• NGOs ATTACK IRREGULARITIES OF THE RETRIAL OF LEYLA ZANA AND COLLEAGUES AND DEMAND AN EQUITABLE. IMPARTIAL TRIAL. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Femmes Solidaires (Women’s Solidarity), the Fondation France-Libertés, the International Committee for the Liberation of the Imprisoned Kurdish Members of Parliament (CILDEKT) and the Paris Kurdish Institute, are concerned at the way the retrial of Leyla Zana and her colleagues is taking place in Ankara. This retrial, whose 4th hearing is due on 20 June, totally ignores the conclusions of the European Human Rights Court. Here is the text of a joint statement co-signed by the five organisations:

“In 1991, backed by the support of her people, Leyla Zana became the first Kurdish woman to be elected to the Turkish Parliament. During the appointment ceremony, she pronounced several words in Kurdish before the jury, creating a scandal.  In December 1994, Leyla Zana along with three other deputies from the Democratic Party (DEP), Orhan Dogan, Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak, were sentenced to 15 years in prison for "expressing offensive opinions and allegedly declaring support for Kurdistan’s Labor Party (PKK)."

Born in 1961 in a small village located in the province of Diyarbakir in Turkey and married at age 15, Leyla Zana certainly never had any intentions of becoming an icon for the Kurdish struggle in Turkey.  Raised in a traditional Kurdish family where girls are not sent to school (she only attended for a year and a half), it was only through years of repression that she developed her sense of political awareness.

In 1995, the European Parliament awarded Leyla Zana with the "Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought" and in 2001, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey for violating the right to a fair trial.  Yet, despite all that, Leyla Zana and her close associates were unable to make their rights respected.  Nevertheless, pursuant to the new legislative reforms adopted by the Turkish Parliament, today, they are being granted a retrial after nine years of imprisonment in the Central Prison of Ulucanlar-Ankara, by the same court that should have accepted the decision by the European Court of Human Rights.

While the European Court condemned the role played by the prosecutor during the first trial, we worry ­ after our observations - that the same State Security Court will persist and come up with the same decision after an unfair procedure.

As such, on Friday, 20 June 2003, the former deputies will be appearing for the fourth time this year before the State Police Court.  And already, since the first hearing of this "new trial", numerous irregularities have been observed by the FIDH as well as other national and international NGOs.  In fact, although subject to the terms of arrest set forth by the Strasbourg Court, the prosecutor for the State Police Court in Ankara has been constantly interfering with the Judge’s duties by systematically refusing the defense the right to question witnesses for the prosecution, village guards and members of the police force.  On the contrary, the defense, led by Yusuf Alatas from the Bar in Ankara, has been unable to question prosecution witnesses and have witnesses for the defense heard.  During the last hearing held on 23 May, the Court, in fact, denied, for no valid reason whatsoever, all requests made by the defense regarding not only the provisional release of the defendants, but also hearings for defense witnesses, a flagrant violation of the terms of arrest laid out by the European Court of Human Rights.

This political trial is representative of the challenges that the Turkish authorities are facing on the road to accession to the European Union. While the AKP government headed up by Recep Tayyip Erdogan is demonstrating a strong political will for reform, visible through the adoption of harmonization packets aimed at meeting the criteria set forth in Copenhagen (the sixth packet is currently being debated within the Turkish Parliament), the Turkish judicial system (on the orders of the National Security Council (MGK)) is wrongly acting against the very principles laid down by the Council of Europe by scandalously ignoring the decision made by the Strasbourg Court.

