Subject: Appeal!!!
From: Internationale Initiative (info@freedom-for-ocalan.com)
Date: Tue Oct 31 2000 - 06:39:36 CST
APPEAL
Asylum for Riza Altun!
Riza ALTUN, who is 44 years old, has spent 13 years of his life in prison,
from 1979 to 1992, for asserting the existence of the Kurdish people.
He is known and respected for waging a non-violent struggle against the
torture and terrible conditions in Turkish prisons while he was in jail.
He has seen several dozen inmates, who were engaged with him in that same
struggle, die. All the people who were close to him, relatives, lawyers,
have been driven into exile because of his commitment. They all have
obtained asylum in various European countries.
Riza Altun was sentenced to death in 1984, acquitted and released in 1992.
He then fled Turkey into exile to escape the extrajudicial executions that
were so common there at the time. He was sentenced to death once more in
1993 by a military State Security Court in Turkey.
During his exile he devoted himself to promoting a process of change in the
strategy of the PKK in favour of a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish
question. For several years he was in charge of the Turkish Kurdish refugee
camps in Iraq. He was obliged to leave that region after an attempt on his
life.
Immediately upon his arrival in Europe last June, he sought asylum in
France. Very soon, in early July, the French administration declared that
the 1951 Geneva Convention for refugees did not apply to his case. France
accuses him of certain common law crimes, "indirectly" via his authority
within the PKK.
This unfounded accusation contrasts starkly with the sufferings he was
subjected to in the Turkish jails, with the part he is recognized to have
played in the release of captured Turkish soldiers in 1996, with his
humanitarian commitment to his people in exile, and above all with his
unfailing efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish question.
Nevertheless, the French administration tried to have him expelled during
July. Riza Altun is now appealing to the French courts to have his status
as a refugee recognized.
We the undersigned demand that Riza ALTUN, who has worked so hard for
peace, to be received with dignity in France. To us, the recognition of his
right to asylum in France would be a sign of hope that we may see a
prospect of an end to the suffering of the Kurdish people.
Name Profession Address Signature
Send in signatures as soon as possible to:
Asile pour ALTUN c/o CIMADE - BP 126
34003 Montpellier Cedex
France
Tel.: +33 4 67 06 90 36 Fax: +33 4 67 06 91 97 Email: Ir@cimade.org
Financial support: CCP Cimade 779 57 G Montpellier
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