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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RNISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASlN ÖZETi
Turkish Probe February 17, 1994
17
.Human Bights Diary
Members of the Ankara branch of the petroleum
workers union, Petrol-Is, begin a two-day hunger
strike to protest the 20-month sentence of Petrol-Is
General Director Munir Ceylan for his article entitled
"Tomorrow will be too late," published in 1991 in the
now defunct pro-Kurdish daily Yeni Ülke. Petrol-Is'
Ankara branch chairman, Musa Özkan, holds a press
conference prior to the hunger strike and says that
while the government continues giving speeches advocating
democracy, it fails to actually practice it.
(Turkish Daily News. Feb. 11)
Mehmet Ali Barl~ Be~Ii, owner and editor in chief
of "Ogni" magazine -- which is published in the Laz
dialect -- is put on trial on charges of separatism. The
Istanbul State Security Court indictment states that
certain articles published in November 1993, the first
issue of the magazine, referred to the existence of a
Laz nation within Turkey. The article also said that
this nation -- living mainly on Turkey's Black Sea
coast-- had its own language, was separate from
other communities in Turkey and should struggle not
only to make its language official but also for its independence.
Defendant Be~1i denies the charges of
separatism, pointing out that the Laz culture could
make an important contribution to Turkey. Be~1isays
that the Laz and their language are mentioned in
Turkish dictionaries, adding that those who tell "Laz
jokes" should also be tried for separatism. The court
postpones the hearing. but it is claimed that Be~1iwill
be sentenced to between two and five years in prison
and fined TL 100 million for disseminating ideas
against the sovereignty of the state.
(Turkish Daily News, Feb. 16)
A former chairman of the pro-Kurdish Democracy
Party went on trial on Thursday charged with spreading
separatist propaganda, the Anatolian news agency
says. Yasar Kaya was charged with disseminating
Kurdish separatist propaganda in a book he wrote to
honor Musa Anter, an elderly Kurdish author killed by
an unidentified gunman last year. The prosecutor at
the Ankara State Security Court demanded a jail
sentence of up to five years. (Newspapers. Feb. 11)
A military court sentences two television newsmen
to two-month jail terms after finding them guilty of en.
couraging Turks to evade compulsory military service
by broadcasting subversive material on a private television
channel. This is the firsttime since Turkey's
return to democratic rule after the 1980 military coup
that journalists have been tried and sentenced in a
military court. Erhan AkYlldlz, 46, a news producer,
and Ali Tevfik Berber, 34, a journalist, are sentenced
to two months in jail and fined TL 160,000 by a military
court. The two will remain free pending their appeal
to a higher military court.
(Turkish Daily News, Feb..12)
At least 100 members of the pro-Kurdish Democracy
Party (DEP) are detained by security forces in
the Southeast in an operation which the DEP
claimed to be aimed at preventing it from entering
the March 27 local elections. Among 1he arrested
suspects are potential DEP mayoral candidates.
(Özgur Gündem, Feb. 15)
A court in Ankara rejects an attempt by the pro-Islamic
Welfare Party (RP) to "gag" Democratic Left
Party (DSP) leader Bülent Ecevit to prevent him
from making strong anti-RP statements. The court
rules that the RP's request will constitute a violation
of the freedom of speech -- a right which is guaranteed
by the Turkish Constitution. (AnatoHa,Feb. 15)
Turkey guarantees to the European Commission
on Human Rights that it will paya compensation of
TL 900 million to the villagers of Yesilyurt in the
province of Cizre who were forced by gendarmerie
troops in January 1989 to eat human excrement. An
agreement is reached between the victims and the
state whereby a total compensation of 300,000
French francs will be paid. The complaint was made
on behalf of the village by three villagers after a
group of soldiers under the command of Maj. Cafer
Tayyar entered the village in search of three suspected
PKK militants but forced villagers to eat excrement
when they failed to find the suspects.
(Hürriyet, Feb. 16)
At least 10 people were tortured to death and 11
others were reported "missing" in January 1994, a
monthly report prepared by the Turkish Human
Rights Association (IHD) says. The report says six
out of the 10 suspects reported "missing" had been
detained in southeast Turkey and that all of those
tortured to death in January had been killed in that
troubled region.' It says that along with the crimes
committed in central and western Turkey, a total of
55 "mystery murders" had been recorded in one
month and that all of the assailants had managed to
escape. The report also notes that there was an escalation
in attacks on civilians by the PKK.
(Turkish Daily News, Feb. 16)
186