AI: Turkey bulletin

[english at ozgurlluk.xs4all.nl]

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 9 November 1997.          +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                 AI Index: EUR 44/70/97
                                         9 October 1997

EXTRA 133/97         Fear of "disappearance" / Fear of torture

TURKEY               Omer Kose, aged 33
                     Mehmet Coskun, aged 50
                     Huseyin Taskin, aged 49
                     Mustafa Taskin, aged 39
                     Mehmet Taskin, aged 53
                     Ali Pala, aged 52
                     Hasan Temel, aged 38              

Seven Kurdish villagers are being held in incommunicado
detention, where it is feared they are facing torture during
interrogation.  Their detentions have not been acknowledged by
the authorities, raising further fears that the detainees may
also be at risk of "disappearance".

On 30 September 1997 soldiers and Special Operations Team members
[heavily armed police units trained for close combat with members
of the illegal armed Kurdish Workers' Party, PKK, and operating
under the control of the Interior Ministry] raided Bademli
village in the Dicle district of Diyarbakir province. They
reportedly assembled all the male inhabitants in the village
centre and detained the seven Kurdish villagers named above. 

When attempts to establish the detainees' whereabouts were
unsuccessful, an application for information was submitted to the
prosecutor's office at Diyarbakir State Security Court, where
detentions should be registered. However, on 9 October the
prosecutor's office denied that the seven villagers were being
held, heightening concern for their safety.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

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

People suspected of offences under the Anti-Terror Law can now
be held in police custody without access to family, friends or
legal counsel for up to four days. This period may be increased
to 10 days in the six provinces currently under State of
Emergency, and to seven days in the rest of Turkey during which
detainees would have to be granted access to a lawyer.

Most victims of "disappearance" and extrajudicial killings in
rural areas are Kurdish villagers who refuse to join the village
guard system, established originally as a civil defence force
against PKK attacks on their own village. Today the 60,000
village guards form a paramilitary force deployed in operations
against other villages and even incursions into northern Iraq,
identification checks at road blocks and interrogations. In
theory membership is voluntary, but in practice villagers are
often put under pressure to join. If they refuse, they are
accused of supporting the PKK and risk reprisals by the security
forces. If they join, they are at risk of reprisals by the PKK.

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ Supporters of Amnesty International around the world are  +
+ writing urgent appeals in response to the concerns        +
+ described above. If you would like to join with them in   +
+ this action or have any queries about the Urgent Action   +
+ network or Amnesty International in general, please       +
+ contact one of the following:                             +
+                                                           +
+      Ray Mitchell, ua at amnesty.org.uk (UK)                 +
+      Scott Harrison, sharrison at igc.apc.org (USA)          +
+      Guido Gabriel, ggabriel at amnesty.cl.sub.de (Germany)  +
+      Marilyn McKim, mmckim at amnesty.ca (Canada)            +
+      Xavier Zeebroeck, xzeebroek at aibf.be (Belgium)        +
+      Anne Nolan, ua at amnesty.iol.ie (Ireland)              +
+-----------------------------------------------------------+


-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
The Struggle for justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan
http://www.ozgurluk.org                          
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