The Human Rights Association Of Turkey (IHD)

     In 1994, observer delegations from various countries travelled
to North-West Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey) to monitor the Newroz
celebrations (March 21) and the local elections of March 27. These
groups were assisted by, among others, the IHD, particularly the
IHD office in Diyarbakir. For this reason, and because we wish to
support the work of the IHD, we would like to give some information
about this organization.
     The IHD was formed in 1986 by relatives of prisoners and other
active persons. In its early years, the organization primarily
concerned itself with the situation in prisons and it struggled for
the abolition of the death penalty. In the last few years, the IHD
has broadened its work.
     The activities of the IHD touch on subjects such as class
oppression, national oppression, the oppression of women, and the
oppression of individuals. The group's practical politics are
carried out by various commissions, and one principle of the IHD is
that all of this work is voluntary.
     Specific commissions deal with the situation in prisons,
torture, and the struggle against the death penalty. The group does
research if an individual "disappears", as often happens in Turkey.
The IHD also protests against arbitrary executions carried out by
the police and the army.
     Other commissions deal with working conditions, culture, the
environment, the rights of the Kurds, the rights of minorities and
refugees, the rights of women, the rights of children, and the
rights of disabled persons.
     The IHD in Istanbul, for example, receives an average of 350
requests for help each month. Most of these deal with arrests or
torture. In 1993 alone, the IHD office in Istanbul investigated 500
cases of torture.
     But people with many other problems also seek assistance from
the IHD: Women who have been brutalized by their husbands; children
with psychological needs; persons who require foreign travel visas;
deportations; people fired from a job; the unemployed; and many
others which would take too long to list here.
     Because of this situation, the work of the IHD has
qualitatively changed: Requests to ministries and government
officials; writing reports; press releases; doing research and
accompanying observer delegations; podium discussions; rallies; and
much more.
     Political repression and persecution in Turkey, illegal
activities, torture, and murder carried out by the Turkish state
are all primarily concentrated in North-West Kurdistan. This
fascist politics knows no mercy. It shows itself not only in the
war against the Kurdish liberation movement, but also anywhere
anyone states that Kurdish people exist and that they should be
granted certain rights.
     This means that the IHD must largely concern itself with cases
of persecution and oppression, even torture and murder, in
conjunction with the liberation struggle in Kurdistan, even though
the organization's task is much broader than this.
     The IHD is constantly under police surveillance, its offices
are arbitrarily raided and searched. People are followed, the
telephones are tapped. The group's lawyers are continually arrested
and held for up to three months, especially if they happen to be
working on cases at that time. Last year, 8 members of the IHD were
murdered.
     The IHD has 56 groups in various regions and has close to
22,000 members. The group's head office is in Ankara. There are
about 1,500 members in Istanbul. Finances for the IHD are limited,
as the group is wholly dependent on membership fees and donations.
Additional money is raised by selling publications, posters, post
cards, pins, and other items.