By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
8 July 2007
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) condemns in the strongest terms the arrest and detention on 19 June 2007 by the German authorities of Binali Soydan, a refugee persecuted by the fascist Turkish state. Soydan was treacherously arrested while on his way to the German Aliens Police to apply for extension of his residence permit.
The German government took this patently unjust action upon the request of the Turkish government for the extradition of Soydan. This action exposes the immense hypocrisy of the German government which talks about democracy while collaborating with the very undemocratic Turkish state in persecuting progressives like Binali Soydan who are fighting for the democratic rights of the people..
In Turkey, anyone who opposes the state is persecuted. Anyone who opposes the state terrorism of the Turkish state is called a terrorist. This fascist government has been reprimanded by the European Court of Human Rights for many cases of human rights violations.
Binali Soydan faces certain arrest and persecution if he is sent back by the German authorities to Turkey. He faces the possibility of being subjected to torture, isolation and other inhumane treatment that prisoners of conscience suffer in the hands of the fascist Turkish state.
Binali Soydan is a progressive and a democrat. He came to Germany as a refugee who suffered from persecution by the Turkish regime. He was previously imprisoned and tortured while in detention for opposing the fascist regime in Turkey.
For many years now, European governments have been using the so-called war on terror to persecute progressive emigrees in Europe who are fighting for democracy and social reforms in their home countries. They use the terrorist tag on leaders and members of liberation movements as license to violate their elementary human rights. These European governments thus expose their extreme duplicity and extraordinary hypocrisy.
We call on all progressive and democratic organizations and all people of good will to condemn the unjust arrest and detention of Binali Soydan and call for his immediate release. We call on all member organizations of ILPS to support all actions that may be taken to secure the immediate and unconditional release of Binali Soydan. ###
