Dogfight in Turkey

Fri Sep 5 21:53:09 BST 1997

              [LINK]Ciller hits low 'body bag' blow to government

   Turkish Daily News

   Ankara - Tansu Ciller, chairperson of the opposition True Path Party,
   has called the coalition a "plastic bag" government and said: "Do you
   know who they want to put into those plastic bags? They want to put
   your sister [indicating herself] into those bags and bury her."

   Ciller was quoted by the Anatolia news agency on Friday, referring to
   the issue of body bags, which the Transport Ministry want to be kept
   in motor vehicles, workplaces and houses.

   While addressing residents of the Bandirma district of Aegean
   Balikesir province, Ciller criticized the government over the issues
   of the S-300 missiles, agricultural policies and the new traffic
   regulations.
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              Mazlumder reports human rights violations in Turkey

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   Turkish Daily News

   Istanbul - A pro-Islamic human rights group has reported widespread
   human rights violations in Turkey in August, including 2,350
   detentions and 247 deaths in clashes with security officials.

   The head of the Istanbul branch of the Association of Solidarity for
   Human Rights and the Oppressed (Mazlumder) Sadi Carsancakli said the
   violations were alarming developments.

   "We are now becoming familiar with oppressions that used to be told by
   our grandfathers, which were foreign to our generation,"Carsancakli
   declared in a written statement Thursday.

   He pointed out that old people were being harassed in front of
   Imam-Hatip preacher schools and female students were being questioned
   at universities for wearing head scarves.

   Carsancakli, a lawyer, accused authorities of banning people from
   entering the famed Haci Bayram Mosque in Ankara to pray. He also said
   a hunger strike (to death) was taking place in Nigde prison.

   He also criticized the government for banning foreign peace activists
   from attending a World Peace Day meeting in southeast Turkey and
   holding a news conference in Istanbul.

   He said 416 women had been harassed for wearing head scarves and
   likewise seven men had faced harassment for wearing religious robes.

   "The government is attempting to control the people," he claimed.
   "This is the understanding of a one-party system. The state exists
   along with the people. It is shaped by the tendencies of the people
   and must follow this direction."
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                   DGM may prosecute LDP leader Besim Tibuk

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    By Metin Demirsar / Turkish Daily News

   Istanbul - The State Security Court (DGM) may prosecute the leader of
   the Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) for criticizing the detention of a
   political party leader and demanding the removal of the chief
   prosecutor of the court, LDP officials said Friday.

   LDP officials in Istanbul said their controversial leader, Besim
   Tibuk, was to appear at the DGM in Ankara yesterday to answer the
   questions posed by court's prosecutor about his statements criticizing
   the 24-hour detention of conservative Rebirth Party leader, Hasan
   Celal Guzel, in July.

   They said the DGM could open a court case against Tibuk, 52, founder
   and former chairman of Net Holding, Turkey's biggest tourism
   conglomerate. Tibuk has led the small LDP since its founding in the
   early 1990s.

   The LDP isn't represented in parliament and hasn't contested any
   elections to date.

   Guzel was detained after holding a news conference in which he
   disclosed secret army documents allegedly showing preparations for a
   military coup in Turkey against the then Islamist-led government.

   Tibuk had said no political leaders should be arrested for their
   views. He had also demanded the removal of the DGM's chief public
   prosecutor, Nuh Mete Yuksel, for demanding Guzel's arrest.
     _________________________________________________________________

                High Board of Human Rights meets in Diyarbakir

     * _Minister Turk: _'Southeast failed to develop as much as the other
       regions'

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   Turkish Daily News

   Ankara - Hikmet Sami Turk, State Minister responsible for human
   rights, pointed out that the southeastern region of Turkey had not
   developed as much as other parts of the country, the Anatolia news
   agency reported.

   "Investments to be made in the region have gained importance" said
   Turk.

   Organizing a press conference after the eight gathering of the High
   Board of Human Rights in Diyarbakir, Turk stated that such gatherings
   in the southeastern region confirmed the importance that the
   government gave to that region.

   Turk briefed that the government would announce its projects for the
   southeast after its meeting in Siirt to be held on Sept. 16.
     _________________________________________________________________

                 Justice Ministry will amend broadcasting laws

     * RTUK objects to the transfer of its excess revenues to the
       Treasury

     _________________________________________________________________

   Turkish Daily News

   Ankara - The Ministry of Justice has called the representatives of
   national radio and television stations to a meeting on Sept. 18 in
   order to discuss amendments to the law regulating radio and television
   broadcasts, the Anatolia news agency reported.

   The amendments, which are planned to be introduced, will cover a
   National Security Council (MGK) suggestion on separatist and
   subversive broadcasts, the position of the general director of the
   Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), the revision of TV
   shutdown punishments, and the transfer of the excess revenues from the
   Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK) -- an iron-fisted
   regulatory body controlling broadcasts -- to the Treasury.

   The RTUK's deputy chairman, Fatih Karaca, who spoke with an Anatolia
   reporter, said the RTUK's opinions were polled on whether to impose
   fines on the violators of broadcast regulations. He said Parliament
   would give the amendment proposal its final shape, adding that
   broadcast shutdowns must be the last step in punishments which follow
   fines.

   Karaca confirmed that he had heard the Justice Ministry intended to
   transfer the excess revenues of the RTUK to the Treasury. However he
   did not regard the development positively, saying they would not have
   an optimistic view of this.
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 Chief judge says court rapporteur of RP closure case is receiving threatening
                                    letters

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   Turkish Daily News

   Ankara-Yekta Gungor Ozden, the chief judge of the Constitutional
   Court, disclosed on Friday that the court rapporteur dealing with a
   case against Necmettin Erbakan's pro-religion Welfare Party (RP) was
   receiving threatening letters, reported the Anatolia news agency. The
   RP is faced with the threat of being closed for "becoming a focal
   point of anti-secular criminal activity."

