Saturday, February 28, 2009
Early Day Motion in Houses of Parliament on Detention of Abdullah Ocalan.
Below is an EDM (Early Day Motion) that has been submitted in the Houses of Parliament on the detention of Abdullah Ocalan.
EVERY KURDISH PERSON IN THE UK SHOULD NOW CONTACT THEIR OWN MP AND URGE THEM TO SIGN IT!!
THIS IS A EASY YET EFFECTIVE WAY OF TAKING PART IN THE KURDISH STRUGGLE BY MEANS OF MASS DIPLOMACY.
PLEASE DO IT!!
Early Day Motion
EDM 907 DETENTION OF ABDULLAH OCALAN 26.02.2009
Oaten, Mark
That this House notes with deep concern the continued isolation and reported ill-treatment of Abdullah Ocalan on Imrali Island since 1999; further notes that in 2005 the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber unanimously concluded on his case that the applicant did not have a fair trial and that the Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee defined physical and psychological assaults against him as torture; believes that a fully inclusive and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey is possible and should be pursued by the Turkish government as a priority; and calls on the Government to raise the treatment and continued confinement of Abdullah Ocalan with the Turkish authorities and support a sustainable solution to the Kurdish question.
Signatures( 6)
Status
Oaten, Mark Bottomley, Peter Dismore, Andrew Durkan, Mar Jones, Lynne McDonnell, John
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
I'm Speechless!
THE "UNKNOWN LANGUAGE"
by Mizgin at Rasti.
"All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue."~ The UN.
Ahmet Türk speaks Kurdish in Parliament for UNESCO's International Mother Language Day and Meclis TV/TRT 3 (Turkey's version of CSPAN) cuts its live broadcast of the DTP leader.According to Hürriyet, Türk was cut off "because using a language other than Turkish in speeches in Parliamentary is forbidden under the Constitution of the Republic.
"Well, so the hell what? Let's remember that TRT 6, aka TRT CEHŞ aka KORUCU TV, Turkey's first channel broadcasting in the "unknown language"--is completely in violation of broadcasting laws and Katil Erdoğan is allowed to speak the "unknowwn language". Şerafettın Elçi goes around making political speeches in the "unknown language".
But nothing happens to Turks or fake Kurds who use the "unknown language", does it?Yet the "unknown language"--oh, by the way they use this term of stupidity of "unknown language" because they're so freakin' racist that to say the words "Kurd" or "Kurdish" would absolutely choke them to death--yet the "unknown language" is forbidden in prisons--especially if you're an "unknown language" person prisoner and you have visitors who speak nothing but the "unknown language"; it's forbidden for use by political parties for political purposes; it's forbidden for use in correspondence by associations; it's forbidden for use in sermons; and it's forbidden for use in naming "unknown language" persons if said "unknown language" persons have a name in the "unknown language" that contains one of the FORBIDDEN LETTERS!
For more on that see IHD General President Öztürk Türkdoğan's speech at the EUTCC's 5th International Conference on the EU, Turkey, and the "Unknown Language" Persons (copy-and-paste: http://kurdish-info.net/News-sid-Oeztuerk-Tuerkdogan-lawyer-General-President-12392.html ) And if you happen to be an "unknown language" person infant with the FORBIDDEN LETTERS in your name, you will be refused medical treatment!Why is it that when Katil Erdoğan invites Shimon Peres to speak in the TBMM, and Peres makes his speech in another "unknown language", Katil Erdoğan and Peres are not investigated?
Moreover, why is it when I have to write about stuff about this, I feel like I'm writing from the Twilight Zone?Ahmet Türk and the DTP are following in the honorable steps of Leyla Zana and the DEP parliamentarians so let us see just how far the investigation will go. For the time being, just as in Leyla Zana's time, Kurdish is still forbidden for Kurds.
Happy Freakin' Belated International Mother Language Day, Kurdistan!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP Fund the Killing of Palestinians.
Don't let the Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan's, 'crocodile tears' for Palestinians fool anybody. If anybody is of any doubt that Israel helps Turkey kill Kurds and Turkey helps Israel kill Palestinians then they only have to read the details of the military cooperation and arms sales between the two countries. No argument! Facts speak louder than crocodile opportunistic electioneering tears!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Ehmede Xani, the Father of Kurdish Nationalism.
The Kurds have been struggling for a nation for thousands of years.
Ehmede Xani, the Kurdish philosopher and poet, put it very well in 1692, when writing of the situation of the Kurds then, he wrote the poem, Our Trouble. When reading this beautiful and profoundly prophetic poem, what strikes you, troubles you, is just how little has changed in over 300 years and how Xani's message of unity is as relevant today as then.
Our Trouble
Bartender, for the love of God, please
Pour some wine into the crystal glass. [6]
Let the glass of wine reveal to the world.
Let there appear here whatever we wish.
Let events ahead of us come to light.
Let us know if the future holds promise for us.
Look, our misfortune has reached its peak.
Will conditions improve, do you think?
Or will they remain,
Until upon us comes the end of time?
Is it possible, I wonder, that for us, too,
A star will emerge out of the firmament?
Let lady luck be on our side for once.
Let there emerge from within us, too
One to shoulder the earth.
Let there be a king of our own.
Let his sword attest to our might.
Let the might of is pen be known.
Let there be an answer to our trouble.
Let there be a demand for our knowledge.
If we had an exalted leader,
Of good deeds wanting a poem,
Our bullion, too, would be stamped.
It would not be so unwanted and suspect.
However pure and clean they may be,
Value is added to gold and silver with a stamp.
If we had a king,
If God saw him deserving of a crown,
If a throne was appointed to him,
Our luck would turn around.
If he was provided with a crown
O course, for us, there would be respect.
He would feel sorry for us orphans.
He would set us free from bondage to the craven.
They would not be victorious over us, these Turks.
Ours would not turn into ghost towns.
We would not become fugitives: dispossessed, wretched.
We would not bow our head in defeat to the Turks, the Tadjiks.
Although it is disgraceful to be their subjects,
This disgrace belongs to the persons of repute.
This is a matter of honor of the chiefs, the leaders!
What can the troubadours and the dispossessed do?
Whoever took the mighty sword in his hand,
Established in manly manner a state.
Because the world is like a prize bride,
Its fate, too, determined by the mighty sword.
But its dowry, trousseau, jewels and wedding presents
Are goodness, generosity, kindness and forgiveness.
I asked the world, "What is your dowry?"
"Benevolence", it said to me.
In short, "With the sword and goodness,
The world submits and bows its head to man."
I am puzzled by God's wisdom:
In this world of states,
Why have the Kurds remained stateless, dispossessed?
For what crime have they become fugitives, condemned?
Like a great wall, the Kurds stand between the Turks and the Persians.
Here and there are the Kurds, occupying all four corners. [7]
Both sides make the Kurdish clans
Targets of their poison-tipped arrows.
As if the Kurds hold the key to crossing the borders,
Each clan is as strong as a great wall.
Yet however rough and stormy they get,
This Turkish ocean and Persian sea,
It is the Kurds who are spattered with blood
And, like a rampart, separate the two.
Generosity, benevolence, bravery,
Chivalry, guardianship and valor,
All are credited to the Kurdish clans.
The fame of their sword and their benevolence is far-flung.
To the same extent, they cherish freedom and independence.
It is submission and obligation they detest.
Yet this spirit of independence and exalted benevolence
Has become the obstacle to shouldering the burden of obligation.
Because of this, they are always without unity,
Divided and pitched against one another, they stand.
If we had unity amongst ourselves,
If we all, together, obeyed one another,
The Turks, the Arabs and the Persians
Would one and all be in our servitude.
Then would we perfect the art of government and religion.
Then would we acquire all wisdom and command all nature.
Wheat would be separated from the chaff
And the real achievers would come forth.
