Turkish Human Rights Activist Shot

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

Turkish Human Rights Activist Shot 

Tuesday, May 12, 1998; 10:11 a.m. EDT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Two assailants shot and wounded a leading
Turkish human rights activist in his Ankara office today. An
ultranationalist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Akin Birdal, president of Turkey's independent Human Rights
Association, was in critical condition with six bullet wounds in the
leg, chest and shoulder, said Tevfik Ali Kucukbas, chief physician at
the private Sevgi hospital.

Two men entered Birdal's downtown office and opened fire, an
association official, Meral Bekar, told The Associated Press. The
association is the largest organization of its kind in Turkey.

Birdal, widely respected by international rights organizations, has
been fighting Turkey's government over alleged human rights
violations, including torture and forced village evacuations in the
Kurdish-dominated southeast.

The Turkish Revenge Brigade claimed it carried out the attack, private
NTV television reported. Little is known about the ultranationalist
group, but it has been vocally opposed to Turkey's Kurds.

The group, which has claimed responsibility for killing several
Kurdish and leftist journalists, did not give a motive for the attack
on Birdal.

Husnu Ondul, general secretary of the Human Rights Association, said
without elaborating that Birdal had been receiving death threats and
had requested protection from the government, to no avail.
-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan!
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