The European has sharply reacted to the stand taken up by the Turkish court. Jooste Lagendijk, co-Chairman of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey mixed Parliamentary Commission, declared that the question of the Kurdish ex-MPs has become a running sore in relations between the European Union and Ankara, that a number of laws passed in turkey remained only on paper and that this trial openly exposed this state of affairs. Another Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Richard Balfe, showed up, as far as he was concerned, not the emptiness of the reforms, but a legal vacuum in Turkey, and that not one legal principle in force in Turkey had been applied in this case.

Jooste Lagendijk, furthermore, made the point that a special meeting, at which Mr. Yusuf Alatas, the defence advocate would be present, was being organised at the European Parliament to discuss this case in particular. “Unfortunately, with this trial, Turkey is only providing arguments for the many Europeans who are prejudiced against Turkey and destroying the arguments of Turkey’s defenders” added Mr. Lagendijk. The European Parliament has announced that the matter had been put on the agenda for the meeting of its general assembly, due to take place from 22 to 25 September, and that the Foreign Affairs Commission of the European Parliament was due to meet specifically to discuss the retrial of the Kurdish MPs.

The Turkish press also reports that the Speaker of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, had called the Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, a few days before the hearing to point out that “the way this retrial develops will affect the view taken by the European Parliament of the reforms undertaken in Turkey”. The Turkish daily Milliyet, on 16 September, Headlined “We would prefer that the Kurdish ex-MPs were released” quoting remarks made by A. Gul, while adding that one had to respect the decisions and independence of the courts…

Leyla Zana, for her part, stated that the reforms of harmonisation with the EU were not being applied in practice and that “only a few things had been changed, even on paper”. She also pointed out that, throughout their retrial, they had only expressed messages of peace, of brotherhood and friendship and that this had not been taken into consideration by the court — but that they had “been acquitted in the heart of society”. Leyla Zana also accused the State Security Court of representing the status quo without taking into account the changes taking place. “We cannot be decorative plants, window dressing or carbon copies of the past in relations between the European Union and Turkey” stated Leyla Zana, describing the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) as “phoneys, living on unearned privileges”. She sharply criticised the Turkish Prime Minister who had recently declared “if you don’t think about it, there is no Kurdish question”.

In his speech, Orhan Dogan declared to the Court that they had been “victims of violations of Human Rights” on the very day of the hearing, attacking the ill treatment to which they had been subjected while being transported to the courtroom. Indeed, members of the special forces and the gendarmerie (JITEM) had pushed them around, harassed them, stripped and searched Dogan and his colleagues in a humiliating manner during their transit.

Apart from hearing the MPs the Court heard three witnesses at the request of the defence lawyer, Mr. Yusuf Alatas. These witnesses refuted the allegations of the prosecution, declaring that the MPs had worked in the region to calm people’s spirits and re-unite tribal enemies.

• HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN AUGUST:  MOST MURDEROUS MONTH. The Diyarbekir branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) made public on 11 September, its assessment of Human Rights violations in Diyarbekir Province for the month of August. The association affirmed that the violations recorded for the single month of August had been greater than for the whole of the year 2002. In all 2002 they had recorded 14 deaths, whereas they had 17 deaths in August 2003 alone. Their assessment was as follows:

- Number of victims of in fighting: 17 dead, 4 wounded
- Number of victims of “unsolved murders” and extra-judicial executions: 9 dead and 7 wounded
- Number of victims of land mines and explosions: 2 wounded
- Number of persons placed in detention: 58
- Number of persons ill-treated or tortured: 9
- Number of publications banned or seized: 1
- Number of cultural events banned: 1

•  JUDICIAL INQUIRY ON SINGERS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF PRO-KURDISH POLITICAL PARTIES FOLLOWING  FESTIVAL IN GERMANY. The Turkish daily Radikal reported on September 18 that Turkey had open a judicial enquiry on singers and Turkish political personalities who took part in a recent Kurdish Festival in Germany “which could be considered as active support of the Kurdish rebels”. The enquiry follows the broadcasting by Turkish TV networks, of a sequence in which Haluk Levent, a rock singer who is very well known in Turkey, performing before spectators who were waving flags bearing the picture of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who is imprisoned in Turkey. According to the daily, the festival, which took place at Genselkirchen on 13 September, was organised by sympathisers of the PKK, an organisation that is banned in both Turkey and Germany.

The Turkish Courts, which are conducting enquiries on 15 people, including Mr. Levent, another singer, Musa Eroglu, and the leaders of the two main pro-Kurdish parties in Turkey, Tuncer Bakirhan and Ahmet Turan Demir, could charge them with “assisting an illegal organisation” — a crime that is punishable by seven years imprisonment.

