Kurdistan Report #17 - February/Mar

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl
Subject: Kurdistan Report #17 - February/March 1994
Reply-To: kurdeng at aps.nl


Kurdistan Report #17 - February/March 1994

Editorial

The Kurdish people are confident that 1994 will be a year in which
they take significant steps towards achieving their legitimate
rights.

     January 1994, the billboards are full of advertisements for
holidays in Turkey. "Paradise of Infinite Colours" runs the blurb.
The same slogan can be seen on buses and television commercials.
Turkey seems an attractive destination for a summer holiday -
beaches, historical sites, mountains - and cheap! However there is
a war going on in Turkey, a dirty war, in 1993 thousands of people
lost their lives in this war. According to official government
figures, 4,000, according to the opposition pro-Kurdish daily Ozgur
Gundem, 7,280 people, men, women and children were killed in this
conflict. This war is covered, if at all, in the British press, as
a conflict between the Turkish army and the PKK with the Kurdish
people suffering as a result. The reality, that hundreds of
villages, 874 according to the annual report published by the
Turkish Human Rights Association, were destroyed in 1993 and the
inhabitants, forced to flee, has been, generally speaking, ignored.

     The Turkish chief of staff and Prime Minister have vowed to
"finish off the PKK by March 1994" but in fact the Turkish
authorities have intensified their oppression of democratic
opposition and press, raiding the offices of the daily Ozgur Gundem
on December 10, 1994, International Human Rights Day, and arresting
the whole staff. On November 18, 1994, the United Nations Committee
Against Torture condemned Turkey for "widespread, habitual,
deliberate and systematic torture", however a week later the German
government raised ghosts from its recent past by banning the PKK
and other Kurdish organizations in Germany. While neo-Nazi
organizations operate freely the PKK flag and publications have
been declared illegal, 5,000 copies of the monthly Serxwebun were
confiscated recently. Kurdish community centres were raided and
closed down.

     However, the Kurdish people responded by demonstrating their
support for the PKK and the national liberation struggle being
waged in Kurdistan by holding protest demonstrations and occupying
their own community centres, forcing the German authorities to
permit them to reopen. France also banned the PKK and arrested some
Kurdish activists but Turkey's efforts to ban the PKK in other
European states have been successful. The other governments
presumably either have more sense or less draconian laws than those
at Germany's disposal. In January the PKK thanked 374, 740 Kurdish
people in Europe for contributing to the fund-raising campaign.
This once again proves the mass support for the struggle being
waged in Kurdistan.

     In the middle of January 1994 a delegation comprising Ahmet
Turk, the Mardin DEP (Democracy Party) MP, the DEP mayor of Kozluk,
Abdullah Kaya and Turkish journalist, Ragip Duran were in London.
Their visit was part of a European-wide campaign by the DEP to
voice its concerns over the situation in Northwest Kurdistan
(southeast Turkey) and fears regarding the Kurdish New Year
(Newroz) of March 21 and the local elections scheduled for March
27, 1994. Ahmet Turk stressed that his party intended to contest
the elections but if the DEP felt the Kurdish people were in
serious danger they would withdraw and recommend a boycott. Mr.
Turk emphasised that it was the Turkish state that was the source
of the violence in Kurdistan and that it was his party's aim to
secure the conditions in Turkey where the Kurdish question could
be freely debated.

     In Turkey there has been widespread protest against a decision
to suspend demobilisation of conscripts for 3 months, a decision
which was followed be reports of desertions and protests by
soldiers. This decision was taken after reports of there being at
least 250,000 draft-dodgers in Turkey. The state of morale in the
Turkish army can be gauged by the letter below which was published
in singer-cum-commentator Zulfu Livaneli's column in the daily
Sabah newspaper on January 12, 1994:

     "We are 700 primary school teachers who were called up in
November 1993 as conscript teachers. As we were called up without
prior notice we were unable to make arrangements to pay our
instalments so our families were left in a difficult situation. We
expected to do two months military service but now they tell us we
have to do 15 months. Please tell us, where is the justice? The
teaching profession determines the future of country. I ask you:
what can a country that does not value its teachers expect from the
future?

     This is not all. They selected us all for commando training.
Now 700 teachers aged 28 to 35 are receiving commando training.
After our basic training we are to be sent to the southeast to
fight the PKK. We are as patriotic as anyone and are prepared to
sacrifice our lives for our country, but I ask you Zulfu, is there
no one else in this country? Has terror reached such a level that
they are closing down schools and calling teachers to the front
line?"

     It is clear from the above letter that the morale of such
Turkish soldiers will not be conducive to waging a counter-
insurgency campaign against the PKK guerrillas or to burning the
houses of Kurdish villagers and mistreating the people.

     The first signs of war weariness are beginning to be seen in
Turkish cities. The number of conscientious objectors is rising and
a nascent peace movement is in the process of being established.
On January 17, 1994, 3 million leaflets calling for a democratic
solution to the conflict in the country were distributed by the
"Democracy Platform" in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities. The
"Democracy Platform" consists of trade unions, the Human Rights
Association and professional bodies. The Kurdish people are
confident that 1994 will be a year in which they take significant
steps toward achieving their legitimate rights. They are more aware
than ever before that it is only the success of the guerrilla
fighters in resisting the might of the Turkish army which has
brought them this far. In spring 1994, the PKK has stated it aims
to have 30,000 guerrillas operating in Kurdistan. There is no way
a demoralised Turkish army made up of unwilling conscripts will be
able to achieve military success in such circumstances.

     We are concerned that the Turkish army may take revenge on the
Kurdish population by perpetrating the kind of massacres Saddam
Hussein carried out in Halabja in 1988.

     The continued support of the West for the Turkish regime means
there is a strong likelihood of such massacres taking place.

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 * Origin: APS Amsterdam (aps.nl), bbs +31-20-6842147 (16:31/2.0)