· KURDISH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF IRAQ CONDEMNS TURKISH
INTERVENTION THREATS. A declaration dated January 16, 2002, addressing
various European institutions, parliaments, and the United Nations, is denouncing
the media-driven Turkish political campaign which is spreading fears for
their future and their holdings, which "includes allegations against the
independent Kurdish state within Iraq, menacing the lives, property, and
liberty of Turkish citizens.."

"We are compelled to scrutinize with suspicion the reasons and motives
behind this deceitful and unjust campaign which is intervening in the Iraqi
peoples' private lives, specifically targeting the Kurds, disparaging their
sense of democracy and denying their parity as citizens"  states the open
letter.  On October 22 1992, the National Assembly of Kurdistan of Iraq
unanimously adopted a decision to establish federally based relations with
the Iraqi government, within the democratic republic of Iraq, within which
the Iraqi Kurds would comprise one of its regions, the Kurd Assembly states.

"Secondly, there are in Kurdistan, along with the Kurds, other national
minorities such as the Turkmen, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Arabs  ( ) The
regional government respects this reality and protects their rights.  These
groups have their own political parties, their own cultural and social
institutions.. They study in their own language, publish their own
newspapers and magazines, and play their own radio and TV stations.  They
are involved in local administration and other institutions of the region,
to a degree never before achieved since the founding of the Iraqi state"
the declaration reveals.

Led by its president, Dr. Roj N. Shaways, the representative assembly is
inviting qualified representatives to visit Kurdistan to observe the
situation for themselves"by meeting representatives of political parties,
and in particular, the Turkmen parties."

"In the name of the National Assembly of Kurdistan of Iraq, we entreat you
to help our people learn the facts and to help them attain their legitimate
democratic rights" concludes the declaration.
 

· KURDISH INSTITUTE OF ISTAMBUL CLOSED BY COMMAND OF
GOVERNOR.  The Kurdish Institute of Istanbul, a private foundation
publishing Kurdish magazines and teaching the Kurdish language, was closed
down by a police operation on February 28.  Its director, Hasan Kaya,
explained that, although charges against him concerning private instruction
had been dismissed, his establishment was summarily closed solely on the
order of the governor of Istanbul with no official notification.

The HADEP (the pro-Kurd People's Democracy Party) is demanding that this
"anti-democratic" decision be immediately reversed.
 

· DEMONSTRATION PROTESTING DISAPPEARANCE OF TWO HADEP OFFICIALS IN
SILOPI: SEVEN REPRESENTATIVES OFPARTY ARRESTED. Seven representatives
of the People's Democratic Party (HADEP, pro-Kurd), among them Yusuf
Cetinel, section president of Tarsus, Abdullah Olmez, elected city council
member, Haci Ates, along with five other party members, summoned to Tarsus
on January 25, were imprisoned on January 29, accused of participating in a
"non-authorized demonstration"  featuring "slogans in the Kurdish language."

The seven men had been accosted during a demonstration commemorating the
first anniversary of the disappearance of two HADEP officials, a protest
which resulted in some 130 arrests, 43 of them at Tarsus.  All the other
arrested participants in this city were released.

Serdar Tanis and Ebubekir Deniz went missing last year in Silopi, after
having been summoned to the local police station, and have never been heard
of since.  The HADEP group is consistently persecuted by police and
judicial charges, under the accusation of "aiding the rebellion."
 

·  AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INVITED TO REOPEN ANKARA OFFICE.
On January 29, Turkey invited Amnesty International to reopen its office in
Ankara, nearly twenty years after the human rights group was organized
following the state military coup of 1980.

The government gave no reason for its former rejection of this idea in
November 2001, when Amnesty requested resumption of its activities.  But it
has since decided to re-examine the request, the state minister in charge
of civil rights Nejat Arsever, explained. "The government leaders are ready
to sign the decree authorizing the return of Amnesty International" he
declared, affirming that he had pressured the nationalist wing of the
coalition to obtain their accord.  "During this period of candidature for
joining the European Union, there is no reason to prevent an organization
such as Amnesty International from coming here" he added.

