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Six
men and women appear at the Bow Street Magistrates
Court on Monday in connection with charges brought
against them under the Terrorism Act 2000. They are
Rory O'Driscoll, Allaatin Kalander, Gurkan Gur, Songul
Ozgur, Selver Kapan Birten Kalayci. The Terrorism
Act 2000 enabled the authorities to raid the homes
of these men and women in the early hours of the morning
and drag them from their beds for interrogation. They
were then detained and questioned for a further 7
days without being charged with any offence. The Terrorism
Act 2000 permits all this to take place against any
one of us without the need for any evidence connecting
the accused to any “terrorist act” to be
brought before a court of law. All that is required
is a "suspicion". The 6 have now been charged
with membership of and fundraising for a proscribed
organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. The evidence
which has so far been brought against them is far
from damning, indeed harmless and perfectly legitimate
forms of activity have been pointed to – photos
of some of the accused performing at music concerts;
and involvement in the distribution and sale of a
magazine, legal in Turkey, which highlights the appalling
human rights situation in that country. In this respect
the British state has gone to even further lengths
of repression than the Turkish state, implying terrorist
connections to a magazine which is legal and freely
available in Turkey.
All
6 men and women are human rights activists who work
courageously to expose and to oppose the gross human
rights violations of the Turkish government. Abuses
which occur on a daily basis include the routine imprisonment
and torture of political prisoners; extra-judicial
killings; rape by police officers; cruel and inhuman
treatment of prisoners in isolation cells.
The
label “terrorist” exists to stigmatise and
smear the accused, avoiding the need for any evidence
to be brought against them. It destroys any possibility
of a fair trial. It is also increasingly being manipulated
to ensure the British public remain unaware of what
is really going on here. As far as we are concerned
the only crime of these 6 men and women is their unceasing
efforts to expose the true fascist nature of the Turkish
state (a NATO ally) and to build public awareness
about the situation in Turkey at a time when Turkey
is gearing up for entry into the EU and occupies a
key strategic position in the event of aggression
against Iraq.
It
suits the British state to turn a blind eye to Turkey’s
ongoing abuses and to clamp down on Turkey’s
dissenters in this country in order to secure for
itself the possibility of lucrative trade deals and
investment in Turkish markets, in addition to the
use of bases on Turkish soil to attack Iraq. Britain’s
defence Minister, Geoff Hoon visited Turkey only last
week to plead for the use of Turkish bases. The arrest
of these 6 men and women coincided with an EU expansion
summit in Copenhagen at which a date was set for negotiations
to begin on the issue of Turkey’s admission to
the EU.
Almost
daily now the newspapers carry reports of yet more
arrests of so-called “terrorists” in this
country, those arrested are almost without exception
asylum seekers and the details of their alleged terrorist
activity are hazy at best. It is clear that this is
just the latest attempt by the British state to sell
a very unpopular war against Iraq to a highly sceptical
public by creating fear and panic and through stirring
up racial prejudices.
We are here today in order to demonstrate that the
British people will not allow these violations of
our most basic human rights and liberties to go on
unchallenged. We protest against the erosion of our
rights to hold views or support organisations which
oppose the policies of the British state. We denounce
the escalation of racist scapegoating orchestrated
by the government and a craven media, directed against
the most vulnerable and voiceless sections of our
communities. We demand the immediate repeal of the
Terrorism Act 2000 and the Anti Terrorism Crime and
Security Act 2001 and the release of all persons currently
detained or facing charges under either Act. We refuse
to be duped into accepting war against Iraq or any
state threatened under the so-called war on terrorism.
For
more information about the Picket or about PATA please
contact Beth on 07810 397 268 or email pata_info@yahoo.co.uk
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