On learning of the trial - to be held at the Court of Bruges, Belgium -
being brought against 11 activists of the Turkish Left, we are deeply
concerned about this judicial move and pledge our solidarity to those
involved.
They include some members of the TAYAD - the Association of Solidarity on the part of the families of Political Prisoners in Turkey- who could face harsh sentences on being accused of belonging to a subversive organization and of terrorist activities against the Turkish State (the plaintiff).
Some of these militants in the Turkish Left are known to us personally through meetings and conferences, including the International Symposium on Solitary Confinement held in Florence 19 - 21 December 2003. These same activists, now facing trial, are those who have made us aware of the
hard conditions inflicted on political prisoners in Turkey, the lack of basic democratic rights characterizing that country and the various forms of protest, such as hunger-strikes carried out by the political prisoners as well as by militants of the Turkish Left against solitary confinement.
This form of protest known as "death fast" has seen, from October 2000 to this day, scores of deaths to which should be added the victims of police repression used to quell the protests of the unarmed prisoners, now reaching a total of 121 victims.
What's more, a State that refuses to admit responsibility, even less its historical record, for the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians, for the persecution of the Kurdish people, the Greek, Syro-Chaldean, Alevi communities, communists, union leaders, intellectuals, anti-fascist journalists and activists, legitimizes any grave doubt as to the nature of its democracy. The fact that the State is plaintiff in a trial that levels accusations of terrorism at left-wing organizations engaged
in a struggle for democracy, social justice, an end to solitary confinement in Turkey, and that in Belgium are carrying out an efficient campaign of exposure and information, obviously legal, respecting democratic rights in accordance with Belgian legislation, poses some serious questions.
We wish to denounce the fact that the accusatory system of this trial, as in others staged in Europe, represents the putting into practice of the "Bush theory" on the "pre-emptive" war on terrorism, which points at a list of political and social organizations - not in line with the United States' politics - as being involved in or partly responsible for terrorist activities.
Florence, February 16, 2006
Mauro Bulgarelli, Italian MP (Verdi-Greens)
Luana Zanella, Italian MP (Verdi-Greens)
Laura Cima, Italian MP (Verdi-Greens)
Aldo Manetti, Consigliere Regione Toscana Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (PRC)
Antonello Licheri, Capogruppo PRC Cons. Reg. Sardegna
Sandro Targetti, Consigliero provincia di Firenze PRC
Lorenzo Verdi, Consigliero provincia di Firenze PRC
Andrea Calà², Consigliero provincia di Firenze PRC
Eros Croccolini, Presidente Consiglio Comunale Firenze
Alessandro Leoni, Comitato Politico Nazionale PRC
Gianni Fresu, Comitato Politico Nazionale PRC
Velio Ortu, Circolo Antonio Gramsci PRC Cagliari
Giovanni Bacciardi, (Segreteria reg. Toscana, Party of the Italian Communists (PdCI)
Mariano Mingarelli, (Presidente Ass. Amicizia Italo-Palestinese)
Paola Cecchi, Psicopedagogista - Firenze
Assemblea del "Forum dei movimenti contro la guerra " riunito a Firenze 11-12/2/06
Alfio Nicotra, Responsabile Nazionale Pace PRC
Piero Maestri, redazione "Guerre e Pace"
Riccardo Torrregiani, Manuela Giugni, Massimo Torelli (Comitato Fiiorentino Fermiamo la Guerra)
Anna Nocentini, Consigliero Comunale PRC Firenze
Leonardo Pieri, Consigliero Comunale PRC Firenze
Gigi Ontanetti, Consigliero Comunale PRC Firenze
Mauro Lenzi, Segreteria Regionale Toscana PRC
Siliano Mollitti, Segreteria Provinciale Fiorentina DS
Roberto Passini, Comitato Difesa della Costituzione
Jacopo Borsi, Consigliere Quartiere 5 Firenze
Ugo Fallani, Consigliere Quartiere 4 Firenze
Claudia Rosati, Segreteria Federale Fiorentina PRC
Francesco Valori, Firenze
Vincenzo Migliucci, Roma
Fabrizio Cucchi, Dir. Circolo Gramsci PRC Scandicci
Andrea Martocchia, Portavoce Coord. Nazionale per la Jugoslavia
Ivan Pavicevac, Redaz. Radiotrasmissione "Voce Jugoslava" a RCA Roma
Michele Passione, lawyer, Florence
Riccardo Michelucci, journalist, Controradio/Popolare Network redactor, Florence
Myra Evans, professor
Suzanna Angeleri, PRC, Arezzo