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

REVUE DE PRESSE~PRESS REVIEW~BERHEVOKAÇAPÊ~RIVISTA STAMPA~DENTRO DE LA PRENSA~BASIN ÖZETi
Brussels violence
Calm returns slowly
after clashes between
Turks, Belgian police
63 Turkish demonstrators arrested in new
incidents, most of them later released
TDN with wire services
BRUSSELS- Tension in the
T\lrkish quarters in Brussels partially
abated after two successive
nights of violence between resident
Turks and Kurdish separatists
who had come into the country
from Germany, Anatolia
news agency reported on Monday.
Belgian police on Sunday
detained up to 63 Turks following
the second night of violent
. protests against the visit of Kurdish
activists in Brussels.
Anatolia reported that many
Kurdish businesses in the BelgIan
capital had started displaying
Turkish flags on their premIses.
This was assumed to be a precaution
to avert attacks against their
businesses.
About 500 Turks protested
outside the police headquarters
of the Saint-Josse neighborhood
of Brussels against the presence
of Kurdish "freedom marchers"
in the city. Fighting reportedly
broke out when police wanted to
. disperse them.
The reduction in tension on
Monday was said to be due to
the softening of their position by
Belgian police. Turkish representatives
said that the police
had overreacted on Saturday
night, thus aggravating an alr~ady
tense situation. Belgian pohce
sources have disputed ~is, saying
they only started usmg water
cannons after groups of Turkish
demonstrators had started
throwing stones at the town hall
where the Kurdish demonstrators
were.
Also instrumental in the impf(1\'ement
of the atmosphere. was
the announcement by Belgian
authorities that the majority of
those arrested would be released,
Anatolia said.
Eleven people were hurt on
Saturday mght, when police used
a water cannon to break up fighting
between Kurdish and Turkish
immigrants.
The fighting had rapidly deteriorated
lOto a conflict between
the police
trators.
and Turkish demons-
"One molotov cocktail was
thrown tonight. We intervened
with riot police and they dispersed.
Youths smashed the windows
of Kurdish shops and we
think they will come back," a police
spokesman told Reuters at
the scene of Sunday's clashes.
Police chief Jo De Cuyper said
that about 160 officers were on
hand and they had arrested at least
50 youths. "There were about
500 all together at one time, but
they split up into smaller groups."
The number of those arrested
was later revised upwards to 63.
Of the 63, six were arrested whi-
]e the others were released following
-~
a hrief rIetention.
IAnkara blames Brussels
çetin phones Belgian counterpart Willy
elaes to express Aniwa's discomfort
Turkish Daily News
AN KARA- Turkey issued a
warning to Brussels on Monday,
blaming the Belgian authorities
for acting in such a way as to cause
clashes between the Belgian
police and resident Turks.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hikmet
Çetin personally expressed
Turkey's discomfort over the Belgian
attitude, to his Be]gian counteTEart
Willy Claes.
(,:etin said that Turkey was particularly
disturbed by the remarks
of the. Belgian minister of the interior
LouIs Tobback.
turkish daily news - January 4, 1994
---------------------
On Saturday. hundreds of Turkish
immigrants besieged a meeting
of Kurdish activists in Saint-
Josse, where many of the Turkish
immigrants in Bruss~ls. l,ive.
Six policeman and fi~e cJ\')lians
were injured, none ~enously ..
Some 200 Kurds had amved
from the German city of Cologne
on Saturdav to protest against
the Turkish £0\emment'~ p01icies
towards the Kurds.
After demonstrating in front of the headquaïters
of the European Union, the
Kurds gathered in the Saint-Josse area
which is home to many of the approximately.
20.000 Turks living in the Belgian
capital.
After a Kurdish flao was raised outside
the meeting hall, Turkish youths gathered
outside and demanded the Kurds
leave, news reports said.
The local mayor ordered the flag removed
and tried to calm the crowd. but
police intervened after a group of some
400 Turks began stoning the building.
Turks also attacked a cafe and sfiops
which they claimed are used by the radical
Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
which is lighting for the independence
of Türkish Kurdistan. The Kurds were
then escorted to a sports hall in another
part of Brussels, where they remained
on Sunday.
"The choice of the area (to hold the
meetin~) was not deliberate," claimed
Timur :)ayan, a member of the Union of
Intellectual Patriots of Kurdistan which
organized the march, when answering
9uestions for Reuters at the sports hall.
, The Turks tried to discredit our march.
Claes, in turn, told Çetin that
demonstrators would be extradited
-- which flatly contradicted
what Tobback had said. "We
consider the PKK a terrorist or-
~anization," Claes told Çetin,
We win not tolerate their activities.
"
The Be]gian foreign minister
also noted that Tobback's remarks
were not accurately recorded
in the press.
Meanwhile, the deputy under-
~~cretl!fY at the Foreign Ministry,
Una] Unsa], summoned the Bel-
We had no intention of causing problems
for the Belgian people," Sayan added.
Spokesmen for the Turks
saymg that a demonstration
dispute this,
plannerl t'nr
a predominantly Turkish area of the city
smacked of a clear altempt at provocatIon.
They argue that Kurdish militants had
planned
carefully
the whole confrontation
to altract media attention.
very
This
ap~ared to be conlirmed by Sayan who
said their aim was to "sensitize public
awareness" to their cause.
A statement from the Turkish embassy,
issued through the national news
agency Belga, said the clashes on Saturd'ilY
were started after provocation by
"militant members of the PKK". Banners
placed around the hall by the demonstrators
said: "Stop military aid to
Turkey.
End ill~sality of Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PK K.)."
Gennany banned the PKK and affiliated
groups in November, saying they
used violence to achieve their aims and
were a domestic threat.
The mayor of Saint-Josse admitted later
in a radio interview that the decision
to allow Saturday night's meeting in a
Turkish area had been a "gigantic mistak
e "
İn its statement, the Turkish embassy
also called on the Turkish community to
"keep its cool" and not to give in to possible
provocations.
'On Sunday a Turkish cultural center
in the eastern Belgian village of Waterschei
was attacked by people throwing
stones, Belga stated. No mjuries were
reported.
gian charges
Wei,. yesterday
d'affaires,
morning.
Victor
Ankara's severely-worded demarche
to Belgium occurred following
a clash between resident
Turks and the Belgian police after
a PKK demonstration in Brussels.
The Turks tried to prevent
the demonstration when they saw
a Kurdish flag draped over the
balcony of the City Hall.
Turkeyalso
information"
requested "official
on the remarks of
Tobback, who was quoted by the
Anatolia news agency as saying
that Turks were responsible for
the events. Tobback, who promised
"the Belgian state's protection
for the Kuraish demonstrators,"
also noted that "he had lost all
patience with the Turks."
"(Tobback's) remarks, as reported
in the press, point to an unac-
27