Kurdish Human Rights Project Concerned about Inmates on Hunger Strike in Turkey.

KHRP Concerned by Hunger Strike Over Detention Conditions in Turkish Jail

KHRP today expressed concern about a hunger strike by inmates at the Erzurum H-type Prison in Turkey, in protest at the conditions of their detention and their treatment by prison staff.

KHRP’s partner organisation İnsan Haklari Derneği (Human Rights Association, İHD) reports that the prisoners began their protest on 23 February and that, with the strike ongoing more than a month later, they stand at risk of developing permanent health problems.

They are seeking to highlight abuses including threats and ill-treatment by prison officials, lack of access to legal aid, a prohibition on use of Kurdish in communications with family members, restrictions on access to publications in languages other than Turkish, and a lack of opportunities to mix with prisoners other than their cell-mates.

A KHRP mission which travelled to Turkey to investigate the situation of human rights in the country’s detention system in December heard consistent reports of such problems.

Other central concerns included overcrowding, arbitrary punishment of prisoners without adequate recourse to appeal, and the high proportion of inmates awaiting still trial.

The mission, whose report will be published in the coming weeks, observed that the overarching obstacle to the development of adequate human rights standards in Turkish prisons is a lack of proper accountability and independent oversight.

‘These kinds of ongoing violations of the human rights of detainees and their families in Turkey are a matter of deep concern to KHRP,’ said Executive Director Kerim Yıldız.

‘There is a clear need for the authorities to take concrete steps to increase transparency within the system, including engaging far more closely and openly with civil society, and establishing effective, independent national preventative mechanisms.’

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Michael Farquhar/ Kerim Yıldız
Kurdish Human Rights Project
11 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1DH
Tel: 020 7405 3835
khrp@khrp.org http://www.khrp.org/

Peace Now! Unban the PKK!

Peace Now! Unban the PKK!

by Alex Fitch.

This year Kurds in London celebrated Newroz, Kurdish New Year, in London's famous Trafalgar Square. Some 10,000 Kurds and their friends gathered to see and hear a programme of music, dance and speeches to welcome in the new year.

By Kurdish standards it was quite a restrained affair there were no Newroz fires, no fire works (casualties of health and safety obsessed Britain), and the cry for relief from the centuries of oppression Kurds have suffered in their homeland was enacted through an expression of cultural pride.

Despite this there was a reported air of victory and a feeling that the years of struggle were closer than ever to delivering the long yearned for freedom and peace.

Meanwhile, across Kurdistan and Turkey hundreds of thousands of people celebrated Newroz with an unstoppable enthusiasm and determination. The days when the Turkish state could get away with the wholesale public massacre of Kurds are in the past.

The crowds were beyond anything the security forces could hope to control without risking their control of the Turkish nation. The Kurdish people from Istanbul to Diyarbakir proudly and publicly displayed their support the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, which has defended the Kurdish people throughout the long dark years of Turkish State oppression.

Photographs from across Turkey show crowds displaying the flags and banners of the PKK and wearing t-shirts proclaiming their support for the freedom movement. Today the PKK remains a guarantor of security for the Kurdish people in the absence of a just resolution of the Kurdish question in Turkey.

The PKK continues its defence despite its political “banning” by Britain, the E.U. and the United States as a “terrorist organisation”.

In the light of the above it is more than a little curious that in Britain the security services, at the behest of their political masters, have at this moment cracked down on the Kurdish freedom movement in Britain.

While this is in line with what has been happening in the rest of Europe, especially Germany, it is ironic that at a time when support for the PKK is freely proclaimed in Diyarbakir it is oppressed in Britain.

In Trafalgar Square groups of slightly embarrassed - and certainly confused - police trawled the crowds attempting to confiscate a range of proscribed flags and banners. One young Kurdish woman with a PKK banner refused to surrender it demanding to see the official documentation entitling the officer to take it.

He replied that he was instructed to confiscate anything with a star on it. She asked if he would therefore confiscate the Turkish flag if she were holding that and then saw a group of American tourists wearing “Stars and Stripes” jackets and demanded that the officer request them to hand over their clothing.

By this point the woman had gathered a crowd of supporters eager to hear the officers reply, he backed off.

In another incident a supporter of the Kurdish freedom movement was told to surrender his PKK t-shirt which he refused and harangued the officer for being in allegiance with the forces of Turkish state repression. He pointed out the sea of banners of Kurdish leader Mr Abdullah Ocalan and asked about those to which the officer actually responded that he'd been told (correctly) that Mr. Ocalan was “a Mandela figure” to Kurds and the banners were therefore not a problem.

A fine example of where “I was only following orders” can lead you.

Ultimately it is not the British police or security forces who are the problem here, they are “just following orders”. While they do their duty as instructed, as they are paid to, they are not paid to consider the political justice or injustice of the many actions expected of them. At higher levels and in the “intelligence” divisions the story may be different.

