Mainstream news: Germany bans DHKP-C

Fri Aug 14 06:33:38 BST 1998

Subject: Germany bans two Turkish political groups

FOCUS-Germany bans two Turkish political groups
11:43 a.m. Aug 13, 1998 Eastern

By Mark John

BONN, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Germany on Thursday banned two Turkish
political organisations it accused of terrorising and extorting cash
from Germany's two-million-plus Turkish population.

The Interior Ministry said the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party
(DHKP-C) and the Turkish People's Liberation Party (THKP-C) were
responsible for a series of murders and attempted murders.

It said the two had been involved in a bitter struggle for supremacy
following the banning in 1983 of their predecessor, the far-left
Devrimci Sol organisation.

``This has to be stopped...for the sake of the rule of law and so
German and Turkish fellow citizens can live together peacefully,''
Interior Minister Manfred Kanther said in a statement.

Tough action against crime by foreigners living in Germany has been a
major theme of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's campaign to be re-elected on
September 27. The campaign has tended to focus on criminality by
individuals rather than that by organised, politically motivated
groups.

Three former members of the Devrimci Sol are on trial in Hamburg for
attempted murder and arms offences.

The ban, effective immediately, means the two groups will be stripped
of their assets and forbidden from continuing their activities in
Germany. Any representation of the insignia of the two groups is also
illegal.

Germany's Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV),
which is responsible for internal security, said the groups had a
combined membership of 1,300.

The DHKP-C, by far the larger of the two groups, stated in a recently
published manifesto its aim was the creation of a democratic,
multi-cultural state for Turks, Kurds and other ethnic groups.

The BfV, which monitors extremist groups in Germany, said members of
the two organisations were wounded in shootouts in Frankfurt and
Hamburg about a year ago.

Some 2.3 million Turks live in Germany, the largest ethnic grouping
among the country's seven million foreigners.

Faruk Sen, head of the Centre for Turkish Studies at Essen University
and a leading commentator on Turkish issues in Germany, said he did
not think the activities of the two groups affected most Turks in
Germany.

``Their impact is minimal. But the bans are justified...they have a
symbolic significance,'' he said.

He added however that it was likely the organisations would simply
reform under new names.

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