دسته: 1999

By Abbas Djavadi – Turkey’s top officials have hinted that the treason trial of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan might be postponed until the country’s new parliament changes legislation governing the state security courts where Ocalan will be tried.

The hints have come from both President Suleyman Demirel and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.

Earlier, the European Union and human rights organizations demanded that Ocalan be given a fair and open trial. The EU is especially objecting to the structure of Turkey’s state security courts, where a military judge chairs the court along with two civilian judges.

In a televised speech, President Demirel said this week that Turkey should consider any criticism directed against the way the Ocalan trial is being conducted, otherwise, Turkey might face difficulties in its bid to enter the EU.

“And a problem the country faces is the [Ocalan] trial. It should be done in a manner that nobody is able to criticize. Nobody can object to the court’s verdict, but if there are any justifiable criticisms, we would not be able to insist on being included in Europe if we dont answer those criticisms.”

After such comments by both president and prime minister, Ocalan’s lawyers requested postponement of the trial, to “clear the way for a fair trial.” Ecevit also indicated that the court might accept the request and the trial might be postponed so that the incoming parliament can change the legislation on the state security courts.

The idea of postponing the trial was sharply opposed by the ultra-right Party of Nationalist Action (MHP), which is due to become the junior partner in a new coalition government with Ecevit’s Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the Liberal Motherland Party of former Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz. Ecevit’s Justice Minister, Selcuk Oeztek, took a step back by saying that the Prime Minister was “misinterpreted.” Oeztek said “the decision to postpone the trial will have to be taken by the state security court itself.

Cevdet Volkan, chief prosecutor of the state security court in Ankara, said that the trial will “certainly” start on May 31, but changes in legislation “might affect the Ocalan case.” An attorney with the Turkish Association of Lawyers here in Istanbul, who asked not to be named, said that he expects the trial to start on Monday and be postponed later until legislation on the state security courts is changed.

Ocalan’s lawyers have protested what they describe as harsh treatment and restrictions on their defense activities. Some of his lawyers claim to have been beaten by police, and threatened in an effort to get them to withdraw from the case. Ahmet Zeki Okcouglu, head of the 104-member team of lawyers that is defending Ocalan, said that he would not attend the trial to protest the lack of fair conditions for the defense work. Niyazi Bulgan, another of Ocalan’s defense attorneys, told RFE/RL that pressure and unfair conditions are mounting.

“Since the beginning of this process we have informed the media very clearly about illegal actions and obstacles to defense activities as well as attacks on us. Since the very beginning we have frequently said that the indicted (Ocalan) and we as his lawyers are missing conditions to prepare for a fair trial, and do the defense work.

In early May, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging Turkey to allow international observers to attend the trial. Turkey in the beginning refused foreign observers at the court as “interference” with its internal affairs. However, Turkish media this week announced that observers from parliaments of EU countries, along with reporters from major Western newspapers, agencies and TV stations, will be allowed to attend the trial.
(First published on RFE/RL website, 31 May 1999)

As the trial of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan enters its third day, the Turkish press and public continues to expect that Ocalan will be found guilty and given the death penalty.

The trial, on the prison island of Imrali, began Monday with a surprise apology from Ocalan. Addressing the court and its gallery filled with relatives of Turkish soldiers killed in the PKK’s 15-year armed struggle in Turkey’s southeast, he expressed regret over their deaths.

He also said he wanted to cooperate with Turkish authorities to disarm the PKK and end the armed struggle. The remarks were carried by Turkey’s semi-official Anatolia news agency.

However, his apology seems to have won him little sympathy in the press or among most citizens of Turkey. The comments were largely interpreted as an empty gesture, and as an attempt by Ocalan to escape the death penalty. Ocalan’s call to disarm the PKK also went largely unnoticed by the media and public.

The reaction of Ugur Dundar, a commentator of the A-TV channel, was typical: “He [Ocalan] is not sincere,” Dundar pronounced. Dundar then went on to say he could still remember how Ocalan’s PKK rebels killed a baby in the southeast just a few years ago.

The reaction in the press to Ocalan’s statements might not be simply an expression of widespread Turkish public attitudes. Any pro-PKK or pro-Kurdish pronouncements in the media are banned. Newspapers or broadcasters carrying anything that could be interpreted as favoring the PKK’s position can be charged with advocating separatism or supporting terrorism.

The one segment of the population that does not share the widespread hostility toward Ocalan is the country’s large minority of ethnic Kurds. Ahmet, a Kurdish waiter in the town of Mudanya where reporters have gathered to cover the trial, says he feels sorry for Ocalan. He says he too would have apologized to “save his skin.”

Prosecutors are basing their case against Ocalan on the claim that he and his PKK are responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since 1984. Prosecutors also say Ocalan tried to establish a separate Kurdish state and used terrorism to achieve that goal.