Many in the security services know that the Kurdish people have a cause that is just. They also know that their political masters are sacrificing this just cause in a typically bizarre display of short-termism and Realpolitik.

There must be some in the security and intelligence services who, mindful of recent examples of where their political masters have known “best”, are telling their paymasters that a political solution to the Kurdish question is essential to peace and stability in Europe and that region of the Middle East.

In a region increasingly racked by religiously inspired hate and conflict the Kurdish freedom movement represented by the PKK is a breath of fresh air. With its progressive secular outlook and a commitment to grassroots regional democratic participatory society it sits comfortably with visionaries such as Altiero Spinelli whose vision of a united Europe shared much in common with that of imprisoned PKK founder amd Kurdish leader Mr Abdullah Ocalan.

While imprisoned Mr. Ocalan has not been idle but has continued the struggle for a Kurdish freedom based upon the common interests of the people of Turkey, and indeed Europe, as a whole.

Mr Ocalan's call for a democratic federalist solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey cries out to be heeded and offers a model for the resolution of similar disputes in other European regions.

The PKK is not al-Qaeda. The PKK has actively resisted the terrorism of the Turkish state against its own citizens. The PKK has opposed the cultural genocide waged against the Kurdish people.

The PKK is a secular organisation struggling for the right of Kurdish people to the type of freedom most people in Europe enjoy. The labelling of the PKK as a “terrorist” organisation is simply a ploy by a section of the Turkish state to continue its age old oppression of the Kurdish people under a cloak of legitimacy.

The “war on terrorism” most recently promoted by the corrupt and discredited regime of G.W.Bush has put back by years the work of peace makers everywhere. Not only that it has stoked the fires of hate that only serve to encourage the very acts that this misnamed “war” claims to prevent.

By promoting and allying themselves with this bankrupt and meaningless “war” in which the world is represented in a simplistic “friend” / “enemy” model European leaders have rejected an opportunity to facilitate as peace makers.

Not only this, but in an ideological system where only states count anyone who opposes the state under which they live risks denunciation as a “terrorist” while states that persecute their people can claim those who oppose them are all “terrorists”.

War does not only kill. It scars. It creates hatreds. It removes memories and it rewrites histories. The Kurdish people want to be allowed to live in peace as themselves alongside their neighbours as equals.

They want what we want.

The PKK and Kurdish leader Mr Ocalan are the key to peace in Turkey and as the trusted representivitives of the Kurdish people in Turkey their participation is instrumental in the peaceful resolution to the Kurdish question.

The PKK and Mr. Ocalan are ready to begin talks today.

The question is why are Ankara, London, the E.U. and the U.S.A. unwilling to support this genuine desire and commitment to peace?

The big question is why, when the Kurdish freedom movement has bent over backwards to bring everyone else to the peace table, why is it that there is either denunciation or and embarrassed silence from those who should be participants in, or who should be encouraging, the peace process?

Persecution in Turkey has not crushed the Kurdish freedom movement.

Persecution in Europe will not crush the Kurdish freedom movement.

It is time to reject the failed ideology of the “war on terrorism” and embrace a real and democratic peace process.

The PKK's proscription must be ended, it must be given the legitimacy it deserves as a legal representative of the Kurdish people in Turkey and must be invited as a party to the inevitable peaceful solution to the Kurdish question.

SIGN HERE: FREE ABDULLAH OCALAN

Mashun Kormaz, PKK Martyrs and Kurdish Freedom Struggle's Election Victory!

The Turkish election results (analysis from Mizgin at Rasti) are a victory for the Kurdish Freedom Struggle. A victory of the self sacrifice of the Kurdish people in their struggle for justice and freedom.

A victory for the sacrifice of Mashun Korkmaz and all of the Kurdish Freedom Fighters who have been martyred fighting for the freedom of Kurdish people in Turkey who have faced the attempted genocide of the Turkish authorities.

It is a victory for an oppressed people who have fought back against racist suppression and colonialism, despite all the dirty and dishonorable tactics used to crush their legitimate freedom struggle.

The Kurdish people's unstoppable and heroic struggle for freedom has suffered the most horrendous repression but has refused to give up their Kurdish identity and be assimilated into Turkish culture and language.

Today, the Kurdish Freedom Movement stands as one, stronger than at any time in its history and will not be tricked by offers of fridges, hand outs or conferences.

The AKP's offers of election bribes has shamed them and they are now fully aware of the strength of the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

The tricks being played out by Talabani, Fetullah Gulen, AKP and the US in trying to sideline the Kurdish Freedom Movement in Turkey by organising a conference without PKK is now shown to be what it is. Insignificant and a waste of time!

The message is clear, DTP stand with the PKK and the PKK stand with the DTP!

THERE CAN BE NO POLITICAL SOLUTION TO THE KURDISH QUESTION IN TURKEY WITHOUT THE PKK AND ABDULLAH OCALAN!

LONG LIVE THE KURDISH PEOPLE'S FREEDOM STRUGGLE!

