Gunmen Wound Leading Turkish Rights Activist

Two unidentified gunmen seriously wounded this nation’s most prominent human rights campaigner in his office here Tuesday, provoking a storm of protest against the Turkish government for failing to protect him.

Akin Birdal, 50, president of the Human Rights Assn. and a critic of the government’s bloody crackdown on Kurdish separatists, was listed in critical condition with six bullet wounds--including three in the chest--from 9-millimeter automatic pistols.

Anonymous callers to local media claiming to be with the Turkish Revenge Brigade took responsibility for the attack. The obscure ultranationalist group has said it is responsible for the killings of several Kurdish and left-wing activists.

Human rights advocates blamed the shooting on government leaks that had accused Birdal of taking orders from Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish guerrilla commander based in Syria. That accusation, published last month by Turkish newspapers, was based on the purported confessions of a captured rebel field commander. “Birdal was portrayed as a target before the whole world,” said Aydin Erdogan, a lawyer who works with the rights group. “It was an invitation to murder.”

Other colleagues said Birdal had appealed in vain for police protection after receiving death threats. The Interior Ministry denied getting such a request.

Birdal’s secretary said two men in their 20s gained admission to the rights group’s national headquarters in an upscale shopping district in the capital on the pretext of inquiring about missing relatives. When Birdal directed them to another branch, they left but soon returned, the secretary said. Both men opened fire and left quickly, the police said. He was rushed to a hospital for surgery.

Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz blamed the attack on “forces opposed to peace and stability in Turkey” and vowed to bring the assailants to justice.

Turkey is a strategic U.S. ally and North Atlantic Treaty Organization member, but its police methods and human rights record are often cited by European leaders when they continually refuse to consider Turkey for European Union membership.