1: Xani refers to the tradition of writing in Arabic and Persian
2: 'Books' refers to the Holy Books of the Torah, the Bible and the Quran
3: Ciziri, Heriri and Teyra are three masters of the Kurdish Literature preceding Xani
4: 'Counterfeit jewels' presumably refers to Arabic and Persian words
5: Mirza is Kurdish for 'prince' and is also used as a name for a male
6: Xani refers to the legendary crystal ball of the ancient King Jamshid who could see into the future
7: 'four corners' relates to the saying 'Four Corners of the world'
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Kurdish Reality in Turkey.
Hevallo adds:Its not often you get a mainstream article like the one below so enjoy.
Ankara (AsiaNews) - At least 86 Kurds are under arrest following numerous clashes yesterday, the tenth anniversary of the capture of Abdullah Ocalan, which took place on February 15, 1999.
The founder and leader of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party, a separatist organization identified as a terrorist group by Europe and the United States) was sentenced to death for treason, but in 2002 his sentence was commuted to life in prison, and since then he has been held on the prison island of Imrali in the Sea of Marmara.
Thousands of Kurds took to the streets in the southeast part of the country, to protest against his imprisonment and call for his release. The Kurds threw rocks at the armored vehicles of the police, who responded with tear gas and fire hoses.
The clashes demonstrate the severe tension still in place between the Kurdish population and Ankara, in spite of the fact that the government is doing everything it can, by hook or by crook, to eliminate the "Kurdish problem" by wiping out the rebels or of integrating the civilians into Turkish culture.
But a truly democratic solution is a long way off.The military option, and openness
On one level, in fact, since the military received parliamentary authorization (in 2007), there has been an uninterrupted operation by the Turkish air force in northern Iraq, to eliminate the logistical installations of the PKK from the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq.
A number of raids have been carried out, and a total of 1,049 members of the PKK are believed to have been "neutralized" in less than two years. Last week, it was announced that 13 Kurdish rebels had been killed in Iraqi territory. On another level, together with the military efforts, the state is trying to reassure the Turkish population in the face of the daily threat of terrorism, with new gestures of openness.
In early January of this year, it launched a new television channel for the Kurds - 20% of the Turkish population - in their own language, which had long been prohibited. Films, documentaries, music programs, news in Kurdish, 24 hours a day. For the inauguration of the nationwide channel Trt6, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself said a few words in Kurdish.
But from the beginning, the initiative has been greeted with mistrust by Kurdish political leaders, who believe it is a move by the government to remove support from the DTP (Democratic Society Party), the only Kurdish party with legal recognition and seats in parliament.
The leading national cultural organizations have also called this "move" a "ruse," just another propaganda tool for the majority government of the Islamic party AKP, led by Erdogan. Administrative elections will be held at the end of March, and the opening of the new channel has been denounced as another attempt to "soften" Kurdish voters, in the hope of convincing them to vote for the AKP, support for which is plunging according to the latest surveys.
Censorship
Many artists had enthusiastically welcomed the Turkish government's invitation to participate in the new television channel. But now they are having second thoughts, since in reality - as Kurdish artist Ozan Yusuf has charged - "it is not possible to say what you really think on Trt6."
When he appeared on one program, he was even asked explicitly to avoid using certain terms, like "Amed" ("Diyarbakir" in Kurdish) and "Berfin" (flower), because these are used by political organizations. "Trt6," the artist observes bitterly, "is using us to keep alive the policy of assimilation that has always been carried forward in this country."
In addition to this internal censorship, the even more serious form of public censorship also continues. Every day, Kurdish personalities are charged and forced to go to court for using their mother tongue.
The president of the lawyers' guild in Diyarbakir is facing up to three years in prison for ordering schedules to be printed in both Turkish and Kurdish; a candidate to be mayor of Van, Bekir Kaya, is again on trial for using a banner displaying the word "Wan" ("Van" in Kurdish), and has been charged for delivering a campaign speech in Kurdish last January 28.
Many DTP members of parliament are on trial for using Kurdish in their campaign speeches and writings; the mayor of the district of Sur, Abdullah Demirbaş, was removed from his post in 2007 for distributing flyers written in Kurdish; a lawsuit is also underway against the current mayor of Diyarbakır, Osman Baydemir, for permitting the use of Kurdish on posters and publicity materials, and he has been prohibited from speaking to crowds.
Various singers, writers, and journalists - but also ordinary citizens - have been sentenced for using the Kurdish language. The charge is always the same: "no language except for Kurdish can be used in electoral campaigns." This Turkish democracy is truly incomprehensible. Source:Asia News.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Kurdish Resistance in Cizre!
Of all the photos, videos and images from the 10th Anniversary of 15th Feb 1999 this is my favourite. (Click on photo for enlargement)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Millions will take to the Streets for 'Serok Apo'!
Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan! Freedom for the Kurdish People!
Join the Kurdish demonstration on
Sunday 15 February
Start 1pm at Seven Sisters station (Victoria Line)
Start 1pm at Seven Sisters station (Victoria Line)
For information call Arzu 07960302192
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Justice and Freedom for the Kurdish People!
Freedom for Mr. Ocalan
The 15th of February marks the 10th anniversary of the abduction of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan. Mr. Ocalan is acknowledged by millions of Kurdish people around the world as their chosen political representative. The Kurdish people have been deprived of their basic human rights for the past century. Denied their homeland, language and culture, Kurds have struggled for decades for the basic freedoms many people take for granted.
Mr. Ocalan was abducted whilst on a mission to promote a peaceful solution for the Kurdish people ending the many years of persecution they have suffered. A solution acknowledging the basic rights enshrined in the United Nation’s adopted and proclaimed Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Rather than seizing the opportunity to support this peace initiative world leaders washed their hands and in some cases conspired with the Turkish state to undermine Mr. Ocalan’s efforts.
Mr Ocalan was illegally abducted by the Turkish secret services and then subjected to a show trial which was ruled as unjust by the European Court of Human Right’s together with Mr Ocalan’s subsequent imprisonment in isolation on the prison island of Imrali.
♣ The international community have neglected their responsibilities by pretending that the Kurdish Question does not exist or have tried to criminalise the Kurdish people under the guise of the so-called “War on Terrorism”
♣ Turkey’s future lies within the European Union. Membership of the European Union could offer the best possibility of Peace in Kurdistan. The European Union must make a just solution to the Kurdish Question a central part of Turkey’s accession process.
♣ Mr. Abdullah Ocalan can play a key role in a lasting and just solution to the Kurdish Question, the international community must encourage Turkey to release Mr. Ocalan and allow him to play an active part in brokering peace.
The Kurdish people have gathered today to demonstrate their desire for peace and the freedom to live as Kurds in their own country.
In spite of his 10 years of solitary confinement, the Kurdish people’s leader Mr. Abdullah Ocalan is still the only person offering viable projects for a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish Question in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria and for the Middle East.
The militaristic Turkish state has responded by making access to Mr. Ocalan increasingly difficult for his lawyers and family. For the Kurdish people Mr. Ocalan represents what Nelson Mandela did for the South African people and people all around the world in the struggle against Apartheid.
This is why we say ‘Enough is Enough’! We, as the Kurdish people, want an end to violence.
This is why we call upon the international community to support us in calling for an end to all military operations in Turkey and Kurdistan and international support for an inclusive and just peace process.
Freedom for Mr. Abdullah Ocalan
The 15th of February marks the 10th anniversary of the abduction of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan. Mr. Ocalan is acknowledged by millions of Kurdish people around the world as their chosen political representative. The Kurdish people have been deprived of their basic human rights for the past century. Denied their homeland, language and culture, Kurds have struggled for decades for the basic freedoms many people take for granted.
