kurds by
the Iraqi government. It is against this background of genocide
that makes the recent collaboration by certain Kurdish traitors
with Saddam Hussein even more difficult to understand.

A "Safe" Haven For Kurds

     A Kurdish uprising in South Kurdistan in March 1991
succeeded in liberating nearly all parts of Iraqi-occupied
Kurdistan, including key oil rich urban centers such as Kirkuk.
But the Allied powers who had "defeated" Saddam Hussein stood by
and watched as the unscathed Republican Guard elite forces,
backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, overran the region once
again, killing thousands and forcing more than two million people
to flee for their lives. Feeling somewhat embarrassed by TV
images of such grave human tragedy and death, especially in the
wake of such a great "victory" in the Gulf War and particularly
because the Allies themselves had encouraged the Kurds and other
anti-Saddam forces to rise is revolt, the Western powers
established a no-fly zone over some of northern Iraq (excluding
those regions of Kurdistan where most oil is located) and
announced a UN-backed "safe haven" for the Kurdish people. Like
most UN "safe" regions in recent years, the plan soon turned into
a nightmare of suffering for the Kurds.
     Despite the defeat of their revolt against Saddam, the Kurds
of northern Iraq decided to make use of their Allied-backed
enclave to establish the first "free" Kurdistan of recent
history. Elections were held in 1992 for a federated Kurdish
parliament based in Erbil, but Kurdish joy soon turned sour as
factional fighting devoured the region. The 1992 elections were
declared a 50/50 tie between the two major parties at that time,
the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK).
     The KDP was the major player in Kurdish politics in Iraq
ever since the Second World War, and under its leader Mulla
Mustafa Barzani, the Kurds revolted against Iraq from 1970-75.
Unwisely expecting backing and support from the CIA, the Kurds
were eventually defeated. Mustafa Barzani made peace with Saddam
Hussein and died a broken man. This surrender to Saddam angered
many Kurds who wished to fight on, and in June 1975, Jalal
Talabani split from the KDP along with several left-wing Kurdish
groups to form the PUK. In 1978, present jash chief Massoud
Barzani, Mustafa's son, assumed control of the KDP.
     The general differences between the PUK and the KDP reflect
certain schisms within Kurdish society itself. While the KDP is
fiercely conservative and loyal to old feudal traditions, the PUK
represents many bourgeois urban elements. Media and KDP claims
that the PUK are "pro-Iranian" are over simplified. Indeed, both
the PUK and the KDP have both at some point in time embraced
Saddam Hussein, the United States, and even Turkey's genocidal
military leaders. Both parties are driven by narrow-minded
desires for power and neither party seeks Kurdish independence.
     The Kurds of northern Iraq were hit hard by the economic
after-effects of the Gulf War. Their "safe" haven proved to be
rather unsafe, as the Turkish military launched several major
raids into the region, including a full-scale invasion in March
1995. Iran also shelled the region on several occasions. And
Iraq, while putting off overt military action until this August,
repeatedly sent intelligence agents into Kurdistan to carry out
bombings and acts of sabotage which greatly damaged the region's
already weak infrastructre. The attacks were made worse by a
double-embargo: there was an embargo placed on Iraq by the UN,
and the Iraqi government placed its own internal embargo on
Kurdistan. Poverty was rampant throughtout the Kurdish enclave,
and the only source of income for many people was smuggling or
the control of tariffs from shipments to and from Turkey. The
desire to control these economic channels prompted the KDP and
the PUK to go to war in 1994. By this time, the Kurdish federated
parliament had all but been forgotten. Tribal war now replaced
nation building.

The Rise Of The PKK In South Kurdistan

     Absent from most media and policy discussions on the recent
developments in northern Iraq is what role the Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) will now play in the region. Although mainly based in
Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, the leftist PKK has established
itself as the third major player in South Kurdistan over the past
few years and it more than any other party will gain tremendously
from recent events.
     The Kurdistan Workers Party, established by leader Abdullah
Ocalan in 1978, launched its armed struggle camapign against the
Turkish government on August 15, 1984. Since then, it has
achieved remarkable military success against Turkey's
heavily-armed U.S.-backed military, the largest in NATO, although
the PKK's campaign has remained largely focused on rural and
mountainous regions and has not yet spread to urban centers.
Turkey's response to the PKK threat has been to unleash a massive
military response directly largely at civilians. More than 3,000
Kurdish villages have been destroyed in Turkey since 1991, and
death squad murders, imprisonment, and torture are commonplace.
     The PKK, like most Kurdish parties, took advantage of the
power vacuum in northern Iraq after the Gulf War and established
dozens of camps and training facilities in the region. Repeated
Turkish attempts to dislodge PKK forces in South Kurdistan have
all failed, even the March 1995 invasion of northern Iraq by the
Turkish army left hundreds of Turkish soldiers dead and failed to
end the PKK's presence in the region. For the past few years, the
PKK has been organizing and doing political work among the
civilian population of South Kurdistan, much to the dislike of
both the KDP and the PUK. Because of its socialist ideology, the
PKK, for example, advocates the full equality of men and women.
Unlike the reactionary KDP and the PUK, women guerillas swell the
ranks of the PKK's guerrilla army, the People's Liberation Army
of Kurdistan (ARGK). The PKK, unlike the KDP and PUK, seeks to
work towards the liberation of all of Kurdistan, and not only
from foreign and colonialist occupation, but also from the
oppression of traditional Kurdish feudalism and tribalism.
     PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan recently criticized Jalal
Talabani's PUK for cooperating with fundamentalist Iran, a
country which is no friend to the Kurds, and then appealing in
vain to the imperialist West. But the PKK's biggest enemy in
recent times has been the traitorous KDP. Despite PKK efforts to
create a Kurdistan National Congress (building on its own efforts
of the Kurdistan Parliament in Exile which was founded in Europe
in 1995) together with the PUK and KDP, these attempts at
national unity have been consistenly derailed by the short-term
interests of these more reactionary Kurdish elements. The KDP's
collaboration with Saddam in ousting the rival PUK from South
Kurdistan has all but destroyed the prospects of any pan-Kurdish
National Congress being formed by the PUK, KDP, and PKK any time
soon.
     Another reason for this is Western opposition to any role by
the PKK in Kurdish affairs. The recent PUK/KDP war has not only
been a shame on the Kurdish nation and the Kurdish people's
aspirations for unity and independence, it also represented a
major failure for imperialist foreign policy. The U.S. State
Department has organized several PUK/KDP summits in an effort to
organize a front to stop the rise of the PKK. The CIA pumped
millions of dollars to prop up the KDP administration in South
Kurdistan, both to hold Saddam in check as well as to work
against the PKK. On both counts, the U.S. now looks foolish. The
KDP fought side-by-side with Saddam's troops in ousting the PUK,
and with the PUK now largely gone from the area and the KDP
exposed as the traitors they are, the PKK is now set to become
the major Kurdish force in South Kurdistan.
     KDP treason is nothing new in Kurdistan, and the PKK,
despite its good-willed attempts at national unity, is well aware
of this. The KDP will take money from anyone, even from Turkey,
whose genocidal camapign aganist Turkish Kurds rivals that of
Saddam's in terms of its barbarity. The KDP has repeatedly made
deals with the Turkish government and worked together with the
Turkish military against the PKK on several occasions. On August
15, 1995, the PKK's armed wing the ARGK launched a "second August
15th offensive" against the KDP in South Kurdistan following a
deal by U.S. and Turkish officials and the KDP which was arranged
in Dublin, Ireland designed to root out PKK support in the
region. Following weeks of fighting, during which the KDP
suffered heavy losses and the PKK firmly established itself as
the third major force in South Kurdistan, a truce in the interest
of national unity was announced in December. At the time of this
PKK offensive, many Kurds and their supporters condemned the PKK,
saying they were guilty of the same in-fighting tendencies as the
KDP and the PUK. The PKK claimed the move was necessary to halt
the KDP's collaboration with Turkey. Now the world has been shown
that Abdullah Ocalan was correct in his analysis at the time, for
not only have the KDP allied themselves with Turkey, but now they
are openly pro-Saddam as well.

Hopes For A Liberated Kurdistan?

