Estabilidad Institucional

In April the Ministries for Justice and the Interior brought another Repentance Law on the agenda. 10 The government introduced this law under the name of “law to come home”, but it carried the official name of “Law on Winning (People) for Society”. This law aimed at the latest developments since the war against Iraq and targeted militants of the PKK, hoping that the organization might dissolve. The law began to shape in May. First statements indicated that leading members would not be included in the law. Political parties such as DEHAP, NGOs and intellectuals did not approve of the draft and rather preferred a general amnesty to solve the Kurdish question and make peace among different sections of society.

On 7 July the draft was presented to the GNAT.

What is happening in the Southeast?/Point Zero/Oral Çalışlar (Cumhuriyet-15 July 2003)

The latest news from the Southeast is not encouraging. The PKK/KADEK once again started action and the incidents that intensified in Bingöl and the surrounding may be signs for a new development.

During the last four year the Southeast had entered a softer political atmosphere. After 20 years of clashes, evacuations of villages and deaths, the people had started to recover... The most important development was the occupation of Iraq by the USA. Until then Northern Iraq had seen ups and downs of relations between Turkey and the Kurdish groups in this part of the region. Now the USA are dominant and the relations between the Kurdish groups and Turkey are about to change.

The kidnapping of 11 Turkish soldiers and their interrogation with sacks over their heads is only one part of the story. The USA had other demands from Turkey. Asking to solve the Kurdish question they also asked for measures to get the militants out of the mountains.

Could the “Law to Return Home” be a first step in this direction? Why did KADEK not like it? Certainly, the best thing would have been to go for a fundamental solution and announce a general amnesty. But the internal power relations do not allow for it, one says. We are in a period during which the people in favor of democracy and peace must be more careful. Believing that we have solved one problem another one may stand in our ways.

On 23 July the GNAT voted on Article 4 of the Law that provided for a reduction in the sentences. Since this was see as an amnesty, it required a majority of three fifth. Although 312 deputies voted in favor of the Article (77 against it) the necessary majority of 330 votes were not gained. Subsequently the Justice Commission dealt with the draft again. The new changes provided for lesser reduction of sentences and restricted the implementation of the law to six months.

On 29 July another vote was taken on Law No. 4959 and this time it passed with a majority of 356 votes against 71 votes. State President Ahmet Necdet Sezer ratified the law and it entered into force on 6 August (date of publication in the Official Gazette).

The provisions of the Law are:

10 _{After 1980 several “Repentance Law”s were introduced:}

In 1985 the Law No. 3216, in 1988 the Law No. 3419, in 1990 the Law 3618, in 1992 the Law No. 3853, in 1995 the Law No. 4085, in 1999 the Law No. 4450, in 2000 the Law No. 4537.

Members of terrorist groups that have not been involved in any terrorist activity will unconditionally be released and will not face trial, provided that they state that they are willing to benefit from the amnesty.

Those that have been involved in terrorist activity before the law goes into effect (before 6 August 2003) and are either already in prison or who surrender to the security forces and co- operate with them will benefit from the following sentence reductions provided they give information about the terrorist organization they belong to. Those whose sentences were previously commuted to a life sentence from capital punishment will receive nine years imprisonment, while those who were given straight life sentences will be subject to six years imprisonment according to the level of their crime. Other sentences will be reduced by one fifth.

Those who are captured or surrender after the law goes into effect and provide information prior to receiving their sentences will receive 15 years imprisonment instead of a life sentence. Other sentences will be reduced by one third.

Those who provide information after their sentence becomes definite will receive 20 or 15 years’ imprisonment instead of a life sentence. Other sentences will be reduced by half.

Leaders of organizations and those, who benefited from previous repentance laws, were excluded from the scope the law.

CHP Diyarbakır Deputy Mesut Değer tabled a question on previous repentance laws and the Justice Minister Cemil Çiçek answered in July stating that a total of 4,429 people had applied to benefit from the 7 laws passed in 1985, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999 and 2000. Among them, 509 had been put under protection. The Directorate for Criminal Records and Statistics in the Ministry of Justice stated that 2,040 people had benefited from the laws.

