February 24, 2000

Turkey Cracks Down on Kurdish Party
Members

By Reuters

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish courts cracked down on
members of the country's main Kurdish party on Thursday, jailing its
leader and charging three mayors who are party members with aiding
separatist guerrillas.

The legal onslaught was likely to stir controversy in Turkey and the
European Union, which Ankara is trying to join.

Lawyer Sinan Tanrikulu said the mayors of Siirt, Bingol and Diyarbakir,
regional capital of the largely Kurdish southeast, had been remanded in
custody by the Diyarbakir State Security Court. They were detained last
weekend.

The mayors, elected in April in polls that saw sweeping gains for their
Kurdish HADEP party, were charged with helping Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) rebels, led by Abdullah Ocalan who was captured last
year. Ocalan is in prison under sentence of death.

Many Turks had viewed the new HADEP administrations with suspicion
but had also seen some prospect that they could open the door to
dialogue in an area racked by conflict for 15 years.

The last six months had seen a slackening of the fighting, while debate on
the Kurdish question had become more open.

An Ankara court sentenced HADEP leader Ahmet Turan Demir, former
party head Murat Bozlak and 16 other members to three years and nine
months jail Thursday for aiding the PKK in protests following Ocalan's
capture last year.

DIPLOMATS ALARMED AT ARRESTS

Diplomats, while withholding judgement about the charges against the
mayors, were alarmed by the timing of their arrests and the manner in
which the Diyarbakir mayor was dramatically seized on the street.

Ambassadors of EU members Portugal and France, as well as the
European Union representative to Ankara, Karen Fogg, visited the
Turkish Foreign Ministry requesting information on the arrest of the
HADEP mayors.

``We told them this is a matter of law,'' a ministry official told Reuters.

The EU is expected to complain over the way the arrests were carried
out but may avoid any public debate with Turkey.

``Something is happening in Turkey,'' commentator Mehmet Ali Birand
wrote in the Turkish Daily News. ``A certain toughening up is being
experienced. The biggest fear is that there will be a return to the tense
periods of the past.''

Turkey won candidate status for EU membership in December but will
be expected to make concessions on minority rights for Kurds before
entry negotiations can open.

Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, speaking in Brussels, warned
Turkey it would be under close EU scrutiny.

``It's perfectly clear that the launching of negotiations with Turkey will be
subordinated to respect by Turkey...of the inviolable principles upon
which the EU is founded,'' he said.

LOCAL OFFICIAL HELD

A court remanded in custody a local HADEP official in the eastern
province of Malatya. Police found ``many illegal publications'' in a search,
newspapers said.

Any outbreak of trouble in the southeast could prompt right-wing
members of the government coalition to raise again the issue of Ocalan's
execution, which has been deferred pending his appeal to the European
Court of Human Rights.

HADEP campaigns for Kurdish rights and a negotiated end to the
conflict with the PKK. But the party itself faces possible closure by
courts later this year over accusations that it serves the PKK. Ankara has
shown little interest in dealing with HADEP and views PKK
proclamations of a cease-fire as a political ruse.

The stakes are high for Turkey in a region where 30,000 people have
died in a conflict that has cost some $100 billion. The debate is divisive at
home and burdensome to foreign ties.