From dhkc at ozgurluk.org Thu Oct 1 11:22:35 1998 From: dhkc at ozgurluk.org (dhkc at ozgurluk.org) Date: 01 Oct 1998 11:22:35 Subject: The German ban on the DHKP-C is illegitimate Message-ID: We are calling the public opinion, to reply on this message with a short solidarity-message to dhkc at ozgurluk.org ThanX The ban on the DHKP-C is illegitimate The German government declared in a resolution on August 13, 1998 that all activities by the DHKP-C are forbidden in Germany. This is not the first time that the organisation has been faced with such a ban. It is also not a new thing for its activities to be banned in Germany. Back in 1983, Devrimci Sol was banned by order of the German Interior Ministry. In other words, since 1983 attempts have been made to prevent revolutionary organisations from Turkey from operating in Germany. This ban was also maintained after the founding of the DHKP-C in 1994. Dozens of sympathisers were arrested simply on the charge that they had used symbols of the organisation. In many cases selling a legally permitted newspaper sufficed as ground for the arrest. The ban merely makes "official" the illegal but nonetheless real attempts to prevent a revolutionary organisation from functioning. The question is however not one of whether such a ban is legal or not. This is not what we are talking about at all. The German government has itself described its decision as a "reaction to the situation that arose as a result of the Federal Court's decision". The Federal Court had decided at the start of the year that as a new organisation, it was not in legal terms proved beyond doubt that the DHKP-C was the successor to Devrimci Sol. The ban was possible by making use of a legal loophole in legislation. The real question is whether the ban is legitimate or not. The facts are clear. There is a fascist regime in power in Turkey, and the whole world knows this. This regime does not hold back from using the most barbaric and bloody methods. The DHKP-C fights against this regime, conducting one of the most legitimate and justified struggles in the world. It is this legitimacy that the German government ban seeks to attack. Therefore, such a ban cannot be legitimate. The DHKP-C sets itself the task of telling more than two million Turks, Kurds, Laz, Cherkess, Arabs, Georgians, in other words people of all the nationalities of Anatolia who live in Germany, about the revolutionary struggle in Turkey, bringing them closer to it, calling upon them to support the liberation of these peoples and indeed their own liberation. It sets itself the responsibility of telling the peoples of the world of the crimes of the fascist regime and of the legitimacy of the struggle against fascism. It will carry on fulfilling this task and assuming this responsibility. It is our understanding of international solidarity in the struggle against fascism that a liberation movement should be supported in its activities. The German government is trying to present the DHKP-C as a criminal organisation which harms people and threatens the security of the peoples. Whether in the ban itself, the press statement by the former German Interior minister Manfred Kanther on the ban or in publications that have been manipulated, this is the mood that they are trying to create. For us this is a slander on a revolutionary organisation, on the history of its struggle and its hundreds of martyrs. In the entire history of the organisation there has never been a case in which ordinary people have been harmed. This also applies to the struggle in Anatolia, which is a bloody one entailing risk to life. Slanders of the kind we have described on the organisation in Europe, whose activities are largely propagandist and aimed at creating solidarity and support for the struggle in Turkey, are innumerable. A revolutionary liberation movement has no problem either with the German people or with other peoples of the world. It is imperialist governments who create problems like the ban. On the one hand, the ban was designed to create a phobia about "internal security" just before elections are due, and to mislead the public into thinking "look how decisive we are being in addressing this problem". On the other hand, it is a bribe directed to the fascist regime in Turkey to help bring warmth back to relations which have recently cooled. This means giving political support to the fascist regime. The support the German government offers in various other forms, for example military and economic, is here being offered in the form of a ban on a revolutionary organisation. Governments come and go but the people remain. These bans, these examples of political support and patterns of behaviour aimed at maintaining a fascist regime in power serve only to attract the hostility of the peoples. The DHKP-C is a people's liberation movement. It is legitimate. Its activities in Germany are legitimate. What is illegitimate is the ban on a people's liberation movement. The DHKP-C will continue to exist in Germany and continue its activities. A liberation movement cannot be 'banned'. Fascism in Turkey has long since become aware of this. Germany will also become aware of it. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Mon Oct 5 10:10:40 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 05 Oct 1998 10:10:40 Subject: Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Kurdistan Message-ID: The Center for Kurdish Political Studies PO Box 4822 Lubbock, Texas 79401 USA telephone: +1-806-767-9079 e-mail: pkk at pkk.org Dear Compatriots, We, the members of the Center for Kurdish Political Studies, are honored to bring you the Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Kurdistan. This is a great moment in our history, a moment which marks a giant leap forward for our oppressed nation. The Provisional Constitution is a legal document upon its democratic foundation stones a free and united Kurdistan may initially be built. It is succinct, leaving room for periodic adjustments to the inevitable changes wrought by time, evolution of the Kurdish society and priorities. Built into this document are specific safeguards designed to prevent future erosions of the basic liberties of the citizenry, the democratic nature of the government and the autonomy of the diverse segments of the nation. Fundamental equality with other nations must be instilled in the minds of the Kurdish people before it can reflect in the conduct of the nation's leaders. The Kurds must deal with others as equals and not from a position of inferiority. They must begin by respecting themselves if they expect others to reciprocate that respect. And this must include their refusal to compromise their equality with other peoples. To compromise the inherent right to equality with others in the quest for temporal advantage can never result in the improvement of existing conditions. The Kurdish case itself is the obvious example of this failure. To declare equality in self-determination may unfold a coarser path to freedom, but a direct and unmistakable one nonetheless. These words of Ralph Waldo Emerson engraved in the entrance to the Statue of Liberty in New York warn of the danger of sacrificing equality to expediency: "People who exchange their freedom for comfort do not deserve the former and shall soon lose the latter." Bijan Eliasi, Director The Center for Kurdish Political Studies http://www.pkk.org/ckps/constitution.htm ******************************************* Solidariteitsgroep Turkije-Kurdistan Postbus 2884 3500 GW Utrecht the Netherlands stk at xs4all.nl http://www.xs4all.nl/~stk/index.html ******************************************* List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Mon Oct 5 10:13:37 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 05 Oct 1998 10:13:37 Subject: IRSP: Re The German ban on the DHKP-C is illegitimate Message-ID: The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America denounce the ban imposed on the DHKP-C. We recognise that the German government has previously undertaken actions against the Kurdish community in Germany and against the revolutionary organisations amongst the Turkish community in Germany. This latest move against the DHKC-P is but the latest in a shameful political legacy. The work of the DHKC-P against the fascist regime in Turkey deserves to be allowed in Germany and by aligning itself against the DHKP-C, the German government retraces the steps towards its own fascist past. We join with other anti-fascist forces and progressive organisations throughout the world in calling for the German govenment to reverse its ban and stop the repression of revolutionary organisations within the Kurds, Turks, and other Anatolian peoples resident in Germany. Peter Urban North American Coordinator Irish Republican Socialist Committees 2057 15th Street, Suite B San Francisco, CA 94114 Phone/Fax 415-861-1355 irsp at netwiz.net http://irsm.org/irsm/ http://irsm.org/irscna/ List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From dhkc at ozgurluk.org Mon Oct 5 10:26:30 1998 From: dhkc at ozgurluk.org (dhkc at ozgurluk.org) Date: 05 Oct 1998 10:26:30 Subject: Turkey - DHKP-C Statements Message-ID: DEVRIMCI HALK KURTULUS CEPHESI Press Office August 31, 1998 Statement: 68 DHKC GUERRILLA FIGHTERS BLOCKED MOTORWAY IN TOKAT BECAUSE OF THE DISAPPEARED On August 30 1998, at 10.10 p.m., an Armed Propaganda Rural Unit, belonging to the Recai Dincel Mediterranean Command of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front blocked the crossing to Mezra of the E-24, 12 kilometres from Niksar, by means of a barricade. After the DHKC-fighters blocked the road, travellers were let out of their vehicles and identity checks were carried out. The travellers and drivers were warned to stay away from enemy activities. Their papers and car keys were collected. The travellers were gathered and they were informed about Neslihan Uslu, Metin Andas, Hasan Aydogan and M. Ali Mandal who were made disappeared in custody on March 31 in Izmir. While there was propaganda about the themes of the rulers' policy of disappearances and the goals the DHKP-C was fighting for, questions by the people present were being answered. People were informed about the view of justice of the revolutionaries and it was emphasised that people who do not oppose the people and the revolutionaries, and who do not serve the enemy, would be harmed. A loaded truck and a passengers bus, not belonging to the people, were set on fire. The travellers were then released. A banner about the disappeared and a flag of the front were displayed at the scene of the action. Furthermore leaflets were distributed, explaining the goal of the action. The motorway, blocked at 10.10 p.m., remained blocked till 6. a.m. at which time 600 vehicles were gathered. The enemy forces, arriving in large numbers at the scene of the action, were unable to find the guerrilla fighters and fired at random in all directions. Farmers in the area were being arrested. Our guerrilla unit withdrew without any losses. WHERE ARE OUR DISAPPEARED? THE SUSURLUK STATE WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE DISAPPEARED! DEVRIMCI HALK KURTULUS CEPHESI DEVRIMCI HALK KURTULUS CEPHESI Press Office Statement: 67 August 30, 1998 Bomb attack against ANAP and a punishment action OUR FOUR PEOPLE REMAIN DISAPPEARED The Mesut Yilmaz-government and ANAP, who have made our four comrades disappeared and who haven't, even after 4 months, given any explanation about their fate, are primarily responsible for their disappearance. The prime minister, claiming no murders by unknown perpetrators, no executions and disappearances occurred under the ANAP-coalition government, is lying. The most concrete evidence for this is the disappearance of Neslihan Uslu, Hasan Aydogan, Metin Andas and Mehmet Ali Mandal, who were arrested in Izmir on March 31. WHO HAS MADE THE ARRESTS? WHO HAS MADE THEM DISAPPEAR? The answers are known. The questions are directed to Mesut Yilmaz and his council of ministers. ANAP and the coalition partners cannot escape guilt by arresting a few Mafia members with whom they co-operated and whom they have given orders for executions, murders and provocations. Now it's all clear to everybody. The revolutionaries have revealed the Mafia, murderous, fascist face of the government. The MIT, the police, the army and the state parties are the creators of the Susurluk State. It's the state which feeds the Agars, the Korkut Ekens, the Mehmet Eymuers, the Cakicis and Yavuz Atacs. It's the state which gives them weapons and papers, which lets them commit murder, which lets them traffic drugs. No government can be excluded from this kind of co-operation. All are involved. They've committed these crimes together, and they continue to do so. The MIT is a criminal organisation, created by the state against the revolutionaries. Throughout the history of the republic, it has been primarily responsible for all kinds of filthy and dark deals, for murder and provocations. Led and controlled by the governments and the general staff, it committed grave crimes against the people. SUSURLUK was the moment at which the contra activities of the MIT and the police came to light. All the bourgeois parties, beginning with ANAP, DYP, MHP and DTP, are responsible for the acts of the Susurluk State. Because the facts have been acknowledged by the people's masses, they want to repair the destroyed image of the state, using the demagogy of a "state of law". Therefore new faces are needed, and the old and used ones are put back for the time being. But nothing changes. Massacres, disappearances, torture: they are still continued. WHERE ARE OUR FOUR PEOPLE? It is the Mesut Yilmaz-government, it is the ANAP, who made them disappeared and who orders murders. We will hold ANAP and the government accountable for this. To receive an answer to the question where our disappeared are now, we bombed the ANAP District Office in Bakirkoey-Istanbul on August 29, 1998, at 3.40 p.m. WE ARE WAITING FOR A GOVERNMENT ANSWER! This is just a warning. From now on, our organisation will bear no responsibility for blood being shed, for occurring negative effects. Our people as well must keep away from the bourgeois parties and see the people's enemy face of these parties. THE SUSURLUK-STATE CONTINUES ITS ACTIVITIES! THE MIT IS SUSURLUK! DOWN WITH THE MIT-CIA CONTRA-GUERRILLA! WE HAVE PUNISHED THE TRAITOR ADEM YESILDAG Adem Yesildag, fighter of the Dersim Ibrahim Erdogan Armed Propaganda Rural Unit, was arrested on November 9, 1997, in Elazig where he came for a task. On the same day of his arrest, he started to co-operate with the police and he told them the place where Cihan Guerz was waiting for him. This was not all, he also called at the meeting point for him after which he was being found, causing his subsequent murder. Because of his co-operation with the enemy, which led to Cihan's murder, he was punished with death on August 26, 1998, in the Malatya prison. THE TRAITORS WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED! -- Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi (Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Front) DHKC Informationbureau Amsterdam http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Wed Oct 7 06:33:18 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 07 Oct 1998 06:33:18 Subject: Turkey: Police raids the newspaper Kurtulus again! Message-ID: "Stop Censorship - Initiative For Press Freedom" temporary fax-number: (+32) 2 - 733 7281 Brussels, October 7, 1998 URGENT APPEAL: October 7, 1998, at 1400 Police raid at the editorial office of the newspaper Kurtulus in Istanbul Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, we have been informed about a police raid on the main office of Kurtulus (Liberation), a opposition weekly newspaper in Istanbul, Turkey. The raid is taking place at this moment. The office is full of police right now. As far as we know 24 people have been arrested, among them the foreign correspondent of Kurtulus in Germany, Nurg?l Arzitas. Several of them have been injured during the arrest. The building is still being searched by the police and it is to be expected that the property in the building is being destroyed. The arrested have been brought to the building of the "anti- terror" branch of the police in Istanbul - it is probable that they are being tortured there. Kurtulus is a legally registered newspaper in Turkey, but it has been subjected to ever more brutal attacks by the authorities there. A similar attack on the newspaper took place in February of this year. At that time the entire staff of the paper was arrested and mistreated in the "anti- terror" branch for several days before being formally arraigned in court. Seven of them spent several months in jail before being released. An attack on Kurtulus in the summer of 1997 was prevented: the police surrounded the building but did not get inside, and protests by people outside the building as well as protest faxes from organisations and individuals abroad were a major factor in inducing the police to back off. We hope that the same thing can be achieved this time before the arrested people are subjected to further mistreatment. If we can get more information from the People's Law Bureau in Istanbul, who have sent a lawyer to Kurtulus as well, we will inform you immediately. For "Stop Censorship" Initiative For Press Freedom Sandra Bakutz Please fax your protests to the following numbers: Ministry of Internal Affairs: Fax: 0090-312-418 17 95 Ministry of Justice: Fax: 0090-312-425 40 66 Istanbul Chief of Police: Fax: 0090-212-635 43 81 State Security Court Istanbul: Fax: 0090-212-258 79 83 and please send a copy to fax: (+49) 221 - 760 28 87 or fax: (+32) 2 - 733 72 81 Also see http://www.ozgurluk.org/kurtulus for emailadresses from Turkish embassies etc. There you also find nw images from the latest police attack against the Kurtulus. