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Turkish journalists accused of helping
Kurd rebels
3.3.2006
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TUNCELI, Turkey,
March 3 (Reuters) - A Turkish court heard charges on
Friday that nine journalists and human rights
workers, including a reporter for Reuters, had given
help to Kurdish rebel fighters.
But Judge Murat Tekmen said there were faults in the
case and set June 2 for the next hearing, saying
those involved needed more time to prepare their
testimony.
The reporter for Reuters, Turkish national Ferit
Demir, who is based in the eastern town of Tunceli,
and other defendants were detained last August while
observing the handover of a soldier abducted by
Kurdish rebels to a human rights group.
The men were then released pending investigations.
The gendarmerie, a paramilitary force overseeing
security in rural areas, asked state prosecutors to
open a case against the men. If found guilty, the
nine face up to three years in jail.
Defence lawyers said on Friday the charges should be
dropped because the gendarmerie had not provided
evidence to back up their claim that the nine had
spread propaganda on behalf of Kurdish rebels.
They also said the fact that the gendarmerie had
brought the charges amounted to "military pressure"
on the court which they said violated their clients'
right to a fair trial. Journalists have often fallen
foul of Turkish authorities over coverage of the
Kurdish conflict in the impoverished southeast that
has cost some 30,000 lives since 1984.
Demir also works for the private Turkish news
agency, Dogan, and has reported for Reuters from
Tunceli, one of the most volatile regions in eastern
Turkey, for 12 years.
Turkey's government has eased curbs on the media and
on Kurdish language and culture as it seeks European
Union membership, but the security services and
judiciary are seen as conservative forces often
hostile to the human rights reforms.
In its indictment, the Tunceli prosecutor's office
accused the nine journalists and human rights
workers of using the kidnapped soldier, Coskun
Kirandi, to promote the cause of the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK). The nine deny the accusations.
PKK rebels held the soldier captive for nearly four
weeks in a remote region of the southeast before
releasing him.
Turkey blames the PKK, classified by the EU and the
United States as a terrorist organisation, for the
deaths and the economic damage inflicted on the
southeast over two decades.
Violence eased after the 1999 capture of rebel
leader Abdullah Ocalan, but has flared up again
since the PKK ended a unilateral ceasefire in 2004.
Reuters
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