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

REVUE DE PRESSE~PRESS REVIEW~BERHEVOKAÇAPÊ~RNISTA
STAMPA~DENTRO DE LA PRENSA~BASIN ÖZETi
Batman scene: Sincar murderers still at large
• 15detained, 3 arrested
in investigation
• DEP continues fact-finding
mission in 'city of fear'
By Emre Gökalp
Turkish Daily News
BATMAN- As parliamentarians from the Kurdish-based
Democracy Party (DEP) continue their
fact-finding mission related to unsolved murders in
this southeastern refinery city, officials announced
that three people involved in the assassination of
DEP deputy Mehmet Sincar have been arrested.
Local officials say, .however, thatdespite earlier
statements that implied the killers were 10 custody.,
two "trigger men" who shot at Sincar were still at
large.
Batman's Governor Salih Sarman said he suspected
the murderers were still in the city, but they were
keeping a low profile. He added, however, that intense
police efforts were underway to catch them
and to prevent new incidents .
. A statement from the Emergency Law regional
governor's office issued Thursday gave a murky picture
of the recent developments. It said first that the
three suspects had confessed to the murder of Sincar
but added that "two suspects who used guns in the
incident are being searched for."
One local official here said the three arrested suspects
would only be charged with inciting a murder
and not for carrying out the killing themselves. The
fate of a group of 12 other suspects was not be made
clear in the statement but it is believed that they are
still being qu~stioned.
A total of l 13 DEP deputies are curren~ly in the
city investigating unsolved murders committed here
mainly after the first coalition government took to
power in late 1991. The city's Motherland Party
(ANAP) Mayor Ataullah Hamidi has put the num~er
of dead at morethan 300 and says people are dymg
every day. .
In the first 24 hours of the DEP's mission here,
two more people were killed. Police said ~ükrii Tekince,
who was shot on Thursday morning, was
known as a leading radical Islamic Hezbollah activist.
"Now we expect them to attack like mad dogs,"
one police officer commented.
Sincar was killed here on a main street on Sept. 4
while investigating the. murder of another party e~ecutive.
Along wIth hIm, a member of the DEP s
provincial exec~tive board was also k!lIed. ~E?
deputy, Nizamettm Toguç was wounded I~ the mc~dent.
'Even I am scared to walk out. I don t know If
I'm next in line or not," is how Hamidi puts it. According
to local speculation raised by Hamidi, there
may be three separate causes of the assassination
terror that has turned Batman into a city of fear.
First is a clash that has erupted between the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a Kurdish
flank of the radical Hezbollah organization. "But
there are more claims," Hamidi explains. "They say
some people are hiding behind these clashes and sett~ing
their own family blood feuds ..There ar~ also
claims that the secunty forces are Involved In the
murders."
Local officials believe one of the factors behind
the violence that has struck Batman is the immigration
from rural areas. Either out of fear of clashes
between the PKK and security forces or forced out
of their houses bygovernment troops, about 120,000
to 130,000 villagers have sought shelter in this city
during the past year. .
The DEP delegation now is under heavy protection.
According to Governor Sarman, protection was
doubled after the death of Tekince. Everyone fears
retaliation. Wednesday night, as members of the
mission dined at a local restaurant, a gunfight broke
out between two groups nearby. One person was
killed.
Even DEP deputy Leyla Zana, one of the most
outspoken pro-Kurdish MPs in Parliament, is being
protected. Threatened with death by a local military
officer last year, Zana is now accompanied everywhere
by a plainclothes policewoman.
Tension In Batman continues. Over the past two
days, DEP deputies have been searching high and
low for any indication of official, support for Hezbollah
and/or evidence that could break this organization.
.
"To do something isdifficult," explains Sarman.
According to him, people are not collaborating.
They fear the consequences and thus refuse to testify
against criminals. Many of the local folk here are
saying that the pressure is increasing every day, and
they have serious problems maintaining their living.
On Wednesday night,the PKK raided a nearby village.
.
The militants killed seven people, of which two
were pregnant women..One of the victims was a six-
~ear-old child. The other, a seven-month-old infant.
'Thatwas a village guard's house," explains one of
the locals.
The state has armed 47,000 villagers in this Emergency
Law region in a bid to counter the PKK with
a local paramilitary force. Villagers who want to return
the weapons are banned from doing so. Villagers
who refuse to arm themselves are forced to mIgrate,
often losing their homes and all their belonglOgS.
Sarman, as the new governor of this city, is confident
that a solution wIll be found to' the terrorism
and appears to have built up a good image with even
the most radical pro-Kurdish activists.
"Aside from those people who have died," he recently.
said, "We wil make everything better than
before."
But, it is clear that to do this, he needs more local
cooperation. And, confidence is vital for cooperation.
Batman is a city where only a year ago the police
tried to change all traffic lights, arguing that
when the
green-yellow-red came together, it made up the
three colors of the Kurdish flag. Showing the Kurdish
colors is still banned in many parts of the province.
And recently, locals were banned from singing
Kurdish .songs in public places or during wedding
ceremomes.
Under circumstances like this and with suspicion
that the security forces tolerate Hçzbollah activities,
it is difficult to assume that winning the people's
confidence is an easy thing.
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