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 10 08:35:20 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 10 Oct 1998 08:35:20 Subject: The turkish army: An army, fighting against its own peoples Message-ID: THE TURKISH ARMED FORCES An army, fighting against its own peoples. Our country is a neo-colonial country, depending on imperialism. The army plays a decisive role in the repression system in our country, built by the collaborators of imperialism. The imperialists and their collaborators cannot use this army, with its very high costs, without any reason. The army represents a guarantee for their repression systems. It protects the repression system by attacking the people and the revolutionaries under conditions of an increasing revolutionary struggle. When the crisis of the oligarchy deepened and the institutions of the regime and the government became insufficient to repress the voice of the people, the army openly intervened and the generals themselves became the executors of fascist policy. The juntas represent the most visible form of these interventions. Together with the institutionalisation of overt fascism after September 12, there has been a "junta" in our country without any interruption. As can be seen, the existence of the bourgeois parties, parliament and governments, as well as elections, cannot change this reality. During all the phases, the army has been the real leading force of the state. With the overt intervention of the army after Susurluk on all levels, from politics to economy, the reality that the real decision mechanism in our country is essentially the army-MIT, has become clear to all, without any debate. On the one hand, the MGK attacks the people, committing massacres, on the other it tries to build trust among the people by means of manoeuvres. The officers of the National Security Council are not chosen at random. This reality is known to all. They are the grandchildren of Hitler and Mussolini, selected and trained in the headquarters of the CIA, the Pentagon and NATO. Looking at the career of the generals, appointed to new posts, this is clearly visible to all. It's the MGK, the army, which is mainly responsible for the attacks, the massacres, in the country, the "intimidation operations" and all the anti-democratic and fascist methods, applied against all segments of the population. Certainly, the leadership of the country in the hands of the MGK is nothing new. But this is now more clearly than ever. Neither parliament, nor the system parties are able to even function as a show-case. The Yilmaz-government is obliged to just follow the orders of the MGK and carry out the attack policies against the people. This is the condition for being able to come into government, and to stay there. >From the economy to the politics of the country, even to education, in all the areas the MGK has its hands in it. Beginning with parliament to the police, from MIT to the civilian fascists, the MGK pulls the strings. The state is the MGK and the army. This army is an army of enemies of the people. It's a fascist army, occupying our lands in the name of imperialism and the oligarchy, ruling the peoples of Turkey, carrying out coups and transforming our country into a dungeon. It acts are directed by the imperialists and its existence is based on keeping down the struggle of the people, according to the wishes of the imperialists. Nothing remains of national honour. Who is it that has been carrying out massacres against the Kurdish people for decades, who is it that carries out mass torture, that rapes our young girls? Who is it that burns down our villages, tears down our houses, put thousands of people, young and old, on the run? Who is it that cuts of the ears and the heads of fallen guerrillas to build a collection? Tied to whom are the special teams, the Special Murder Units, the raping village guard herds, involved in theft and smuggle? On whose orders does the JITEM act, murdering thousands of our people, kidnapping them, making them disappear, who is its chef? What was revealed through Susurluk was not something out of control of the state, it was no filth which was just created by two or three people. The army and the MGK are deeply involved in this Susurluk. The attempts to present Susurluk as a case of some individual policemen, some soldiers and some fascist murderers, remained without success. Neither the presented "victims", nor the mitigating reports are sufficient o masque the murderous face of the army, the people's enemy. It's the army's goal to cover up the reality of Susurluk and to bring the system's institutions to a point where they can remain stable in the fight against the people. Entire pages of the press were filled with messages like "The army has renewed itself", "The army has grown stronger", and "The army has taken control". Especially with messages like "The army is prepared for defending the country" it is tried to make people forget the reality of the massacres which have been carried out. By portraying the special units, trained for bloody murders, as "our heroic soldiers", and by calling the US-weapons which have been stocked for 15-20 years, and never used, as the "latest miracles of technology", it is suggested that those who fight against the army have "no chance". The people are being threatened with messages like "do not participate in the ranks of the revolutionaries", "don't fight us", and "we kill and bomb with our rockets, our planes, our special forces". The system, with all its institutions, has lost its credibility in the eyes of the people. To restore this trust, and to bind the people again to the system, the most "trustworthy" organisation is used: the army. But the army is at least as much in decay as the other system institutions. However, it's the least unmasked. The MGK was eager to keep the army out of the Susurluk scandal. But this is not to say that the army is not involved. It is mixed up completely in the activities of the contra-guerrilla and in the dealings of the gangs and the Mafia. Without the army knowing, it's impossible for any Mafia organisation, any gang or contra-guerrilla force, to fulfil its function. It's the army itself which gives the orders and which leads. While those who acted without permission, or who had got out of control, were liquidated immediately, the name of Veli Kuecuek showed up several times in the discussions about Susurluk, but it was always tried to conceal it. The Soylemezler Gang, Cengiz Ersever and Cem Ersever are just a few examples for this. Starting with the petty officers and the corporals, all are involved in the contra-guerrilla, the Mafia and the gang business. The danger of the Sharia, constantly put on the agenda, only serves to cover up the real face of the army and to create a mass basis for the policy of the MGK. The main responsibles for all the fascist practices, the attacks and the massacres, are the MGK and the army. Their statements only consist of lies and demagogy like "We're not involved in politics", "We fulfil are tasks and carry our responsibilities within the framework of the Constitution" and "We are the guarantee for a democratic and social state". To expect a solution, or aid, from the army, especially after Susurluk, where all the filth of the state and its army became public, and after it continued its massacres and fascist acts, is either an act of blindness, or it is a conscious choice. The efforts to relieve the MGK and the army, in co-operation with all the institutions if the system, are not in vain. This effort is basically an effort to relive the state. But this will not be that easy. Because Susurluk is in the consciousness of the people in all its clarity. It will not be easy, because there is the Party-Front. And it will be impossible to remove Susurluk from the consciousness of the people. THE ARMY ALSO STRETCHES ITS BLOODY HANDS ACROSS THE BORDERS One point, specially mentioned by the military responsibles, is the fact that the army has "gathered experience" in the guerrilla war and Kurdistan and that these experiences have been shared with the neighbouring countries. According to their numbers, the army has shared these experiences with 19 different countries, large countries on the Balkan and the Caucasus. Whenever the revolutionary struggle develops, the anti-revolutionary front will draw its lessons from this as well. War is instructive for both sides in the struggle. This is a never changing law of war. While the guerrilla develops in the struggle and perfects itself, the army recognises its shortcomings and takes measures. The creation of the Special Forces Command (Special War Department), Command Training Centres, Special Tasks Units, contra-guerrilla teams et cetera, are tactics taken from imperialism, adapted to the internal warfare, products of the orientation phase. The characteristic, uniting these kind of organisations, is that they are preparations for a relentless war against the people, applying massacres, the burning down of villages, torture, et cetera. These units, equipped with a fascist ideology and enemies of the people, are - since the 90's especially in Kurdistan- used to fight against the people. The statements of the army that they "have won control" means as much as organising the contra-guerrilla units, consisting of fascist and traitors, it means the burning down of villages, oppressing the people, carrying out massacres and torture, organising the para-military in the name of protection, and alike. Yes, they have created a herd of murderers and torturers. And now the army is sharing its experiences from the guerrilla war with other countries. So these other countries will get to know the "massacre methods", seen as "successful" in Turkey, as well, applying them against their own peoples. And the "successful" methods of torture will be applied against other people as well in the war against the peoples of the world. The oligarchy's army, in every way dependent on imperialism and under its command, as well as the armies of other countries, were ordered by imperialism to organise training courses. Oligarchy wants these countries, depending on imperialism to some degree or another, to learn about the methods of war against the people as well. Because US-imperialism, describing the 21st. century as the "century of the uprisings", is taking preparations to keep down the developing struggles of the revolution. The training, given by the oligarchy to the other armies, is part of these preparations as well. The fact that it are primarily the countries of the Balkan and the Caucasus who receive military training can be explained with this as well. These countries have gone to the transformation of socialism to capitalism in a short period. Because capitalism brought with it an increase of injustice and poverty through the redistribution of income, the yearning for socialism in these countries created a revolutionary potential. Imperialism considers it necessary to prepare the collaborating armies for revolutionary developments in these countries. Because the fascist army acts totally according to the will of the ruling powers, new crimes are committed against the people every day. The animosity of the army against the people has also crossed our borders, it even acts towards the others countries as the wise teacher. The army of the oligarchy continues its war against the people in this developing phase, as it did in the past. This army, which carried out annihilation attacks against a people, first in 1925, and then in 1938, has a history of massacres. From 1945, this army was organised to defend the interests of imperialism and its local collaborators. Also in the following phases, it was frequently called to the war stage as a guarantee of the system against the development of the revolutionary and national movement, carrying out all kinds of oppression against the peoples of Turkey. The peoples of Turkey know the fascist army, which transformed the soil of our land into a blood bath, responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, very well. A FASCIST CENTRE IN THE ARMY: EDOK The Training and Doctrine Command (EDOK) was set up on the wishes of imperialism, taking the US-army as an example. Its tasks are to maintain the relations of the army with the press, to develop strategies for the future, and to prepare and apply fascist ideological training programs for the military academies. According to EDOK, the wars of the future will be "ideological wars", waged against "dividers, religious and revolutionary rebels" and the army will have to be prepared accordingly. The "dividers", mentioned in the EDOK statements, are the anti-imperialist national organisations. Because it was considered that the "religious organisations" are quite effective lately, especially in the Middle East, they are seen as a potential threat. The "revolutionary rebels", for the first time openly mentioned by the army, are the people's liberation fighters so to say. This force is essentially the only one which worries them. All its plans are made to oppress the struggle of the people. Starting from the weaponry to the training, all is designed according to the people's struggle. While they have been speaking of the "communist threat" for years, the organising and the struggle of the people frightens them, and the state was restructured against the class struggle. The burning down of villages, the torture, massacres and coups, committed by the army, openly show that it is the people are the primary target of the oligarchy's army. This situation has not changed. * The fusion of the army and the monopoly bourgeoisie MGK HOLDING: OYAK In 1997, the Army Aid Organisation (OYAK), active in many fields, from trade to banking, from insurance, food, to construction, made a profit of some 500 million dollar at a turnover of some 5 billion dollar. These figures show that the army also presents a significant power in the country's economy, besides the political life. Be it in political life, or in the economy, the people have clearly seen who benefits from the active role of the army, in the name of imperialism and its collaborators, after the Susurluk incident. It became apparent that the fascist army, always called the "nation's favourite", is a force which protects the interests of imperialism and its collaborators. >From 1950 onwards, it was started to reorganise all the state institutions, parallel to the neo-colonial relations, brought forward by imperialism. It was of the greatest necessity to model the army in a fascist manner. Therefore the members of the army, given a racist fascist training, liquidating the "left" and "democratic" officers, were given economic benefits, uniting them with the monopolies. The army was bribed to serve imperialism with a program called "Improvement of the army's economical situation". In this way, they wanted to achieve the total fusion of the army cadres with the system. Therefore several economical institutions, with different names, were founded. OYAK was the most important and the biggest of these. "By fusing the army with national-international monopolies, their common interests could be served, and by integrating the army in all the segments of the system, it was achieved that it would defend the system because of its own class interests. The foundations and OYAK play an important role in fusing the army with the national-international monopolies". (Hakliyiz Kazanacagiz - "We are right, we will win", p. 466, volume I) With the fascist juntas of March 12 and September 12, the army increased its strength on the economical level. By using the possibilities, created by the state, OYAK expended daily, especially after the privatisations, realised lately. From its foundation, OYAK was exempted from paying taxes, social contributions and duties. However, the holding of the generals, not satisfied with their piece of the cake, has now, after the recent privatisations, won a major influence on some 30 companies and organisations. One of the most striking examples of the fusion between the army and the monopolies can be seen in the cement sector. OYAK, after the Sabanci Holding - which has the greatest share in the cement production of Turkey -, takes the second place. Similar developments could be seen in other army investments, from finance to the food industry, from construction to the car trade. It has to be emphasised that it is the USA that is the force behind these developments. The OYAK project is in fact an invention by the USA. The other side of the medal is that the army has been given a primary task. In the name of imperialism and its collaborators, it has to keep down the developing revolutionary people's opposition and the armed struggle. So the army, primarily the USA, looked for the interests of imperialism, the World Bank, the IMF, the collaborators of imperialism like the Koc's, the Sabanci's and Eczacibasilar's, and of course their own. They were to present the millions of oppressed and exploited, the working people and its defenders, as the "internal enemy", using all kinds of demagogies and lies, and they were going to get rid of this "internal enemy", "saving" the exploitative system of the MGK-TUESIAD state. The Susurluk state and the army know no laws, no rules, while carrying out this task of "saving" and "protecting". If needed for the security of a handful of exploiters and tyrants, the army is prepared to carry out coups, to murder the children of the people, to torture them and to make them disappear. This is the role the army has been given by imperialism. Nowadays the army has become a decisive force, as well in economical, as in political life. All this on behalf of imperialism and its collaborators. Therefore the Susurluk state equals the MGK, and the MGK equals the Susurluk state. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 10 10:16:10 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 10 Oct 1998 10:16:10 Subject: ICL: Protest against attack on Kurtulus Message-ID: Vienna, October 9, 1998 To: Ministry of Interior Ankara Ministry of Justice Ankara Precidency of Police Istanbul Court of State Security Istanbul Protest against attack on ?Kurtulus? We, the International Leninist Current (ILC), strongly protest against the latest attack on the weekly paper "Kurtulus" which is a legal organ of the poorest strata of the peoples of Turkey. The detention of 24 journalists among those the well-known Nurguel Arzitas is a clear violation of all democratic norms and human rights especially the freedom of press. This attack is only another link in a long chain of repression against the popular liberation movement of the working people of Turkey which suffers from a huge number of political prisoners, disappearances and killing by the fascist para-militaries supported by the state. We call for the immediate liberation of the 24 journalists and a halt of the ongoing repression against the popular liberation movement! International Leninist Current League of Internationalist Communists (Germany) Revolutionary Communist League (Austria) Worker's Voice (Italy) -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 10 10:18:35 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 10 Oct 1998 10:18:35 Subject: IFEX: Action alert - Turkey Message-ID: IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community _________________________________________________________________ ACTION ALERT - TURKEY 9 October 1998 Newspaper offices raided SOURCE: International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Brussels (IFJ/IFEX) - IFJ is disturbed by the recent raid and arrests at the Istanbul offices of "Halk Icin Kurtulus". According to IFJ's information, on 7 October 1998 police officers raided the offices of "Halk Icin Kurtulus" where they arrested 24 people, including the owners, editors and staff members. The raid and the arrests were based on a warrant issued by the State Security Court. IFJ points out that the European Court of Human Rights has frequently held Turkey to be in breach of its Convention obligations due to the mode of operation and the activities carried out by the State Security Court. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Send appeals to the Prime Minister: - urging him to release all those being held and to ensure that all press cases are handled by normal public tribunals and not the State Security Courts APPEALS TO: His Excellency Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz Basbakanlik Bakanlikar 06573 Ankara, Turkey Fax: +90 312 417 0476 or +90 312 230 8896 Please copy appeals to the source if possible. For further information, contact Cailin Mackenzie at the IFJ, Rue Royale, 266, B-1210 Brussels, Belgium , tel: +322 223 2265 or +322 219 7780, fax: + 322 219 2976, e-mail: ifj.safety at pophost.eunet.be, Internet: http://www.ifj. org/ The information contained in this action alert is the sole responsibility of IFJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit IFJ From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 10 10:26:17 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 10 Oct 1998 10:26:17 Subject: Turkey: Update on the raid on the Kurtulus Message-ID: "Stop Censorship" Initiative For Press Freedom" temporary fax-number: (+32) 2 - 733 7281 Brussels, October 8, 1998 Police raid on the editorial office of the newspaper Kurtulus in Istanbul We have been informed about a police raid on the main office of Kurtulus (Liberation), an opposition weekly newspaper in Istanbul, Turkey on October 7. The police broke through the roof and got into the editorial office via the ceiling. Everything has been destroyed. They confiscated the archive, cameras, photographic equipment, computers, modem and other technical apparatus. 24 people have been arrested, among them the foreign correspondent of Kurtulus in Germany, Nurg?l Arzitas. Several of them were injured during the arrest, with police behaving in a very brutal manner. The arrested have been brought to the building of the "anti-terror" branch of the police in Istanbul - it is probable that they are being tortured there. Kurtulus issued a statement that in the last week the attacks against it have been stepped up enormously. When the 101st issue of the newspaper had been printed, police raided the printing house, confiscated 16,000 copies of the paper and arrested the contributors to Kurtulus. Immediately after the State Security Court in Turkey (the DGM) issued a ruling closing the newspaper down for one month because of a text published in the 61st issue. Kurtulus is a legally registered newspaper in Turkey, but it has been subjected to ever more brutal attacks by the authorities there. A similar attack on the newspaper took place in February of this year. At that time the entire staff of the paper was arrested and mistreated in the "anti- terror" branch for several days before being formally arraigned in court. Seven of them spent several months in jail before being released. An attack on Kurtulus in the summer of 1997 was prevented: the police surrounded the building but did not get inside, and protests by people outside the building as well as protest faxes from organisations and individuals abroad were a major factor in inducing the police to back off. We hope that the same thing can be achieved this time before the arrested people are subjected to further mistreatment. For "Stop Censorship" Initiative For Press Freedom Sandra Bakutz Please fax your protests to the following numbers: Ministry of Internal Affairs: Fax: 0090-312-418 17 95 Ministry of Justice: Fax: 0090-312-425 40 66 Istanbul Chief of Police: Fax: 0090-212-635 43 81 State Security Court Istanbul: Fax: 0090-212-258 79 83 and please send a copy to fax: (+49) 221 - 760 28 87 or fax: (+32) 2 - 733 72 81 Here is the list of the persons who have been arrested: Nurg?l Arzitas (representative abroad) Sel?uk (Trabzon correspondent) Hakan Alak (from Grup Yorum, a left-wing music group) Nuran Yilmaz ?zg?l Emre ?zlem K?t?k G?lay Y?cel ?zg?r Erdogan Ufuk Dogubay Veli Demir Bektas ?zer Mert Olgun Selma Polat Temel Altinisik Fatma Sener Kamil Demir Ismail Sen Nebahat Aslan Tunay Alan Aynur Korucu Kader Aksu Sibel Tasdemir Nesimi Also see http://www.ozgurluk.org/kurtulus for background information -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 10 10:28:24 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 10 Oct 1998 10:28:24 Subject: DHKC Statement on the Turkey-Syria crises Message-ID: Revolutionary People's Liberation Front Press Office October 8, 1998 Statement No. 73 The oligarchy's threat to Syria is an operation by the USA The task imperialism allotted to the oligarchy of Turkey was established through Turkey becoming a NATO member. For various internal and external reasons, Turkey was not able to completely fulfil the role allotted to it by imperialism. But in essentials, the Turkey which has been moulded and ruled by imperialism has made itself into a foundation for and an ally of imperialism and its collaborators in opposition to every national and revolutionary movement, as well as a means to protect and strengthen the status quo in the Middle East. For this reason it developed hostile relations with almost all the Arab and Persian peoples. It can be said that the policies of Turkey with regard to the Middle East were, in the interests of the oligarchy, transformed and brought into harmony with the policies of US imperialism. This policy of the oligarchy in Turkey, a policy of collaboration with imperialism, was united with a historical element lingering from the time of the Ottoman Empire and visible to the peoples. This Ottoman policy of the oligarchy was strengthened by entry into NATO and the hostility to the Arab liberation movements and the development of ties with collaborationist Arab governments grew. The hatred the peoples of the Middle East felt for the oligarchy of Turkey increased. This went so far that even mentioning the oligarchy of Turkey was a reminder for the peoples of the attacks by imperialism. The politics of the fascist rulers in Turkey united with the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, and combined together led to humiliation of the Arab peoples. This policy whipped up Turkish chauvinism and made hostility among the peoples into a permanent feature. Since the 1970s, with the development of the revolutionary struggle in our land, the oligarchy in Turkey, whose institutions are formed in such a way as to prevent the revolutionary struggle, has lost stability. Despite all repression the revolutionary struggle has developed and has reached a stage where it cannot be snuffed out. It is only natural that the Arab peoples, who have had historical and political problems with the oligarchy of Turkey, are not uninterested in the development of the revolutionary struggle. The oligarchy of Turkey, which is losing strength and power and is unable to make proper use of its collaboration with imperialism, has made a pact with Israel, the occupier of the territory of others and the greatest enemy of the Arab peoples, and this is a declaration of war on the peoples of the Middle East. The originator of the pact between Turkey and Israel is the USA The USA, which has not succeeded in forcing various Arab states to capitulate completely to imperialism, assessed the weaknesses of the oligarchy in Turkey and was successful in getting it to make a pact with Israel against the Arab peoples. With this pact, the USA wants the following : A: To get the Arab and Persian peoples who still put up resistance to imperialism and have not completely surrendered to imperialism to capitulate on the basis of peace with Israel. B: To maintain control over the Middle East by pulling new regions under the influence of the USA and making them protect its interests, and to keep the peoples divided and splintered. C: To secure the future of the oligarchy in Turkey, by preventing the revolutionary struggle. While the USA has unscrupulously continued to play its role as world policeman with the help of demagogy about a New World Order, inside this role a special mission has been given to Turkey and Israel. The targets of this mission are the peoples and states which are not behaving within the New World Order in a manner which corresponds to US interests and which are putting up resistance. The US policy of "divide and stir them up against each other and in this way dominate the market" by exploiting differences of nationality and religion has failed to yield the hoped-for results. The peoples who have experience behind them know that this kind of struggle does not lead to liberation. While the developing revolutionary struggle has forced the policy of the USA into a cul de sac, the USA does not hesitate to set off regional wars to protect its interests and prevent revolutionary struggles. The interests of imperialism require divided, splintered, mutually hostile and weakened peoples. If the peoples react more strongly against imperialism, it tries even harder to stir up new hostility between the peoples. The statement about the PKK is pure demagogy The real targets are the peoples of the Middle East The oligarchy's threats of war against Syria, buttressed by the claim about the PKK, is a propaganda activity aimed at winning support from imperialists and their henchmen who are hostile to the national liberation movements. This propaganda aims to prepare world public opinion for a display of aggression by them. The actual aim is to crush and subjugate those Arab governments which have not completely surrendered, to support Israel's security and the dominance of the USA in the Middle East and to impede the revolutionary movement in Turkey. The plan to attack was thrashed out in the Pentagon, in order to make the government of Syria capitulate. By naming the PKK as the reason for the attack, the demagogy of terrorism is being employed to lend legitimacy to the action. At the same time, with this attack the PKK is being sent the message that either under the control of imperialism it is satisfied with the amount of freedom granted to it, or else obstacles will be placed in the way of its further development. The USA's peace in Iraqi Kurdistan and the associated threats of war against Syria are mutually complementary imperialist policies. What is wanted is not the liberation of the Kurdish people but a new, divided and splintered market for imperialism. The Kurdish people will either bow to this policy of imperialism or raise the banner of revolution. There is no third alternative. In order to create a new leadership in Syria which is in harmony with the policies of imperialism and which capitulates, the USA, Israel, Turkey and various collaborationist Arab states have begun operations. The threats of war by Turkey against Syria are the real beginning of these operations. Let us unite all the peoples Turks, Arabs, Persians, Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians, Cherkess; Alevis, Sunnis, Christians, Jews, Druze... Let us unite all the peoples of the Middle East, let us not bow to imperialism's threats of war. Let us not allow imperialism to divide nations and religions. Let us unite our forces against imperialism and Zionism. The threats of war against Syria are an attack on all the peoples of the Middle East. The USA is leading the attack. The Middle East belongs to our peoples, not to the imperialists Peoples of Turkey: There is nobody left who does not know what the Susurluk State's exports look like. The name of the Susurluk State conjures up every form of massacre , criminal gangs, mafia, usury, every kind of extortion, exploitation and dishonour. Throughout its history the Susurluk State has stayed in power by sowing discord among the peoples, dividing them according to nationality and beliefs and stirring them up against each other. But the struggle of our peoples for justice and equality and against oppression renders it weak. In the meantime neither the imperialists nor the monopolies or the gangs it organises offer a solution to the weakness of the state. In its helplessness , it steps up its massacres and fills the prisons with revolutionaries. But all the repression cannot prevent the revolutionary struggle, the struggle for justice, equality and a life in dignity, for an independent, free and democratic country. The political parties, the military, all the institutions of the state have proven to be bankrupt in the face of the peoples' struggle and have started going for one another's throats. In the meantime, they can no longer rule. Neither economically nor politically do they have anything to offer the people. Finally they are trying to stay on their feet by setting in motion imperialism's bellicose policies against fraternal peoples, sowing hostility among the peoples and stirring up chauvinism. The Susurluk State's spoiling for war, its threats do not serve our peoples but rather the Susurluk State and US imperialism in the Middle East. It serves to hinder our struggle for independence and democracy. As a leftover from the Ottomans, in the schools since the founding of the Republic, the Arabs were looked down on and hostility towards them was stirred up. This was consciously chosen propaganda to whip up hostility between our peoples and the Arabs. As a result, before today the demagogy of terror was used to ignite hostility towards the fraternal Arab people. In our country, Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians, Cherkess, Bosnians, Laz and a multitude of peoples of various nationalities and religions live. They are all our brothers and sisters. They have the same interests. There is no difference between us and the peoples living in Syria and any other country of the Middle East. The enemy of all the peoples is imperialism and its henchmen. Let us oppose the policies of imperialism and the Susurluk State which stir the peoples against each other. The peoples of Turkey will not let themselves be made into the gendarmes of the USA in the Middle East! The peoples of