     Much damage has been done to the cause of Kurdish
independence over the last few weeks. The bourgeois PUK allied
itself with Iran, then begged for help from the U.S. and the West
when things went sour. The KDP openly supported Saddam Hussein,
whose Anfal operations against the Kurds were "every bit as
thorough and efficient in their stages of execution as had been
the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews" (Lazier, p.2). The two
parties, now openly at war, have ruined the only chance ever
given to the Kurds by the outside world. By acting on the basis
of self-interest and greed, they wrecked "free" Kurdistan and
their in-fighting has lost the Kurds much of the sympathy and
support they enjoyed after the Gulf War.
     In the long run, however, these developments may prove
beneficial to the Kurdish cause, for several reasons. First of
all, "free" Kurdistan was never really free, nor did the Allied
powers ever wish it to be. It was weak and starving, just as the
West had planned. The U.S. in particular utilized the safe haven
concept to keep Iraq weak, yet they never would allow the region
to become economically or politically feasible. A fledgling
Kurdish state in norther Iraq would be seen as a threat to
Turkey, home to 50% of the Kurdish nation. Therefore, the same
U.S. planes which patrolled the skies over Kurdistan to keep
Saddam out fed intelligence data to help Turkey come in and bomb.
     Most Kurds now realize that America's Operation Provide
Comfort brought them no confort at all. The U.S. looked aside
when Turkish forces bombed the region, and when Saddam himself
finally attacked, the U.S. responed against southern Iraq, doing
nothing whatsoever to halt the Iraqi advance into Kurdistan. The
PUK begged America for help, but none was forthcoming. If Kurds,
be they in Kurdistan or abroad, had any delusions before about
genuine U.S. concern for their plight, these illusions have now
been shattered.
     The only Kurdish party which has consistently relied on its
own resources and refused to become a tool for foreign
intelligence agencies is the PKK. The PUK, by seeking open
support from Iran and then making feeble appeals to the
imperialist West, is now weak and without credibility. The KDP,
by allying themselves with the Butcher of Baghdad, are now seen
by all to be traitors to the Kurdish nation. It is now up to the
PKK to seize upon this opportunity and work towards the genuine
liberation of Kurdistan.
     Despite hundreds of millions of dollars in military and
financial aid from the United States and Europe, Turkey has not
been able to crush the PKK's revolution in Turkish-occupied
Kurdistan. If the PKK's appeal and success should now spread and
blossom in northern Iraq, the Kurdish national liberation
movement will receive a tremendous boost. With PKK strength
already established in the Kurdish regions of Iran, the party
seems set to become a truly pan-Kurdish representative movement.
If so, the Western powers will be faced with a Middle Eastern
policy dilemma like they have never before encountered.

Arm The Spirit - Autumn 1996

* For a good account of the fueding between the KDP and the PUK,
see Sheri Lazier's book "Martrys, Traitors and Patriots:
Kurdistan after the Gulf War" published by Zed Books.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 ++++ 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 ++++



From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec 17 05:04:46 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 17 Dec 1996 05:04:46
Subject: UN Abandons South Kurdistan Refugee
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961217000..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: UN Abandons South Kurdistan Refugee Camp

Turkey Welcomes U.N. Pull-Out From N.Iraq Kurd camp 

ANKARA, Dec 16 (Reuter) - Turkey said on Monday it welcomed the U.N.
refugee agency's decision to withdraw from a camp for Turkish Kurds in
northern Iraq and said this justified Ankara's view that it was a base
for rebel attacks on Turkey. 

"This is a welcome development in the same direction as the view we have
put forward in the past," Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Omer Akbel
said in a news briefing. 

The UNHCR announced on Saturday the Atrush camp would be disbanded in
the near future because the agency's work was being blocked by
"activists" preventing refugees from going home. 

"For the moment UNHCR has also witnessed that the inhabitants of the
camp cannot express their free will due to pressures from the terrorists
on the subject of returning to Turkey," Akbel said. 

Turkey expected a speedy and effective implementation of the agency's
decision, Akbel said. 

A UNHCR spokesman said refugees at Atrush who did not want to go back
would be assisted at temporary transit centres but added that the agency
would not set up new permanent camps for them in north Iraq. 

Akbel said his country would provide facilities for its citizens who
would want to return to Turkey. "For our citizens who would like to
return to Turkey... they will be given the necessary facilities," he
said. 

Atrush, 60 km (38 miles) from the Turkish border, since 1994, has been
home to some 14,000 Turkish Kurds fleeing the conflict between Turkish
troops and Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey. 

U.N. security sources and aid officials have said that PKK rebels often
stayed in the camp and the refugees have admitted close ties to the
guerrillas. 

Kurdish villagers in southeast Turkey are caught in the middle of a
guerrilla war between Turkish troops and PKK rebels fighting for
autonomy or independence from Ankara. 

More than 21,000 people have died during the 12-year conflict. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec 17 05:08:16 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 17 Dec 1996 05:08:16
Subject: Reporters Without Borders Honors A
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961217000..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Reporters Without Borders Honors A Turkish Journalist

From: AKIN <akin at kurdish.org>

PRESS RELEASE - WORLD/TURKEY

16 December 1996

Isik Yurtcu wins 1996 Reporters Sans Frontieres - Fondation de
France Prize

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontieres (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - In a 10 December 1996 press release, RSF reported
that the 1996 Reporters Sans Frontieres - Fondation de France
Prize had been awarded to the Turkish journalist Isik Yurtcu,
former editorial director of the pro-Kurdish daily "Ozgur Gundem",
who is currently serving a prison sentence. The presentation was
to take place on Tuesday 10 December 1996, 11:30, at the Espace
Electra, 6 rue Recamier 75007 Paris.

Isik Yurtcu was arrested in December 1994 and sentenced to 14
years and 10 months' imprisonment for offenses that included
"separatist propaganda" and "insulting the government." He is
currently being held at Sakarya prison, 150 km from Istanbul.

Launched in May 1992, "Ozgur Gundem" finally yielded to official
pressures and folded in April 1994. With a circulation of 30,000,
the Turkish-language daily "Ozgur Gundem" ("Free News") --
regarded by Kurdish activists as their "resistance" paper and by
the Turkish government as the mouthpiece of the "terrorists" of
the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) -- is memorable as the
pro-Kurdish newspaper of record.

Presented on 10 December, to mark the United Nations'
International Human Rights Day, the 50,000 franc (US$ 9,600) prize
has been awarded since 1992 to a journalist who, through her/his
professional activities, willingness to speak out or general
bearing, has demonstrated a commitment to press freedom.

The Reporters Sans Frontieres - Fondation de France Prize was
awarded in 1992 to the journalist Zlatko Dizdarevic, of the
Sarajevo daily "Oslobodenje", in 1993 to the Chinese journalist
Wang Juntao of the "Economic Weekly", in 1994 to the Rwandan
journalist Andre Sibomana, managing editor of the magazine
"Kinyamateka", and in 1995 to Chris Anyanwu, editor-in-chief of
the "Sunday Magazine", a Nigerian weekly.

Five other journalists were considered by the jury this year:
Salima Ghezali, managing editor of the weekly "La Nation"
(Algeria); Gao Yu, assistant editor of the "Economic Weekly"
(China); Ahmad Taufik, chairman of the Alliance of Independent
Journalists (Indonesia); Alfonso Castiglione, radio reporter
(Peru); and Ali Musa Abdi, journalist and columnist (Somalia).

Isik Yurtcu was born in January 1945 in Adana (southern Turkey)
into an ethnic Turkish family. In 1969 he began his career as a
reporter with the left-wing papers "Ulus" and "Yeni Halkci" in the
capital. After moving to Istanbul in the seventies, he achieved
his first editorial posts, still with the opposition press. The
titles for which he worked during this period were "Demokrat",
"Politika", "Dunya" and "Cumhuriyet". His articles were already
ruffling official feathers, and Isik Yurtcu received prison
sentences which were subsequently commuted to fines. After the
1971 coup, in "Yeni Halkci" he published accounts by political
prisoners who had been tortured in military jails. In 1974 he
supported the campaign for a general amnesty for political
prisoners. After the military takeover of September 1980, he was
arrested for being one of the signatories of an "appeal by
intellectuals" criticizing the coup. In 1982 he was held for a
short time for his membership of the executive of a newspaper
workers' union.

