Turkey ends emergency rule in Southeast
Claudia Parsons, 30 November 2002, ANKARA, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Turkey lifted a 15-year state of emergency in the southeast of the country on Saturday, ending an era which saw security forces wield sweeping powers against Kurdish separatists in a conflict in which 30,000 died.

"A new, normal period is starting for the region," Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu told reporters in Diyarbakir.

Parliament decided in June to scrap emergency rule in the provinces of Sirnak and Diyarbakir from November 30 after lifting it in two other provinces earlier this year.

Turkey imposed emergency rule, giving authorities extraordinary powers to detain suspects and carry out investigations, in 1987, three years after the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched a violent campaign for independence.

Human rights groups argued the special powers handed to police led to serious abuses.

More than 30,000 people, most of them Kurds, died in the fighting and thousands more fled to the major cities to escape violence which emptied hundreds of villages.

Fighting subsided after 1999 when Turkey captured PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who ordered the rebels to withdraw from Turkey and campaign for greater cultural rights by political rather than military means.

People in Diyarbakir welcomed the end of emergency rule, saying they hoped it would bring peace and help the economy. About 1,000 gathered in the city centre on Saturday to sing and dance in celebration.

"Emergency rule in the region has ended but our wish is that its practices not continue as well," said Halis Gural, 35, a tradesman. "Emergency rule should be abolished in minds too."

Turkey's new Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which swept to a landslide victory in November 3 elections, has vowed "zero tolerance" on torture and pledged a range of human rights reforms to meet European Union standards for membership.

Ankara wants the EU to set a date for the start of membership talks at a summit in Copenhagen on December 12, but the EU has said Turkey still has to implement past rights reforms and take further steps to guarantee freedom of speech, religion and assembly as well as wiping out torture.

The European Union has welcomed Ankara's decision to end emergency rule in the southeast.

A July report by the Council of Europe said police in Diyarbakir [the largest city in Southeast] lagged behind the rest of the country in improving human rights. Prisoners were often denied access to lawyers and torture had not been stamped out, it said.

Kurds in rural areas of Sirnak province complained of intimidation by the military during this months's election and there was a heavy security presence at polling stations. For years residents have had to deal with regular roadblocks and other restrictions on movement.

"Emergency rule is over, I am happy like everyone else," said Halit Celik, 20, a student in Diyarbakir. "I hope we don't go back to the old days again."