Turkey: Court arrests HADEP executives

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17 February,1998
                    Court arrests HADEP executives

  _________________________________________________________________
  
Ankara - Turkish Daily News

People's Democracy Party (HADEP) Chairman Murat Bozlak and six other
party executives were arrested by the Ankara State Security (DGM)
Court on Monday.

Bozlak and party administrators were earlier taken under custody
following a police raid on the HADEP headquarters. The HADEP
executives will reportedly be tried on charges of violating Paragraph
1, Article 168 of the Turkish Criminal Code. This calls for a prison
term of up to 15 years for those who are convicted of establishing
armed gangs against the security of the state.

The police raided the HADEP headquarters on Feb. 10 with a court order
on the grounds that the 1998 calendar printed by HADEP was spreading
separatist propaganda. The police seized the calendar and the
documents at the headquarters. On Feb. 12, a second police raid was
carried out on the HADEP headquarters, again with a court order,
following a decision by the Office of the DGM Prosecutor in Ankara
that the calendar and the documents contained elements of separatist
propaganda.

Also on Monday, the Ankara DGM obtained the testimonies of 14
intellectuals, comprising of writers and unionists. The 14
intellectuals, who claim to represent criminals of thought, compiled
the speeches of lawyer Esber Yagmurdereli and unionist Mehmet Konuk in
a brochure and published it under the title, "Freedom to Thought" on
Feb. 12 in a bid to support Yagmurdereli and Konuk. They later applied
to the Office of Ankara's DGM Prosecutor and asked to be tried,
maintaining that they had committed the same crime as Yagmurdereli and
Konuk. The prosecutor launched an investigation against these 14
intellectuals. They were summoned to testify at the office of the
prosecutor on Monday.


-- 
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