No specific information as to whether churches in Istanbul provide shelter to persons from Iraq could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. According to a Social Services Assistant with the International Catholic Migration Commission in Istanbul, some churches in Istanbul do provide shelter and protection for asylum seekers and refugees (17 June 1999). However, the Social Services Assistant was unable to provide further details other than to say that the majority of those receiving shelter in churches were, to her knowledge, Ethiopian and Sri Lankan men (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Reference

International Catholic Migration Commission, Istanbul. 17 June 1999. E-mail from Social Services Assistant.

Additional Sources Consulted

Middle East International. [London]

Middle East Report. [Washington, DC]

Resource Centre Country file on Turkey.

Electronic sources: IRB databases, Internet, WNC, LEXIS/NEXIS, CISNET.

An oral source did not provide information on the topic requested.

General information concerning the organization Dev-Sol (Devrimci Sol; Revolutionary Left; Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front; Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi; DHKP/C) can be found in the United States Department of State annual publication Patterns of Global Terrorism. According to the 1997 report:

The virulently anti-US Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) - formerly known as Dev Sol - conducted three significant attacks during the year: all were light anti-armor weapon (LAW) rocket attacks against Turkish security facilities in Istanbul. The three attacks were flawed in execution: on 16 June the rocket fired at the Turkish National Police (TNP) headquarters missed and struck a wall; the LAW rocket launched against the Harbiye Officers' Club on 14 July hit the wall of the building but caused only minimal damage; and on 16 September the DHKP/C fired another rocket at the TNP headquarters, which glanced off a wall and broke apart. The TNP's counterterrorism operations against the DHKP/C may be forcing the group to use less experienced cadre members and standoff weapons - such as LAW rockets - rather than the group's preferred close-in handgun assassinations (1998).

According to the most recent edition of the report, the group's was still active in 1998 (1999).

Another source of general information regarding Dev-Sol is the Website of the Intelligence Resource Program of the Federation of American Scientists, which corroborates the connection between Dev-Sol and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), adding that the change in name took place in 1994 (8 Aug. 1998).

A Website purportedly representing the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front, which includes press releases and online publications, may be found at http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc/>.

There are several reports of Dev-Sol and/or Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) activities in 1998. Two persons suspected of planning an attack on the Incirlik airbase in Southeast Turkey were arrested in January 1998; according to the BBC the suspects were "reported to be members of the Marxist group, the DHKP-C. The DKHP-C is a successor organization to the Dev Sol group" (4 Jan. 1998a). The same day another BBC report, citing television reports, stated that the two arrested "were suspected of being members of the illegal Popular Liberation Revolutionary Front, formerly known as Dev-Sol" (4 Jan. 1998b). In February 1998, an attack on a police station in the Gaziosmanpasa district of Istanbul was suspected to be the work of Dev-Sol (AFP 27 Feb. 1998). The DHKP-C was accused by the Head of the Security Department of involvement in drug trafficking in September 1998 (Anatolia 30 Sept. 1998).

There are also reports of Dev Sol/DHKP-C members facing legal sanctions in 1998 and 1999. On 26 June 1998, it was reported that three Dev Sol "leftist terorists" had been sentenced to death for their part in executions in the early 1990s (AP 26 June 1998; Anatolia 26 June 1998). In October 1998 it was reported that imprisoned Dev Sol members had begun a protest action in "the E-type prison in Cankiri" in support of protests in other prisons in Turkey (Milliyet 24 Oct. 1998). There were also reports of Dev Sol/DHKP-C members facing legal sanctions elsewhere in Europe: in Germany three Dev Sol members were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 to 10 years for attempted manslaughter and kidnapping (DPA 17 Feb. 1999). The report further states that the organization had split into two wings in Germany (Karatas and Yagan) and that the two had clashed with each other in 1997 (ibid.).Two reports also indicate that Turkey was attempting to capture and extradite Dev Sol/DHKP-C members from France and Belgium respectively in 1999 (Zaman 21 Mar. 1999; Anatolia 12 Apr. 1999).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 27 February 1998. "16 Injured in Attack on Istanbul Police Station." (NEXIS)

Associated Press (AP). 26 June 1998. "Turkish Court Sentences Three Leftist Terrorists to Death." (NEXIS)

Anatolia, [Ankara, in Turkish]. 12 April 1999. "Justice Ministry Working on Extradition Requests." (FBIS-WEU-1999-0412 12 Apr. 1999/WNC)

_____. [Ankara, in English]. 30 September 1998. "Dev-Sol's Links to Drug Trafficking Revealed." (FBIS-TDD-98-273 30 Sept. 1998/WNC)

_____. [Ankara, in Turkish]. 26 June 1998. "Dev-Sol Militants Receive Death Penalty." (FBIS-TOT-98-177 26 June 1998/WNC)

BBC News. 4 January 1998b. "Incirlik Bomb Plot Failed." [Internet] http://news2.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/newsid%5F44000/44597.stm [Accessed 14 June 1999]

_____. 4 January 1998a. "Turkish Reportedly Foil Airbase Bomb Plot." [Internet] http://news2.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid%5F44000/44538.stm [Accessed 14 June 1999]

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). 17 February 1999. "Three Turkish Left-Wing Extremists Given Prison Terms in Germany." (NEXIS)

Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi. n.d. "Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Front." [Internet] http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc/ [Accessed 14 June 1999]

Federation of American Scientists, Intelligence Resource Program. 8 August 1998. "Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C); Devrimici Sol (Revolutionary Left); Dev Sol." [Internet] http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/dev_sol.htm [Accessed 14 June 1999]

Milliyet (Internet version) [Istanbul, in Turkish]. 24 October 1998. "Unrest Among Kurdish Prisoners in Turkey." (FBIS-WEU-98-297 24 Oct. 1998/WNC)

United States Department of State. 1999. Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1998. [Internet] http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1998Report/1998index.html [Accessed 14 June 1999]

_____. 1998. Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1997. [Internet] http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1997Report/1997index.html [Accessed 14 June 1999]

Zaman (Internet version) [Istanbul, in Turkish]. 21 March 1999. "Work to Seize Fugitive Leftist Leader Reported." (FBIS-WEU-1999-0323 21 Mar. 1999/WNC)