Her Excellency Tansu Ciller
Prime Minister of Turkey
Prime Minister’s Office
Ankara
Turkey

Vienna, 13 December 1993

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), representing over 2000 journalists and editors from leading newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organizations and news agencies in 68 countries, strongly condemns the banning of the pro-Kurdish daily, Özgür Ündem.

We are informed that Government authorities raided Özgür Ündem’s offices in Istanbul and Diyarbakir on Friday, 10 December 1993, and arrested the newspaper’s entire staff, including the editor-in-chief Mr. Gurbetelli Ersöz, the assistant editor Mr. Ferda Cetin, and the news editor, Mr. Gültan Kisinak. We understand that your Government has offered no explanation for banning the newspaper.

IPI is also informed that the staff of the Kurdish-language newspaper, Welat and the Zagros publishing house, were also taken into custody. We believe that this latest crack-down by your authorities will only serve to discourage those who seek a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem and will result in an escalation of attacks on freedom of expression by both sides in the conflict. We therefore strongly urge your Government to release immediately and unconditionally the staff of Özgür Ündem, as well as of Welat and the Zagros publishing house, and to permit these institutions to operate without further interference.

I should be most grateful if you were to give this appeal your personal attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director