•  PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONSIDERS OCALAN PRISON TRANSFER. Abdullah Ocalan, at present the sole prisoner on the island prison of Imrali, South of Istanbul, may soon be transferred to a high security prison in the capital, according to press reports of 13 September.

The Parliamentary Commission has favourably received an application for such a move, made by the lawyers of this prisoner, whose original death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, for Human Rights, writes the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet (Republic). “Our commission has recently examined the Sincan prison (on the outskirts of Ankara) and has found it suitable, otherwise he could be transferred to another establishment” explained the Vice-President of this Commission, Cavit Torun, to the paper. “It is a matter of finding some other solution than the isolation (of Abdullah Ocalan)” Mr. Torun pointed out “because a prolongation of the condition of isolation could prove to be counter-productive”.

According to his lawyers, the leader of the PKK (re-named KADEK) is suffering from respiratory problems and sinusitis and from heart and Kidney complaints, and they call for “independent” medical examination.
 

• TURKISH PRESS:  “BIND COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION (YOK) TO THE ARMY”.  To celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the coup d’état of 12 September 1980, Mehmet Altan, an academic and journalist on the daily paper Sabah, recalled the balance sheet of this military intervention, whose consequence still remain in Turkey, with the 1982 Constitution, which was the offspring of the coup and remains the principle obstacle to basic freedoms. In his article of 13 September, the journalist attacks the Army’s interference in academic life under the headline “Let’s bind the Council of Higher Education (YOK) to the Army”. Here are extensive extracts from his article.

“Yesterday was the 23rd anniversary of the 12 September Army coup d’état. I remembered the balance sheet of that coup d’état: 650,000 people were placed in detention and tortured; 2,000,000 people were put on police files and tortured; 230,000 others were tried by state of siege emergency courts; 98,000 were hunted down for membership of some organisation and the death sentence was demanded for 7,000 people. Journalists were sentenced to a total of 3,315 years imprisonment. 14 people died as a result of the hunger strike and 171 others as a result of torture to which they had been subjected. Another 144 died in suspicious circumstances, 50 were sentenced to hanging and executed. Amongst the last was Erdal Eren, aged only 17, whose age was deliberately increased. To justify this problematic decision, Kenan Evren had declared “Do you want to hang them or feed them? (…)”

The coup d’état restored the prestige of the one party state in Turkey … it straightjacket pluralism, democracy and individual rights. Thanks to the European Union, we see, today the extent of this straightjacket.

The Secretariat of the National Security Council (MGK) recommended that the State conduct a psychological operation against its own people … And this circular has remained in force for 20 years … despite the many governments that have followed one another and all our society…

During his speech for the Law Courts new term, the President of the Court of Appeals, Eraslan Ozkaya, made this observation regarding the 1982 Constitution, the product of that coup d’état “The 1982 Constitution has been the object of a number of positive alterations, to date over 30 articles of its Preamble have been revised. However, these changes remain not only insufficient but have also raised incompatibilities with the remaining Articles. It is for this reason that Turkey’s constitutional problems remain. Conceived by an authoritarian conception of the State, this Constitution can only be amended to a limited extent. That is why this 1982 Constitution, which is the source of so many problems, should be completely revised”.

One of the Institutions of this 1982 Constitution, “conceived by an authoritarian conception of the State” to quote President of the Court of Appeals, Ozkaya, is the controversial Council of Higher Education (YOK).

A few days before the 20th anniversary of the 12 September coup d’état, we were informed that the Army Commander in Chief, Aytaç Yalman, had invited the President of YOK and some other rectors to discuss the outlines of a projected Bill regarding the YOK. The Army Commander in Chief, after having made the point that he was going to bring the matter before the National Security Council (MGK) suggested that the rectors “give importance at the opening ceremonies” and “send out messages”.

In yesterdays papers there were thus details of this meeting …  and they wrote how much the parties concerned had been in agreement…

In 2003, only the YOK finds nothing strange about the fact that the Army Commander in Chief should intervenes in discussions on the new organisation of the Higher Educational Council.
…
In the countries that are members of the European Union, could one imagine the interference of the Army Commander in Chief in academic discussions between the government and the Universities? Is this in accordance with universals laws, with freedom of thought or of academic freedom?

When the question is raised, the Universities keep silent
…
If we are going to remain in such a situation, I suggest we simply bind the YOK to the Army.  At least then things would be clearer…”