Arqra apo thn Fwnh ths Amerikhs VOA [*] Dyo akomh arqra apo thn Fwnh ths Amerikhs: [01] * PRESS ATTACKS / MEDITERRANEAN, MIDEAST [H Toyrkia exei toys pio polloys fylakismenoys dhmosiografoys ston kosmo.] [02] * TURKEY/ALAWITES (L-UPDATE) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [01] PRESS ATTACKS / MEDITERRANEAN, MIDEAST DATE=3/15/95 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-175572 TITLE= PRESS ATTACKS / MEDITERRANEAN, MIDEAST BYLINE=DON HENRY DATELINE=WASHINGTON CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: THE U-S-BASED COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS SAYS THE WORST CASES OF KILLING AND IMPRISONMENT OF JOURNALISTS IN 1994 OCCURRED AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. V-O-A'S DON HENRY REPORTS ALGERIA AND TURKEY ARE CITED IN THE ANNUAL SURVEY, AS ARE SEVERAL MIDEAST COUNTRIES. TEXT: THE SURVEY OF REPRESSION AGAINST JOURNALISTS RANGES FROM HARASSMENT AND IMPRISONMENT TO MURDER. THE COMMITEE SAYS THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE TO BE AS A JOURNALIST LAST YEAR WAS ALGERIA, WHERE 19 JOURNALISTS WERE KILLED. ANOTHER FIVE ALREADY HAVE BEEN SLAIN THIS YEAR, AND THE COMMITTEE SAYS THAT BRINGS THE TOTAL TO 33 SINCE MAY OF 1993, WHEN SERIOUS REPRESSION BEGAN. COMMITEEE OFFICIALS SAY RADICAL ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST GROUPS ARE CLEARLY LINKED TO OR SUSPECTED IN MOST OF THE KILLINGS, WHICH THEY DESCRIBE AS ASSASSINATIONS, NOT CASES OF REPORTERS BEING CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE. THE COMMITEEE SAYS ONE JOURNALIST WAS KILLED IN TURKEY, BUT THAT COUNTRY ALSO IMPRISONED 74 EDITORS AND REPORTERS, WHICH COMMITTEE CHAIR KATI MARTON SAYS RELATES BASICALLY TO ONE TURKISH GOVERNMENT CONCERN. // MARTON ACT // THERE ARE MORE REPORTERS IN JAIL IN TURKEY THAN ANYWHERE ELSE THAT WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO MONITOR, BECAUSE TURKISH REPORTERS ARE BASICALLY BARRED FROM COVERING THE MAJOR NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE, WHICH IS THE KURDISH REBELLION IN TURKEY'S SOUTHEAST. // END ACT // IN ALL, MORE THAN 170 JOURNALISTS WERE IN PRISON LAST YEAR BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY WROTE OR BRAODCAST. COMMITTEE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WILLIAM ORME SAYS MANY OF THE CASES INVOLVE LONG-TERM SENTENCES. // ORME ACT // THE GOVERNMENT OF KUWAIT CONTINUES TO HOLD MANY JOURNALISTS IN JAIL, MOST OF THEM OF PALESTINIAN ORIGIN, WHO WERE JAILED FOR ALLEGED COLLABORATION WITH IRAQIS DURING THE PERIOD OF KUWAITI OCCUPATION, AND WERE TRIED IN CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WE FEEL DID NOT EVEN MEET THE MOST MINIMAL STANDARDS OF INTERNATIONAL JURISPRUDENCE... THERE ARE MANY LONG-TERM PRISONERS IN SYRIA AS WELL, WHO ALSO SHOULD BE RELEASED FROM PRISON. // END ACT // THE COMMITEEE ALSO SAYS THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO YEARS, AN EGYPTIAN JOURNALIST WAS KILLED. A RADICAL ISLAMIC GROUP CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY. THE REPORT ALSO SAYS THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT JAILED SEVERAL EDITORS AND REPORTERS DURING THE YEAR. COMMITEEE OFFICIALS URGED ALL GOVERNMENTS TO RELEASE JOURNALISTS FROM PRISON AND ALLOW THEM TO DO THEIR JOB WITHOUT INTERFERENCE. (SIGNED) NEB/DOH/BG 15-Mar-95 3:44 PM EST (2044 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [02] TURKEY/ALAWITES (L-UPDATE) DATE=3/15/95 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-175562 