Turkey will not allow a new Israel to be created in the Middle East! The Middle East will be the grave of US imperialism! Let us fight against imperialism and show the strength of the people! Through our struggle let us give the Susurluk State an appropriate answer to its cries for war. The Susurluk State is the state of imperialism and its collaborators. If the Susurluk State is not overthrown and people's power set up in its place, there will be no end to exploitation and oppression. Let us fight against the Susurluk state's threats of war with the slogan "No to war", and against the Susurluk State itself with the slogan "The peoples of the Middle East are brothers and sisters, we we will not fight against our brothers and sisters." Down with the Susurluk State! Long live the brotherhood and sisterhood of the peoples of the Middle East! Revolutionary People's Liberation Front Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi --- Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi (Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Front) DHKC Informationbureau Amsterdam http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 10 10:29:22 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 10 Oct 1998 10:29:22 Subject: DHKC Statement on the Turkey-Syria crises References: Message-ID: Revolutionary People's Liberation Front Press Office October 8, 1998 Statement No. 73 The oligarchy's threat to Syria is an operation by the USA The task imperialism allotted to the oligarchy of Turkey was established through Turkey becoming a NATO member. For various internal and external reasons, Turkey was not able to completely fulfil the role allotted to it by imperialism. But in essentials, the Turkey which has been moulded and ruled by imperialism has made itself into a foundation for and an ally of imperialism and its collaborators in opposition to every national and revolutionary movement, as well as a means to protect and strengthen the status quo in the Middle East. For this reason it developed hostile relations with almost all the Arab and Persian peoples. It can be said that the policies of Turkey with regard to the Middle East were, in the interests of the oligarchy, transformed and brought into harmony with the policies of US imperialism. This policy of the oligarchy in Turkey, a policy of collaboration with imperialism, was united with a historical element lingering from the time of the Ottoman Empire and visible to the peoples. This Ottoman policy of the oligarchy was strengthened by entry into NATO and the hostility to the Arab liberation movements and the development of ties with collaborationist Arab governments grew. The hatred the peoples of the Middle East felt for the oligarchy of Turkey increased. This went so far that even mentioning the oligarchy of Turkey was a reminder for the peoples of the attacks by imperialism. The politics of the fascist rulers in Turkey united with the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, and combined together led to humiliation of the Arab peoples. This policy whipped up Turkish chauvinism and made hostility among the peoples into a permanent feature. Since the 1970s, with the development of the revolutionary struggle in our land, the oligarchy in Turkey, whose institutions are formed in such a way as to prevent the revolutionary struggle, has lost stability. Despite all repression the revolutionary struggle has developed and has reached a stage where it cannot be snuffed out. It is only natural that the Arab peoples, who have had historical and political problems with the oligarchy of Turkey, are not uninterested in the development of the revolutionary struggle. The oligarchy of Turkey, which is losing strength and power and is unable to make proper use of its collaboration with imperialism, has made a pact with Israel, the occupier of the territory of others and the greatest enemy of the Arab peoples, and this is a declaration of war on the peoples of the Middle East. The originator of the pact between Turkey and Israel is the USA The USA, which has not succeeded in forcing various Arab states to capitulate completely to imperialism, assessed the weaknesses of the oligarchy in Turkey and was successful in getting it to make a pact with Israel against the Arab peoples. With this pact, the USA wants the following : A: To get the Arab and Persian peoples who still put up resistance to imperialism and have not completely surrendered to imperialism to capitulate on the basis of peace with Israel. B: To maintain control over the Middle East by pulling new regions under the influence of the USA and making them protect its interests, and to keep the peoples divided and splintered. C: To secure the future of the oligarchy in Turkey, by preventing the revolutionary struggle. While the USA has unscrupulously continued to play its role as world policeman with the help of demagogy about a New World Order, inside this role a special mission has been given to Turkey and Israel. The targets of this mission are the peoples and states which are not behaving within the New World Order in a manner which corresponds to US interests and which are putting up resistance. The US policy of "divide and stir them up against each other and in this way dominate the market" by exploiting differences of nationality and religion has failed to yield the hoped-for results. The peoples who have experience behind them know that this kind of struggle does not lead to liberation. While the developing revolutionary struggle has forced the policy of the USA into a cul de sac, the USA does not hesitate to set off regional wars to protect its interests and prevent revolutionary struggles. The interests of imperialism require divided, splintered, mutually hostile and weakened peoples. If the peoples react more strongly against imperialism, it tries even harder to stir up new hostility between the peoples. The statement about the PKK is pure demagogy The real targets are the peoples of the Middle East The oligarchy's threats of war against Syria, buttressed by the claim about the PKK, is a propaganda activity aimed at winning support from imperialists and their henchmen who are hostile to the national liberation movements. This propaganda aims to prepare world public opinion for a display of aggression by them. The actual aim is to crush and subjugate those Arab governments which have not completely surrendered, to support Israel's security and the dominance of the USA in the Middle East and to impede the revolutionary movement in Turkey. The plan to attack was thrashed out in the Pentagon, in order to make the government of Syria capitulate. By naming the PKK as the reason for the attack, the demagogy of terrorism is being employed to lend legitimacy to the action. At the same time, with this attack the PKK is being sent the message that either under the control of imperialism it is satisfied with the amount of freedom granted to it, or else obstacles will be placed in the way of its further development. The USA's peace in Iraqi Kurdistan and the associated threats of war against Syria are mutually complementary imperialist policies. What is wanted is not the liberation of the Kurdish people but a new, divided and splintered market for imperialism. The Kurdish people will either bow to this policy of imperialism or raise the banner of revolution. There is no third alternative. In order to create a new leadership in Syria which is in harmony with the policies of imperialism and which capitulates, the USA, Israel, Turkey and various collaborationist Arab states have begun operations. The threats of war by Turkey against Syria are the real beginning of these operations. Let us unite all the peoples Turks, Arabs, Persians, Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians, Cherkess; Alevis, Sunnis, Christians, Jews, Druze... Let us unite all the peoples of the Middle East, let us not bow to imperialism's threats of war. Let us not allow imperialism to divide nations and religions. Let us unite our forces against imperialism and Zionism. The threats of war against Syria are an attack on all the peoples of the Middle East. The USA is leading the attack. The Middle East belongs to our peoples, not to the imperialists Peoples of Turkey: There is nobody left who does not know what the Susurluk State's exports look like. The name of the Susurluk State conjures up every form of massacre , criminal gangs, mafia, usury, every kind of extortion, exploitation and dishonour. Throughout its history the Susurluk State has stayed in power by sowing discord among the peoples, dividing them according to nationality and beliefs and stirring them up against each other. But the struggle of our peoples for justice and equality and against oppression renders it weak. In the meantime neither the imperialists nor the monopolies or the gangs it organises offer a solution to the weakness of the state. In its helplessness , it steps up its massacres and fills the prisons with revolutionaries. But all the repression cannot prevent the revolutionary struggle, the struggle for justice, equality and a life in dignity, for an independent, free and democratic country. The political parties, the military, all the institutions of the state have proven to be bankrupt in the face of the peoples' struggle and have started going for one another's throats. In the meantime, they can no longer rule. Neither economically nor politically do they have anything to offer the people. Finally they are trying to stay on their feet by setting in motion imperialism's bellicose policies against fraternal peoples, sowing hostility among the peoples and stirring up chauvinism. The Susurluk State's spoiling for war, its threats do not serve our peoples but rather the Susurluk State and US imperialism in the Middle East. It serves to hinder our struggle for independence and democracy. As a leftover from the Ottomans, in the schools since the founding of the Republic, the Arabs were looked down on and hostility towards them was stirred up. This was consciously chosen propaganda to whip up hostility between our peoples and the Arabs. As a result, before today the demagogy of terror was used to ignite hostility towards the fraternal Arab people. In our country, Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians, Cherkess, Bosnians, Laz and a multitude of peoples of various nationalities and religions live. They are all our brothers and sisters. They have the same interests. There is no difference between us and the peoples living in Syria and any other country of the Middle East. The enemy of all the peoples is imperialism and its henchmen. Let us oppose the policies of imperialism and the Susurluk State which stir the peoples against each other. The peoples of Turkey will not let themselves be made into the gendarmes of the USA in the Middle East! The peoples of Turkey will not allow a new Israel to be created in the Middle East! The Middle East will be the grave of US imperialism! Let us fight against imperialism and show the strength of the people! Through our struggle let us give the Susurluk State an appropriate answer to its cries for war. The Susurluk State is the state of imperialism and its collaborators. If the Susurluk State is not overthrown and people's power set up in its place, there will be no end to exploitation and oppression. Let us fight against the Susurluk state's threats of war with the slogan "No to war", and against the Susurluk State itself with the slogan "The peoples of the Middle East are brothers and sisters, we we will not fight against our brothers and sisters." Down with the Susurluk State! Long live the brotherhood and sisterhood of the peoples of the Middle East! Revolutionary People's Liberation Front Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi --- Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi (Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Front) DHKC Informationbureau Amsterdam http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Mon Oct 12 13:42:13 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 12 Oct 1998 13:42:13 Subject: Turkey: People' Law Bureau on attacks at the Kurtulus Message-ID: --Multipart_Mon_Oct_12_21:42:02_1998-1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable PEOPLE'S LAW BUREAU Millet Cad. Dedepasa Sok. No:5/1 Findikzade =96 ISTANBUL TEL/FAX: +(90) 212 631 3694 =96 531 7765 FOR THE ATTENTION OF: ALL PROGRESSIVE AND DEMOCRATIC = ORGANISATIONS, INDIVIDUALS AND PRESS October 10, 1998 The opposition press (in Turkey) is suffering its share of the intensified oppression by the state. Thus, over the past week, there have been intense and systematic attacks targeting the weekly newspaper "Halk icin Kurtulus" (LIBERATION for the People). The aim is to silence the newspaper by preventing it from functioning. Our past experience suggests strongly that these attacks will be extended to others among the opposition and socialist press. Therefore, action against these unjust and arbitrary attacks should be taken immediately. We would like to describe briefly the systematic attacks upon the Kurtulu= s newspaper: a) The police blockaded the printing house (Serler Matbaacilik) for 15 hours starting on the evening of Friday, October 2, raided the printing-house, seized 16,000 copies of Kurtulus and arrested five workers. This action by the police occurred in the absence of a court order. Later on, a court order to confiscate the copies was obtained from the DGM (State Security Court). The owner of the Serler printing firm is still receiving threats from the state security forces calling upon him to stop printing Kurtulus and other socialist newspapers. b) On October 7, the central building of Kurtulus, located at Cagaloglu, Alemdar Mahallesi, Catalcesme Sokak No. 50 (Istanbul), was raided by police, its workers and visitors to the paper were beaten and arrested, equipment and fittings were ransacked over a period of three hours and two lorryloads of equipment in the building were taken away with the help of four porters. Twenty-four persons are still in custody by order of the DGM. The minibus that belongs to the newspaper was also towed away by police. The excuse was that "it was obstructing traffic". c) On October 8, police attacked and arrested nine persons during a press conference which was held in front of the Gazeteciler Cemiyeti (Society of Journalists) building to protest the raid. These nine people were taken to court on grounds of "violating Article 2911 on meetings and demonstrations" and they all were released the next day. d) On October 9, the Malatya and Antep bureaus of Kurtulus were raided by police and in total nine workers were arrested. These people are still in custody. e) The police continued to physically prevent the printing of Kurtulus by seizing the negatives of the paper, and organised a trap in front of the private company that produces these films, aimed at capturing whoever would bring the negatives. Again the police blockaded the printing house in an effort to seize the rest of the copies, but despite all these actions, as a result of the creativity of the workers, this issue of Kurtulus was printed and distributed. f) The police arrived at the central building of Kurtulus on October 10, and shut down the room where the workers take a rest, sealing it off by order of the mayor. When the police could not succeed in shutting down the paper legally, they chose to perform this arbitrary and illogical action. Therefore, a court action against their conduct will be proceeded with immediately. All this shows that the arbitrary, illegal and illegitimate attacks by police targeting the opposition press, especialy Kurtulus, have reached a peak within the last week. They are continuing preparations for new arbitrary and unjust actions to stop the publishing of the paper this week as well. Up to the present, dozens of Kurtulus workers have been arrested and imprisoned, its bureaus have been bombed and distributors and correspondents massacred, gunned down even as they walked in the street. We call upon you to show your solidarity with Kurtulus newspaper. Your support visits to the newspaper, your participation in legal proceedings, your protest messages etc. will be a good reply to the arbitrary and intensified oppression by the police. Keep up the good work, PEOPLE'S LAW BUREAU Behic Asci, Barrister : +90 532 2438569 Metin Narin, Barrister: +90 532 323 0897 --Multipart_Mon_Oct_12_21:42:02_1998-1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl --Multipart_Mon_Oct_12_21:42:02_1998-1-- List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Tue Oct 13 06:08:47 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 13 Oct 1998 06:08:47 Subject: Turkey/Saterdaymothers: repression continues Message-ID: OEzguer Politika (11-10-'98) News Office The police, which attacked the action of the Saturday Mothers this week as well, has arrested dozens of people. While seven members of the HOEP (Platform for Rights and Liberties), which also gathers every Saturday in Izmir for the "Action for the Disappeared", defenders of the human rights expressed their "No" to war and the gangs at the sit-down action in Ankara, organized by the IHD. As it has been the case during the past 9 weeks, the police blocked the entire Istiklal Street hours before to prevent and