3 September 2001

1. "Several detained as Turkish police clash with Kurdish protestors", riot police moved in on Kurdish protestors in Istanbul on Sunday, detaining several of them as they gathered to mourn a supporter of the country's main Kurdish party who died fleeing police, a spokeswoman for the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) said.

2. "Turkey Raids Kurdish Protests", Hundreds Jailed as Police Disrupt Rallies for Minority Rights.

3. "Turkish prison death toll reaches 32", a 42-year-old Turkish woman starved to death on Friday, the 32nd such death in a nationwide leftist protest against prison reforms, a human rights activist said.

4. "U.S. to supply Greece, Turkey with naval missiles", the United States plans to sell naval missiles to Greece and Turkey. The Pentagon has awarded a $212 million contract to Raytheon for the sale of Sea Sparrow missiles to Greece, Turkey and a range of NATO alies. They include Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.

5. "Peace until the end!", tens of thousands of peace lovers gathered everywhere in Kurdistan to celebrate September 1, despite all the assaults and prohibition. Stressing the victory of peace with all their hearts, they shouted out their loyalty to PKK President Abdullah Ocalan.

6. "March until the victory of peace", PKK President Abdullah Ocalan sent a message to the 9th International Peace and Culture Festival held under the motto "Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan" this year. Ocalan sent greetings to the people and their celebration of September 1 World Peace Day and called on them to march until the victory of peace is achieved.


1. - AFP - "Several detained as Turkish police clash with Kurdish protestors":

ANKARA

Riot police moved in on Kurdish protestors in Istanbul on Sunday, detaining several of them as they gathered to mourn a supporter of the country's main Kurdish party who died fleeing police, a spokeswoman for the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) said. The incidents broke out when police told the mourners in front of the HADEP office in Zeytinburnu district, on the city's European side, that they could not hold a ceremony for Zeynel Durmus and asked them to disperse, local media reports said.

Durmus, 19, fell to his death down a ventilation shaft on Friday as he was running away from police on the roof of the party building in Zeytinburnu. When the crowd stood its ground and began chanting slogans in favour of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), police took action. The protestors retaliated by throwing stones and attacking officers with sticks, while police used tear gas and water cannon against the group. The scuffles lasted up to an hour with the protestors fleeing into side streets and police chasing them, the reports said. "We have no definite figure, but most of our supporters were detained," the HADEP spokeswoman said. She added that police had taken into custody the head of HADEP's Zeytinburnu office, Dogan Erbas, who is also a lawyer for Ocalan, and three other party members prior to the mourning ceremony. Following the violence, police launched raids on HADEP offices in Istanbul to carry out a search, the spokeswoman said.

Police also broke up a second demonstration in Silivri district, also in the European quarter, and detained dozens of protestors, the Anatolia news agency reported, without giving further details. In a written statement received here HADEP heavily condemned the clampdown, during which he said "many party supporters were injured". "Our humanitarian duty towards a martyr of peace and democracy has met with inhumane treatment," the statement said. Sunday's clashes came a day after police detained hundreds of people across Turkey in a clampdown on HADEP supporters who gathered to mark world peace day, September 1. Some 200 people were taken in in Istanbul as they clashed with police following their celebrations, while Ankara police detained some 700 people amid strict security measures to prevent unwanted incidents. Meanwhile, Istanbul police announced Sunday that they had detained 21 PKK members who have allegedly killed ten members of the security forces in clashes in the past years and who were preparing to carry out violent attacks in Istanbul.

HADEP often faces a heavy crackdown from Turkish authorities who accuse it of alleged ties to the PKK which has waged a 15-year armed campaign against Ankara for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey. HADEP, which campaigns for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, denies the charges, but nonetheless faces a possible ban for alleged association with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Tension and clashes in Turkey's southeast have scaled down since September 1999, when the PKK abandoned its armed campaign in favor of seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict following peace calls from Ocalan, who is on death
row for treason.


