The Closing of Turkey’s Kurdish Opening
By Michael Gunter
During the summer and fall of 2009, the continuing and often violent Kurdish problem in Turkey seemed on the verge of a solution when the ruling Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi [Justice and Development Party] or AK Party (AKP) government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul announced a Kurdish Opening or Initiative (aka as the Democratic Opening/Initiative). Gul declared, “the biggest problem of Turkey is the Kurdish question” and that “there is an opportunity [to solve it] and it should not be missed.” Erdogan asked, “If Turkey had not spent its energy, budget, peace and young people on [combating] terrorism, if Turkey had not spent the last 25 years in conflict, where would we be today?” Even the insurgent Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan (PKK) or Kurdistan Workers Party, still led ultimately by its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, itself briefly took Turkey’s Kurdish Opening seriously. For a fleeting moment, optimism ran rampant. What happened?
09/20/2012
During the summer and fall of 2009, the continuing and often violent Kurdish problem in Turkey seemed on the verge of a solution when the ruling Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi [Justice and Development Party] or AK Party (AKP) government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul announced a Kurdish Opening or Initiative (aka as the Democratic Opening/Initiative).[1] <#_edn1> ; Gul declared, “the biggest problem of Turkey is the Kurdish question” and that “there is an opportunity [to solve it] and it should not be missed.”[2] <#_edn2> Erdogan asked, “If Turkey had not spent its energy, budget, peace and young people on [combating] terrorism, if Turkey had not spent the last 25 years in conflict, where would we be today?”[3] <#_edn3> Even the insurgent Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan (PKK) or Kurdistan Workers Party, still led ultimately by its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, itself briefly took Turkey’s Kurdish Opening seriously.[4] <#_edn4> For a fleeting moment, optimism ran rampant. What happened?
Problems
It soon became evident that the AK Party had not thought its Kurdish Opening out very well and then proved rather inept in trying to implement it. Specific proposals were lacking. Furthermore, despite AK Party appeals to support its Kurdish Opening, all three of the parliamentary opposition parties declined. Indeed, the CHP (Kemalists or Nationalists) accused the AK Party of “separatism, cowing to the goals of the terrorist PKK, violating the constitution, causing fratricide and/or ethnic polarization between Kurds and Turks, being an agent of foreign states, and even betraying the country.”[5] <#_edn5> The MHP (Ultra Turkish Nationalists) “declared AKP to be dangerous and accused it of treason and weakness.”[6] <#_edn6> The AK Party even failed to engage the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) because the DTP declined to condemn the PKK, as the AK Party government had demanded.[7] <#_edn7> Erdogan too began to fear that any perceived concessions to the Kurds would hurt his Turkish nationalist base and future presidential hopes.
The PKK’s “peace group” gambit on 18 October 2009 to return home to Turkey thirty-four PKK members from northern Iraq also backfired badly when huge welcoming receptions met these Kurdish expatriates at the Habur Border Crossing with Turkey and later in Diyarbakir. These celebrations were broadcast throughout Turkey provoking responses from even moderate Turks who perceived the affair to be some sort of PKK victory parade. The peace group affair seemed to prove that the government had not thought out the implications of its Kurdish Opening and could not manage its implementation let alone its consequences.
Then on 11 December 2009 the Constitutional Court, after mulling over the issue for more than two years, suddenly banned the pro-Kurdish DTP because of its close association with the PKK. Although the Baris ve Demokrasi Partisi or Peace and Democracy Party (PDP) quickly took the DTP’s place, the state-ordered banning of the DTP could not have come at a worse time and put the kiss of death to the Kurdish Initiative. In addition, the Turkish government has arrested more than 1,000 BDP and other Kurdish notables for their supposed support of the PKK—yet another blow to the Kurdish Opening.[8] <#_edn8> Soon the entire country was ablaze from the fury that had arisen, and the Kurdish Opening seemed closed. The mountain had not even given birth to a mouse, and the entire Kurdish question seemed to have been set back to square one.[9] <#_edn9>
In May 2010, the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), an arm of the PKK, charged that since April 2009, the Turkish government has arrested more than 1500 politicians, human rights advocates, writers, artisans, and leaders of civil society organizations. In addition, the government took 4000 children to court and had 400 of them imprisoned for participating in demonstrations. Osman Baydemir, the popular ethnic Kurdish mayor of Diyarbakir, was scheduled to go to court on charges of “membership in a terror organization,” while Muharrem Erbey, the vice chairman of Turkey’s largest human rights organization the Human Rights Association (IHD), had already been imprisoned. The Turkish government had deported Jess Hess, an American freelance journalist, for reporting critically on human rights abuses against the Kurds.[10] <#_edn10>
Renewed Hope
However, TESEV, a Turkish think tank, soon stepped forward with new recommendations:[11] <#_edn11>
The references to Turkish identity and Turkishness in many laws and the Turkish constitution do not comply with the multi-ethnic structure of Turkish society. These constitutional references should be changed despite the dictum in Article 4 of the current constitution that they “cannot be changed; changing them cannot even be suggested.”
The Turkish government needs to alter laws regarding political parties and the election of deputies, as they are “incompatible with the principles of democracy and the state of law.”
The government also needs to delete Article 301 of the Turkish Penal law on “insulting Turkishness,” and Article 318 [ES1] <#_msocom_1> regarding criticism of the military, which prevents freedom of speech in Turkey.
The Anti-Terror Law (TMY) protects the security of the state at the expense of freedom and security of individuals. The government should also revise this law.
The government should revise the education law because it presently reflects “the ideological and monist education understanding of the state.”
The law on provincial governance has been the basis of changing the Kurdish names of many locations. In addition, the laws on surnames and the alphabet prevent Kurds from using their language freely.
The AK Party government, of course, supposedly had been considering writing a new, more democratic constitution for Turkey for many years. The success of its referendum on several constitutional amendments held on 12 September 2010 reinvigorated this process.[12] <#_edn12> In addition, several Turkish political parties broached the idea of forming a Parliamentary Truth Commission to investigate not only the past mistakes of the Turkish state, but also those of the PKK. Such a process might help understand the past and resolve future problems as has already occurred in South Africa. The government should also lower the current 10 percent electoral threshold—that makes it necessary for a party to win at least 10 percent of the total national vote to receive any representation in the parliament—so that it is in line with current EU standards.[13] <#_edn13> In addition, the government should accept mother-tongue education and usage in courts, and drop its prosecution of Kurdish politicians, lawyers, and civil-society leaders—the so-called Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trials mentioned above—that were continuing into 2012.
One main problem now of course was with whom to negotiate. Although even Turkish observers recognized that “Ocalan and the PKK have legitimacy among a considerable portion of the Kurds despite all the state’s efforts to discredit them,” it would be difficult for the state formally and openly to negotiate with them, given how the state had always defined them as mere terrorists.[14] <#_edn14> Nevertheless, secretive talks with Ocalan were already occurring.[15] <#_edn15> At the same time, other high-ranking PKK leaders also were talking with Turkish intelligence officials from the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Oslo.[16] <#_edn16> Although these secretive negotiations terminated following the Turkish elections on 12 June 2011 and the renewal of violence, they aroused considerable optimism.
Ocalan’s Proposals
Although Turkish authorities confiscated Ocalan’s 160-page roadmap for solving the Kurdish problem in August 2009 before Ocalan submitted the roadmap, its contents are known based on his earlier testimony at his trial for treason in 1999 and subsequent statements over the years. [17] <#_edn17> In essence, the imprisoned PKK leader has proposed a democratization and decentralization of the Turkish state into what he has termed at various times a democratic republic, democratic confederalism, democratic nation, or democratic homeland. Such autonomy and decentralization would be based on the guidelines already listed in the European Charter of Local Self-Government adopted in 1985 and presently ratified by forty-one states including Turkey—with numerous important conditions, however—and the European Charter of Regional Self-Government, which is still only in draft form. Thus, one might actually argue that these BDP proposals would be bringing Turkey into conformity with EU guidelines by giving the Kurds local self government. Moreover, one might also argue that the millet system of the former Ottoman Empire offered an historical model for local autonomy or proto federalism in Turkey.
However, the AK Party was appalled when the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Congress (DTK)—a new non-governmental organization which is close to the PKK and BDP—met in Diyarbakir in mid-December 2010 and outlined its solution for democratic autonomy that envisaged Kurdish as a second official language, a separate flag, and a Marxist-style organizational model for Kurdish society. The DTK’s draft also broached the vague idea of “self-defense forces” that would be used not only against external forces but also against the subjects of the so-called democratic autonomy initiative who were not participating in what was called the “struggle.”[18] <#_edn18>
The Turkish Republic created by Kemal Ataturk in 1923 has always been a strongly centralized state. Radical decentralization as proposed by the PKK and BDP goes against this strong mindset and thus would be most problematic. On the other hand, many states such as Britain and France, famous for their centralized unitary structure, have recently rolled back centuries of constitutional forms in favor of what they saw as necessary decentralization. Far from leading to their breakup as states, this decentralization has satisfied local particularisms and checked possible demands for future independence. Thus, far from threatening its national unity, some Turkish decentralization might help preserve it.
However, given that more than half of Turkey’s ethnic Kurdish population does not even live in its historic southeastern Anatolian homeland but is scattered throughout the country—especially in such cities as Istanbul—as well as the fact that a sizeable number of Turkey’s ethnic Kurds have mostly assimilated into a larger Turkish civic identity, radical decentralization that would be incompatible with modern Turkey’s heritage may not be necessary. However, the Turkish state does need to begin seriously talking with the most important, genuine representatives of its disaffected Kurdish minority. This, of course, means the PKK.