Numerous former colleagues are unstinting in their praise of the
man they refer to affectionately as "Isik Baba" ("Uncle Isik").
"The first time I met him," recounted Ramazan Ulek, one-time chief
editor of "Ozgur Gundem", "was before the launching of the paper.
He helped us to define an editorial line, bearing in mind that we
had very little experience. His skills made him a natural choice
for the post of managing editor. And when we asked him to take it,
he accepted without hesitation." That was in June 1992. Eight
months later he resigned, being a defendant in no fewer than 26
press trials.

On 28 December 1994, just after taking retirement, Isik Yurtcu was
arrested and imprisoned. He may not be freed until 2009.

Over five days -- from Tuesday 10 December to Saturday 14 December
-- RSF raised awareness about the case through the pages of the
French daily "Liberation". RSF took out five full pages of the
daily as a testament to the resilience of the organization and its
fight for the forgotten. From day to day, an image of Isik
Yurtcu's face disappeared gradually, leaving a black page on the
fifth day. Everyday, RSF asked "Liberation" readers to write to
Turkish President Suleyman Demirel urging the release of Isik
Yurtcu. The DDB ad agency came up with the campaign, which was
donated to RSF by the former director-general of "Liberation",
Jean-Louis Peninou.

For further information, contact Chantal de Casabianca at RSF, 5,
rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel:+33 1 44 83 84 84,
fax:+33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: rsf at calvanet.calvacom.fr, Internet:
http://www.calvacom.fr/rsf/.

The information contained in this press release is the sole
responsibility of RSF. In citing this material for broadcast or
publication, please credit RSF.
_________________________________________________________________
 DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION EXCHANGE
 (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
 490 Adelaide St. W., suite 205, Toronto (ON) M5V 1T2 CANADA
 tel: +1 416 703 1638 fax: +1 416 703 7034
 e-mail: ifex at web.net
 Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/


----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service
to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship



-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 ++++ 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 ++++



From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Wed Dec 18 03:37:46 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 18 Dec 1996 03:37:46
Subject: Switzerland Bills Freed Hostages
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961217223..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>

Swiss Right To Send Bill For Hostage Help - Court 

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Dec 16 (Reuter) - Switzerland's supreme court on
Monday upheld the government's right to charge three former hostages for
its time and trouble in getting them freed from Kurdish guerrillas in
Turkey. 

It rejected a complaint from the three Swiss Jehovah's Witnesses, who
were taken captive in 1993 while searching for the remains of Noah's Ark
on Mount Ararat, that they should not have to foot the government's bill
for 29,000 Swiss francs ($22,000). 

After Swiss government intervention, the PKK rebels released the three
Swiss and four other hostages after four weeks. 

Berne then asked them to pay up for the foreign ministry's efforts,
costs incurred by the Swiss embassy in Ankara, a ministry official's
trip to Turkey and the expense of flying two of the hostages home
to Switzerland. 

The court rejected the hostages' argument that they had not expressly
asked for the help and that Switzerland had not charged for helping free
Red Cross officials taken captive.
 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Wed Dec 18 03:41:56 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 18 Dec 1996 03:41:56
Subject: Turkey/Contra-Guerrilla Dossier On
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961217223..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Turkey/Contra-Guerrilla Dossier On The Web

Hello Everybody!

Just wanted to let you know we created an extensive dossier on the
recent developments in Turkey regarding the cooperation between the
Turkish state, the maffia, and the contra-guerrilla.

It can be found on:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/pub/contrind.html


Hasta la victoria Siempre!

-- 
Classwar in Turkey and Kurdistan: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk
Kurtulus Nachrichten Zentrale: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/knz
Turkey Mailinglist Mirror: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/ml.html
KURTULUS HAFTALIK SIYASI GAZETE: http://www.kurtulus.com



-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 ++++ 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 ++++



From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Wed Dec 18 17:52:26 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 18 Dec 1996 17:52:26
Subject: MED-TV Director Attacked
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961218124..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>

MED-TV Director Attacked

The dirctor of the Kurdish satellite station MED-TV, Ilhan Kizilhan, was
attacked at the Duisburg train station while riding from Brussels to
Germany. As he went to make a phone call on the platform, he was
surrounded by four thugs, told to stop working for MED-TV, and then
beaten. During the 10-minute incident, the attackers were orchestrated
by a group of older men in suits. Passers-by only looked on. After 10
minutes, Ilhan was able to flee. Hospital treatment revealed he had
three broken ribs. MED-TV's director in London, Hikmet Tabak, stated
that this latest attack by Turkey's secret police had been inspired by
recent police actions against MED-TV and other Kurdish institutions in
Belgium.

(Translated by Arm The Spirit from Kurdistan-Rundbrief #25-26/96)

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From skolander at bahnhof.se  Thu Dec 19 10:46:00 1996
From: skolander at bahnhof.se (skolander at bahnhof.se)
Date: 19 Dec 1996 10:46:00
Subject: UPDATE: Report from Lambda Istanbul
Message-ID: <6N9dtUfx.TB@oln-68.oln.comlink.a>

Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

FYI

LAMBDA ISTANBUL
December, 18th, 1996

The harassment and the pressure against the transvestite (TS) and 
transexual (TV) community has always been present in Turkey, but for the
last 12 months the intensity and the frequency of it has been increasing.

A 65-year old woman has moved to the Ulker Street a year ago, called Ms.
G?ng?r (Guengoer) Gider, has been provoking all actions against TV/TS
community. She has big support from the police and extremist right wing
party members or organizations; radical Islamists and Nationalists.

For the couple of first months she was very friendly to and with the girls
who have been living in the area for more than 20 years. She has bought 
some flats for very cheap prices and rented them to the girls with the
normal rates. After a while she started to demand enormous amounts like
increasing the rents from 20 million to 100 million TL. The girls refused 
to pay these rates as it is stated in the contract law that the owners are
only permitted to increase the rent 60% maximum. This is the point where
everything started to go down for the girls.

She has initiated a campaign of "cleaning operation". She with her
neighbours placed a desk to the street with patrols in charge to control 
the area day and night. She covered her head to gain support from extremist
Islamists and from their organizations. She was not satisfied with the
results. A few months ago she started a campaign of labelling called 
"Hang a Turkish Flag if you are not homosexual". She aimed to gain support
from the extremist Nationalists and she did. The organizations called "?lk?
(Uelkue) Ocaklari", the youth branches of extremist right wing party MHP,
took part on her side. They joined the harassment process with the premise
that the homosexuals are not excepted as Turkish. They don't belong to the
race since they represent a lower form of human beings. This was told to a
university student who was making a market research for an assignment.

One of the biggest support came from Mr. S?leyman (Sueleyman) Ulusoy who 
was chief of the Beyoglu Police Department until 1991. He came back to duty
just before UN Human Settling Conference, Habitat II. Not only he fights
against homosexuals but against street children, street peddlers and 
gypsies as well.

Before the above mentioned conference, the police warned the TV/TS 
community to leave the conference area. They were warned that if they
remained to stay in their houses they would be in danger. To pretend to 
keep the area clean, a massive cleaning operation was started before the
conference. Lots of stray dogs and cats, street children and peddlers were
forced to move on to the different areas.

Then the cleaning operation started to get serious. A house, which belongs
to one of the transsexuals who lives in the street, was set on fire,
allegedly, by the police. She applied to the Attorney Generalship for a
legal action but she couldn't get any response for two months. She has
started a petition but Mr. Ulusoy didn't give any official statement. The
Damage Commission affirmed the damage as 300 million TL. Though it was 2
months ago there is no result at the moment. Meanwhile, Ms. Demet Demir and
other TV/TS started several petitions but couldn't get any response neither.
Moreover, another four houses has been set on fire since, in another
district of Beyoglu, but nobody applied for any legal action since they 
were scared and they knew through the previous example that their attempts
would have been futile even if they had tried. Ilhami Kaya is another TV 
who lives in the street who has a similar experience in which the windows 
of her house smashed down with stones thrown. Ms. Demet Demir's front door
has been broken for 3 times and the telephone cables were cut to prevent 
her from informing the solicitors and/or the press.

At this point I feel the urge to state that homosexuality is not illegal in
Turkey. There is no law in force in the constitution against homosexual
acts. On the other hand, torture is illegal. The current situation is
ironically ridiculous when these points are highlighted. Though this is the
case Ms. Demet Demir got a criminal record which states illegal
demonstration. She stayed in the jail for 8 months. After 10 years all
criminal records are normally deleted. Her record still exists after 14
years to everybody's surprise.

