Weekly attacks at Turkish Saterdaymothers and Human Rights defenders

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

IZMIR

Yesterday (November 7, 1998) the Saturday Mothers were again prevented
from carrying out their action on Konak Square.
Yesterday in the Izmir office of the IHD (Human Rights Association) a
three- day hunger strike was started in protest against the attacks on
the newspaper Kurtulus, as well as the authorities' constant
obstruction of the Izmir HÖP's (Platform for Rights and Freedom)
actions for the disappeared.  As of now, the following are taking part
in the hunger strike: Kurtulus, TAYAD (association supporting
prisoners and their families), Halkin Günlügü, EKSM (EKIN Culture and
Art Centre) and HÖP (Platform for Rights and Freedom) . In their
protest statement they said amongst other things: "For 17 weeks we
have been carrying out our actions against disappearances, and we have
always been confronted by the police with obstructions and
arrests. There have been 49 arrests and four detentions up to the
present." HÖP in Izmir has started a court action against the State
Prosecutor's Office in Izmir.

The organisations in the hunger strike add that "our protests also
apply to the escalated attacks on the weekly newspaper Kurtulus."

ISTANBUL:

Another five persons were arrested at yesterday's Saturday Mothers'
action in Galatasaray as a continuation of the violent attacks by the
police which have been taking place in recent weeks.

ANKARA: 

Yesterday on November 7, 1998, 200 people took part in the weekly
action organised by IHD for the disappeared and the arrested. There
were no arrests on this occasion.

KOCAELI/Izmit: 

While a protest hunger strike was also begun in Kocaeli against the
attacks on Kurtulus, the police attacked brutally. Twenty-four persons
were arrested , two of them seriously injured. Nesrin Calgin, a
representative of the newspaper Kurtulus in Kocaeli, and Sinan Sahin,
a reader of the newspaper, suffered brain damage in the course of the
police assault. They were immediately taken to hospital.

BURSA:

In the Bursa IHD building, a hunger strike was begun in relation to
the attacks on Kurtulus. There the police carried out identity checks
for a period of one and a half hours and confiscated back issues of
the newspaper Kurtulus.

Send your protest letter to:

President Süleyman Demirel, Office of the President, Cumhur
Baskanligi, 06100 Ankara.

Fax : + 90 312 427 13 30 

Prime Minister M. Yilmaz, office of the Prime Minister, Basbakanlik,
06573 Ankara, Turkey.

Fax : + 90 312 417 04 76 
Interior Minister, Kutlu Aktas: 
Fax: + 90 312 417 39 54

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan!
Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org                          
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