@COVER = NEWS FROM @CENTBIG = FEBRUARY 1990 @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @CENTBIG = @HEAD = @HEAD = FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Helsinki Watch is deeply concerned about continuing harsh restriction of free expression in Turkey. We call upon the government of Turkey to repeal Penal Code Articles 140, 141, 142, 158, 159 and 163, to release immediately all journalists imprisoned for the non-violent exercise of free expression, and to assure full rights to free expression to all of its people. While Turkish citizens are freer to voice their opinions and to criticize the government than they were in the period following the September 1980 military coup, they continue to risk harassment, detention, torture, criminal charges and imprisonment for expressing their views. There has been much talk of revising Turkey's Penal Code, adopted in 1938 from the penal code of Mussolini's Italy, which contains the infamous articles 141 and 142 (prohibiting the establishment of a communist party and communist or separatist propaganda) and 163 (prohibiting the establishment of a religious state). These articles are regularly used to punish expressions of opinion. Articles 158 (insulting the president), 159 (insulting the authorities<%-20> <%0>C<%-20> <%0>Parliament, the government, the military) and 140 (injuring Turkey's reputation while abroad) are used as well to suppress free expression. @HEAD = 400 JOURNALISTS CHARGED WITH CRIMES FOR THEIR WRITINGS IN 1989 Since the March 1989 release of the Helsinki Watch report, Paying the Price - Freedom of Expression in Turkey, Turkish authorities have taken hundreds of actions against Turks for what they have written in books, in newspaper or magazine articles, in films, or sung in concerts. Dateline Turkey reported on January 13, 1990, that 183 criminal cases had been brought against nearly 400 journalists in 1989 and that court cases against the print media had reached a record level in that year. In addition, magazines have been confiscated and banned, books seized and banned, and performances forbidden. According to the daily Cumhuriyet, at the end of November, 1989, at least 23 journalists and editors were in prison for what they had written or published, many serving absurdly long sentences. One journalist received a sentence of 1,086 years, later reduced on appeal to about 700 years.<$F None will serve more than 36 years, the maximum time permitted by Turkish law.> Harassment is most intense with regard to small left-wing and socialist journals, but the mainstream press is also subject to prosecution. 2000'e Dogru (Toward 2000), a left-wing weekly with a circulation of 30,000 (the second-largest magazine circulation in Turkey), continues to be a target of government harassment. Seventy-two criminal cases have been brought against editors of the magazine since it began publication three years ago. Until March 1989, Fatma Yazici was the journal's responsible editor (Turkish law requires that each publication have a "responsible editor" who bears legal responsibility for the contents of the publication). Fifty-six cases were brought against her for articles that appeared in the magazine. Helsinki Watch knows of six cases in which she was found guilty of such offenses as "insulting the president," "being disrespectful of religion and the Prophet Mohammed," and "weakening national sentiments." In four of these cases, an appeals court affirmed the verdicts and total sentences of eleven years and five months in prison. In one of the four, Ms. Yazici was sentenced to six years and three months for publishing without comment a summary of the Helsinki Watch report, Destroying Ethnic Identity: the Kurds of Turkey. Ms. Yazici has not yet started serving her sentences; she is reported to have gone into hiding. Helsinki Watch efforts to persuade the Turkish government to reverse her sentences have been unsuccessful. Sixteen cases have been brought against the journal's second responsible editor, Tunca Arslan; most of the indictments have been based on Penal Code Article 142(3), which states: @INDQUOTE = Whoever makes propaganda in order to abolish partially or entirely public rights, because of race, or to exterminate or weaken nationalist feelings, shall be punished by heavy imprisonment for five to ten years. Mr. Arslan has been found not guilty in four cases and has paid a fine in one<%-20> <%0>C<%-20> <%0>the rest of the cases are still in court. In seven cases, the offending issue of the journal was confiscated. Those issues contained: @BULLET = a letter with a statement by a Marxist-Leninist party on elections (March 19, 1989); @BULLET = a summary of the final communique of an international human rights conference held in Bremen (April 13, 1989); @BULLET = an article and editorial pointing out the similarity in the situations of the Turks in Bulgaria and the Kurds in Turkey (June 18, 1989); @BULLET = a news item entitled, "What does the word `Kurd' mean to the ordinary man?" (August 27, 1989); @BULLET = an interview with Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) (October 22 and November 5, 1989); and @BULLET = a press release from the PKK claiming that it bore no responsibility for a massacre that had taken place in Ikiyaka (December 3, 1989).