The police are breaking the doors with hammers and axes, forcing their way
in to the houses to cause the most damage that they can. At times if they
find occupancy in the house they take the person to the station to keep 
them under detention. A person can be kept under detention only for 
48 hours the most. The police's practical solution for this is to transfer
the person to another station so that they can keep somebody for more than 
a week if they want to do so. The police raid the houses and the clubs to
arrest. You show your ID but it is not sufficient enough. There are lots of
means to an arrest in Turkey and the police forces are well prepared to
teach you these means.

TV/TS community are continously accused of prostitution and ramping young
boys. They are seen as potential criminals. In the year 1994 and 1995, just
before the World AIDS Day the clubs were raided to bash the TV/TSs since
they are believed to be the cause for AIDS. This is a very vicious cycle.
Since they are seen as potential danger, criminal and always as immoral they
are forced out of the society. They don't have any means to live properly.
They end up on the streets as prostitutes as this is the only thing they are
permitted. If they can do this it means that there is demand as well. Then
everybody becomes ethical activists when it is time to blame them, but they
never talk about whom they slept with the night before.

The current situation is that the TV/TS community in this area is reduced 
to 7 from 70. They are left with only one solution as a consequence: to
move. The clean water supplier on the street was closed down with the 
reason that it didn't have any license. You start to ask how it was
permitted in the first place then. The newsagent was closed down with
threats as well. The hair-dresser was closed down because it was, 
allegedly, used as a whorehouse. All these closing downs were done by the
local council of Beyoglu. Any clever person can not deny the question: 
"Were these places closed down because they were serving to the TV/TS
community living in the area?".

Everything that is going on around the street has to be done in secret as a
result. For example, during Habitat Conference a foreign TV channel was
having an interview with Ms. Demet Demir in her house. It is at this point
the police broke into her house. The reporter hid the tapes and cameras
otherwise they would have been taken away. Police was so determined to take
them to the station but couldn't have done it because Mr. Tugrul Erbaydar
from Fighting With AIDS Association told this group of policemen that they
were having a meeting about AIDS:

In the beginning of December one of the transexuals named Ece was beaten up
by the police because she couldn't manage to be secret enough. Although she
has a house in the street she can not live there. She comes in secret to
feed her dog. The last time her neighbour heard her coming and phoned the
police. She was caught in her apartment. She was beaten up first in the
street and then in the police station. She was beaten up so badly that her
legs was bruised even after a week.

Mr. S?leyman Ulusoy has a nickname which is "Hose S?leyman". He likes to
beat, especially to the head, with plastic hose pipes and this is where his
nickname comes from. There are several files in the Human Rights 
Association regarding these tortures. Cutting the hair, pumping pressurized
cold water, beating bullocks are the most common of these tortures in the
police stations.


This report was typed from a fax by Bjoern Skolander <skolander at bahnhof.se>





## CrossPoint v3.0 ##

From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Thu Dec 19 17:34:45 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 19 Dec 1996 17:34:45
Subject: Web Page On The MRTA Standoff In Pe
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961219122..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Web Page On The MRTA Standoff In Peru!

Dear friends and comrades,

In order to provide updated news on the standoff in Peru, as well as
accurate information about the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
(MRTA), we have set up a web page about the crisis. Visit it at:

	http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/mrta.htm

The page includes a link to a Spanish-language MRTA page in Europe, a
recent interview with the MRTA given after the standoff began,
background articles on the MRTA, as well as mainstream news on the
standoff.

Freedom For All Political Prisoners!

Arm The Spirit - December 19, 1996


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Fri Dec 20 00:27:27 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 20 Dec 1996 00:27:27
Subject: Ocalan: "Saddam Cannot Solve The Ku
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961219192..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Ocalan: "Saddam Cannot Solve The Kurdish Question Alone"

Ocalan: "Saddam Cannot Solve The Kurdish Question Alone"

The head of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, has
stated in an interview with the French magazine Le Figaro that "the
Kurdish question cannot be solved without the PKK. We are the key to the
solution, even the USA has recognized and understood that recently."
Ocalan, who gave the interview to Le Figaro "somewhere in the Middle
East", stated further that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "cannot solve
the Kurdish question alone. If he approaches Turkey, then the USA and
Iran become afraid. If he approaches the Kurds, Turkey gets afraid."

Ocalan stated that the PKK had opened a "new front" in the south of
Turkey in the provinces of Antakia and Iskenderun, which border Syria
and which Damascus claims are rightfully its territory. But he denied
that any attacks were launched from Syria: "I am not a card in the hands
of Syria. The Syrians need us as much as we need them."

In answer to the question of Kurdistan's future, Ocalan called for a
"federal solution, with Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. There can a federal
parliament and the Turkish parliament, but we do not seek to separate
Kurdish areas from the states in which history has placed them."

Ocalan stated in the interview that his party at the moment has "15,000
guerrillas, including 4,000 women". Half of these operate inside of
Turkey, while the other half are based in northern Iraq. Ocalan
acknowledged that there were "power struggles" within the PKK and the
involvement of local leaders in the destruction of villages and the
deaths of civilians. He stated that some PKK units had set villages on
fire and killed civilians, against his orders. "I am against the killing
of civilians," Ocalan said, "but the truth is, some of these acts were
committed by PKK fighters."

(Translated by Arm The Spirit from Kurdistan-Rundbrief #25-26/96)
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Sat Dec 21 22:21:23 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 21 Dec 1996 22:21:23
Subject: AKIN Urges UNHCR To Support Kurdish
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961221171..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: AKIN Urges UNHCR To Support Kurdish Refugees

From: AKIN <akin at kurdish.org>
Subject: AKIN urges UNHCR to Support Kurdish Refugees


                                Press Release # 17
                                December 21, 1996


UNHCR Must Support The Refugees At Atrush Camp

(The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has decided to close
down the Atrush Camp in southern Kurdistan, northern Iraq.  The American
Kurdish Information Network in a letter to Ms. Sadako Ogata, the High
Commissioner for Refugees, urges her to desist from such a course of
action.  The text of the letter follows.)

        We write to express our indignation and dismay over your office's
decision to close down the Atrush Camp in northern Iraq.  As you know, the
residents of this camp are Kurds of Turkey.  They first moved into the camp
in March of 1994.  Since then, others have joined them; today, they number
some 15 thousand frail people.
        On May 16, 1994, a group of Kurdish parliamentarians from Turkey
visited this camp to prepare a report as to why these Kurds had decided to
go below the "border" as opposed to leaving for large Turkish cities as
their predecessors had done because of the Turkish war that has devastated
the rural Kurdistan.  Interviews conducted with one villager after the
other revealed that they all had been harassed, sometimes attacked and in
several instances subjected to torture and aerial bombardment for alleged
ties to the members of the Kurdish armed opposition, the PKK.  A 70 year
old refugee was quoted as saying, "Our village was shelled for days.  My
house was destroyed."
        On October 1, 1996, Amnesty International undertook a world-wide
campaign to highlight torture, killings and the acts of disappearance in
Turkey.  The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture in its report
describes the practice of torture in Turkey as "widespread."  The UN
Committee on Torture uses the term "systematic."
        The Turkish government was unhappy to have its own Kurds flee from
persecution lest they would be revealed in the press the to the world at
large.  For years, they called for the camp's closure so that these
refugees, mostly children and elderly people, would not tarnish their
"protected" image. Now it appears that the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees has decided to do the Turkish government a favor.  The Atrush
camp is slated for closure.
        We wish to register our indignation and urge you to reconsider your
decision.  Sending these people back to Turkey will only provide new names
to the list of Kurdish "activists" hunted in broad daylight by members of
the shadowy death squads linked with the Turkish security forces.  In a
report released today and noted by Reuter, the respected Turkish Human
Rights Association spokesman Avni Kalkan notes that, "Only comparing
figures of November 1995 and November 1996 one can see rights violations
have not fallen, but increased."
        Turkey, clearly, can not provide security and safety to these
Kurdish refugees.  We urge your office to continue to supervise the Atrush
Camp or assist these refugees to find asylum in a third country.  We would
be most appreciative of a timely response to this humanitarian crisis as
the inhospitable Kurdish winter is setting in.


