Brussels, 29/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - As the mini-session of the European Parliament opened in Brussels, the president of the EP Socialist Group, Enrique Baron, denounced, in plenary, the arrest this week of Akin Birdal, former president of the human rights association in Turkey. Mr Baron, who returns from Turkey where, accompanied by several other members of the Socialist Group, he had met Akin Birdal on Monday, called for the release of this person who "fights for human rights" and who has "already paid for his fight with his health" (Mr Birdal is still suffering from the after-effects of an attempt on his life). He also called for amnesty for Mr Birdal and for Leyla Zana, the Sakharov Prize winner awarded by the European Parliament. They are both in prison for expressing their opinions.
Luisa Morgantini, Italian MEP of the European United Left Group, also denounced the arrest of Akin Birdal, noting that this comes in addition to the grave violations of freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Turkey, noted by the annual report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, published on 22 March. Ms Morgantini was also highly critical of the existence, revealed by a Turkish daily, of a list of "undesirable" persons, diffused by the Turkish Ministry of the Interior. Greek Socialist Giorgios Katiforis protested against this initiative, noting that the names of several Greek nationals were included on this list.