However, if Turkey is going to resume negotiating with Ocalan and the PKK, the time must surely come for Turkey to cease terming the PKK a terrorist organization and instead challenge it to negotiate peacefully. The terrorism appellation distorts the discussion and, not only prevents the two main parties to the problem from fully negotiating with each other, but also impairs the European Union from playing a stronger role in achieving peace. Moreover, in the case of the United States, its designation of the PKK as terrorist prevents its citizens from even advising the PKK to opt for peace, as illustrated by the case of retired U.S. administrative judge Ralph Fertig.[19] <#_edn19>
Renewed Problems
Although the AKP won practically 50 percent of the popular vote or 326 seats while the BDP and its allies won a record 36 seats in the parliamentary elections held on 12 June 2011, new problems soon arose and hopes for a renewed and more successful Kurdish Opening quickly foundered. [20] <#_edn20> Shortly after the Turkish state had officially announced the election results, the newly elected BDP MPs began to boycott parliament in protest over the jailing of five of their elected colleagues, while a sixth (the well-known Hatip Dicle) was stripped of his seat for “terrorism” offenses.[21] <#_edn21> The Turkish judiciary declined to free any of the six BDP politicians, as well as the numerous other local KCK members still imprisoned for reputed links to the PKK. Newly elected Prime Minister Erdogan seemingly turned his back on an earlier promise to seek consensus on the drafting of a new constitution that would help solve the Kurdish problem, broke off contact with the BDP, and continued to declare that the Kurdish problem had been solved and only a PKK problem remained. How could the new AKP government begin to solve the Kurdish problem when it refused to deal with its main interlocutor?[22] <#_edn22>
Then on 14 July 2011 the DTK, the umbrella pro-Kurdish NGO mentioned above, proclaimed “democratic autonomy,” a declaration that seemed wildly premature and overblown to many observers and which infuriated Turkish officialdom. Amidst mutual accusations concerning who was initiating the renewed violence and warlike rhetoric, the Turkish military launched, on 17 August 2011, several days of cross-border attacks on reputed PKK targets in northern Iraq’s Kandil Mountains. [23] <#_edn23> The Turkish government claimed to have killed 100 Kurdish rebels, while the PKK maintained that it had lost only three fighters, and that in addition the Turkish military killed seven local Iraqi Kurdish civilians.[24] <#_edn24>
Violence continued on 19 June 2012 when the PKK attacked Diglica, a Turkish outpost near the Iraqi frontier, and killed eight soldiers while wounding another sixteen.[25] <#_edn25> The PKK attacked the same outpost five years earlier, so the latest strike seemed to illustrate the lack of Turkish progress in controlling the violence, which many saw as a result of the state’s failure to negotiate with the PKK.
Others argued, however, that the inherent ethnic Turkish inability to accept the fact that Turkey should be considered a multi-ethnic state in which the Kurds have similar constitutional rights as co-stakeholders with the Turks was the ultimate problem. Moreover, during 2011 and 2012, the Turkish state began rounding up more leading intellectuals for alleged affiliations with the KCK/PKK,[26] <#_edn26> whose proposals for democratic autonomy seem to suggest an alternative government. Many of those arrested were affiliated with the BDP.
Those arrested included a well-known publisher, Ragip Zarakolu, who has been a keyfigure in human rights advocacy in Turkey for decades and suffered from political repression under successive governments for his efforts. Zarakolu is presently in ill health, and there is the danger that imprisonment will threaten his life.[27] <#_edn27> Also among those arrested was Busra Ersanli, a political scientist whose original work on early Turkish nationalism continues to be consulted by scholars throughout the world. Even more recently, the Turkish state on 24 May 2012 once again sentenced Leyla Zana, the famous female Kurdish leader and BDP member of parliament, to prison for “spreading propaganda” on behalf of the PKK. The charges concerned nine speeches she had made over the years during which she had argued for recognition of the Kurdish identity, called Ocalan a Kurdish leader, and urged the reopening of peace negotiations between Turkey and the PKK. Previously in 1994, the Turkish state had stripped Zana of her membership in parliament and imprisoned her for ten years on similar charges. Such Turkish actions reminded one of what the French used to say about the Bourbons: “They learned nothing and they forgot nothing.” However, for the time being Zana remained free given her current parliamentary immunity.[28] <#_edn28>
These arrests point to serious problems. First, there is the nature of the crimes, which allege no violence. Mere “association” is enough for the Turkish state to count one as a terrorist. In addition, the connections are tenuous. As Human Rights Watch has noted, these arrests seem less aimed at addressing terror than on attacking “legal pro-Kurdish political organizations.”[29] <#_edn29> Second, the arrests come at a time when Turkey is planning to develop a new constitution. The silencing of pro-Kurdish voices as constitutional debates go forward is counterproductive for Turkey’s future. Finally, there is the way suspects are treated. Virtually all are subject to pre-trial detentions, effectively denying them freedom without any proof that they have committed a crime. Although precise figures are unavailable, Human Rights Watch has declared that several thousand are currently on trial and another 605 in pre-trial detention on KCK/PKK-related charges.[30] <#_edn30>
Conclusion
What is going on in Turkey today appears to be an attempt to stifle Kurdish voices and impose a unilateral Turkish solution to fundamental issues of security and the future of the country. The KCK/PKK arrests in particular look less like a war on terror and more like one on dissent. Furthermore, the Turkish government’s announcement in June 2012 about initiating elective Kurdish language classes and the opposition CHP’s announced willingness to discuss the Kurdish problem with the government do not impress disaffected Kurds. [31] <#_edn31> The Turkish state supposedly made private Kurdish language classes legal several years ago, and why should the CHP not discuss the Kurdish problem?
More importantly, however, still lacking is the willingness to negotiate genuinely with the PKK. Unilateral Turkish attempts to solve the Kurdish problem with minor unsatisfactory gestures while ignoring or even trying to eliminate the other side (the PKK) will not work. Although Ankara’s and Washington’s policy communities may be impressed by these supposedly new Turkish gestures, their approval amounts to little more than wishful group think and is not going to solve the Kurdish problem. Thus, after thirty years of failed efforts, we remain “on a darkling plain, Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.”[32] <#_edn32> So, why not consider another poet who advised: “Come, my friends, Tis not too late to seek a newer world.”[33] <#_edn33> In other words, until the Turkish government truly accepts the PKK as a legitimate negotiating partner—along the lines of what Britain successfully did with Sinn Fein and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the 1990s—it is doubtful whether the Turkish government and AKP can reach a political solution to this continuing crisis.
Author's Bio
Michael M. Gunter is a professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University and a graduate of the School of International Affairs/Columbia University, 1966.
Wednesday 26 September 2012
BUS TOUR: FREEDOM FOR ABDULLAH OCALAN 8TH SEPTEMBER 24TH NOVEMBER 2012
BUS TOUR: “FREEDOM FOR ABDULLAH OCALAN”
8TH SEPTEMBER – 24TH NOVEMBER 2012
A bus tour to demand “Freedom for Ocalan” was launched on 8th September and will travel to various destinations until the 24th November, to win support for the freedom of Abdullah Ocalan and for the start of peace talks to end the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds.
On 24th July 1923, with the Treaty of Lausanne, Kurdistan was divided by the Allied States of WWI between Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and was put under foreign rule. Ever since, the Kurdish nation of almost 40 million people has been exposed to ongoing policies of denial and oppression. Many Kurds have been forced to leave their country because of this. In the European diaspora alone there are 2 million Kurds.
The most recent developments in Turkey show the extent of this conflict: the Turkish army carries out military operations on a daily basis in Kurdistan and thereby also killing Kurdish civilians. On 28th December 2011 34 civilians were murdered by a bomb attack by the Turkish Air Force – amongst them were 19 children. The Kurdish political opposition is persecuted relentlessly by the government. Since April 2009 around 10,000 Kurdish politicians, human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and students have been arrested. The AKP government has deliberately created a lynch-mob atmosphere, where the Turkish fascist forces attack the party representing the Kurdish interests, the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party), as well as Kurdish politicians, students and workers. The AKP are currently attempting to lift the immunity of the BDP representatives and impose a new party ban.
The Kurdish question concerns Iraq, Iran, Syria and especially Turkey, and represents one of the greatest and, up till now, unresolved problems in the Middle East. A peace process needs strong national figureheads, who are in the position to convince their societies of a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Examples of such individuals are Nelson Mandela, Gerry Adams, Jose Ramos Horta and Aung San Suu Kyi. Abdullah Ocalan undoubtedly belongs to this group. That the focus of the Kurdish freedom movement in recent years has shifted from military to diplomatic solutions is the work of Ocalan.
Turkish governments have held contacts with Ocalan since 1993 and recognised his key role for a resolution to the conflict. The present government under Erdogan led a two-and-a-half year negotiation with Ocalan, which unfortunately broke down in July 2011. In these talks a protocol was agreed upon, which, amongst other things, set out a step-by-step plan that would lead up to a ceasefire under international observation. We are firmly convinced that Abdullah Ocalan has a decisive significance in the resolution of this conflict.
The overwhelming majority of Kurds also support him. In 2006, 3.5 million Kurds backed Ocalan as their political representative with their signatures.
All of this proves his key role in the any peaceful resolution. He cannot play this role in prison, where his communication is extremely restricted. Ocalan has found himself in complete isolation from the outside world since 27th July 2011. For nearly 500 days any consultation with his lawyers and relatives has been arbitrarily rejected.
In order to make people aware of this situation and to lobby the international institutions concerned, like the UN and the European Council (especially the European Council for the Prevention of Torture CPT) into action, Kurds marched for 15 days at the start of the year through ice-cold weather from Geneva to Strasbourg. When this action failed to convince these institutions to act, a 52 day continuous, uninterrupted hunger-strike was carried out in Strasbourg. An ongoing picket in front of the European Council in Strasbourg demanded the release of Abdullah Ocalan in June. The numerous actions will continue until the objective is fulfilled because, for Kurds, the freedom of Abdullah Ocalan is an essential condition for a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish question.
Now, the participants of the long march and the hunger-strike have launched a new action. A bus with the demand “Freedom for Ocalan” began a tour since 8th September and will continue until the 24th November. The bus tour will stop in 60 European cities and, with cultural programmes and information stands, spread the message “Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan” in public in central squares.*)
During this bus tour signatures for the international campaign for the release of Abdullah Ocalan will be collected.
Ocalan's freedom is necessary in order to break the military logic of the conflict and in order to initiate peace negotiations. We appeal to all democratic forces, peace activists, human rights defenders to participate in our action, and to express their solidarity. All members of the press are also invited to visit our rallies and to report on them.
For information including leaflets and brochures contact the International Initiative Freedom for Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan: http://www.freeocalan.org/
International Initiative,
Postbox 10 05 11,
D-50445 Cologne
Tel +49 221 1 20 15 59
Fax:+49 221 1 30 3071
info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
*) Schedule for “Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan” bus tour:
08.09. Mannheim
09.09. Straßburg (F)
13.09. Göteborg (SWE)
14.09. Uppsala & Gavle (SWE)
15.09. Stockholm (SWE)
16.09. Kopenhagen (DK)
18.09. Kiel
19.09. Leipzig & Magdeburg
20./21.09. Berlin
22.09. Hamburg
23.09. Bremen
24.09. Oldenburg
25.09. Arnhem (NL)
26.09. Amsterdam (NL)
27.09. Den Haag&Eindhoven (NL)
28.09. Antwerpen (BE)
29.09. Liege (BE)
30.09. Brüssel (BE)
02.10. Saarbrücken
03.10. Mannheim
04.10. Darmstadt
05.10. Nürnberg
06.10. Frankfurt
07.10. Stuttgart
09.10. Pforzheim & Heilbronn
11.10. Freiburg
12.10. Ulm
13.10. München
14.10. Salzburg (Ö)
15.10. Innsbruck (Ö)
16.10. Bregenz (Ö)
18.10. Linz (Ö)
19.10. Graz (Ö)
20.10. Wien (Ö)
22.10. St.Gallen (CH)
23.10. Luzern (CH)
25.10. Zürich (CH)
26.10. Basel (CH)
27.10. Biel & Bern (CH)
28.10. Lausanne & Geneva (CH)
30.10. Lyon (F)
01./02.11. Marseille (F)
03./04.11. Paris (F)
07.11. Aachen & Düren
08.11. Kassel
09.11. Salzgitter
10.11. Celle & Hannover
11.11. Bielefeld
12.11. Münster & Osnabrück
13.11. Dortmund
14.11. Bochum
15.11. Essen
16.11. Duisburg
17.11. Düsseldorf
18.11. Hagen
20.11. Wuppertal
21./22.11. Köln
23.11. Bonn
8TH SEPTEMBER – 24TH NOVEMBER 2012
A bus tour to demand “Freedom for Ocalan” was launched on 8th September and will travel to various destinations until the 24th November, to win support for the freedom of Abdullah Ocalan and for the start of peace talks to end the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds.