Mr. Ocalan was abducted whilst on a mission to promote a peaceful solution for the Kurdish people ending the many years of persecution they have suffered. A solution acknowledging the basic rights enshrined in the United Nation’s adopted and proclaimed Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Rather than seizing the opportunity to support this peace initiative world leaders washed their hands and in some cases conspired with the Turkish state to undermine Mr. Ocalan’s efforts.
Mr Ocalan was illegally abducted by the Turkish secret services and then subjected to a show trial which was ruled as unjust by the European Court of Human Right’s together with Mr Ocalan’s subsequent imprisonment in isolation on the prison island of Imrali.
♣ The international community have neglected their responsibilities by pretending that the Kurdish Question does not exist or have tried to criminalise the Kurdish people under the guise of the so-called “War on Terrorism”
♣ Turkey’s future lies within the European Union. Membership of the European Union could offer the best possibility of Peace in Kurdistan. The European Union must make a just solution to the Kurdish Question a central part of Turkey’s accession process.
♣ Mr. Abdullah Ocalan can play a key role in a lasting and just solution to the Kurdish Question, the international community must encourage Turkey to release Mr. Ocalan and allow him to play an active part in brokering peace.
The Kurdish people have gathered today to demonstrate their desire for peace and the freedom to live as Kurds in their own country.
In spite of his 10 years of solitary confinement, the Kurdish people’s leader Mr. Abdullah Ocalan is still the only person offering viable projects for a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish Question in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria and for the Middle East.
The militaristic Turkish state has responded by making access to Mr. Ocalan increasingly difficult for his lawyers and family. For the Kurdish people Mr. Ocalan represents what Nelson Mandela did for the South African people and people all around the world in the struggle against Apartheid.
This is why we say ‘Enough is Enough’! We, as the Kurdish people, want an end to violence.
This is why we call upon the international community to support us in calling for an end to all military operations in Turkey and Kurdistan and international support for an inclusive and just peace process.
Freedom for Mr. Abdullah Ocalan
Friday, February 13, 2009
Abdullah Ocalan Calls for Dialogue to Kurdish Question in Turkey.
Ocalan urges Turkey to resolve Kurdish conflict
By SELCAN HACAOGLU
Associated Press
2009-02-12 09:16 PM
Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan urged Turkish leaders to spend less time addressing the Palestinian issue and more on resolving Turkey's Kurdish conflict, a lawyer said Thursday.
Ocalan made the comments Wednesday during his weekly meeting with his legal team on the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul, said lawyer Muharrem Sahin.
Ocalan called for dialogue between Turkey's government and Kurds as the 10th anniversary of Ocalan's capture comes up on Feb. 15. Thousands of Kurds in Turkey and Europe are preparing to protest his capture.
Sahin quoted Ocalan as saying Turkey's leaders would have "quickly solved this (Kurdish) problem if they had diverted some of their concern away from the Palestinian issue."
There was no immediate comment from the Turkish government, which usually refrains from responding to remarks by Ocalan.
Turkey's Islamic-rooted government has been engaged in peace-mediating efforts for Gaza, advocating a policy of engaging the Islamic militant group Hamas, which has been shunned by Israel, the West and some Arab nations.
Turkey refuses dialogue with Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, but has recently granted more cultural rights to Kurds and launched 24-hour Kurdish language broadcasts by state television in line with demands from the European Union.
The rebel group, however, claims the Kurdish language channel is only a cosmetic change.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Analysis: Prospects for Peace; Turkey and the Kurdish Question.
PROSPECTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC, PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO THE KURDISH QUESTION IN TURKEY.
by Adem Uzun of the Kurdish National Congress (KNK).
We are now at a stage where the forces of democracy and international public opinion are pressing Turkey for a permanent solution to the Kurdish problem.
As the facts are well known, for decades past, the Kurds and the Kurdish movement had been subjected to ever-intensifying practices of oppression, torture, military operations both inland and abroad, with use of tanks and heavy bombings. However, despite all of these assaults, the Kurdish movement could not be eliminated.
At this stage, a political change of direction has become inevitable for Turkey. Nevertheless, Turkey is still determined to continue with its liquidation policy. It is for this reason that instead of making constitutional reforms to acknowledge the Kurdish identity and rights, it is sufficing with some hollow, half hearted, fake steps in order to start a propaganda, claiming to have solved the Kurdish question.
In the continuance of this process, Turkey will claim “to have solved the Kurdish question, to have done everything that needed to be done, that there is nothing else to be done, and the rest is the problem of terrorism”.
With this, and before the eyes of the domestic and international public opinion, there is an intention to complete the preparation for a massacre of the Kurdish movement. There are numerous examples in this direction that justify our concerns.
For instance, in recent days public opinion has been dominated by an ongoing investigation called Ergenekon; in fact this is the “state within state” or as it is popularly known in Turkey, the “Deep State”. The investigation targeted a privileged section of the society, which has profited from all kinds of influence and which has been part of the existing regime for decades.
However, this process resembles the reconstruction of the ‘deep state’ against the Kurds, because, instead of the Ergenekon investigation and trial turning into an Investigation of Truth Commission, in an exactly the opposite process, crimes committed in Kurdistan are not being investigated at all.
For this reason, we are anxious that this investigation and debate are turned into a big deception. Consequently, only a short while ago, Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister of Turkey, confirmed how justified our concerns were when he addressed our people in Kurdistan by stating “Love it, or leave it!”
On the other hand, the popular official Turkish view still admits of no such thing as Kurds. If some progress has been made from the old Kart-Kurt to the present day where TRT, the state TV channel, is broadcasting in Kurdish, of course it is the result of the 30 years long struggle the Kurdish people fought.
However, the Turkish state is using this situation to try to detach the Kurdish people from their struggle, to weaken their willpower and to suppress them. Other than this, and despite the Ottawa Treaty, Kurdish lands are being saturated with thousands of banned anti-personnel mines, while like the historic Hasankeyf, dozens of settlements are planned to be drowned by dams like Ilisu.
Non-stop air and ground bombardment of civilian areas of settlement are aiming to create military buffer zones against the Kurdish movement.
Thus, a plan to develop a comprehensive military attack is afoot! Again, the Turkish Armed Forces are in preparation for a comprehensive cross-border war. In other words, it intends to shed more blood in Kurdistan.
The intention is to adopt what is being practised in Palestine and to re-enact it in Kurdistan. To achieve this, the classic divide and rule, divide and suppress approach, is being tried to be employed. For this, relationships were established with Southern Kurdistan in order to step up these efforts to use Kurd against Kurd to ensure that one neutralises the other. Relations with Iraq and Iran should be set within this similar framework.
The relationship with Syria is within the same framework. Within the same line, there is the fact of a strategic treaty and purchase of new armaments with Israel. Diplomatic efforts with the forces of Western capital are also within the same context.
This is all intended to make the world accept Turkey’s actions under the policy of “War against Terror”.
Turkey’s government and army have tried this method before. Upon the call from the Kurdish People’s Leader, Mr Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK has accepted the call for a ceasefire and in 1998, declared it unilaterally. Following this, Mr Ocalan advanced the step even further in order to prevent the war from worsening as a result of the international conspiracy when he was taken hostage.
And he called for the PKK to remove its military presence from Turkey. Despite having lost more than 300 guerrilla fighters in around 3-5 months, and the Turkish army not ceasing military operations, the PKK complied with this call and withdrew its forces.
This meant a few years there as a long period of quiet. However, instead of the Turkish state seizing the opportunity to move towards a permanent peace, it fell into the misapprehension of “having won the war, having defeated the PKK!” So no steps were taken towards peace and a solution.
Quite the contrary in the post 9/11 period, taking courage from “the war against terror” and the “you are either with me, or against me” doctrine, Turkey escalated the war yet again. Thus, the dissolution was deepened further. At present, despite stating that they wasted the opportunity, they are none the wiser in repeating the same mistake. This has only one explanation.
