Turks move to hit terrorists

Press, 5 January 1980, Page 6

Turks move to hit terrorists

NZPA-Reuter Ankara The Turkish Parliament began deliberations on a package of anti-terrorist legislation yesterday, a day after the Turkish armed forces issued a stern warning to all civilian authorities to unite in a fight against terrorism.

The armed forces’ views were expressed in a memorandum made public by President Fahri Koruturk. Later the main Opposition Republican People’s Party of the former Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, voted to support the measures in Parliament.

The bills call for changes in the police-organisation law to improve the performance of the security forces, and for measures to speed up criminal-court proceedings and strengthen the power of local governors to deal with terrorist incidents. Mr Suleyman Demirel’s minority Government plans two more, legislative measures tO' stem Turkey’s political violence, which has claimed 2500 lives in two years. One would set up State security courts to try terrorist suspects, and the other is an emergency-powers law to provide civilian governments with means to combat political violence without declaring martial law. A Turkish student was

shot dead outside the Soviet consulate in Istanbul as political violence continued. The state radio said th® high-school pupil was killed in a clash with security, forces after a group of 30 to 40 students approached the consulate. A security guard and a passer-by were wounded, in an exchange of shots, it said. The radio, controlled by Turkey’s martial-law, forces, has been giving few! details of clashes in recent days. Students said the demonstrators were protesting against last week’s Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan. In other violent incidents, the local manager of the Israeli El Al Airline was shot dead and an extreme Leftist} group claimed responsibility, and four other people were killed in separate incidents in Istanbul and two elsewhere.

The State radio reported that the martial-law forces had arrested 26 extreme Leftists in the last three/ weeks, in Istanbul and in Ankara, all. of them members of a group calling itself the Turkish Liberation Army-Front. .

The martial-law forces discovered six Soviet-made Kalashnikov automatic rifles and five revolvers in the raids which led to the ar rests, according to the radio-