On 24th July 1923, with the Treaty of Lausanne, Kurdistan was divided by the Allied States of WWI between Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and was put under foreign rule. Ever since, the Kurdish nation of almost 40 million people has been exposed to ongoing policies of denial and oppression. Many Kurds have been forced to leave their country because of this. In the European diaspora alone there are 2 million Kurds.
The most recent developments in Turkey show the extent of this conflict: the Turkish army carries out military operations on a daily basis in Kurdistan and thereby also killing Kurdish civilians. On 28th December 2011 34 civilians were murdered by a bomb attack by the Turkish Air Force – amongst them were 19 children. The Kurdish political opposition is persecuted relentlessly by the government. Since April 2009 around 10,000 Kurdish politicians, human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and students have been arrested. The AKP government has deliberately created a lynch-mob atmosphere, where the Turkish fascist forces attack the party representing the Kurdish interests, the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party), as well as Kurdish politicians, students and workers. The AKP are currently attempting to lift the immunity of the BDP representatives and impose a new party ban.
The Kurdish question concerns Iraq, Iran, Syria and especially Turkey, and represents one of the greatest and, up till now, unresolved problems in the Middle East. A peace process needs strong national figureheads, who are in the position to convince their societies of a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Examples of such individuals are Nelson Mandela, Gerry Adams, Jose Ramos Horta and Aung San Suu Kyi. Abdullah Ocalan undoubtedly belongs to this group. That the focus of the Kurdish freedom movement in recent years has shifted from military to diplomatic solutions is the work of Ocalan.
Turkish governments have held contacts with Ocalan since 1993 and recognised his key role for a resolution to the conflict. The present government under Erdogan led a two-and-a-half year negotiation with Ocalan, which unfortunately broke down in July 2011. In these talks a protocol was agreed upon, which, amongst other things, set out a step-by-step plan that would lead up to a ceasefire under international observation. We are firmly convinced that Abdullah Ocalan has a decisive significance in the resolution of this conflict.
The overwhelming majority of Kurds also support him. In 2006, 3.5 million Kurds backed Ocalan as their political representative with their signatures.
All of this proves his key role in the any peaceful resolution. He cannot play this role in prison, where his communication is extremely restricted. Ocalan has found himself in complete isolation from the outside world since 27th July 2011. For nearly 500 days any consultation with his lawyers and relatives has been arbitrarily rejected.
In order to make people aware of this situation and to lobby the international institutions concerned, like the UN and the European Council (especially the European Council for the Prevention of Torture CPT) into action, Kurds marched for 15 days at the start of the year through ice-cold weather from Geneva to Strasbourg. When this action failed to convince these institutions to act, a 52 day continuous, uninterrupted hunger-strike was carried out in Strasbourg. An ongoing picket in front of the European Council in Strasbourg demanded the release of Abdullah Ocalan in June. The numerous actions will continue until the objective is fulfilled because, for Kurds, the freedom of Abdullah Ocalan is an essential condition for a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish question.
Now, the participants of the long march and the hunger-strike have launched a new action. A bus with the demand “Freedom for Ocalan” began a tour since 8th September and will continue until the 24th November. The bus tour will stop in 60 European cities and, with cultural programmes and information stands, spread the message “Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan” in public in central squares.*)
During this bus tour signatures for the international campaign for the release of Abdullah Ocalan will be collected.
Ocalan's freedom is necessary in order to break the military logic of the conflict and in order to initiate peace negotiations. We appeal to all democratic forces, peace activists, human rights defenders to participate in our action, and to express their solidarity. All members of the press are also invited to visit our rallies and to report on them.
For information including leaflets and brochures contact the International Initiative Freedom for Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan: http://www.freeocalan.org/
International Initiative,
Postbox 10 05 11,
D-50445 Cologne
Tel +49 221 1 20 15 59
Fax:+49 221 1 30 3071
info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
*) Schedule for “Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan” bus tour:
08.09. Mannheim
09.09. Straßburg (F)
13.09. Göteborg (SWE)
14.09. Uppsala & Gavle (SWE)
15.09. Stockholm (SWE)
16.09. Kopenhagen (DK)
18.09. Kiel
19.09. Leipzig & Magdeburg
20./21.09. Berlin
22.09. Hamburg
23.09. Bremen
24.09. Oldenburg
25.09. Arnhem (NL)
26.09. Amsterdam (NL)
27.09. Den Haag&Eindhoven (NL)
28.09. Antwerpen (BE)
29.09. Liege (BE)
30.09. Brüssel (BE)
02.10. Saarbrücken
03.10. Mannheim
04.10. Darmstadt
05.10. Nürnberg
06.10. Frankfurt
07.10. Stuttgart
09.10. Pforzheim & Heilbronn
11.10. Freiburg
12.10. Ulm
13.10. München
14.10. Salzburg (Ö)
15.10. Innsbruck (Ö)
16.10. Bregenz (Ö)
18.10. Linz (Ö)
19.10. Graz (Ö)
20.10. Wien (Ö)
22.10. St.Gallen (CH)
23.10. Luzern (CH)
25.10. Zürich (CH)
26.10. Basel (CH)
27.10. Biel & Bern (CH)
28.10. Lausanne & Geneva (CH)
30.10. Lyon (F)
01./02.11. Marseille (F)
03./04.11. Paris (F)
07.11. Aachen & Düren
08.11. Kassel
09.11. Salzgitter
10.11. Celle & Hannover
11.11. Bielefeld
12.11. Münster & Osnabrück
13.11. Dortmund
14.11. Bochum
15.11. Essen
16.11. Duisburg
17.11. Düsseldorf
18.11. Hagen
20.11. Wuppertal
21./22.11. Köln
23.11. Bonn
PiK Statement: Plaid Cymru annual conference calls for release of Abdullah Ocalan
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
Plaid Cymru annual conference calls for release of Abdullah Ocalan
The Plaid Cymru annual conference, meeting on the weekend of 14th-15th September, has passed an emergency motion calling for the immediate release of Abdullah Ocalan, an end to Turkish military operations and the resumption of peace talks between Turkey and the Kurds.
This is the first time that a leading British political party has formally adopted such a clear motion demanding for the release of Abdullah Ocalan and his involvement in peace talks.
The motion, drawn up in cooperation with the Peace in Kurdistan campaign, was moved by MP Hywel Williams, a longstanding supporter of the rights of the Kurds, and received overwhelming backing from the conference delegates.
Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales, formerly the ‘Welsh National Party’, is the third largest political party in Wales and has for long been in support of justice for the Kurds.
Plaid Cymru representatives in Cardiff, Westminster and Brussels have lent their support to initiatives seeking to raise the Kurdish issue and have taken part in delegations to Kurdistan on numerous occasions.
Peace in Kurdistan along with Kurdish diplomatic representatives from the Kurdistan National Congress, KNK, have lobbied Plaid Cymru and attended its conferences over many years developing close relations with the party which has ensured that Plaid members have been kept well informed of developments in Turkey and Kurdistan.
This year’s conference held in the town of Brecon in mid-Wales was attended by AKif Wan, KNK representative, accompanied by David Morgan from Peace in Kurdistan, who were able to meet with senior party members including president Jill Evans MEP, former president Dafydd Iwan, Elfyn LLwyd MP, and the new party leader Leanne Wood.
Plaid Cymru friends were thanked for their continuing support and for the warm welcome they always give to Kurdish representatives visiting their conferences.
The visit gave an opportunity to raise with Plaid Cymru the latest news on the mass show trials of journalists, lawyers in Turkey and the continued persecution of the pro-Kurdish BDP by the state.
The party also has strong sympathies with the Kurdish struggle for national rights and self-determination given its own traditions and perspectives on the history of Wales and its relations with Westminster.
The full text of the Emergency Motion titled Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan; Peace in Turkey is as follows
• The worldwide campaign established this month by a coalition of Kurdish groups to secure the release of Abdullah Ocalan, the acknowledged leader of his people
• That Mr Ocalan is one of thousands of Kurds unjustly gaoled by the Turkish government
Conference believes
• That his imprisonment and that of others is a severe obstacle to the resolution of the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds
• But that this new campaign offers a way forward at a critical time for peace in the Middle East
Conference calls for
• An end to the military operations by the Turkish army against the Kurds in south east Turkey and over the border in Iraq
• The release of Abdullah Orcalan and his full inclusion along with acknowledged Kurdish leaders in immediate peace talks with the Turkish government
Plaid Cymru annual conference calls for release of Abdullah Ocalan
The Plaid Cymru annual conference, meeting on the weekend of 14th-15th September, has passed an emergency motion calling for the immediate release of Abdullah Ocalan, an end to Turkish military operations and the resumption of peace talks between Turkey and the Kurds.
This is the first time that a leading British political party has formally adopted such a clear motion demanding for the release of Abdullah Ocalan and his involvement in peace talks.
The motion, drawn up in cooperation with the Peace in Kurdistan campaign, was moved by MP Hywel Williams, a longstanding supporter of the rights of the Kurds, and received overwhelming backing from the conference delegates.
Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales, formerly the ‘Welsh National Party’, is the third largest political party in Wales and has for long been in support of justice for the Kurds.
Plaid Cymru representatives in Cardiff, Westminster and Brussels have lent their support to initiatives seeking to raise the Kurdish issue and have taken part in delegations to Kurdistan on numerous occasions.
Peace in Kurdistan along with Kurdish diplomatic representatives from the Kurdistan National Congress, KNK, have lobbied Plaid Cymru and attended its conferences over many years developing close relations with the party which has ensured that Plaid members have been kept well informed of developments in Turkey and Kurdistan.