It means that the Turkish government and army agree on elimination mentality and have found support from abroad.However, someone has to tell Turkey that it has not won any war, indeed that it cannot win this war, and that Kurds are not a gullible or ignorant lot; on the contrary, Kurds have placed themselves amongst the honourable peoples through succeeding in re-creating themselves.
The Turkish administration should understand well that it could no longer rule Kurds in the old fashion. They have to consider seriously the democratic solution and peace. A denied Kurd and Kurdistan means an ongoing problem, rebellion and external interference. It means the entire Turkish state and people’s material and moral resources are being exhausted and rolling from one crisis to another.
It means loss of esteem and strength in Europe, the Middle East and the world!It is unfortunate that those profiting from the war in Turkey are being allowed to continue escalating it.
There is no limit and boundary for these actions. As much as 80% of incidents that are taking place in Kurdistan do not get reported in the press. There is bombardment in Southern Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) every day. Dust and smoke raised by US and Turkish planes reach the sky, where it joins with that raised by Iranian cannon fire. All civilian Kurdish people in the region are forced to live in fear and panic. What we have here is a grand-scale brutality and intra-state terrorism.
Secret meetings to liquidate the Kurdish freedom movement are continuously being held. This approach will not only fail to solve the problem, but it will also shed more blood.
Unfortunately, the EU countries do not act on this matter.The EU Progress report on Turkey was published 2 months ago. The report criticises Turkey on some matters, but fails to address the conflict in depth.
In other words, Turkey’s failure at democratisation, the army’s hegemony in politics, its disregard for human rights and freedoms are not considered from the perspective of the inability to solve the Kurdish question, which is essentially the most basic reason for the these failings. Also the recently published WEU report addressed the question in a similar logic, which is essentially concerned with listing the methods how to liquidate the Kurds.
More and similar reports could well be quoted. What we essentially would like to point out is that the EU’s approach is prejudiced, more so, it regards the matter within the framework of the demands of the Turkish state.
Let me explain: the EU reports portray the Kurds as bad, and uses all the Turkish Government’s sources as their data. Due to both the EU and Turkey not having any project, these reports are full of contradictions. As a result, the EU reports justify the state violence. So much so, that they justify aerial bombardments and land attacks on the Southern Kurdistan, i.e. Northern Iraq.
The EU report also consents to extra-judicial executions of Kurds, because it does not base any of the accusations against Kurds, such as “List of Terror” on any concrete evidence. The EU report also shows that European states are being taken hostage by US and Turkish policies.
The EU reports tend to impose [conditions] upon Kurds, even ignoring their democratic rights by telling Kurds what kind of leaders they should choose for themselves.However, a more objective approach will not only open the way to a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, but also pave the way to stability in the region.
We think it is time to see that the Kurds, who are divided into four countries in the Middle East, are the key to democracy. But, as a result of approaching to the truths from wrong angles due to economic, military, diplomatic and political interests bring about greater instability, more clashes and wider breaches of human rights.
Unfortunately, the outgoing EU commission’s practices bring about exactly that situation. Let us hope that the incoming EU commission due to take over in June will not repeat the same mistakes.Esteemed Guests,We are here today to acknowledge that this cannot go on as it is and a solution is to be found. A lot of debates are being held, a lot of reports are being published.
We believe a permanent solution is possible. Starting from the obvious fact that a solution to the problem will have a direct impact on the peace and security in the region and the world, I will try to portray the Kurdish point of view. It will be observed that if the approach is the correct one, the Kurdish question is the key of democracy not only for Turkey, but also for the entire region.
The opposite is to gain permanence to instability. In this context, whilst we have historic opportunities to solve the question, we also have the grave risks of new massacres and wars in failure. It is therefore beneficial to look into perspectives of Kurdish Solution in this context.
Three Alternatives for Middle East to choose
Due to the correlation and direct influence upon each other, if we were to look into the Middle East first; it is obvious that in the era of transition to democratic civilisation, the peoples of the Middle East have three main alternatives to choose from. The first one is the continuation of the “established regime”, i.e. preserving the Status Quo.
Thanks to the system of the established balance of the 20th century, this is the regime that has survived so far. But, both the hegemonic power of the system from above and the awakening of the peoples from below makes it impossible to maintain the Status Quo forever.
The status quo, which tries to turn dissolution into a way of existence, when forced, applies a bit of make up on its face, and/or tries to extend its life expectancy through conspiracies, is in the process of deepening isolation.
The second alternative is the mixed democratic regime with limited application, with greater emphasis towards practical aspects. The era makes interdependence more and more prominent.
The third stage of globalisation expedites this process. Also, the intra-national period leads the way to intra-corporatism. Nation state more and more becomes a corporate state. National capital is being replaced by intra-corporate capital. On the other hand, local cultures are getting more and more animated. Domesticity becoming the rising value.
In brief, this alternative can be described as globalisation and domestication gaining prominence under the given influence of these elements. Whilst this is the worldwide ongoing process, seemingly it is gaining probability, more so for the countries of the Middle East.
The inevitability to supersede the regimes of the old status quo renders this choice current and popular.Our third alternative is the peoples’ democratic, ecological society based on freedom of the sexes, attaching great importance to morality and is not focused around the state.
If the peoples and various free communities learn to live by developing the internal democracies, securing the social freedoms of the sexes, and meeting the ecological needs of the society, will enable us to get closer and closer to such a society and democracy.
If communal society and ethnic social arrangements, which are closer to equality, and which the peoples of the Middle East have lived through for a long time are amalgamated with the means of science and technology of the modern era, a more developed, democratic, ecological society, based on freedom of the sexes will be epitomised as the most noble value.
Three Paths for Turkey
Under the light of these alternatives, if we look at the reality of Turkey, we are faced with three paths and three tendencies. In the process of reform and transformation based on the Kurdish question, these three paths and three tendencies will try to remain permanent through the struggle between the relations and contradictions of the parties. The logical, moral and political education, organisation and action aspects of the struggle itself will determine which path and which tendency will remain permanent and dominant.
The first path and tendency is the pro-status quo, inward-looking, divisive and violence inducing nationalist paradigms and practices that had been exercised in the recent past. This tendency is charged with a racist nationalism on the Turkish side and by definition it is very hard-line statist old fashioned conservative without distinguishing between left and right. Armed with “a state of permanent paranoid perception, as a state, a nation, even a society they are under the impression that the last bastion of Turkishness is about to fall, the honour and true faith is at stake, and their schizophrenia is beyond salvaging. It does not neglect the requirements of Islam either, believing that this state of mind will sort out the situation anyhow. As opposed to a true conviction, a showpiece of Kemalism, is the widespread stance both within the state structure and the wider society. This tendency’s reflection upon the Kurdish politics is the form of rejectionism, “out of sight, out of mind” attitude, keeping Kurds excluded from the society and when rebelled, to suppress them with extreme prejudice.
The second tendency and path has emerged from the first one by means of an alienation process. It may also be called the weak liberal bourgeois path. The real emergence of it coincides with the globalisation boom of post-1980’s The ANAP experience, lead by Turgut Ozal was the first version of it. It aims at joining the supranational tendency for globalisation.
By definition it is not anti-oligarchic. It is far from being fully open to democracy. Rather than being truly democratic, it satisfies itself by exploiting democracy as a means to its own interests. Its clash with the previous tendency is on the basis of which one would manage to be more dominant. AKP is seemingly on the path of becoming the second version of it.
There is a strong possibility for its mask to fall especially regarding its approach to the Kurdish Question. It cannot possibly fight for long by hitting beneath the belt. Consequently, the AKP has no peaceful project regarding the policy on the Kurds. Although enthusiastic about harmonising with the West, it is not strong enough to determine a policy, let alone exercising it. Its entire hope depends on external forces having their turns to attack the PKK. Progressively it is becoming obvious that they wish to achieve certain goals by being semi-covert and not showing their true colours.
