Policeraid in Cologne against Turkish publisher

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

PRISON WATCH INTERNATIONAL
Contact address: Kalkarer Str. 2. D-50733 COLOGNE
Tel: 0221-760 76 56 Fax: 0221-760 28 67

November 18, 1998

URGENT

According to a statement of the ANADOLU Publishers, the police
brutally attacked the co-workers of the publishing firm on November
17, 1998. Besides several publications in opposition to Turkey,
ANADOLU Publishers also distributed the Kurtulus magazine. This police
action was the first offensive of the German authorities after the
banning order issued by the former minister of the Interior Manfred
Kanther against the DHKP-C (Revolutionary People's Liberation
Party-Front), which fights against the regime in Turkey. Kanther,
giving the banning order without taking in account the ongoing trial
against presumed members of the DHKP-C, stated that the Kurtulus
weekly, still appearing legally in Turkey, was the press organ of the
DHKP-C. While the new minister of the Interior, Otto Schilly, hasn't
made a statement regarding the issue yet after the formation of the
SPD-Buendnis 90/Die Gruenen government coalition, it now came to the
apprehended police action against the residence of the
Kurtulus-representation in Germany/Cologne. According to the
co-workers of the publishing firm, a search was carried out to find
evidence against a person who is at trial at present in Hamburg.
However, there must be ulterior motives, we dare say, for this, as
will become obvious, arbitrary and aggressive police raid. Because on
November 12, the police president of Turkey, Necati Bilican, was on an
official visit with the Bundeskriminalamt (federal criminal
investigation department) in Cologne where, as could be read in the
press as well, "a series of talks" were held. What the talks were
about remains a secret at the moment. But attacks of this nature
against the opposition from Turkey have regularly occurred after
official visits from politicians, police chiefs or other high state
servants from Turkey. This shows in what measure the methods, applied
in Turkey against the opposition from the left, are being imported to
Germany, what level the co-operation with the Turkish regime, accused
of thousands of minor and major crimes against the Kurdish and other
peoples in Turkey, has reached.

How the "search" in the ANADOLU publishers was conducted:

At 8.45 a.m., nine officers, among them seven plainclothes officers
from the BKA-Cologne, 1 observer as well as two interpreters, entered
the office. When the persons present in the office asked for the
search warrant, it was said "It should be enough for you that we are
police officers". The officers stated that nobody was the enter the
rooms they were searching. They threatened with expulsion and arrest
in case people would insist. Although it was attempted several times
to detain the persons present in one room, the demand to be present at
the search was accepted in the end. The search continued with emptying
and dislocating all the cupboards, spreading the items across the
floor. At that time, two visitors were being arrested. Without any
explanation, one of them was handcuffed and dragged to a police car at
the arms and legs. Later, dozens more of police cars from the BKA-Bonn
and the Cologne police department arrived. The number of officers in
the office increased to more than 30 at once. The co-workers of the
publishers firm reacted against the police, who attempted to provocate
with insults and accusations, by yelling slogans at the time of the
arrest and banging on the windows. The police, becoming more
aggressive, thereupon began to hit upon four persons who were dragged
to the floor, thrown against the wall, and arrested. The owner of the
publishing firm was chained at the hands and feet, beaten and
arrested. On the way to the police station, the mistreatments
continued and this person suffered from a burst right eardrum. Another
co-worker, handcuffed, fell from the stairs and hit the wall head
first after a policeman tore the banisters away. The other co-workers
were thrown to the floor as well, beaten up, and arrested. Even during
the six hours they were in police custody, the handcuffs were not
removed. The co-workers and the owner of the publishing firm were
released at nightfall.

3 computers, 1 monitor, 1 printer, some 200 diskettes, 10 books from
the archive, hundreds of magazines, special issues and leaflets were
confiscated.

On the other hand, the library books were scattered around, shelves
were damaged, wall-tiles were torn out, together with the banisters,
curtains torn up, light bulbs removed and crushed, and the entire
office was messed up.

According to the latest information, one of the arrested persons,
Mesut Demirel, was taken into custody and he is now supposed to be in
the detention facility of Bochum. At the moment there is no
information about the reasons of this detention. 

We call upon the democratic public in the Federal Republic of Germany
to protest against this brutal police operation, to inquire for the
reasons for the arrest and detention of Hakan Akmaz and Mesut Demirel,
and to demand their immediate release.

Protest fax numbers:

BKA: 0611-55 21 41
Ministry of the Interior: 0228-681 46 65
Ministry of Justice: 0228- 584 525
Cologne Police Department: 0221-229 20 02
Federal Chancellor Office: 0228- 56 23 57

Statements of support, please address to the ANADOLU Publishers:
Fax: 0221-760 28 87

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