Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Turkish Probe October 26, 1993
Human Rights Diary
The Association of Contemporary Journalists (CGD)
urges the government to issue an amnesty for the
press, for the 70th anniversary of the establishment of
Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Ekmekcç, the general
,director of the Association says: "We believe that a
general amnesty for editors who are still being fined
hundreds of millions of liras or are imprisoned while
the publications they headed have ceased' to exist,
would contribute greatly to freedom of thought in our
country." ,
(Newspapers, Oct. 19)
Press freedom activists continue to condemn the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)'s recent
decision to ban national and foreign press activities in
southeastern Turkey. The International Federation of
Journalists (FIJ) says recent PKK tactics to threaten
journalists only show "how empty their promises on
press freedom and democracy are." The organization's
Secretary General Aidan White appeals to the PKK to
withdraw its ultimatum to the press and not to threaten
journalists working in the r.egion. Journalist
assOciations throughout Turkey and in Northern
Cyprus also condemn the PKK ban. ln another move,
journalists working for foreign news organizations in
Ankara sign a joint letter,that condemns the PKK ban.
"We deplore this attempt to muzzle reporting of the
Kurdish conflict in the region, just as we would deplore
any government attempt to block or censor news from
the area," it says.
(Newspapers, Oct. 20)
Two people die in Mardin's Savur district when a bus
hits a mine planted by PKK militants. In Urfa's
Suruç district, two civilians, part of. a group of 12
people recently kidnapped by the PKK, are found
murdered.
(Newspapers, Oct. 20)
Referring to recent bans imposed by the outlawed
PKK on political parties and news organizations in the
predominantly Kurdish populated southeast, pro-
Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) spokesman Remzi
Kartal says that pressure on press and parties in the
~~gionare not new. He says that the pro-Kurdish daily
Ozgür Gündem and the DEP have been under
constant pressure, adding "the press has not backed
freedom of communication. It has attended the
briefings by the Office of the Turkish Chi~f of Staff,
and has acted in line with National Security Council
(MGK) decisions," Kartal claims.
(Newspapers, Oct. 21)
The international human rights group Amnesty
International (A.I.) claims increasing evidence has
come to light that since 1991 that Turkey's security
forces have engaged in a campaign of extrajudicial
executions, and killed a number of civilians by firing
indiscriminately on demonstrators and residential
areas. "Unarmed civilians have been killed by
security forces firing indiscriminately on,
demonstrations, in ran'dom firing on Kurdish
residential areas in retaliation for PKK attacks on
troops, or in other recklessly excessive uses of
lethal force," it adds. Amnesty also says the PKK,
has committed "gross atrocities and has claimed
thousands of lives."
(Newspapers, Oct. 21)
Ya~ar Kaya, the leader of the pro-Kurdish DEP,
is sentenced in Turkey to two years in prison for
making separatist speeches. The Ankara State
Security Court (DGM) finds Kaya and two other
party officials guilty for speeches deemed
threatening to Turkey's national unity. The three
made the speechesat a, convention of the
disbanded People's Labor Party (HEP) three years
aga. Authorities disbanded the party earlier this
year. Kaya, who is also publisher of Özgür
Gundem, was arrested in September in connection
with a speech he made in Kurdish-held northern
Iraq.
(Newspapers, Oct. 21)
The PKK raids the village of Derince in Siirt's
Baykantown and massacres 22 civilians, including
15 children. Ten others are injured in the attack.
The PKK claims the women and children were
government paid village guards.
(Newspapers, Oct. 22)
The PKK will ban Turkish political parties from
southeast Turkey, the Dusseldorf, Germany
based KURD-HA news agency reports. The
agency also says the PKK has kidnapped the local
chairman of Turkey's junior coalition partner, the
Social Democrat People's Party (SHP), in
Diyarbakir.
(Newspapers, Oct. 22)
, The KURD-HA quotes a PKK military chief
claiming, "hundredsof, civiliancasualties after
government tanks and artillery fired indiscriminately
at mosques, coffeehouses, shops and houses" in
Diyarbaklr's Lice town which was attacked Friday
by an 250-strong PKK group.
(Newspapers, Oct. 24)
The PKK kills eight workers and injures three in
, an attack on a mine in the Yayladere district of
Bingoi province.
(Newspapers, Oct. 24)
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