2000'e Dogru is not the only journal to be confiscated and charged with separatism or communism<%-20> <%0>C<%-20> <%0>many smaller left-wing journals continue to be confiscated or banned, and their writers and editors detained and sometimes beaten and charged with offenses. Toplumsal Kurtulus (Social Liberation) was the object of continuous prosecutions in 1989. Professor Yalcin Kucuk, a political commentator and former academic who edits and writes for the journal, told Helsinki Watch in December 1989 that he has been taken into custody so many times for his writings in Toplumsal Kurtulus that he has lost count: @INDQUOTE = In fact I have been detained by the political police almost once every month during the last one and a half years<%-20> <%0>.<%-20> <%0>.<%-20> <%0>.<%-20> <%0> my confinements have varied between two and thirteen days. Every time I get out, no sooner do I return home than they take me in again under any pretext whatsoever. On September 19, Professor Kucuk was taken into custody in Ankara for publishing an interview with Abdullah Ocalan, Secretary General of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). @INDQUOTE = After publishing the interview [Professor Kucuk reported], I spent six days in a cell<%-20> <%0>.<%-20> <%0>.<%-20> <%0>.<%-20> <%0>the cell was shorter than I am. I had to sleep on a cement floor and went on a hunger strike. [Later on] I was detained for thirteen days and then arrested, and spent two and a half months in the central prison [in Ankara]. I was both in DAL [the political section of police headquarters] and in the Security Court, accused of legitimizing Mr. Ocalan. Two months ago the Prosecutor made public his general indictment of the case and demanded that I be acquitted of all charges, saying that I had been mistakenly arrested. Of the remaining five cases of mine in Ankara Security Court I have been acquitted in all of them; three of the five have already been ratified by the High Court. @INDQUOTE = But I have other cases in other courts and two new ones were filed last month. Last month I had the luxury of being questioned by two prosecutors of the State Security Court separately, on two different grounds. A day after, while I was really joyful at having been able to avoid the cell, all of a sudden three men came in. It was as usual dark, and I did not recognize them, as they were not from one of my police teams. They took me into a car. This time I was very scared, as I thought I was being kidnapped. The way the political police come into your house is not different from your being kidnapped. In fact in order to frighten you they give you the impression that you are being kidnapped. You do not have the liberty, chance or means to check whether they are police or kidnappers; they come in in the dark, use private cars, wear civilian clothes and you are not allowed to question them. Professor Kucuk was later released. Helsinki Watch has received reports of other cases against Professor Kucuk and other Toplumsal Kurtulus writers and editors:<$F Many of these reports and others in this newsletter have come from Info-Turk, a monthly newsletter published in Belgium.> @BULLET = On April 12, Ilhan Akalin, the magazine's editor-in-chief, and Yalcin Kucuk were arrested and detained at Ankara Police Headquarters. Prof. Kucuk was released on April 14; Mr. Akalin was held until April 24. Both were accused of "making communist propaganda." @BULLET = On April 19, Bilgesu Erenus, the journal's owner, and Ilhan Arkalin were indicted by the State Security Court for an article concerning an incident in which inhabitants of Yesilyurt village had been forced by security forces to eat excrement. @BULLET = On August 14 and 15, two journalists from the review, Ahmet Ak and Aydin Isik, were arrested with Professor Kucuk for articles on hunger strikes in prisons.

