Attacks On Freedom Of The Press In Turkey

EDM number 263 in 1993-94, proposed by Ernie Ross on 14/12/1993.

That this House condemns the Turkish police raids on the offices of Ozgur Gundem, the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper which is the only real opposition newspaper in Turkey on Friday, 10th December, during which over 100 people, including the paper's editors, were arrested; deplores the continuing attacks on freedom of the press in Turkey; notes that the town of Cizre was on the same day subjected to bombardment by Turkish forces leading to the destruction of homes and businesses in a continuation of the Turkish state's scorched earth policy, forcing thousands of Kurdish villagers to flee their homes; notes that in order to highlight Turkish abuses of human rights in Turkish Kurdistan, thirty members of the Kurdish community in London have started an indefinite hunger strike at the Halkevi Community Centre, north London; calls on the Government to cease all military aid to Turkey until such a time as the Turkish state ends its operations against Kurdish civilians and enters into dialogue with representatives of the Kurdish people with a view to achieving a political solution to the question; and calls on the Government to send a delegation of Parliamentarians to the region between 21st March (Newroz-Kurdish New Year) and 27th March, when local elections will be held, to act as observers and to deter Turkish state attempts to prevent democractic local elections. (Relevant registered interest declared).

This motion has been signed by a total of 61 MPs.