2. - Washington Post - "Turkey Raids Kurdish Protests":

Hundreds Jailed as Police Disrupt Rallies for Minority Rights

ISTANBUL / by Molly Moore

Police arrested an estimated 2,000 Kurdish demonstrators across Turkey today, corralling hundreds of detainees in a soccer stadium in Ankara and using tear gas and riot squads to disband a march by thousands in Istanbul.

The police action was an attempt by authorities to stop gatherings by Turkey's Kurdish minority to bring attention on World Peace Day to their demands for recognition and greater cultural freedoms.

Police and riot squads broke up a rally of about 2,000 demonstrators in central Istanbul, firing tear gas and chasing protesters in what then erupted into a stone-throwing free-for-all. Hundreds of protesters clambered over the remains of the city's ancient stone walls to elude police. Several hundred demonstrators were arrested, according to news reports, although organizers claimed as many as 1,000 people were detained.

In Ankara, the capital, police reportedly arrested at least 700 protesters who had gathered at a city park in violation of a government ban on the demonstration. Police hauled the detainees away in buses to overflowing jail cells, then reportedly herded the remainder of the protesters into a soccer stadium. Police said they later released 565 of the detainees.

Dozens of incidents were reported across impoverished southeastern Turkey, where the country's greatest concentrations of Kurds live and a 16-year conflict with Kurdish separatists has led to the killing or disappearance of 30,000 people. In the city of Diyarbakir, police fired their guns into the air to disband an estimated 3,000 people who were chanting slogans in support of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, whose capture 2 1/2 years ago prompted separatist rebels to give up their armed struggle with the Turkish military.

Although the intensity of the military conflict has declined significantly since then, Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish minority -- about 15 percent of the country's population -- is one of the country's greatest obstacles to membership in the European Union. Human rights organizations report numerous violations against Kurds detained by police, Kurdish writers are routinely jailed and the government prohibits broadcasting in the Kurdish language.

Skirmishes between police and Kurdish sympathizers began late Friday. In Istanbul, a 16-year-old worker for the People's Democracy Party, which campaigns for Kurdish rights, died when he fell five stories down a ventilation shaft while trying to hide from pursuing police, according to a party spokeswoman. He had been among a group of 200 people forcibly stopped from boarding buses to Ankara for the banned rally, the spokeswoman told news agencies.


3. - Reuters - "Turkish prison death toll reaches 32":

ISTANBUL

A 42-year-old Turkish woman starved to death on Friday, the 32nd such death in a nationwide leftist protest against prison reforms, a human rights activist said.

Hulya Simsek, 42, died in Istanbul after fasting for 285 days, an official of the Human Rights Association told Reuters. She did not give any further details.

The hunger strike protests began in prisons late last year in protest at the introduction of new cell-based jails to replace prisons based on large dormitory wards. Many prisoners and their families strongly oppose the new jails, saying inmates there are more vulnerable to official abuse.

The hunger-striking prisoners and relatives take sugar or salted water and vitamins to extend their lifespan and their protests.

Authories say the new jails meet European Union standards and help break the influence of far-leftist groups over prisons. Meeting EU criteria is a must for Turkey if it wants to start membership talks with the union.

But improving its poor human rights record is equally crucial for the country's EU ambitions. The EU has repeatedly urged Ankara to put an end to the prison hunger strikes.

Officials here, however, say they will not negotiate with the protesters as they say the action is directed from outside jail by armed leftist groups.


4. - Middle East Newsline - "U.S. to supply Greece, Turkey with naval missiles":

WASHINGTON

The United States plans to sell naval missiles to Greece and Turkey. The Pentagon has awarded a $212 million contract to Raytheon for the sale of Sea Sparrow missiles to Greece, Turkey and a range of NATO alies. They include Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.

The contract calls for the 255 NATO Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles. Officials said the sale is part of a NATO cooperative development and production program. The project is expected to be completed in 2004. Officials said no competition was held for the missile contract.

The contract includes production support and technical engineering services. Officials said production will be conducted in each of the client countries.

ME DEFENSE: TURKEY

Western and Turkish defense contractors have launched a final effort to stop what could be plans by Ankara to award a tank modernization project to Israel.

