Turkey detains Kurdish MPs
01 March 1994
Six Kurdish MPs, members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Party (DEP), have been arrested by police after the right-wing Turkish parliament voted to lift the immunity from prosecution of several Kurdish deputies. A radical Moslem MP, accused of attacking secularism, was also detained but later released.
DEP chairman, Hatip Dicle, and deputy, Orhan Dogan, were bundled into police cars as they left parliament on the evening of March 2. The other five MPs surrendered to police the following day after seeking sanctuary inside the Parliament.
The MPs have been accused of crimes against the Turkish state, under Section 125 of the penal code; it is a charge that carries the death penalty. The DEP advocates Kurdish autonomy in south- eastern Turkey and refuses to condemn the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) rebellion. In a recent incident in Sirnak province about a dozen people were killed, and an unknown number wounded, when a Turkish aircraft bombed a Kurdish village.
The European Parliament, in a strongly worded statement, has condemned the arrests and demanded that the MPs be released immediately. It also urged Turkey to recognise the right of autonomy of the Kurdish population in Turkey. In response, Prime Minister Tansu Ciller warned that she "would not allow interference in our internal affairs", while the Foreign Ministry dismissed the EP statement as "prejudiced".
Independent 3 & 4.3.94 Balkan News 20.3.94.