Swiss held, freed for rebel Kur

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

Subject: Re: Swiss held, freed for rebel Kurd ties in Turkey

     id VT17996; Sat, 16 Sep 1995 22:42:51 -0800

-------------- Forwarded from : nytmx at mit.xs4all.nl (NY Transfer) --------------


Swiss held, freed for rebel Kurd ties in Turkey

    ANKARA, Sept 12 (Reuter) - A Turkish court is investigating
two Swiss citizens detained near Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey
for possession of materials linked to the rebel Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), officials said on Tuesday.
    ``They were released from detention last night, but we are
still evaluating whether they should be tried,'' a court
official in Igdir, in eastern Kars province, told Reuters by
telephone.
    Security officials in Igdir said the pair, a Swiss man and a
Swiss-Italian woman, were detained in the area last Tuesday for
possessing ``banned'' documents relating to the PKK.
    ``They have been here before. Some suspicious documents were
found on them,'' a paramilitary gendarme official said.
    The Swiss embassy in Ankara named the pair as Swiss national
Giuseppe Rezzonico and Karin Presti, a dual Swiss-Italian
citizen.
    An embassy official said they were about to leave Turkey
from the nearest port and as far as the embassy was concerned
the whole thing was over for now.
    Rezzonico, a Jehovah's Witness, was kidnapped in the same
area by the PKK in August 1993 with another Swiss and two
Italians. Embassy officials said at the time they were seeking
the remains of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat.
    Rezzonico is believed to have been to Turkey several times
before on a similar mission, but the embassy could not say if
the Ark was his aim this time round.
    Turkish television said last night they were detained after
they were found trying to film military zones on Mount Ararat.
    It said security forces had seized a computer, discs, video
tapes of the military zones and PKK publications. They were also
found to be carrying photographs taken of them together with
high-ranking PKK officials on Mount Ararat last year, it said.
Reut03:49 09-12-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service