The attempt joins U.S. and Turkish companies that want Ankara to award several contractors pieces of the M-60 tank upgrade. The project's first stage is the modernization of 170 tanks, estimated at $300 million.

In other developments, despite a U.S. veto, Turkey continues efforts to lease its American-built F-16 to Hungary.

A Turkish delegation has been in Budapest, where it briefed Hungarian officials on Ankara's lease offer. Hungary's air force seeks 24 F-16s and Turkey and the United States have issued competing offers.


5. - Kurdish Observer - "Peace until the end!":

Tens of thousands of peace lovers gathered everywhere in Kurdistan to celebrate September 1, despite all the assaults and prohibition. Stressing the victory of peace with all their hearts, they shouted out their loyalty to PKK President Abdullah Ocalan.

Peace lovers in Kurdistan, who had been making preparations for September 1 World Peace Day for days, showed their insistence on their demands for peace, despite all obstacles, assaults, prohibitions, and provocations. Slogans of loyalty to PKK President Abdullah Ocalan were shouted at all the activities in Kurdistan, sending the message that they would go to the end for the victory of peace despite everything.

AMED - The HADEP Diyarbakir Provincial Organization was assaulted on Friday, and decided to make a mass statement to the press at Dagkapi on Saturday. But police blocked off everywhere in the early morning, not allowing anyone in the area and detaining over 100 people. Police held the HADEP Provincial Offices and union offices under blockade and began to detain the representatives of nongovernmental organizations. A group of youths in Baglar neighborhood, which was under blockade, held a demonstration and shouted slogans in support of PKK President Abdullah Ocalan. Houses in Amed were raided the night before.

VAN - September 1 celebrations begun in the Xacort, Yenimahalle, and Karsiyaka the night before continued on September 1. A crowd gathered on Surmeli and Bayirli streets in the Xacort neighborhood and started chanting slogans such as "Biji Serok Apo" (Long live President Apo) and "Long live peace." The crowd quickly reached 5,000, and continued with dancing for about two hours. Police teams which arrived on the site sufficed with watching. Crowds gathering in Yenimahalle and Karsiyaka also celebrated September 1 to dancing and slogans. Police began taking intensive precautions early in the morning and surrounded the HADEP Provincial offices in Van. But despite the blockade, Provincial Chairman Mehmet Tekin made a statement to the press in front of the building.

MARDIN - Police obstructed the statement to the press that the HADEP Mardin Provincial organization wanted to made in Republican Square. Upon this, a crowd of about 500 people gathered in front of provincial party offices, shouting "Pressures will not intimidate us," "Peace, now!" and "HADEP is the people, the people are here." A press statement in which members of the Mardin Democracy Platform participated followed.

URFA - A mass statement to the press was organized by Provincial Chairman Musa Farisogullari in front of the HADEP Provincial offices in which he said that they were loyal to the concept of the new period despite all prohibitions and obstacles. Meanwhile, there was also a statement to the press organized by the KESK Urfa Branches Platform in front of the Egitim Sen branch building, following which white carnations were handed out to the people.

SIRNAK - People of Sirnak gathered early in the morning under the organization of Sirnak Provincial Chairman Resul Sadak and other provincial administrators to board busses and set out on the road. But the police took heavy precautions against the peace lovers and after making them wait a long time at Kasrik pass, made them turn back. People coming from the other provinces were also obstructed. After that, a symbolic celebration was held in the district offices in Silopi. Hundreds of people gathered at the Provincial building in Sirnak, where Chairman Sadak spoke to the crowd and said, "There is no solution other than peace."

SIIRT - HADEP members in Siirt were not allowed to go to Ankara, and police obstructed the mass press statement they wanted to hold in Siirt's Republican Square. After that, about 600 people attended a statement to the press made in front of the HADEP Provincial building. Some people were obstructed from joining the crowd in front of the HADEP offices and three people were detained.