Ocalan has denied that he advocated separatism and has said he favors a democratic solution within the boundaries of Turkey. But he admits he may have been responsible for some bloodshed in clashes between Turkish forces and the PKK.

The charges against Ocalan carry the death penalty, but Turkey has not executed anyone since the mid-1980s. Death sentences must first be approved by parliament, and the president can grant a reprieve.

While most of the Turkish public seems focused on Ocalan’s role as a terrorist and the pain of relatives of dead soldiers, it has largely ignored the issue of the Kurdish minority in Turkey. Some 10 million to 15 million Kurds live in Turkey, mostly in the country’s southeast. But the Kurdish language is banned in Turkish media and schools.

Foreign governments and observers say they’re hoping Ocalan’s capture will shed light on the plight of the Kurds and force the Turkish government to seek a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem.

In a sign of possible progress, Turkish President Suleyman Demirel today appealed to Kurdish rebels to lay down their arms and surrender to Turkish justice. He made the appeal in the mass circulation daily Sabah.

The PKK has said it may support Ocalan’s call for an end to armed conflict. But the group has not said explicitly if or when it would lay down its arms.

Most analysts, though, are not optimistic that the Kurdish problem will be solved anytime soon. Akin Birdal, the head of the Turkish Association for Human Rights, says a new coalition government, which includes a hardline nationalist party, may make it more difficult to start a dialogue with the Kurds.

“Such a possibility is not visible. On the contrary, it seems this will become even more difficult. This is a human rights and democracy issue. But the program of the new government has no word on this issue. And I don’t know what the future political climate will bring about.”

Professor Hasan Koeni of Ankara University adds that granting any cultural rights to Kurds could lead to further demands that threaten the country’s territorial integrity. He says other countries hold the same view toward their own minorities. “That’s why,” he says, “countries, such as Iran with its large Azeri minority, do not intend to grant minorities language or other cultural rights.”
(First published on RFE/RL website June 9, 1999)

A few days before the treason trial of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan begins on the prison island of Imrali, Turkish media continue to reflect only one side of the story, that of Turkish authorities.

The general public remains basically unaware of the defense or of Ocalan’s or the PKK’s arguments.

Ocalan, for years Turkey’s most-wanted man, was captured in Kenya in February by Turkish commandos. Earlier, he’d been expelled from hiding in Syria and later he attempted to seek asylum in Italy. The dramatic story has dominated Turkish media for months.

Ocalan is charged with ordering the murder of innocent people and attempting to establish a separate Kurdish state. He faces the death penalty if convicted. Turkish law does not ban capital punishment, although there has not been an execution since the mid-1980s.

Ocalan’s lawyers argue that for the past two years the PKK leader has advocated a peaceful solution to solving the Kurdish problem within Turkey’s existing borders. Some 10-15 million Kurds live in the country, mostly in the southeast. Turkey refuses to recognize the Kurds as a minority and the Kurdish language is banned in Turkey’s schools and media.

The lawyers also say Ocalan cannot and should not be tried as a murderer. Though thousands of Turks and Kurds have died in a 14-year conflict between security forces and the PKK, Ocalan’s lawyers say this is war, not murder.

Turkish newspapers and TV channels routinely ignore these arguments and instead refer to the PKK as “a separatist organization” trying to dismember Turkey. Ocalan is frequently labeled Turkey’s “chief terrorist” or even a “baby killer.” Press conferences of Ocalan’s lawyers are not reported and few newspapers dare to publish interviews with them.

At recent court hearings in Ankara, which Ocalan is banned from attending for security reasons, Ocalan’s lawyers have been subject to verbal abuse by family members of police and soldiers allegedly killed by the PKK. Ocalan’s lawyers have also complained about the behavior of Turkish news photographers and television cameramen who crowd around them as if they were Ocalan themselves.

Last week Oral Calislar, editor of the newspaper “Cumhuriyet,” was sentenced to 13 months in prison for running two interviews conducted in 1993 with Ocalan and another Kurdish activist living abroad. Turkeys “state security court” later ruled that the interviews undermined Turkeys territorial integrity.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Calislar said he was only doing his job as a journalist. He says that dealing with the Kurdish problem openly is the only answer. Calislar:

“Turkey faces a Kurdish problem. We have to solve this problem through discussion. We have to inform the citizens about the opinions of the other side too. How do you want to decide, to reach a verdict on individuals and organizations, when you have no contact with them and don’t know what they are saying?”

