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

Revue de Presse.:.Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivisfa Stampa'-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
BBC 1 February, 2001
.Fears, fOr Kurdo~cials in.Turkey
-~ .
Leaders of the p~Kurdish People's DerribCraCy,Party (Hadep) inTtirkey say they are extremely concerned about the
safety of two party officials who went missing a week ago. ' ' . ' .. .
The two men, Serdar Tanif and Ebubekir Deniz, were last seen when they were summoned 'to a camp run by the security
forces in the south-eastern town of Silopi. . ,
They had just opened a new branch officethere for Hadep. Even before it opened; the men said they had been threatened
by the local security forces.
,.
Hadep is by far the most popular party in the mainly-Kurdish south-east of the country. But many members of the
security forces regard it as the political wing of the Kurdish rebel movement, the PKK. '
Mr Tanif and Mr Deniz were ordered to go to the local 'gendarmerie camp on 25 January. Eyewitnesses confirm that
they went inside, but they have not been seen'since.
Police shöotings
After Hadep officials complained to the Interior Ministry" the gendarmes in Silopi said the two men were not under
arrest. They had, the gendarmes said, left the campafter half an hour. Hadep believes the two men have been abducted
or wor,se, and the party holds the gendarmerie responsible for their safety. .
Unexplained disappearances used to be all too fréquent in the south-east, but an incident like this has not occurred
for some tUne; Mr Tanif and Mr Deniz disappeared the day after six police officers were shot dead in the nearby city
of DiyarbéÙ