The third path and tendency is focused on civil democratic society and its base is the peoples’ search for equality and freedom under conjoint democracies. By smashing the racist chauvinistic code of nationality, this can be the common denominator of all cultures. Instead of the race based nationhood, it relies upon the country based notion of nationhood. The learning of, and the use of all languages, their unbound use without any restraint is a modern and widespread practice across the entire world.
The reform of the state is based upon liberating the state from the ideological role and to turn it into a technical means of service. The existence of cultures that are protected by international agreements, their free expression and continuing survival, the right to be free from being based from any ethnic entity, and not to press for any religious and sectarian segregation are the elements that need reforming.
Reforms that are not based on “Uniformed and Impoverishing Homogenous Equality” as opposed to “Equality in Difference, Wealth in Difference”, are being guaranteed by constitutional protections. It takes comprehensive precautions against mentalities and applications whereby women are treated as property. It adopts the mentality that a truly free society can only be possible by means of ecological. It also embraces so many but so much important elements.
The materialisation of this is closely related to the solution of the Kurdish question. The reflection of this tendency to the Kurdish question will be the foundations of e peaceful and democratic solution.Kurdish Phenomenon and the Kurdish QuestionAs I related above, in order to materialise each alternative in the realities of Turkey and the Middle East, a realistic approach to the Kurdish phenomenon, which plays a fundamental role to materialise those alternatives, has become imperative even more so then ever before.
The truth that has been acknowledged by everybody is that we have entered into an era that Kurds can no longer be ruled in the old way. For this reason, there is a great unease in the region. None of the established regimes are confident any more. Nobody is sure as to what the near future will bring. Every single day will bring about elements that will affect the disintegration in the Kurdish phenomenon. As to how the solution will emerge, in which direction, will be determined by the qualities and the tempo of the forces intervening to the praxis.
As to whether the process will reach a solution on the basis of the clash of two nationalisms, or whether it will reach a democratic compromise has entered into the agenda as the most burning two questions.For the first time ever, the internal relations of Kurds and their relationships with the neighbouring ethnicities and states has become an issue that concerns the regional strategies. Kurdish-Arabic, Kurdish-Turkish, Kurdish- Farsi relationships have entered into an era that keeps so many minds busy.
Under the given conditions two possible developments may be the subject of a democratic solution. The first mode of solution is closely related to democratisation process hand in hand with Turkey. To ensure this, as we have briefly dealt with, a state reform is essential.
There is a necessity to avoid putting visible or covert barriers in the path of democratisation process of the Kurds and the practice of turning laws into obstacles must be abandoned. Constitutional amendments must be made. Turkish and Kurdish peoples meeting on a common democratic platform necessitates some arrangements. The parties of the problems must be taken into account.
Here, the position of Mr Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish people gains great importance. Compromise and dialogue must be developed with Mr. Ocalan. Also; to end the clashes and achieve lasting peace a mutual ceasefire must be maintained.The second path to a democratic solution is for the Kurds to establish their own democracies.
If the first path is blocked, the path to enter is to establish the rules and bodies of democracy on their own. The latest local and general elections clearly showed that despite Kurds elected their own candidates, undemocratic laws and obstacles prevent such elections and their results from being enforced.
In the future if the prohibiting practices continue, the self-imposed democratic applications of the Kurds will be more expedient.Other than these, the remaining avenues are denial and suppression on the one hand and rebellion against such policies and war. The history is full of lessons on the subject.
Whilst the cries for democratization and democratic solutions are continually rising, they are yet to take their deserved places on the political agenda.
Not so surprisingly, however, many European, countries, even some African, Asian and American countries too, have intensely applied the democratic model upon the problems regarding cultures and peoples. This is the path that the world has taken.
The time has come and almost too late for those countries concerned with the Kurdish Question, perhaps Turkey first and foremost, to toe the line.
We are now at a stage where the forces of democracy and international public opinion are pressing Turkey for a permanent solution to the Kurdish problem.
As the facts are well known, for decades past, the Kurds and the Kurdish movement had been subjected to ever-intensifying practices of oppression, torture, military operations both inland and abroad, with use of tanks and heavy bombings. However, despite all of these assaults, the Kurdish movement could not be eliminated.
At this stage, a political change of direction has become inevitable for Turkey. Nevertheless, Turkey is still determined to continue with its liquidation policy. It is for this reason that instead of making constitutional reforms to acknowledge the Kurdish identity and rights, it is sufficing with some hollow, half hearted, fake steps in order to start a propaganda, claiming to have solved the Kurdish question.
In the continuance of this process, Turkey will claim “to have solved the Kurdish question, to have done everything that needed to be done, that there is nothing else to be done, and the rest is the problem of terrorism”.
With this, and before the eyes of the domestic and international public opinion, there is an intention to complete the preparation for a massacre of the Kurdish movement. There are numerous examples in this direction that justify our concerns.
For instance, in recent days public opinion has been dominated by an ongoing investigation called Ergenekon; in fact this is the “state within state” or as it is popularly known in Turkey, the “Deep State”. The investigation targeted a privileged section of the society, which has profited from all kinds of influence and which has been part of the existing regime for decades.
However, this process resembles the reconstruction of the ‘deep state’ against the Kurds, because, instead of the Ergenekon investigation and trial turning into an Investigation of Truth Commission, in an exactly the opposite process, crimes committed in Kurdistan are not being investigated at all.
For this reason, we are anxious that this investigation and debate are turned into a big deception. Consequently, only a short while ago, Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister of Turkey, confirmed how justified our concerns were when he addressed our people in Kurdistan by stating “Love it, or leave it!”
On the other hand, the popular official Turkish view still admits of no such thing as Kurds. If some progress has been made from the old Kart-Kurt to the present day where TRT, the state TV channel, is broadcasting in Kurdish, of course it is the result of the 30 years long struggle the Kurdish people fought.
However, the Turkish state is using this situation to try to detach the Kurdish people from their struggle, to weaken their willpower and to suppress them. Other than this, and despite the Ottawa Treaty, Kurdish lands are being saturated with thousands of banned anti-personnel mines, while like the historic Hasankeyf, dozens of settlements are planned to be drowned by dams like Ilisu.
Non-stop air and ground bombardment of civilian areas of settlement are aiming to create military buffer zones against the Kurdish movement.
Thus, a plan to develop a comprehensive military attack is afoot! Again, the Turkish Armed Forces are in preparation for a comprehensive cross-border war. In other words, it intends to shed more blood in Kurdistan.
The intention is to adopt what is being practised in Palestine and to re-enact it in Kurdistan. To achieve this, the classic divide and rule, divide and suppress approach, is being tried to be employed. For this, relationships were established with Southern Kurdistan in order to step up these efforts to use Kurd against Kurd to ensure that one neutralises the other. Relations with Iraq and Iran should be set within this similar framework.
The relationship with Syria is within the same framework. Within the same line, there is the fact of a strategic treaty and purchase of new armaments with Israel. Diplomatic efforts with the forces of Western capital are also within the same context.
This is all intended to make the world accept Turkey’s actions under the policy of “War against Terror”.
Turkey’s government and army have tried this method before. Upon the call from the Kurdish People’s Leader, Mr Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK has accepted the call for a ceasefire and in 1998, declared it unilaterally. Following this, Mr Ocalan advanced the step even further in order to prevent the war from worsening as a result of the international conspiracy when he was taken hostage.
And he called for the PKK to remove its military presence from Turkey. Despite having lost more than 300 guerrilla fighters in around 3-5 months, and the Turkish army not ceasing military operations, the PKK complied with this call and withdrew its forces.
This meant a few years there as a long period of quiet. However, instead of the Turkish state seizing the opportunity to move towards a permanent peace, it fell into the misapprehension of “having won the war, having defeated the PKK!” So no steps were taken towards peace and a solution.
