Activists claim security too tight at NGO forum

ISTANBUL (JP): Activists are complaining about super tight security at the NGO Global Forum, a talk paralleling the UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II).

The International Facilitating Group of the NGO forum claims there are at least 100 plainclothes police officers in its Takisla Building compound.

"These police are there with the sole purpose of observing participants and activities of the forum. They are not there for our protection... Many of them are carrying concealed handguns," the group said in a statement issued last weekend.

The 16-day forum will end on June 14. The UN conference on habitats will open today and end on June 14.

Some 6,000 NGO members from around the world, including seven from Indonesia, are attending the NGO forum.

Due to the atmosphere of intimidation, a number of NGOs have decided not to set up displays at the forum. NGOs from Turkey, who comprise half the participants, are especially feeling the heat.

Police have collected and carefully examined promotional materials. Some international NGOs have full-time police observers in front of their booths, according to the International Facilitating Group of the NGO forum.

The police closed down a gathering of Turkish NGOs called the Alternative Forum. It was organized by 33 Turkish NGOs to discuss the themes of Habitat II. Last Friday, the police dispersed about 45 people deliberating on the themes at the Alternative Forum.

Ercan Kanar, chairman of the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association, said the forum was planned to expose the evacuation of 2,657 villages in South East Turkey. The evacuation has displaced about three million people.

The association says that the Turkish government is not in the position to host the UN conference because of what the NGO calls antidemocratic practices.

On Saturday, dozens of NGO members gathered in front of an old building, which collapsed earlier this month, to condemn the police closure of the Alternative Forum and demand an end to police harassment at the NGO forum.

A middle-aged woman carried a picture of her son, who was killed when the building collapsed, through the crowd.

"The building collapsed while the Istanbul authorities spent millions of dollars to put in new paving stones and make the city pretty for Habitat II," NGO forum organizers said in a statement. (sim)