attack the 178th. sit-down action of the Saturday Mothers in Galatasaray. Around noon, a large number of people, among them German and English delegations as well, gathered for the sit-down action in front of the Galatasaray Gymnasium. The police, which at first tried to split up the crowd into smaller groups to disperse them, then tried to arrest the delegate of the Green Party, Ewald Groth, member of the German delegation. After a call from the German consulate, the police let go of arresting Groth, and in stead attacked the English delegation at another point, hitting, pushing and arresting Endy Higginsbattom, representative of the ICAD section in England. Another group as well, marching into Istiklal Street, was confronted with a police attack. Numerous people were dragged around and arrested. Many of the journalists, prevented from taking pictures by the police shields, were attacked and wounded as well, among the CHA correspondent Ilhan Kaya and the correspondent of the OEncue magazine, Huezuen Yuezel. It was reported that a large number of people, coming from side-alleys, were arrested by the police, blocking Istiklal Street, as well. Attack in Izmir as well. The police prevented the sit-down action, held every Saturday in front of the Hasan Tahsin Memorial in Konak to inquire about the fate of Neslihan Uslu, Hasan Aydogan, Mehmet Ali Mandal and Metin Andas, arrested in Izmir and never heard of again, by attacking the activists. While the police hindered the group at the exit of the Kemeralti Carsi (Arcade Bazaar) on its way to the sit-down action, organised by HOEP-Izmir, hitting on the crowd and dispersing them, the correspondents of the Kurtulus magazine, Soran Tasci, Ali Osman Ince, Ahmet Savas, Deniz OEzguer and two other persons, whose names are unknown, were being arrested. No to the war and the gangs. The human rights defenders expressed their "No" to the war, the gangs, the State Security Courts, the privatisations and the attacks against the prisoners at the sit-down action "Against the gangs, against the attacks", organised for the 47th. week by the IHD branch Ankara in front of the human rights monument. While the branch secretary of the IHD, Ilhami Yaban, emphasised in his speech that rights were being robbed more and more each day in stead of being increased, he also remarked that the war cries of the last days were also propagated by the press. Yaban also remembered people about the fact that the prisoners in the Central Prison of Ankara were beaten up and that Osman Murat UElke, making use of his right to refuse to take part in the war, is now in prison for more than one year. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From PATCHWORK at OLN.comlink.apc.org Wed Oct 14 06:30:00 1998 From: PATCHWORK at OLN.comlink.apc.org (PATCHWORK at OLN.comlink.apc.org) Date: 14 Oct 1998 06:30:00 Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?T=FCrkei-Seminar_vom_30=2E10=2E-1=2E11=2E98?= Message-ID: <72sGlFmN5hB@oln-68.oln.comlink.apc.org> Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit !! _NOCH PL?TZE FREI - DRINGEND ANMELDEN_ !! _MACHT VON UNTEN_ _Wie arbeiten Soziale Bewegungen erfolgreich - Beispiel T?rkei_ Seminar vom 30.10.-1.11.1998 in Gelsenkirchen _Analyse und Strategieentwicklung f?r die gewaltfreie Bewegung in_ _der T?rkei und t?rkisch/kurdische Gruppen in der BRD sowie deutsche_ _Unterst?tzerInnen_ Vor acht Jahren, 1990, erkl?rten Tayfun G?n?l und Vedat Zencir als erste in der T?rkei ?ffentlich ihre Kriegsdienstverweigerung. In den folgenden Jahren entstand in der T?rkei - vor allem in Izmir und Istanbul - eine kleine Bewegung f?r Kriegsdienstverweigerung. Wurde diese Bewegung zun?chst vom t?rkischen Staat ignoriert und sp?ter mit den ?blichen politischen Prozessen versucht einzu- sch?chtern, so zeigt sich heute, da? diese Strategie nicht aufging. Mit der Einberufung von Osman Murat ?lke zum Milit?r im September 1995 und seiner darauf folgenden Wehrpa?verbrennung versch?rfte sich auch die Auseinandersetzung zwischen den t?rki- schen KriegsgegnerInnen und dem Milit?r. Seit Oktober 1996 befin- det sich Osman Murat ?lke als bisher einziger t?rkischer Kriegs- dienstverweigerer mit Unterbrechungen im Milit?rgef?ngnis. In der Bundesrepublik verweigerte Aziz Kosgin im Dezember 1991 als erster t?rkischer Staatsangeh?riger ?ffentlich die Ableistung seiner Wehrpflicht im t?rkischen Milit?r. Dem folgte die Gr?ndung des Savas Hizmetini Reddedenler Girisimi (SHRG) als erste Initia- tive t?rkischer Kriegsdienstverweigerer in der BRD. In den fol- genden Jahren entstanden auch in anderen St?dten Gruppen von Kriegsdienstverweigerern t?rkischer Staatsangeh?rigkeit. Mittler- weile haben ca. 200 t?rkische Staatsangeh?rige in Deutschland ?f- fentlich ihre Kriegsdienstverweigerung gegen?ber dem t?rkischen Staat erkl?rt. Gleichzeitig entstanden Solidarit?tsgruppen f?r die t?rkische Kriegsdienstverweigererbewegung in verschiedenen St?dten. Zahl- reiche Besuche t?rkischer AntimilitaristInnen in Deutschland und Delegationsreisen in die T?rkei wurden organisiert. Alarmnetze f?r die bedrohten t?rkischen Verweigerer wurden aufgebaut und mehrmals zu Aktionen aufgefordert. _Analyse: wo steht die Bewegung heute?_ In dem Seminar "Macht von unten" wollen wir auf die zahlreichen bisherigen Aktivit?ten zur?ckblicken und diese mit Hilfe des Move- ment Action Plan (MAP) einordnen. Der MAP ist ein Analysemodell des US-Amerikaners Bill Moyer, das den typischen Ablauf erfolgrei- cher sozialer Bewegungen in acht Phasen beschreibt und strategi- sche Ziele f?r die einzelnen Phasen ableitet. Anhand dieses Modells wollen wir uns fragen, wo die Bewegungen in der T?rkei und in Deutschland derzeit stehen und welche Ansatz- punkte f?r die weitere - gemeinsame - Arbeit sich daraus ergeben. Erg?nzt wird diese Analyse von der Beschreibung vier typischer Rollen in sozialen Bewegungen. Welche Rollen sind in der Bewegung der t?rkischen Kriegsdienstverweigerer vertreten, welche fehlen? Welche Rolle nehmen die TeilnehmerInnen ein? Wie l??t sich errei- chen, da? die verschiedenen Rollen effektive zusammenarbeiten, um die strategischen Ziele der entsprechenden Phase der Bewegung zu erreichen? _Bewegung und Herrschende: an wen richten wir uns?_ Die Kriegsdienstverweigerer in der T?rkei sind in ihrer Arbeit di- rekt mit dem t?rkischen Staat und Milit?r konfrontiert. Die t?rki- schen und kurdischen Verweigerer hier verweigern sich dem t?rki- schen Milit?r, ihre Aktionen finden jedoch in Deutschland statt. Und die deutschen Solidarit?tsgruppen unterst?tzen die Aktionen ihrer t?rkisch/kurdischen FreundInnen, organisieren aber auch Rundreisen und Veranstaltungen f?r die ?ffentlichkeit. Allein durch diese Beschreibung wird deutlich, da? die Bewegung ganz unterschiedlichen Machtbeziehungen ausgesetzt ist. Sind wir uns dessen immer bewu?t? An wen richtet sich eigentlich unsere Arbeit, unsere Verweigerung? Wo mu? gerade unter Ber?cksichtigung der bestehenden Machtverh?ltnisse unsere Arbeit eigentlich an- setzen? Wo liegen die Grenzen unserer M?glichkeiten? Diesen Fragen wollen wir mit Hilfe der von Gene Sharp entwickel- ten "Konsens-Theorie der Macht" nachgehen. _Von der Analyse zur Strategie_ Im letzten Teil des Seminars wird es darum gehen, vom Blick auf die Bewegung auf die Praxis der TeilnehmerInnen zur?ckzukommen. Wie lassen sich die Erkenntnisse der Analyse durch uns umsetzen? Welche ganz praktischen Schritte ergeben sich daraus? Welche Zie- le k?nnen wir wie kurz- und mittelfristig erreichen? _Das Seminar findet statt vom_ Freitag, 30.10.98, 18.00 Uhr - Sonntag, 1.11.98, 16.00 Uhr _im:_ Kultur- und Bildungszentrum Schacht 3 Koststra?e 8, 45899 Gelsenkirchen _Teilnahmegeb?hren:_ Die Teilnahmegeb?hr f?r Unterkunft und Verpflegung betr?gt DM85,- Sie wird vor Ort erhoben. _TeamerInnen:_ Silke Kreusel, Jahrgang 1971, Studium der Geographie und Politik- wissenschaft, hier mit Schwerpunkt auf sozialen Bewegungen. Seit Jahren in der Graswurzelgruppe Oldenburg aktiv. Arbeit u.a. zu Mercedes-Teststrecke Papenburg, Castor-Transporten ins Wendland, Gr?ndungsmitglied und Mitarbeiterin von Patchwork. Andreas Speck, Jahrgang 1964, Studium des Umweltschutzes. Seit Mitte der 80er Jahre in verschiedenen antimilitaristischen und gewaltfreien Gruppen aktiv, seit sechs Jahren in der Graswurzel- gruppe Oldenburg. Internationale Arbeit im Rahmen der War Resi- sters' International (WRI), Arbeit zur T?rkei seit 1995. Gr?n- dungsmitglied und Mitarbeiter von Patchwork. _Anmeldung_ Wenn Ihr an diesem Seminar teilnehmen m?chtet, meldet Euch bitte bis zum 19.10.98 schriftlich oder per email an. Dann k?nnen wir entsprechend planen und die endg?ltige Anzahl an TeilnehmerInnen an das Tagungshaus weitergeben. Weitere Informationen sowie die Anfahrtsbeschreibung werden wir Euch nach der Anmeldung zusenden. Anmeldung an: DFG-VK Bildungswerk NRW Patchwork Braunschweiger Stra?e 22 Kaiserstrasse 24 44145 Dortmund 26122 Oldenburg Tel.: 0231/818032 Tel.: 0441/17111 Fax: 0231/818031 Fax: 0441/2489661 email: Patchwork at oln.comlink.apc.org ---------------------------------------------------------------- Patchwork-Verein zur F?rderung demokratischer Selbstorganisation Kaiserstrasse 24 * 26122 Oldenburg * T.: 0441/17111 * F: 2489661 email: patchwork at oln.comlink.apc.org internet: http://www.comlink.apc.org/patchwork/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Wed Oct 14 05:47:51 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 14 Oct 1998 05:47:51 Subject: HRA: The police raid on Turkish weekly newspaper "Kurtulus" Message-ID: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION October 13, 1998. PRESS RELASE: The police raid on Turkish weekly newspaper "Kurtulus" On 7 October 1998 police in Istanbul, Turkey, raided the central office of the weekly newspaper "Halk Icin Kurtulus" ("Liberation for the People") where they arrested 24 people, including the owners, editors and staff members. The raid and the arrests were based on a warrant issued by the State Security Court. The Court further issued a ruling closing down the newspaper for one month. The attack on "Halk Icin Kurtulus" has been systematic: On October 2, police raided the printing-house, seized 16,000 copies of the paper, and arrested five people without a court order. Later on, a court order by the State Security Court was issued that allowed the confiscation of the copies. On October 7, the "Kurtulus" main building was raided by the police. Staff members and visitors were beaten by the police, and equipment was confiscated. Furthermore, the paper's minibus was towed by police with the excuse that "it was obstructing traffic". On October 8, police attacked a press conference held in front of the Society of Journalists building, that condemned the raid on "Kurtulus", arresting nine people. On October 9, two other offices of "Kurtulus" were raided by police, and nine people were arrested. The oppression of the opposition press in Turkey seems to be systematic. Human Rights Action strongly condemns the police raid on "Kurtulus", and calls the Turkish Government to immediate release all people who were arrested during the raid, to put an end on the harassment of "Kurtulus", and to respect human rights and freedom of speech. For more information, contact HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION, 3176 N. Broadway, #40, Chicago, IL 60657, USA. Fax: +1 - 773 - 327.9009. Internet: E-mail: press at hr-action.org Web: www.hr-action.org List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Wed Oct 14 05:57:09 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 14 Oct 1998 05:57:09 Subject: Turkey: State-mafia revelations: Mehmet Agar involved in Murder Message-ID: TDN: Oct. 13 Agar's name involved in murder During the 11th hearing of the Susurluk case, National Intelligence Service agent Mehmet Eymur made some serious accusations. According to Eymur, Agar is the name behind many dark affairs involving the government and criminal organizations HAKAN ASLANELI Istanbul - Turkish Daily News The Susurluk case, as the trial in which 14 suspects including True Path Party (DYP) Sanliurfa Deputy Sedat Bucak and Special Action Team former Deputy Director Ibrahim Sahin are being tried has been dubbed, continued in Istanbul Monday. Besides Bucak, whose parliamentary immunity has been lifted, and Sahin, other suspects are drug smugglers Yasar Oz, Ali Fevzi Bir, casino king Omer Lutfi Topal's associate Sami Hostan and a number of police officers from the special teams. The former head of the National Intelligence Service (MIT) Counterterrorism Desk, Mehmet Eymur, who served as witness, delivered some shocking statements in Monday's court sessions. Stating that during his tenure as head of the police, former Interior Minister Mehmet Agar had distributed fake security papers, gun licenses and passports, Eymur said that the same person had been instrumental in sending a large quantity of drugs abroad, to be handed to Dursun Karatas, the head of an illegal organization. Stating that Agar's service as head of the police force witnessed a high number of criminal events, Eymur said that Agar was also responsible for the murder of Tarik Umit. Umit had been used by MIT, and Eymur himself also employed him as an informant, he said, adding that Abdullah Catli and his men pursued Umit and killed him on an order of Mehmet Agar. Eymur said that he had worked with Tarik Umit in 1987, explaining their relationship in the following way: "At that time, we worked together with the Security Smuggling Department. Tarik Umit provided us with information. Because of the report that became known to the public as the MIT report, I had to resign from my position in the police force. There were some political pressures. I was the person who put together the MIT report. This is routine work. But there were no legal proceedings against me or anyone else at that time." Eymur said that he returned to the police force in 1994 and that Tarik Umit wanted to work with him at the time. According to Eymur, Umit told him that he had worked with the police forces before, that he was assigned to collect information on Dev-Sol and the PKK, that he had gone abroad and had led a very active professional life. When asked who exactly appointed Umit on these missions, Eymur said that "Mehmet Agar assigned him duties in Turkey and abroad. However, the police force does not have the authority to appoint people on foreign missions. We have this authority." Eymur said that Tarik Umit had collaborated with Nurettin Guven and Yasar Oz, and that these people had been introduced to Mehmet Agar by Tarik Umit. Eymur pointed out that according to Tarik Umit, there were also efforts to smuggle drugs abroad. Eymur added that Nurettin Guven and Yasar Oz had been instrumental in the smuggling and that Guven had given the drugs to Dev-Sol leader Dursun Karatas. The goal was to find out Karatas' whereabouts and to organize an operation, Eymur said. Regarding Tarik Umit's "disappearance," Eymur said that he believed Umit had been killed for informing the police about the over 80 kilograms of drugs that had been smuggled abroad. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Thu Oct 15 05:57:18 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 15 Oct 1998 05:57:18 Subject: MER: Turkey Threatens All At Home and Abroad Message-ID: - _______ ____ ______ / |/ / /___/ / /_ // M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S / /|_/ / /_/_ / /\\ Making Sense of the Middle East /_/ /_/ /___/ /_/ \\ www.MiddleEast.Org TURKISH GENERALS THREATEN ALL _______________________________________________________________ News, Information, & Analysis That Governments, Interest Groups, and the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know. _______________________________________________________________ R E T U R N O F T H E O T T O M A N S MILITANT TURKEY - THREATENING ALL AT HOME AND ABROAD MER - WASHINGTON - 10/12: There is tremendous repression, oppression, militarism and torture in Turkey these days. All very much encouraged (regardless of what is said in public) by both the U.S. and Israel with their new "Ankara Pact" -- the importance of which we have focused upon previously. The Arabs are so weak, and Turkey is getting so strong now that the Americans and Israelis are working so closely with the Generals, that the militarist Turks feel they can start pushing everyone around. A clash with Syria still might come regardless of all the Arab "diplomacy". And at home there is still growing repression to prevent people from expressing themselves in the most basic ways. Journalists are arrested and beaten for publishing articles about what is really going on Students are fearful to speak up in any way. And even Muslim women are being increasingly harassed and punished -- government jobs and even school registration now prohibited to those who choose to wear a simple headscarf. On Sunday in Washington at the White House a small group of 50 or 60 Muslims, organized in the usual haphazard Muslim Student Association (MSA) way, marched outside the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue to protest Turkish repression. They then held prayers and had a few interesting speakers in Lafayette Park. MER-TV was there and will put some of the speakers on our weekly cable TV next month. As MER editorialized earlier this year, what's going on in today's Middle East is nothing less than the "return of the Ottomans", The following two short articles are from the AP a few days ago. Things can be expected to get worse, probably much worse, in the months to come. TURKISH PREMIER THREATENS TO "POKE OUT THE EYES" OF SYRIA ANKARA, Turkey (AP - 10/11 - By Selcan Hacaoglu) -- Turkey's prime minister said Sunday his country had a duty to "poke out the eyes" of Syria if it doesn't stop harboring Kurdish rebels. Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz's harsh words, reported by the Anatolia news agency, raised the stakes in Turkey's face-off with its neighbor. Ankara accuses Syria of harboring Kurdish rebels who are fighting for autonomy within Turkey. It has demanded Damascus to end its support to the rebels and extradite their leaders. Syria denies the claims. There were unconfirmed reports of a Turkish troop buildup along the Syrian border. Both Iran and Egypt are trying to mediate an end to the crisis. Yilmaz was quoted by Anatolia as saying that "if Syria does not come to its senses, it is our incumbent duty to bring the world down on them .. It is our incumbent duty to poke out the eyes of those who have eyes on our territory." Yilmaz spoke in southern Kahramanmaras province to a crowd that replied with cries of "Down with Syria!" Anatolia reported. Also on Sunday, State Minister Metin Gurdere said Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan had left Damascus for Armenia. "Armenia should also watch its step," Anatolia quoted him as saying. Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations. Armenia accuses Turkey of the genocide of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923. Turkey denies committing genocide and says the deaths were caused by civil war. Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa will leave for Turkey on Monday in the latest bid by Egypt to calm the mounting crisis. He also plans a trip to Syria. Moussa is expected to relay messages between Syrian President Hafez Assad and Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, Egypt's news media reported Sunday. --------------------------- MUSLIMS MARCH TO PROTEST SCARF BAN PEACEFUL MARCHERS ACCUSED OF "UPRISING"! ANKARA, Turkey (AP - 10/11 - By Selcan Hacaoglu) -- Thousands of Muslims demonstrators joined hands and marched Sunday throughout Turkey to protest a ban on Islamic-style head scarves in schools and public offices. Police shot and killed one person in an argument over a traffic jam caused by the protests. The Anatolia news agency said the shooting took place in the eastern city of Elazig, when a group of soccer fans on their way to a match got stuck in a traffic jam caused by the demonstration. It said police opened fire, killing a 25-year-old soccer fan and wounding two others. The marches in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and at least eight smaller towns and cities were the largest demonstration against the ban since universities last month refused to register women who failed to submit ID photographs with bare heads. Protesters, mostly women in scarves or black Islamic chadors, carried banners reading "We Want Our Right To Education Back," and "Respect Belief, Free Thought." Since chanting anti-secular slogans in Istanbul is illegal, demonstrators there clapped or blew on whistles instead. The government had declared the nationwide protest illegal and Deputy Premier Bulent Ecevit told NTV television it was an "uprising" by people hiding behind young girls. Several hundred people were reported detained nationwide for taking part in the demonstrations. The ban on head scarves is enforced at the urging of the military, the guardian of Turkey's secular regime. The military regards scarves as a political statement and radical Islam as a threat to Turkey's secular system. ------------------------- MID-EAST REALITIES is published a number of times weekly and the MERTV Program shows weekly on Cable TV. M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S (c) Copyright 1998 MER may be freely distributed by email unedited. For any print publication permission in writing is required. MER at MiddleEast.Org / Fax: 202 362-6965 / Phone: 202 362-5266 -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Thu Oct 15 13:09:46 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 15 Oct 1998 13:09:46 Subject: Turkey: High Court overturns policemen's acquittal for torture Message-ID: For background information see: http://www.ozgurluk.org/hrights/manisa/ ANKARA, Oct 13 (AFP) - The Turkish high court on Tuesday overturned an earlier court's acquittal of 10 policemen accused of torturing 12 teenagers suspected of membership in an illegal leftist group three years ago. "According to medical reports, it has been clearly understood that the suspects have been tortured during their interrogation under police custody," the high court said in a statement. The statement said the suspects had apparently undergone sexual assault, torture with electrical devices, beating and other forms of torture in the case in western Turkey. Under the high court's decision, the 10 policemen will be retried in the town of Manisa where the incident happened. The issue caused a public uproar in Turkey when the 12 youngsters said after their interrogation in early 1996 that they had been severely tortured under police custody. Despite medical reports supporting the teenagers' statements, a Manisa court in April acquitted the 10 policemen, triggering a fresh wave of public outrage throughout the country. In the new trial, the policemen will face prison terms of up to 12 years if found guilty. The 12 youngsters, aged between 15 and 18 at the time, were arrested in Manisa in January 1996 on charges that they were members of the illegal leftist group, the Turkish Revolutionary People's Party and Front. THEIR TRIAL IS CONTINUING IN THE NEARBY CITY OF IZMIR, WITH THE COURT SEEKING PRISON TERMS OF UP TO TWO YEARS FOR EACH OF THEM. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Thu Oct 15 19:18:03 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 15 Oct 1998 19:18:03 Subject: Benetton suspends Turkish ties after child labor allegations Message-ID: ISTANBUL, Oct 15 (AFP) - A Turkish company working with the Italian textile group Benetton announced Thursday that it was suspending its ties with several sub-contractors following accusations of child labour. "Our group has decided to suspend its contracts with five or six companies suspected of employing children, so as not to leave the shadow of a doubt," a spokesman for Boyner Holding, one of Turkey's leading textile manufacturers, said. Turkish trade unions this week accused the Turkish company Bermuda Tekstil of employing children below the age of 14 to manufacture garments for Boyner's company Bogazici Ready Wear, which holds the Benetton license in Turkey. "We have opened an investigation into the charges against Bogazici Ready Wear," the Boyner spokesman said. Benetton suspended all dealings with its Turkish licencee earlier this week and announced it would send a fact-finding mission to Turkey, after the Italian daily Corriere della Sera published the trade union's charges. Child labor is illegal in Turkey, but nonetheless commonplace. Under Turkish law, children younger than 15 years may not hold a job, but there are exceptions for farming, small businesses and other sections. In practice, an estimated three million children work in sweatshops of the textile or leather industries, restaurants, and other small businesses all over Turkey. And child labor is on the rise across the country, according to a study conducted by Istanbul's Marmara University. While some 1.5 million children worked in Turkey in 1980, the figure rose to 2.5 million by 1990 and 3 million today, the study found. The authors argue that free-market reforms conducted in the 1980s led to the increase in child labour because market liberalization drove many families into poverty. But other experts say the reason for the growing trend in child labour in Turkey lies in lax controls of existing laws, a total of 200 to 300 inspectors supervising some 600,000 businesses. Turkish trade unions say that thousands of 15 to 19-year-olds in Turkey have had industrial accidents or suffer from chronic health problems connected with their job. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sun Oct 18 10:54:56 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 18 Oct 1998 10:54:56 Subject: Turkey detains more than 600 after protest for missing people Message-ID: ISTANBUL, Oct 17 (AFP) - Police on Saturday took more than 600 people into custody after forcibly dispersing demonstrations in Istanbul and the western town of Izmir, Anatolia news agency reported. The demonstrations were called to draw attention to people who disappeared during police interrogations. Police weighed in with clubs when the protestors in Istanbul refused to move off. Two demonstrators and a reporter were slightly injured in the ensuing scuffles. A first demonstration was held in Istanbul (eds: correct), where a group of Kurdish families and left-wing activists called "The Mothers of Saturday" gathered for their weekly demonstration outside the Galatasaray French school. They say their loved ones disappeared after being taken away by police for questioning. Most of the demonstrators were members of the women's committee of the pro-Kurd People's Democracy party (Hadep), NTV channel said. A similar demonstration took place in Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, where 23 members of the "Platform for Rights and Liberties" were questioned, Anatolia said. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 24 09:23:56 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 24 Oct 1998 09:23:56 Subject: Turkey: Susurluk is September 12 Message-ID: SUSURLUK IS SEPTEMBER 12 On the morning of September 12, 1980, Turkey was woken up by an announcement on the radio in the name of the National Security Council. The same evening on TV, the image of five generals seated in a row was transmitted, generals who declared that they had taken over the administration of the country. A junta against the peoples of Turkey was founded by the five generals with the name of the National Security Council. From then on, they were the "law". The junta accused and sentenced to death or to life imprisonment tens of thousands of people on the charge of "altering" or "abolishing" the constitution, in short, overthrowing it, while in fact it was the junta that overthrew the constitution and inaugurated a period of lawlessness and injustice. The junta period, which started with the announcement on the morning of September 12 of a ban on going out on the streets, was a period of open terror. The target of the terror was not simply the revolutionaries, but all sections of the people and all organisations. In addition to bourgeois parties, the trade unions, confederations, associations of government employees, city neighbourhoods, thousands of clubs and associations the length and breadth of Anatolia were closed within a few days by order of the junta. This was a time when a widespread and gigantic wave of arrests got under way from the night of September 12 onwards. During the hours of curfew , teams of torturers and death squads roamed about in the streets. At midnight convoys streamed out of the gendarmerie barracks and First Section. Hundreds and thousands of people arrested in the night were brought to the torture centres as though under wartime conditions. Imperialism pressed the button, its collaborators arranged September 12 and a nightmare descended on the people. The purpose of this nightmare was to make 45 million people surrender. Admittedly, it was necessary to neutralise the revolutionary organisations and the revolutionary struggle before this could be done. A large section of the left simplified the work of the junta from its very first day by taking the decision to retreat, even before the first steps towards forming a junta were audible. Certainly resistance never ceased. In this process Devrimci Sol carried on the armed struggle in the first six months of the coup at a high level of intensity, and later in 1982 campaigns like "the junta cannot judge Devrimci Sol" went on at a reduced level of intensity. It defended a line of continued resistance. However, every form of armed and unarmed resistance by Devrimci Sol proved insufficient to derail the junta from its programme. As a result, the junta also had a certain amount of success in the sense of making the people surrender. Fear and panic had an effect on the people. While making the people passive by means of terror, the junta secured the "paralysis" it wanted. September 12 became in the eyes of the people the symbol of state terror. For whom was the coup carried out? "Developments in Turkey are such that the Turkish armed forces see no alternative to intervention. (...) The Turkish armed forces are going to intervene but the army will not be able to manage developments for the long term." (US Armed Forces magazine, June 1980) Thus US imperialism, which triggered off the junta and supported it, expressed the view that a coup was inevitable to safeguard the existing system of exploitation. With imperialism's support and unanimous approval, the fascist junta was to drag the people of Turkey into a period of darkness. In that period, the Chief of the General Staff and head of the junta Kenan Evren was "invited" to the USA where he received a briefing on the coup, and then he returned to the country to make the necessary preparations for it. True to his status as a servant, Kenan Evren gave instructions to one of the generals he trusted the most, Haydar Saltik; a working group was set up to determine the most favourable time to stage the coup. At a meeting of the National Security Council, Kenan Evren also said: "If this situation persists, I fear another May 27 (1960 military coup date)", "We all have said everything that is necessary and have spoken frankly, but the government does nothing." While warnings like these were issued, letters were dispatched which prepared the ground for the coup. The final warning of the junta generals was not to the government alone but to all "constitutional bodies". From now on the decision for the coup was a fait accompli, but these types of warning were an effort to make the coup seem legitimate. The monopoly bourgeoisie was complaining about the dimensions of the revolutionary struggle and the failure of the system parties to create stability. And imperialism wanted "stability" in Turkey to protect its interests in the Middle East. Conditions were sought by imperialism and its collaborators which however were only possible with a coup. These were the conditions for September 12: First: to guarantee "stability" for imperialism and its collaborators; second, to obstruct the development of popular opposition to the oligarchy; third, to apply the economic programme of the imperialists and their collaborators; fourth, to continue the war against the people in a more organised form and to be able to institutionalise a system of open fascism. At four in the morning on September 12, tanks headed for pre-determined targets. As soon as the junta headed by Kenan Evren took power, executions, torture and attacks followed automatically. One law followed after another; parties, associations and trade unions were closed down one after the other. The schools were turned into winter barracks and the country was turned into an open torture centre. >From the economics of September 12 to the economics of Susurluk President S?leyman Demirel, today's apostle of democracy, was prime minister before September 12. Demirel, who said of the January 24 decisions, "You can call this fascism if you want, but I will implement it," could not implement this programme in the face of the revolutionary struggle and the people's opposition. But September 12 created the necessary conditions for it. What Demirel could not do was done by the September 12 junta, that is, the January 24 economic package prepared by the IMF was put into effect without a hitch. With the January 24 economic package wanted by imperialism, a tight money policy was applied, investment was reduced, "development" was slowed down, public spending cut and prices raised. With this imperialism wanted control over all the areas mentioned and the economy as a whole. While the fascist coup of September 12 removed all economic and democratic rights by force, and by interrupting the revolutionary struggle left working people without organisation and leadership, conditions were created so these decisions could be implemented with ease. For imperialism and its collaborators, these decisions were of vital importance. The factories of the monopoly bourgeois who could not import foreign currency were at a standstill. Since this interrupted the repayment of the 20 billion dollars of foreign debt, no more credits could be obtained or new debts contracted. It was a period in which 35,000 workers were on strike and 800,000 workers were participants in collective bargaining agreements. Under these conditions, only through the junta could imperialism and its collaborators realise an economic programme that would exploit the people yet more intensively. For this, the economy of the