Quite the contrary in the post 9/11 period, taking courage from “the war against terror” and the “you are either with me, or against me” doctrine, Turkey escalated the war yet again. Thus, the dissolution was deepened further. At present, despite stating that they wasted the opportunity, they are none the wiser in repeating the same mistake. This has only one explanation.
It means that the Turkish government and army agree on elimination mentality and have found support from abroad.However, someone has to tell Turkey that it has not won any war, indeed that it cannot win this war, and that Kurds are not a gullible or ignorant lot; on the contrary, Kurds have placed themselves amongst the honourable peoples through succeeding in re-creating themselves.
The Turkish administration should understand well that it could no longer rule Kurds in the old fashion. They have to consider seriously the democratic solution and peace. A denied Kurd and Kurdistan means an ongoing problem, rebellion and external interference. It means the entire Turkish state and people’s material and moral resources are being exhausted and rolling from one crisis to another.
It means loss of esteem and strength in Europe, the Middle East and the world!It is unfortunate that those profiting from the war in Turkey are being allowed to continue escalating it.
There is no limit and boundary for these actions. As much as 80% of incidents that are taking place in Kurdistan do not get reported in the press. There is bombardment in Southern Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) every day. Dust and smoke raised by US and Turkish planes reach the sky, where it joins with that raised by Iranian cannon fire. All civilian Kurdish people in the region are forced to live in fear and panic. What we have here is a grand-scale brutality and intra-state terrorism.
Secret meetings to liquidate the Kurdish freedom movement are continuously being held. This approach will not only fail to solve the problem, but it will also shed more blood.
Unfortunately, the EU countries do not act on this matter.The EU Progress report on Turkey was published 2 months ago. The report criticises Turkey on some matters, but fails to address the conflict in depth.
In other words, Turkey’s failure at democratisation, the army’s hegemony in politics, its disregard for human rights and freedoms are not considered from the perspective of the inability to solve the Kurdish question, which is essentially the most basic reason for the these failings. Also the recently published WEU report addressed the question in a similar logic, which is essentially concerned with listing the methods how to liquidate the Kurds.
More and similar reports could well be quoted. What we essentially would like to point out is that the EU’s approach is prejudiced, more so, it regards the matter within the framework of the demands of the Turkish state.
Let me explain: the EU reports portray the Kurds as bad, and uses all the Turkish Government’s sources as their data. Due to both the EU and Turkey not having any project, these reports are full of contradictions. As a result, the EU reports justify the state violence. So much so, that they justify aerial bombardments and land attacks on the Southern Kurdistan, i.e. Northern Iraq.
The EU report also consents to extra-judicial executions of Kurds, because it does not base any of the accusations against Kurds, such as “List of Terror” on any concrete evidence. The EU report also shows that European states are being taken hostage by US and Turkish policies.
The EU reports tend to impose [conditions] upon Kurds, even ignoring their democratic rights by telling Kurds what kind of leaders they should choose for themselves.However, a more objective approach will not only open the way to a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, but also pave the way to stability in the region.
We think it is time to see that the Kurds, who are divided into four countries in the Middle East, are the key to democracy. But, as a result of approaching to the truths from wrong angles due to economic, military, diplomatic and political interests bring about greater instability, more clashes and wider breaches of human rights.
Unfortunately, the outgoing EU commission’s practices bring about exactly that situation. Let us hope that the incoming EU commission due to take over in June will not repeat the same mistakes.Esteemed Guests,We are here today to acknowledge that this cannot go on as it is and a solution is to be found. A lot of debates are being held, a lot of reports are being published.
We believe a permanent solution is possible. Starting from the obvious fact that a solution to the problem will have a direct impact on the peace and security in the region and the world, I will try to portray the Kurdish point of view. It will be observed that if the approach is the correct one, the Kurdish question is the key of democracy not only for Turkey, but also for the entire region.
The opposite is to gain permanence to instability. In this context, whilst we have historic opportunities to solve the question, we also have the grave risks of new massacres and wars in failure. It is therefore beneficial to look into perspectives of Kurdish Solution in this context.
Three Alternatives for Middle East to choose
Due to the correlation and direct influence upon each other, if we were to look into the Middle East first; it is obvious that in the era of transition to democratic civilisation, the peoples of the Middle East have three main alternatives to choose from. The first one is the continuation of the “established regime”, i.e. preserving the Status Quo.
Thanks to the system of the established balance of the 20th century, this is the regime that has survived so far. But, both the hegemonic power of the system from above and the awakening of the peoples from below makes it impossible to maintain the Status Quo forever.
The status quo, which tries to turn dissolution into a way of existence, when forced, applies a bit of make up on its face, and/or tries to extend its life expectancy through conspiracies, is in the process of deepening isolation.
The second alternative is the mixed democratic regime with limited application, with greater emphasis towards practical aspects. The era makes interdependence more and more prominent.
The third stage of globalisation expedites this process. Also, the intra-national period leads the way to intra-corporatism. Nation state more and more becomes a corporate state. National capital is being replaced by intra-corporate capital. On the other hand, local cultures are getting more and more animated. Domesticity becoming the rising value.
In brief, this alternative can be described as globalisation and domestication gaining prominence under the given influence of these elements. Whilst this is the worldwide ongoing process, seemingly it is gaining probability, more so for the countries of the Middle East.
The inevitability to supersede the regimes of the old status quo renders this choice current and popular.Our third alternative is the peoples’ democratic, ecological society based on freedom of the sexes, attaching great importance to morality and is not focused around the state.
If the peoples and various free communities learn to live by developing the internal democracies, securing the social freedoms of the sexes, and meeting the ecological needs of the society, will enable us to get closer and closer to such a society and democracy.
If communal society and ethnic social arrangements, which are closer to equality, and which the peoples of the Middle East have lived through for a long time are amalgamated with the means of science and technology of the modern era, a more developed, democratic, ecological society, based on freedom of the sexes will be epitomised as the most noble value.
Three Paths for Turkey
Under the light of these alternatives, if we look at the reality of Turkey, we are faced with three paths and three tendencies. In the process of reform and transformation based on the Kurdish question, these three paths and three tendencies will try to remain permanent through the struggle between the relations and contradictions of the parties. The logical, moral and political education, organisation and action aspects of the struggle itself will determine which path and which tendency will remain permanent and dominant.
The first path and tendency is the pro-status quo, inward-looking, divisive and violence inducing nationalist paradigms and practices that had been exercised in the recent past. This tendency is charged with a racist nationalism on the Turkish side and by definition it is very hard-line statist old fashioned conservative without distinguishing between left and right. Armed with “a state of permanent paranoid perception, as a state, a nation, even a society they are under the impression that the last bastion of Turkishness is about to fall, the honour and true faith is at stake, and their schizophrenia is beyond salvaging. It does not neglect the requirements of Islam either, believing that this state of mind will sort out the situation anyhow. As opposed to a true conviction, a showpiece of Kemalism, is the widespread stance both within the state structure and the wider society. This tendency’s reflection upon the Kurdish politics is the form of rejectionism, “out of sight, out of mind” attitude, keeping Kurds excluded from the society and when rebelled, to suppress them with extreme prejudice.
The second tendency and path has emerged from the first one by means of an alienation process. It may also be called the weak liberal bourgeois path. The real emergence of it coincides with the globalisation boom of post-1980’s The ANAP experience, lead by Turgut Ozal was the first version of it. It aims at joining the supranational tendency for globalisation.
By definition it is not anti-oligarchic. It is far from being fully open to democracy. Rather than being truly democratic, it satisfies itself by exploiting democracy as a means to its own interests. Its clash with the previous tendency is on the basis of which one would manage to be more dominant. AKP is seemingly on the path of becoming the second version of it.