The arsenal of restrictive and protective laws, having at its base the authoritarian Constitution born out of the 12 September 1980 coup d’état, puts a strain on any real will for reform.  Last 21 May, Eraslan Ozkaya, the President of the Turkish Court of Cassation, recognized that "it is impossible to speak of impartial and independent judgement in Turkey as long as articles 140, 144 and 159 of the Constitution remain in existence…" Last 6 June, the European Parliament "asked the Turkish government to present, as quickly as possible, both a roadmap and a clear timetable for implementing the criteria set forth in Copenhagen… On the eve of Leyla Zana and her friends’ trial and at the hour of the European Council in Thessolonika (19 and 20 June), the Ankara State Police Court must take this new opportunity to act on behalf of the voice of democratisation and State law by granting the provisional release of the former Kurdish deputies immediately and ensuring them a fair, impartial and public trial”
 

• EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON TURKEY STRESSING “ NECESSITY OF A COMPLETE REFORM OF THE STATE”. On June 5th, by 216 pros and 75 cons and 38 abstentions, the European Parliament has adopted a resolution concerning Turkey’s request to join the European Union. Arie Ooslander (PPE-SE), who has drawn up this resolution, stresses on “ the necessity of a complete reform of the State ” and invites “ the Turkish Government to set up a new political and constitutional system which will guarantee the principles of a secular regime and the control of the military power by the civil power ”. Hereunder large extracts of this resolution :

“ Notes that the army maintains a central position in the Turkish state and society; notes with regret that the army's excessively important role slows down Turkey's development towards a democratic and pluralist system, and advocates that Turkey must take advantage of its present government, with its strong parliamentary support, to elaborate a new political and constitutional system, which guarantees the principles of a secular system without military supremacy above civil institutions, so that the traditional power of the bureaucracy and the army (the 'deep State') can resume the forms which are customary in the Member States”

“ Considers that, in the context of state reform, it will be necessary in the long term to abolish the National Security Council in its current form and position in order to align civilian control of the military with the common practice in EU Member States; realises that the desired structural change will be very hard to accept”

“ Proposes that the military representatives should withdraw from civilian bodies such as the high councils on education and the audiovisual media, in order to ensure that these institutions are fully independent; urges the Turkish authorities to establish full Parliamentary control over the military budget as a part of the national budget”

“… Stresses that the changes demanded are so fundamental that they require the establishment of a new constitution, explicitly based on democratic foundations, with the rights of the individual and of minorities balanced against collective rights in accordance with the customary European standards, as set out for example in the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities…”

“ Considers that also the Turkish concept of the nation and secular state has to be based on tolerance and non-discrimination of religious communities and minority groups; considers that the drafting of a new Constitution must facilitate the implementation of these principles…”

“ Encourages the Turkish authorities to strengthen the principle of the primacy of international law over national law in the case of substantial differences relating to respect for human rights and the rule of law…”

“…Calls upon Turkey to commit itself without delay to a process of accession to the statutes of the International Criminal Court; believes that this is a fundamental element in the relations between Turkey and the EU; points out that Turkey is the only member of the Council of Europe who has not yet signed this statute ”

“ Regrets that Turkey has delayed so long with implementing the decisions of the European Court of human rights (ECHR) as it was urged to do by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in a resolution of 23 September 2002…”

“ Urges that an amnesty be granted to those imprisoned for their opinions who are serving sentences in Turkish prisons for the non-violent expression of their opinions; welcomes the reforms that permit the reopening of trials that violated the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; welcomes in this context the reopening of the trial against European Parliament Sakharov Prize winner Leyla Zana and three other MPs of the former Democracy Party (DEP), imprisoned since more than 9 years; calls for a fair retrial and their immediate provisional release”

“… Calls on the Turkish authorities to adopt active and consistent measures to improve the quality of the court system and the qualities of judges, who have a great responsibility for creating a new legal culture at the service of the citizen…”

“ Calls for the electoral system to ensure that the composition of the parliament fully reflects the principle of representative democracy, especially with regard to the representation of Kurdish population and other minorities”

“ Strongly welcomes the Turkish parliament's vote on 2 August 2002 in favour of abolishing the death penalty in peacetime and the subsequent signing of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights on 15 January 2003; welcomes these important steps forward but also calls for the ban to be extended to crimes committed in times of war”

“ Condemns the decision of the Turkish Constitutional Court to ban HADEP, and recommends the reconsideration of that decision; believes that this ban conflicts with the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, and violates the elementary right to freedom of opinion and assembly; considers that the persecution of political parties such as HADEP and DEHAP, which is also the subject of proceedings seeking to ban it, conflicts with the principles of democracy”

