· EUROCOURT: TURKEY GUILTY OF VIOLATING THE RIGHT TO
FREE ELECTIONS  \BY STRIPPING 13 KURDISH MPs OF THEIR MANDATES.
In the case of the 13 MPs of the Party for Democracy (DEP) ­ including Leyla Zana ­ the
European Human Rights Court unanimously found Turkey guilty of violation of Article 3 of
the Protocol 1 (the Right to free elections). Under Article 41 of the Convention
(equitable compensation) the Court granted each of the petitioners 50,000¤
in overall damages and 10,500¤ collectively to seven of them and 9,000¤
collectively to the other six for legal costs.

The 13 Kurdish MPs of the Party for Democracy (DEP) had petitioned against
having been stripped of their parliamentary mandate following the banning
of the DEP, alleging violations of Article 7 (no penalty without legal
offence), 9 (freedom of thought), 10 (freedom of expression), 14
(prohibition of any discrimination) of the European Convention on Human
Rights. They also protested against an attack on freedom of association
guaranteed under Article 11 and claimed that being deprived of their
Parliamentary remunerations was also an attack on their right to property,
in violation of Article 1 of Protocol 1.  Finally, they invoked Article 6,
clause 1 claiming they had been denied an equitable trial.

The petitions had been filed with the Human Rights Commission in 1994. They
were combined on 22 May 1995 and referred to the Court on 1 November 1998.
By a ruling handed down on 30 May 2000, the petitions were judged
admissible (except for petition N°25,144/94 which was judged only partly
admissible in so far as it was covered by Article 5 ­ right to freedom and
security ­ of the Convention). By a decision on 6 January 2000 the Court
ruled that the petitions should also be examined in the light of Article 3
of Protocol 1 of the Convention. Verdict was reached by a Court consisting
of seven judges, including a Turkish judge.

Thus the Court recalls that "Article 3 of Protocol 1 establishes a
principle that is characteristic of any genuinely democratic political
regime" and that "it assumes a capital importance in the system of the
Convention". It reveals that, in effect, the petitioners were automatically
stripped of their parliamentary mandate following the banning of the DEP,
that this ban was decreed by the Constitutional Court because of a speech
made abroad by the former President of the Party and by a written statement
made by its Central Committee. "This stripping from office was independent
of the individual political activities of the petitioners and is only
consequent on the dissolution of the party of which the petitioners were
members". The Court also notes that, since a Constitutional amendment dated
1995, only the mandate of the member of Parliament who had made the remarks
or actions that led to the banning of the party can be ended. "It considers
that the measure take in this case, namely the immediate and final banning
of the DEP as well as the interdiction of members of the party from
exercising their mandate and engaging in political activities take on a
character of extreme severity".

The Court considers that "the sanctions inflicted on the petitioners cannot
be accepted as being in proportion to any legitimate aim invoked by
Turkey", that this measure was "incompatible with the right to be elected
and to exercise a mandate and that it damages the sovereign powers of the
electorate that elected the petitioners". It concludes, in consequence that
there has been violation of Article 3 of Protocol 1of the European
Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees "the free expression of the
people in their choice of the legislative body".

On the other hand, considering that it was enough to recognise the
violation "of a principle that is characteristic of any genuinely
democratic political regime", it refused "to examine separately" the
charges of violations of the seven other articles (7, 9, 10, 11, 14 and 6
§1) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
 

· TALLY OF  HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TURKISH KURDISTAN (APRIL/MAY)
The Diyarbekir branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) made public,
on 11 June, its assessment of Human Rights violations for the months of April and May 2002.
Here are extracts from its report:

-       Number of "unsolved" murders or "extra-judicial Executions: 5 deaths , 1 wounded in April, 5 deaths in May
-       Number of persons tortured or victims of Ill treatment: 16 in April, 25 in May
-       Number of persons taken into detention: 224 in April, 352 in May
-       Number of arrests:   66 in April, 72 in May
-       Numbers of exiles : 8  in April, 1in May
-       Number of publications banned in the State of Emergency Region (OHAL): 29  in April, 29 in  May
-       Number of associations banned: 1 in April
 

· 25 CHILDREN ON TRIAL FOR SEEKING KURDISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
­  PARENTS SUED FOR HAVING GIVING CHILDREN KURDISH NAMES.
Twenty-five children and adolescents, aged between 11 and 17, appeared
before the Diyarbekir State Security Court on 11 June, charged with
"supporting separatism by using slogans in support of Kurdish language
teaching". The prosecution stresses that "the children and adolescents had
shouted slogans demanding Kurdish language teaching during a rally last
December" whereas it is forbidden to teach or broadcast programmes in that
language. The Turkish authorities state that "the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) hides itself behind this campaign calling for Kurdish language
teaching in Schools and universities".

