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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Torches and torture
By Sherine BahaaSince Abdullah Ocalan's capture last week, Turkish television has been airing humiliating video footage of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Images released by the Turkish general staff showed him in a hood, being led to a high-security island prison; later footage shows him standing in front of two Turkish flags, handcuffed and blindfolded -- images designed to demoralise Kurdish fighters. Turkey's national Hurriyet newspaper reported that authorities were planning to airdrop thousands of leaflets over Kurdish areas, bearing the picture of Ocalan in front of the flags and calling on rebels to surrender. But, judging by Turkey's systematic mistreatment of PKK activists, few are expected to take up the offer.
The Turkish government is holding Ocalan responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people in a 15-year war waged between the army and the PKK who are fighting for Kurdish autonomy. If found guilty, Ocalan faces the death penalty.
Since his capture, human rights groups have been leading worldwide pressure on Turkey to avoid the torture routinely used by the military. They also took the opportunity to remind the world of Ankara's appalling human rights record and violations committed against its Kurdish minority.
Ankara, however, has insisted that Ocalan's trial will be fair and has told outsiders not to interfere. Human rights groups are concerned about a trial in a state security court that includes military judges, and also about the fact that Ocalan's lawyers have not yet been allowed to see him.
In a statement issued after Ocalan's arrest, the London-based human rights group Amnesty International rejected the possible use of the death penalty by Turkey: "Should Abdullah Ocalan be found guilty of the crimes of which he is accused, Amnesty International would call on the Turkish authorities not to request the imposition of death penalty."
The organisation also teamed up with the New York-based Human Rights Watch to send a letter to the Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit expressing their concern for the fairness of political trials in his country.
The two organisations stated that a fair trial necessitates certain conditions, such as access to a lawyer. Furthermore, The Special Rapporteur on Torture at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Sir Nigel Rodley, asked the Turkish authorities for clarifications on the circumstances surrounding Ocalan's case and sought assurances that his right to physical and mental integrity is protected.
The Turkish daily newspaper, Sabah, reported on Tuesday that prison guards were taking measures to prevent Ocalan from attempting suicide, including restraints on his fingers to prevent him from using them to cut off his blood flow by exerting pressure on his eyes, throat or testicles.
In an attempt to guarantee the rights of the PKK leader, Human Rights Watch issued a statement advocating that Ocalan should be tried in another country. The organisation previously approached Italy in an attempt to secure his trial in the country after Ocalan was apprehended at the airport in Rome last December.
According to Human Rights Watch, the torture of prisoners awaiting trial is widespread in Turkey. "While Turkish government officials have become increasingly willing to acknowledge the problem and promise reforms, there has been little evidence that the practice of torture has substantially abated, and those responsible for torture continue to operate with impunity," said a Watch statement issued hours after Ocalan's capture.
Since 1984, a bitter war has been waged between the Turkish security forces and the PKK, which wants basic rights of the Kurds to be recognised. The conflict has been waged mainly in the rural areas of south-eastern provinces, which have been under martial law or state of emergency rule since the 1970s.
This mountainous terrain is policed by the Turkish military and by gendarmes (soldiers acting as police officers) operating from small posts attached to villages or as larger units in towns and cities. The gendarmerie is supported by village guards -- local auxiliaries armed and paid by the Turkish government. In theory, enrollment in the village guard corps is voluntary, but the authorities view villagers who refuse service as possible PKK sympathisers.
Human Rights Watch's 1998 report on Turkey also highlighted what it described as illegal formations within the state security forces, the rise of political Islam and the armed conflict in the south-east as the main reasons for the continuing deterioration of human rights in Turkey.
"Despite vigorous debates among state officials and in civil society on the 'rule of law' laws continued to be applied arbitrarily," said the 1998 Watch report. National political parties with pro-Islam, pro-Kurdish or leftist tendencies and their local branches were harassed or simply shut down."
According to the report, the on-going confrontation between the government and the PKK has forced the depopulation of thousands of villages and hamlets. Despite government promises to compensate villagers, little effort has been made to facilitate the return of displaced persons to their homes or to compensate them for the destruction and loss of their property.
Nevertheless, "methods beyond the accepted norms were often used to convince villagers that they should not assist the PKK," said one governor in a parliamentary human rights commission hearing. Victims who presented petitions to the parliamentary commission described methods such as forcing villagers to walk on mine fields or torturing members of their families and neighbours as a punishment for those suspected of supporting the PKK. In certain cases, Turkish army troops burned whole Kurdish villages.
Even the right to freedom of expression was ruled out for members of the Kurdish minority, who until recently were not even allowed to refer to themselves as Kurds. Some 300 issues of leftist, pro-Kurdish, and pro-Islamic publications were confiscated and numerous journals were closed down in 1998, according to human rights groups.
The government often invokes the Anti-Terror Law to punish political expression of Kurdish identity. Ulkede Gundem (Agenda in the Land), a newspaper advocating the recognition of Kurdish identity, was fined approximately 40 billion Turkish liras ($12,000) during the year and closed by court order for 312 days.
Another taboo for the Turkish government is the issue of the Kurdish language. According to the report, the Supreme Radio and Television Board (RTUK), formed in 1994 to regulate television and radio, last year closed down several national television channels as well as local ones for a number of reasons, the most prominent of which was the charge that they instigated separatist propaganda and had aired programmes in the Kurdish language.