“ Recalls the commitment by the Turkish government to finally eradicate torture (zero tolerance); notes with concern that torture practices still continue and that torturers often go unpunished; calls for the most active and consistent measures to be taken to combat this barbaric practice, and for the Centre for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of torture victims in Diyarbakir, supported by the Commission, to be able to continue its work unhindered”

“ Calls on Turkey to implement the international standards for prisons and to abstain from reverting to the practice of isolating prisoners… Expresses its concern at the continued hunger strike in Turkish prisons and supports efforts to negotiate a solution to this matter in a way which avoids further deaths”

“ Calls on the Turkish authorities to permit all prisoners, including those arrested under the jurisdiction of the State Security Courts, to be given genuine access to legal aid; calls on the Turkish government to promptly pass legislation to abolish Article 31(1) of the Law Amending Some Articles of the Criminal Procedure Code (1992, No 3842), which denies detainees held for offences under the jurisdiction of State Security Courts the right to legal counsel for the first forty-eight hours”

“ Is deeply concerned about reports of women in detention being subjected to frequent sexual violence and rape committed by state security agents; notes that women of Kurdish origin and women holding political beliefs which are unacceptable to the authorities or the military are particularly at risk of such violence; calls for an assurance that intimate searches of female prisoners will only be carried out by female staff and that assaults will be punished”

“ Notes that the fact that people of Kurdish origin live in various countries including Turkey must not prevent Turkey from establishing a more relaxed and constructive relationship with its own citizens of Kurdish origin, as with other ethnic and religious minorities…”

“ Calls on Turkey to ensure cultural diversity and guarantee cultural rights for all citizens, irrespective of their origin, to ensure effective access to Radio/TV broadcasting, including private media, and education in Kurdish and other non-Turkish languages through the implementation of existing measures and the removal of remaining restrictions that impede this access”

“ Calls on Turkey to take further steps - within the context of the country's territorial integrity - to comply with the legitimate interests of the Kurdish population and members of other minorities in Turkey and to ensure their participation in political life”

“ Respects the position of the Turkish language as the first national language, but underlines that this should not be to the detriment of other indigenous languages (such as Kurdish and Armenian) and liturgical languages (such as Aramaic/Syriac), the use of which constitutes a democratic right of citizens… Urges Turkey to respect and to emphasize the Armenian and Syriac cultural heritages, components of Turkey´s national identity”

“ Is concerned by the recent directives of the Turkish Ministry of Education demanding that primary and secondary schools in the country take part in a denial campaign concerning the oppression of minorities during Turkish history, in particular in relation to the Armenian community”

“ Calls on the Turkish authorities at all levels (national, regional, local) to call for an immediate halt to any discriminatory activities which cause difficulties for the lives of religious minorities in Turkey, including in the field of ownership of property, donations, building and maintenance of churches and freedom of action for school boards…”

“…Welcomes the ending of the state of emergency on 30 November 2002 in the last remaining two provinces of Diyarbakir and Sirnak, but calls on Turkey to contribute to the elimination of tensions with the Kurdish people and to make efforts to overcome the economic and social under-development of the regions in which these people live, to facilitate the return of former inhabitants to 'emptied villages' and returning refugees from abroad, and to bring about the removal of armed village guards in Kurdish and Syrian Orthodox villages”

“ Calls on the Turkish authorities to place any military activity in these regions under civilian control and to demand that the security forces (police and army) be answerable for their actions under all circumstances”

“ Demands that Turkey cooperate with its neighbours Iran, Syria and Iraq in order to respect and safeguard the borders while enabling their respective citizens of Kurdish origin to develop their human, cultural and economic relations; urges the Turkish Government to continue to respect the territorial integrity of Iraq and the competence of Iraq in rearranging its own administrative organisations…”
 