In August Sezgin Tanrıkulu, chair of Diyarbakır Bar Association, stated that most applications had come from militants in the ranks of Hezbollah and confessors from the PKK, who had tried to benefit from the law since 2000. He added that if the aim was that many people handed over their arms a broad consensus would be needed. To this effect Diyarbakır and another 8 bar associations had prepared a draft and sent it to the Ministry of Justice. Yet, they had not received a reply.

Lawyer Tanrıkulu also pointed at the political murders by unidentified assailants that predominantly had been committed between 191 and 1995 by militants of Hezbollah. “The number of victims totals almost 3,000. With the help of 25 to 30 confessors that will show up after this law the governments intends to cover up a whole period.

In August the Ministry of Justice sent a circular to the prosecutors pointing at different kinds of implementation in the law. The circular emphasized that the prosecutors for the prisons needed to forward the applications to the prosecutors at the state security courts that tried the applicants. The degree of crime would have to be established by the secret service MİT, the gendarmerie, the police and the directorate for criminal records.

Another kind of reaction came from prisoners, who benefited from the law, but actually had asked for an implementation of the laws passed in the 6th and 7th adjustment packages.

Akif Tarın, for instance, was released on 18 August from Muş E-type Prison, where he was on remand in a trial based on Article 169 TPC. He told the Diyarbakır branch of the HRA that he had asked to benefit from changes in the 7th _{Adjustment package, but had been released according to the}

provisions of the Law on Reintegration to Society. He alleged that the administration in prison was exerting pressure on the prisoners to sign petitions. First they had been told that independent and confession prisoners would benefit from reduction of sentences according to the 7th harmonization package, but now all of them were evaluated under the repentance law.

Elif Ceylan Özsoy started to serve a sentence of 45 months’ imprisonment, imposed on her under Article 169 TPC on 6 June. She was released at the beginning of August. She had asked to benefit from the 7th adjustment package (Law No. 4963), but after her release was informed that she actually benefited from the Repentance Law. She appealed against the decision on 11 August stating:

“According to Article 2 of the Law No. 4963 for an adjustment to the EU the crime of “facilitating aiding and abetting” that was stated in the decision of your Court under 2002/164 does no longer exist. According to this law the execution of the sentence has to be stopped and all consequences of the conviction have to be lifted... If my freedom only depends on benefiting from the Law on Reintegration to Society, I demand to continue the execution of my sentence.”

The truth of the testimony of “confessors” that had been reason for debate during previous repentance laws was discussed under the new law as well. On 25 October the daily “Radikal” reported on the hearing of 13 villagers, during which the PKK militant Lokman Sultani (from Iran) testified. He

had surrendered in Bingöl to benefit from the law. During the hearing at Diyarbakır SSC on 23 October he was asked on a list of villagers that he had identified as supporters of the organization. Subsequently seven villagers had been arrested and arrest warrants had been issued against another 6 villagers. All 13 villagers had been charged under Article 169 TPC.

At the hearing Sultani first said that he knew all defendants as persons, who supported the organization. When the defense lawyer asked him for their names Lokman Sultani said: “Î can speak Turkish, but not read and write. When they took my testimony they said that I would be rescued of I signed the testimony. I did what they told me, but actually I do not know any of them.” After this statement the Court ordered the release of the defendants and lifted the arrest warrants against the other defendants.

Other Incidents and Actions

Engin Sincer: On 3 September Hürriyet published news on the death of KADEK executive Engin Sincer alleging that he had been killed in the Kandil Mountain on 15 August, because he felt positive about the Law on Reintegration to Society. On the same day KADEK announced that Sincer was killed by a ricochet. After the corpse of Sincer had arrived in Turkey on 7 September an autopsy was carried out in Diyarbakır. The autopsy discovered two bullets that entered the corpse from the chest and the upper part of the left arm.