There is a strong possibility for its mask to fall especially regarding its approach to the Kurdish Question. It cannot possibly fight for long by hitting beneath the belt. Consequently, the AKP has no peaceful project regarding the policy on the Kurds. Although enthusiastic about harmonising with the West, it is not strong enough to determine a policy, let alone exercising it. Its entire hope depends on external forces having their turns to attack the PKK. Progressively it is becoming obvious that they wish to achieve certain goals by being semi-covert and not showing their true colours.
The third path and tendency is focused on civil democratic society and its base is the peoples’ search for equality and freedom under conjoint democracies. By smashing the racist chauvinistic code of nationality, this can be the common denominator of all cultures. Instead of the race based nationhood, it relies upon the country based notion of nationhood. The learning of, and the use of all languages, their unbound use without any restraint is a modern and widespread practice across the entire world.
The reform of the state is based upon liberating the state from the ideological role and to turn it into a technical means of service. The existence of cultures that are protected by international agreements, their free expression and continuing survival, the right to be free from being based from any ethnic entity, and not to press for any religious and sectarian segregation are the elements that need reforming.
Reforms that are not based on “Uniformed and Impoverishing Homogenous Equality” as opposed to “Equality in Difference, Wealth in Difference”, are being guaranteed by constitutional protections. It takes comprehensive precautions against mentalities and applications whereby women are treated as property. It adopts the mentality that a truly free society can only be possible by means of ecological. It also embraces so many but so much important elements.
The materialisation of this is closely related to the solution of the Kurdish question. The reflection of this tendency to the Kurdish question will be the foundations of e peaceful and democratic solution.Kurdish Phenomenon and the Kurdish QuestionAs I related above, in order to materialise each alternative in the realities of Turkey and the Middle East, a realistic approach to the Kurdish phenomenon, which plays a fundamental role to materialise those alternatives, has become imperative even more so then ever before.
The truth that has been acknowledged by everybody is that we have entered into an era that Kurds can no longer be ruled in the old way. For this reason, there is a great unease in the region. None of the established regimes are confident any more. Nobody is sure as to what the near future will bring. Every single day will bring about elements that will affect the disintegration in the Kurdish phenomenon. As to how the solution will emerge, in which direction, will be determined by the qualities and the tempo of the forces intervening to the praxis.
As to whether the process will reach a solution on the basis of the clash of two nationalisms, or whether it will reach a democratic compromise has entered into the agenda as the most burning two questions.For the first time ever, the internal relations of Kurds and their relationships with the neighbouring ethnicities and states has become an issue that concerns the regional strategies. Kurdish-Arabic, Kurdish-Turkish, Kurdish- Farsi relationships have entered into an era that keeps so many minds busy.
Under the given conditions two possible developments may be the subject of a democratic solution. The first mode of solution is closely related to democratisation process hand in hand with Turkey. To ensure this, as we have briefly dealt with, a state reform is essential.
There is a necessity to avoid putting visible or covert barriers in the path of democratisation process of the Kurds and the practice of turning laws into obstacles must be abandoned. Constitutional amendments must be made. Turkish and Kurdish peoples meeting on a common democratic platform necessitates some arrangements. The parties of the problems must be taken into account.
Here, the position of Mr Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish people gains great importance. Compromise and dialogue must be developed with Mr. Ocalan. Also; to end the clashes and achieve lasting peace a mutual ceasefire must be maintained.The second path to a democratic solution is for the Kurds to establish their own democracies.
If the first path is blocked, the path to enter is to establish the rules and bodies of democracy on their own. The latest local and general elections clearly showed that despite Kurds elected their own candidates, undemocratic laws and obstacles prevent such elections and their results from being enforced.
In the future if the prohibiting practices continue, the self-imposed democratic applications of the Kurds will be more expedient.Other than these, the remaining avenues are denial and suppression on the one hand and rebellion against such policies and war. The history is full of lessons on the subject.
Whilst the cries for democratization and democratic solutions are continually rising, they are yet to take their deserved places on the political agenda.
Not so surprisingly, however, many European, countries, even some African, Asian and American countries too, have intensely applied the democratic model upon the problems regarding cultures and peoples. This is the path that the world has taken.
The time has come and almost too late for those countries concerned with the Kurdish Question, perhaps Turkey first and foremost, to toe the line.
This was Adem Uzun's recent speech to the EUTCC International Meeting on Turkey and the Kurds held at the European Parliament.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Time to Release Apo!
Just to hear his voice was an honour.
Kurdish people would stop whatever they were doing, rooms would go silent, people would come to the TV and listen to his distinctive voice, that would electrify all who listened to him.
I remember working in Kurdish centres and tape recordings that were recorded in Damascus especially for that audience would be brought right the way over Europe and be played before an audience.
'An audience with Apo' would be the nearest that most of us would ever get to him.
'An audience with Apo' would be the nearest that most of us would ever get to him.
Then of course we all know people, 'who knew Apo' had spoken with him, lived with him, played volleyball with him, ate with him and met with him. I have known many such people over the years.
Many of course are now 'martyred'. Gone.
They all spoke with such great affection and love for this man who, frankly, against all of the odds, saved a people from forced assimilation.
For all Kurds who are now proud to be a Kurd it is to him, Abdullah Ocalan, they have to thank.
It was the Turkish regimes stated and formal intention to annihilate the Kurdish identity in Turkey and make all Kurds, Turks.
This is a historical fact.
Abdullah Ocalan and the PKK, began the resistance and defence of a whole people......he turned the tide from attempted cultural genocide by the Turkish state, where Kurdish people would deny their existence, and dissuade their children from learning Kurdish, to resistance and Kurdish pride.
Of the three great Kurdish leaders, Abdullah Ocalan, Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, where are they now?
Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq.
Massoud Barzani, President of 'Kurdistan'.
Abdullah Ocalan, Treason Trial prisoner on Imrali Island.
Not one photograph or image of this Kurdish leader! Just the mere suggestion that he has been mistreated leads to uprisings where people lose their lives.
Imagine how powerful this man is that he can strike such fear into the Turkish regime.
Why?
Because Abdullah Ocalan is The Kurdish Question!
Without him there can be no solution. For he led the Kurdish people from death and suppression to life and resistance.
FREE ABDULLAH OCALAN!
FREE THE KURDISH PEOPLE!
Please just take a moment just sign this petition.
Friday, February 6, 2009
UK AIDING TURKEY IN KURDISH RIGHTS CRACKDOWN.
Over the last couple of months it is becoming increasingly apparent that the UK Government has decided to increase its help to the worlds worst offender of human rights, Turkey, in it's campaign against the Kurds of Turkey.
Numerous stories are coming to light about the UK's Secret Services increasingly harassing and intimidating Kurdish rights activists who are carrying out legal activities in the UK.
In one story, one newspaper distributor of the legal Kurdish newspaper, Ozgur Politika, was followed by 'two English men in a car' who stopped at every shop that the distributor delivered his newspapers to and got out to record the name and address of the shop. The Kurdish distributor was followed on his rounds and when he'd finished they tried to follow him home.
Another man was stopped by UK plain clothes police, one who spoke Turkish, and was warned about the Kurdish magazines he was distributing. While another newspaper deliverer was given a stop and search leaflet purporting to be under the 'anti terrorism' legislation.
These stories come on the back of raids on the homes of members of the Kurdish community one month ago, with still no charges being brought and their possessions still with the police.
Kurdish rights activists point to EU legislation recently passed to crack down on the Kurdish groups in Europe. Both the UK Prime Minister and Home Office Minister Jacqui Smith have assured the Turkish authorities of their cooperation.
David Milliband the UK Foreign Secretary is coming under increasing pressure with unfolding evidence suggesting how the UK has been involved in the torture of UK and foreign citizens, it seems that the Government of the UK are not only now, turning a blind eye to massive human rights abuses but are now helping some of the worlds leading torture states in the suppression of opposition groups.