BATMAN - Police also intervened in the statement to the press in Batman. Police assaulted the crowd of about 750 people who had gathered in front of the HADEP Central District building to hear a statement to the press by HADEP parliamentary assembly member Eyup Karageci. Police assaulted the crowds with billy clubs, while the people shouted "Biji Asiti" (Long live peace), "Long live President Apo" and other slogans. A great number of people, including Karageci, were injured in the assault and about 20 people including HADEP administrators were detained.

ANTEP - People set out in about 100 large and small vehicles from the Central, Sahinbey, and Sehit Kamil districts, but were stopped at five different points on the road by Gendarmerie, who took down information on their identity cards and videotaped the people. People were made to wait on the busses until as late as 1:00 in the morning and not allowed to get out. The peace lovers were forced to return to Antep in the end. Each vehicle was fined TL 150 million and one person was detained. The HADEP Antep Provincial organization held a press conference in front of party headquarters and denounced the obstructions.

MARAS - A total of nine busses set out on the road from Central Maras, the districts of Pazarcik and Elbistan, and the township of Narli. A bus from Goksun and one from Elbistan were stopped by the Gendarmerie and made to wait for ten hours. Two people, Erol Bek and Iskender Celik, were detained. Celik was released temporarily because of pressure from the people. HADEP members stopped again at the entrance to the Pinarbasi township of Kayseri. After being made to wait for about three hours, their IDs were returned to them and they were allowed to continue to Ankara. But the busses turned back later on the request of HADEP General Headquarters.

ADIYAMAN - About 500 people gathered in Havuzbasi Square across from Town Hall for a joint press conference by the HADEP Provincial organization and the Adiyaman Democracy Platform. People frequently interrupted the press conference to shout slogans of "Biji Asiti," "Long live brotherhood of the people," "The women and children want peace" and other slogans.

BITLIS - Police surrounded the HADEP Provincial building in Bitlis early in the morning. About 250 people gathered for a statement to the press by Provincial Chairman M. Nezir Karabas. Karabas said that firms in Bitlis had been threatened, and criticized that the convoy to Ankara had been obstructed.

ELAZIG - The HADEP Provincial organization held a press conference in front of the party building there. Provincial Secretary M. Ali Ovun read the statement, which said that they supported the unity and democratization of Turkey and invited everyone to act responsibly.

DERSIM - Vehicles that set out for Ankara were stopped at the entrance to Malatya at about 5:00 in the morning. The drivers of the nine busses carrying the people were given heavy fines and they were forced to turn back in the afternoon.

BINGOL - Police assaulted people in Bingol who wanted to go to Ankara. Military forces seized the vehicle registrations and threatened all the bus companies. The people were assaulted and prohibited from entering the bus station and then made to wait for six hours. The HADEP Provincial building was surrounded completely for two days, while a statement to the press condemning the obstructions was read. People shouted slogans and held a short march after the statement to the press.

KARS - Dozens of busses prepared to leave from Kars, and despite all the obstructions, five busses were able to set out for Ankara. The busses were stopped and seized, while the owners were given heavy fines.

AGRI - The people of Agri held a mass statement to the press to denounce the obstruction of about 21 busses and minibuses that had tried to go to Ankara.

HAKKARI - About five busses of people who tried to go to Ankara despite all obstacles were made to wait at the police station. A mass statement to the press was made in front of the HADEP Provincial building and about 20 people were detained.

ERZURUM, ARDAHAN, IGDIR, AND DOGUBEYAZIT - All vehicles from these provinces were obstructed from going to Ankara, and mass statements to the press were made.

Greetings to Ocalan from Urmiye

A crowd of youths gathered the other evening in the East Kurdistan city of Urmiye in Iran and held a demonstration for September 1 and to show their support for the activities continuing in North [Turkish] Kurdistan. Youths met in the Feleke Madir Neighborhood and shouted slogans of loyalty to PKK President Abdullah Ocalan. They also called attention to the case of the PKK President in the European Court of Human Rights. The youths put up a banner reading, "Trying Ocalan is trying the entire Kurdish people." The demonstration ended without incident.


