NEWS - Bianet

NEWS

Page 350

4 Killed And 10 Injured in Police Raid

In a Istanbul police operation directed at two houses where the death fasters opposing the F-type prison system were staying four were killed. The police claimed that the four people who died lost their lives by setting themselves on fire.

17 January 2002

Greece And Turkey Sign Immigration Deal

Greece and Turkey have signed an agreement that will allow Greece to send back illegal migrants that have entered the country through Turkey.

17 January 2002

An End to Torture And Impunity Is Overdue

The systematic and widespread nature of torture in Turkey puts nearly anyone at risk of being tortured, Amnesty International says as it releases its report on Turkey

17 January 2002

Amnesty International Concerned of Deaths

Amnesty International calls for investigation into the deaths and injuries of Nov. 5 raid by Turkish police forces on the Istanbul neighbourhood of Kucukarmutlu. The deaths might have been the result of excessive force used by security forces AI doubts.

17 January 2002

Turkey Revising Male-Dominated Code

The draft new code scraps the phrase the head of the marriage union is the man, giving women the right to have a say in decisions concerning the children or the family home. She no longer needs a husbands consent to go out to work.

17 January 2002 Suzan Fraser

Lets Build Our Own G-184

Why dont we help create a worldwide movement? For instance, that would be the PP-E (Peace For The People of The Earth) of those who would not urge for nothing but peace. Thats not and shouldnt remain a dream.

17 January 2002 Nadire Mater

The Forgotten

Turkish writer Asiye Zeybek was raped by policemen - yet it is she who faces prison. And her case is the tip of the iceberg, says Joan Smith of The Guardian in her column on Sep.17 issue of the British daily.

17 January 2002 Joan Smıth

Tulchovsky Award Goes to Zeybek

Swedish PEN decides to grant the 2001 Tulchovsky Award to imprisoned Turkish journalist Asiye Zeybek Guzel. A Swedish PEN delegation attends Guzels trial on Friday.

17 January 2002

New Challenges and a New Paradigm

Demographic growth in the Middle East and scarcity of resources; terrorism and extremism; drug trade; rogue states; emergence of new regional powers; cyberwar; and the increased organised crime should be considered in the new security concepts.

17 January 2002 Nilüfer Narlı

Landmines: Fresh Threat For Kurdish Locals

Human Rights Association (IHD) warns that landmines laid down in Southeast during the conflict between the army and the guerilla PKK continue explode. Previously depopulated locals are yet fearful to return home of the risks posed by landmines.

17 January 2002 Erhan Gülenç

Temple of Fear, Frightens...

Journalist Celal Baslangic faces 1-6 years for his collection of articles Temple of Fear, previously published by Istanbul daily Radikal. Documenting ordinary human tragedies in Southeast none of the articles were banned when published in the daily.

17 January 2002

Silenced Voice: Fikret Baskaya

Professor Fikret Baskaya is now a case in point himself; he has fallen victim to the very mindset he has criticized. He has been sent to jail to serve a 16-month term under Article 8 of Turkeys Anti-Terror legislation.

17 January 2002 Siobhan Dowd

Book on Southeast Conflict Banned

Korku Tapinagi (Temple of Fear), collection of stories from the Southeast war zone by journalist Celal Baslangic is banned under charges of insulting the military. Baslangic is faced with 1-6 years in prison if found guilty by the court.

17 January 2002

Emerging Markets to See High-grade Issues

Investment-grade issuersare expected to dominate emerging markets in the next few months, offering a chance to diversify from Argentina and Turkey.

17 January 2002 Arkady Ostrovsky

UniCredito Set for Iktisat Bid

Turkeys banking watchdog said it had authorised UniCredito Italiano to examine necessary documents and prepare a bid to buy Iktisat Bank, one of several failed banks under state control.

17 January 2002

Bizarre Allegations

Colasan and Soms mistake is so basic it would be akin to a U.S.journalist writing about Turkey and confusing MHP with the PKK. Their allegations reflect badly on them, their newspapers, and the entire Turkish newspaper industry.

