Hundreds face death in -ace Turkish show trials

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IN A new mass trial, this time featuring prosecution demands for no less than 261 death sentences, the Turkish junta has hauled 759 left wingers before a court in Amasya.

They face charges arising from the mass uprising FLAVOUR which took control of the town of Fatsa on the Black Sea during the turbulent struggles prior to the 1980 coup.

The left wing forces took over control of the town and repressed the fascist murder squads, setting up people's courts and tance committees.

The uprising was forcibly ended by a commando raid. Now the town's mayor Fikri Sonmez and many others face charges of terrorism and of responsibility for 90 murders.

Meanwhile, the number of death sentences demanded in the DISK trial has risen from 53 to 63. The state prosecutor has now asked for death penalties for seven members of the DISK Research Institute as well as Cetin Uygur, President of the Underground Miners' Union, Yeralti Maden-Is; Ahmet Yildiz, President of Halkevleri, the People's Cultural Organisation (set up by Ataturk); and Teoman Ozturk, President of the Union of Architects and Engineers.

• In the trial proceedings Celal Kucuk. an executive member of DISK, repudiated a statement he was forced to sign under interrogation: He said: ''This statement was signed under torture. I did not say anything. Not a word of that statement belongs to me. I was forced to sign it while I was blindfolded." In a separate development, the authorities have commenced a new mass show trial against lower officials in DISK affiliated unions. The state prosecutor is currently demanding sentences of up to 20 years for 51 officials of Gida-Is, the Foodworkers Union, accusing them of links with the Peace Association, and sentences from 5 to 20 years for 29 officials of the Independent Devrimci Kimya-is,, the union of chemical workers, alleging they had ties with the socialist organisation Dev Yol.

These attacks are part of a massive attack upon Turkish left wing, pacifist and liberal opposition forces by the Evren junta.

The Turkey Solidarity Campaign, fighting to expose and build opposition to these attacks within the British workers movement, has just published a new, enlarged issue of its Information Bulletin. Included is a major feature on Turkey after the referendum, coverage of the visit of a Turkish mine union leader to Britain, and wide coverage of the Europe-wide fight for solidarity with the Turkish working class.

Readers are urged to subscribe to the Bulletin, (f2 per annum), to join the TSC, and to fight for the affiliation of trade union bodies and Labour Parties.

Contact TSC, 52 Acre Lane, London SW2 5SP. in mid-February, but some local CND groups have already started planning.

CND canvassers will ask four questions - about Cruise, about Trident, about US nuclear bases, and about unilateral disarmament - and try to convince the unconvinced. In the CND magazine 'Sanity' James Hinton explains:

' 'The prospect of an election gives CND an unprecedented opportunity to translate popular support into real political influence. CND's role is not to endorse particular parties or candidates. Rather, it is to maximise the pressure of public opinion on the parties and the candidates Non-party This 'non-party' stance is particularly strained at a time when the Tories have just appointed their no. 1 demagogue, Michael Heseltine, as defence minister specifically to combat CND; when the Liberals are in alliance with the SDP, who made nuclear disarmament one of the main issues in their split from the Labour Party; when Labour has voted overwhelmingly for scrapping the Bomb, and a

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Socialist Organiser no. 116, 20 January 1982, page GRY LIBERAWLON Women saw.

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CRENS OPPOSTFIC DELIOS