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

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RWISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETÎ
"The elections have no legitimacy and we
haye no way out," he declared.
Over the pasttwo years, more than 70 DEP
aCtivists, including a parliamentarian from
Mardin province, were shot. and the party has
~Iaime~ !t,is under systematic pressure to'cea~e
Its'actlYll1es. DEP IS theonly legal party In
Turkey to defend Kurdish rights and freedoms..
It has 17 deputies in the 450-seat Parliament.
According to political observers, although
the withdrawal decision may cast a shadow on
tœ legitimacy of the elections,in southeastern
Turkey. where the DEP claims to be the
strongest party, the situation will only be clear
when the election results are known.
,If. a majorityof elec.tors refuse to vote for
"establishment parties," as Diele has suggested,
this could lead to a serious politieal crisis
and be interpreted by the DEP as a vote of
confidence in themselves. .
The DEP has been facing serious harassment
from government forces as well as armed
-~oups over the past year. accused mainly for
mt condemning the activities of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and even
supporting it. DEP chairman Dicle made his
party a target for new criticism last week when
he went on record that PKKmassacres of
civilians were "natural" and the bomb attack
, on unarmed military cadets was "an attack on
a military target."
Following these remarks, Prime Minister
Tansu Çiller and Interior Minister Nahit
Mentese blasted the DEP and vowed to force
"the PKK out of Parliament." Both described
Diele as "a traitor."
, Turkey's Chief of Staff Gen. Dogan Güre~
went even further and in a speech he made on
the issue, pointed to the DEP as a target for
the country's security forces.
"There -ISno need to search for the bandits
in Bekaa valley," Gen. Gures said.
"Unfortunately some of them areunder the
roof of the Grand Nationäl Assembly of
Turkey. They continue their existence using
the shield of immunity ... If these are not the
traitors, who are the traitors? Of course their
end will be one of sorrow."
,With the "implied boycott" decision on
Fiiday. observers believe the DEP has now
invited an all-out confrontation with the sys-
~em and may be in for even more difficult
times. State officials have already turned the
party and its leaders into targets, and the
growing Turkish reaction to PKK attacks is
expected to be directed against the DEP even
moré in the coming days.
Most important of all, since the DEP has
already taken its decision. the process of lifting
the immunity of its deputies is/expected.
to pe accelerated.
A case to close down the DEP is alreildy at
the ConstitutionalCourt. If the party is closed
downbefore the elections, its deputies will
automatically lose their memoership of
Parliament. If the closure does not take place,
their immunity may be lifted so they can be
tried for capital offenses.
The State Security Court is currently waiting
to file cases agamst all of the 17 deputies
for "acting against the indivisible integnty of
the State with its territory and nation;" The
deputies are to face trials mainly for speeches
they have madein the past, and for their
views.
Sources within the ruling True Path Party
(DYP) told the TON on Friday before Dicle's
statement that they had decided to take action
with regard to lifting the immunity of DEP
deputies, depending on the outcome of the
DEP party assembly. Interior Minister Nahit
Mente~e told journalists the same day that the
PKK was "trying to sabotage the elections."
Despitè the recent campaign directed atthe
DEP, Mente~e also claimed that equal rights
have been accor4ed ;,toall parties and that all
of them haèlalready announced their mayoral
candidates in the Southeast.
Dlcle said they would immediately apply
to the Supreme Election Board and withdraw
all of the names of the party's candidates.
Mente~e warned earlier that if the DEP
'pulled out, this decision would be an admission
of defeat on their part. "At all events,"
he said, "the DEP has never won an election
and only got into Parliament on the coattails,
of the Social Democrat People's Party
(SHP)."
DYP sources said before Friday's meeting
of the DEP party assembly ended that they
would wait for tQe decision, and if the DEP
decidedto boycott the elections, they would
act immediately to lift the immunity of its
dep'uties.
'If they decide to wait until March 21 to
decide on the elections, then we will wait as '
well,"a DYP deputy who asked not to be
identified said. "We will wait. until they take
their final decision." ,
In a separate development, more than 100
deputies from the DYP on Friday submitted a
petition to their party's group executives
demanding for the immumty-Iiftirig dossiers
to be forwarded urgently to the general
assembly for debate.
DYP Nev~ehir deputy Osman Seyfi said
they had taken this step after senior slate officials
including Prime Minister Tansu Çiller
andlnterior Minister Nahit Mente~e had
branded DEP deputies as "traitors'~ in recent
speeches. ,
Currently the coalition parties are divided '
on the immunity issue with the junior partner
Social Democrat People's Party (SHP) arguing
there is no need to take such action. The
dominant view within the ANAP was that a
decision to lift the immunity of DEP deputies
before the local elections would be exploited
by that party as a reason to boycott the polls.
UN hits snag destroying
Iraqi chemical weapons
Reuters
BAGHDAD- A senior Unitéd Nations arms expert said
on Friday more time was needed to finish the destruction
of Iraq' s stockpiles of poisonous gases.
"I regret that I cannot finish my job ...The reason why it
was not possible is the poor state ofIraqi equipment," Cees
Wolterbeek, ending his one 'y'ear term in Iraq, told Reuters.
He said last November that If all went well, tbe U.N. might
be able to declare Iraq free of all known poison gas arms
by the end of 1993.
"They have a lot of breakdowns, failures and problems
with equipment," Wolteroeek said. .
Wolterbeek is head of the Nuclear, Bacteriological and
Chemical Department at the Dutch Defense Mimstry and
was head of the U.N. chemical weapons destruction team
in Iraq. "lt"is probably wise not to mention any end date
now," the Dutcn expert said.
'
He said the Iraqis needed som~ material help in the form
of cranes, bulldozers and protecllvegear. He will report to
the executive chairman of the U.N. Commission on Iraq. -
, . Iraqi officials were not available for comment.
The U.N. chemical experts travel daily to Muthana, 130
km (80 miles) northwest of Baghdad to supervise hundreds
of Iraqi workers dismantling their country's chemical
weapons machine under the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire
terms. ,
Muthana, a major chemical weapons establishment, was
chosen by ihe U.N. for the scrapping of Iraq's ~~emical
gases. Wolterbeek said that under U.N. supefVIslOn the
Iraqis have destroyed all their n.erveafaents,about 200 tons.
of mustard gas and 20,000 chemica shells, rockets and
bombs.
"About 200 are stilileft but they are the most difficult
bombs we ever had," he said without elaborating.
Wolterbeek will be replaced by a U.N. expert from
Germany.
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