   Speaking to reporters during a visit to the Turkish Industrialists and
   Businessmen's Foundation (TUSIAV) premises, Ozden said, "Very ugly
   things are taking place in Turkey. (But) the Constitutional Court will
   not be influenced by anyone. I have been a judge for 41 years. To whom
   can I possibly sell out? There is no way they can say I have received
   credits or money from the prime minister's slush fund. So they are
   making irrational claims."

   Stressing that democracy could not exist without the principle of
   secularism, that the army is democratic, and the National Security
   Council is not above the Constitutional Court, he said, "We are not
   against or on the side of anyone. We attach importance to cooperation
   among institutions."

   In reply to a question, Ozden said the Constitutional Court's staff
   had not been consulted about the planned changes in Article 100 of the
   Constitution as a result of which the prime minister and ministers of
   the country would become liable to prosecution, without having to
   obtain the permission of Parliament, for crimes such as corruption and
   irregularities. "Parliamentary seats should not be used as a tool to
   enable persons to commit crimes and get away with it. Any deputy who
   commits a crime should be tried immediately," he said.
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                      [LINK]Baykal urges Susurluk solved

   Turkish Daily News

   Izmir - Opposition Republican People's Party leader Deniz Baykal said:
   "We would welcome any attempt to put Susurluk on the agenda even when
   this amounts to staging a show." Baykal, reported the Anatolia news
   agency, was commenting on True Path Party leader Tansu Ciller's trip
   to Susurluk nearly a year after a road accident in the Western
   Anatolian town triggered the "state gang" scandal in which two DYP
   deputies have been implicated.

   Baykal said Ciller and her friends should vote in favor of stripping
   these two deputies of their legislative immunity. He said: "A new
   attempt is needed to strip them of their legislative immunity. The
   initial attempt to do so failed in Parliament because Necmettin
   Erbakan and Sevket Kazan [both of the Welfare Party] obstructed it."

   In reply to questions about the Southeast, Baykal said his party was
   suggesting an Economic Development Council to counter the outlawed
   Kurdistan Workers' Party in the region. Represented in the council
   would be civic and business organizations of the region. The council's
   chairman would be a government minister.

   Referring to the economy, he said: "The August monthly inflation
   figures are too high. We have experienced under this government the
   biggest price increases in the history of the republic. This is
   worrisome. Inflation is on the brink of exploding."
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                   RP charged with tampering with documents

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   Turkish Daily News

   Ankara - A Constitutional Court rapporteur has completed his report on
   the 1990 rent value of the Welfare Party (RP) headquarters building
   located in Ankara's Balgat district, the Anatolia news agency
   reported. The report was sent to the Constitutional Court by the
   prosecutor in chief of the Court of Appeals.

   Prosecutors have revealed that according to the RP's lease agreement
   the monthly rent for its headquarters building was TL 250,000 rent in
   1990, but receipts showed that the RP paid TL 450,000 monthly.
   However, according to the report, the real rent value of the building
   in 1990 was TL 5,950,000, far above the rent paid by the RP.

   The report prepared by a civil engineer, said the RP's rent receipts
   indicated that it was paying TL 450,000 from March to December of
   1990. But a one-year lease signed between the RP and a private
   corporation on Feb. 1990 said the tenant would have to pay TL 250,000.

   However, the RP should have paid nearly TL 6 million for its monthly
   rent of the whole building, when its real rent value was considered,
   the report added.
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                   [LINK]Ciller faces protestors in Susurluk

     * The DYP leader attacks Mesut Yilmaz and claims, referring to the
       recent body bag fiasco, that the government wants to put her into
       a plastic body bag

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   Turkish Daily News

   Ankara - Tansu Ciller, chairperson of the opposition True Path Party
   (DYP) was confronted by a protest group while making a speech in
   Balikesir's Susurluk district where last year's highly controversial
   traffic accident occurred, which revealed the illegal relationships
   between the state, the police force and the mafia.

   According to the information received by the Anatolia news agency,
   during Ciller's speech in the city center of Susurluk, a group
   consisting of members of the Democratic Left Party (DSP), Motherland
   Party (ANAP), People's Republican Party (CHP) and Freedom and
   Democracy Party (ODP) supporters held banners saying, "Ciller, welcome
   to Susurluk accident." The group shouted slogans such as, "The gangs
   will answer to the people," and "Block the gangs, not the people." DYP
   supporters tried to prevent the group from demonstrating, but security
   forces intervened and escorted the group from the scene.

   "The gangs behind the Susurluk accident are those who brought Mesut
   Yilmaz to the prime ministry," Ciller stated. She denied all the
   claims about herself. Ciller accused those making the claims of
   carrying out a slander campaign and she challenged them to reveal
   their proof.

   Meanwhile, DYP leader Ciller has called the coalition a "plastic bag"
   government and said: "Do you know who they want to put into those
   plastic bags? They want to put your sister [indicating herself] into
   those bags and bury her."

   Ciller was quoted by the Anatolia news agency on Friday, referring to
   the issue of body bags, about which the Transport Ministry recently
   decreed should be kept in motor vehicles, workplaces and houses. This
   decree was subsequently revoked.

   While addressing residents of the Bandirma district of Balikesir
   province in northwestern Turkey, Ciller criticized the government over
   the issues of the S-300 missiles, agricultural policies and the new
   traffic regulations.

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