European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 09, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Key and Harg a. Turkish soldiers guard a train derailed by a land mine planted by separatist kurd in Southeast Turkey. A approximate area sought As Independent kurdish Homeland within Turkey. A pm guerrilla Leader and his Young fighters take a break at a training Camp in 1991. By Brian Murphy the associated press t was just a father s Small sob his simple contribution to the volumes of reports and unending debate about Turkey s human rights records. " -\7 the Man stroked the edges of the Palm size photo of his son turan Demir who he said was taken away by Security forces after their kurdish Village was bombed and set ablaze last year. I cry Day and night about what happened to us and to our Village. But mostly i cry for my missing son he said.  i " the oct. 10,1993, evacuation and destruction of Alpaca in Southeastern Turkey. Documented by amnesty International and other human rights groups is part of what the groups claim is an escalating and brutal Campaign by the turkish military to wipe out villages considered havens for kurdish rebels. The guerrillas seek an autonomous Homeland in Southeastern Turkey for an estimated 12 million kurd an ethnic group with its own language and culture. A few rebels dream of uniting All 20 million Kurte who live in a Region arching from Syria and Northern Iraq to the former soviet Union. An estimated 13,000 people have died in Turkey s 10-year civil War which shows no signs of easing. Turkish officials contend uncompromising tactics Are necessary to keep their nation of 60 million people together. A by. The scorched Earth offensive has disrupted some Supply lines and hiding places for guerrillas. But the Price has been High an estimated 1,500 villages and hamlets cleared and More than 1.5 million people scattered. It also has put turkish officials on the defensive. Western governments have refocused attention and pressure on Turkey s treatment of kurd and other opponents at a sensitive time. / Turkey a member of the North Atlantic treaty organization is looking for greater foreign assistance to stabilize its shaky Economy and keep its Western friendships tight As a Muslim fundamentalist party gains in Power. Turkey also is desperate to win membership in the european Union. Allegations of police abuses Are Long standing. Rights groups claim there has been no setup in police torture and disappearances of suspects despite some reforms giving prisoners Access to lawyers. Some suspect government death squads Are behind hundreds of murders. Parliament is moving slowly on possible changes to the wide Powers Given to Security forces under the Law and order Constitution written after a 1980 military coup. The Security forces Here. Can get away with just about anything said Yusef Alatas a noted civil rights lawyer in Ankara Turkey s capital. He is representing five former parliament members accused of treason for activities with a now banned pro kurdish party. Outside pressure is forcing some moderate changes. Up i think they will be significant no Alatas said. The United states has Frozen 10 percent of Turkey s $364.5 million military Aid package pending a human rights report. The european parliament suspended All Contact with Turkey s parliament to protest the trial of the pro kurdish political leaders. More than 330 cases of alleged abuse by turkish authorities Are pending before the european commission on human rights. The turkish government pleads for understanding. Officials contend that harsh methods Are necessary to fight kurdish rebels and leftist terrorists. They also see their nation As a bulwark against islamic fundamentalism and one of the West s strongest allies in the Region. If human rights Are lagging behind in any democratic country there must be a Good reason for that. In our Case it is terrorism said Riza Turmen a foreign ministry envoy to Europe. She claimed the situation was not unlike that in Britain when the government was trying to control the Ira. Of course there is violence. Of course there Are human rights violations she said. Turkish leaders insist their goal is to protect people. The kurdish rebels have recently stepped up attacks on teachers engineers and other people in Southeastern Turkey with links to the National government a Don t understand Why the government is being called unjust. We Are fighting terrorists said Interior minister nah it Lentese. Like most wars civilians Are caught in the Middle. Turkey s policy toward kurd has developed into a loyalty test Western observers and villagers say. Either they take up arms and join the fight against kurdish rebels or risk seeing their Village evacuated and razed. Any hint of sympathy for the rebels known As the Kurdistan Aprl activists also report More than 1,200 murders possibly carried out by Security units since the late 1980s. Among this victims Are 10 members of the human rights association and dozens of workers for the outlawed pro kurdish democracy party. The government s idea is not to investigate and see if you May be guilty of something. It believes in rounding up everyone and seeing what they can find said Akin Birdal president of the Ankara based human rights association it Slike taking out All the water in the Lake to catch a few  reforms have brought Only Small changes activists claim. A/0 v suspects in nonpolitical crimes can now request a lawyer during interrogations. But police still have wide latitude in deeming a crime political. Some turks have High Hopes that pressure from the West will bring  re at a kind of moment of truth said Gencay Saylan a professor and former journalist who spent 38 months in prison in the mid-1980s for leftist political activities. We can keep stepping into the Modem world or step Back and be Tost in the  the continuing War in a 1991 photo a kurdish Village lies in ruin after a bombing attack by the turkish air Force. Kurdish Leader Orhan Dogan Center is detained on charges of separatism earlier this year. Mos town s Taleff frames an flight ". F ,.-. To Bony cats stalk Birds where villagers once took their Tea. Wasps nest in the schoolhouse rafters roofs Are burned and Walls toppled. Books lie among broken Glass. A pair of baby shoes sits on a dirt path leading out of town. The people Are gone. But the Village they left behind has a Story to Tell. Garti Koyu Turkey is one of an estimated 1,50ovillages evacuated and razed across Southeastern Turkey where the government has escalated an offensive against kurdish rebels. Human rights observers accuse the military of pursuing a systematic Campaign to wipe out any Village considered sympathetic to the rebels. Most residents straggle to nearby cities such As Diyarbakir about 40 Miles West of Garti Koyu. Some villagers Are detained and tortured activists claim. The government insists there is no plan to destroy villages and says it Only encourages people to move for safety. It blames the wholesale destruction of Homes on " the rebels " ,.-- a "./. -. Either Way Garti Koyu is one of the victims. Probably about 300 people once lived in the Village overlooking a Brook and gentle Hills of yellow grass. Its residents have dispersed and hone could not be located to provide details of what occurred. But the attack must have been recent the smell of charred Wood and smoke was Strong. Sheep droppings were still fresh. Farm equipment was free of rust. Army roadblocks keep journalists from Side roads leading to Many of the villages reportedly burned. But people living near Garti Koyu pointed out a Way to reach the ghost town undetected. Only a few belongings escaped the flames a plastic Sandal an infant s Blouse a carved walking stick. Contents of Homes apparently were lost in the fires which consumed grass and Wood roofs and left Only squares of singed mud Brick Walls. Some Walls either collapsed or were pushed Over. Wind gusts kicked up Small whirlwinds of cinders. The mosque and school were not burned a pattern Matching descriptions of other villages that kurd claim were levelled by government soldiers. Four pairs of shoes sat on shelves outside the Small mosque on the Edge of town. Rotten tomatoes and a bag of Salt probably the remains of a meal were scattered on a carpet on the porch. The mosque door was locked but the one room living quarters of the Imam was open and empty except for a few carpets. At the other end of the Village the school s classroom and office were looted. Textbooks and grammar lessons covered the floor along with shards of window Glass. Wasps circled a Jumble of tipped Over desks. Ants filed Over a child s notebook with drawings of Flowers. The associated press 1f. 18 the stars and stripes wednesday november 9,1994 v the stars and stripes 19