During the hearings the minors, who face penalties of 3 years jail, denied
having shouted any such slogans during the rally. The Court set a date in
September for further hearings.

For several months past the Turkish authorities have been very nervous.
They are trying to stifle, by repression, any form of demand for Kurdish
cultural rights, not even hesitating at suing parents for giving Kurdish
first names to their children. Thus, by giving his baby the first name of
Berivan (milkmaid), which is the name of his favourite singer, Turfan
Akcan, head of a Turkish family from Ardahan (North-East Turkey) of
Georgian origin, had no idea that he would find himself on trial, charged
with "attempting to sabotage the State". The name is, moreover, that of a
very popular televised series in which one of Turkey's singing stars, Sibel
Can, plays the part of a young Kurdish woman called Berivan. But a Public
Prosecutor detected in this Kurdish first name "an anti-Turkish symbol" and
Akcan was suddenly suspected of "terrorism and support for the Kurdish
separatists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)". The prosecutor based
the proceedings he brought against Akcan on the draconian Anti-Terrorist
Acts adopted to fight the PKK. Also on the carpet ­ the local council staff
that had accepted this "diabolical first name".

Tufan Akcan, however, is not the only one to have faced this problem
recently. In Ardahan another father has been summoned by the Prosecutor for
having named his children Rojin (Sunny) and Rohjan (Sunset). In Izmir
(Western Turkey), in the middle of the night, the police raided 11 families
who had given their children Kurdish first names. Proceedings have been
started against 9 of the families suspected of "propaganda for a terrorist organisation".

However, the Turkish courts do not automatically follow the prosecutors in
their arguments. The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Erzurum State
Security Court refused to follow through the case against Akcan and another
father from Ardahan.  A Court in Dicle also threw out proceedings against 7
families who had, in all, 23 children with Kurdish first names. A case that
particularly attracted attention in that the woman judge herself had was
called Sirvan, a Kurdish first name meaning "dairymaid".
 

· ECONOMY SUFFERING FROM ECEVIT'S UNCERTAIN HEALTH.
Handicapped by poor health, Turkish Premier Bülent Ecevit made his first public
appearance for several weeks and assured the public that his state of health did not
prevent him from working from home. "I have absolutely no intention of abandoning
my government functions so long as I hold the title of Prime Minister ­ I
don't have the right to abandoning these duties" declared Mr. Ecevit on 9
June from his official residence's garden. Mr. Ecevit indicated that the
government was working normally in his absence and that he himself still
needed a few weeks more rest. "There is no question of my distancing myself
from State business. I have no intention of leaving government business. I
have no right to do so", he added. He also denied news in the press that he
was suffering from Parkinson's disease, nevertheless conceding that his
state of health would prevent him from attending the European Summit in
Seville on 21 and 22 June. Present on the political scene for nearly half a
century, Mr. Ecevit has been leading the most long-lasting coalition in
Turkish history since 1999 ­ but also the most ill-assorted! ­ consisting
of his own "left" nationalists (DSP), Mesut Yilmaz's conservative
pro-Europeans (ANAP) and Mr. Bahceli's neo-fascists (MHP). Mr. Ecevit also
excluded any General Elections earlier than the planned date of 2004,
ironically remarking "I have no complaints to make of the present government".

Nevertheless, Mr. Ecevit has increased doubts on his ability to govern by
failing to attend, on 7 June, the crucial summit on reforms to be carried
out to integrate Turkey into the European Union. This summit, called by
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, to speed up the process of reform, brought
together leaders of the 5 parties represented in Parliament ­ the three in
the government plus the two Islamic parties. The leader of the True Path
(DYP) opposition party, Tansu Çiller, cancelled her participation by
declaring "There is a vacuum in the government. If the Prime Minister is
not there, that means that there is no government. If there is no solution
to the problem of the government, the solution to other problems cannot be found".