SEHID NAMERIN!

Here is a good article written by Mazlum Aksoy for Kurdish Media.

For over two decades, the Turkish military and government have both chosen to characterize the PKK in a number of curious manners. Sometimes it is said to be a Kurdish separatist movement and all expressions of Kurdish identity are associated with the movement. Alternatively, it is asserted that the PKK is a fringe movement representing foreign interests and has no backing.

Both of these statements are contradictory and false, which is no surprise considering that those promoting such myths themselves live and breathe a number of self-contradictory falsehoods concerning the character of their own nation, with areas of democracy and separation of religion and state being the two most obvious spheres in which the hypocrisy of the Turkish state is most overwhelming and impressive.

Make no mistake about it, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is the major representative of the aspirations of the Kurdish people of Turkey. Turkey’s harsh policies against any and all expressions of Kurdish identity led the state to accuse anyone promoting Kurdish identity in any way of being affiliated with the PKK, and the oppression and brutality of the state has made these allegations a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Today Turkey is trying to use the Kurds of Iraq against the PKK and, by extension, against the Kurdish people of Turkey.

After years of insulting the Kurds of Iraq and only grudgingly recognizing their existence, while pointedly ignoring the very existence of the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Turkish state is now engaging a willing Jalal Talabani and making overtures to Kurdistan President Mesud Barzani and his nephew, KRG Prime Minister Necirvan Barzani via both official and nonofficial channels (with Fethullah Gulen being one of the most prominent non-official representatives of the state to recently enter Iraqi Kurdistan).

The Turkish state seems to believe that by engaging the Kurds of Iraq and opening a Kurdish language satellite network, they can placate Turkey’s Kurds without ever truly addressing the Kurdish issue, i.e., the root causes of the PKK’s revolt that began in 1984 and continues to this day.

Turkey has believed its own lies and overplayed its hand before, and thus this would be no surprise. However, even the most close-minded and willfully brainwashed of Turkish observers, one would imagine, could not ignore what happened a few days ago.

On the Kurdish New Year and national day of Newroz, hundreds of thousands of Kurds and their friends gathered to celebrate this holiday in both Diyarbakir and Istanbul. The rain of the previous day gave way to cloudless skies and sun as spring had finally arrived.

Under the watchful eye of Turkish ubiquitous security forces, defiant crowds welcomed the spring and expressed their support for Kurdistan, for the PKK fighters in the mountains, and for imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. Calls for freedom for Öcalan were a prominent part of the celebrations, as were other blatant expressions of support for the PKK and its fighters and martyrs. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds gathered to celebrate the holiday by their own volition.

They chose to chant pro-PKK slogans and chose to display pictures of Öcalan and symbols of the PKK. These are the same people who choose to protest each 15 February to condemn the illegal abduction of Öcalan, and these are the same people who will continue to support the PKK and Öcalan.

The PKK and Öcalan are central to the Kurdish issue in Turkey, and those who chose to ignore this fact are doomed to fail in any effort to end the war that still preoccupies NATO’s second largest army.

KurdishMedia.com - By Mazlum Aksoy
27/03/2009

Vote for Progress! Vote DTP!

Financial Times sees Support of DTP and PKK in Diyarbakir.

Hevallo adds: As usual, when a reporter actually travels to Amed/Diyarbakir and actually speaks to the people you get the truth. It is always blindingly obvious when articles are written about the Kurdish issue from newsrooms half way across the world relying on statements from the Turkish authorities that they are full of psychological black propaganda against the Kurdish Freedom Struggle and untrue.

But when, as below, when a foreign journalist actually goes to 'North West Kurdistan'/South East Turkey and sees what is actually true then all the labels and criminalisation of the Kurdish Movement fall to the ground and disolve.

Like this from the Financial Times:

Turkish election offers hope for Kurds.
By Delphine Strauss and Funja Guler in Diyarbakir


Plumes of smoke rose above the fields around Diyarbakir, in Turkey’s Kurdish south-east, from fires lit to mark the traditional festival of Newruz.

Under spring sunshine, families picnicked and dancers stamped in circles as Kurdish singers took the stage before a crowd of hundreds of thousands.

The peaceful celebration shows how far the region has come since the early 1990s, when violence between the army and the separatist Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) was at its height and Newruz was a flashpoint for clashes between demonstrators and security forces.

Diyarbakir has become one of Turkey’s hottest electoral battlegrounds.

The ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) is fighting to dislodge the Kurdish Democratic Society party (DTP) mayor in municipal polls this weekend.

Both sides say the result could accelerate efforts to end the conflict.

“Turkey’s on the right route ... but it’s following it slowly,” says Galip Ensarioglu, chairman of Diyarbakir’s chamber of commerce.

In recent months, Turkish state television has begun broadcasting in the once-banned Kurdish language, an important step for a minority that accounts for almost a fifth of Turkey’s 70m population.