land had to be completely under the control of the IMF. In the 18 years that have passed since then, the decisions of the IMF have been treated as state policy. Whenever it wished, the IMF could drive people into poverty. Moreover, relations with imperialism were stepped up. The renewal of the laws on tendering prepared the way for the uppermost layers of the state to engage in bribery and plunder to an even greater extent than before. (Turgut) ?zal, who during the coup period was economic supremo and became prime minister immediately after the junta, "perfected" the system of plunder and pillage, from the point of view of the ruling classes and the state bureaucracy! The wheel, so to speak, was set in motion and nothing could escape being pulled into its workings. The generals of September 12 who applied warlike measures against the people in the name of "stability" in order to implement the decisions of the IMF, are no different from the members of the MGK (National Security Council) who are at the head of the Susurluk State. In the interests of imperialism and its collaborators, thousands of people were thrown onto the street without work. A policy of price rises and repression was applied without interruption. But the most important point of all is that our land has been turned into a centre of dirty money which secures the existence of the imperialists and their collaborators and determines their economy. The dirty money which is made through drugs, arms smuggling and prostitution determines the nature of the Susurluk State's economy. This is the "source" which finances the war against the people. Open fascism is institutionalised September 12 was the organising of the internal war by all institutions of the state in the economic, political and military sense. This was only natural, for the state needed to carry on its war against the people through this form of organisation without having recourse to a new junta. Admittedly this could only be realised through institutionalising open fascism. The high point of the institutionalising of open fascism was represented by the 1982 constitution and the MGK. While with the 1982 constitution, all kinds of rights and freedoms were curtailed, state organisations were strengthened, and measures were taken to make these immune to the influence of the people's opposition, while new organisations were founded to implement the policies of the state in various areas of life. The most important of these organisations, without a doubt, was the National Security Council (MGK). This organisation, which certainly became the centre of gravity of the general's regime, was to become the centre and the headquarters of the war against the people. The sphere of authority for members of parliament was steadily reduced. While institutions like the Higher Education Council (Y?K), the Senior Judicial Body (YHK) and the State Security Courts (DGM) were formed, the MIT (National Intelligence Organisation), the police and the army were restructured to make them better suited to warfare within Turkey. These were outside of any form of legal control. The junta's constitution gave the police and the gendarmerie the right to kill. Now they could "turn back towards democracy". But the junta, which had made the people spit blood for three years, had one more thing to settle: its own security. For this reason again, a "temporary paragraph" in the constitution was introduced which stated that not a single investigation into junta members' activities during their period of rule could be carried out. "TEMPORARY PARAGRAPH 15" "For the period from September 12, 1980 up to the creation of the presidential presidium after the first general elections... neither the MGK which serves the legislative and executive bodies in the name of the Turkish nation, nor the governments created during this period of leadership by this council nor the Advisory Council... can be made criminally, financially or legally accountable for their own decisions." They had done everything and yet still they were afraid. After completing the formation of all these institutions, in 1983 the junta turned to demagogy about "returning to democracy" and giving power to "civilians". In reality the MGK would continue to make "recommendations" to the government. In the course of time this all became obvious enough. Since 1983, while the MGK has destroyed all the functions of parliament, it has been the only force determining policy. Today, there is no power and also no opposition standing against this force. This is also why the system parties are unable to remove the filth emanating from the Susurluk State. Actually they are sunk at least as deep in filth as the MGK is, they have given their approval to torture and massacres and have entered into every form of dirty relations with contra-guerrilla chiefs. September 12 created the basis for transforming the state and all its institutions into a contra-guerrilla state. Fascists like Abdullah Catli, Alaatin Cakici, M. Ali Agca, Haluk Kirci in the period of the junta began to operate with the personal approval of the MIT and the police. In Susurluk, the filth and dirt, plunder, pillage and fraud came into the open, classifiable under one name: the contra-guerrillas... In the 1990s, in an effort to exculpate the junta, Kenan Evren said, "If we had not intervened there would have been a terrible bloodbath. We prevented the worst." When the MGK which heads the Susurluk State became caught up in the filth emanating from Susurluk, it hid itself behind lies such as "Don't get the army involved in this. The army is clean," in order to prevent the system's last trump card, the army, from losing prestige. However, the facts are clear. Already in the 1970s, various dirty dealings by the army began to be noticeable. For example, in the 1970s, when the suspected killer of Dr Necdet G?cl?, Ibrahim Dogan, was caught, the weapon found on him turned out to belong to a first lieutenant named Fehmi Altinbek. Nor was this all that Altinbek got up to. Today it has been learned that Altinbek, who is still active in the armed forces, was involved in the (1973) killing under torture of TIKKO (Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army of Turkey) leader Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, and was also involved in the escape to Iran of Agca, the killer of (the journalist Abdi) Ipekci. Those in the army involved in dirty dealings are not restricted to the Fehmi Altinbeks, the Korkut Ekens, the Veli K?c?ks or the Cengiz Ersevers. This would be contrary to its boasts that "the army has a rigidly hierarchic structure". "Fish stink from the head first," as the saying goes, and the stench in the army extended from the top right down to the lower ranks. The dirty dealings of the generals of September 12 also came into the open via the reports they themselves prepared. Mehmet Agar, the contra chief who was one of the principals in the Susurluk affair and who said, "Everything I did was with the knowledge of the MGK," started mafia activities by extorting money in Istanbul. Associates of Agar were the September 12 generals Tahsin Sahinkaya and Necdet ?rug. The famous "MIT report" published in 1987 exposed all the filth. The Lockheed bribery prepared the way for Sahinkaya and other generals to engage in corruption like the ILKSAN, ISKI and Horzum affairs. In the 1990s the war against the people escalated and contra-guerrilla activities, plunder and pillage also became more widespread. Agar and the September 12 generals who started by collecting extortion money became involved in the heroin traffic. The drugs network was created by the contra- guerrilla bands which were known to the public as the Y?ksekova gang and in which, amongst others, the lieutenant-colonel in command of the Hakkari Mountain Commando Battalion, Mehmet Emin Y?rdakul, was involved. This gang was caught not long before the Susurluk scandal broke. Certainly the MGK is at their head. Despite all the efforts of the MGK to make the army appear "clean", certain truths could not be prevented from coming to light. The department head of the police intelligence service, Hanefi Avci, told the Susurluk Commission that Veli K?c?k represented the military wing of the gangs set up by the state. Veli K?c?k, whose ties to the Hadi ?zcans and the phone conversations he had with Abdullah Catli while he was posted to Kocaeli have since become public, is still on duty in Giresun. Undoubtedly this is far from the full extent of the dirty dealings of the state and the MGK. All that has come out is only the tip of the iceberg. September 12 opened the way for the Susurluk state of today, and in every period the MGK has been the headquarters for implementing these filthy dealings. MIT, JITEM (the gendarmerie intelligence service) and other contra organisations do not act independently of the MGK. Moreover, within the MIT there are quite a few people who come from the army. Teoman Koman, one of the founders of JITEM, whom the Susurluk Commission wanted to give testimony , had at one time been a general posted to MIT headquarters. Over the past 18 years, the Susurluk State's war against the Turkish and Kurdish people has employed contra-guerrilla methods, subjecting hundreds of thousands to torture, killing thousands and making hundreds of people disappear. The war against the developing and growing people's opposition escalated in the years 1994-96, with the number of disappeared reaching 742. Yes, September 12, with its constitution, its laws, its contra-guerrilla institutions continues. The war against the people, which on September 12 saw the closing of unions and associations, goes on under the "civilian administration" in the form of attacks on people's organisations, depopulation of villages, massacres and disappearances. The September 12 work of sending revolutionaries to the gallows which was once carried out by junta courts is now done by the DGMs, and implemented even more relentlessly than before. Those who continue to ascribe a progressive mission to the MGK are supporting the maintenance of the system and the Susurluk State. They try to confine demands for people's democracy within the game of "defending secularism". Nonetheless, the picture of the country is a clear one. In this picture, the ones chiefly responsible for the repression are the Susurluk generals, the army and the MGK. The parliament, the government and all the system parties are a means of drawing a veil over open fascism. Today in our country it is pointless to debate whether or not fascism exists. Because in the 1990s there have been killings, massacres, disappearances, arrests in the streets and the city squares, and terror has been used in the war against the people directed by the MGK. For this reason, wanting people's power means wanting to dissolve the system. Without setting up people's power, this corrupt system cannot be ended. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 24 22:18:29 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 24 Oct 1998 22:18:29 Subject: X Kurds die in blaze protest in Turkish jails Message-ID: DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Oct 23 (AFP) - Two Kurds burned themselves to death in a Turkish jail and eight other inmates were injured in a protest over conditions, prison sources said Friday. The Kurds, jailed for belonging to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), died after setting their clothes alight in prison at Midyat, in south-eastern Turkey, late Thursday. Similar protests were held by Kurds in other jails across Turkey, injuring eight inmates, one of them seriously. The Kurds were protesting the conditions of their detention. Several hundred people are currently held in Turkish jails for belonging to the PKK or promoting separatism. The pro-Kurd daily, Ulkede Gundem, Thursday published extracts of a message from PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan calling for an end to such "human sacrifice" in Turkey's jails. The PKK has been engaged in a separatist rebellion in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey since 1984. Some 31,000 people have died in the fighting. Meanhwile, inmates belonging to far-left groups were Friday holding scores of warders hostage in two Turkish prisons, the Anatolia agency said. Inmates in the high-security Umraniye jail in Istanbul were holding 32 prison guards and two deputy prison directors, the agency said. In Bergama, in western Turkey, prisoners took several warders hostage and set fire to a cell, injuring two members of the security forces and a firefighter. Talks were underway to get the warders released, the agency said. It did not say why the inmates had taken their action. In April, prisoners belonging to extreme-left organisations took guards in several prisons hostage and demanded that the Justice Ministry end the practice of transferring them from jail to jail in the west of the country. Prison authorities say such protests are aided by the fact that the prisoners are kept in groups of between 10 and 60, enabling them to plan operations. List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 24 22:23:04 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 24 Oct 1998 22:23:04 Subject: Five Kurds burn alive in Turkish prison protests Message-ID: ANKARA, Oct 24 (AFP) - Five Kurdish prisoners set themselves alight and scores of warders were taken hostage during protests in Turkish jails, which the justice ministry said had ended Saturday. Turkish Justice Minister Hasan Denizkurdu said inmates belonging to far-left groups had freed warders taken hostage Friday in two prisons to protest conditions of detention. "The incidents have ended in all the prisons," said Denizkurdu in comments quoted by the Anatolia agency. "There were no casualties apart from those who set fire to themselves," he noted. The five Kurds who died had been jailed for "terrorist" activists. They were protesting both the conditions of their detention and Syria's decision, under pressure from Turkey, to expel the leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, press reports said. Five other Kurdish detainees were injured after trying to set themselves alight. The PKK has been engaged in a separatist rebellion in the mainly Kurd-populated southeast of Turkey since 1984. Some 31,000 people have died in the fighting. Lawyers announced several hours earlier the release of the 40-odd warders, including two prison directors, after an agreement was reached between inmates in Istanbul's Umraniye jail. The inmates' action was aimed at preventing the transfer of 14 far-left detainees to another prison from that in Ceyhan, southern Turkey, where authorities last week discovered prisoners had been digging a tunnel, reported the NTV television channel. List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Sat Oct 24 22:24:28 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 24 Oct 1998 22:24:28 Subject: Turkey, Israel sign new missile-building deal Message-ID: ANKARA, Oct 24 (AFP) - Turkey and Israel signed a military accord to build a new type of ground-to-air missiles for 80 million dollars, the Turkish daily Sabah reported Saturday. The accord, which is part of a wider framework-agreement on military cooperation between the two countries reached in 1996, was signed last week by Turkish and Israeli defence companies in Ankara, said the paper. There was no official confirmation on the report. Military cooperation between the two nations attracted much criticism from Arab countries, particularly Syria, Egypt and Iran which interpreted the alliance as a direct threat, a charge denied by Turkey and Israel. Under the new accord, the Israeli firm Raphael, which produces Popeye missiles, will team up with Turkish firms to manufacture a more sophisticated version of the weapon, said Sabah. Discussions are also underway for Turkish participation in a US-Israeli project building Arrow-II air defence missiles, wrote the paper, which said a Turkish part in the project would need prior US approval. Last month, the two countries signed a paper handing the Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) a 70 million-dollar contract to update 48 Turkish army F5 training aircraft. An IAI-owned consortium in November 1996 won a 630 million-dollar contract to modernise 54 Phantom F-4E fighter-bombers owned by the Turkish army. List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From tabe at big.ozgurluk.xs4all.nl Sun Oct 25 11:28:02 1998 From: tabe at big.ozgurluk.xs4all.nl (tabe at big.ozgurluk.xs4all.nl) Date: 25 Oct 1998 11:28:02 Subject: Mainstream news on Prisonuprising in Turkey Message-ID: Friday October 23 3:40 PM EDT Inmates Hold Turkish Guards Hostage ANKARA, Turkey (AP) _ Political prisoners apparently seeking better conditions took dozens of prison guards hostage at two prisons in Turkey on Friday, news reports said. In another prison, three inmates died of severe burns after setting themselves on fire. As many as 30 prison officials were being held captive in a political prisoners' ward at Umraniye prison in Istanbul, the Anatolia news agency reported. An unknown number of guards were being held at Bergama prison, about 340 west of Ankara. Exact demands by the prisoners were not immediately clear. The three inmates who burned themselves