GENERAL HALT ON DEPORTATIONS OF KURDS TO TURKEY LIFTED
A general halt on deportations of Kurds, ordered by the Federal Interior Minister, Manfred Kanther, after the sentencing of six Kurdish MPs in Turkey (see FECL No.30, p.7), was lifted on 15 March. Mr Kanther justified the measure with an agreement with his Turkish counterpart, Nahit Mentese on the "treatment of deported criminals in the entourage of the PKK". According to the president of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Wolfgang Schäuble, the Turkish government has promised a fair constitutional treatment of Kurdish returnees.
Speakers of the opposition in parliament, however, protested against the decision, calling the agreement a "smokescreen". The liberal Federal Minister of Justice, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, regretted the decision of the Interior Minister. Mr. Kanther should not have lifted the halt on deportations before the hearing of the parliamentary committee on internal affairs on the human rights situation in Turkey, she said.
Meanwhile, the German Länder governed by the SPD (Social-Democrats) have announced that they would maintain the ban. In practice, the various SPD governments in the Länder have implemented the measure very differently.
Source: Junge Welt, 13.3.95, 25.3.95.