The AKP has pledged to pump money into the south-east’s threadbare economy. The PKK is fighting a rearguard action from hideouts in the Qandil mountains of Northern Iraq. There has been no violence inside Turkey for three months.

Warming relations with Iraq could lead to a breakthrough. Abdullah Gul, the first Turkish president to visit Baghdad in more than 30 years, this week broke a taboo in referring to the “Kurdistan regional administration” in northern Iraq.

Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president and himself a Kurd, called for the rebels to disarm or leave Iraq. Iraqi Kurdish leaders will soon convene a security conference that could call for an amnesty and an end to the PKK’s armed struggle.

But first, Turkey’s government will have to persuade Kurds that it can protect their rights better than the insurgents, while reassuring other voters it is not caving in to terrorism.

The municipal campaign in the south-east is being fought for higher stakes than just city services. AKP victories in the south-east could “increase the chances for Ankara to ... clarify its intentions”, especially on the timing and scope of an amnesty for PKK members, says Yavuz Baydar, a commentator.

But the DTP looks set to hold on to its strongholds. Many in Diyarbakir are frustrated that the AKP, wary of provoking opponents, has not used its majority in parliament to make constitutional changes that would allow minorities greater rights and make it easier for Kurdish deputies to win seats.

“What are they waiting for? They don’t need anyone’s support,” said Sezgin Tanrikulu, a human rights lawyer.

Yet a convincing DTP win could strengthen the party, under threat of closure for links to the PKK, as a political alternative to violence. Osman Baydemir, Diyarbakir’s mayor, said it would force other politicians to take DTP deputies, ostracised since their election to parliament in 2007, more seriously.

But the DTP looks neither willing nor able to press the PKK rebels to abandon their fight for an ethnic homeland.

Leyla Zana, who spent years in jail for her firebrand speeches, won cheers from Saturday’s crowds when she reproached Mr Talabani for suggesting disarmament and said an amnesty should be the last stage in the process.

In Ankara, politicians in suits leapt awkwardly over Nevruz fires to signal official acceptance of a festival once considered subversive.

But in Diyarbakir, the local AKP candidate, Kutbettin Arzu, has an uphill task to win voters.
Men in a smoke-filled teahouse on the city outskirts are adamant in their support for the DTP.

“We won’t vote for any other party,” said Abidin, whose village survived the army’s scorched earth tactics in the 1990s.

They make little secret of their sympathy for the PKK fighters. “If you go to Qandil mountains,” says the waiter, “say hello to our friends.”

Financial Times. 25th March 2009

Kurdish People's Dream Edges Closer!!

Ahmet Turk's "Our Dream!"

Speech in Amed,

NEWROZ 2009!

“In the Kurdish area, there is still a logic of asking, ‘how can I fool and cheat the Kurds?’

But Kurds want peace.

In Ireland, the IRA was included in the dialogue.

In South Africa things improved once Mandela had been freed, then the doors of peace opened and black and white came together.

In Turkey, there can be no solution if Kurds are not considered.

The honourable Abdullah Öcalan needs to be freed.”

He added that the upcoming elections were “a referendum for Kurds.”

“If we show the power of our vote at the ballot, believe me, we will create a good future with you.

Our dream is the brotherhood of all people, our dream is the wealth of differences.”

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!

SEHID NAMERIN!

The Guardian, Kurds and MI5

Dear Editor,

Ian Cobain and the Guardian are to be congratulated for shining a light into the murky world of MI5 and their co-operation with countries that torture (Series of allegations that finally forced Brown to act, 19 March).

Your readers may also be interested to know that MI5 is helping one of the world's worst human rights abusers, Turkey, to suppress Kurdish political exiles in the UK. We are worried at the dramatic increase of detentions without charge, intimidation and harassment of Kurdish activists trying to raise support for the Kurdish cause in Turkey.

One disabled Kurdish woman was questioned for days in a police station, while distributors of a legal Kurdish newspaper have been stopped and searched under anti-terrorism legislation. On a recent Kurdish new year celebration in Trafalgar Square, some police were confiscating anything that showed support for the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

All of this intimidation has began since the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, flew to Turkey at the beginning of the year to promise the Turkish regime tougher action against the Kurds.


It is ironic that during the Kurdish new year celebrations in Turkey the Kurdish political exiles in London are being suppressed by the UK government.

Mark Campbell, Kurdish Community Centre, London

Hevallo adds: Photo above Newroz 2009, click PKK's Flag for more photos.

Published in The Guardian, 23rd March 2009.

Kawa and the Story of Newroz!

A long time ago in between the two great rivers Euphrates and Tigris there was a land called Mesopotamia.

Above a small town and tucked into the side of the Zagros Mountains, there was an enormous stone castle with tall turrets and dark high walls. The castle was cut out of the mountain rock. The castle gates were made from the wood of the cedar tree and carved into the shapes of winged warriors.

Deep inside the castle lived a cruel Assyrian king called Dehak. His armies terrorized all the people of the land.

All had been well before Dehak''s rule in Mesopotamia. Previous kings had been good and kind and had encouraged the people to irrigate the land and keep their fields fertile. They ate food consisting only of bread, herbs, fruit and nuts.

It was during the reign of a king called Jemshid that things started to go wrong. He thought himself above the sun gods and began to lose favour with his people. A spirit called Ahriman the Evil, seized the chance to take control. He chose Dehak to take over the throne, who then killed Jemshid and cut him in two.

The evil spirit, disguised as a cook, fed Dehak with blood and the flesh of animals and one day as Dehak complimented him on his meat dishes, he thanked him and asked to kiss the king's shoulders.

As he did so there was a great flash of light and two giant black snakes appeared on either side of his shoulders. Dehak was terrified and tried everything he could to get rid of them.

Ahriman the Evil disguised himself again, this time as a physician and told Dehak that he would never be able to rid himself of the snakes and that when the snakes became hungry Dehak would feel a terrible pain, which would only be alleviated when the snakes were fed with the brains of young boys and girls.

So from that dark day onwards two children were chosen from the towns and villages that lay below the castle. They were killed and their brains were taken to the castle gates and placed into a large wooden bucket made from the wood of a walnut tree and held firmly together by three thin bands of gold.

The bucket of brains was then lifted by two strong guards and taken to the wicked Dehak and the brains fed to the hungry snakes.

Since the snake king began his rule over the kingdom, the sun refused to shine. The farmer’s crops, trees and flowers withered. The giant watermelons that had grown there for centuries rotted. The peacocks and partridges that used to strut around the giant pomegranate trees had left. Even the eagles that had flown high in the mountain winds had gone.

Now all was dark, cold and bleak. The people all over the land were very sad.

Everyone became terrified of Dehak. They sang sad and sorrowful laments that expressed their pain and plight. And the haunting sound of a long wooden flute could always be heard echoing throughout the valleys.

Now there lived below the king’s castle a blacksmith who made iron shoes for the famous wild horses of Mesopotamia and pots and pans for the people of the town. His name was Kawa.

He and his wife were weakened by grief and hated Dehak as he had already taken 16 of their 17 children.

Every day, sweating hot from the oven, Kawa banged his hammer on the anvil and dreamed of getting rid of the evil king.

And as he banged the red hot metal, harder and harder, the red and yellow sparks flew up into the dark sky like fireworks and could be seen for miles around.

One day the order came from the castle that Kawa’s last daughter was to be killed and her brain was to be brought to the castle gate the very next day.

Kawa lay all night on the roof of his house, under the bright stars and rays of the shining full moon thinking how to save his last daughter from Dehak’s snakes. As a shooting star curved through the night sky he had an idea.

The next morning he rode on the bare back of his horse, slowly pulling the heavy iron cart with two metal buckets rattling on the back. The cart climbed up the steep cobbled road and arrived outside the castle.

He nervously emptied the contents of the metal buckets into the large wooden bucket outside the enormous castle gates.

As he turned to leave he heard the gates unbolt, shudder and slowly started to creak open. He took one last look and hurried away.

The wooden bucket was then slowly lifted by two guards and taken into the castle. The brains were fed to the two hungry giant snakes that grew from Dehak’s shoulders.

When Kawa got home he found his wife kneeling in front of a roaring log fire. He knelt down and gently lifted her large velvet cloak. There, under the cloak, was their daughter. Kawa swept back her long thick black hair from her face and kissed her warm cheek.

Instead of sacrificing his own daughter, Kawa had sacrificed a sheep and had put the sheep’s brain into the wooden bucket. And no one had noticed.

Soon all the townspeople heard of this. So when Dehak demanded from them a child sacrifice, they all did the same. Like this, many hundreds of children were saved.

Then all the saved children went, under darkness, to the very furthest and highest mountains where no one would find them.

Here, high up in the safety of the Zagros Mountains, the children grew in freedom. They learnt how to survive on their own. They learnt how to ride wild horses, how to hunt, fish, sing and dance.

From Kawa they learnt how to fight. One day soon they would return to their homeland and save their people from the tyrant king.

Time went by and Kawa’s army was ready to begin their march on the castle. On the way they passed through villages and hamlets. The village dogs barked and the people came out of their houses to cheer them and give them bread, water, yogurt and olives

As Kawa and the children drew near Dehak’s castle both men and women left their fields to join them.

By the time they were approaching the castle Kawa’s army had grown to many thousands.

They paused outside the castle and turned to Kawa.

Kawa stood on a rock. He wore his blacksmith’s leather apron and clenched his hammer in his hand. He turned and faced the castle and raised his hammer towards the castle gates.

The large crowd surged forwards and smashed down the castle gates that were shaped like winged warriors and quickly overpowered Dehak’s men.

Kawa raced straight to Dehak’s chambers, down the winding stone stairs, and with his blacksmiths hammer killed the evil snake king and cut off his head. The two serpents withered.