raised to five the number who have died in a protest against the government's crackdown on Kurdish rebels. A fourth prisoner at Diyarbakir jail was rushed to hospital early Friday in critical condition, the report said. The prisoners were either awaiting trial or convicted on charges of Kurdish separatism. Turkey's prisons, which house some 9,000 prisoners linked to leftist or Kurdish groups, are frequently rocked by riots and hunger strikes. Saturday October 24 11:42 PM EDT Turkish Prisoners Release Hostages ANKARA, Turkey (AP) _ Political prisoners in five prisons throughout Turkey released guards they had taken hostage for a day in an attempt to secure better conditions, Justice Minister Hasan Denizkurdu said Saturday. Inmates had held some 50 prison guards and officials hostage Friday in what appeared to be a concerted protest. Human rights activists who took part in negotiations, confirmed that all hostages had been released. Five security officers reportedly were injured during the hostage-takings; none was reported in life-threatening conditions. The most important action came in Istanbul's Umraniye prison. Throughout the night, lawyers, human rights activists and paramilitary police negotiated with the inmates, the Anatolia news agency reported. Lawyers told Anatolia that the prisoners demanded a general improvement of jail conditions, an end to prison transfers and that convicts in isolation cells be allowed to return to their wards. Prisoners also demanded an end to attacks by prison officials and that all prisoners injured in recent riots receive medical treatment, Ibis Varol of the Human Rights Association said. Varol said the justice ministry accepted all of the demands. A justice ministry official, however, said officials do not attack inmates, that prisoners always have been given medical treatment and that isolated cells are only used in disciplinary cases. Catay Kayiran, the general director of penitentiaries, also said that soldiers who are dealing with the hostage taking would leave the prisons. -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Mon Oct 26 08:13:05 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 26 Oct 1998 08:13:05 Subject: Turkey: IHD calls for elimination of the State Security Courts Message-ID: 24 October,1998, Copyright ? Turkish Daily News IHD Istanbul calls for removal of State Security Courts Istanbul - Turkish Daily News The Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) called for the elimination of State Security Courts in a statement issued Friday. The statement pointed out that in the laws of the Turkish Republic, there has always been protection for the existence of courts with "special authority." The establishment of Independent Courts, then Martial Law Courts was followed by the military coup of Sept. 12, 1980, and the subsequent establishment of State Security Courts in 1983 under Law 2845. State security courts, however, can be turned into martial law courts within the context of the aforementioned law if the Chief of General Staff sees it necessary in a situation where martial law has been declared. According to the IHD's statement, "People of different identities, beliefs and thoughts have been tried and are being tried in these courts of special authority. Today more than 10,000 people have been tried in State Security Courts for expressing viewpoints that differ from the official line and for their political identities. There are still 6,000 dossiers containing lawsuits because of Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code and Article 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Law." A further point against State Security Courts is that military judges are prevalent in these institutions and they have hardened their views on the structure of the abovementioned courts. The statement emphasizes the fact that trying civilians in courts in which the command-obey chain exists and in which soldiers whose actions are restricted exist damages the idea of "trusting in justice." -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Thu Oct 29 07:27:16 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 29 Oct 1998 07:27:16 Subject: Filipino human rights advocates picket Turkish Embassy Message-ID: PRESS RELEASE 29 OCTOBER 1998 REFERENCE: EMILY T. GARCIA, DESAPARECIDOS Secretary General Filipino Human Rights Advocates to the Turkish Government: Stop Disappearances! Free All Political Prisoners! Upon receiving news that members and supporters of the Saturday Mothers in Turkey were arrested by the Turkish facist state on October 10 while the families of the desaparecidos were holding a protest action in Galatasaray, Istanbul, Filipino human rights advocates and groups affiliated with DESAPARECIDOS-KARAPATAN staged their own sit-down protest in front of the Turkish Embassy in Dasmari=F1as Village, Makati today, October 29. "We are here to show our support to and solidarity with the Saturday Mothers and all victims of human rights violations in Turkey. We are one with their struggle for a society without disappearances, murders, poverty and famine. We are one with their struggle for a just, free and democratic society," said Emily Garcia, secretary general of DESAPARECIDOS, an organization of families of the desaparecidos in the Philippines. "The arrest of members of the Saturday Mothers and their supporters exhibits the brutal attack of the Turkish facsist state and its imperialist master, the Unites Sates (?), against the democratic rights of the families and supporters of the desaparecidos," said Garcia. They were there to demand justice for their vanished loved ones but, as a response, the Turkish state arrested them and had them detained. Some of them are believed to have disappeared as well. "This is an affront to the people, their struggle and their rights," Garcia added. On October 24, news from Turkey stated that political prisoners have been taking hostage of their inmates. Two of the political prisoners have burned themselves to death. They were demanding for better prison conditions. "It was their last resort. In their dire attempt to demand justice for their detention, torture and disappearance of their co-prisoners, the political prisoners have even resorted to self immolation. They sought refuge among themselves because they did not believe that the state would give them the justice that they deserved. This incident should send signals to the Turkish state on the issue of justice and due process to all victims of human rights violations," said Garcia. "We call on the Turkish government to stop all involuntary disappearances and to free all political prisoners in Turkish dungeons. The people's struggle against fascism in Turkey is a just and legitimate one. The state, instead of showing its fangs and using military might against the people, should present economic and political reforms which would solve the root cause of the people's growing resistance in Turkey," Garcia said. "Involuntary disappearance is the most brutal form of political repression which imperialist countries like the US and Germany impose on their neo-colonies. It is the imperialist power's most dangerous weapon used against the struggling peoples of Turkey and of the world." Cruel imperialist powers have made thousands of desaparecidos around the world vanish into the dark halls of injustice. Garcia said, "We, families of the desaparecidos, are kept in the dark for years and years, and the pain never disappears. Its aftermath is much more terrible than that of nuclear bombs." As in Turkey, disappearances occur in most neo-colonial countries like Argentina, Columbia, Mexico, Cuba and the Philippines. This heinous form of human rights violation has been historically resorted to by the imperialist powers against a people who nobly assert and struggle for their independence and self-determination. Disappearance and other forms of human rights violations were committed with impunity by the colonial powers of the US when it subjugated the Filipino resistance movement at the turn of this century. The successive puppet regimes established by the imperialist power in the Philippines after World War II have similarly resorted to such brutal attacks against the struggling Filipino people and up to now, these violations occur. "Thus, we in DESAPARECIDOS and other members of the human rights alliance, KARAPATAN, express our outrage over the same attacks launched by the Turkish government against our sisters/brothers in Turkey. We show our solidarity with the struggle of the Turkish people for independence and democracy in their country", Garcia stressed. We urge the Turkish government to take the lessons of the Filipino people's uprising. That fascist suppression and repression cannot quell a people's desire for freedom. STOP DISAPPEARANCE AND OTHER FORMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! On November 2, the families of the desaparecidos will hold its annual commemoration of the victims of involuntary disappearances with a cultural presentation at the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights) 09 23-D Mabuhay St., Central District, Diliman, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES Tel. Nos. (++632) 434-1865 / 435-7828 Permanent E-mail Address: desap at philonline.com Permanent Web Address: http://www.geocities.com/~karapatan ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Fri Oct 30 07:22:37 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 30 Oct 1998 07:22:37 Subject: The Observatory/TUR 003/9807/OBS 056.1/Turkey/Follow up/Crime of Opi Message-ID: Reply-to: omct at iprolink.ch URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY TUR 003 / 9807 / OBS 056.1 Crime of opinion - Term of Imprisonment New Information October 30th, 1998 TURKEY The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the FIDH and OMCT, requests your urgent intervention regarding the following situation in Turkey. Brief description of the situation : On the 1st of September the Security Court of Ankara condemned Mr. Akin Birdal, President of the Human Rights Association in Turkey (IHD - member organisation of the FIDH and OMCT) and Vice-President of the FIDH, to one year's imprisonment and to pay a fine of 420'000 Turkish liras. This pronounced sentence, based on article 312 of the Turkish penal code, that represses incitement to hatred and discrimination on the basis of race, religion or origin, follows speeches made by Birdal on September 1st, 1996, during the World Day for Peace. Akin Birdal decided to appeal this decision as soon as he became aware of his sentence. New Information: The Observatory has just been informed by the IHD that the General Board of Criminal Departments of the Court of Appeals has approved the sentence of the Security Court of Ankara (SSC) and Akin Birdal faces a years imprisonment and a fine of 420,000. This decision overturns the ruling of the 8th Criminal Department of the Court of Appeals which ruled that the use of words such as =93 kurdish people =94 used in Birdal's speech and the basis for his sentencing could not be interpreted as =93 incitation to hatred or hostility by making discrimination based on class, race, region, religious sects or opinion as stated in article 312/2 of the Turkish Penal Code, because the main theme of the speech is peace and freedom =94. The decision against Birdal was annulled. Despite this, the SSC continued to press for charges and the case was then examined by the General Board of Criminal Departments of the Court of Appeals. On the 27th of October they ruled in favour of the SSC. Akin Birdal can appeal to no higher court and in the very near future will face imprisonment. The Observatory notes that Akin Birdal, one of Turkey's most prominent human rights defenders, is likely to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in Jail. The Observatory unreservedly condemns this action and urges you to write to the Turkish authorities demanding that the highest authorities of Turkey do everything in their power to put an end to all forms of harassment, including legal, against human rights activists and their organisation and allow they to carry out their work promoting and defending human rights in Turkey. We would further urge you to request that they implement the international conventions ratified by Turkey, particularly the European Convention of Human Rights that guarantees the freedom of expression. Addresses : Mr Demiral, President of the Republic, Fax 90 312 427 1330 Mr Yilmaz, Prime Minister Basbakanlik, 06 573 Ankara, Fax 90 312 417 04 76 Geneva - Paris, October 30th 1998 Kindly inform us of any action undertaken, quoting the reference number given above. The Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. To contact the Observatory, call the emergency Line: Fax: 33 (0) 1 40 39 22 42 Tel.: FIDH 33 (0) 1 48 05 82 46 = OMCT : + 41 22 733 31 40 E-mail: observatoire at iprolink.ch List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl From ozgurluk at xs4all.nl Fri Oct 30 07:23:09 1998 From: ozgurluk at xs4all.nl (ozgurluk at xs4all.nl) Date: 30 Oct 1998 07:23:09 Subject: Turkey: Attacks against political prisoners Message-ID: Information about the recent attacks against the prisoners in Turkey. Source: The People's Lawyers Office (Halkin Hukuk Buerosu) During an arbitrary attempt to relocate the prisoners in the Ceyhan prison by force, 33 prisoners were wounded on October 19, 1998. Among them was Semsettin Kalkan, the prisoners' representative, who was wounded severely. It is reported that Semsettin Kalkan had to be brought to hospital because of internal bleedings. The lawyers from Istanbul, Kemal Yilmaz and Mustafa Cinkilic, representing the Cagdas Hukukcular Dernegi (Contemporary Lawyers Association) in Adana, were arrested. While the lawyers were released the same evening, the 33 prisoners, wounded by the police, soldiers and prison wardens, were locked up in solitary confinement. The prisoners were not treated medically although some of them suffered from fractions. Furthermore, cigarette burns could be established, caused by the police. A visit of the prisoners by the lawyers was refused. It is clear that chaos is aimed for in the prison to facilitate forced relocations. Another attack was reported on October 23, 1998, this time in the Cankiri prison. As a result of this attack, especially directed against the DHKP-C blocks, 15 prisoners were severely wounded. Gas grenades were used in the attack. To defend themselves, the prisoners raised barricades in their cells which held for a considerable time. An attack against prisoners was also reported from the prison in Bergama were people protested against the attack in Cankiri. Eleven prisoners were said to be wounded. Looking at the considerable tensions, new attacks have to be feared. It is clear that these attacks are planned. Their main goal is to transport the prisoners to isolation prisons in an attempt to break them. Istanbul, Turkey, 24/10/1998 HALKIN HUKUK BUEROSU Tel/Fax: 0090-212 631 36 94 Millet Caddesi Dedepasa Sok 5/1 Findikzade/Aksaray THE ATTACKS AGAINST THE PRISONS WERE ENDED AS A RESULT OFF THE RESISTANCE BY THE PRISONERS The attacks of the police, soldiers and especially trained prison wardens, known as the A-team, starting in Adana-Ceyhan this week and quickly spreading to the prisons of Bergama, Cankiri, UEmraniye, Bayrampasa, Bursa and Ankara, were ended as a result of the negotiations in the Bayrampasa prison tonight. The Justice Department agreed, after mediation by the lawyers, to the following demands: 1. The attacks against the prisons have to be stopped. 2. The soldiers, policemen and special teams have to be withdrawn from the prisons. 3. The prisoners who are locked in solitary confinement have to be brought back to the group cells. 4. The wounded prisoners have to receive medical treatment. Reacting after the attack against the Ceyhan prison on October 19, 1998, the prisoners in the Bergama prison took 7 prison guards hostage and set up barricades, 2 prison directors and 30 guards were taken hostage in UEmraniye, 4 guards were taken hostage in Bursa, 9 in Canakkale, and 10 in Ankara. After the attack against the Cankiri prison, were 15 prisoners had to be taken to hospital, several actions were carried out in other prisons as well. The state has to change its policy which is aimed against the life of the prisoners, in stead of protecting them. The events of the last weeks are, to say the least, criminal. The tensions, caused by the prison directions, result in attacks against the prisoners. Terror rules inside the prisons after these attacks. It is no coincidence that they seek to cause tensions in all the other prisons at the same time. The state has carried out a general test of the total attack. Prison guards are being promoted according to their repression, torture and murder of the prisoners. As long as this gang mentality rules inside the prisons, attacks of this nature will occur. Halkin Hukuk Buerosu October 24, 1998 -- Press Agency Ozgurluk For justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan! Website: http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk at xs4all.nl / mailinglists: petidomo at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl List info: english-request at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl