The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), expresses its deepest concern about recent death threats against four executives of the Human Rights Association in Turkey (Insan Haklari Dernegi – IHD ).(25-APR-05)

According to the information received, Mrs. Kiraz Biçici, vice-
president of IHD, Mrs. Eren Keskin, chairperson of the Istanbul
Branch of IHD, Mr. Dogan Genç, member of the General Executive Board
of IHD and Mr. Saban Dayanan, Board member of the Istanbul Branch of
IHD, received death threatening letters at their home and offices, on
April 19 and April 21, 2005.

These letters were signed by an armed ultra-nationalist group called
the Turkish Revenge Brigade (Türk Intikam Tugayi – TIT), which claimed
responsibility for the armed attack perpetrated against the IHD
headquarters in Ankara in 1988, during which the then IHD President, Mr.
Akin Birdal, was very seriously wounded after having been shot with six
bullets (See Observatory Annual Report 1998-1999). According to the
authors of the letters, the recipients might not be as lucky as him, who
survived this attack.

The letters also referred to the events that occurred in Mersin,
South-Eastern Turkey, on March 21, 2005, after a group of children
swept a Turkish flag. These events led to an upsurge of ultra-
nationalist activity in Turkey; for instance, on April 6, 2005, five
activists distributing leaflets in the northern city of Trabzon,
protesting against solitary confinement and isolation in Turkey’s
prisons, were reportedly nearly lynched by a mob which thought they
were burning a Turkish flag. The authors of the above-mentioned
letters stated that every provision must be made to protect the
Turkish flag, which is, according to them, “a symbol of a nation’s
history written with blood”.

Moreover, these threats followed other threatening letters that were
sent to the IHD headquarters’ email addresses during the last two
months.

The Observatory is deeply concerned about those threats, which
contribute to seriously deteriorate the situation of Turkish human
rights defenders, in particular IHD members, who are already subjected to
different kinds of pressure (intimidation, judicial harassment,
surveillance, etc.).

The Observatory calls on the Turkish authorities to :

– Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychological
integrity of Mrs. Kiraz Biçici, Mrs. Eren Keskin, Mr. Dogan Genç and
Mr. Saban Dayanan, as well as all other IHD members and Turkish human
rights defenders;

– Conduct an independent enquiry into those events, so as to identify
those responsible, bring them to trial and sanction them according to law;

– Ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration on
Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on
December 9, 1998, in particular its articles 1, which states that “everyone has the
right, individually or in association with others, to promote and to
strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental
freedoms” and 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all
necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities
of everyone, individually or in association with others, against any
violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse
discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of
his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present
Declaration”;

– Guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in
accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other
international human rights instruments ratified by Turkey.

For more information, please contact : FIDH: 00 33 1 43 55 25 18 –
OMCT: 00 41 22 809 49 39