Muharrem Şahin, Hasan Oyan and Umut Tekin were put on trial, because they participated in the ceremony during the arrival of Engin Sincer in Turkey. During the first hearing at Diyarbakır Penal Court Hasan Oyan stated that he had no connection to the incident. He had been in hospital to visit a relative of his. The lawyer Muharrem Şahin stated that it needed permission of the Justice Ministry, if a lawyer was to be tried. The hearing was adjourned to hear the testimony of Umut Tekin. The case did not conclude in 2003.

Bener Ekmekçi: On 26 June Bener Ekmekçi, imprisoned in Sincan F-type Prison as a member

of the DHKP/C, set herself on fire. The dailies Hürriyet and Milliyet that she did it, because the organization had put her under pressure not ask for an application of the repentance law.

Protests against the law and a demand for a general amnesty intensified after June. The police intervened frequently and detained a large number of people. Some of the incidents were:

The police intervened, when a group of DEHAP members wanted to stage a demonstration on Istiklal Avenue on 1 June to protest the draft law and to call for a general amnesty. The police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and detained 5 persons. Afterwards a press conference was held in front of the İstanbul offices of DEHAP.

On 14 June, 68 members of the women’s wing of DEHAP in İstanbul were detained, when they were distributing red carnations with the demand of a general amnesty. On 15 June, 11 members of the women’s wing of DEHAP in Cizre district of Şırnak were detained during a press conference for the same reason. They were released some time later. On the same day the police reportedly intervened in a demonstration for a general amnesty in Van and dispersed the crowd by opening fire. One person was detained.

Reports from the Çukurova University in Adana stated that the administration started an investigation against the students Servet Uçar, Kemal Işık, Nihat Avcı, Ceyda Çetin, Erşan Turan, Hüseyin Uğur, Deniz Ökmen, Songül Özdemir, Düzgün Doğan and Mustafa Saçlı, who had made a press statement and distributed leaflets for a general amnesty on 10 June. In September these students were expelled from the lessons for one week.

On 16 June the police in Bingöl detained 127 women who went to the province center from different parts of Turkey in order to “to erect a peace table”. The group including the Vice Chairwoman of the HRA, Eren Keskin, the Chairman of the Bursa Branch Ayşe Batumlu and sociologist Pınar Selek were stopped in the morning on their way to the city. Meanwhile, the Genç Avenue where the “peace table” was to be placed was blockaded by the police, who also dispersed women that gathered to welcome the women coming from outside the city. Three women were detained there.

Later the group of women coming from İstanbul, Elazığ, Urfa and Adana were allowed to proceed, but they were stopped for a second time on Genç Avenue and were detained. On the other hand women from Batman, Van and Diyarbakır were not allowed to enter the city at all.

Sociologist Pınar Selek reported that the police told them before detention: “You can not make a press release here. This is not İstanbul, this is Bingöl. What peace are you talking about? This is not the kind of place that you know”. Selek stated that the women were treated like animals and beaten in detention.

Rıdvan Kızgın, chair for HRA Bingöl branch, Şevket Turan, branch executive and DEHAP members Emine Kaya, Suna Kaya, Mine Kaya filed an official complaint against the police officers on 23 June.

Later Bingöl Penal Court tried 125 people for a violation of Law No. 2911 (see chapter on Freedom of Assembly and Demonstration).

On 18 June, the police intervened in a demonstration staged by students at Van 100 Year University and detained about 100 students.

The police intervened on 19 June in a demonstration by the women’s wing of DEHAP in front of the AKP offices in Diyarbakır with the demand of general amnesty and detained some 61 DEHAP members under beatings. They were released the next day. Another 15 members were detained in Batman and 18 in Şırnak during press conferences held for the same demand.

Demonstrations for a general amnesty were staged in Mus, Adana, Ağrı, Van, Şırnak, Siirt, Urfa, Batman, Diyarbakır and Adıyaman on 21 June. In Silopi district of Şırnak the police prevented women, who gathered in front of the DEHAP offices, from marching towards the AKP offices and dispersed the crowd under beatings. Emine İnan and Sabriye Buruntekin, executives of the women’s wing of DEHAP were detained.

