Rights Group Condemns Kurd Rebel Su

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Rights Group Condemns Kurd Rebel Suicide Bombings

Rights Group Condemns Kurd Rebel Suicide Bombings

ANKARA, Nov 21 (Reuter) - U.S.-based rights monitor Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki on Thursday condemned a wave of
suicide bombings by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
guerrillas in Turkey.

The human rights group also expressed concern at the
ongoing trial of 41 members of the People's Democracy
Party (HADEP), the only legal Kurdish political party in
Turkey, on charges of links to the PKK.

Three female rebels in civilian clothes have killed
themselves and around 20 people in separate human bomb
attacks since July.

``The feigning of civilian or non-combatant status to
attack an enemy is a serious violation of customary law,''
the rights group said in a statement.

Ten soldiers were killed in the first bombing in eastern
Turkey on July 1. The suicide bombers struck twice in
October, killing mostly policemen.

PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan had earlier warned of such
attacks. The rights group said it was concerned that
statements this month by Ocalan on Kurdish Med-TV might
imply more suicide attacks were planned.

``We call on General Secretary Ocalan, who in December
1994 announced that the PKK would abide by the Geneva
Conventions, to renounce such tactics as suicide
bombings,'' it said.

The suicide bombings marked a move away from classic
guerrilla warfare tactics used by the PKK during its
12-year-old campaign for self rule in southeast Turkey.
More than 21,000 people have died in the conflict.

The rights group also expressed concern about the trial of
the HADEP members.

``Primary among these concerns are that individuals not be
punished for exercising their right to free expression,
and that testimony presented be given voluntarily, not
under coercion through maltreatment or torture,'' the
group said.

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