From: hrcoord@igc.apc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: TURKEY: Slaying of journalists may
Date: 21 Jan 93 16:39:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476701005:000:4165
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jan 21 08:39:00 1993


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: TURKEY: Slaying of journalists may 

/* Written 12:16 am  Jan 21, 1993 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1993, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: TURKEY: Slaying of journalists may be reprisals, says group


london, jan 18 (ips/moyiga nduru) -- ''we are deeply concerned
about the recent wave of killing of journalists in turkey,'' a
human rights official has said.

''we are appalled that the killing of the 11 journalists, which
began in jan. 1992, appear to be reprisals for having exercised
their right to freedom of expression and information,'' helen
darbishire of the group 'article 19' told ips.

article 19, which campaigns for freedom of expression worldwide,
has sent a letter to senior ministers in turkey including the
president, turgut ozal, over the issue.

in the letter, made available to ips, the group's director
frances d'sousa regretted that the government ''has failed to
pursue with adequate vigour investigations into these murders and
by the denial -- in some cases -- that those killed were in fact
journalists''.

d'sousa was referring to a statement by prime minister suleyman
demirel in august 1992 in which he remarked that ''those killed
were not real journalists. they were militants in the guise of
journalists. they kill each other''.

responsibility for one of these murders has been claimed by the
kurdish workers party (pkk), which is waging a guerrilla war
against security forces in southeast turkey.

pkk, formed in 1984, is fighting for an independent kurdistan
state for turkey's estimated 20 million kurds.

''of the remaining 10 there are strong suspicions that the state
was involved, and in particular there is clear evidence of state
involvement in the murders of halit gungen and izzet kezer,'' the
letter claimed.

like gungen, kezer, a journalist for the mainstream daily,
'sabah', was reportedly shot and killed by security forces in
cizre on march 1992.

during a state-imposed curfew, kezer and other journalists
emerged from their hotel waving white flags. no shooting was going
on at the time.

then, suddenly, kezer, at the head of the group, reached an
intersection and was shot dead by security forces who fired from
an armoured personnel carrier.

perhaps the most bizarre incident was that of musa anter, 74, a
well-known kurdish writer and journalist, who was shot and killed
in diyarbakir on september 20.(more/ips)

turkey: slaying of journalists may be reprisals, says group(2-e)

anter, who had published four books, was a columnist and
chairperson of the board of the mesopotamian cultural centre in
instanbul.

anter was lured from his hotel on false pretences and shot in the
outskirts of diyarbakir. a relative accompanying him was shot and
wounded at the same time.

to correct the situation, 'article 19' urges the turkish
government to bring to justice those responsible for the 11 deaths
and to prevent further attacks of any kind on media professionals
in turkey.

''failure to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice
not only means that the killers remain free to commit further
murders, but it conveys an ominous signal that the killing of
journalists is acceptable practice,'' said d'sousa.

in december, the group 'helsinki watch', affiliated with the
vienna-based international helsinki federation for human rights,
had also urged the turkish government to take immediate steps to
stop those assailants from ''carrying out censorship by
assassination''.

kurdish opposition groups agree. one of them, yasar ercan of the
london-based kurdish workers association (kwa) said unless the
authorities act ''any journalist who reports on human rights
abuses against the kurdish people will continue to be subjected to
physical harrasment including assassination''.

''in the past, the security forces used to detain and beat up
journalists. but now they just assassinate them,'' darbishire
added. ''this is the situation our journalists have found
themselves in,'' ercan said.(end/ips/hr/mn/mf/93).