Subject: Flash Bulletin!!!
From: Int. Initiative (info@freedom-for-ocalan.com)
Date: Fri Feb 25 2000 - 19:26:39 CST
26.02.2000
Flash Bulletin
1. "A Confessor Is Not Be Seen As Evidence", HADEP
Diyarnakir Municipal Mayor Feridun Celik arrested due to supposed "confessor".
2. "Demir: We are Being Blockaded to do Politics",
HADEP General President Ahmet Turan Demir,
3. "EU troika takes up HADEP mayoral arrests",
The ambassadors of the European Union (EU) "troika" have expressed to the
Turkish Foreign Ministry their concern over the arrests of the three People's
Democracy Party (HADEP) mayors.
1. - Ozgur Bakis - "A Confessor Is Not Be Seen As Evidence" :
HADEP Municipal Mayor's lawyers objected the decision to arrest. The lawyers stated that confession declerations could not be seen as evidence and that with the doctors report of torture to the Municipal Mayors they demand their release.
"I did not meet Karayilan"
Feridun Celik rejects accusations of meeting with PKK Presidential Council Member Murat Karayilan and alligations of transferring money to the PKK by confessor in the name of A. Kadir Guzel.
Feridun Celik's deposition was prepared in JITEM
with his eyes blind folded and signed it after being tortured. Celik stated
"I have been a lawyer in Diyarbakir for 10 years. I do not know A. Kadir
Guzel. I do not accept the declerations he gave about myself. Also there
was no meeting with me and himself. I do not accept the deposition made
by Ramazan Tekin and Mustafa Guzel while handcuffed.
2. - Ozgur Politika - "Demir: We are Being Blockaded to do Politics" :
HADEP General President Ahmet Turan Demir,
regarded the municipal mayor arrests and the jail sentence of including
himself 18 other party directors, as taking the right to do politics from
them. Demir stated that everyone should have the right to do politics and
that "if the PKK wants to do politics within Turkey's laws, statute and
regulations, this should be heard with gladness".
3. - Kurdish Observer - "EU troika takes up HADEP mayoral arrests"
The ambassadors of the European Union (EU) "troika", consisting of the ambassadors of current EU term president Portugal, upcoming term president France, and the EU Commission, have expressed to the Turkish Foreign Ministry their concern over the arrests of the three People's Democracy Party (HADEP) mayors.
According to information obtained, Portuguese Ambassador Jose Vilela, French Ambassador Jean Claude Cosseran, and EU Commission Representative Ambassador Karen Fogg visited the Foreign Ministry the day before yesterday and engaged in discussion regarding the arrests of the HADEP mayors. It has been learned that the three ambassadors, who spoke with Deputy Undersecretary Uluc Ozulker, responsible for EU affairs, expressed concern over the arrests and requested information about the charges against the three mayors. Meanwhile, EU diplomatic sources have reported that there were discussions in the various EU capitals regarding whether the best approach to show a response to the arrests would be via a "Presidential statement", a "Presidential initiative" or a "troika initiative", and that the decision was made for the approach by the troika.
Polfer: HADEP mayors should be
released
Meanwhile, the formal charging of the three HADEP
mayors the day before yesterday and their being remanded to prison have
given rise to serious concern in Europe. In a statement in Ankara the evening
before last to CNN-Turk, Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Lydie Polfer said that Amed (Diyarbakir)
Mayor Feridun Celik, Siirt Mayor M. Selim Ozalp, and Bingol Mayor Feyzullah
Karaaslan should definitely be released from custody. Stating that a door
of hope had been opened for Turkey at the recent EU Summit in Helsinki,
Polfer said that "Turkey confirmed its adherence to the Copenhagen Criteria
at Helsinki. Naturally, these criteria are not just economic, but even
more importantly include political criteria."
Remarking that it is a routine development for representatives
from Europe to meet with human rights organizations, Polfer said that this
behavior does not constitute a specific policy of the European countries.
Noting that the recent detentions of the HADEP mayors had figured into
her talks in Turkey with civil society organizations and with Foreign Minister
Ismail Cem, Polfer said that "For those of us who understand what it means
to adhere to the political criteria, the detentions of the HADEP mayors
is very difficult to understand." Treating the arrests of the elected mayors
belonging to a legal party as contrary to freedom of expression, she said
that, although she has not had the opportunity to study the entire case,
the most recent developments were nonetheless unacceptable to her. Expressing
the hope that the matter would be resolved as soon as possible, Polfer
said that "I raised this issue in my meeting with Ismail Cem. Such things
simply should not be happening in this period in which we are just beginning
our cooperation. I hope that no more such incidents occur on Turkey's road
to fulfillment of the Copenhagen Criteria."
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