This year’s conference held in the town of Brecon in mid-Wales was attended by AKif Wan, KNK representative, accompanied by David Morgan from Peace in Kurdistan, who were able to meet with senior party members including president Jill Evans MEP, former president Dafydd Iwan, Elfyn LLwyd MP, and the new party leader Leanne Wood.
Plaid Cymru friends were thanked for their continuing support and for the warm welcome they always give to Kurdish representatives visiting their conferences.
The visit gave an opportunity to raise with Plaid Cymru the latest news on the mass show trials of journalists, lawyers in Turkey and the continued persecution of the pro-Kurdish BDP by the state.
The party also has strong sympathies with the Kurdish struggle for national rights and self-determination given its own traditions and perspectives on the history of Wales and its relations with Westminster.
The full text of the Emergency Motion titled Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan; Peace in Turkey is as follows
• The worldwide campaign established this month by a coalition of Kurdish groups to secure the release of Abdullah Ocalan, the acknowledged leader of his people
• That Mr Ocalan is one of thousands of Kurds unjustly gaoled by the Turkish government
Conference believes
• That his imprisonment and that of others is a severe obstacle to the resolution of the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds
• But that this new campaign offers a way forward at a critical time for peace in the Middle East
Conference calls for
• An end to the military operations by the Turkish army against the Kurds in south east Turkey and over the border in Iraq
• The release of Abdullah Orcalan and his full inclusion along with acknowledged Kurdish leaders in immediate peace talks with the Turkish government
Friday 21 September 2012
KURDISH NEWS WEEKLY BRIEFING, 14 20 SEPTEMBER 2012
1. Press Freedom Associations Call for Journalists' Release
13 September 2012 / Bianet
The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a statement calling for the release of 36 journalists arrested pending trial in the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) probe. "This mass trial recalls darker times that we had hoped were a thing of the past," the RSF said. Some 44 journalists are currently standing trial in connection with terrorism related charges in the KCK probe. 36 of them are under arrest pending trial. "Despite all the promises and some marginal improvements, the judicial system is persisting with the serious abuses that we have been condemning for years - criminalization of critical and activist journalism, articles treated as acts of terrorism and systemmatic abuses of the anti-terrorism law and pre-trial detention," the statement said. The RSF called for the release of all reporters who remain under arrest in relation to their journalistic activities and demanded a fair trial for them.
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/140842-press-freedom-associations-call-for-journalists-release
2. Turkish PM Calls for End to BDP Immunity
14 September 2012 / Voice of America
The immunity of nine parliamentary members in Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy (BDP) is under threat, following Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s warning he will do whatever is necessary to facilitate their prosecution. The deputies are under investigation after TV images were broadcast of them embracing Kurdish rebels, who stopped the convoy they were traveling in. But BDP deputy Ertugrul Kurkcu says hugging is not a matter for prosecution. "They talked to us and we talked to them and they gave us a hug what can we do? We reacted like a civilized person maybe some of us had more smiling faces than others. But this is not a matter for the judiciary," said Kurkcu.
http://www.voanews.com/content/turkish_pm_calls_for_end_to_bdp_immunity/1507931.html
3. New sentence against Tuncel MP
18 September 2012 / ANF
BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) Istanbul deputy, Sebahat Tuncel, has been sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison by an İstanbul court on charges of membership of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The court has also issued an international travel ban for the deputy. Sebahat Tuncel was jailed for membership of the PKK and was released after being elected as a deputy for Parliament in 2007.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5135
4. The Kurds: A Historic Opportunity?
13 September 2012 / World Policy Institute
With the political and ethnic fractures following the Arab Awakening, the historic dream for Kurdish nationhood is reemerging. In war-torn Syria, the Kurdish quest for autonomy has become a central goal of the conflict. Since July 2012, Syria’s armed Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has taken over some of the country’s northeast, annexing the municipal offices in Afrin and Korbani in Aleppo Province in the north and Amude and Deirik in the east. The independent Kurdish flag now flies in these Kurdish towns. Having taken over government buildings and infrastructure, the heavily armed PYD is reportedly providing security to the inhabitants of the Syrian northeast. At the same time, this militia is also fighting the anti-Assad opposition rebels, who are alarmed by the rapid Kurdish rise over the past three months. PYD’s success brings the Syrian Kurds one step closer to gaining a long-desired constitutional autonomy when peace finally reins in the country.
http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2012/09/13/kurds-historic-opportunity
5. Protests and Controversy Shadow KCK Press Case
15 September 2012 / Journal of Turkish Weekly
The mass trial of 44 journalists, newspaper staff and distributors in the scope of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case opened in Istanbul this week amid concerns of journalists groups and human rights advocates that the trials are politically motivated to silence opposition press. The suspects, 36 of whom have been under arrest for more than a year, are accused of working for the "press and distribution network" of the outlawed KCK, the alleged Kurdish umbrella organisation that includes the PKK. An indictment more than 800 pages accuses all the major Kurdish media organs and news agencies of being under the direct orders of KCK. Journalists, editors, accountants and distributers are accused of "being a member of a [terrorist] organisation," among other things.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/141989/protests-and-controversy-shadow-kck-press-case.html <http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/141989/protests-and-controversy-shadow-kck-press-case.html>
6. Karayılan: AKP government should hold referendum on autonomy
17 September 2012 / ANF
In an interview with ANF about the recent developments in Turkey, Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council president Murat Karayılan called on the ruling AKP government to hold a referendum on democratic autonomy under the supervision of international observers so that the people themselves could be asked about what they want. Karayılan remarked that the denial of any contact with PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan is a cause of concern and evaluated this approach as very dangerous. Karayılan warned that the Turkish government and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would be responsible for any potential negative consequences. KCK leader urged immediate end to the “severe isolation circumstances Öcalan has been subjected to”.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5132
7. 500 Kurdish rebels killed or captured in past month, says Turkish PM
17 September 2012 / Guardian
Turkish security forces have killed or captured almost 500 Kurdish rebels in the past month, the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said. Erdogan said military offensives against the Kurdistan Workers' party, or PKK, would end only after the rebels laid down arms. The group is fighting for self-rule in the Kurdish-dominated south-east of Turkey. An upsurge in violence between government forces and the PKK has dimmed hopes of a resolution to the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands since 1984. In the latest violence, suspected Kurdish rebels detonated a roadside bomb in eastern Turkey on Sunday, killing eight police officers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/17/kurdish-rebels-killed-captured-turkish-pm?newsfeed=true
8. New Statistics Reveal the Size of Turkey's Kurdish Population
20 September 2012 / Rudaw
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) recently published the birth records of Kurdish citizens in Turkey.
According to these records, there are 22,691,824 Kurds in Turkey, mostly born in Kurdish cities in the southeast of the country. Therefore, out of Turkey’s 74.7 million citizens, more than 30 percent are Kurds. These records only include people who have been registered at official government institutions.
After the founding of the Turkish Republic, the first census was carried out in 1927. According to that census, the Turkish population was 13,464,564. At that time, Serhat was the most populous Kurdish city with 38,000 residents. The second most populous city was Dilok.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5220.html
9. Turkey border gate marks key gain for Syria rebels: experts
20 September 2012 / The Daily Star
Rebels are consolidating potentially strategic territorial gains in northern Syria, having seized yet another border crossing into Turkey from already stretched regime forces, experts say.
But as they do so, they are heightening tensions with local Syrian Kurdish militia, who are suspected of collaborating with the embattled regime of President Bashar Assad and with whom they have already clashed.
On Wednesday, after two days of fighting, rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) seized the Tal al-Abyad border crossing. That would give them control of as many as four of the seven posts in the north.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Sep-20/188692-turkey-border-gate-marks-key-gain-for-syria-rebels-experts.ashx#axzz271ikOjm5
10. 136 years for 6 Kurdish political activists
20 September 2012 / Roj Helat
The Iranian Revolution Court has handed 136 years imprisonment on 6 Kurdish political activists based in Sine (Sanadanj) and Meriwan cities. The Islamic Revolution Court in Sine handed 120 years sentences on 4 Kurdish political activists for their alleged affiliation with the Kurdish political organisations. Eyub Esedi was sentenced to 20 years, Chengiz Qedemxer to 40 years, Fexre Fereci to 30 years and Mihemmed Husen to 30 years, the report said. The Islamic Revolution Court in Meriwan has also sentenced Kawe Fereci and Kawe Muradi, two political activists who have been held incommunicado for the last year, to 8 years each.
http://www.rojhelat.info/english/component/content/article/2562-136-years-for-6-kurdish-political-activists
11. Eight people detained in connection with Roj TV funds
19 September 2012 / ANF
Eight Kurdish people were taken into custody in Denmark accused of funding ROJ TV. Detentions followed simultaneous raids in a number of houses early on Monday morning. Among the eight detainees are also members of People’s Assembly in Denmark. Detainees are expected to appear in court on Wednesday. Speaking about the detentions, police inspector Jens Moeller Jensen stated that they wanted the trial to take place behind closed doors and added that the investigation could go beyond Denmark.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5137
12. Public meeting condemns show trials in Turkey and plans action
20 September 2012 / The Spark
A well attended meeting in London sponsored by the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers held on 18 September condemned the recent trials of lawyers and journalists in Turkey and decided to set up a co-coordinating group to build a stronger solidarity campaign. I joined a panel of speakers including Margaret Owen, barrister and member of the Bar Human Rights Committee, Ali Has solicitor, who attended the lawyers’ trial in Turkey in July and Tony Simpson, a member of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and editor of ‘The Spokesman’. The meeting was chaired by Professor Bill Bowing from Birbeck College and President of the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights. What follows is my speech to the meeting.
http://www.thespark.me.uk/?p=458#more-458
13. ‘These latest trials are very worrying to friends of Turkey’: UK government minister
19 September 2012 / Kurdistan Tribune
“If lawyers can’t do their job for fear of arrest, that’s a country with no democracy or rule of law and a pariah among the nations of the world”. Human rights barrister Margaret Owen OBE last night addressed a well-attended London meeting of British lawyers and others opposed to Turkey’s mass political show trials. The trial of 36 lawyers – illegal under Turkey’s 1961 Lawyers Act – is one of a series of prosecutions of Kurdish political and human rights activists, trade unionists, students, journalists and legal representatives accused of involvement with the umbrella Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and, thereby, of ‘terrorist offences’.
http://kurdistantribune.com/2012/these-latest-trials-very-worrying-friends-of-turkey-uk-government-minister/
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
14. Turkey would rather jail journalists than address the Kurdish question
14 September 2012 / Guardian
Turkey has put 44 Kurdish journalists on trial this week in what Reporters without Borders called the "criminalisation of critical and activist journalism".
They are among about 100 Kurdish journalists who face lengthy jail terms on various terrorism charges, including accusations that they have supported the KCK – an illegal pan-Kurdish movement that includes the armed Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK).
