DATE=9/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TURKEY / KURDS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-266565
BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN
DATELINE=ANKARA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Turkish police on Friday raided several
offices of the country's largest legal pro-Kurdish
party. Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara that
officials of the Hadep party say at least 35 members
have been detained in the latest government crackdown
on the party.
TEXT: Hadep officials say their offices in the
largely Kurdish provinces of Van and Diyarbakir were
raided, along with offices in the country's commercial
capital, Istanbul, and in the southern provinces of
Adana and Mersin.
The raids came after a special security court in
Ankara ordered the seizure of pamphlets the party
published in honor of World Peace Day on September 1.
The court accused Hadep of propagating Kurdish
separatism in the pamphlets. But in a telephone
interview with VOA, Hadep Secretary General Mahmut
Sakar said the pamphlets did nothing more than call
for a peaceful resolution of Turkey's Kurdish problem.
Mr Sakar says he believes the government intends to
use the pamphlets as part of yet another court case
against his party on charges of promoting Kurdish
separatism.
Analysts say Friday's raids show that the Turkish
government is not about to ease pressure on Hadep,
which is facing a ban by the constitutional court on
charges of acting as a political front for the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or P-K-K.
The P-K-K waged a 15-year-long armed campaign for
Kurdish independence. But following the capture last
year of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, the group called
off its armed fight and said it would settle for
cultural autonomy for Turkeys estimated 12 million
Kurds.
Hadep officials make little effort to disguise their
sympathy for the captured PKK leader, who was
convicted of treason last year by a Turkish court and
sentenced to death.
/// OPT /// A member of Ocalan's defense team, Dogan
Erbas, was elected Hadep's Istanbul branch president
in a local party congress last week. /// END OPt //
Party officials insist, however, that they have no
formal links with the guerrilla group and say they
advocate a nonviolent solution to Turkey's Kurdish
problem.
/// OPT /// Analysts say there are few signs that the
government is ready to make any concessions to the
Kurds. The military-dominated National Security
Council, which is Turkey's top decision making body,
recently described the debate on allowing Kurds to
broadcast and educate in their own language as "a
waste of time."
Turkey's armed forces fear that the granting of
cultural rights could lead to further demands for
Kurdish autonomy and --eventually -- Kurdish
independence. /// END OPT /// (Signed)
NEB/AZ/KL/PLM
15-Sep-2000 14:09 PM EDT (15-Sep-2000 1809 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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