From: sehari@iastate.edu (Babak Sehari)
Subject: WALLS OF GLASS MUFFLE SCREAMS OF KURDS IN TURKEY
Originator: sehari@class1.iastate.edu
Organization: Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 23:05:05 GMT

WALLS OF GLASS MUFFLE SCREAMS OF KURDS IN TURKEY

LONDON, (NOV. 13) IPS - Ramzan Sat, a Turkish Kurd, was interrogated for 12
days in a Turkish police station, charged with harbouring members of the
separatist Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). 

"Next time we will not take you from your house. We shall kill you in the
street when nobody is watching," the police allegedly told him. Three months
later, Sat was attacked by an unknown gang in the south east Turkish town of
Batman, dying later in hospital. 

Such killings, following close on the heels of police threats, are now common
in southeast Turkey, where Turkish authorities are battling the rebel PKK, says
a report published today by the human rights watchdog, Amnesty International. 

Despite repeated assurances by the Turkish government that it will end the
cycle of human rights abuses, the political killings are on the increase and
torture is normal in many police stations. 

"There has been too much talk and too little action on the part of the Turkish
authorities," says Amnesty. "The new government made serious promises on the
issue of human rights, and in particular torture, but like previous governments
it has done nothing to stop the practice." 

Turkey is home to an estimated 11 million Kurds, about 20 percent of the
population, and subject to many cultural controls. Though speaking Kurdish in
the home was decriminalised in 1990, it remains illegal to publish, teach or
broadcast in Kurdish. 

Since the rise of the PKK in 1984, which is seeking independence for Turkey's
Kurdish minorities, the Turkish authorities have become deeply embroiled in a
campaign of repression which has led to human rights abuses. 

But last year, a coalition government headed by Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel
took power and in a flourish of speeches pledged to straighten out Turkey's
human rights record. 

"Torture is a crime against humanity... It is our duty to prevent this," he
said. "The walls of all police stations will be made of glass." Accordingly in
April thousands of political prisoners were released. Many had been imprisoned
in 1991 in proceedings that did not meet internationally recognised standards
for a fair trial. 

According to Amnesty, statements used as evidence were extracted under torture
in police custody. Detainees talked of the brutality of police torture methods
that included electric shocks, squeezing the testicles, falaka (beating on the
soles of the feet) and being suspended by the arms or wrists tied behind the
back. 

But none of the draft legislation for safe-guarding against torture has become
law. Political detainees are still being detained incommunicado in police
custody for up to 15 days, and up to 30 days in the Kurdish areas under a state
of emergency. 

"In deflecting international criticism over torture in Turkey, successive
Turkish governments have been profuse in their public statements and gestures,
" says the report. 

But, it adds, "initiatives are apparently designed mainly for their public
relations value, such as the establishment of a parliamentary Human Rights
Commission and a Ministry of Human Rights." 

Turkey's human rights violations have taken place within the climate of
political violence, where the PKK have themselves been responsible for similar
abuses, including the "execution" of prisoners and the killing of unarmed
civilians. 

But, says Amnesty, state sanctioned terrorism is not justified in terms of
tit-for-tat retaliation, and the Turkish authorities are going far beyond the
violence of rebel factions. 

The report says security forces appear to operate with almost complete impunity
in southeast Turkey. During 1992, at least 100 armed civilians have been killed
by armed forces firing on peaceful demonstrations or randomly firing on
residential areas in retaliation for PKK attacks. 

In the last year, the pattern of killings has evolved into a series of
"mysterious murders," in which more than 100 Kurdish journalists and local
politicians have been shot dead. 

The killings have frequently been attributed to a local organisation known as
'Hizbullah'. But many of the victims have previously been threatened, detained
or tortured by the police and, says Amnesty, evidence points to security forces
colluding in such killings and maybe even instigating them. 

Despite repeated appeals by Amnesty, the Turkish government has failed to
initiate any form of public enquiry into the killings. 

"It is time for the Turkish government to face up to its responsibilities under
international law and bring perpetrators of human rights violations to
justice," says Amnesty. "Too many people have suffered already -- the
government must act now to stop many more people becoming victims of gross
violations in Turkey." 



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