In the case of the Kurds from Turkey the UK government are now actively assisting the Turkish regime to suppress any Kurdish voice and it is vitally important that this is made public and spoken out against.
Numerous stories are coming to light about the UK's Secret Services increasingly harassing and intimidating Kurdish rights activists who are carrying out legal activities in the UK.
In one story, one newspaper distributor of the legal Kurdish newspaper, Ozgur Politika, was followed by 'two English men in a car' who stopped at every shop that the distributor delivered his newspapers to and got out to record the name and address of the shop. The Kurdish distributor was followed on his rounds and when he'd finished they tried to follow him home.
Another man was stopped by UK plain clothes police, one who spoke Turkish, and was warned about the Kurdish magazines he was distributing. While another newspaper deliverer was given a stop and search leaflet purporting to be under the 'anti terrorism' legislation.
These stories come on the back of raids on the homes of members of the Kurdish community one month ago, with still no charges being brought and their possessions still with the police.
Kurdish rights activists point to EU legislation recently passed to crack down on the Kurdish groups in Europe. Both the UK Prime Minister and Home Office Minister Jacqui Smith have assured the Turkish authorities of their cooperation.
David Milliband the UK Foreign Secretary is coming under increasing pressure with unfolding evidence suggesting how the UK has been involved in the torture of UK and foreign citizens, it seems that the Government of the UK are not only now, turning a blind eye to massive human rights abuses but are now helping some of the worlds leading torture states in the suppression of opposition groups.
In the case of the Kurds from Turkey the UK government are now actively assisting the Turkish regime to suppress any Kurdish voice and it is vitally important that this is made public and spoken out against.
Equally important is to monitor and report all and any police intimidation and harrassment against the Kurdish Community in the UK.
If you have any information about any police harrassment of the Kurdish Community in the UK, including searches of premises, cars and of person. Of letters, telephone calls, conversations, arrests or any intimidatory behaviour by the police towards the Kurdish community please contact Hevallo at: Hevallo@gmail.com
EU, Turkey and the Kurds. Meeting in UK Parliament.
EU, Turkey, and the Kurds
End the gross violations of the linguistic and cultural rights of the Kurds
For a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the Kurdish question now!
Wed 11 February 7-9pm
End the gross violations of the linguistic and cultural rights of the Kurds
For a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the Kurdish question now!
Wed 11 February 7-9pm
House of Commons, Grimond Room, Portcullis House, SW1
(nearest station: Westminster)
Hosted by Hywel Williams MP
Speakers: Emrullah Cin, Mayor of Viranşehir DTP (Democratic Society Party);
Hosted by Hywel Williams MP
Speakers: Emrullah Cin, Mayor of Viranşehir DTP (Democratic Society Party);
Lord Rea and Jonathan Fryer, Chairman, Liberal International British Group
A peaceful and negotiated settlement of the Kurdish question in Turkey has become a pressing reality on today’s international agenda, especially for the European Union, following recent alarming developments in Turkey.
The European Union is preparing for Turkey’s accession as a new member, as the Union moves to expand eastwards.
In this context there is both the urgency and an opportunity to exert influence on developments in Turkey, a country embroiled in a constitutional crisis and poised for full-scale conflict with its Kurdish population.
With the continuing violation of linguistic and human rights, authors, researchers, poets, journalists, publishers and other are being tried by courts, just because they express themselves in their “mother tongue”.
State school education in Kurdish is still forbidden, even as a second language.
Persistent Turkish efforts to criminalise members of the 'pro-Kurdish' party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP), and the ongoing proceedings against it with the aim of banning it; the recently threatened 10 years prison term for the Kurdish politician and Sakharov prize winner Leyla Zana; Turkey’s continuing failure to meet the EU's Copenhagen accession criteria that serve to ensure "stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities" (Europa, 2007); the refusal to respond to the 'peace process' and unilateral ceasefire of the PKK; continuing military operations into northern Iraq; the continuing pursuit of Turkey’s dam 'development policy' that threatens to forcibly displace tens of thousands of Kurds; and Turkey’s failure to meet her obligations under international customary law and her bilateral agreements with Iraq, there is an urgent need to address key concerns regarding the Kurdish population of Turkey.
Ending the gross violations of the democratic, linguistic and cultural rights of Kurds and other minorities would be a step in the right direction, both for the victims of Turkey’s discriminatory policies, as well as Turkey’s ambitions as a member of the European community.
In the words of Leyla Zana, the well known Kurdish politician and former political prisoner, "Is there another people that you know, with a population of over 30 million, one of the largest of its kind, that is devoid of its political, social and cultural rights, cannot even use its mother tongue?
Turkey has signed many international treaties and made commitments to the entire world. But ...Turkey does not fulfill its commitments."
The event is supported by the Kurdish Federation UK and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign.
For information contact Peace in Kurdistan Campaign Estella24@tiscali.co.uk
A peaceful and negotiated settlement of the Kurdish question in Turkey has become a pressing reality on today’s international agenda, especially for the European Union, following recent alarming developments in Turkey.
The European Union is preparing for Turkey’s accession as a new member, as the Union moves to expand eastwards.
In this context there is both the urgency and an opportunity to exert influence on developments in Turkey, a country embroiled in a constitutional crisis and poised for full-scale conflict with its Kurdish population.
With the continuing violation of linguistic and human rights, authors, researchers, poets, journalists, publishers and other are being tried by courts, just because they express themselves in their “mother tongue”.
State school education in Kurdish is still forbidden, even as a second language.
Persistent Turkish efforts to criminalise members of the 'pro-Kurdish' party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP), and the ongoing proceedings against it with the aim of banning it; the recently threatened 10 years prison term for the Kurdish politician and Sakharov prize winner Leyla Zana; Turkey’s continuing failure to meet the EU's Copenhagen accession criteria that serve to ensure "stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities" (Europa, 2007); the refusal to respond to the 'peace process' and unilateral ceasefire of the PKK; continuing military operations into northern Iraq; the continuing pursuit of Turkey’s dam 'development policy' that threatens to forcibly displace tens of thousands of Kurds; and Turkey’s failure to meet her obligations under international customary law and her bilateral agreements with Iraq, there is an urgent need to address key concerns regarding the Kurdish population of Turkey.
Ending the gross violations of the democratic, linguistic and cultural rights of Kurds and other minorities would be a step in the right direction, both for the victims of Turkey’s discriminatory policies, as well as Turkey’s ambitions as a member of the European community.
In the words of Leyla Zana, the well known Kurdish politician and former political prisoner, "Is there another people that you know, with a population of over 30 million, one of the largest of its kind, that is devoid of its political, social and cultural rights, cannot even use its mother tongue?
Turkey has signed many international treaties and made commitments to the entire world. But ...Turkey does not fulfill its commitments."
The event is supported by the Kurdish Federation UK and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign.
For information contact Peace in Kurdistan Campaign Estella24@tiscali.co.uk
Tel 020 7586 5892
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Turkey Tops Human Rights Abusers List!
Turkey tops list of Human Rights offenders in EU countries 2008
European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has today published its' annual report on judgements/applications to the court for 2008
The court delivered 1,543 judgments in 2008, 3% up on 2007, and 30,163 decisions, 11% up.
57% of applications to the court had been lodged against just four States (Russian Federation, Turkey, Romania and Ukraine), with the remaining 43% covering the other 43 Member States.
Top 5 offending countries against Human Rights in the EU 2008
1) Turkey 257 Judgements against
2) Russia 233 Judgements against
3) Romania 189 Judgements against
4) Poland 129 Judgements against
5) Ukraine 110 Judgements against
UK came 11th out of 43 with 27 Judgements against
Current caseload at the court 100,000 applications
Source:ECHR.
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