AI: Turkey bulletin

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl
Subject: Re: AI: Turkey bulletin
Reply-To: kurdeng at aps.nl

---------- Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <RMITCHEL at ai-uk.gn.apc.org> -----------

+------------------------------------------------------+

+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +

+     Electronic distribution authorised               +

+     This bulletin expires: 2 August 1995.            +

+------------------------------------------------------+



EXTERNAL (for general distribution)     AI Index: EUR 44/69/95

                                        Distr: UA/SC       

                                        16 June 1995



EXTRA 72/95 Fear of torture / Possible prisoners of conscience



TURKEY            Huseyin Umut, lawyer, secretary of Hakkari branch of 
the

                          Turkish Human Rights Association

                                Sukru Calli, former mayor of Hakkari



In the afternoon of 15 June 1995, lawyer and human rights

activist Huseyin Umut was detained in a caf in the centre of

Hakkari in southeast Turkey. Later that day, in an apparently

related operation, the former mayor of Hakkari Sukru Calli was

also taken into detention.  At 6.00pm the files of the Hakkari

branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association (HRA) were removed

from Huseyin Umut's office by uniformed and plainclothes police. 



The Chief Prosecutor for Hakkari have confirmed that the two men

are in detention, but have not disclosed any allegations against

them.



Hakkari is one of the ten provinces in the southeast under

emergency legislation.  Under the Turkish Criminal Procedure

Code, detainees in this area may be held incommunicado for up to

30 days without access in person or by telephone to their lawyer,

family, or a doctor of their choice.  



Amnesty International believes that Huseyin Umut and Sukru Calli

may be prisoners of conscience, and fears that they may be at

risk of ill- treatment or torture.



BACKGROUND INFORMATION



The HRA continues its monitoring of human rights violations in

the face of considerable pressure from the authorities. 

Officials of the organization report police harassment and

threats. Board members of Diyarbakir HRA branch were detained in

December and committed to prison (see UA 450/94, EUR 44/157/94,

22 December 1994, and follow-ups).  The charges against them of

membership of an illegal armed organization were based on

statements which witnesses later retracted as having been

extracted under torture.  Two other board members taken into

custody in February reported being tortured.  The lawyer Sinan

Tanrikulu said that he was sprayed with high pressure cold water

and that his testicles were squeezed.  He was threatened with

further torture, such as hanging by the arms and electric shocks

if he did not sign incriminating statements. All members of

Diyarbakir HRA board were later released, but their trials

continue. 



On 1 June the lawyer Eren Keskin started a two-year prison

sentence for an article she had written calling for a cease-fire

in the conflict between security forces and armed members of the

Kurdish Workers' Party in southeast Turkey which has claimed

16,000 lives since 1984 (See UA 81/95, EUR 44/44/95, 28 March and

follow-ups).  On 15 May Atilay AyCin, president of the Turkish

airport workers' union Hava-Is, began a 16-month prison sentence

for a speech he made on 8 September 1991 at a meeting organized

by Istanbul HRA on "Fundamental Rights and Freedoms" at the

Abide-i Hurriyet [Freedom Memorial] Square in Istanbul.



+-----------------------------------------------------------+

+ Supporters of Amnesty International around the world are  +

+ writing urgent appeals in response to the concerns        +

+ described above. If you would like to join with them in   +

+ this action or have any queries about the Urgent Action   +

+ network or Amnesty International in general, please       +

+ contact one of the following:                             +

+                                                           +

+      Ray Mitchell, rmitchellai at gn.apc.org (UK)            +

+      Scott Harrison, sharrison at igc.apc.org (USA)          +

+      Guido Gabriel, ggabriel at amnesty.cl.sub.de (Germany)  +

+      Marilyn McKim, aito at web.apc.org (Canada)             +

+-----------------------------------------------------------+



----------------------------- End forwarded message --------------------------