• UNDER PRESSURE FROM TURKISH ARMY, GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS REFORMS REGARDING BROADCASTING IN KURDISH LANGUAGE, DESPITE LACK OF IMPLEMENTATION. On 16 June the Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, hinted that the Turkish government was considering doing a U-turn on the issue of Kurdish language broadcasts on the State Radio-Television (TRT) wave bands. “There could be serious problems for Kurdish language broadcasts by TRT” he confided in an interview published by the Turkish daily Vatan, referring to the many objections to this reform from Army circles, which has always been particularly reserved about any cultural concessions. Broadcasting in Kurdish could encourage demands by other minorities for broadcasting in their own languages, explained Mr. Gul who considered that Kurdish broadcasts also carried “the danger that this language might be considered a second official language”. “We consider that it is more suitable that private stations should do this (broadcast in Kurdish” he stated. “If we set up certain rules and keep an eye on these broadcasts, there will be no problem” he added.

In August 2002 Parliament had authorised such broadcasts as well as private education “in languages other than Turkish” in the context of reforms aimed at facilitating the country’s admission to the European Union, but so far these reforms have gone unheeded. Some private schools have complained of bureaucratic difficulties over securing authorisation to teach, the TRT refusing any Kurdish language broadcasts. According to the 16 June issue of the Turkish daily Radikal the TRT even appealed to the State Council, on 17 February 2003, against the decision obliging it to broadcast in Kurdish for a few hours a week, on the grounds that this was contrary to its constitution. The paper added that the State Council has not yet given its ruling on this question. The referral to the State Council even astonished the President of the RTUK (the watch-dog committee that oversees all audio-visual media), Fatih Karaca, who criticised the former President of the TRT, Yucel Yener, declaring: “He took part in all the meetings with the RTUK prior to the rules being drawn up and now we hear that he has referred them to the State Council … I cannot reconcile this attitude with the responsibility of a State official”

Faced with this situation, the Government has just placed before parliament some new reform bills, in particular authorising private radio and television networks to broadcast in Kurdish. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, which is viewed with some suspicion by the Army because of its Islamic origins, has already taken note of the Army’s objections by abandoning a Bill to authorise the setting up prayer meeting halls in blocks of flats. Cemil Cicek, Turkish Minister of Justice and government spokesman stated on television on 11 June that this Bill aimed at easing the religious activities of non-Moslem religious groups, but had had to be abandoned because of “prejudices” against his party. The measures had been debated for over six hours on 10 June in the Ministerial Council.

Questioned on the role of the Army in drawing up these reforms, Mr. Cicek considered that the Army “is the only non-governmental institution in Turkey that takes the time to analyse these questions in detail and to express an opinion”.  The Army, while officially in favour of membership of the European Union, has recently let it be known, through a carefully orchestrated series of “leaks” to the press, its anxiety over the proposed reforms.

The European Union has made the recognition of cultural rights for the Kurdish and other minorities one of the criteria for the liberalisation of the country — a necessary precondition for the opening of negotiations with Turkey for membership in 2005.
 

• POLICE REPRESSION AGAINST DEMONSTRATORS DEMANDING GENERAL AMNESTY AND CLASHES IN BINGOL LEADING TO TWO PKK DEATHS. On 16 June, the police pulled in for questioning 114 people in the Kurdish town of Bingol, while they were demonstrating to demand a general amnesty to enable Kurdish guerrilla fighters to lay down their arms and return to civilian life. Initially 61 people, including 60 members of the “Feminine Platform” were taken in for questioning by the security forces. Then another group of 53 people were also pulled in. Four lawyers, who were amongst them, have been released, according to the Turkish authorities.

On 14 June, 340  Non-governmental Organisations — Human Rights defence organisations, pro-Kurdish political parties, Trade Unions — had called on the Turkish government to declare a general amnesty for Kurdish activists so as to stabilise peace in the region. “An unconditional and unlimited amnesty is the only way of overcoming tensions” declared a statement signed by all these organisation. “To demand repentance does nothing to solve the problems but will create conditions for their proliferation” affirms the declaration, presented during a press conference in Diyarbekir.

The government is preparing, at the moment, an amnesty law limited just to the possible “repentants” but wider than previous legal measures for pro-Kurdish activists, which required that they not only repent but also give information about the PKK.  These measures still exclude leaders of the movement. The Turkish Army leaders consider that some 5,000 PKK members sought asylum in Iraqi Kurdistan. After the recent war in Iraq, the Americans stated that they would not tolerate the presence of “these militia” on Iraqi soil and urged Ankara to decree an amnesty.