6. - Ozgur Politika - "March until the victory of peace":

PKK President Abdullah Ocalan sent a message to the 9th International Peace and Culture Festival held under the motto "Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan" this year. Ocalan sent greetings to the people and their celebration of September 1 World Peace Day and called on them to march until the victory of peace is achieved.

Ocalan's message read as follows:

I concentrated on what I could give to the people and humanity here for a valuable peace. I searched for reconciliation when I saw a hope as small as the end of a needle. I concentrated intensely on how to end violence. I did this for unity, wholeness, and democracy. I developed by peace defense on Imrali for this. I drew out a path and this path is the path of rightness and brotherhood, the path of legitimate defense. This will lead to freedom. I developed a democratic struggle and policy on the basis of democratic union instead of coarse rebellion and resistance. I lived for this and made this a reason to live.

The clash that is wanted to be created is the bloodiest game of the last 200 years. Not a single honorable Kurd or Turk was going to be left through this game. The target was not just me. The aim was a horrible conflict and deaths following that. We prevented this with a great sense of responsibility here for peace. What was important for me was to obstruct tens of thousands of deaths and commerce based on blood. I am giving my great battle for this. Kurds and Turks live together on this geography. Their relations are on the basis of brotherhood. A Kurdish union, Turkish union in a democratic style will change the fate of the Middle East completely. Our aim is to secure a transition from the culture of people to the culture of brotherhood. Our philosophy is this.

I call for courage for this. Courage is not coarse resistance; this is what the conspirators want. [Saying] "Die, you, die" will gain nothing; there were Kurdish rebellions in the past. Hundreds of thousands died; why they died, how they died is not clear.

A peace march during such a period is important; I send my greetings. But we must not just march and make actions but give a message of peace. Let our march be a milestone in the democratic struggle, a contribution to dialogue. This march must play a role like the great role the '98 and September 2 '99 declarations played. I am calling the sides, the state, and the PKK to come to a more meaningful dialogue on this second anniversary of our peace drive. I am calling our people to be a people to stand up as a great peace force for peace and democracy. Our motto is this: "March until the victory of peace."

Dialogue for peace and full democracy

September 1 is the second anniversary of the peace process. It is necessary to show a correct historical approach to the event of unity, union, secularism and democracy. We must end violence. Dialogue is necessary for full democracy and peace. We are expecting this from the government, the state. The situation of 'neither war nor peace' does not present a permanent and stable situation. Full democracy. New steps must be taken for dialogue. Otherwise, great suffering could occur. Peace and democracy cannot be developed by denying a people's identity and culture. Unrealistic fantasies must be overcome. I am calling the state to the path of humanity, to the path of peace and brotherhood.

Insist to the end on freedom

Insist on your freedom until the end. If steps are not taken for a stronger country, a stronger life, if the hand [extended in] peace stays in the air, develop legitimate defense. It is the drive of peace and democracy. Don't give up. A legitimate right is legal. Millions must participate actively.

You must organize your consciences. Human rights until the end, peace until the end. Organize for this. They might call you traitors, but they are the real traitors. They are the lackeys of foreign powers. Develop nongovernmental organizations. The Kurdish problem and the Turkish problem cannot be solved without creating a civic society. Peace cannot develop either. Organization of civic society is more important than war. If this is developed, murders will be prevented, violence will stop. No one can destroy an organized people. If you are to be believable, if you succeed, if you are believable the state will reconcile with you. We are saying a democratic struggle not because you are powerless but because it is right. Do not be afraid, take courage. Develop democracy in Turkey. Saving democracy is a fundamental duty. Respect the martyrs for peace; they are important values. They are the martyrs for democracy. Turn pains into awareness and strength.

I am putting an unbelievable struggle for peace and liberty

The meaning of both war and peace is liberty, winning liberty in the name of everyone. There is no one who has lived merciless war more than us. We have suffered the heaviest of both war and peace. I am putting an unbelievable struggle for peace and liberty. No matter how much they target me, there is the hope of a people rising up. I will live for this hope. I will concentrate on peace in my life after this too.