----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service
to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 ++++ 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 ++++




From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Sun Dec 22 18:34:56 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 22 Dec 1996 18:34:56
Subject: PKK Sympathizers Sentenced In Berli
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961222133..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: PKK Sympathizers Sentenced In Berlin

PKK Sympathizers Sentenced In Berlin

Two Kurdish sympathizers of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were
setenced on Friday, December 20 for an attempted arson attack on a
Turkish travel agency in Berlin, Germany. Although no one was injured in
the attack, which caused no damage, the two were sentenced to 3 years
and 2 years and 3 months in prison respectively. According to the daily
paper Taz, the court ruled that the action was part of a 1993
"Europe-wide series of revenge attacks" carried out by the PKK on
Turkish targets in Europe. PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan recently told the
German weekly Der Spiegel that he had ordered an end to violence in
Germany - but Germany's violence against the Kurds has continued or even
increased in recent months. These two Kurdish comrades will now join
dozens of other Kurdish political prisoners languishing in German
prisons.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec 24 05:15:48 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 24 Dec 1996 05:15:48
Subject: Help Needed For Atrush Camp, Kurdis
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961224001..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Help Needed For Atrush Camp, Kurdistan

From: AKIN <akin at kurdish.org>

Dear Friends,

A humanitarian crisis is brewing in the mountains of Kurdistan.  Your help
is needed to avert this catastrophe.  Please send an e-mail or a fax to the
High Commissioner for Refugees.  Address your correspondence to Ms. Sadako
Ogata.

e-mail: ogatas at unhcr.ch
Washington UNHCR fax number: 202.296.5660
New York UNHCR fax number:212.963.0074

The article below by Kathryn Porter, a friend of the Kurds, is meant to
give you some background information.  We thank you for your timely
intervention.

Sincerely yours,

AKIN




In this season of giving, the act of withholding

By Kathryn Cameron Porter
Monday, December 23, 1996

        The United States government has rescued some 7,000 Kurds in recent
months.  These men and women and their children were saved by a series of
dramatic flights to Guam.  In this season of giving, they are the lucky
ones, receiving the protection of one of the most powerful countries in the
world.
        The unlucky ones are the Kurdish refugees of Atrush camp from
Turkey, some 15,000 elderly men, women and their young children, who
recently received a no-more-help notice from the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, the agency overlooking their welfare for the
last two years.  Who are these Kurds?  Why are they losing the protection
of a United Nations agency?
        A terrible war has been raging in the mountains of Kurdistan for
years now. Americans are familiar with the one unfolding in northern Iraq,
a.k.a. southern Kurdistan.
        The other war that few Americans know about rages in the mountains
of Kurdistan in Turkey.  These Kurds of Atrush camp are its most recent
casualties.  They were forced out of their villages beginning in March of
1994 and found refugee in the Atrush camp in northern Iraq.  The world body
overseeing these types of crisis, the UNHCR, gave them support and
protection.
        This support came to an end last weekend.  The UNHCR statement to
the press, quoted in December 22, 1996, Reuter piece, notes that they made
their "last food and kerosene deliveries to the Atrush camp."
        In this season of giving, something is seriously amiss to deny some
15,000 Kurdish refugees the support and protection of the only world body
that can help them.  The severe Kurdish winter is setting in.  Many of
these refugees and especially the children will die of the cold before
hunger.
        There is still time to avoid this humanitarian crisis.  Just
because these Kurds are the adversaries of our friend, Turkey, does not
mean that we should keep quiet and make this season of giving one of
suffering for them.
        There are three players in this drama.  The most important one in
this ill-fated decision is Turkey.  The government in Ankara has repeatedly
asked for the closure of the camp.  In its war on the Kurds, the Turkish
government is intent on denying food and shelter to the refugees in Atrush
camp.
        Fighting the Turkish army in the mountains of Kurdistan is the one
time Marxist group now seeking the democratic rights of the Kurds, the PKK.
Its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, recently participated in a Med TV panel
discussion and responded to the UNHCR statement.
        He said, "There are no PKK activists in the camp.  If there are, I
am ordering them to leave.  Go, check the camp for yourself.  If you find
one PKK fighter, then, remove your protection.  But if the children have
their brothers and sisters in our ranks and if their parents are supporting
our movement, we can not tell them to forgo their solidarity with us."
        The United Nations agency for its part asserts the activists will
not allow the refugees "to exercise their own free will on the matter of
whether or not they want to go back to Turkey."
        In Turkey, in the meantime, this dirty war continues to rage.
Torture, killings and disappearances are on the rise.  House Concurrent
Resolution 136 of the 104th Congress notes that, "... the human toll of
this conflict has been great, with the loss of more than 20,000 lives, the
destruction of more than 2,650 Kurdish villages."
        On May 16, 1994, a group of Kurdish parliamentarians from Turkey
visited Atrush camp.  They video-taped an interview with the camp residents
about their flight to Iraqi Kurdistan.  One after the other recounts the
atrocities of war and the need on their part to seek refugee in another
country.
        The United Nations should not be a tool of the Turks nor for that
matter of the Kurds.  These refugees should either be protected in where
they are or need to be placed in a third country.  Twice in these past
years, I have personally visited this camp and now recall vividly the faces
of these elderly men, women and their children.  The tragedy of their lives
is particularly poignant as we celebrate this Christmas in the safety and
security of our homes.  To send them back to Turkey would be tantamount to
entrusting sheep to wolves.

Kathryn Cameron Porter is the President of Human Rights Alliance in
Fairfax, Virginia.


----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service
to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship




From WRI-AG.FOEGA at OLN.comlink.apc.org  Sat Dec 28 05:19:00 1996
From: WRI-AG.FOEGA at OLN.comlink.apc.org (WRI-AG.FOEGA at OLN.comlink.apc.org)
Date: 28 Dec 1996 05:19:00
Subject: Latest News on Osman Murat Uelke, 27.12.96, 18 hrs
Message-ID: <6NifS5rC.TB@oln-68.oln.comlink.apc.org>

Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

WRI-AG der FoGA                            Tel.: +49-441-203864
Brahmweg  178                              Fax: +49-441-2489661
D- 26135 Oldenburg      email: WRI-AG.FOEGA at OLN.comlink.apc.org
---------------------------------------------------------------

Here are the last news concerning Osman Murat Uelke, who was to  
be tried in military court today. Bart Horeman, from the  
Netherlands, who together with Albert Beale (from the United  
Kingdom) was in Eskisehir as an international observer for the  
trial, reports:

"Today, 27.12.1996, 14 hrs (Turkish time), Osman Murat Uelke was  
tried before military court in Eskisehir. The charge was  
"continuous (or 'repeated') disobedience (Art. 87 of Turkish  
military Law). Osman could not claim that his conscience did not  
allow to obey, because according to art. 45 of Turkish Military  
Law this cannot be used as a reason for disobedience.
All Turkish people were allowed to enter the military area to  
attend the trial. The two international observers (form the  
Netherlands and the United Kingdom) were not allowed because they  
allegedly needed a permission to enter the military area.
The trial was postponed to January 30th, 1997, and according to  
the procedure, Osman was sent to the recruitment office in  
Eskisehir. At 16:30 (Turkish time) Osman arrived at the office,  
awaited by sympathisers. He was handed out a call-up and money to  
report himself to the commander of the 9th Gendarmerie in Bilecik  
the same day, and could leave the office freely.

After this the support group and Osman decided that the release  
of Osman shall not be mentioned to the press before 28.12.1996, 9  
hrs (Turkish time). At 9.00 hrs there will be the announcement  
for a press conference that will take place at 11.00 hrs in  
Istanbul at the IHD office. Osman will be there, as well as many  
others, including Bart Horeman and Albert Beale."

We were able to speek very shortly to Osman on the telephone, and  
he gave the following statement:
"Well ... I am still very confused. Of course this is the very  
last thing I ever expected to happen. But well, my conviction is  
still the same. As I said one year ago, I am not a soldier and  
never will be. I will not report to the barracks, nor will I  
flee. If the military want to take me, they will have to come and  
pick me up."

We expect to get an update tomorrow after the press conference.

That's all for now.