Confiscations, detentions and charges are common occurrences for small socialist journals: @BULLET = In April 1989 the journals Yeni Cozum, Yeni Acilim, Kivilcim, Emek Dunyasi and Yonelis, were all seized. In addition, two journalists from the monthly review Emek Dunyasi, Osman Gunes and Salahattin Karatas, were sentenced to six years and three months each by a court in for an article on the Kurdish question. And the editor of the monthly review Genclik Dunyasi, Erdal Belenlioglu, was sentenced to a fine of 14 million Turkish lira (about $7,000); he had earlier been sentenced to a 75-day prison term for another article. @BULLET = On June 30, the June issue of the monthly Emek Dunyasi was confiscated for "communist and separatist propaganda." @BULLET = On July 2, the June issue of the monthly Emek Sosyalizm was confiscated for "communist propaganda," the fourth issue of the journal to be seized. The responsible editor, Abuzer Kilic, faces possible imprisonment of up to 100 years for articles in the confiscated issues. @BULLET = The July issues of Yeni Cozum and Devrimci Genclik were confiscated for "communist and separatist propaganda." @BULLET = According to Amnesty International, journalists Bekir Kesen and Mehmet Bayrak, of the journal Ozgur Gelecek, were detained on July 22 and held incommunicado in a dark cell for eleven days. The first sessions of their trial were held in October and November. Ozgur Gelecek began publication in December 1988, concentrating on the situation of the Kurdish population in Turkey. Almost all issues of the monthly journal have been confiscated. @BULLET = In August, issues of the journals Yeni Oncu, Ozgurluk Dunyasi, 2000'e Dogru, Cagdas Yol, Adimlar and Emek were confiscated. The monthly Yeni Demokrasi announced that 20 of the 24 issues published up to August 30 had been confiscated, and accused police of torturing arrested staff members. On August 16, the weekly, Adimlar, announced that thirteen people had been detained for a week for visiting the magazine's editorial office. Two journalists from the monthly Gorus were indicted on August 16 for articles on the Kurds. On August 21, Yeni Cozum announced that two correspondents, Alpaslan Dibek and Bekir Atli, had been arrested in and tortured. @BULLET = On September 26, Aytac Varol, the responsible editor of the monthly Yonelis, was arrested by the Istanbul State Security Court for "separatist propaganda." @BULLET = The September issues of Medya Gunesi, Yeni Demokrasi, Emek and Vatan Gunesi were confiscated. @BULLET = On October 5, reporter Gunay Cifti of the newspaper Inanis was arrested for having taken photos of a class at the Anadolu High School in Karadeniz Ereglisi without permission. @BULLET = Yeni Cozum's responsible editor, Erdogan Yasar Kopan, was sentenced on October 8 to 18 months for an article praising some acts considered crimes; the sentence was later commuted to a fine of 2 million Turkish lira (about $1,000). @BULLET = The October issue of 10 Eylul was confiscated for communist propaganda. @BULLET = Responsible editor Suleyman Yildiz of Girgir was indicted on October 18 in Istanbul for a cover on hunger strikers in prisons. @BULLET = On October 22, Erdogan Yasar Kopan and Aslan Sener Yildirim, the reponsible editor and a writer of Yeni Cozum were sentenced by the State Security Court in Istanbul to prison terms of seven years and six months. Kopan has already received sentences totaling 37 years for his publications. @BULLET = Five monthly reviews announced on October 24 that Aytac Varol, the responsible editor of Yonelis, had been under arrest since September 21st for "separatist propaganda." @BULLET = On October 25, Gulten Demir, publisher and responsible editor of Devrimci Genclik, was arrested by the State Security Court in Istanbul; she had been detained since October 17. @BULLET = On November 9 the new responsible editor of Devrimci Genclik, Tayfun Yuksekbas, was taken into custody in Istanbul. @BULLET = Salim Kocak, the publisher of Sozcu, was sentenced to three months and 15 days in Konya on November 17, and fined 2.2 million Turkish lira for an article criticizing Prime Minister Ozal. @BULLET = Bayram Kara, a representative of Yeni Cozum, was arrested in Bursa on November 27. @BULLET = Amnesty International reported on January 24, 1990, that Kamil Ermis, the editor-in-chief of the political journal, Deng (Kurdish: Voice), was arrested for "separatist propaganda" on January 16, 1990, and was being held in Bayrampasa Prison in Istanbul. Deng began publication in December 1989; its first and second issues have been confiscated. The second issue, which appeared in January 1990, contained articles in Turkish and Kurdish on topics such as: "Democratic Platform," "The Right of Turkish and Kurdish People to Form a Legal Party," "The Right to Self-Determination is a Human Right," "Kurdish Lessons and the Kurdish Alphabet," and "The Kurdish Question in Turkey." @BULLET = On January 29, 1990, Umur Coskun, the editor-in-chief of Adimlar bi-weekly, and Semih Gumus, its responsible editor, were detained by Istanbul political police, and later transferred to Ankara to be interrogated at DAL (political section of police headquarters). Charged with violating Penal Code Articles 141 and 142, the two journalists were kept at DAL for 12 days. Coskun was arrested on February 9, 1990, and sent to Ankara Central Prison. Semih Gumus was released.

