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

REVUE DE PRESSE~PRESS REVIEW~BERHEVOKAÇAPÊ~RIVISTA STAMPA~DENTRO DE LA PRENSA~BASlN ÖZETi
Ankara says threat
unmasks terrorism
• Press actMsts condemn decision
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- Recent threats directed
at news organizations and
journalists by the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) have unmasked
the terronst face of thisoutlawed
organization, a senior government
official said on Monday.
YlIdmm Aktuna, state minister
and ~overnment spokesman, told
the foreign press in a press conference
that Turkey had no ethnic
disputes, and they should disregard
news reports reaching them
from a single source. Aktuna repeated
the'~overnment's view that
the Kurds m Turkey were firstclass
citizens and said people of
Kurdish origin could achieve any
position they wanted. Referring
to the PKK ban on news organizations,
Aktuna said this violated
the local people's right to have access
to information. He said this
showed the PKK was not sincere
in its criticism of human rights violations
.
Aktuna announced that 15,000
spc:cia! cra~k troops we~e being
tramed to tight the PKK and that
these commandos woulll soon be
going to the region. "Democracy
has settled down in Turkey and
we see no threat of a coup." he
added. emphasizing Anbra's \\ish to solve
the problem under a ci\ilian administration.
The spokesman also lashed out at the murdered
journalists -- 15 in all oyer 18 months
-- and. im~,lied they were "people. involved in
terronsm, who were later hired by newspap~rs.
The state, defended Aktuna, has nothIng
to do :-,'ith the killings. Aktuna also told
the Journalists that everyone was free in Turkey.
to express t~eir views on any issue, inc-
I~ding the KurdIsh. ques~ion. as I~ng as they
dId not put those Views Into practice. He did
no~ refer to the dozens of journalists and
~:~t~rs sent.ence~ t.o prison tel:ms merely for
\\ ntlng thm opmlOns, nor did he mention
Democracy Party leader Yasar Kaya who is
stil! in prison because of a speech he made
while abroad two mont Ils a£o. The minister
aVOIded gOIng Into sensitIve issues.
, Meanwhile, Turkey's Journalists AssociatIO~
and the London-based Article 19 InlernatIOnal
Press Or!!anization condemned on
Mondaya decision bv the outlawed Kurdist~n
Workers' Party (PKK) bannin£ journa-
!lstS and news organizations from~ \Î'Orking
ID the Soulhc:J\l
Journalists Association Chairman Necmi
Tanyolaç said in a statement from Istanbul
that the press would not give in to pressures
p.l~ced upon it and called on relevant autho-
~Itles t~ take me~sur~s to ensure the safety of
Journ~lIsts working ID the troubled region.
ArtIcle 19, meanwhile, severely condemn~d
~e PKK's decision banning news orgaß1zatlbns.
. Heleq D~rbyshire, spokeswoman for ArtIcle
J 9, saId m a press conference in London
o~ Mon~ay tha,t "any a~tion, against the
free CIrculatIOn of mformatlOn IS unp'raiseworthy,
"The press is an essential pillar of
democracy, particularly in areas where there
are clashes and where human rights are violable,"
Derbyshire said. "Members of the
press who report events in these areas are
merely the representatives and protectors of
the citizens,"
Responding to a question about the status
of reporters in the area, she stated that they
must protest the PKK decision. "We are ready
t.o give full support to their cause. The
TurkIsh g.ove!""me~t must take all precélutions
to malßtalß thm security in the region,"
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FRA0399 4 I 0195 /AFP-NH23
TurqL~ i.!::"!--hL~rdes
Environ 2.000 rebelles kurdes tués en 9 mOIs et demi selon Ankara
ANKARA~ 20 oct (AFP) - Environ 2.000 rebelles kurdes de Turquie ont été
tués et quelque 3.000 autres jugés et écroués depuis le 1er janvier dans l'est
et le sud-est anatoliens, a annoncé mercredi le super-gouverneur de
Diyarbakir, Unal Erkan, responsable de toute cette région~ rapporte l'agence
semi-officielle turque Anatolie.
Le super-gouverneur, qui a assisté à Siirt (sud-estl à la réunion des
préfets de la région sous son contrOle, a également fait état de 879 civils
(dont 107 femmes et 104 enfants) tués par les rebelles kurdes laps d'attaques
contre des villages' et des villes.
M. Erkan n'a cependant donné aucune précision sur le nombre de victimes
dans les rangs des forces de l'ordre pour la même période.
Plus de 7.600 personnes (civils, membres des forces de l'ordre et
rebelles) ont perdu la vie depuis aoöt 1984, début de la lutte armée du Parti
des Travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKh, séparatiste) dans cette région, sous état
d'urgence depuis 1987 après treize ans et demi d'état de siège, d'après une
compilation établie à partir de chiffres officiels.
YM/hc/mfo
AFP 201644 OCT 93
79