Anton Luccioni
Marc Stolwijk
Vereniging Dienstweigeraars
Postbus 94802
NL-1090 GV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Phone: +31 20 6680999
Fax:   +31 20 6652422
email: vd at vd.antenna.nl
------------------------------------------------------------
"Wenn ich in der Revolution nicht tanzen kann, dann will ich  
daran auch nicht teilnehmen"                   Emma Goldmann
------------------------------------------------------------
Graswurzelrevolution    Kaiserstrasse 24   D-26122 Oldenburg
Tel.: +49 441 2489 663                Fax:  +49 441 2489 661
------------------------------------------------------------
## CrossPoint v3.0 ##

From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Mon Dec 30 06:18:12 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 30 Dec 1996 06:18:12
Subject: An Analysis Of Grand Plans Over The
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961230011..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: An Analysis Of Grand Plans Over The Heads Of Kurds

From: AKIN <akin at kurdish.org>

WHY (KDP)?

Robert Olson

The alliance of the KDP with Baghdad was at the center of international and
respective national media in September.  The entire period threatened a
wider escalation of attacks by the US in Iraq.  The crux of the origin of
the crisis has much to do with the KDP.  Why did it decide to align with
Baghdad?

Much has been written in the media that the KDP aligned with Saddam Hussein
for several reasons: 1) It felt threatened by the increasingly close ties
of PUK with Iran; 2)Barzani was upset that Talabani had facilitated an
Iranian incursion of some 3-4,000 troops some 50 miles through PUK held
territory in late July for the ostensible reason to attack an Iranian
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) base in KDP held territory just North of
the 36th parallel and, 3) the KDP leader no doubt thought that the PUK
facilitated incursion heralded further assault by the PUK, backed by
Iranian support, on his territories.  Iranian supported PUK attacks on his
southern boundaries would have compelled the KDP to deploy more of its
peshmergas in the south.

Even prior to the Iranian incursion the KDP realized that Turkey was ready
to extend its international border with Iraq some three to six miles South
into KDP controlled territory.  This was anticipated to be an area in which
the Turks would try to eliminate any thing but a token KDP presence.  The
object of the Turks' move Southward was to better prevent PKK attacks on
targets within Turkey.

Thus prior to August 31, the KDP leader realized the possibility of the
reduction of both his Northerly and Southerly controlled areas.  Barzani
also, no doubt, thought that any opening of the Kirkuk - Yumurtalik
pipeline to Turkey and the diminished revenues resulting from it would
weaken his position vis-a-vis the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by
Jalal Talabani, his arch rival.  The KDP leader thought, correctly it
seems, that neither the US nor its European allies via Operation Provide
Comfort (OPC) and the host of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that
they directly or indirectly sponsor would seek to strengthen his position.
A reopening of the pipe lines and the increase of trade with Turkey would
mean that he no longer would be able to control exclusively the estimated
$250.000 per day lorry trade crossing the Turkish-Iraq international border
at Habur (Abu Khalil).  So Barzani had his reasons.

But why was the KDP so eminently successful? The international media would
have us believe that it was due exclusively to his alliance with Saddam
Hussein.  Maybe so.  But there are other reasons.  For sure Barzani got
arms and military aid from Baghdad.  But he also seems to have got
substantial arms from Operation Provide Comfort.  It could be that the US,
and at least some of its allies, were eager to counter the Iranian thrust
of late July and what that foreboded in terms of a broadening of Iran's
influence in Northern Iraq.  The KDP peshmergas also fought better.  Most
of the KDP pesmergas are tribally based and the core still consists of
Barzani tribesmen ready and willing to die for their leader. The PUK
fighters showed no such conviction.

The KDP also received the support of Shaykh 'Uthman Abdul Aziz, the leader
of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK).  The territories controlled by
the IMK center in Ranya lying athwart the 36th parallel conveniently
between the territories controlled by the KDP and the PUK. Shaykh 'Uthman
threw his support and that of his peshmergas on the side of Barzani.

Now we must ask the question: Who wanted the KDP to win?  Baghdad did.
Turkey also favored a KDP victory.  A stronger KDP backed by Baghdad would
be better able to control the border area between the two countries by
eliminating, or at least restricting, the attacks of the PKK on targets
within Turkey.  A KDP victory would allow free flow of goods and trade
between Iraq and Turkey (Wherever the border may be placed).  Turkey, then,
a very close ally of the US, was happy with the KDP-Baghdad alliance and
facilitated its success.

Israel, the closest ally of the US, is also very happy with the KDP
victory.  Israel is a close ally of Turkey.  On February 24 and again
August 26, just five days before the KDP-Baghdad blitzkrieg, Ankara and Tel
Aviv signed another military - and apparently intelligence - cooperation
agreement.  In view of the close strategic cooperation between the two
countries, it seems likely that Israeli military and intelligence personnel
will participate with Turkey in setting up the new Turkish 'security zone'
along its international border with Iraq; after all, the Israelis have much
experience in this sort of thing.

Another reason for Israel's elation at the KDP victory is that it has the
potential for the expulsion of the PKK from Northern Iraq will limit the
ability of Syria to use the PKK as an instrument against Turkey in the two
countries' on-going differences regarding the Kurdish question and the
distribution of water flow from the Euphrates down to Syria.  And reduction
of the PKK's ability to maneuver in Northern Iraq and/or Syria reduces
Syria's regional geopolitics and geostrategic strength against Turkey.
This in turn necessitates more 'flexibility' on its part in its
negotiations with Israel and the US.  Perhaps it was not a coincidence that
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu was in Washington while the KDP and
Baghdad were mopping up the PUK.

Maybe the US wanted both: more pressure on Syria to meet its dictates for
'peace' between Israel and the Arabs; and the missile attacks on Saddam
Hussein to ensure that President Clinton would appear as the legitimate
heir of the 'Hero of the Gulf War' against an authentic hero of World War
II.

Robert Olson is professor of Middle East and Islamic history at the
University of Kentucky.  This article appeared in Kurdistan Report, No 24,
December 1996.


----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service
to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship



-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
MRTA Solidarity Page: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/mrta.htm
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/Politics/Arm.The.Spirit
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 ++++ 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 ++++



From stk at schism.antenna.nl  Mon Dec 30 22:29:00 1996
From: stk at schism.antenna.nl (stk at schism.antenna.nl)
Date: 30 Dec 1996 22:29:00
Subject: An Analysis Of Grand Plans Over The
References: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961230011..@burn.ucsd.edu>
Message-ID: <123096202928Rnf0.77b9@schism.antenna.nl>

------------------------------ forwarded message -----------------------------
Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net> writes:

From: AKIN <akin at kurdish.org>

WHY (KDP)?

Robert Olson

The alliance of the KDP with Baghdad was at the center of international and
respective national media in September.  The entire period threatened a
wider escalation of attacks by the US in Iraq.  The crux of the origin of
the crisis has much to do with the KDP.  Why did it decide to align with
Baghdad?

Much has been written in the media that the KDP aligned with Saddam Hussein
for several reasons: 1) It felt threatened by the increasingly close ties
of PUK with Iran; 2)Barzani was upset that Talabani had facilitated an
Iranian incursion of some 3-4,000 troops some 50 miles through PUK held
territory in late July for the ostensible reason to attack an Iranian
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) base in KDP held territory just North of
the 36th parallel and, 3) the KDP leader no doubt thought that the PUK
facilitated incursion heralded further assault by the PUK, backed by
Iranian support, on his territories.  Iranian supported PUK attacks on his
southern boundaries would have compelled the KDP to deploy more of its
peshmergas in the south.

Even prior to the Iranian incursion the KDP realized that Turkey was ready
to extend its international border with Iraq some three to six miles South
into KDP controlled territory.  This was anticipated to be an area in which
the Turks would try to eliminate any thing but a token KDP presence.  The
object of the Turks' move Southward was to better prevent PKK attacks on
targets within Turkey.

Thus prior to August 31, the KDP leader realized the possibility of the
reduction of both his Northerly and Southerly controlled areas.  Barzani
also, no doubt, thought that any opening of the Kirkuk - Yumurtalik
pipeline to Turkey and the diminished revenues resulting from it would
weaken his position vis-a-vis the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by
Jalal Talabani, his arch rival.  The KDP leader thought, correctly it
seems, that neither the US nor its European allies via Operation Provide
Comfort (OPC) and the host of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that
they directly or indirectly sponsor would seek to strengthen his position.
A reopening of the pipe lines and the increase of trade with Turkey would
mean that he no longer would be able to control exclusively the estimated
$250.000 per day lorry trade crossing the Turkish-Iraq international border
at Habur (Abu Khalil).  So Barzani had his reasons.