In Tatvan district (Bitlis) DEHAP chair for the district Sabahattin Özel and the members Nevzat Yıldırım and Hekim Çapkan, in Van Fatma Elasan and Hugir Elasan were detained for opening a stand for signatures for the campaign on a “general amnesty” on 27 June. Fatma Elasan and Hugir Elasan were released later; Özel, Yıldırım and Çapkan were arrested on 28 June.

DEHAP chair for Mersin Ali Tanrıverdi, Ali Güngör, Fatma Bozaner and Sultan Aktepe were detained for the same reason on 28 June. DEHAP chair for Çaldıran district (Van) Medeni Yasak was detained on 28 June.

As part of the campaign DEHAP executives and members in Urfa sent facsimiles to deputies from the province. Subsequently, the public prosecutor started an investigation in July against Nurettin Çatlak, Aziz Fırat, Celal Melik, Abuzer Pala, Reşit Yardımcı, Feridun Canpolat, Veysi Yavuz, İmhan Sütpak, Halit Çiçek and Yüksel Çiçek.

On 24 June executives of DEHAP in Midyat district (Mardin) displayed a desk for signatures asking for a general amnesty. Village guards intervened and had M. Emin Akay, İlyas Akbulut, Reşit Aslan, Ferit Aslan and Ahmet Akay detained. They were released the same day.

On 26 June the governor in Iğdır banned posters, which the youth wing had prepared under the title of “General Amnesty for Peace in Society”.

25 persons, who were detained when they wanted to set out from Diyarbakır for Ankara in order to hand over 8,000 petitions for a “general amnesty” to the Chairmanship of the GNAT, were arrested on 9 July on allegations of “being members of an illegal organization” The detainees were released on 10 July on objection of their lawyers.

In Adana the police intervened in the demonstration held on 9 July to protest the same incident, and dispersed the demonstrators by force. Four persons were poisoned with pepper gas fired by the police and the executive of Socialist Democracy Party (SDP) Mustafa Bağçiçek, whose head had been hit by a walkie-talkie, was hospitalized.

In Van the police intervened in the demonstration held on the night of 9 July to protest the detention of the members of the “Democratic Youth Platform” who had intended to go to Ankara to hand over the petitions for a “General Amnesty “. During the tag between the demonstrators and the police, the police caught a juvenile named Faysal Yacan and reportedly dragged him at the back of police panzer. (See the chapter on Personal Security).

On the same day the police in Van intervened when a group wanted to send a “white scarf” to State President Ahmet Necdet Sezer as a “peace symbol”, and detained 28 persons. The detainees including the member of DEHAP Party Council, Nezahat Ergüneş, executive of the women’s wing, Zeynep Boğa, Semira Varlı and Saime Sürme were released on 10 July. Following their release Saime Sürme, Nurcan Saybak and Veysi Dilekçi were detained for a second time. Similar actions in Diyarbakır, Adana and Mardin passed without an incident.

The bus of 14 persons, who came from Diyarbakır to Ankara in order to hand over the petitions for a “general amnesty” to the GNAT, was stopped in Gölbaşı (Ankara). Tekin Çakmak, Davut Kesen, Fırat Ağırmatlı, Serkan Binbir, Ruşen Erkus, Özgür Aydın lik, Şakir Özaydin, Tayyip Temel, Özgür Yasa, Sakine Arat, Muharrem Bulut, Veysi Çelikbiler, Elçin Karakaya and Ahmet Kaya were detained. 9 persons, who came to Gölbaşı from Ankara in order to welcome them, were also detained. The police also prevented the press conference of some 30 members of EMEP, DEHAP and SDP in front of GNAT. The detainees were released on 12 July after testifying to the public prosecutor.

Halfeti, Viranşehir and Birecik district governors (Urfa) did not grant permission to concerts organized by DEHAP as a part of a campaign for “General Amnesty”.

On 24 July, M. Sıddık Çelik, DEHAP executive for central district of Siirt and Abdusselam Güneş, executive for the DEHAP Young Wings in Siirt, were arrested on the allegations that “they forced people to sign the petitions for the General Amnesty”

On 5 August Perihan Yılmaz, Sevgi Azar and Bahattin Özbey were detained in Urfa. They were