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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RMSTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
Ongoing pain of human rights in Turkey
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- The state of human rights in Turkey
has been one of the main issues on the country's
agenda, especially in its relalions with Europe, since
the military coup d'etat in 1980.
After the coup, the appalling state of human rights
in Turkey isolated the country from many European
institutions. Between 1980 and 1983, around 600,000
people in the country were taken into police custody
ID relation with the political violence during the late
1970s. Most of tnem were reportedly mistreated or
tortured during their questionmg)n police and gendarmerie
stations. .
The international.human 'rights moi'l.itoring group,
Amnesty International (AI), .claimed tflat 230 people
were tortured to death while under custody after the
coup. (The Turkish ~ovemment in 1989 accerted that
some 130 people nught have died because ..o to.nure.
Thirty-four court cases were opened agamst mterrogator
policemen.)
As a result of mass trials in military courts, many
people were sentenced to death and long prison terms.
Fifty-three of the death penalties had been executed
by 1983.
That year elections were held in Turkey with certain
milltary restrictions, and the civilian Motherland
Party (ANAP) government and its lI)ajority in
Parliament suspended the executions.
But human rights violations did not stop in Turkey.
In the meantime, Turkey has signed a number of
DEP.' Is it possible to
stop millions of Kurds?
By Emre Gökalp
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- The Kurdish-based
Democracy Party (DEP), which is
on the verge of closure, believes it
is possible to stop the party, but
asks, "Is it possible to stop millions
of Kurds?" Remzi Kartal,
Van deputy and spokesman for the
party, said Friday that Turkey
would hot and could not solve its
problems, including the Kurdish
problem, as long as the chief of
staff in Anka~a, the emergency
rule region governor in DiyarbaIar
and tribal leaders' as representatives
of the Kurdish people in the
Southeast continued to determine
the policies of Tu~key. Kartal, in a
telephone interviê~ with Turkish
Daily News, said that the state was
denying the DEP, which sought
solutions to thecurrent problems
of Turkey, especially the Kurdish
issue, by democratIc means and
without damaging Turkey's integrity,
its right to exIst.
The office of the chief prosecutot
of the High Appeals Court filed
a case Thursday at the Constitutional
Court demanding the closure
of the Democracy Party.
An announcement from the
prosecutor's office said that it had
mdicted the DEP on charges of violating
the Preamble and Articles
2, 3, 14 and 69 of the Constitution
and Articles 78 and 181 of the Political
Parties' Law.
"The current militarist administration
has darkened the future of
Turkey. All responsible people and
. institutions should react to tbis decision
on the closure of the DEP
for the sake of Turkey's future,"
Kartal added.
At least 54 activists and politicians
affiliated to the DEP which
has 17 deputies in Parliament, including
a member of Parliament
from Mardin, Mehmet Sincar,
have been shot by unidentified assassins
over the past two years.
DEP Chairman Ya~ar Kaya who
has been arrested for "spreading
separatist propaganda and publishing
leaflets of a-terrorist organiza-
international conventions on prevention of torture and
mistreatment of prisoners and detainees, though its
not possible to say that Turkish security personnel
have fully compiled with the principles stated by
those conventions and ratified by the government.
. For example, according to recent reports, eight people
have died under police or gendarmerie custody
since the beginning of 1993.
A ninth person reportedly died after being released,
reportedly because of the torture he was subjected to
while in custody.
. The violations of human rights in Turkey caused
human rights activists to get together and institutionalize.
The Human Rights Association (!HD), which was
established in 1986, was the first society to reveal the
violations systematically and promote the principles
of human rights. Then came the Human Rights
Foundation (!HV) in 1990 with a rather specialized
cause: the rehabilitation of victims of torture and documentation
of human rights violations. Since they
were established, these two institutions have been
contributing to the betterment of the state of human
rights in Turkey with their works and criticism, thus
contributing to the strengthening of democracy in the
country.
TDN opens its pages to the secretaries-general of
both organizations as guest writers on the current
human rights situation in Turkey, towards a more
open and civil society.
tion (the PKK)" is still in jail.
The closure of the DEP, Kartal
went on to say, is the worst thing
that can happen for Turkey. "It is
possible to close down the DEP,
but is it possible to stoe millions of Kurds. What will they
do to stop the~ ~ peorle. '
Chief of Genera Staff General Dogan Güre~ told the
pro-Islamic daily Zaman on Friday that the members of
Parliament representing the DEP were not the representatives
of the people, but the representatives of the PKK.
"Because they have entered into the elections on the orders
of the PKK, their existence in Parliament has been decreasing
the effectiveness of Parliament," the paper quoted
'Güre~ as saying. Meanwhile, a press release from the DEP
on the closure of the party said that the DEP is a party
which has appeared to fill an existing political gap in the
country.
"If the party is closed down, there will be new formations
instead,' it added. "Such political decisions will not
solve the problems of the country."
If the DEP is closed down by the Constitutional Court,
the parliamentary immunities of a total of 17 DEP deputie~
will be lifted, and they will be tried by a state security court
(DGM). The prosecutIOn is demanding an investigation into
their separaltst activities, and the death sentence may be
given if they are foun~ guilty.
Earlier last month, Prime MinisterTansu Ciller said that
she was in favor of lifting the immunity of some of the
DEP deputies, opening the way for trials which could put
them on death row.
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