Activist criticises civil rights record

A Turkish human rights activist arrested in Istanbul a year ago, only days before he was due to visit Ireland, is on bail pending…

A Turkish human rights activist arrested in Istanbul a year ago, only days before he was due to visit Ireland, is on bail pending his appeal and has arrived in Dublin to address the annual conference of Amnesty International.

Mr Sanar Yurdatapan (57) was arrested last April. Reports in the Turkish press accused him of a variety of offences ranging from drug smuggling and money laundering to the possession of weapons. Istanbul police headquarters said he had been detained in possession of two false passports with the photographs of two members of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).

In Dublin yesterday, Mr Yurdatapan said the passports belonged to Mr Murat Demir and Mr Murat Ipek, two former PKK members who had given state's evidence in return for reduced sentences and who later became agents of the Turkish security forces.

Mr Yurdatapan has also been charged with insulting the military authorities, having claimed the army was involved in the massacre of 11 Kurdish villagers at Guclukonak in January 1996.

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A composer and songwriter, he was a political refugee for over 11 years after he criticised the military coup in Turkey and Turkish military policies in Cyprus. His citizenship was revoked in 1983, but he returned to Turkey in 1991.

He has been accused of helping the PKK, but said yesterday: "I have nothing to do with the PKK." He said he merely wanted a ceasefire between the Turkish military and the PKK, and freedom of expression.

He said Turkey stands indicted of a poor human rights record that inhibits its application for membership of the EU. He pointed to this week's dismissal of a prominent Turkish journalist and political commentator, Mehmet Ali Birand, by the newspaper Sabah.

Although Mr Yurdatapan is an acclaimed composer and song writer he no longer receives any commissions from Turkish filmmakers or television producers.

Recently, his campaign challenged the laws on freedom of expression, and the State Prosecutor was placed in a dilemma when 1,080 leading intellectuals put their names to a prohibited publication. In a forced trial, the state demanded minimum 20-month sentences for each of them.

Sanar Yurdatapan, Seamus Heaney and Pierre Sane of Amnesty International will address a public meeting in the Teachers' Club, Parnell Square, Dublin, on Saturday at 8 p.m.