From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: TURKEY: Censorship by bullets
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 08:15:48 GMT

/** media.issues: 227.0 **/
** Topic: IPS:Turkey: Censorship **
** Written  9:44 am  Oct  4, 1992 by hrcoord in cdp:media.issues **
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: IPS:Turkey: Censorship

/* Written 12:10 am  Oct  4, 1992 by newsdesk in
cdp:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: TURKEY: Censorship by bullets infuriates opposition media

an inter press service feature

by nadire mater

istanbul, oct 01 (ips) -- a call by turkish government leaders and
military men for a ''total war'' against the separatist guerrillas
of the kurdistan workers party (pkk) is also resulting in a new
offensive against opposition media in turkey.

the government and the army are responding to media criticism for
its conduct in the kurdish areas of south-east turkey by taking
steps to bring the press into line and get their backing for a
''propaganda war'' against the pkk.

where this fails they are resorting to banning orders and
arresting journalists reporting for opposition papers.

the developments followed a thinly veiled warning in a friday
communique from the turkish national security council (mgk)
against ''mass organisations and the mass media'' said to be
allegedly conducting ''activities damaging the integrity of the
country and the unity of the state''.

yahya kocoglu, a reporter for the anka press agency interpreted
the declaration as ''censorship by bullets''. he said the mgk was
trying to generate an atmosphere of fear. yurdagul erkoca, of the
daily 'cumhuriyet' described it as ''a threat aimed at cowing
large sections of the public''.

the call -- implying further restrictions on turkey's ailing
democracy -- was triggered in part by the bloodiest clash yet in
the eight year conflict between ankara and the kurdish
guerrillas.

the government says 174 pkk guerrillas and 29 security troops were
killed in a two day battle outside the town of semdinli in
hakkari, south-east turkey. the pkk's official organ 'berdxewan'
says that 190 security personnel and six guerrillas died.

as the attack began turkish chief of staff general dogan gures and
the editors-in-chief of the country's top newspapers were visiting
the area with the aim of ''displaying the determination of the
armed forces to quell the separatist violence.''

the same weekend the banning of four opposition publications --
the left-wing 'gercek' and the pro-kurdish 'yeni ulke' along with
the left wing monthlies 'mucadele' and 'emegin bayragi' -- further
underlined mgk determination to fight the pkk ''on all fronts''.

the mgk is a constitutional consultative body for security affairs
comprised of the chief of staff, commanders of the navy, army, air
forces and the para-military gendarmerie, the mgk's military
general-secretary, president turgut ozal, demirel and his senior
cabinet ministers  (more/ips)

turkey: censorship by bullets infuriates opposition media(2)

turkey: censorship by bullets (2)

''the government and the parliament has submitted before the
mgk,'' said law lecturer attila nalbant, from marmara university.
''the mgk in fact, has full constitutional right to advise the
government in terms of nationwide security issues.

''however this abstract right in the constitution is balanced by
the authority of the government and the parliament. but neither
the government nor the parliament show willingness to challenge
the extraordinary power invested in the military,'' he said.

the mgk warning was also directed against the people's labour
party (hep). ten top hep leaders, including former chair feridun
yazar, were detained and charged with allowing pro-pkk
demonstrations during the recent hep national congrees.

not all the media were willing to take the state line like
ertugrul ozkok, of turkey's second largest daily 'hurriyet', who
called for a ''massive psychological war against the pkk''.

yazgulu aldogan of 'yeni gunaydin' criticised the publishers' tour
of the conflict zone under the wing of the military. ''the
publishers were brought there with the aim of controlling the rank
and file journalists from above -- just as it was during military
rule. this is nothing but restructuring the press on  hierarchical
military model,'' she wrote.

journalists' associations were cautious. orhan erinc, president of
the turkish journalists union, told ips that ''we need to wait for
the government's reaction (to the mgk communique) to see if
anything new is about to take place''.

over 150 articles within the country's penal and media laws grant
the authorities power to ban publications and detain journalists
-- even to confiscate printing presses.

celal toprak of the contemporary journalists association said that
the mgk communique would seem to demand even more draconian
authority. ''even so, should new legal arrangements be called for
the parliament and not the mgk should be the source of them.''

merdan yanardag of the daily strongly anti-government 'gundem' --
who have lost four reporters and a leading columnist to
unidentified assassins -- saw the communique ''as the termination
of the democratisation process'' as pledged by the protocol
establishing demirel's coalition government in november 1991.

''now the initiative is no longer with the government but in the
mgk,'' concludes yanardag.

sukru gulmus, editor in chief of the weekly 'yeni ulke' was
defiant: ''the mgk communique is a blow at the struggle for
democracy being waged in turkey,'' he said. (more/ips)

turkey: censorship by bullets infuriates opposition media(3-e)

turkey: censorship by bullets (3)

''however, we shall go on publishing tomorrow in the consistent
fashion as we did yesterday. should they close yeni ulke (the new
country), then we shall bring out the ozgur ulke (the free
country).''

werner van gent of swiss radio and chair of the foreign press
association wryly described the turkish media's acquiescence in
the face of state pressure as the behaviour of ''good schoolboys''
who ''learn very quickly what they are wanted to say''.

seyfi ongider, from the 'ozgur gundem' added that in any case
''only a few papers went beyond the official explanations to
investigate what is really going on in the south-east.''

comparing switzerland, greece and turkey gent said that in all
three the state tries to control or at least manipulate the
press.

''however,'' gent adds ''while in switzerland the press shrugs its
shoulders, in greece they care about the official truth a little
bit. but in turkey the situation is three or four times worse in
terms of independent journalism.'' (end/ips/np/nm/rj/92)
** End of text from cdp:media.issues **

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