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Saturday
Mothers Demand Justice
523 people went missing in Turkey under
detention. The Saturday Mothers, who had their
weekly vigil in front of the Galatasaray High
School for four years want to know what happened
to the missing and demand that those responsible
are tried.
BIA News Center 18/05/2004 |
BİA (Istanbul) - The Saturday mothers/Saturday
People, are asking about their beloved who went
missing under detention, and calling on the
government to take legal action against those
responsible.
"If you want to act in line with rule of law,
you should explain what happened to the hundreds
of people who went missing under detention and
try those responsible," said Hurriyet Sener,
Istanbul chair of the Human Rights Association (IHD),
in his call to the government.
Relatives of those who went missing, including
Hanim Tosun, Emine Ocak and Hasan Karakoc, and
human rights activists, gathered in front of the
Galatasaray High School on Istiklal Street at 1
p.m. on May 17, Day for Struggling against
disappearances. The crowd demanded a world
without disappearances under detention.
Missing Hasan Ocak was found dead The Saturday
Mothers/People used to sit in front of
Galatasaray High School every Saturday at 12 p.m
between 1995 and 1999. They demanded that there
are no more missing people, wanted to know what
happened to those missing, and asked that those
responsible are tried.
During the last seven months of their weekly
vigils in 1998 and 1999, security forces
intimidated and attacked the protestors. They
had to spend at least Saturday nights under
detention. The Saturday protests began when
Emine Ocak's son Hasan Ocak was detained on
March 21, 1995 and was found dead at a cemetery
55 days later. He was killed as a result of
torture.
During those days, Hasan Karakoc's brother
Ridvan Karakoc disappeared and was found dead.
He had been tortured too.
The longest civilian disobedience
Saturday mothers/people had staged what was the
longest civilian disobedience in Turkey and had
made the local and international community aware
of the problem of going missing under detention.
The Saturday protests won awards and musicians
made songs for these protests, which got support
from many other countries. According to the date
from the IHD, as a result of the Saturday
protests, the number of incidents where a
detained person when missing decreased. Such
incidents eventually ended. "If we had not
staged these protests, more people would
probably go missing and get killed," said Hasan
Karakoc.
According to the date provided by Sener, these
are the numbers of those who went missing under
detention:
4 people disappeared under detention in 1991, 8
people in 1992, 36 in 1993, and 229 in 1994.
After May 27, 1995, when the Saturday protests
began, the number of those who went missing
under detention started to decrease. The impact
of "Saturdays"
121 people went missing under detention in 1995,
68 in 1996, 45 in 1997 and 9 in 1998. Only two
detainees went missing in 2001 and one in 2002.
Hanim Tosun's husband Fehmi Tosun was pushed
into a car and kidnapped in front of his house
in Avcilar in October 1995. "Now is the time for
our legal fight," said Hanim Tosun. "Most of us
have won our cases at the European Court of
Human Rights. But we want the government to find
those responsible and hold them accountable in
front the court".
Sener reminded the words of "confessor - Jitem"
Abdulkadir Aygan, which were published by the
daily "Gundem" (Agenda) newspaper.
"Legal circles are still insensitive to the
issue," said Sener. (BA/EA/YE)
sayfa baºına dö
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Teacher Sent on
Exile Because of Kurdish Poem
Teacher Eriman of an elementary school was sent
to a village school after he asked his students
to learn a Kurdish poem for the reading day:"I
am just upset that I was assigned to another
school before being able to give report cards to
my students."
Batman Gazetesi 17/05/2004
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BİA (Batman) - Oktay Eriman, an elementary
school teacher in the Batman Zubeyde Hanim
School, was exiled to a village school when he
had his students learn a Kurdish poem for the
"reading day."
The parents of some students realized their
children were trying to memorize a Kurdish poem
and complained to the school. Teacher Eriman was
then temporarily sent to the elementary school
in the Yemisli village.
Parents gathered in front of the school Some
parents gathered in front of the school to
protest against Eriman's exile and called on the
school to bring the teacher back. Another
teacher was brought to the Zubeyde Hanim
Elementary School in Batman to replace Eriman.
The teacher defended himself
"I had listened to this song in a CD. I liked
it," said Eriman.
"There constantly are Kurdish songs on the
television. I thought it would add color to the
reading day if children read this poem. Then I
decided not to. I am just upset that I was
assigned to another school before being able to
give report cards to my students."
The Kurdish poem, which caused the teacher to be
sent on exile, is about the children of the
world calling for peace and freedom. (EO/BB/EA/YE)
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First Kurdish
Film on Gun TV
"Gun TV" broadcasted a Kurdish film with Turkish
subtitles for the first time. TV's chair Dogan
said they broadcasted the program as an
"individual broadcast," and said RTUK has still
not responded to their request to broadcast a
Kurdish cultural program.
BIA News Center
14/05/2004 Erol ONDEROGLU |
BİA (Diyarbakir) - "Gun TV" (Day TV) in
Diyarbakir broadcasted documentary in the
Kurmanchi dialect of Kurdish for the first time.
The documentary named, "Cek Cek," (handcart) had
Turkish subtitles throughout. The documentary
made as part of Diyarbakir 3rd Culture and Art
Festival. It is about the life of a man.
"Cekcek is an interesting view of Diyarbakir,"
said the television's head Cemal Dogan. "People
carry load in carts. You can see this especially
in the Sur District of Diyarbakir. The
documentary was filmed with a single digital
camera and made in Diyarbakir."
Dogan said the documentary was broadcasted in
line with the Regulation on Broadcasts in
Languages and Dialects other than Turkish, which
went into effect on January 25.
Dogan said they acted in line with article 7,
which states that media institutions which
broadcast Turkish programs may broadcast
individual songs or movies when their daily,
monthly and yearly plans are taken into account.
Dogan said the Kurdish documentary was being
broadcasted in Turkey for the first time. He
said they would continue broadcasting Kurdish
programs.
No reply from RTUK
No national media institution applied to RTUK
after the Regulation on Broadcasts in Languages
and Dialects other than Turkish was put into
effect. "Gun TV" applied to RTUK on March 23 and
asked for permission to broadcast a cultural
program called, "Dergûsa Candî" (Culture Cradle)
twice a week. RTUK has not replied to this
request yet. (EO/BB/EA/YE) |
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