The summit high-lighted the profound differences between the three
government partners regarding the reforms ­ the total abolition of capital
punishment, Kurdish language education and broadcasting ­ to which Mr.
Devlet Bahceli and his MHP (the 3 party coalition's principal partner) are
totally opposed. The latter indeed, even threatened, after the summit, to
resign if his partners relied "too frequently" on Parliament to push
through the reforms, particularly the granting of cultural rights to the
Kurds. Mr. Ecevit has tried to minimise these remarks, saying he is
convinced that there will not be any "serious divergences" regarding these reforms.

Regarding capital punishment, he indicated that this question would "solve
itself" if his party would win the votes of his government partners or of
the opposition. The MHP had let it be understood that it would agree to
this formula, supported by the Islamic opposition in Parliament, but has
asked that this should not become "a regular habit" for the subsequent
reforms. "Mr. Bahceli has quite rightly, indicated that this practice  (of
having recourse to the opposition) cannot be used constantly" Mr. Ecevit
revealed. The death sentence was abolished by a constitutional amendment
last October ­ except in times of war, imminent danger of war or terrorism.

The two opposition organisations, Recai Kutan's Happiness Party (SP) and
Recep Tayip's Justice and Development Party, which support these reforms,
are pro-Islamic and so are regarded with suspicion by the all-powerful
Turkish Army. "Bahceli says: either the government or the E.U." wrote
editorial writer Ismet Berkan in the Turkish daily Radikal on 9 June, "what
will the other coalition partners chose? Short term stability or long term interests?"

Meanwhile the Istanbul Stock Exchange fell 3 % after the announcement that
Mr. Ecevit had not attended the summit of party leaders. The President of
the Employers' Federation TUSIAD, Tuncay Ozilhan, called on the government
to act to escape from uncertainty: "The Prime Minister's health is no
longer a personal problem but a State problem. Turkey has very urgent
problems to settle and cannot allow itself to lose time. The necessary
measures must be taken".

"This summit is the last test of Ecevit's political survival" stresses a
European diplomat off the record. "If he can no longer attend such
important meetings, it is hard to see how one can conclude that he is able
to run the country" he added. "No party in the coalition wants to face
elections because they fear to be penalised by the voters. They want a sort
of shadow Prime Minister and to hold on as long as possible before holding
elections, their objective being preferably 2003" another European diplomat
estimated. "But the political rhythm will be linked to Ecevit's medical bulletins".
 

·  ECONOMIST TAKEN TO COURT FOR CALLING OCALAN "MR".
A well-known Turkish economist faces trial for having called
Abdullah Ocalan  "Mr. Ocalan  " during a symposium in Istanbul on 8 June. A
Public Prosecutor, has initiated investigations against Atilla Yesilada, a
TV commentator and editorial writer in newspapers, who created a scandal by
repeatedly calling Abdullah Ocalan  "Mr.Ocalan" using the term "sayin"
which implies a degree of respect.

The Minister of External Trade Tunca Toskay, of the neo-fascist MHP,
stormed out of the seminar in protest. "We will not remain in a meeting in
while an individual with the blood of 30,000 people on his hands is called
Mister" he declared.

In a letter sent by e-mail to the symposium organisers, Mr. Yesilada
defended himself saying "I have never had the slightest respect for the PKK
and the coward who runs it ( ) I have always defended Turkey's just
struggle against the PKK. But I am a defender of Human Rights to the very end".
 

· FOUR KURDS  DROWNED BY UNSCRUPULOUS  SMUGGLERS. 
Four Kurdish immigrants, aged between 25 and 40 died and two others were
injured after smugglers had forced about forty Kurdish illegals to jump into the
sea near the Italian coast of Apulia (the South of Italy) the Italian Police
announced on 8 June.

According to the reconstitution of the events made by the police and
Carabinieri, several illegal immigrants had rebelled when ordered to leave
the boat at dawn and two of them were wounded by stabbing. The Kurdish
immigrants then gave way to the smugglers orders and jumped overboard.
According to the first findings of the enquiry, three of these men were
drowned. The smugglers, two Albanians, succeeded in escaping and the
police, who found 39 illegal immigrants transferred them to a reception
centre in the Lecce region.

The United States had recently warned Turkey about economic retaliatory
measures that might be taken against it if it did not seriously struggle
against the trafficking in human being taking place on its soil. Once again
it was the Army that reacted, through General Aytac Yalman, Commander in
Chief of the Gendarmerie who declared on 12 June that "as for the
immigration issue, they are unfair to Turkey that houses a million
illegals" and that "last year 92,000 illegals were arrested" in the country.