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Rights Groups: Abuses on the Rise in
Turkey's Kurdish Regions
21.4.2006
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Batman,
Kurdistan-Turkey, -- Turkey has in recent years
adopted a series of democratic reforms in an effort
to meet European Union standards for membership. But
human rights groups say they are seeing increasing
human rights abuses in the predominantly Kurdish
southeast of the country that could undermine
Turkey's membership negotiations. The concerns arise
from increasing violence between security forces and
rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK.
Reyhan Yalcindag is the deputy chairman of Turkey's
Human Rights Association. A long-time government
critic, she acknowledges that recent reforms
introduced by the ruling Justice and Development
Party have bolstered Turkey's shaky democracy.
"As human rights defenders, we gave very big
importance to the last legal amendments, for
example, abolishing the death penalty, lifting the
state of emergency situation, etc., to decrease the
period of detention, these were all very positive
steps," she said.
Such changes helped Turkey persuade the European
Union last October to launch negotiations that
Turkey hopes will lead to its membership in the
25-member bloc in the next 10-to-15 years.
But, as clashes between Turkish security forces and
rebels of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party
spread across the impoverished southeast region,
human rights defenders say the kinds of abuses that
were long cited by the EU for rebuffing Turkey's bid
for membership are once again on the rise.
The violence resumed when the PKK, citing the
government's refusal to negotiate a lasting peace,
ended a five-year truce in June 2004. Scores of
rebels and Turkish soldiers have died in the
fighting.
Yalcindag cites violent demonstrations that erupted
in the region's largest city, Diyarbakir, and
neighboring Batman last month during the funerals of
four PKK fighters. Though the government has never
issued a statement on how many people died in the
violence, human rights monitors say at least 13
civilians, four of them children, died in clashes
with police.
"You have to respect the right to life of the
demonstrators, I mean," she added. "The result must
not be 10 people killed in Diyarbakir, or one child
killed in Batman. Two persons were killed in
Kiziltepe [Mardin province]. Hundreds of people were
wounded or transferred to prisons and tortured. We
do have medical reports."
The London-based rights group, Amnesty
International, has joined calls for the Turkish
government to investigate allegations of abuse
during the protest rallies. In a statement, the
organization said, "in light of the reported decline
in the use of torture in recent years" Amnesty
International was "particularly disturbed at
allegations of torture, or ill treatment of
detainees, including beatings, death threats and
being stripped naked and sprayed with cold water."
Abdullah Gul is Turkey's foreign minister and a
leading proponent of Turkey's membership in the EU.
In a recent interview, Gul told VOA that there was
no question of his government slowing the pace of
reforms. Gul says the PKK is seeking to provoke his
government into conflict, in order to derail the
reform process, because, he says, the reforms have
weakened the PKK's appeal among the Kurds.
"We believe democracy will isolate the terrorists,"
he said. "So, that is the best way to fight
terrorists. Of course, we will take more efficient
and effective measures to fight terrorism, but, we
will keep this line very consciously."
Proposed measures to deal more effectively with the
PKK, which is on the U.S. State Department's list of
terrorist organizations, include stiffening Turkey's
controversial anti-terror law.
Under the proposed amendments, carrying pro-PKK
banners would be deemed a crime punishable by up to
15 years in prison. Spreading PKK propaganda would
carry a maximum penalty of five years.
Huseyin Kalkan is the mayor of Batman, and belongs
to Turkey's largest pro-Kurdish party, the
Democratic Society Party, which controls the
majority of municipalities in the Kurdish region.
Kalkan says there is growing concern that Turkey is
slipping back into what he calls "the scary days."
Kalkan says he and scores of his fellow party
members are already facing a slew of court cases
under existing laws. Prosecutors are seeking a
10-year sentence for Kalkan on charges of aiding a
terrorist organization. He says his alleged offense
was calling on PKK demonstrators in Batman to
disperse peacefully after exercising their
democratic right to protest.
Kalkan cautions that such legal crackdowns may help
the PKK find new recruits.
Kalkan concludes that, in the absence of a full
democracy, some young Kurds may once again turn to
the mountains, where the rebels are based, in the
hope of finding a solution to their problems.
VOA News.com
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