TITLE=TURKEY/ALAWITES (L-UPDATE) BYLINE=AMBERIN ZAMAN DATELINE=ANKARA CONTENT= VOICED AT: /// EDS NOTE: WRITETHRU, INCLUDES MORE VIOLENCE /// INTRO: FOUR MORE DEMONSTRATORS ARE REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN KILLED IN CLASHES WITH POLICE IN ISTANBUL. AT LEAST 19 PEOPLE HAVE DIED IN TURKEY IN SECTARIAN VIOLENCE OR IN CLASHES WITH POLICE SINCE SUNDAY, ALTHOUGH ETHNIC LEADERS SAY THE DEATH TOLL IS HIGHER. FROM ANKARA, AMBERIN ZAMAN HAS THIS REPORT. TEXT: LEADERS OF THE ALAWITE COMMUNITY SAY THE MOST RECENT VICTIMS WERE KILLED WHEN POLICE OPENED FIRE ON A CROWD OF PROTESTERS IN ISTANBUL'S UMRANIYE DISTRICT. THEY WERE PROTESTING THE WAY IN WHICH POLICE HANDLED DISTURBANCES, WHICH HAVE BEEN GOING ON SINCE SUNDAY IN ANOTHER ISTANBUL SUBURB. ACCORDING TO THE SEMI-OFFICIAL ANATOLIAN NEWS AGENCY, SCORES OF DEMONSTRATORS WERE WOUNDED, MANY OF THEM SERIOUSLY, DURING THE CLASHES ON WEDNESDAY. THE GOVERNMENT HAS IMPOSED AN INDEFINITE CURFEW ON UMRANIYE AND A NEIGHBORING DISTRICT, USKUDAR, WHERE MANY ALAWITES LIVE. PRIME MINISTER TANSU CILLER, AFTER AN EMERGENCY MEETING WITH CABINET MEMBERS AND TOP SECURITY OFFICIALS, SAID TURKEY WAS FACED WITH WHAT SHE CALLED FOREIGN FORCES SEEKING TO DIVIDE THE COUNTRY. SHE DID NOT ELABORATE. THE FIRST CLASHES BETWEEN POLICE AND DEMONSTRATORS BROKE OUT SUNDAY IN THE ISTANBUL SUBURB OF GAZI, AFTER RESIDENTS WERE ANGERED BY WHAT THEY SAW AS A DELAYED POLICE REACTION TO THE DEATHS OF TWO ALAWITES. THE TWO MEN WERE KILLED WHEN GUNMEN OPENED FIRE SUNDAY ON FOUR COFFEEHOUSES AND A PASTRY SHOP IN GAZI. THOUSANDS OF ALAWITES BARRICADED THEMSELVES IN THE DISTRICT AFTER A CURFEW WAS IMPOSED THERE MONDAY, AND ONLY TOOK DOWN THEIR BARRIERS AFTER AUTHORITIES RETURNED THE BODIES OF FIVE ALAWITES FOR BURIAL (ON WEDNESDAY). THE ALAWITE COMMUNITY IS A PROGRESSIVE SHI'ITE MUSLIM GROUP WHICH IS THE FOREMOST PROPONENT OF TURKEY'S SECULAR SYSTEM. ITS LEADERS HAVE ACCUSED THE GOVERNMENT OF WHAT THEY DESCRIBE AS CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE OVER THE WAY THE AUTHORITIES HAVE HANDLED THE DISTURBANCES. MRS. CILLER'S RULING CONSERVATIVE TRUE PATH PARTY HAS JOINED OPPOSITION PARTIES IN CALLING FOR THE RESIGNATION OF INTERIOR MINISTER NAHIT MENTESE. MR. MENTESE HAS SOUGHT TO PLAY DOWN THE SECTARIAN ASPECT OF THE DISTURBANCES AND HAS BLAMED WHAT HE CALLS DARK FORCES FROM ABROAD FOR THE INCIDENTS. THE ALAWITES, WHO MAKE UP ONE-THIRD OF TURKEY'S TOTAL POPULATION OF 60 MILLION, HAVE LIVED PEACEFULLY WITH THE MAJORITY SUNNI MUSLIMS FOR CENTURIES. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS HAVE FOCUSED MAINLY ON IDEOLOGY, WITH THE ALAWITES TRADITIONALLY VOTING FOR LEFTWING PARTIES. BUT ANALYSTS SAY THE RECENT RISE IN MILITANT ISLAM IN TURKEY HAS BEEN ACCOMPANIED BY A SPATE OF ATTACKS AGAINST THE ALAWITES. ALAWITE COMMUNITY LEADERS SAY A MORE WORRYING DEVELOPMENT IS THE STEADY PENETRATION OF STATE INSTITUTIONS AND GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES BY PRO-ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISTS. THEY CITE AS AN EXAMPLE, THE TURKISH POLICE FORCE WHICH HAS BEGUN TO RECRUIT GRADUATES FROM ISLAMIC CLERICAL TRAINING SCHOOLS. IN THE MOST SERIOUS INCIDENT OF ANTI-ALAWITE VIOLENCE RECENTLY, ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS SET FIRE TO A HOTEL IN THE EASTERN TOWN OF SIVAS TWO YEARS AGO, KILLING 37 ALAWITE POETS, WRITERS AND INTELLECTUALS. (SIGNED) NEB/AZ/SKH/MMK 15-Mar-95 1:41 PM EST (1841 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America