He then climbed to the top of the mountain above the castle and lit a large bonfire to tell all the people of Mesopotamia that they were free.

Soon, hundreds of fires all over the land were lit to spread the message and the flames leapt high into the night sky, lighting it up and cleansing the air of the smell of Dehak and his evil deeds.

The darkness was gone.

With the light of dawn, the sun came from behind the dark clouds and warmed the mountainous land once more.

The flowers slowly began to open and the buds on the fig trees burst into bloom. The watermelons began to grow, as they had for centuries before. The eagles returned and flew on the warm winds amongst the mountain peaks.

The peacocks fanned their beautiful plumes that glinted in the hot spring sun. Wild horses with long black manes galloped over the dusty flat plains. Partridges perched and sang on the branches of the pear trees. Small children ate ripe walnuts wrapped in fresh figs and the smell of freshly baked bread from the stone ovens reached their noses with the help of a light breeze.

The fires burned higher and higher and the people sang and danced around in circles holding hands with their shoulders bobbing up and down in rhythm with the flute and drum. The women in bright coloured sequined dresses sang love songs and the men replied as they all moved around the flames as one.

Some of the youngsters hovered over the flute, drunk with the sound of the music, their arms outstretched like eagles soaring the skies.

Now they were free.

To this day, on the same Spring day every year, March 21st, (which is also Spring Equinox) Kurdish, Persian, Afghan and other people of the Middle East dance and leap through fires to remember Kawa and how he freed his people from tyranny and oppression and to celebrate the coming of the New Year.

This day is called Newroz or New Day. It is one of the few ‘peoples celebrations’ that has survived and predates all the major religious festivals.

Although celebrated by others, it is especially important for the Kurds as it is also the start of the Kurdish calendar and celebrates the Kurds own long struggle for freedom.

The King is Naked! The PKK are Freedom Fighters!

The King is Naked.

"The King is naked!" shouted the boy. (The PKK are Freedom Fighters!)

An awkward hush fell across the crowd as excited murmurings ceased. Faces turned first to the youth sitting on his father's shoulders and then to the Monarch.

The child was triumphant.

He had been the first to see, or at least to say, the remarkable truth.

The King visibly stiffened at the sound of the small piping voice. The King's guards faltered at their reins and their horses reared causing the great palanquin to halt momentarily before lurching ahead.

The King pitched forward in a most undignified manner. Only a quick step saved him from toppling over. The King did not turn back to look at the boy who had dared lift the blissful veil of ignorance.

The delighted boy beamed as faces all about him in the crowd turned toward him in acknowledgment of his discovery. The sudden and unexpected silence was broken by the King's shrill command to his horsemen to better control their mounts.

The palanquin lurched forward again as the King's procession creaked magisterially down the royal thoroughfare. The boy felt his father's grip tighten around his spindly ankles. He winced as he looked down.

Although the temperature was mild his father's bald spot flushed an angry red. He leaned down uncertainly to his father's ear and reasserted, "The King is naked."

Then to make sure his father understood he added, "Isn't he?"

The father said nothing but tightened his grip still more.

Before the King had disappeared from view a halo formed around the boy and his father as the crowd drew away from them. The spectators began fleeing to their homes and livelihoods.

Some faces in the throng turned furtively to stare at them both, father and son. The sound of feet shuffling over dry pavement was joined with that of suppressed whispers.

The father turned on his heels too and tried to rejoin the crowd. Again the boy implored, "The King was naked wasn't he?""Quiet lad," said the father in a curt and unfamiliar voice as he turned into his home bolting the door behind him and setting the boy on the floor.

A passerby peered nervously through their window as he sped past."Boy," said the father. "You saw nothing. Do you understand me?""But why?" asked the confused and injured boy.

"Never you mind why," said his father with finality. "Don't let me or anyone else ever catch you saying that again. Do you understand me?"

The boy looked up at his father uncomprehending. "Do you understand me?" His father repeated with genuine menace in his voice."Yes," the boy lied, too shocked to argue. "Good," said the father.

"Forget what you said at the parade today and maybe no harm will come of it."But harm did come.No customers visited his father's shop for the rest of the day. It wasn't until the next morning that a single customer came round.

He hung back at the doorway and would not enter. Instead he glanced fearfully out into the street."I've come to collect my order," he sniveled. "It'll be my last. From now on I'll do my business with the tanner at St. Crispin's Parish.""What!" his father started. "But that's a full day's travel from here!""Don't think I don't know it!" Said the figure in the doorway,

"The King's guard have been making inquiries. About you…" he said, "... and your boy."

The visitor turned and peered anxiously down the street again. "Never mind my order," he quailed. Backing away the customer beat a hasty retreat.

The boy rushed to the door and saw the man scurrying away from a troop of the king's guard, which was marching grimly toward the tanner's shop.In the days that followed neighbors guiltily avoided walking past the tanner's empty abode.

No proclamation was necessary. The nation understood. No one in the land was more splendidly attired than the king.

