RUE DE LA PRESSE 5

B-1000 BRUSSELS

PRESS AND INFORMATION SERVICE

Section "Religious Intolerance and Discrimination"

December 9, 1998

TURKEY

HRWF (09.12.1998) - Hannah Atekti, a Christian in his sixties from south-east Turkey, was assassinated by "unidentified" people on November 26 while guarding his flock outside his village, Besbin. He was the head of the last Christian family of this village. The announcement of the death of

Hannah Atekti has just been made to his son-in-law Isa Karakut, who took refuge in Belgium in 1995 because he was threatened with death by Muslims.

Since the beginning of this decade, thousands of Christians have fled from that part of Turkey because their security could not be guaranteed any more. Although the gravity of the situation is well known, the Belgian authorities persist in arbitrarily denying the right of asylum to Christians coming from that region.

"Human Rights Without Frontiers" has met Isa Karakut who since July 1, 1998 has been threatened with deportation from Belgium back to Turkey. He is a Chaldean Christian and the religious minority he belongs to is systematically persecuted both by the local authorities and by the Kurds.

"Human Rights Without Frontiers" confirms the persecution of Christians in south-east Turkey. However, the Belgian authorities think they there is no risk for him as he left behind his wife, Kitane Atekti (29), and their two children Ziver and Verine Karakut, respectively 7 and 5 years old. Though, what is true is that men are the priority targets of the religious hostility of the local population and that his wife wanted to stay in her village to take care of her aged parents. Moreover, in 1995, Isa Karakut's children were less than 4 and 2 years old. In such conditions, a travel of several thousands of kilometres was not conceivable. Up to now, the Belgian authorities have obstinately refused to take these local realities into consideration.

Isa Karakut will "celebrate" the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights mourning the death of his father-in-law, a victim of religious hatred, and waiting in anxiety for deportation back to Turkey