· ECHR: TURKEY GUILTY FOR BANNING PRO-KURDISH  "HEP" PARTY.
On 9 April, Turkey was fined 40,000 euros by the
European Human Rights Court for having banned the Working People's Party
(HEP ­ pro-Kurdish) accused of endangering the nation's unity.
In July 1993, the Turkish Constitutional Court had ordered the dissolution
of HEP on the grounds that its activities "endangered the territorial
integrity of the State, and the unity of the nation", The HEP was accused,
in particular, of "seeking to divide the integrity of the Turkish nation
into two parts, with the Turks on one side and the Kurds on the other, so
as to found separate States" and to "seek to destroy the national and
territorial integrity" of Turkey.

The European Court considered that Turkey, by deciding the dissolution of
this party, had violated the rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of
association, guaranteed by Clause 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

"Seeing the absence of any practical projects by HEP of a character to
undermine the democratic regime in the country and/or the absence of any
incitement or justification of the recourse to force for political ends,
its dissolution cannot be reasonably considered as responding to an
"imperious social necessity"" the Court considered.
 

· FORMER HADEP LEADER SENTENCED TO 10 MONTHS JAIL FOR SPEECH
 Ahmet Turan Demir, former President of the pro-Kurdish People's
Democratic HADEP party was sentenced to ten months jail for "endangering
the unity of the country" by the Ankara State Security Court.
The sentence is linked to a speech he made during a Party Congress in
November 2000 which, according to the charge sheet "aimed at attacking the
unity and indivisibility of the State". The Turkish authorities regularly
attack members of HADEP, accused of  "separatism and organic links with the
PKK".  HADEP, which argues in favour of a peaceful solution to the Kurdish
question and for cultural rights for the Kurds, rejects these accusations.
But it is being threatened with banning by the Constitutional Court.
 

· 45 MONTH JAIL SENTENCE FOR LISTENING TO KURDISH CASSETTE
On 9 April, a Kurdish driver was sentenced to 45 months jail, for having played out loud
a cassette of Kurdish songs in his minibus. The State Security Court of the State of
Diyarbekir considered that Selahaddin Onen was guilty of  "helping an armed
organisation" for having played that cassette in 1999 in his minibus while
transporting passengers between Diyarbekir and the nearby town of Cinar.

The Court considered that playing songs in Kurdish amounted to supporting
the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). "But the Court granted a stay of
execution, taking into account the fact that my client had no previous
record" added Mr. Sedat Yurttas. "The stay of execution means that Onen
must not repeat the same crime again in the next five years or he will go
to prison to serve this sentence"

This sentence comes at a time when Turkey, a candidate for membership of
the European Union, is asking itself whether or not to allow radio and TV
broadcasts in Kurdish ­ a cultural right that the EU is demanding of it.
The authorities fear that broadcasts in Kurdish would revive the
aspirations for independence of the Kurds, although the clashes in
SouthEast have diminished since the PKK announced it was ending armed
struggle in 1999.
 

· 63 MAJOR ARMS PROJECTS PLANNED: DEFENSE MINISTER
On 14 April, the Turkish Minister of Defence, Sabahattin Cakmakoglu declared
that the Turkish Army had the ambition of taking part in 64 armament projects in
the context of its restructuring.

"Turkey must be equipped with the most modern systems existing in the
world. This includes missiles, helicopters and tanks. At the moment, 64
projects are under way, coordinated by the Ministry of Defence" he added.
 

· ANTISEMITIC DEMONSTRATIONS IN ISTANBUL. Following statements by
Turkish Prime Minister, Bülent Ecevit, describing the Israeli operations in
Palestine as "genocide" (followed by his repentance in the face of US
reactions) the demonstrations, in Turkey, of solidarity with the
Palestinian people turned into a campaign of antisemitism. On Saturday 13
April, over 5,000 people marched in Istanbul in response to the call of the
Islamist Saadet (Happiness) Party, burning the Israeli flag and carrying
banners reading "I understand Hitler better, now !". The procession was led
by a banner reading "Revivo go home!" (Editor's note: Revivo is N° 10 in
the Fernerbahçel Football team). No arrests were made even though the
Turkish daily Hurriyet of 14 April headlined "They've overstepped the mark!"
 

· DANISH PM DESCRIBES PKK AS TERRORIST ORGANISATION.
On 9 April, the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, expressed the
wish that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) be placed on the E.U.'s list
of terrorist organisations ­ because it is on the United States' list
Answering the press after a Cabinet meeting, Mr. Rasmussen also indicated
that the Government did not intend closing the offices of the PKK political
Branch, the "National Liberation Front of Kurdistan" (ERNK). "We have a
tradition, in Denmark, of attacking the criminal actions of associations,
but not freedom of association" he stressed.

The Danish Liberal/Conservative government wants the European list to be,
as much as possible, in line with that of the United States so that
"terrorist organisations" be unable to escape the economic vice that
Europeans and Americans are trying to set up together, he explained. The
Centre/Left opposition considers that the government has "no mandate to
work to ensure that the E.U. list be identical to that of the U.S.". The
spokesperson of the Radical Party, Elisabeth Arnold, stressed, moreover, in
a statement to the centre-left daily Politiken, that there were "doubts
about the terrorist character of certain organisations on the American
list, which, moreover, omits some Irish organisations that are on the E.U. list".

Last December, the Fifteen adopted a list of 12 groups and 30 individuals,
described as terrorist, whose properties have been frozen because of their
actions or support for terrorism.