17 January 2002 James Ron

CIA Rumor on Web Targets Turkey Writer

Nadire Mater, an award-winning journalist has fallen prey to the flimsiest of whisper campaigns. She is accused of accepting a payment to produce a book critical of the Turkish military at the behest of the CIA.

17 January 2002

The Situation in North Cyprus

On the 27th year of Turkeys military intervention, Northern Cypruss Patriotic Unity Movement (YBH) anlyses the current situation in the divided island. Unemployment increases and the standard of living falls, say report by the groups youth arm.

17 January 2002

A Technocrats Cabinet, Unconvincing

Proposals of replacing the ruling cabinet with a technocrats government, in order to overcome the Nationalist Action Partys (MHP) unwillingness in implementing the IMF backed austerity programme rebuffed. Political analysts comment on the issue.

17 January 2002

Government Ignores Prisoners Demands

-Type prisons are specially designed maximum-security facilities, which Human Rights Watch, the global human rights group, calls physically and psychologically damaging to prisoners. The prisons are designed to keep prisoners in isolation.

17 January 2002 Nadire Mater,Ertuğrul Kürkçü

Crisis Stirs Fury

Last week, thousands of protesters closed businesses and blocked highways in Ankara and Istanbul, shouting, The government must resign! and waving placards with the words Youre sucking our blood.

17 January 2002 Catherine Collıns

Crisis Taking a Toll on Turkeys Media

The Turkish Journalists Association said 3,000 of Turkeys 12,000 journalists have been laid off since mid-February, when the country was plunged into an economic crisis.

17 January 2002 Catherine Collıns

Inmates Show No Sign of Ending Hunger Strike

The death of a political prisoner in Turkey last week may spark a chain of similar action by other inmates on hunger strike in the countrys prisons, a medical doctor has warned.

17 January 2002 Ertuğrul Kürkçü

Ex-Bank Official Hired To Sort Out The Mess

Turkeys new economic chief, Kemal Dervis has been hailed as the man who will sort out the countrys financial mess. This week, Dervis, sold government bonds worth 3.3 billion US dollars to local investors, as part of his austerity measures.

17 January 2002 Nadire Mater

Stroke Marks In the F Type Prisons

Ümit Efe, from the Human Rights Organization, reported that the convicts in solitary confinement cells in the Kandıra, Sincan, Edirne and Tekirdağ F type prisons, are being counted in the same manner as in the military barracks.

17 January 2002

4000 Media Workers Laid-Off In Turkey

Up to 4,000 media workers have been laid- off in Turkey as a result of a recent 30 per cent devaluation of the Turkish Lira, which has hit the media industry the hardest.

17 January 2002 Nadire Mater

Turkeys Operation Return to Life

17 January 2002 Murat Paker

Economic Plan Criticized

Only the government here appears to be pleased with its new economic recovery programme. Announced on the weekend, the programme, which is backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has spawned a wave of criticisms and labour rallies.

17 January 2002 Nadire Mater

Pop Stars Sexuality Sparks Debate

In just two days Gul, like an elephant in glasshouse, tore down all what his Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli had done to clean up the image of their party, stained by blood and intolerance in the three decades of violence during 1970-2000.

17 January 2002 Nadire Mater

IMF Loan Offers a Breathing Space

The letter of intent, released Tuesday, pledges that major public banks, the strongholds of Turkeys crony capitalism, will be merged and privatised in three years. State subsidies to beetle and tobacco farming will be stopped.

17 January 2002 Ertuğrul Kürkçü

Hunger Strike Beyond Prison Walls

The strikers seek abolition of state security courts, which are used for political trials and other sensitive cases. They demand more rights for the Kurdish people in Turkey and a break with an economic reform agreement reached with the IMF.

17 January 2002 Catherine Collıns

Turkish Cyrpriots Optimistic for A Solution

Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders Denktas and Klerides met after 4 years at the green border. Talks about the future of Cyprus will be continued on January 15th 2002 without any preconditions. Turkish Cypriots comment on the event.

17 January 2002 Nadire Mater