The government hopes to pass these new reforms on Kurdish rights before the European summit in Salonika (Greece) on 20 to 21 June.

Elsewhere, two fighters of the “Kurdistan Workers’ Party” (PKK) were killed in a clash with the Turkish Army in the course of a military operation on 15 June in the Kurdish province of Bingol. The governor of Bingol, Huseyin Avni Cos, declared that this operation had been launched following the assassination of a village mayor by PKK members the week before.
 

• RADIO STATION BANNED ONE MONTH  FOR BROADCAST IN KURDISH.  Even as the President of the Turkish Radio and Television Control Organisation (RTUK) publicly criticised the former President of the Turkish National Radio and TV network (TRT) for having secretly applied to the State Council to oppose Kurdish language broadcasting on the TRT network, he decided, at the same time, to ban the Dunya (World) radio for having broadcast in Kurdish while adhering to the strict letter of Turkish regulations. By a decision dated 12 June, Fatih Karaca imposed a one-month ban on Dunya, incriminated because of a programme entitled “Kurdish literature and language”. “The violation of the principle of the independence of the Turkish Republic and of the indivisible unity of its State and its people has been observed … In consequence …  no warning is necessary” specified the decree signed by F. Karaca setting the date for ceasing to broadcast at 10 July.

The radio’s Editorial director, Sabri Oziç, expressed surprise at the decision, declaring “the RTUK does not, in its decision, the nature of the programme’s content. The sole problem is its use of the Kurdish language. The reforms to the Constitution made to prepare for membership of the European Union grant us this right. We took great care over this broadcast; we respected the time limits imposed by the regulations, and though we only broadcast for half an hour a week in Kurdish, we introduce a simultaneous translation in Turkish”.  For the Turkish authorities, even half an hour of Kurdish music per week is considered to pose a serious threat to the existence of their republic — which, apparently, seems very fragile.
 

•  CONDEMNATION BY  EUROCOURT FOR VIOLATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION DOES NOT PREVENT TURKISH AUTHORITIES  FROM TAKING AUTHOR  TO COURT FOR SAME BOOK.  Sentenced to over a year’s imprisonment by the Istanbul N° 2 State Security Court for a book entitled “The failure of a Paradigm” (Paradigmanin iflasi), Fikret Baskaya a Turkish academic, was brought before the Ankara N° 1 State Security Court on 2 June charged with the publication of the 8th edition of the same book. Fikret Baskaya had served his prison sentence although the European Human Rights Court had condemned Turkey for violation of freedom of expression.
Thus Fikret Baskaya is in danger, on the basis of the infamous Article 8/1 of the anti-terrorist Act, of again serving a year and 4 months jail for a book covered by the European Human Rights Court’s condemnation of Turkey for its violation of the author’s freedom of expression. Thus the Court’s authority, which is supposed to be paramount, remains purely theoretical so long as its penalties are limited to fines.
 

•  KURDS FROM TURKEY WHO SOUGHT REFUGE IN IRAQ ASK TO  RETURN HOME.  According to the Turkish daily Milliyet of 15 June, the refugee sub-Commission of the Turkish Parliaments Human Rights Commission has decided to visit Iraqi Kurdistan to examine the situation of 12,000 Kurdish refugees from Turkey, forced into exile in 1990 by the oppressive measures of the Turkish authorities. “Having left 13 years ago with the message “Turkey has become unliveable for the Kurds” at a time when the fighting with the PKK was at its most intense, the 12,000 Kurds wishing to return after the ending of the terror are putting Turkey in an embarrassing position” writes the paper.

The Sub-Commission’s President, Justice and Development Party (AKP) Member of Parliament Faruk Unsal, stated that after discussion with a delegation of 140 refugees waiting in Sirnak, they had decided to visit Kurdistan to study the situation on the spot, in the refugee camps of Makhmour and Zeli, in Mossul province which, until the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, was under the control of the latter.

-End-