Human rights organizations claim that torture is widespread in Turkey, and
Brussels has already warned Ankara that there is still much progress to be
made before joining the European Union.
 

·  MFA: DETENTION IN STATE OF EMERGENCY PROVINCES REDUCED FROM
FIFTEENTO FOUR DAYS.  On January 30, Turkey
announced that rights conforming to European norms would be respected from
now on regarding detainees in the Kurdish provinces, where human rights
have been seriously restricted and derided.  The Minister of Foreign
Affairs stressed in a communiqué to have rescinded the point of view of a
statement addressed in 1990 to the European Council, which announced the
suspension of Article 5 of the European Convention on the Rights of Man  --
 concerning the conditions of detention  --  in politically turbulent provinces.

In October Turkey began a revision of its constitution focused on aligning
itself more closely with European norms, notably in the reduction of police
custody from fifteen days to four. Four provinces are still in a state of
emergency: Diyarbakir, Tunceli, Sirnak and Hakkari.
 

·  REFORMED PENAL CODE MORE RESTRICTIVE TOWARDS FREEDOM OF
SPEECH.  The penal reform, officially called a "mini-democratization,"
undertaken by the Turkish government in the hope of achieving harmony with
Copenhagen criteria, vital to acceptance into the European Union, has
instead caused disillusionment in Europe and embarrassed the coalition
government partners.  The project of revising articles 312 and 159 of the
Turkish penal code, criticized for already being repressive, is seen as
becoming more so when compared with its original context.

Article 159 sentences one to three years in prison (the present law allows
up to six years) for any person defaming the "Turkish identity, the
Republic, the Turkish nation, the Turkish state, the Turkish National Grand
Assembly, the Council of Ministers, the ministers, the justice system, the
military, the police and any other security forces of the state."  With the
approved reform of January 24 by the Parliamentary Commission of Justice,
the term "Republic" was inserted in the text, while the term "democracy"
had been favored in the earlier debates.  Moreover, the proposed law
designates one to six months imprisonment for those "publicly insulting"
the laws of the republic and the decisions of the Turkish Parliament,
underlining that the sentence will be less by a third if the crime is
committed abroad by a Turkish national.

On the other hand the Turkish government has not arrived at a consensus
regarding the highly controversial article 312 of the penal code which
condemns the "provocation of hatred."

The Turkish press and the intelligentsia, prime targets for these articles
have loudly criticized the reform project.  "The concept of
mini-democratization . gives free rein to  subjective interpretations of
judges to act at their own discretion, simplifying their decisions prorata
in conjunction with the political system" wrote Taha Akyol on January 31 in
the daily paper Milliyet.  "Serious criticism of the state will take a lot
more courage now! the same for the National Security Council!" he
continued.

The daily " Radikal" , in a kind of Honor Roll, inventoried its journalists
potentially persecuted by these two articles.  "Ismet Berkan, charged by
the Correctional Tribunal for voicing suspicions concerning the arrest of
the official killers of Ugur Mumcu, in an article published June 9, 2000.
I. Berkan may serve six years in prison for "offenses to state security
forces."  Nese Duzel, charged by the state security court of Istanbul for
press coverage entitled "The young Alevis are driven to terror"       N.
Duzel also may risk six years in prison for an interview of Dr. Dogu Ergil
entitled "the state of emergency has brought back drugs."  Mine Kirikkanat,
charged among other things with "comptempt for the moral fiber of the
government",  based on article 159 in the penal code, for an article
written April 6 2000, entitled "Would you please get out"     Perihan
Magden, for an article appearing May 12 2001, entitled "Why doesn't it end"
and a second article called "Another death, another news story"  concerning
hunger strikes and conditions of Turkish prisons. She is charged with
"insults against the Minister of Justice."  Celal Baslangic may face six
years of prison for her book "Shelter from Fear", relating human rights
violations in Tunceli, Silopi, Cizre and Lice.   Likewise for Yildirim
Turker, who wrote a piece dated August 13 2000, criticizing the prison
politics of the state with its Type-F prisons, entitled "The darkest
corners of Justice."  Y Turker risks six years in prison for "contempt for
the Republic."