Turkish authorities continue to harass the mainstream press, but not as stringently as the left-wing journals. In April 1989, Mehmet Ali Birand, a leading journalist with Milliyet, and its responsible editor, Eren Guvener, were acquitted of all charges in a case that had greatly worried human rights activists and others. Mr. Birand and Mr. Guvener had been indicted in June 1988, charged with making propaganda to weaken nationalist feelings for publishing an interview with Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK. Copies of the newspaper were seized, and further installments of the interview were banned. Various other measures taken against the mainstream press were reported during 1989: @BULLET = On June 26, a photoreporter for the daily Tan, Nurettin Kurt, was arrested by a judge in a criminal court for taking photographs at a trial; he was taken handcuffed to prison. @BULLET = On June 29, two journalists of the daily Sabah, reporter Bekir Coskun and responsible editor Atilla Hamzacebi, were indicted for a series of articles entitled, "Autumn in the Royal Garden," about the prime minister's family. On November 4, the daily was fined 20 million Turkish lira for the series. @BULLET = Okay Gonensin, the responsible editor of the daily Cumhuriyet, was brought before a criminal court in Istanbul on September 29 for publishing announcements with political content. @BULLET = Servet Engin, the responsible editor of the daily Zaman, was sentenced on September 29 by a criminal court in Ankara to one year for religious propaganda. The prison term was later commuted to a fine of 855,000 Turkish lira (about $400). @BULLET = On November 4 the daily Hurriyet was fined 7.5 million Turkish lira for an article concerning former minister Kaya Erdem. @BULLET = Dateline Turkey reported on January 20, 1990, that the daily newspaper Gunes had been pulled from newsstands the week before because of an article which the Istanbul State Security Court said "was published with the intention of discouraging the public from doing military service." The same article was published in the weekly, Sokak, which was also confiscated. The confiscations were condemned by the Ankara Journalists' Association. According to Article 155 of the Penal Code, it is a crime to publish anti-military-service propaganda. The author of the articles, Tayfun Gonul, was subsequently indicted by the Istanbul State Security Court. The government's attitude has not been sympathetic to the press. On May 1, 1989, for example, trade unions attempted to hold a May Day Rally in Taksim Square in Istanbul. Police fired on demonstrators, and an 18-year-old demonstrator, Mehmet Ali Dalci, who carried a banner saying "Long Live 1 May" in Turkish and Kurdish, was shot and killed. At his funeral on May 4, violence broke out and police attacked journalists covering the incident; Cumhuriyet reported that more than 30 journalists were injured. Questioned in May about the government's failure to prosecute the police for beating journalists, then-Prime Minister Turgut Ozal suggested that reporters learn judo or karate to protect themselves from police attacks. @HEAD = PUBLISHERS CHARGED, TRIED, SENTENCED AND FINED; BOOKS BANNED Publishing, too, continues to be a hazardous profession in Turkey. In some cases publishers and writers have been charged and tried, only to be acquitted after considerable time and expense. Such was the case with 39 publishers who joined together to publish Henry Miller's novel, Tropic of Capricorn, in order to protest the book's banning under the obscenity law. Indicted in May 1988, all were acquitted in September 1989. In another case, lawyer Ibrahim Acan, 72, was indicted in January 1989 for "making communist propaganda" by editing Judging Defense, a collection of defense speeches made by defendants in political trials. On June 8, 1989, Mr. Acan was acquitted. In a third case, on July 11, Ankara Administrative Court No. 5 ordered the Turkish Prime Ministry to pay 35 million Turkish lira ($15,000) to publisher Suleyman Ege; 133,607 of Mr. Ege's books had been confiscated and burned in 1982. Others were not as fortunate: @BULLET = In January 1989 police in Bursa province confiscated four books of the Sol Publishing House: Karl Marx's Capital, Nikitin's Political Economy, Huberman's ABC of Socialism, and Politzer's Fundamental Principles of Philosophy. All of these books had earlier been the object of legal proceedings and had been acquitted. Authorities also banned 402 different publications from Aydin