How Journalists Are Murdered in Kurdistan
Serdar Çelik
Representation of Özgür Gündem
The chronology of the events which occurred between the 31st May 1992 and the 15 th January 1993 which is presented in this booklet is the most extensive and most conscientious documentation available about these crimes to date.
It can also claim to be an accusation against the Turkish government who bears the fundamental responsibility for these events and therefore it can help to bring the Turkish government to justice. Whether or not it will succeed in this is for the readers to decide and this encludes the international journalists, the media, the associations of human rights, the European Community and the UN organisations...
Contents
Editorial / 9
Freedom of the press, the attitude of the Turkish republic on the concept, Kurdistan and Ozgür Gündem journalism / 11
Journalists who were killed or maimed / 29
How to hunt down a journalist / 45
Özgür Gündem file
Balance sheet of the crimes of the state against Ozgür Gündem / 63
The sued and confiscated issues of Özgür Gündem / 65
How did the state obstruct the distribution of Özgür Gündem / 77
Obstructions to the distribution of newspaper / 93
Yeni Ülke file
Balance sheet of the crimes of the state against Yeni Ulke newspaper / 99
Yeni Ülke correspondents who were arrested and taken into custody / 117
Balance sheet of the crimes of the state against monthly Ozgiir Halk magazine / 123
The pressures applied on Ozgiir Halk magazine arrests and custodies / 127
The issues of the monthly Devrimci Yurtsever Genclik confiscated and taken to court / 131
Pressures put on the revolutionary, patriotic and democrat press / 133
Appendix / 147
EDITORIAL
“How journalists are murdered in Kurdistan”, the English title of this text probably says more than any German translation. In no other country in the world have journalists been so systematically murdered in Turkey and the Turkish method of murdering journalists together with destruction of publishing houses is particulary atrocious.
This alarming statement is related to the fact that within a few months in 1992 at least 14 journalists were killed.
Many other were wounded or killed because of their indirect relationship to these journalists, and these are not inlcuded in this figure.
Only a brief mention is made here about the repressive methods which were used to close down and destroy publishing houses and publications. All these events happened in Turkish territory, almost always in the Kurdish area which is fighting for its liberation, an area where official government representatives, police and military forces deny even the people of their right to bury their dead with dignity. Turkish refusal to allow freedom of the press does not stop at the Turkish borders, death lists and threats have been found in circulation even in Germany and these have mainly been targeted at democratic journalists of Kurdish or Turkish origin living in Germany. The fact that this can happen “as a matter of course” is probably related to the fact that international condemnation against the Turkish authorities has materialized only of late. This condemnation however has become more widespread and in September 1992 many of the large worldwide associations of the press have severly condemned Turkey as the "most dangerous country for journalists. The aims and activities of the initiative “Protection for journalists in Turkey-Kurdistan” is primarily directed towards preventing furthter crimes and to ensure the long term safety of journalists.
Hans Branscheidt
Freedom of The Press, The Attitude of
The Turkish Republic on The Concept,
Kurdistan and Ozgurgundem Journalism
Freedom of the press
It is impossible to separate the concept of freedom of expression from the idea of freedom of thought: Thought, as an integral element of the individuals identity and consciousness, cannot be banned without undermining the philosophy of human rights to such an extent as to make it completely meaningless. The right to fredoom of thought is however pointless unless it is supported by the right to freedom of expression: to deny the individual the opportunity to express thought is to deny the expression of self. Any society which professes respect for human rights and fundamental democratic freedoms must therefore guarantee the rights to freedom of thought and expression.
The media (in the broadest sense of the term) is the mechanism for the expression of thought, and societies’ respect for democracy and human rights may, in very real sense be measured by its relationship with the press.
In practical terms, guaranteeing freedom of the press will require respect for certain fundamental principles such as: "free circulation of information; receiving correct information; deterring monopolisation of the press; right to and safeguards for investment; guaranteeing job security; right of a newspaper to reach and to protect the confidentiality of the source of information; development of administrative systems to obtain correct information; guarantee of justice; no special criminal charges and a special system ofjustice for the press; and most important of them all, no discrimination in the freedom of press because of …
Serdar Çelik
How Journalists Are Murdered in Kurdistan
Özgür Gündem & Yeni Ülke Files
Representation of Özgür Gündem
Representation of Özgür Gündem Newspaper in Europe
How Journalists Are Murdered in Kurdistan
Özgür Gündem & Yeni Ülke Files
Serdar Çelik
We would like to thank the newspapers and magazines
Özgür Gündem, Yeni Ülke and Özgür Halk
for providing the necessary documents and information,
Kerim Yildiz from the Kurdistan Human Rights Project in London,
England for editing and translating the documents into English.
How Journalists are murdered in Kurdistan
1. Edition: July 1993
Published
by the Representation of Özgür Gündem Newspaper in Europe
Flora Str. 64 -50733 Köln (Cologne) -Germany
Distributed by Agri Verlag
Vogelsanger Str. 286 -50825 Köln (Cologne) -Germany
Printed in Germany
This booklet
is dedicated
to the memory
of the Journalists
who were murdered
