Turks Attack Kurdish Prisoners; Mor

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Turks Attack Kurdish Prisoners; More Than A Dozen Are Killed!

American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) Press Release #15

Turks Attack Kurdish Prisoners; More Than A Dozen Are Killed!

     A statement issued, today, by the President of Human Rights
Association of Diyarbakir, Mahmut Sakar, notes that ominous
developments are taking place in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish
city in the Turkish-controlled Kurdistan. "13 Kurdish prisoners
have died as a result of attacks by the Turkish security forces
in the city's prison." A Reuter report filed from Diyarbakir,
today, notes that a hospital official confirmed the death of
eleven individuals. Many of the dead had suffered injuries to
their heads.
     The statement of the Human Rights of Association of
Diyarbakir notes that eight of the killed were identified as:
"Edip Donekci, Nihat Cakmak, Ekrem Perisan, Ridvan Bulut, Hakki
Tekin, Ahmet Celik, Mehmet S. Gumus, and Cemal Cam."
     Listed in critical condition were twelve other prisoners who
were taken to the hospital for treatments: "Ramazan Nazber,
Mehmet Aslan, Yasin Alevcan, Ramazan Korkar, Mehmet Batuge,
Mehmet E. Izra, Iskan Osal, Kenan Acar, Abdullah Eflatun Hakki
Bozkus, Bedri Bozkus and Emin Mizrak."
     The statement goes on to add that in the last ten days, the
dead (and often mutilated) bodies of "... nine (9) people have
been found in the city streets. These individuals were reported
missing to our office. The invariable story of their loved ones
was that the plain-clothed Turkish police officers came to the
house, arrested these individuals and later claimed that they
knew nothing of them."
     The official Ankara has made some "contradictory" remarks
about the origins of the Diyarbakir prison carnage says, Mr.
Sakar. "One version of the events is that some Kurdish prisoners
were harassing a group of inmates who were informers. The prison
officials in Diyarbakir, says the official statement, asked the
Justice Department for the transfer of these individuals.
Apparently, as this transfer was taking place, this deadly
altercation took place."
     "The missing link in this argument is that the transfers are
not automatically granted. In the past, these same requests were
often denied because of lack of funds. One can not help but ask
the question why this request was accepted so quickly and why so
much force was used to put down the altercation."
     "We feel that this is nothing but part of a larger policy to
instill fear in the population. We call on the friends of the
human family to condemn this brutality and send observers to the
region to investigate this deadly attack on the defenseless
prisoners."
     These mass killings illustrate the deterioration of the
human rights situation in Turkey. This was also noted, on
September 19, 1996, by the European Parliament's decision to
block "hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to Ankara for
reneging on promises to improve its human rights record." We ask
that you join the European parliamentarians by condemning this
particular act of brutality and the overall Turkish aggression
toward the Kurds.

September 25, 1996

----
American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~akin
----

The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public
service to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship.

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Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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