Denmark: Turkish surveillance of Kurdish community
01 September 1996
The case of a Kurdish citizen, Kemal Koc, shows that the Turkish embassy keeps Kurdish people in Denmark under surveillance - despite the embassy's denial.
Koc, 39, came to Denmark in 1972 and became a Danish citizen in 1992 after being deprived of his Turkish citizenship because he did not undertake military service. On 7 July he returned to Turkey for the first time to go to his brother's funeral. When he arrived he was taken aside at the passport control because his name was listed on the State Security Court computer (DMG).
He was taken to the closed prison in Ankara and interrogated for ten hours during which he was beaten, sprayed with cold water and hot air and thrown into rubber covered walls. He was repeatedly asked to confirm information about his activities in Denmark in support of the Kurdish peoples' struggle against the Turkish state. From the questions the interrogators asked it was obvious that they had an intimate knowledge about him and his activities and even about the local geography of the neighbourhood in which he has a small grocers shop. He was also asked to identify people from photographs taken in Denmark. During the interrogation it also became apparent that the police had detailed information about the political situation among the Kurdish community in Denmark. They even knew who participated in a meeting in which Kemal took part.
Eventually, this treatment - during which he was blindfolded most of the time - made him submissive. He was given a set of earphones in which a voice ordered him to repeat what he was told. Then something was put against his temple which he believed was a gun. At this point he signed the papers which he - still blindfolded - was directed to sign.
The Turkish authorities then prepared a written indictment. Koc's offence was support of the Kurdish struggle ("support of armed terrorists31). This support, according to the indictment, had taken the form of financial contributions to a Kurdish information office in Copenhagen, visits to a Kurdish cultural centre, participation in a demonstration against Turkey's policy towards the Kurdish minority in Turkey and being a delegate at a meeting in Germany in the Kurdish parliament in exile. All these activities are legal in Denmark.
The case has been closely followed by representatives from the Danish Human Rights Centre, Danish journalists and politicians. One of them, Mr Soren Sondergaard (Enhedslisten/The Red-Green Alliance), who has studied the written indictment said:
"The accusations against the Danish citizen is clearly based on
surveillance of the man's legal political work in Denmark. It is scary31.
A close reading of the indictment shows that Kemal Koc has been under surveillance from as early as 1992 when his Turkish citizenship was annulled by the Turkish authorities. His lawyer, Yusuf Alatas, said according to Ekstra Bladet:
"Many things looks as if the Turkish police and intelligence service have been watching the man. A document for instance shows that the Turkish branch of Interpol in 1993 wanted further information about my client31.
The surveillance may date back even further, according to the chairman of the Justice Committee in the Danish parliament (Folketinget) Mr Bjorn Elmqvist. After a meeting with the Turkish ambassador, Faruk Logoglu, Mr Elmqvist told the newspaper Berlingske Tidende:
"Without it being said directly it was my impression, that it [surveillance of Koc] had taken place since then [1991]31.
The Turkish ambassador denies that any surveillance took place after 1992, but the charges in the indictment refer to episodes which took place after this.
That the Turkish authorities - including the embassies - are watching Kurdish immigrants in Europe is confirmed by the Turkish human rights organization, IHD. The deputy general secretary, Nazmi Gur, told the Danish news agency Ritzaus Bureau that Turkey had stepped up the surveillance of Kurds living in Eu