Newroz 2009 in Trafalgar Square.

The British Police did everything they could to ban all expressions of support for the PKK or Abdullah Ocalan on the recent Newroz event held in Trafalgar Square but click the PKK's Flag for a report that shows how they failed, miserably!

Defy the ban! Unban the PKK!

Sign the petition and email to Hevallo@gmail.com

"No Solution Without PKK!" Says DTP Leader Ahmet Turk.

As we approach the Newroz period and the Turkish elections the moral of the Kurdish Freedom Struggle has never been stronger. All signs point to a massive victory for DTP at the local elections and there is a big hope.

A big hope that finally we are maybe on the verge of important developments on The Kurdish Question in Turkey.

Abdullah Gul, the Turkish president has promised 'important developments' to be disclosed soon.

But the Kurdish Freedom Movement are making it crystal clear how any political solution would make any meaningful difference. Ahmet Turk, in an interview conducted in Amed, and published in the print edition of Ozgur Politika, yesterday, 16th March, stated;

"The sincerity of Abdullah Gul's words will be shown with time."

Ahmet Turk said that Tayyip Erdogan had lost the trust of the Kurdish people and if they were now promoting President Gul as if to trick the Kurdish people with bad intentions then it would not get them anywere. "PKK is a reality in Turkey and needs to be taken into account in an political initiative. Any initiative that does not include or satisfy the PKK is not realistic.


"That any political solution that did not include the PKK would be rendered meaningless.

The PKK had to be a counterpart to any solution."


There has never been a more important period in the freedom struggle of the Kurdish people.

The European countries are assisting Turkey in their suppression of the PKK at a time when the PKK is needed for a political solution in Turkey to the Kurdish Question.

For those of us in Europe, we must raise and double our efforts in struggling for the legitimisation of the Kurdish Freedom Movement and challenge the ban on the PKK as a 'terrorist' organisation.

DTP Election 2009 Music Video. VOTE DTP!

Unban the PKK Petition launched at Newroz in London.

APPEAL

Lift the ban on the PKK – Justice and Freedom for the Kurds

To the UK government and the European Union

For the past 30 years, the Kurdish region of South-Eastern Turkey has been wracked by conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

A peaceful settlement could be achieved – but efforts to secure peace have been jeopardised by the UK and European Union’s ban on the PKK as a ‘terrorist’ organization.

As a result, the only organization that enjoys the mass support of Kurdish people has effectively been excluded from the negotiating table.

The Kurdish people seek peace.

The Turkish government says it wants peace.

The European Union wants a stable and democratic Turkey to become a member of the EU.

But no armed conflict as deeply rooted as the one between Turkey and the Kurds has ever been resolved without first reaching a political settlement that is formally binding and verifiable.

Of necessity this demands a willingness by all parties – in this instance, representatives of the Turkish state and of the PKK - to negotiate on equal terms. The ban on the PKK has placed a block on such dialogue even starting.

We believe that PKK has clearly demonstrated over many years that it commands the loyalties of the vast proportion of the Kurdish people living in Turkey and the Kurdish diaspora.

We also believe that the organisation has successfully given voice to the Kurdish people’s demands and has articulated these demands in responsible and measured ways. In so doing, it has shown that it is fully entitled to be regarded as the representative body of the Kurdish people.

Indeed, no peace agreement is likely to be reached without the PKK’s active participation.

Lifting the ban is a thus a pre-requisite to peace.

We are also concerned that the continuing conflict between Turkey and its Kurdish minority remains a serious obstacle to lasting peace and democratic reform in Turkey and inhibits progress on its accession to the European Union.

Despite being held in prison by Turkey for more than ten years, Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK’s founder and leader, still commands the loyalty and support of millions of Kurdish people.

During his decade of detention and indeed long before Ocalan has issued many constructive proposals for peace and dialogue and the PKK has adopted numerous unilateral ceasefires.

We believe that both Ocalan and the PKK have an important role to play in the pursuit of a lasting peace between Turkey and the Kurds. We the undersigned are convinced that by delisting the PKK the deeply longed for peace will be brought that much closer.

Supported by Kurdish Federation UK, Kurdish People’s Council, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign

Name

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Petition launched at Kurdish New Year Celebrations in Trafalgar Square on 14 March 2009, was signed by some 1,000 Kurds and friends!

Contact:
KURDISH FEDERATION UK fedbir@googlemail.com or Peace in Kurdistan Campaign estella24@tiscali.co.uk or Hevallo@gmail.com for copies of the petition. Or try downloading petition from Google Docs here.

UK Carrying Out Turkey's War Against the Kurds!

URGENT ACTION NEEDED! TIME TO SPEAK OUT!

By Hevallo.

As graves of Kurdish bodies dumped in 'acid wells' in NW Kurdistan (SE Turkey) are being uncovered the full extent of Turkey's 'dirty war' against the Kurds is beginning to come to the public's attention.

