RIGHTS WATCH : Abuses in Turkey

When President Suleyman Demirel of Turkey arrives for an official visit to Washington this week, he should come with head hung in shame. Some 74 Turkish journalists were in jail at the end of last year for violating laws against free expression. According to Amnesty International, at least 26 people “disappeared” while in security-force custody last year and 11 journalists and distributors of a pro-Kurdish newspaper have been slain since mid-1992.

Now, Turkish authorities have extended their human-rights abuses to a foreign journalist for the first time. On Thursday an American correspondent for Reuters, Aliza Marcus, went on trial in Istanbul on charges of “provoking enmity and hatred by displaying racism or regionalism.”

What exactly was the alleged crime? Marcus engaged in the kind of reporting that is done legally in any civilized Western country, by visiting Kurdish villages in southeastern Turkey and describing how the Turkish military evacuates and torches Kurdish villages to undermine Kurdish guerrillas. She faces one to three years in jail.

Turkey is under heavy pressure from the European Parliament to liberalize its rule as a condition for approving a free-trade pact with the 15-nation European Union. The stagnant Turkish economy badly needs integration with Europe. The Turkish Parliament has until December to meet the European demands.

If Turkey wants better ties with the West, it must adopt democratic rights. It can start by eliminating repressive press laws and dropping the charges against Marcus.