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REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKAÇAPÊ-RNISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
turkish daily news - Sepember 25, 1993
Batman inhabitants voice their problems in Parliament
• 'The number o~PKK militants increases as much as the numberof villages bUrnt.
We have not given up hope on Parliament. A process of a social peace should be
launched. General amnesty should be issued, the state of emergency and village
guard system should be removed' . , ..
TDN Parliament
Bureau
ANKARAmen
(muhtars)
Around 100village head-
and villagers from Batman
and its environs, who gathered in
Parliament on Friday to voice their problems,
said theX will give up on theIr political
parties If an immediate
not found to their problems.
solution is
Emphasizing tnat the number of outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
militants increases as much as the number
of villages burnt, the Batman inhabitants
said problems cannot be solved
with violence and that aJrocess to bring
about social peace shoul be launched.
Explaining their problems to the representatives
of all the parliamentary parties,
the Batman people demanded that
the state of emergency and the village
guard system be removed, that a general
amnesty be issued and Kurds granted
their cultural rights. Participating in the
meeting with,the Batmanites were True
Party Party (DYP) Parliamentary Group
Deputy Chairman Turhan Tayan, Motherland
Party (ANAP) Parliamentary
Group Defuty Chairman Oltan Sungurlu,
Socia Democrat People's Party
(SHP) Parliamentary Group Deputy
Chairman Nihat Matkap, Repubfican
People's Party (CHP) Parliamentary
Group Deputy Chairman Ulkuç Gürkan
and the deputies from the Democracy
Party (DEP), the Welfare Party (RP) and
the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
One of the Batmanites' who Identified
himself as "Fetullah" tookthe rostrum
first. Noting that he is a member of the
2
DYP, Fetullah said he and his colleagues
want democracy and human rights and
that they believe problems cannot be
solved by shedding blood.
"We believe that the problems can be
solved here. However, no interest has
been shown to our problems until today.
We may give up on politiCal parties. We
have not seen any party that has taken
our problems into consideration," Fetullah
said. However, Fetullah noted that
t~ey have not yet giaven up hope on Parhament
and that IS why theyare at the
Parliament now. He said there has been a
large emigration from theregion, murders
are committed in daylight, the ma-
. jority of victims areDEP membersand
no one can testify as a witnessbecause
they are afraid. Fetullah continued, "Wè
are citizens of the Republic ~f Turkey,
but tell us whether Kurds eXIst. We do
not 'want to leave this c.ountry. We are
thankful that we do not live in the dicta-
tor regimes
tries."
of other Middle
.:
East coun-
Notingthat the news~apers that cover
the issues are labelled' separatist-Armenian,"
Fetullah said they want social
peace ând democracy. .
Tayan from DYP asked Fetullah
whether he knows where the pressure
comes from and also asked what Fetullah
thinks about the PKK. "I cahnot
make myself a target by making a determination
about illegal or legal. armed
forces." Fetullah responded, -
When Tayan insisted in askin~ what
he had to say about the PKK's Killing
many people, Fetullah deGlined to answer,
saying he will have no security in
. the village at night.
When Sungurlu from ANAP noted
that Fetullah has said everything to Parliament
but that he remained silent about
the PKK, Fetullah answered that he and
his friends are not afraid of Parliament.
Another Batmanite, who did not identify
himself, said, "We have not seen human
rights
man rights
until the now. There are hu-
in the West. Why shouldn't
human rights exist in our region? You
. discuss thIs among yourselves in Parliament
and find a solution."
Anotherperson, who introduced himself
as an ANAP member, said he and
his friends were faced with an interrogation
whenthey arrived in Ankara drivmg
a car bearing Batman's license plate
number,72.
He said, "Pressures against us-should
corrie to a halt. What can we do if the
state cannot overcome the PKK? It is us
who suffer the pain. We have no life security.
You either find a solution or
bombus." .
Tayanasked what more democratic
rights theywant when they already elect
their own muhtars, city hall. members
and deputies. One Batmanite said they
first want security: He said they also
want Kurds granted their cultural rights
the freedom to .use their language and
broadcast Kurdish on TV. He also in- .
quired why they cannot avail themselves
of the provisions of the Criminal Trial
Proced.ure Law (CMUK). He continued
that following the incidents in Simak,
1,500 young men went up to the mountains.
He said, "We see the solution in
Parliament but not in the PKK. Arms
shouldbe silenced. Do not leave our
hands forpeace and friendship in the
air."
Hasan Talas, who introduced
himself
as the SHP's former Kozluk district
chai~an, said ge~eral amnesty should
be granted and all the cultural and legitimate
rightsshould be recognized. He
said they want to make use of the state
facilities asmuch as the people
Ankara and Istanbul. .
do in
"You 'ask what democratic rights
stand for? The state is burning villages
in daylight. Is this democracy? What
kind of democracy is this if the PKK
takes my son to the
. force?" TaJasasked.
mountains
'
by
Talas continued that thePKK steadily
takes the youngmen to mountains either
voluntarily or by force. He noted that the
body o~a y~ung man who had gone to
mountaJßs Withthe PKK and was killed
there
them
had not even been returned to
Pointing out that there are at least 50
to 100 deputies in Parliament who are
from-the southeast region, Talas said, "If
they do not have the courage to explain
all these to you then they should resIgn."
Talas. noted that if TL 450 billion is
sent to the region under emergency rule,
at least half of that amount goes to the
PKK. He said, "Civil servants give,half
of their money to the PKK every month.
Many villages have been bunit. The
state, village guard, gendarmerie have
burnt them. The number of the PKK militants
increases as much as the number
of villages bumt.This problem cannot
be solved with arms. Show mercy to us."
Another Batman inhabitant said that
the PKK problem cannot be solv~d un.
less the democratic
MHP çorum Deputy
rights are grànted.
Muharrem Semsek
said there has been no special pressure
exerted on the region. Semsek said the
. gendarmerie
. the VIllage
also 'pressure the ~e~ple in
that IS located wlthtn the
boundaries of his district.
DEP Mardin Deputy Ahmet Türk said
that respect of Parhament should be emphasized,
otherwise the people willlose
their confidence in that institution.
Turk said there has been no effort to
divide Turkey and that the idea of living
as a first-class citizen is what is important.
He said if Parliament does not meet
its responsibility, then the elected people
will have to revIew their status.
Sungurlu from ANAP noted a parliamentary
southeast commission is continuing
its work and that it will place emphasison
the problems voiced by the
Batman inhabitants.