Prison; included were works by Voltaire and Kafka. @BULLET = Also in January, novelist Kerim Korcan and publisher Rabia Sen were accused of communist propaganda for the novel, Bridge of Fire. The trial began in January 1989 in Istanbul. @BULLET = On April 6, Unsal Ozturk, editor of the Yurt Publishing House, was sentenced to seven years and six months by the Ankara State Security Court for having published poet Nihat Behram's book Death under Torture. The prison term was later commuted to a fine of 613,500 Turkish lira (about $300). Behram's book, Their Hearts are Sparks at Dawn, was confiscated in January by a State Security Court in Ankara. The poet was accused of making propaganda for communism and provoking the sentiments of hate and hostility in people. On September 10, Mr. Ozturk was arrested by a criminal court in Ankara for having published a book entitled, Interrogation without Addresses, and the book was confiscated. @BULLET = In April, Zeki Ozturk, editor of the Sorun Publishing House, was indicted by an Istanbul State Security Court for communist propaganda; he faces a possible prison term of up to 15 years. @BULLET = On June 22, a State Security Court in Istanbul ordered the seizure of copies of the program of the United Communist Party of Turkey (TBKP). @BULLET = On July 21, the Police Chief of Tunceli ordered the confiscation of all printed works of Nazim Hikmet, Yilmaz Guney and other well-known writers and artists. Minister of Culture Namik Kemal Zeybek was quoted in Dateline Turkey on December 30, 1989, as saying that publishing the works of Nazim Hikmet "could be harmful to society." Hikmet, who died in exile in Moscow more than 25 years ago, was stripped of his citizenship in 1951 in response to the leftist ideology presented in his writings. In the same interview, Minister Zeybek stated that the Ministry of Culture had five months earlier lifted existing bans on all novels. @BULLET = On August 2, bookseller Mehmet Orhan was arrested in Tunceli for selling postcards containing Nazim Hikmet's poems. @BULLET = Siri Ozturk, editor of Sorun Publishing House, and Professor Tahsin Yilmaz were indicted in the Istanbul State Security Court on August 10 for translating and publishing a book entitled Lenin and Education. @BULLET = Tayfun Mater, a defendant in the Dev-Yol trial, was sentenced on September 13 to 16 months and 20 days for having published the defenses in the trial in a book entitled Before and After September 12th. @BULLET = In October, the Ozal cabinet officially banned Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, an Insight Guide to Turkey, and the German magazine, Geo Special Turkei. No reason was given for the bans, and it was announced that anyone caught smuggling these books into Turkey would be tried. The Insight Guide contained material referring to the Kurdish and Armenian questions. Amnesty International's booklet Turkey Briefing was also banned. @BULLET = Ragip Zarakolu, the director of Alan Publishing House, was detained by police in Istanbul on November 12 for carrying in his pocket a letter from a political prisoner. @BULLET = On November 12, 449 books and 25 pamphlets were burned in Istanbul by order of the governor. @BULLET = In November, two books, The Case of Democracy and The Situation and Our Tasks, were confiscated and their responsible editors indicted for violating Article 142 of the Turkish Penal Code. @BULLET = After midnight on February 11, 1990, Muzaffer Ilhan Erdost, a writer, publisher and president of the Ankara branch of the Human Rights Association, was detained by police in Ankara because of a preface he had written for a book entitled The Truth about Diyarbakir, by Edip Polat. Mr. Erdost was released 35 hours later. During the same month, the Ankara State Security Court ordered the confiscation of all copies of the second edition of Mr. Polat's book; police seized 1,759 copies from the printer. @BULLET = The Istanbul State Security Court ordered the confiscation of Leninism<%-20> <%0>C<%-20> <%0>the Agriculture and Peasant Question in February 1990. The court ruled that four pages of the book contained communist propaganda. Police seized 409 copies of the book from its publisher. @HEAD = INTERFERENCE IN THE ARTS Turkish authorities continue to harass musicians and filmmakers: @BULLET = Bertolucci's film, Luna, was banned from the Istanbul film festival in April 1989. @BULLET = Turkish film director Serif Goren was not allowed to take part in the Berlin Film Festival in the spring of 1989, although his film, Polizei, was in the running for a prize. Goren is also the co-director of Yilmaz Guney's film, Yol, which is banned in Turkey. @BULLET = On April 2, six members of a Dutch TV team and two journalists from the monthly Yeni Cozum were detained by police while they were shooting a film in Istanbul. @BULLET = In May, Mayor Halil Urun of Konya ordered the censoring of movie posters. Municipal officials painted over posters which they judged to be obscene or violent. @BULLET = The 11-member band, Grup Yorum, which sings Turkish , has been brought to court six times; in each case they were acquitted. On June 9, the group was scheduled to give a concert in Mersin. When they arrived at the hall, they found that the concert had been cancelled. To protest, the group sang some songs to the audience that had gathered outside the hall. Nine members were put in jail, where they remained for 66 days. Nine members were again arrested and later released in Istanbul in October 1989 after a concert marking the 20th anniversary of Dev-Genc, a leftist organization. While under arrest, the group members started a hunger strike, claiming that they had been tortured during interrogation in the political division of the police station. On August 1, members of the musical group Baran were arrested in Istanbul for protesting the arrest of Grup Yorum. On August 3 a concert by the musical group Yeni Yorum was banned by the governor; this group had been set up after the arrest of Grup Yorum. On October 24 the Ministry of Culture declared "harmful to law and order and public interests" two music cassettes: "Gun Ola," by Grup Yorum, and "Yikilasi Istanbul," by folk singer Emekci. @BULLET = On June 11, the District Governor of Mudanya banned the film, "Ordinary Fascism." @BULLET = On July 18, Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) stopped without explanation the televising of Rene Clement's 1951 film, "Les Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games)." TRT officials later explained that they discontinued the film because of calls from viewers claiming the film contained Christian propaganda. The film showed a young boy and girl collecting crosses from churches, graveyards and hearses during World War II. @BULLET = A concert by folk singer Sadik Gurbuz was banned in Iskenderun on July 7. @BULLET = On July 21, the Ministry of Culture censored three Kurdish ballads on a music cassette entitled "Hoy Nare," produced by folk singer Rahmi Saltik. Saltik said the ballads have been sung for more than 1500 years. Saltik went on trial in Istanbul in September 1989, charged with promoting separatism in songs recorded in Kurdish on his latest cassette. Saltik denied the charges, stating that although the songs were in Kurdish, they were love songs. On November 15, the court acquitted Saltik, reversed the confiscation order and ruled that those cassettes held in custody should be returned to him. @BULLET = Police detained members of a Danish musical group, Savage Rose, on September 17 for a concert in Istanbul given "in solidarity with Grup Yorum." The musicians were released after intervention by the Danish Foreign Ministry. @BULLET = The public prosecutor in Izmir opened a legal proceeding against folk singer Ahmet Kaya on September 13 for calling on the audience during a concert to raise their fists and repeat political slogans. In October, the Governor of Ankara banned a concert by Kaya, declaring that it might incite university students to riot. On November 6, a concert by Kaya was banned by police in Adana. @BULLET = Tayip Bay was arrested in Sivas on September 21 and indicted by the Kayseri State Security Court for having listened to music cassettes containing Kurdish ballads. @BULLET = Five university students were taken into custody in Samsun on October 22 for watching at home a videotape of Yilmaz Guney's Cannes prize-winning film, Yol, which is banned in Turkey. @BULLET = The Governor of Istanbul on October 27 banned two concerts by Zulfu Livanelli on the grounds that the audience might shout out slogans. @BULLET = A play at the Birlik Theater in Ankara was banned by the governor on November 5, and an actor, Latif Tiftikci, was taken into custody. @BULLET = On November 12, eleven films were burned in Istanbul by order of the governor. @BULLET = Cumhuriyet reported on November 16 that 189 films had been banned in Turkey since the 1980 coup. @HEAD = FREE SPEECH SUPPRESSED According to Bulent Ecevit, the head of the Democratic Left Party, Turks are now free to speak their minds