While the crackdown on the press has escalated in recent years under the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has always had a chronic problem with tolerating a free press. From 1959 to 2011, out of 479 cases brought to the European court of human rights under freedom of expression, 207 originated from Turkey.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/14/turkey-jail-journalists-kurdish-question
15. Turkey: Will Kurdish Rights Be Hurt by a Hug?
13 September 2012 / Eurasianet
A government-backed campaign to strip nine Kurdish MPs of their immunity from prosecution could take Turkey back to the future in its decades-long conflict over Kurdish rights. In the 1990s, fighting between the Turkish army and Kurdish rebels in the country’s southeast claimed over 40,000 lives, and led to the displacement or imprisonment of thousands of citizens. Now, amid the worst violence <http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65588> in more than a decade, many observers fear that ethnic Kurds’ rights may again be sharply curtailed in the interest of national security. Pressure to lift the Kurdish MPs’ immunity has been building since the group was filmed in late August embracing alleged fighters from the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after the fighters stopped the deputies’ convoy on a road in the southeastern Hakkari region.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65911
16. The Love Affair with Erdogan
4 September 2012 / Jadaliyya
Since his election to the helm of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2003, but even more so following the party’s reelections in 2007 and 2011, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has played the darling of the proverbial international community. Gradually relinquishing their fear of an Islamist agenda, European and North American governments and think tanks made Erdoğan the linchpin of a “modern” Middle East. He became the embodiment of a benign Islam embedded in the kind of secular, democratic, and neoliberal economic structures the “West” yearned to see modeled in the rest of the Middle East. His wife wore a headscarf, yet he spoke the language of democracy and rights. He commanded a powerful army advancing the geopolitical interests of NATO, but promised to curb its extraordinary domestic political power and mitigate the draconian secularism that many found increasingly oppressive.
Part 1: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/7074/the-love-affair-with-erdogan-%28part-1%29
Part 2: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/7204/the-love-affair-with-erdogan-%28part-2%29
17. Kurds OK with federalism for now: BDP
18 September 2012 / Hurriyet
While Kurds in the Middle East deserve to run an independent Kurdish state they would rather opt to live within their existing borders under a federal or autonomous model for a number of reasons, a leading Kurdish politician has said. Co-chairperson of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Selahattin Demirtaş also described the Kurdish people as among the most important power players in the region and a group that Turkey should better align itself with. “Kurds will never accept living under the direct rule of a specific country or nation. Their will to establish an independent state and [to draw] their own borders is perhaps not very strong at this time.” http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/kurds-ok-with-federalism-for-now-bdp.aspx?pageID=238&nID=30385&NewsCatID=338
18. Turkey: Solving the PKK Puzzle
16 September 2012 / Eurasianet
As the Kurdish issue in Turkey continues to heat up, both politically and militarily, the question of how Ankara should deal with the insurgent Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) becomes one that's both more urgent yet also harder to answer.
In a new report released last week, the International Crisis Group steps into the breach, urging both the Turkish government and the PKK to step back from further confrontation and providing some very sensible suggestions that provide a way towards finding settling the long-standing Kurdish conflict in Turkey.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65918
19. Erdoğan tells media not to cover Kurdish conflict
12 September 2012 / Committee to Protect Journalists
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey is known to lash out publicly at journalists of whose coverage he disapproves. He has called on media owners and editors to discipline reporters and columnists critical of his policies, particularly when it comes to the sensitive Kurdish issue. In more than a few cases, to avoid trouble, newsroom managers have listened and dismissed the staffers in question. But Erdoğan's most recent televised "message to all the media" crosses from reprimanding into directly instructing journalists to stop covering the long-standing conflict between the Turkish Armed Forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). This is unthinkable.
http://cpj.org/blog/2012/09/erdogan-tells-media-not-to-cover-kurdish-conf.ph
20. Turkey's Syrian Misadventure
15 September 2012 / Palestine Chronicles
Turkey's intervention in Syria has been an act of unprecedented folly. Not since the republic was established in 1923 - not even when the military was in charge - has a Turkish government sought ‘regime change’ in another country. In sponsoring armed groups seeking to destroy the Syrian government, the collective calling itself ‘The Friends of the Syrian People’ appears to be committing serious violations of international law. While the focus has to remain on the prime victims of their intervention, the Syrian people, it is also the case that more than a year later the policy has not worked for Turkey and is blowing up in the face of its architects, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19573
21. VIDEO: Uneasy Balance: Weighing Turkish, Syrian, and Kurdish Interests
10 September 2012/ Foundation for Defence of Democracies
Since July, Syria's rebels have taken the battle to the Assad regime in the country's largest two cities, Damascus and Aleppo. While the regime has been able to counter the offensive in Damascus, the situation in Aleppo has proved far more difficult resulting in a stalemate. To fight these battles, the regime has concentrated its limited forces by drawing manpower from elsewhere in the country. This has led to a situation where much of northern Syria has fallen out of the control of the regime.
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/events/uneasy-balance-weighing-turkish-syrian-and-kurdish-interests/
13 September 2012 / Bianet
The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a statement calling for the release of 36 journalists arrested pending trial in the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) probe. "This mass trial recalls darker times that we had hoped were a thing of the past," the RSF said. Some 44 journalists are currently standing trial in connection with terrorism related charges in the KCK probe. 36 of them are under arrest pending trial. "Despite all the promises and some marginal improvements, the judicial system is persisting with the serious abuses that we have been condemning for years - criminalization of critical and activist journalism, articles treated as acts of terrorism and systemmatic abuses of the anti-terrorism law and pre-trial detention," the statement said. The RSF called for the release of all reporters who remain under arrest in relation to their journalistic activities and demanded a fair trial for them.
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/140842-press-freedom-associations-call-for-journalists-release
2. Turkish PM Calls for End to BDP Immunity
14 September 2012 / Voice of America
The immunity of nine parliamentary members in Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy (BDP) is under threat, following Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s warning he will do whatever is necessary to facilitate their prosecution. The deputies are under investigation after TV images were broadcast of them embracing Kurdish rebels, who stopped the convoy they were traveling in. But BDP deputy Ertugrul Kurkcu says hugging is not a matter for prosecution. "They talked to us and we talked to them and they gave us a hug what can we do? We reacted like a civilized person maybe some of us had more smiling faces than others. But this is not a matter for the judiciary," said Kurkcu.
http://www.voanews.com/content/turkish_pm_calls_for_end_to_bdp_immunity/1507931.html
3. New sentence against Tuncel MP
18 September 2012 / ANF
BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) Istanbul deputy, Sebahat Tuncel, has been sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison by an İstanbul court on charges of membership of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The court has also issued an international travel ban for the deputy. Sebahat Tuncel was jailed for membership of the PKK and was released after being elected as a deputy for Parliament in 2007.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5135
4. The Kurds: A Historic Opportunity?
13 September 2012 / World Policy Institute
With the political and ethnic fractures following the Arab Awakening, the historic dream for Kurdish nationhood is reemerging. In war-torn Syria, the Kurdish quest for autonomy has become a central goal of the conflict. Since July 2012, Syria’s armed Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has taken over some of the country’s northeast, annexing the municipal offices in Afrin and Korbani in Aleppo Province in the north and Amude and Deirik in the east. The independent Kurdish flag now flies in these Kurdish towns. Having taken over government buildings and infrastructure, the heavily armed PYD is reportedly providing security to the inhabitants of the Syrian northeast. At the same time, this militia is also fighting the anti-Assad opposition rebels, who are alarmed by the rapid Kurdish rise over the past three months. PYD’s success brings the Syrian Kurds one step closer to gaining a long-desired constitutional autonomy when peace finally reins in the country.
http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2012/09/13/kurds-historic-opportunity
5. Protests and Controversy Shadow KCK Press Case
15 September 2012 / Journal of Turkish Weekly
The mass trial of 44 journalists, newspaper staff and distributors in the scope of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case opened in Istanbul this week amid concerns of journalists groups and human rights advocates that the trials are politically motivated to silence opposition press. The suspects, 36 of whom have been under arrest for more than a year, are accused of working for the "press and distribution network" of the outlawed KCK, the alleged Kurdish umbrella organisation that includes the PKK. An indictment more than 800 pages accuses all the major Kurdish media organs and news agencies of being under the direct orders of KCK. Journalists, editors, accountants and distributers are accused of "being a member of a [terrorist] organisation," among other things.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/141989/protests-and-controversy-shadow-kck-press-case.html <http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/141989/protests-and-controversy-shadow-kck-press-case.html>
6. Karayılan: AKP government should hold referendum on autonomy
17 September 2012 / ANF
In an interview with ANF about the recent developments in Turkey, Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council president Murat Karayılan called on the ruling AKP government to hold a referendum on democratic autonomy under the supervision of international observers so that the people themselves could be asked about what they want. Karayılan remarked that the denial of any contact with PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan is a cause of concern and evaluated this approach as very dangerous. Karayılan warned that the Turkish government and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would be responsible for any potential negative consequences. KCK leader urged immediate end to the “severe isolation circumstances Öcalan has been subjected to”.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5132
7. 500 Kurdish rebels killed or captured in past month, says Turkish PM
17 September 2012 / Guardian
Turkish security forces have killed or captured almost 500 Kurdish rebels in the past month, the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said. Erdogan said military offensives against the Kurdistan Workers' party, or PKK, would end only after the rebels laid down arms. The group is fighting for self-rule in the Kurdish-dominated south-east of Turkey. An upsurge in violence between government forces and the PKK has dimmed hopes of a resolution to the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands since 1984. In the latest violence, suspected Kurdish rebels detonated a roadside bomb in eastern Turkey on Sunday, killing eight police officers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/17/kurdish-rebels-killed-captured-turkish-pm?newsfeed=true
8. New Statistics Reveal the Size of Turkey's Kurdish Population
20 September 2012 / Rudaw
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) recently published the birth records of Kurdish citizens in Turkey.
According to these records, there are 22,691,824 Kurds in Turkey, mostly born in Kurdish cities in the southeast of the country. Therefore, out of Turkey’s 74.7 million citizens, more than 30 percent are Kurds. These records only include people who have been registered at official government institutions.
After the founding of the Turkish Republic, the first census was carried out in 1927. According to that census, the Turkish population was 13,464,564. At that time, Serhat was the most populous Kurdish city with 38,000 residents. The second most populous city was Dilok.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5220.html
9. Turkey border gate marks key gain for Syria rebels: experts
20 September 2012 / The Daily Star
Rebels are consolidating potentially strategic territorial gains in northern Syria, having seized yet another border crossing into Turkey from already stretched regime forces, experts say.
But as they do so, they are heightening tensions with local Syrian Kurdish militia, who are suspected of collaborating with the embattled regime of President Bashar Assad and with whom they have already clashed.
