Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RWISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi<br />
Turkish Probe October 5, 1993<br />
5<br />
Batman: A City of Fear<br />
Emre Gökalp<br />
Batman, Turkey's southeastern refinery city<br />
which in the past offered jobs for thousands<br />
of Kurds, is now a city of fear. Everyone living<br />
here asks the same question: Will I live tomorrow?<br />
An "alarming increase" in <strong>de</strong>ath squad-style killings<br />
and "unsolved mur<strong>de</strong>rs. of Kurdish activists<br />
has been recor<strong>de</strong>d recently. The killing of a member<br />
of parliament representing the Kurdish-based<br />
Democracy Party (DEP) in the city last month, has<br />
been followed by a series of attacks.<br />
Now, Batman, long regar<strong>de</strong>d as a crucial regional<br />
center owing to its economic value that stems from<br />
the p<strong>et</strong>roleum refineries, is somewhere anyone can<br />
die, at any moment.<br />
Despite official reports and statements, many locals<br />
believe that the Iranian-affiliated Hezbollah is<br />
not responsible for most of the attacks currently being<br />
attributed to this organization.<br />
Even the city's Motherland Party (ANAP) Mayor<br />
Ataullah Hamidi, who has been in the mayoral post<br />
for nine years, puts the number of <strong>de</strong>ad at more<br />
than 300 and says people are being killed every<br />
day.<br />
For Hamidi, there may be three separate causes<br />
for the "mur<strong>de</strong>r terror" that has turned Batman into a<br />
city of fear. First is the clash that has erupted b<strong>et</strong>ween<br />
the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and a<br />
Kurdish flank of the Hezbollah organization. Second,<br />
is the blood feuds b<strong>et</strong>ween the families who<br />
hi<strong>de</strong> behind these clashes. And last, the state forces.<br />
"Even I am scared to go out. I don't know if I'm<br />
next in line or not," Hamidi said last week during a<br />
me<strong>et</strong>ing with DEP <strong>de</strong>puties.<br />
But, many pro-Kurdish politicians in Ankara and<br />
locals of the region have charged that the organization<br />
responsible for the assassinations, known there<br />
as the Hezbol-contra -- in reference to its contraguerrilla<br />
nature -- has officiai links and is supported<br />
by local officials in its plight against separatism. As<br />
in the words of DEP Van Deputy Remzi Kartal,<br />
most of the Kurdish politicians and people believe<br />
there was "<strong>de</strong>finitely no connection b<strong>et</strong>ween the Iranian<br />
supported Hezbollah organization and those<br />
operating in the region un<strong>de</strong>r the same name." According<br />
to one pro-Iranian Hezbollah source in Batman,<br />
the mainframe organization has no relation<br />
with such clan<strong>de</strong>stine activities and maintains close<br />
ties with the PKK.<br />
"The so-called Hezbol-contra," he says "appears<br />
to enjoy an official tolerance in the region if not<br />
open support." Not only pro-Kurdish activists or politicians,<br />
but also civil servants, teachers and many<br />
others representing various occupational groups<br />
and political i<strong>de</strong>as believe that the Hezbol-contra is<br />
involved in various forms of clan<strong>de</strong>stine activities including<br />
the abduction and killings of pro-DEP resi<strong>de</strong>nts,<br />
journalists, politicians.<br />
"Activities on behalf of the Hezbollah have been<br />
tolerated by security forces in some areas because<br />
they hin<strong>de</strong>r the activities of the PKK," a high school<br />
teacher says.<br />
In all cases committed to date, the gunmen who<br />
launched brutal clan<strong>de</strong>stine activities in the region<br />
have managed to make an escape and the security<br />
forces have failed to find any evi<strong>de</strong>nce leading to<br />
this radical organization.<br />
According to many in Batman, The Hezbol-contra<br />
enjoys immunity in the region and since its activities<br />
targ<strong>et</strong> pro-Kurdish activists who are automatically labeled<br />
as "PKK-supporters," officials do not bother to<br />
take any measures against it. What is more obvious<br />
now is that the Hezbol-contra has concentrated its<br />
activities mainly in and around the regional capital of<br />
Diyarbakir, in the refinery-city of Batman, in several<br />
villages and towns of Mardin.<br />
What do the officials here feel? They complain of<br />
the lack of cooperation from the local people. "People<br />
are not<br />
collaborating. They fear the consequences and<br />
thus refuse to testify against mur<strong>de</strong>rers," says Batman's<br />
newly appointed Governor, Salih Sarman.<br />
A total of 13 DEP <strong>de</strong>puties who investigated unsolved<br />
mur<strong>de</strong>rs last week visited the place where on<br />
Sept. 4 Mardin <strong>de</strong>puty Mehm<strong>et</strong> Sincar was mur<strong>de</strong>red.<br />
As the <strong>de</strong>legation laid flowers on the site,<br />
loudspeakers from a nearby shop started to blast<br />
out a pro-Hezbollah march calling for "Victory for<br />
Hezbollah." None of the over 200 policemen who<br />
were present on the stre<strong>et</strong> could do anything but advise<br />
the DEP <strong>de</strong>puties not to respond. This alone<br />
showed how dramatic the situation has become in<br />
Batman. It is, as if the state has pulled off the<br />
stre<strong>et</strong>s.<br />
"Those attacking the Kurdish activists in the region<br />
and using the name Hezbollah were part of the contra-guerrilla<br />
organization, and the security forces are<br />
either directly involved in this or tolerate it," Remzi<br />
Kartal said in a recent press conference.<br />
Although his claim or previous claims of the same<br />
nature have never been taken up at the Turkish Parliament,<br />
the London-based Amnesty International<br />
noted in a recent report that "there is a strong evi<strong>de</strong>nce<br />
of security force involvement, no action has<br />
been launched to investigate it. Turkish authorities,<br />
unfortunately, continue to <strong>de</strong>ny the charge."<br />
How many more unsolved mur<strong>de</strong>rs do the people<br />
in Batman have to tolerate? How long will they be<br />
able to maintain their patience? How long will Ankara<br />
be able to <strong>de</strong>ny the charges and refuse to look into<br />
them?<br />
31