>Did Turkish army kill the feminist Konca Kuris? > >By Justin Huggler in Batman > >2 September 2000 > >Konca Kuris was a loving mother with five children. She >also dared to challenge Islamic orthodox teachings on >women, and insisted that women's rights had a place in >Islam. In January, her rotting body was dug up out of the >ground, disfigured beyond recognition. > >Kuris was abducted two years ago, tortured for 38 days, >murdered and buried in a shallow grave. Her killers made a >video of the torture sessions. So who killed Konca Kuris? > >The answer leads to another grave, newly dug in >south-east Turkey this year - a grave no one dares even >go near. It leads to a terror group calling itself the "Army of >God", which committed hundreds of "executions" in which >the killers were never caught, even when the police were >witnesses. It leads to a looming political crisis, which has >pitted the head of the military against elected MPs. And it >leads to Islamic terrorists supported, trained, and maybe >armed by security forces. > >Kuris was among several Islamists who abruptly >disappeared. Police could find no trace of them, until, acting >on a tip-off, they raided a house in Istanbul. It was a safe >house used by the Kurdish group Hizbullah, the Army of >God. > >Turkey's Hizbullah is not related to the Lebanese group of >the same name. It is committed to Islamic revolution in >Anatolia. In the police raid, the leader of the group, Huseyin >Velioglu, was shot dead. He was buried in his home town of >Batman, in the Kurdish south-east. Militants captured in >the raid revealed that the organisation killed Kuris and the >other Islamists. > >Police have since captured a large number of Hizbullah >militants, and several of the most prominent are on trial. The >government has used the spectre of them to justify a purge >of hundreds of state employees for alleged links with >Islamic groups it is trying to force through. On the surface, >Turkey is dealing with Hizbullah. But that is not the whole >story. > >People are afraid to walk too close to Velioglu's grave. But >people here are used to fear: Batman is notorious >for"mystery killings". Between 1992 and 1996, it had 363 >unsolved murders. > >"I am a witness," said Murat Aydin, a local Kurd. "I saw >Mehmet Sincar killed." Sincar, a pro-Kurdish MP, was >shot dead in the main square of Batman at 4pm in 1993. His >murderer was never caught. "There were police and >soldiers all around that day," Mr Aydin said. "They just >ignored the killing." > >Most of the "mystery killings" of Batman were like that. But >no one in Batman is in any doubt as to who the killers were. >"It was Hizbullah," Mr Aydin said. "We all knew who they >were." In Batman, they call themcontra-guerrillas. And >they say they worked hand in hand with Turkish security >forces. > >Hizbullah emerged in 1985, a year after the Kurdish >rebellion started in earnest. The rebel Kurdistan Workers' >Party (PKK), led by Abdullah Ocalan, was Marxist and >atheist. The Islamic extremists of Hizbullah vowed to wipe >it out. Turkish security forces desperately trying to contain >the Kurdish rebellion stood to gain from factional fighting. >Everybody in Turkey knows they turned a blind eye to >Hizbullah. But how far did it go? > >Troubled by the allegations coming out of Batman, the >parliament sent a commission to investigate and in 1997 >published a damning report, concluding that security forces >had supported Hizbullah. > >Fikri Saglar, a former MP who served on the forum, said: >"The police chief in Batman told us on the record he knew >who the Hizbullah militants were. But he said he could do >nothing because the armywas protecting them. He also told >us the army had given Hizbullah militants some training." > >The armed forces are the most powerful institution in the >country. When Kuris's murder was uncovered in January, >the former president Suleyman Demirel conceded some >"forces belonging to the state" may have formed links with >Hizbullah, but insisted they acted "illegitimately". Mr Saglar >says, for the situation to continue in the face of the >parliamentary report, those acting "illegitimately" must >have been at a high level within the state. > >Plenty of questions remain. Earlier this year news emerged >that in 1994 the governor of Batman spent $500,000 on guns >- the guns disappeared but Hizbullah stores have been >discovered full of guns. Are they the same ones? Why did >Hizbullah suddenly turn on Islamist figures in the past 12 >months. And why have the security forces chosen now to >wipe out the Army of God? The PKK is defeated, and the >militants are of no more use to security forces. > >Mr Aydin believes he knows. "Now Turkey wants to join >the [European Union], and they have all these unsolved >murders to account for," he said. "So they shut down >Hizbullah, blame the killings on them, and the whole case is >closed." > >-- >Press Agency Ozgurluk >In Support of the Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey and Kurdistan >http://www.ozgurluk.org >DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc > _______________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________
