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In which conditions Özgür Bakis is published and diffused ? The characteristic of Özgür Bakis is that it’s not saled in kiosk. Some bookshops sell it, but they are very controlled and if people are taken to read it, they have some troubles too. So we sell that paper in the street, in very hard conditions. How exactly ? When policemen arrest sellers, they say always the same thing : it is not a Turkish paper, but a PKK’s one, because its articles tlaks about PKK. They accuse us to sympathize with that party. And anyone that sells it, writes for it or simply reads it is considered like that. A lot of people go to prison and stay often 4 or 5 days in custidy, in Karakoy where they are beaten, threatened to be sexually abused, or their family could have troubles. We could be imprionned for a more long time and even a reader of that paper could be taken in custody from 10 to 40 days. How did you live your own activity of sellers ? I did that work for 3 months, and I was arrested four times. Once, policemen took all my papers and kept me because I sale a PKK’s paper. Another time, it was the civilian police: They told me « If you sell that paper again, we will kill you " and they showed me a special building when they said that. I was afraid because many people had been rapted and closed in that building. They died here or their corpses had been found somewhere else. However, I answered that I will sell it again. Two weeks later, other policemen arrested me, took my money and tore the papers. At the end, I could not bear it, I went to the Human’s Right League. There, they explained to me that these acts happen everyday, they could not do anything, and a lot ot sellers had been killed like that. I was afraid and I stop. Now, a friend replaces me. He was taken five days in custody. How many people work for Özgür Bakis ? The paper employs about one thousand persons : near to 150 in Istanbul, 100 in Diyarbakir, and in Izmir. It has a run of print to 25.000. It is not enough, because we have some particular conditions of work and we need more employers that the others. It is published in the great Western towns but is forbidden in Kurdistan. What are the else pressions on the paper? Journalists are threatened with their family. The offices are often occupied by the police. They don’ want we work during the « hot days » like on 1st May, The Turkish Workers’ Day, or during the Ocalan’s case. They watch the office and all the employers submit pressures. There are a lot of charges against the paper. When it publishes the statements of PKK or Ocalan’s speeches, it has been taken to court. Then, here is our situation : it is not prohibited to publish it, but if we sell it, it could be closed. There were other papers that were accused to be closed to Kurds and PKK. They were all banned, like Özgür Gündem. Have they some links with Özgür Bakis, for example by employing the same journalists ? Özgür Bakis is less politically engaged. Concerning the people who worked for that papers, they are not the same, because they are all dead or imprisonned. How the Kurds lived the earthquake ? After all, you should know that there was a great discrimination from the army when they rescued the population. The State is against all the minorities in general but especially against the Kurds, because the authorities supposed that we are all members of PKK. The Kurdish victims of the earthquake in Yalova, Avcilar in the land of Marmara were all refugees from which the village had been burnt. So they lived a second catastrophe. How the soldiers could make difference between ethnies under the ruins ? Everybody know which are the Kurdish places and the else. In the poor quarters, Kurds live together. When a Kurd from a village set in a place, other refugees from his land reach him. Then, all the Kurdish refugees live together and another reason is that they can not live with Turks, even poor Turks. These are influenced by propaganda and believe that their economical problems come from the Kurds. They fear them, because for us, all the Kurds are PKK. For the strangers, the official position is "we are all friends". But in fact, they impose defiance and fear between us. Two month and a half after the earthquake, what about the situation of the victims ? We receive no help. For everybody, helping the Kurds is helping the PKK. Money is given according to the will of the State; without control. Political opinions are often a reason to discriminate. What do you think about the possible entry of Turkey in European Union? We don’t want it without conditions. We want that Europa exiges that Turkey respect the Human’s rights and the Kurdish rights. We want that Europa comes to see what happens here, really, and controls the actions of the state... Interview made by OFK - October 1999 |