During those years Kurdish people were extrajudically executed, jailed and tortured. Villages were razed and human rights abuses on horrendous scale were perpetrated against the Kurdish people of Turkey systematically.

The Kurdish people in Turkey are still systemically discriminated against and suffer everyday racism from ultra nationalistic Turks and government.

They are fighting for basic political and human rights from a military regime that knows no mercy.

This is generally known.

What is less known about though, is the UK Government's extraordinary recent decision to give assistance to the Turkish regime's suppression of the Kurdish activists in exile.

Over the last three months there has been a massive rise in the harassment, intimidation and imprisonment without charge of Kurdish community members whose sole crime is to campaign and raise awareness of the situation of the Kurds in Turkey.

This began in Oct with early morning raids on three members of the Kurdish community where computers and personal belongings were taken from the homes while their children and family members were left sacred of such raids that reminded them of the repression in their homeland.

Since then a steady rise in levels of harassment and intimidation has continued and has reached such levels that Kurdish people feel under siege in their own community.

The UK home secretary, Jacqui Smith, was filmed on Turkish CNN TV at the beginning of the year promising Turkey, one of the world's worse human rights abusers, a crack down of Kurdish activists in the UK.

Kurdish people are now regularly being stopped in the street, in their cars, at their places of work and homes under 'anti terror' laws.

Only yesterday, 10 police officers with one civilian clothed detective entered the Kurdish Community Centre with a Turkish speaking person and identified pictures on the wall of Abdullah Ocalan and pointed at other pictures and magazines.

The officers were rude and abrupt in their manner and ignored questions from a member of the management committee who wanted to know who they were and what they were doing.

They began giving out leaflets calling of members of the community to call a special hotline if they had any information about the Kurdish Freedom Movement, PKK and collecting of money. One member tore up the leaflet and threw it at their feet!

Interestingly, the Turkish translation read exactly as the Turkish Military labels as a 'struggle against terror'.

This shows that the Turkish Military Intelligence are working directly with the UK authorities and that a political decision has been made at the very highest level to work with one of the world's worst human rights abusers to crack down on Kurdish activists in exile.

There are now so many examples that it is becoming impossible to monitor them all but again only two weeks ago, one car was stopped outside London, there were three members of the Kurdish community from a legally registered charity, Kurdish Red Crescent, that were detained, one Kurdish disabled woman was held in Paddington 'anti terror' police station and questioned repeatedly for days on end without respite. She was in pain from her leg and and did not eat for the duration of her 5 day ordeal.

One man was posting some leaflets regarding the Kurdish New Year celebrations in the post office and was approached by 'anti terror' police and questioned about his actions. This was the forth time in that week he had been stopped.

Another man distributing again, a legal Kurdish newspaper, was stopped and searched under anti terror' legislation.

Many restaurants and shops around the country have been approached by detectives from Scotland Yard trying to intimidate and harass Kurdish people on behalf of the Turkish regime into not supporting Kurdish people's rights.

And there are numerous more examples of harassment and intimidation of the Kurdish Community that are increasing on a daily basis.

NO CHARGES HAVE BEEN BROUGHT AGAINST ANY OF THE KURDISH PEOPLE IMPRISONED OR HARASSED.

IT IS TIME PEOPLE BEGAN TO ASK QUESTIONS!

WHY ARE THE UK AUTHORITIES AIDING ONE OF THE WORLDS WORST HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS, TURKEY, TO SUPPRESS KURDISH EXILES IN THE UK?

IT IS TIME TO SPEAK OUT!

For more information please contact:

Campaign Against the Criminalisation of Communities on 0207 586 5892

Newroz in Trafalgar Square. 14th March 2009.

The Kurdish People in London will be celebrating the Kurdish New Year Festival of Newroz for the first time in Trafalgar Square at the invitation of Mayor Boris Johnston.

See Newroz advertised in London's events for the weekend website here.

NEWROZ 2009

TRAFALGAR SQUARE

12-6pm

14th March

2009

Ferhat Tunc

Serhado

Car Newa

Heme Heci

Hasan Serif

Kingdom of Commagene

Govenda Asiti

Azadiya Perperok

UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown's Newroz Message to the Kurdish Community in the UK:

"It is my great pleasure to wish you a very happy Newroz and to extend my warm best wishes and those of the whole government to everybody celebrating the New Year. This cherished and ancient festival brings together friends and family to reflect on what has come before and celebrate a season of new beginnings. With your strong sense of family values and entrepreneurial flair, Britain is a richer nation for the active contribution Kurds make to our community life and our economy. I very much value that contribution and wish all Kurdish communities, both here in the UK and abroad, joy and prosperity in the coming year. Please do pass on my warm regards to your family and friends and to all who celebrate with you today."

NEWROZ PIROZ BE!

Encouraging Signs or More Flying Pigs?

Hurriyet reports on a report released by ex Turkish generals and diplomats on the necessity of a solution of the Kurdish Question by political means. Make of it what you will!