But why was the KDP so eminently successful? The international media would
have us believe that it was due exclusively to his alliance with Saddam
Hussein.  Maybe so.  But there are other reasons.  For sure Barzani got
arms and military aid from Baghdad.  But he also seems to have got
substantial arms from Operation Provide Comfort.  It could be that the US,
and at least some of its allies, were eager to counter the Iranian thrust
of late July and what that foreboded in terms of a broadening of Iran's
influence in Northern Iraq.  The KDP peshmergas also fought better.  Most
of the KDP pesmergas are tribally based and the core still consists of
Barzani tribesmen ready and willing to die for their leader. The PUK
fighters showed no such conviction.

The KDP also received the support of Shaykh 'Uthman Abdul Aziz, the leader
of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK).  The territories controlled by
the IMK center in Ranya lying athwart the 36th parallel conveniently
between the territories controlled by the KDP and the PUK. Shaykh 'Uthman
threw his support and that of his peshmergas on the side of Barzani.

Now we must ask the question: Who wanted the KDP to win?  Baghdad did.
Turkey also favored a KDP victory.  A stronger KDP backed by Baghdad would
be better able to control the border area between the two countries by
eliminating, or at least restricting, the attacks of the PKK on targets
within Turkey.  A KDP victory would allow free flow of goods and trade
between Iraq and Turkey (Wherever the border may be placed).  Turkey, then,
a very close ally of the US, was happy with the KDP-Baghdad alliance and
facilitated its success.

Israel, the closest ally of the US, is also very happy with the KDP
victory.  Israel is a close ally of Turkey.  On February 24 and again
August 26, just five days before the KDP-Baghdad blitzkrieg, Ankara and Tel
Aviv signed another military - and apparently intelligence - cooperation
agreement.  In view of the close strategic cooperation between the two
countries, it seems likely that Israeli military and intelligence personnel
will participate with Turkey in setting up the new Turkish 'security zone'
along its international border with Iraq; after all, the Israelis have much
experience in this sort of thing.

Another reason for Israel's elation at the KDP victory is that it has the
potential for the expulsion of the PKK from Northern Iraq will limit the
ability of Syria to use the PKK as an instrument against Turkey in the two
countries' on-going differences regarding the Kurdish question and the
distribution of water flow from the Euphrates down to Syria.  And reduction
of the PKK's ability to maneuver in Northern Iraq and/or Syria reduces
Syria's regional geopolitics and geostrategic strength against Turkey.
This in turn necessitates more 'flexibility' on its part in its
negotiations with Israel and the US.  Perhaps it was not a coincidence that
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu was in Washington while the KDP and
Baghdad were mopping up the PUK.

Maybe the US wanted both: more pressure on Syria to meet its dictates for
'peace' between Israel and the Arabs; and the missile attacks on Saddam
Hussein to ensure that President Clinton would appear as the legitimate
heir of the 'Hero of the Gulf War' against an authentic hero of World War
II.

Robert Olson is professor of Middle East and Islamic history at the
University of Kentucky.  This article appeared in Kurdistan Report, No 24,
December 1996.


----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://www.kurdistan.org
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service
to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship



-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
MRTA Solidarity Page: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/mrta.htm
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/Politics/Arm.The.Spirit
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 ++++ 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 ++++



----------------------------- end forwarded message --------------------------
**********************************************************
Solidaritygroup Turkey-Kurdistan
P.O. Box 85306
3508 AH Utrecht
The Netherlands
stk at schism.antenna.nl
**********************************************************

From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec 31 14:52:06 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 31 Dec 1996 14:52:06
Subject: Release Of 6 To Turkey Opens Door W
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961231094..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Release Of 6 To Turkey Opens Door With Rebels

Release Of 6 To Turkey Opens Door With Rebels

By Stephen Kinzer

Istanbul, Turkey (New York Times - December 15, 1996) The
recently negotiated release of six Turkish soldiers captured by
Kurdish rebels appears to reflect at least the beginning of a
change in thinking about a conflict that has seemed likely to
drag on forever.
     Until lately, both the government and the rebels have
insisted that their single goal is military victory and that no
nonmilitary solution to the conflict is possible.
     But in recent months, the rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan, has
been quoted as saying that he would settle for autonomy rather
than full independence for Turkey's Kurdish region in the
southeast.
     He told a French newspaper that he had been contacted by
Turkey's new prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, but Erbakan has
not acknowledged making any such overture.
     Still, the prime minister has said he hopes to ease the
terms of emergency rule under which much of the southeast is
governed. Last week, the government was reportedly considering
some form of amnesty for Kurdish prisoners.
     Political and military leaders have resolutely refused to
deal with the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK,
for any purpose, including negotiating the release of prisoners.
     A member of parliament who traveled to PKK strongholds in
northern Iraq three months ago to seek the release of prisoners
was bitterly denounced and threatened with prosecution when he
returned.
     The politician, Fethullah Erbas, a member of the governing
Welfare Party, was unsuccessful that time. But last week he went
back to northern Iraq. This time he was successful, returning
with six young men who had been held prisoner for more than a
year.
     "I have done my duty not in the name of any party, but as a
citizen", he said, "and I have done it in spite of criticism from
many quarters."
     Among those who criticized Erbas was Yasar Okuyan, a leading
member of parliament from the opposition Motherland Party.
     "No one and no organization in Turkey should make deals with
the PKK", Okuyan said. "The PKK is a murderous organization that
kills our soldiers, our police officers and even our women and
children. I violently object to this."
     The government and the press, which covers the conflict
according to unwritten rules laid down by the military, portray
the PKK as a terrorist organization financed principally by
heroin smuggling. Police officials in several West European
countries also believe the PKK is heavily involved in drug
trafficking; the party denies it.
     On Tuesday, an Istanbul daily, Yeni Yuzyil, which says it
has obtained secret documents related to the government's use of
death squads to fight the rebels, published what it said was a
report showing that in 1994, Tansu Ciller, then the prime
minister, authorized a payment of more than $2 million to a
Turkish gunman for an operation aimed at killing Ocalan, the
rebel leader.
     Last month the gunman, Abdullah Catli, died along with a
senior police official in a car crash that has set off a major
scandal here. Mrs. Ciller has not commented on the report.
     Government leaders and Turkish journalists routinely refer
to PKK combatants as terrorists, and they described the six
captured soldiers as hostages, carefully avoiding the use of the
word "prisoner."
     "They have an underlying reason for this", said the chairman
of the Ankara-based Human Rights Association, Akin Birdal, who
was part of the delegation that traveled to northern Iraq to
arrange the soldiers' release. "If they accepted that the Turkish
soldiers were POWs, then they would have to consider people who
had fought for the other side as POWs as well, which would force
them to act within the boundaries of international law."
     A handful of Turkish soldiers captured by the PKK have been
released in the past without ceremony. But this week's group
release was the first known to have been the result of
negotiation.
     Last week, the three negotiators met in Ankara and then
traveled secretly to the Iraqi city of Dohuk, where the
prisoners' relatives had been camped out for weeks hoping for
their release. There they met PKK members who brought them and
the relatives to a camp near the Iraqi town of Amadiya.
     "The camp is established in rocky hills and mighty caves,
resembling an eagle's lair", wrote a Turkish journalist who was
present, adding: "The beating of hearts seemed noisy enough to
move the rocks around, when the commander of the camp told the
families to come out of the tents as the soldiers had arrived.
Then the soldiers were restored to their families. The scene at
the gathering brought a tear to everyone's eyes."