On Wednesday, after two days of fighting, rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) seized the Tal al-Abyad border crossing. That would give them control of as many as four of the seven posts in the north.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Sep-20/188692-turkey-border-gate-marks-key-gain-for-syria-rebels-experts.ashx#axzz271ikOjm5
10. 136 years for 6 Kurdish political activists
20 September 2012 / Roj Helat
The Iranian Revolution Court has handed 136 years imprisonment on 6 Kurdish political activists based in Sine (Sanadanj) and Meriwan cities. The Islamic Revolution Court in Sine handed 120 years sentences on 4 Kurdish political activists for their alleged affiliation with the Kurdish political organisations. Eyub Esedi was sentenced to 20 years, Chengiz Qedemxer to 40 years, Fexre Fereci to 30 years and Mihemmed Husen to 30 years, the report said. The Islamic Revolution Court in Meriwan has also sentenced Kawe Fereci and Kawe Muradi, two political activists who have been held incommunicado for the last year, to 8 years each.
http://www.rojhelat.info/english/component/content/article/2562-136-years-for-6-kurdish-political-activists
11. Eight people detained in connection with Roj TV funds
19 September 2012 / ANF
Eight Kurdish people were taken into custody in Denmark accused of funding ROJ TV. Detentions followed simultaneous raids in a number of houses early on Monday morning. Among the eight detainees are also members of People’s Assembly in Denmark. Detainees are expected to appear in court on Wednesday. Speaking about the detentions, police inspector Jens Moeller Jensen stated that they wanted the trial to take place behind closed doors and added that the investigation could go beyond Denmark.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5137
12. Public meeting condemns show trials in Turkey and plans action
20 September 2012 / The Spark
A well attended meeting in London sponsored by the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers held on 18 September condemned the recent trials of lawyers and journalists in Turkey and decided to set up a co-coordinating group to build a stronger solidarity campaign. I joined a panel of speakers including Margaret Owen, barrister and member of the Bar Human Rights Committee, Ali Has solicitor, who attended the lawyers’ trial in Turkey in July and Tony Simpson, a member of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and editor of ‘The Spokesman’. The meeting was chaired by Professor Bill Bowing from Birbeck College and President of the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights. What follows is my speech to the meeting.
http://www.thespark.me.uk/?p=458#more-458
13. ‘These latest trials are very worrying to friends of Turkey’: UK government minister
19 September 2012 / Kurdistan Tribune
“If lawyers can’t do their job for fear of arrest, that’s a country with no democracy or rule of law and a pariah among the nations of the world”. Human rights barrister Margaret Owen OBE last night addressed a well-attended London meeting of British lawyers and others opposed to Turkey’s mass political show trials. The trial of 36 lawyers – illegal under Turkey’s 1961 Lawyers Act – is one of a series of prosecutions of Kurdish political and human rights activists, trade unionists, students, journalists and legal representatives accused of involvement with the umbrella Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and, thereby, of ‘terrorist offences’.
http://kurdistantribune.com/2012/these-latest-trials-very-worrying-friends-of-turkey-uk-government-minister/
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
14. Turkey would rather jail journalists than address the Kurdish question
14 September 2012 / Guardian
Turkey has put 44 Kurdish journalists on trial this week in what Reporters without Borders called the "criminalisation of critical and activist journalism".
They are among about 100 Kurdish journalists who face lengthy jail terms on various terrorism charges, including accusations that they have supported the KCK – an illegal pan-Kurdish movement that includes the armed Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK).
While the crackdown on the press has escalated in recent years under the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has always had a chronic problem with tolerating a free press. From 1959 to 2011, out of 479 cases brought to the European court of human rights under freedom of expression, 207 originated from Turkey.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/14/turkey-jail-journalists-kurdish-question
15. Turkey: Will Kurdish Rights Be Hurt by a Hug?
13 September 2012 / Eurasianet
A government-backed campaign to strip nine Kurdish MPs of their immunity from prosecution could take Turkey back to the future in its decades-long conflict over Kurdish rights. In the 1990s, fighting between the Turkish army and Kurdish rebels in the country’s southeast claimed over 40,000 lives, and led to the displacement or imprisonment of thousands of citizens. Now, amid the worst violence <http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65588> in more than a decade, many observers fear that ethnic Kurds’ rights may again be sharply curtailed in the interest of national security. Pressure to lift the Kurdish MPs’ immunity has been building since the group was filmed in late August embracing alleged fighters from the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after the fighters stopped the deputies’ convoy on a road in the southeastern Hakkari region.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65911
16. The Love Affair with Erdogan
4 September 2012 / Jadaliyya
Since his election to the helm of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2003, but even more so following the party’s reelections in 2007 and 2011, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has played the darling of the proverbial international community. Gradually relinquishing their fear of an Islamist agenda, European and North American governments and think tanks made Erdoğan the linchpin of a “modern” Middle East. He became the embodiment of a benign Islam embedded in the kind of secular, democratic, and neoliberal economic structures the “West” yearned to see modeled in the rest of the Middle East. His wife wore a headscarf, yet he spoke the language of democracy and rights. He commanded a powerful army advancing the geopolitical interests of NATO, but promised to curb its extraordinary domestic political power and mitigate the draconian secularism that many found increasingly oppressive.
Part 1: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/7074/the-love-affair-with-erdogan-%28part-1%29
Part 2: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/7204/the-love-affair-with-erdogan-%28part-2%29
17. Kurds OK with federalism for now: BDP
18 September 2012 / Hurriyet
While Kurds in the Middle East deserve to run an independent Kurdish state they would rather opt to live within their existing borders under a federal or autonomous model for a number of reasons, a leading Kurdish politician has said. Co-chairperson of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Selahattin Demirtaş also described the Kurdish people as among the most important power players in the region and a group that Turkey should better align itself with. “Kurds will never accept living under the direct rule of a specific country or nation. Their will to establish an independent state and [to draw] their own borders is perhaps not very strong at this time.” http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/kurds-ok-with-federalism-for-now-bdp.aspx?pageID=238&nID=30385&NewsCatID=338
18. Turkey: Solving the PKK Puzzle
16 September 2012 / Eurasianet
As the Kurdish issue in Turkey continues to heat up, both politically and militarily, the question of how Ankara should deal with the insurgent Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) becomes one that's both more urgent yet also harder to answer.
In a new report released last week, the International Crisis Group steps into the breach, urging both the Turkish government and the PKK to step back from further confrontation and providing some very sensible suggestions that provide a way towards finding settling the long-standing Kurdish conflict in Turkey.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65918
19. Erdoğan tells media not to cover Kurdish conflict
12 September 2012 / Committee to Protect Journalists
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey is known to lash out publicly at journalists of whose coverage he disapproves. He has called on media owners and editors to discipline reporters and columnists critical of his policies, particularly when it comes to the sensitive Kurdish issue. In more than a few cases, to avoid trouble, newsroom managers have listened and dismissed the staffers in question. But Erdoğan's most recent televised "message to all the media" crosses from reprimanding into directly instructing journalists to stop covering the long-standing conflict between the Turkish Armed Forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). This is unthinkable.
http://cpj.org/blog/2012/09/erdogan-tells-media-not-to-cover-kurdish-conf.ph
20. Turkey's Syrian Misadventure
15 September 2012 / Palestine Chronicles
Turkey's intervention in Syria has been an act of unprecedented folly. Not since the republic was established in 1923 - not even when the military was in charge - has a Turkish government sought ‘regime change’ in another country. In sponsoring armed groups seeking to destroy the Syrian government, the collective calling itself ‘The Friends of the Syrian People’ appears to be committing serious violations of international law. While the focus has to remain on the prime victims of their intervention, the Syrian people, it is also the case that more than a year later the policy has not worked for Turkey and is blowing up in the face of its architects, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19573
21. VIDEO: Uneasy Balance: Weighing Turkish, Syrian, and Kurdish Interests
10 September 2012/ Foundation for Defence of Democracies
Since July, Syria's rebels have taken the battle to the Assad regime in the country's largest two cities, Damascus and Aleppo. While the regime has been able to counter the offensive in Damascus, the situation in Aleppo has proved far more difficult resulting in a stalemate. To fight these battles, the regime has concentrated its limited forces by drawing manpower from elsewhere in the country. This has led to a situation where much of northern Syria has fallen out of the control of the regime.
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/events/uneasy-balance-weighing-turkish-syrian-and-kurdish-interests/
‘These latest trials are very worrying to friends of Turkey
‘These latest trials are very worrying to friends of Turkey’: UK government minister
Kurdistan Tribune – 20.9.2012 – “If lawyers can’t do their job for fear of arrest, that’s a country with no democracy or rule of law and a pariah among the nations of the world”. Human rights barrister Margaret Owen OBE last night addressed a well-attended London meeting of British lawyers and others opposed to Turkey’s mass political show trials.
The trial of 36 lawyers – illegal under Turkey’s 1961 Lawyers Act – is one of a series of prosecutions of Kurdish political and human rights activists, trade unionists, students, journalists and legal representatives accused of involvement with the umbrella Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and, thereby, of ‘terrorist offences’.
The lawyers were arrested because they represented Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader who has been held in solitary confinement since 1999. Their spurious indictments are based partly on illegal monitoring by the state of their meetings with Ocalan. Many of them were beaten up in police stations and now there is only one lawyer representing Ocalan left at liberty.
Margaret attended the trial in July. “It was held in the smallest room in the largest court house in Europe”, she said. This was meant to deter other lawyers – from Turkey (both Kurds and Turks) and across Europe – who came to show solidarity. The case was adjourned until 6th November when it is expected that the defendants will be sentenced.
Ali Has, a UK-based Kurdish solicitor also attended this trial and he had some ‘breaking news’ for the meeting. A Turkish MP from the opposition CHP had just publicly revealed the protocol that was agreed by representatives of the Turkish intelligence agency (MIT) and the PKK during their secret Oslo negotiations. One article in this protocol states that detained Kurdish legal and media representatives should be immediately released.
“This proves that the KCK operation was political”, said Ali, arguing that it was started during the peace talks by those within the Turkish state who don’t want negotiations to succeed.
Tony Simpson, director of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, attended another KCK trial of around 200 people at Silviri prison. One of the defendants is his friend, Ayse Berktay, an anti war activist and BDP supporter. Tony described the intimidating paramilitary police display outside Silviri, Europe’s largest prison. Inside, defendants were packed into seats at one end of the courtroom while a smaller group of relatives and supporters sat at the other end beneath microphones hanging from the ceiling to monitor their conversations.
Many defendants had been separated from their families for a year and they were waving and blowing kisses to children and loved ones. “The judge seemed cynical”, said Tony, “and mainly concerned with not letting things get out of hand”.
