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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RwlSTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZET;
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Colleagues fear for life of Ozgür Gündem editor
46 newspaper employees in
custody, may be tortured
Turkish Dai/x. News
ANKARA- Colleagues of daily Ozgür Gündem's editor-inchief
Gurbetelli Ersöz fear for her life after a police officer
informed them she was ill following her detention.
total of 46 newspaper employees, including Ersöz and the
whole editorial board, are still in custody being questioned
by the political police.
Auttiorities have banned attorneys from v\~iting or speaking
to the suspects and there is concern in Ozgür Günâem
that they may be tortured.
One executive of the newspaper who was among the 88
suspects released by the police last weekend said he had seen
his collea$ues being physically' harassed.
"What IS the state liiding?" Ozgür Gündem asked in a front
page banner headlin'e on Friday, noting that the police consistently
prevented lawyers from seeing the sus~cts.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a
statement, meanwhile, that there was serious concern over
the attitude of the Turkish state with regard to press freedoms.
The London-based PEN Writers in Prison committee also
condemned the treatment of Özgür Gündem and appealed for
urgent action.
The Paris-based Journalists Without Frontiers (RSF) organization
appealed for the international community to join in
the protest.
RSF director Robert Menard called on Turkey to respect
press freedoms and hUl1)anrights, demanding that all of the
detained employees of Ozgür Gündem be set free. Colleagues
of the detained journalists fear that the Turkish police may
be attempting to force the "suspects" into signing false confessions
under torture.
Hariri's message to Ankara.'
Terrorist activities
will be prevented as
Beirut takes control
'We won't allow any terrorist groups to use
our land to harm our neighbors, , he says
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- Lebanese Prime Minister
Rafïk al-Hariri assured Ankara
during his two-day visit that terrorist
activities would be prevented as Lebanon
increased its autRority over its
Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley...
Turkish sources quoted Hann as
saving that as Lebanese sovereignty
inéreased in the Bekaa Valley, terror-
ist activities would be decreased and
eventuaHy stopped. Hariri also told
the Voice of Turkey that Lebanon
would not allow "any terrorist groups
to use our territones to harm our
neighbors." "It is not in our interest
to harbor terrorist activities, our interest
lies in reconstructing our wartom
country," Turkish sources quot-
G-üiiae
The United Nations Committee Against Torture had said
in a November dated report that there was "habitual, widespread,
deliberate and systematic torture in Turkey."
Most of the torture in police custody aims at extracting
confessions which can later be used against suspects, in cases
where there is a lack of substantial evidence, according to
a leading human rights activists.
According to journalist-author Haluk Gerger, who was recently
sentenced .\0 nearly two years jail for a controversial
article, many of Ozgür Gündem's former staff have now returned
to the paper to keep it in print.
Gerger, together with the newspaper's first editor-in-chief
Raglp Duran, and Sernra Somersan are among the writers
who are now working on a daily basis to publish the paper in
the absence of its detained editorial board,
Last Friday, police in Istanbul cracked down on the Özgür
Gündem building where they detained 107 people. On Saturday,
raids on other newspaper offices continued. Although
88 of those in custody in Istanbul were released, arrests continued
nationwide.
According to the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists,
which sent a message of protest to Prime Minister Tansu
Çill!';r,the State Secunty Court, which had failed to close
down Ozgür Gündem using legal methods "has succeeded in
closing the newspaper for three days by arresting its employees."
.. .
Following the raid, Özgür Gündem could not print until
the following Tuesday.
ed Hariri as saying during the official dinner given in Hariri's honor that
talks. Inside sources said they be- "Turkey was determined to help
lieved this message was delivered to Lebanon with its reconstruction."
Ankara after Lebanese-Syrian con- Çiller's words were echoed by
sullations and was made with the Treasury,. acting Undersecretary
knowledge, if not at the suggestion, Osman.Unsal, who said Turkey
of Damascus. Motherland Party could take at least 10 percent of
(ANAP) leader Mesut Yllmaz, who the 25 .billion dollar budget that
also held a half-hour meeting with Lebanon had allocated for recon-
Hariri, asked the Lebanese prime struction.
minister outright whether Abdullah "The total market in Lebanon is
Ocalan, the PKK leader, who held a worth $20-25 billion. So we are
press conference in Lebanon last talking of $2-2.5 billion if Tl!rkey
year, was "still in Lebanon." "Cer-. can get a 10 percent share," Unsal
tainly not," Hariri was quoted as say- said.
ing. "He came to Lebanon a year Hariri who arrived in Ankara
ago, but he never lived there." o~ Thurs'day,.was accompan~ed by
But both Hariri and his Turkish hiS finan~e, !ndustry. a.nd Oll and
counterpart Tansu Çiller were at commuOicatlOns mlOisters .. He
pains to stress that the focus of the tour~d the Nur~I-FMC factory, Just
talks was "mainly economic," al- out~lde the capital, where armored
though neither ruled out discussing ~ehlcles we prod~ced un~er U.S.
terrorism and security.
h,cence.. Unsal sal.d.Turkish offi-
Cials bnefed Hann on Turkey's
privatization efforts, free trade
Economic cooperation
While the "security dimension"
in the talks was played down, the
"economic dimension" was often
mentioned in press statements durine:
the visit. Ciller said, both in
her remarks at me beginning of the
-visit and in her speech during a
zones and construction sector as
well as possible regional projects
and financing. He told reporters
Turkey's Eximbank would provide
an undisclosed amount of credit
for projects. Turkish officials
woufd visit Lebanon next month
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