FROM FİKRET İLKİZ

The Diyarbakır Bar Association, the Human Rights Foundation (İHD) Diyarbakır Branch, the Diyarbakır Local Agenda 21 and the Mine-Free Turkey Initiative carried out the "Mine Ban Treaty 1st National Review Conference" in Diyarbakır (south-eastern Turkey) on 18 October.

The current situation was highlighted in the beginning of the conference:

Mostly innocent and defenceless civilians become victims of landmines all over the world. These civilians either get killed by the mines or carry away serious disabilities.

The anti personal landmines (AP-mines) do not only prevent economic development and restructuring, they also move refugees and displaced people away from their homes.

Even years after placing buried mines only the governments know the reasons for pain and losses as grave consequences of the mines.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, bans completely all anti-personnel landmines. It was prepared by the United Nations and signed in Oslo on 18 September 1997.

The convention is currently known as the Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty. Turkey accepted the treaty on 12.03.2003 and applied it to the law under article 824 (Official Gazete 15 March 2003 no. 25049).

Review Conference

Between 30 November and 4 December governments and non-governmental organizations are going to meet in Cartegana (Columbia) to review the conventions achievements over the last 10 years. Turkey will participate in the review conference for the second time since the country joined the treaty.

This explains the importance of the meeting in Diyarbakır. The "Turkey 1st National Review Conference" reviewed what has been done in the first 5 years since Turkey joint the treaty and what still needs to be done. The results will be published soon.

Situation in Turkey

The conference determined the obligations Turkey has committed itself to.

Turkey is committed to clean and destroy all landmines until the year 2014. This is a total of 981,778 mines, 817,312 of them AP-mines. However, Turkey neither has a program nor a timeframe published for the mine clearance. This is a violation of the treaty.

Thus, Turkey must work out a mine destruction program and has to clean buried landmines till 2014. That way a violation of the treaty must be prevented for the continuity of the convention.

Turkey keeps 16,000 mines for educational reasons. This is the highest number of mines of any signatory countries. Nowadays countries being part of the treaty do not even keep mines for educational purposes. The number of mines for educational purposes in Turkey must be decreased to 1.000 or 1,500.

The mines along Turkey's borders must be registered in a mine map. However, uncertainties about possibly mined areas of civil settlements in particular could not be removed yet. This uncertainty gives concern.

As a result of the "Mine Ban Treaty 1. National Review Conference" for a mine-free Turkey and a mine-free world the participants urgently call the Republic of Turkey to fulfil the commitments of the Mine Ban Treaty. (Fİ/EÜ/VK)