“Around the world, 12,000 people are imprisoned for ‘terrorist offences’ – one third of them are in Turkey”, he said.
Barry White from the National Union of Journalists explained how the British government can be pressured to take a stance against this persecution. It wants to expand trade with Turkey but a recent House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report says that Turkey’s poor human rights record is a significant barrier to trade. Government minister Ken Clarke recently broke ranks with the UK foreign minister by conceding to a constituent that: “These latest trials are very worrying to friends of the country”. A member of the audience pointed out that most of the two million Britons holidaying in Turkey every year know nothing of the repression of the Kurds. If more people knew what was happening, there could be a boycott campaign against Turkey like the one against apartheid South Africa. Estella Schmid, from Peace in Kurdistan, called on different organisations to work together and build a united solidarity movement.
Kurdistan Tribune – 20.9.2012 – “If lawyers can’t do their job for fear of arrest, that’s a country with no democracy or rule of law and a pariah among the nations of the world”. Human rights barrister Margaret Owen OBE last night addressed a well-attended London meeting of British lawyers and others opposed to Turkey’s mass political show trials.
The trial of 36 lawyers – illegal under Turkey’s 1961 Lawyers Act – is one of a series of prosecutions of Kurdish political and human rights activists, trade unionists, students, journalists and legal representatives accused of involvement with the umbrella Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and, thereby, of ‘terrorist offences’.
The lawyers were arrested because they represented Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader who has been held in solitary confinement since 1999. Their spurious indictments are based partly on illegal monitoring by the state of their meetings with Ocalan. Many of them were beaten up in police stations and now there is only one lawyer representing Ocalan left at liberty.
Margaret attended the trial in July. “It was held in the smallest room in the largest court house in Europe”, she said. This was meant to deter other lawyers – from Turkey (both Kurds and Turks) and across Europe – who came to show solidarity. The case was adjourned until 6th November when it is expected that the defendants will be sentenced.
Ali Has, a UK-based Kurdish solicitor also attended this trial and he had some ‘breaking news’ for the meeting. A Turkish MP from the opposition CHP had just publicly revealed the protocol that was agreed by representatives of the Turkish intelligence agency (MIT) and the PKK during their secret Oslo negotiations. One article in this protocol states that detained Kurdish legal and media representatives should be immediately released.
“This proves that the KCK operation was political”, said Ali, arguing that it was started during the peace talks by those within the Turkish state who don’t want negotiations to succeed.
Tony Simpson, director of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, attended another KCK trial of around 200 people at Silviri prison. One of the defendants is his friend, Ayse Berktay, an anti war activist and BDP supporter. Tony described the intimidating paramilitary police display outside Silviri, Europe’s largest prison. Inside, defendants were packed into seats at one end of the courtroom while a smaller group of relatives and supporters sat at the other end beneath microphones hanging from the ceiling to monitor their conversations.
Many defendants had been separated from their families for a year and they were waving and blowing kisses to children and loved ones. “The judge seemed cynical”, said Tony, “and mainly concerned with not letting things get out of hand”.
“Around the world, 12,000 people are imprisoned for ‘terrorist offences’ – one third of them are in Turkey”, he said.
Barry White from the National Union of Journalists explained how the British government can be pressured to take a stance against this persecution. It wants to expand trade with Turkey but a recent House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report says that Turkey’s poor human rights record is a significant barrier to trade. Government minister Ken Clarke recently broke ranks with the UK foreign minister by conceding to a constituent that: “These latest trials are very worrying to friends of the country”. A member of the audience pointed out that most of the two million Britons holidaying in Turkey every year know nothing of the repression of the Kurds. If more people knew what was happening, there could be a boycott campaign against Turkey like the one against apartheid South Africa. Estella Schmid, from Peace in Kurdistan, called on different organisations to work together and build a united solidarity movement.
Tuesday 18 September 2012
Freedom for Ocalan Campaign
Weekly vigils in Trafalgar Square, next vigil this Wednesday 12 September 2012, 1-2pm.
The Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee is holding weekly vigils each Wednesday at 1pm - 2pm in Trafalgar Square. The vigils have been called as part of the Freedom for Ocalan Campaign, demanding the release of Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
Next vigil: This Wednesday, 19 September 2012, at 1pm - 2pm
FREEDOM FOR OCALAN – STATUS FOR KURDISTAN
Dear friends and International media
“Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee” in Britain will be carrying out a demonstration every Wednesday at 1pm in Trafalgar Square to highlight the more than one year of severe isolation and demand the freedom of Kurdish leader Mr. Abdullah Ocalan.
The harsh implementations, including mistreatment, discrimination and criminalisation, are carried out by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of the Turkish government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan has further increased against the Kurdish people, human rights activists, intellectuals, columnists, socialists, religious and other ethnic minorities, environmentalist, women, youth, media and all those who oppose the system. In addition, severe isolation of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan and the rejection of cease-fire by Erdogan displaced the on-going peace process and have upheaved the war between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Turkish state to a new dimension, which has resulted in the deaths of several hundred lives.
“Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee” in Britain is calling out to Britain and World public opinion for the recognition of Ocalan’s freedom and a status for Kurdistan. There have been somewhat similar cases from around the world, where such people and leaders, who were subjected to systematic state oppression and tyranny, did finally resolved peacefully. The case of South African leader, Nelson Mandela, is a similar one where he was kept a political prisoner for years ended peacefully through dialogue and democratic means. Later on in the process he became the leader of the country and helped to build a better nation. The situation of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma is another example, where after years of imprisonment, resolved through democratic means, making her a prominent politician of the country. Similarly, the Kurdish leader Mr. Ocalan is kept in solitary confinement in the Imrali Island since 1999. This 13-year continuous solitary confinement and resolution of this issue can only be resolved by following the above mentioned examples; through peaceful negotiations and democratic channels.
For the following reasons, we reject the silence of the Western governments and their support of such tyrannical policies and dirty war in Kurdistan-Turkey:
Attempts to totally eradicate an ethnic group
For more than 1 year Mr. Ocalan has been withheld from seeing and speaking to his family and lawyers
The chemical weapons used against Kurdish people and Freedom fighters (Guerrillas)
The illegal marketing of Freedom Fighter’s organs and the disfiguration of Guerrillas’ dead bodies
For the massacre of 34 civilians, which included 17 children at Roboski, by Turkish f-16 warplanes to be unnoticed by the international public opinion, is as terrifying as the massacre itself.
Hostage taking and arrests of thousands of political representatives, Kurdish civilians, mayors, party members, journalists and Mr. Öcalan's lawyers by the state under the “KCK case”
Deaths of hundreds of children by the police bullets and army mines
So far, the Council of Europe, British Parliament, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, European Court of Human Rights, European War Crimes Court and the United Kingdom remain completely silent and are not carrying out the “just” duty they claim to follow.
Therefore, we are a starting a petition under the “Freedom for Ocalan and Status for Kurdistan” campaign and we will be supporting this by consistently performing a mass sit-in protest. We are calling out to those who believe in equality and freedom of all people to be aware of this inhumanity.
‘Yesterday Mandela - Today Ocalan’ ‘Freedom for Ocalan - Status for Kurdistan’
Britain Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee
For further information contact: fedbir@gmail.com
Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee
Status for Kurdistan
The Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee is holding weekly vigils each Wednesday at 1pm - 2pm in Trafalgar Square. The vigils have been called as part of the Freedom for Ocalan Campaign, demanding the release of Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
Next vigil: This Wednesday, 19 September 2012, at 1pm - 2pm
FREEDOM FOR OCALAN – STATUS FOR KURDISTAN
Dear friends and International media
“Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee” in Britain will be carrying out a demonstration every Wednesday at 1pm in Trafalgar Square to highlight the more than one year of severe isolation and demand the freedom of Kurdish leader Mr. Abdullah Ocalan.
The harsh implementations, including mistreatment, discrimination and criminalisation, are carried out by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of the Turkish government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan has further increased against the Kurdish people, human rights activists, intellectuals, columnists, socialists, religious and other ethnic minorities, environmentalist, women, youth, media and all those who oppose the system. In addition, severe isolation of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan and the rejection of cease-fire by Erdogan displaced the on-going peace process and have upheaved the war between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Turkish state to a new dimension, which has resulted in the deaths of several hundred lives.
“Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee” in Britain is calling out to Britain and World public opinion for the recognition of Ocalan’s freedom and a status for Kurdistan. There have been somewhat similar cases from around the world, where such people and leaders, who were subjected to systematic state oppression and tyranny, did finally resolved peacefully. The case of South African leader, Nelson Mandela, is a similar one where he was kept a political prisoner for years ended peacefully through dialogue and democratic means. Later on in the process he became the leader of the country and helped to build a better nation. The situation of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma is another example, where after years of imprisonment, resolved through democratic means, making her a prominent politician of the country. Similarly, the Kurdish leader Mr. Ocalan is kept in solitary confinement in the Imrali Island since 1999. This 13-year continuous solitary confinement and resolution of this issue can only be resolved by following the above mentioned examples; through peaceful negotiations and democratic channels.
For the following reasons, we reject the silence of the Western governments and their support of such tyrannical policies and dirty war in Kurdistan-Turkey:
Attempts to totally eradicate an ethnic group
For more than 1 year Mr. Ocalan has been withheld from seeing and speaking to his family and lawyers
The chemical weapons used against Kurdish people and Freedom fighters (Guerrillas)
The illegal marketing of Freedom Fighter’s organs and the disfiguration of Guerrillas’ dead bodies
For the massacre of 34 civilians, which included 17 children at Roboski, by Turkish f-16 warplanes to be unnoticed by the international public opinion, is as terrifying as the massacre itself.
Hostage taking and arrests of thousands of political representatives, Kurdish civilians, mayors, party members, journalists and Mr. Öcalan's lawyers by the state under the “KCK case”
Deaths of hundreds of children by the police bullets and army mines
So far, the Council of Europe, British Parliament, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, European Court of Human Rights, European War Crimes Court and the United Kingdom remain completely silent and are not carrying out the “just” duty they claim to follow.
Therefore, we are a starting a petition under the “Freedom for Ocalan and Status for Kurdistan” campaign and we will be supporting this by consistently performing a mass sit-in protest. We are calling out to those who believe in equality and freedom of all people to be aware of this inhumanity.
‘Yesterday Mandela - Today Ocalan’ ‘Freedom for Ocalan - Status for Kurdistan’
Britain Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee
For further information contact: fedbir@gmail.com
Freedom for Ocalan Initiative Committee
Status for Kurdistan
Thursday 13 September 2012
KURDISH NEWS WEEKLY BRIEFING, 7 13 SEPTEMBER 2012
1. Turkey court tries 44 pro-Kurd journalists in biggest media case
10 September 2012 / Reuters
Forty-four pro-Kurdish journalists went on trial in Turkey on Monday, charged with belonging to an armed rebellion in the country's largest media case, intensifying concerns about press and political freedoms.