on many previously taboo topics: @INDQUOTE = Every single subject<%-20> <%0>C<%-20> <%0>the army, military interventions, ethical values and the ideologies of the far left and right<%-20> <%0>C<%-20> <%0>is being openly discussed. Somebody comes forward and says he is an atheist while another one professes allegiance to the Shariat. And all these people listen to each other. This makes me happy. (Dateline Turkey, April 22, 1989) But Helsinki Watch continues to receive reports of detentions and arrests of people for speaking out: @BULLET = Two men in wheelchairs were detained for six hours by the Istanbul police on January 28, 1989, for hanging a political placard on a viaduct. @BULLET = On April 16, Halil Ibrahim Celik, the mayor of Sanliurfa, was arrested by police on orders from Nusret Demiral, the chief prosecutor of the Ankara State Security Court, for saying he was neither a supporter of Ataturk or a believer in secularism. His trial began on September 28, 1989. @BULLET = Poet Ahmet Telli was arrested by the Ankara State Security Court on June 18 for a speech given at a panel at Gazi University. @BULLET = According to Dateline Turkey, Abdulkadir Kalpakoglu became the first Turkish citizen to be arrested for insulting President Turgut Ozal. "As the election of President Ozal was announced on television, Kalpakoglu, a building contractor, jumped to his feet and began shouting insults at the screen. Policemen soon arrived and carried Kalpakoglu away to be put under detention." (Nov. 4, 1989) Kalpakoglu faces a possible penalty of three years in prison. A few days later, the Correct Way Party (DYP) announced that a committee of lawyers would defend people accused of insulting President Ozal, including Mr. Kalpakoglu. @BULLET = On January 17, 1990, West German sociologist Hella Schlumberger, 45, was arrested in Birecik, in southeastern Anatolia, charged with writing "Kurdish separatist slogans" after she wrote the word "Kurdistan" in a visitors' book at a preservation center for bald ibises in Birecik. On January 27, Schlumberger was acquitted by the Diyarbakir State Security Court. The West German foreign minister had protested her arrest at a meeting with Turkish State Minister Ali Bozer. @BULLET = Behzat Akdolan, the mayor of Gocek, a resort town on the Aegean, was arrested in January 1990, charged with insulting President Ozal. Akdolan was accused of telling the Council for Protecting the Environment, "Go and ask Ozal; his men have prepared all the plans." Akdolan was held for 10 days, then tried and acquitted on February 5. @HEAD = NEW PRISON REPORT Helsinki Watch has published a new report on Turkey, Prison Conditions in Turkey. The report is based on a research visit to Turkey in March 1989. Copies of the 91-page report are available for $6.00. Previous reports on Turkey are also available: Turkey: Eight Cases of Torture. News from Helsinki Watch, July 1989. Paying the Price: Freedom of Expression in Turkey, March 1989. 178 pages, $12.00. Destroying Ethnic Identity: The Kurds of Turkey, March 1988. 73 pages, $6.00. State of Flux: Human Rights in Turkey, December 1987. 159 pages, $8.00. Freedom and Fear: Human Rights in Turkey, March 1986. 122 pages, $6.00. @HEAD = HOW YOU CAN HELP Appeals on behalf of the writers, editors and artists discussed in this newsletter and letters urging the repeal of Articles 140, 141, 142, 158, 159 and 163 of the Turkish Penal Code should be sent to the Turkish officials listed below: President Turgut Ozal Office of the President Ankara, Turkey

Prime Minister Yildirim Akbulut Office of the Prime Minister Basbakanlik Ankara, Turkey

Foreign Minister Mesut Yilmaz T.C. Disisleri Bakani Ankara, Turkey

@IDTAG = News from Turkey is written by Lois Whitman and is a publication of the U.S. Helsinki Watch Committee, a nongovernmental organization founded in 1979 to monitor domestic and international compliance with the human rights provisions of the 1975 Helsinki accords. Its Chairman is Robert L. Bernstein; its Vice Chairmen are Jonathan Fanton and Alice H. Henkin; its Executive Director is Jeri Laber; its Research Director is Catherine Fitzpatrick; its Research Associate is Janet Fleischman; its Washington Representative is Catherine Cosman; its Consultant is Lois Whitman. Helsinki Watch is part of Human Rights Watch, an organization that links Africa Watch, Americas Watch, Asia Watch, Helsinki Watch and Middle East Watch. Helsinki Watch is affiliated with the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, which is based in Vienna.