Turkish paper investigated over reb

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Turkish paper investigated over rebel Kurd quotes

Turkish paper investigated over rebel Kurd quotes

    ANKARA, Sept 26 (Reuter) - An Istanbul court has begun an
investigation of a Turkish newspaper for publishing quotes by a
Kurdish rebel leader, its editor said on Tuesday.
    ``An investigation was begun in Istanbul's state security
court about our story yesterday -- which had Abdullah Ocalan's
words published in quotation marks -- against me, the owner of
the newspaper and the author of the story,'' the editor of the
daily Yeni Yuzyil, Ismet Berkan, told Reuters.
    The story included quotations from a letter to a Kurdish
meeting in Oslo by Ocalan, leader of the guerrilla Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) which is fighting for autonomy or
independence in southeastern Turkey.
    Berkan said he had heard of the investigation from the
state-controlled Anatolian news agency.
    ``There are seven or eight prosecutors in the state security
court, each one has two or three dailies to inspect. After we
heard the news from Anatolian, we called the prosecutor who is
responsible from our daily, and he confirmed the
investigation,'' Berkan said.
    He said he also faced trial under Article 8 of Turkey's
anti-terror law over a case opened early this year concerning
publication in his newspaper of a speech by Kemal Burkay, head
of a non-violent Kurdish separatist group based in Europe.
    The first hearing at the state security court, which deals
with serious crimes, is due on December 11, he said.
    Turkey's European allies have demanded the scrapping of
Article 8, under which scores of people have been jailed for
writings and speeches on the Kurdish conflict, in exchange for
customs union between Ankara and the European Union.
    The European Parliament is expected to vote on the customs
pact in December.

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service