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec 31 15:21:30 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 31 Dec 1996 15:21:30
Subject: Kurdistan Workers Party Leader Call
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961231101..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Kurdistan Workers Party Leader Calls For Peace With Turkey

Kurdistan Workers Party Leader Calls For Peace With Turkey

Ankara, Turkey (Reuter - December 23, 1996) Kurdish rebel leader
Abdullah Ocalan called for a lasting solution to 12 years of
conflict between his forces and government troops in southeast
Turkey in comments published on Monday.
     "The time has come for a comprehensive peace", the Radikal
daily quoted Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) chief Ocalan as saying
in an interview in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
     Turkish governments and the military have often refused
direct negotiations with the PKK, which they regard as a
terrorist group. A unilateral rebel cease-fire declared last year
was ignored by Turkey.
     Ocalan said he would make peace proposals to Turkish
officials through unnamed mediators and repeated previous
assurances that he had dropped demands for a separate Kurdish
state on Turkish soil.
     "We will make a call for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish
problem in 1997 that respects Turkey's borders. They will not be
able to turn it down", he said.
     Radikal said Ocalan, also known as "Apo", vowed to launch
attacks in western Turkish cities if his peace offer was rejected
but it gave no more details of the threat.
     More than 21,000 people have died since the PKK took up arms
for Kurdish independence in 1984. The group has since stressed it
could settle for autonomy and cultural rights for Turkey's
estimated 10 million to 15 million Kurds.


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec 31 18:36:07 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 31 Dec 1996 18:36:07
Subject: DHKC Wishes Everyone A Happy 1997!
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961231133..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>

Hello everybody,

To all of our friends out there: We wish you a very good 1997!
We hope that all of you have a nice new years evening and that the
revolutionary movement will gain in strength all over the world in
1997. 

Long live proletarian internationalism!
Long live socialism!

We are right and we will win!


DHKC Informationbureau Amsterdam

-- 
Classwar in Turkey and Kurdistan: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk
Turkey Contra Guerrilla State: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/pub/contrind.html
Turkey Mailinglist Mirror: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ozgurluk/ml.html
KURTULUS HAFTALIK SIYASI GAZETE: http://www.kurtulus.com




From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec 31 18:51:28 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 31 Dec 1996 18:51:28
Subject: News From The Guerrilla War In Kurd
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961231134..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: News From The Guerrilla War In Kurdistan

News From The Guerrilla War In Kurdistan

Translated By Arm The Spirit From Kurdistan-Rundbrief #25/26
December 19, 1996

Turkish Army Suffers More Heavy Losses

On November 26, the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK) entered
the city of Cukurca in Hakkari province from many sides and fired heavy
weapons on the security agency headquarters and a military building.
Near the village of Asagl in Kulp district, a military convoy was
attacked by the ARGK, killing 2 soldiers and wounding 3 others.

On November 27, a clash between the ARGK and state forces in the
Karaoslan region of Dersim-Ovack left 4 Turkish soldiers dead. Another
clash in Dersim-Hozat left 1 soldier dead. The guerrilla suffered no
losses in either confrontation. An ARGK attack on the Biles military
station in Dersim-Ovack and in clashes in Bilkli, Gaffer, and Demkok in
Dersim-Hozat on November 28/29 left 25 soldiers and 2 guerrillas dead,
according to the DEM News Agency.

On November 29, the ARGK carried out a road control on the Batman-Sason
highway. They burned a bus belonging to the state water and electricity
corporation YSE and took one village guard prisoner. 2 soldiers and 9
village guards were wounded in subsequent fighting.

On November 30, the ARGK advanced from four directions into the city
center of Omerli in Mardin province at 5:30 pm. They fired B-7 rockets
and heavy machine guns on the state security building, army barracks,
government buildings, and the post office. That same day, the ARGK
ambushed a military convoy on the Omerli-Midyat highway, killing 1
soldier and wounding 2. An ARGK attack on a unit of soldiers stationed
on a hill north of Cukurca killed 7 soldiers.

On December 1, a clash between the ARGK and village guards near Kanikan
village in Kulp left 1 village guard dead and 3 others wounded. Later
that evening, 3 soldiers and 2 guerrillas were killed in clashes between
the cities of Kurtalan and Eruh in Siirt province.

On December 2, the ARGK ambushed state forces near the village of Merge
in Hakkari-Cukurca. During the 2-hour battle which followed, the Turkish
army suffered "heavy losses", according to the DEM News Agency. The
village guard settlement Sincan in the Mediterranean province
Hatay-Dortyol was fired upon with heavy weapons for 15 minutes by the
ARGK. The army launched an operation in the area following this attack,
but to no avail.

On December 3, a military station and gendarme guard post in the village
guard settlement Acut in Hakkari-Cukurca were attacked by the ARGK. The
guerrillas captured a large amount of weapons.

On the evening of December 3, a gendarme vehicle in the city of Ergani
in Diyarbakir province was fired upon by the guerrilla, killing 1
policeman and wounding 5 soldiers. The state forces then sealed off the
city and raided all the homes in the neighborhood where the attack took
place.

According to the DEM News Agency, clashes in the Sason-Siirt-Bitlis
region during a military operation left 20 soldiers dead. After the
battle, the bodies of two dead ARGK guerrillas were found. They seemed
to have died from poison gas.

Also according to DEM, 18 soldiers and 5 guerrillas were killed between
November 26 and December 7 during clashes between the ARGK and state
forces in Bingol province. A clash near the village of Kosbaba in
Diyarbakir province on December 6 left 1 soldier dead and 3 wounded.

On the evening of December 8, security forces in Midyat were attacked by
the ARGK with rockets. A guerrilla attack on a hill post in Bayrak left
1 Turkish officer and 4 soldiers dead.

Kurdistan-Rundbrief homepage: http://www.berlinet.de/kurdistan

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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
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++++ 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 ++++


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec 31 20:12:01 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 31 Dec 1996 20:12:01
Subject: Turkish Police Beat Human Rights Ac
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961231135..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Turkish Police Beat Human Rights Activists In Southeast

Turkish Police Beat Human Rights Activists In Southeast 

LICE, Turkey, Dec 30 (Reuter) - Police kicked an punched three members
of a Turkish human rights group at a protest meeting southeastern Turkey
on Monday, witnesses said. 

A group of about 40 activists, lawyers and politicians had travelled to
Lice from the provincial capital Diyarbakir to investigate charges that
around 100 men had been forced to join the anti-rebel "village
guard" militia. 

Police in Lice, 80 km (50 miles) north of Diyarbakir, accused the
members of the Diyarbakir Democracy Platform of supporting the rebel
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and not caring about police deaths, the
witnesses said. 

They then kicked and punched three members of the group, they added. 

The Human Rights Association (IHD) said last week that gendarmerie
troops had threatened to raze the town and kill its inhabitants if 100
people did not become village guards. 

The group said 110 people were then detained for two days, then sent
home with guns as members of the militia. 

When the activists arrived at Lice, a crowd of about 150 people, mostly
women and children, gathered in the town square chanting "We don't want
village guards, let our children go."

Before the beatings, a local government official addressed the crowd,
the witnesses said. 

"If anyone doesn't want to be a village guard, he should come and leave
his weapon and he will be free to go," Captain Haci Irbasli said. No one
came forward. 

IHD director Eren Keskin said after returning to Diyarbakir from Lice:
"No one should be forced to become a vilage guard, we want peace and we
don't want the death of anyone."

More than 21,000 people have been killed in the 12-year-old conflict
between the security forces and the PKK who are fighting for autonomy or
independence in the mainly Kurdish southeast. 

More than 70,000 mainly Kurdish village guards are enrolled to help the
government in the fight against the PKK.


From kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu  Tue Dec 31 20:57:45 1996
From: kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu (kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu)
Date: 31 Dec 1996 20:57:45
Subject: Turkish Forces Cross Into South Kur
Message-ID: <bac1c849.Pine.NEB.3.95.961231155..@burn.ucsd.edu>

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Turkish Forces Cross Into South Kurdistan

Turkish Forces Cross Into Northern Iraq 

ISTANBUL, Dec 31 (Reuter) - Turkish troops, backed by air support, have
crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish separatist rebels,
Turkey's armed forces said on Tuesday. 

A statement from the office of the general staff, quoted by Anatolian
news agency, said a brigade crossed into the region on Monday night
after troops came under fire along the border near the southeastern
Turkish town of Silopi. 

The operation was continuing on Tuesday. The statement did not give the
number of troops who crossed into Iraq but local officials said there
had been about 2,000 Turkish soldiers in the Silopi area. 

Turkish forces have in the passed staged several incursions into
northern Iraq in their fight against the PKK. 

More than 21,000 people have been killed in the 12-year-old conflict
between the security forces and the PKK who are fighting for autonomy or
independence in the mainly Kurdish southeast.