Mothers of world's missing join Turkish protest 10:03 Oct 26, 1996

ISTANBUL, Oct 26 (Reuter) - Mothers of missing persons from the world's trouble-spots and Western rights workers joined a 75-week protest by mothers of Turkey's ``disappeared'' on Saturday to highlight claims of extrajudicial killings by the police.

``As a mother of a missing person, the mothers here are in my heart. We are here to support these mothers and to protest to those in politics and in government who stay silent on this matter,'' said Mirta Baraville, whose daughter, Ana Maria, disappeared while pregnant during Argentina's 'dirty war' of the 1970s.

Human rights organisations accuse the security forces in Turkey of conducting a similar campaign now against suspected rebel Kurds and their sympathisers and far-left organisations.

Flown into Turkey by rights group Amnesty Interntaional, mothers from Argentina, Bosnia and Lebanon held up pictures of their missing relatives alongside Turkey's ``Saturday mothers'' in their weekly protest in one of Istanbul's busiest high streets.

Turkey's Human Rights Association says 12 people ``disappeared'' in August. The figures were the latest available.

``My son, a 30-year-old teacher, was arrested by police on 21 March, 1995 on his way home (in Istanbul) and six days later his body was found in the woods,'' said Baba Ucakca, demanding an end to ``this dirty war in Turkey.''

Hanim Tosun, holding up a black-and white picture of her husband Fehmi, told how he was forced into a car by three armed men with walkie-talkies in 1995. She has not seen him since.

``Since 1991, there have been at least 100 such cases -- these should be investigated,'' Carsten Jurgenen, spokesman for Amnesty International, told Reuters.

``There has to be some change in Turkish law which makes disappearances not possible any more,'' he said. ``One of the things we ask for is to establish a commission which should at least investigate all the disappearances.''

Amnesty launched a worldwide campaign this month to highlight human rights abuses in Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller last week announced that Ankara would cut the period of detention in custody and make changes to the State Security Court system.

Suspects held under anti-terror laws can now be detained for up to a month in 10 emergency rule provinces in the mainly-Kurdish southeast and two weeks in the rest of Turkey.

But rights activists regularly criticise Turkey for failing to live up to previous promises to stamp out rights violations.

Despite Ciller's pledge, the European Parliament voted this week to hold back hundreds of millions of dollars in European Union aid to Turkey because of its rights record.