In the otherwise colorful Turkish media, political and social discussions are usually conducted in a free and even sensational manner. However, in covering sensitive national or security issues, censors and self-censorship appear to rule what gets printed. The conflict with Kurdish rebels is at the top of the “black list.” But Elvan Ozkaya from Turkish NTV television tells RFE/RL that she respects the Turkish public’s outraged reaction to Ocalan. She says the media coverage is not only the result of censorship, but reflects the feelings of the population:

“Since the person is Abdullah Ocalan, who has been wanted for years and [is the cause of death of] many people, we shouldn’t see this only as an issue of hatred. Finally, somebody has been captured. This is a reaction to this situation. Besides a directive from above [government], we have this reaction and I think it is quite normal.”

Last week, Semdin Sakik, a former Ocalan deputy who was captured last year in northern Iraq, was sentenced to death by Turkish courts. Observers are expecting the same verdict for Ocalan. The public seems to be prepared for a death sentence. It might be said though that the media — in harmony with the state and the army — leave no room for any other expectation.
(First published on RFE/RLwebsite May 9, 1999)

“He will be hanged, with or without a trial.” That’s the view of a young lottery vendor on Istanbul’s Taksim square. It’s indicative of public expectations in Turkey as the country prepares for the high-profile trial of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Meanwhile, Turkey’s TV channels regularly show interviews with angry relatives of victims of the war with Kurdish rebels. One handicapped former commando says he wants to see Ocalan suffer, adding “a fast execution” would be too good for him.

While the treason trial against Ocalan is due to open Monday on the prison island of Imrali off Istanbul, almost everybody seems to be sure about the verdict.

After failing to find a refuge, Ocalan was captured last February by Turkish commandos in Kenya and brought to Turkey. As public enemy number one, he is being charged for attempting to split Turkey and establish a separate Kurdish state. He is also being held responsible for the death of thousands of people during the guerilla war he has been leading since 1984. Ankara claims that some 30,000 have been killed in the last 14 years. Most of them are said to be Kurdish rebels.

Speaking to a selected group of the Turkish society’s elite in Istanbul, President Suleyman Demirel said that Turkey would not allow PKK fighters based in northern Iraq to enter into Turkey and kill civilians and government troops. Demirel gave his view of the PKK:

“Is this a liberation movement? It is not possible to conduct a liberation movement through terror. Besides, this is no liberation movement. This is a blunt and open crime.”

The PKK, for its part, claims that the Turkish army has burnt to the ground hundreds of Kurdish villages in the southeast of the country and killed or forcibly deported thousands of Kurds suspected of supporting the PKK. Mehmet Balci of the Amsterdam-based ERGK, the PKK’s political arm, spoke recently with RFE/RL. He said that the conflict with Turkish authorities and troops started 14 years ago because Kurds were forced to take arms to “defend themselves” against Ankaras denial of Kurdish rights.

Balci says: “The PKK and Ocalan are today no more terrorists than [Nelson] Mandela and [Yassir] Arafat were terrorists in the past. How can one talk of murder if there are 30,000 dead? In fact, this is a war. The PKK is not the source, but the result of the war. The Kurdish problem remained unresolved, it was denied and the Kurds were discriminated against. As a result, the awareness of the Kurds developed and they were forced to take arms because all other ways were closed.” Turkey has a large Kurdish minority of some 10-15 million people, but the Kurdish language is banned in Turkey’s schools and media. Turkey considers itself as a strictly unitarian state and refuses minority rights as a potential threat to the countrys territorial integrity.

Since Ocalan’s capture in February, many bombings and other terrorist attacks have taken place in Istanbul and other Turkish cities to protest his trial. Dozens of people have also been killed in recent clashes between PKK rebels and security forces in southeast Turkey. Security forces have been put on high alert and it is feared that next Monday, as the trial opens, terrorist actions will reach a peak.

On Thursday, tabloid newspapers reported on a suspected bomb attack in the small town of Mudanya, the closest port to Imrali island. Participants at the court and reporters have to come first to Mudanya to wait to be brought to Imrali by special police boats, if allowed.

Until now, the number and size of terrorist attacks have been relatively limited. With Ocalan standing trial for treason, Ankara seems confident that it is about to eliminate the PKK as the main threat to its territorial integrity.

Niyazi Bulgan, one of the 104-member group of lawyers to defend Ocalan, tells RFE/RL that the charges are based on article 125 of the Turkish penal code on separatism. But Bulgan says that Ocalan himself has repeatedly advocated a “peaceful solution” of the Kurdish issue within the boundaries of Turkey. Bulgan says: “He (Ocalan) himself will answer accusations about separatism and we will evaluate them separately. It is very clear from our talks [with Ocalan] that he is not in favor of dividing Turkey. He favors a free coexistence in a common motherland. He said that especially since 1993 as the unilateral ceasefire offers were made, he frequently repeated that he does not have any plans to split Turkey.”

Turkey has categorically refused to consider any talks with the PKK, which it considers as a terrorist organization.
(First published on RFE/RL website May 31, 1999)