Thousands of pro-Kurdish trade unionists, politicians, academics and journalists have been jailed since 2009, accused of links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 28-year campaign against Turkey.
"The clampdown on the Kurdish press ... raises major concerns about the treatment of minorities and minority opinion," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE88917C20120910
2. Keskin, Peache in press conference in front of court
10 September 2012 / ANF
In a press conference in front of the Çağlayan Court in Istanbul, chief editor of Özgür Gündem newspaper Eren Keskin said that the repression against the Kurdish press has been the symbol of the repression against the freedom of thought in Turkey. Referring to the bombing events and journalist killings that the Kurdish press has faced so far, Keskin noted that; “Today also, they force us to make a choice between death and imprisonment.” Keskin’s statement was followed by that of UN law expert and former Parliamentarian and journalist Norman Peache who, speaking on behalf of the German delegation in Istanbul to follow the trial, voiced deep concerns over the recent developments in Turkey and pointed to the removal of the principle of separation of powers in the country.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5117
3. Dozens of Kurdish journalists face terrorism charges in Turkey
11 September 2012 / Guardian
The biggest media trial in Turkey's history has begun in what human rights groups say is an attempt by the government to intimidate the press and punish pro-Kurdish activists.
A total of 44 Kurdish journalists appeared in court in Istanbul on various terrorism charges, including accusations that they have supported the KCK, an illegal pan-Kurdish movement that includes the PKK, the armed Kurdistan Workers' party. Of those, 36 have been in pre-trial detention since December.
The hearing was delayed after the defendants made an attempt to defend themselves in Kurdish, their mother language, a request denied by the judge. Twelve of the defendants are said to have led a terrorist organisation and 32 are accused of being members of a terrorist organisation. Prosecutors have demanded prison sentences ranging from seven and a half to 22 and a half years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/10/kurdish-journalists-terrorism-charges-turkey
4. Judge Censures Defense Lawyers’ Pleas in Press Suit
12 September 2012 / Bianet
The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial of 44 journalists kicked off on Monday at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court in an electric atmosphere with Chief Justice Ali Alçık and defense lawyers exchanging angry words, while the judge also refused to enter the defense lawyers' pleas into the court records on Tuesday and filed a complaint against the court audience who applauded him in protest of his refusal to allow lawyers to speak. Judge Alçık announced a recess even before the trial began during the first hearing on Monday following a spat with the defense lawyers. He also demanded that the audience leave the courtroom, but the suspects' families and others observing the trial refused to comply with his request. The court accepted the defendants' response "Ez li virim" ("I am here" in Kurdish) during the initial roll call. http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/140832-judge-censures-defense-lawyers-pleas-in-press-suit
5. Journalists tied mouth with black band in protest
12 September 2012 / ANF
The third day of the trial against 44 Kurdish journalists (36 have been in detention since December 2011) has witnessed loud protests as lawyers left the hearing room and journalists tied their mouths with black band to condemn the court board’s denial to self-defense in the Kurdish language. The court board adjourned the trial to 12 November and ordered the next hearings to be held at the Silivri Court in Istanbul. The detention of journalists will be evaluated after taking the prosecutor’s opinion on their situation. The court board also rejected the request by lawyer Ümit Sisligün to be part of the defense on the grounds of his being tried in the scope of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) case against lawyers.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5125
6. Fourteen Eğitim Sen members arrested in Diyarbakır
11 September 2012 / ANF
Nine members of education union Eğitim-Sen were taken into custody on Tuesday as a result of police attack on a group of union members staging a protest against the recently approved 4+4+4 law on national education. Speaking before the police intervention in the protest march of unionists, Eğitim-Sen Diyarbakır branch chair Kasım Birtek said that protest demonstrations aren’t allowed in Diyarbakır and asked “Is there a special law in Diyarbakır and for Kurds?”. The police attack against the group ended up with the detention of nine unionists including Birtek himself and Branch Secretary Ramazan Kaval.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5122
7. Woman prisoner in death fast for Öcalan
07 September 2012 / ANF
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) prisoner Gönül Erdoğan started a hunger strike to demand an end to the isolation of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. Erdoğan is in Bakırköy Women’s Prison and said she would not give up her act until Öcalan is provided with the right to self-defense, healthcare and freedom. Striker Erdoğan said the followings in the Kurdish petition she sent to the Ministry of Justice about her action which she reportedly started on 1 September World Peace Day: “The inhuman treatment Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has been subjected to for the last 13 years and the aggravated isolation he and his other five prison-mates are subjected to for the last one year, as well as the denial of meetings with his family and lawyers constitute an obstacle to the resolution of the Kurdish problem and an end of the war in the country…”
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5107
8. “The Government Has Taken Over the Judiciary and Parliament”
8 September 2012 / Bianet
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent comments on the encounter between BDP members and militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Aug. 17 demonstrated how far the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) had gone to concentrate all the power in their own hands. "We spoke to the judiciary. They have initiated the relevant procedures. We are also going to follow this through in Parliament," Prime Minister Erdoğan said in relation to the encounter between PKK members and BDP deputies in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Aug. 17, once more raising the specter of abolishing the parliamentary immunities of BDP members. Those comments constitute the gravest profanity against the independence of the judiciary, according to Ertuğrul Kürkçü, a BDP deputy from the southern province of Mersin. "These remarks by Erdoğan are striking words that illustrate how far the government has gone with respect to the separation of powers in Turkey, the independence of the judiciary and to construe a dictatorship, independently of what [they] want to do to the BDP," Kürkçü said.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140771-the-government-has-taken-over-the-judiciary-and-parliament
9. CHP Objects to Resolution on Kurds
11 September 2012 / Journal of Turkish Weekly
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) has publicly registered its reservations with a Socialist International (SI) resolution that recommended creating a special working group on the Kurdish question, noting that the platform had originally only agreed to form a committee on the matter. The CHP conveyed its reservations and its objections to the General Assembly, the president and the secretary-general of the SI, CHP Deputy Chair Umut Oran said yesterday in a written statement. “The Congress of the Socialist International has decided to re-establish a Special Working Group on the Kurdish Question with the aim to advance and protect the rights, the security and the improvement of the living conditions of the Kurdish people in accordance with international law,” SI said in its resolution adopted at its 24th Congress held in Cape Town between Aug. 30 and Sept. 1.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/141696/chp-objects-to-resolution-on-kurds.html
10. Diversion of Tigris river completed, construction of actual dam starting
13 September 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
A new construction phase was celebrated at the Ilisu dam site with a big ceremony last week: The Tigris river has been diverted at the construction site now flowing through three big tunnels. This diversion will be maintained for several years. Now the construction of the actual dam in the dry river bed begins. The Turkish Minister of the Environment Veysel Eroglu called the Ilisu dam an "important strategic and economic project". He stated that the project will be finished in summer 2014. After that it will take one more year to flood the reservoir.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/diversion-of-tigris-river-completed-construction-of-actual-dam-starting/
11. General Staff: 88 Troops, 373 PKK Militants Die in 2012
13 September 2012 / Bianet
The Turkish General Staff announced that 373 militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had died as a consequence of military operations during the past six months, while 88 troops had also lost their lives in the last nine months, 54 of them being professional military personnel. The General Staff said the announcement was a response to claims that appeared in the media which suggested that the losses were due to inadequate intelligence, unpreparedness, late arrival of reinforcements in outposts that came under attack and lack of sufficient military training. Such claims lead to the misinformation of the public, the military's announcement said. Allegations that the troops who lost their lives were mainly draftees with limited training are untrue, as 54 of the 88 troops who died as of Sept. 6, 2012 were professionals, according to the General Staff.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140839-general-staff-88-troops-373-pkk-militants-die-in-2012
12. Turkey ramps up war threats against Syria
11 September 2012 / World Socialist Website
Turkey has dramatically escalated its war rhetoric against Syria, placing itself at the forefront of any military intervention to depose the regime of Bashar al-Assad. On September 4, at a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Syria as a “terrorist state.” He complained that the “massacres in Syria” had gained strength “from the international community's indifference... The regime in Syria has now become a terrorist state. We do not have the luxury to be indifferent to what is happening there.”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/sep2012/syri-s11.shtml
13. News briefing from the PYD Foreign Affairs Office
11 September 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
The People’s Council of Western Kurdistan condemning the brutal massacre in Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood, Kurdish populated area in Aleppo.
The People’s council of Western Kurdistan condemned the massacre on 6 September 2012 committed by Syrian brutal air craft bombardment and shelling the Kurdish populated Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood in Aleppo targeting civilians Kurdish people resulting in killings of 21 civilians and more than 45 civilians wounded, among them children and women most of the victims were from Afrin, where the victims were buried in a mass demonstration condemning the killings and chanted to protect the Kurdish region from the violence.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/news-briefing-from-the-pyd-foreign-affairs-office-2/#more-1762
14. Plans to Unite Kurdish Armed Forces in Syria
12 September 2012 / Rudaw
The Kurdish Supreme Council in Syria is planning to establish a military force that would include armed groups from all parties in Syrian Kurdistan.
The move follows an announcement by some deserters of President Bashar al-Assad’s army of the creation of a force known as the Syrian National Army (SNA).
The SNA has apparently called on Kurds to join them. “We are trying to establish an army for Syrian Kurdistan and are seriously working toward that end,” said Ismael Hama, a member of the Kurdish Supreme Council. The Supreme Council was formed in July after an agreement between various Syrian Kurdish groups was made in Erbil. The dominant force in Syrian Kurdistan is now the Democratic Union Party (PYD) who politically and militarily controls the Kurdish areas which Assad’s forces have retreated from to fight rebels in Aleppo and other areas of Syria’s Sunni Arab heartland.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/5189.html
15. Demands for referendum on self-determination in East Kurdistan
10 September 2012 / Roj Helat
A group of Kurdish academics, artists, journalists and civil activists have declared in a statement that they demand a referendum to be implemented in East Kurdistan to decide the future administration of Kurdish people in this part of Kurdistan. In response to the antagonistic statement of the Iranian opposition group against the agreement reached by two Kurdish political parties to launch a unified front, a number of Kurdish academics, journalists and activists demand a referendum to be conducted in East Kurdistan on self-determination of the Kurds.
http://www.rojhelat.info/english/taybet/2552-demands-for-referendum-on-self-determination-in-east-kurdistan
16. VIDEO: 80 policemen injured, 31 detained in Kurdish festival clashes
10 September 2012 / Russia Today
At least eighty police officers sustained injuries after violence erupted during a Kurdish cultural festival in the southwest Germany city of Mannheim. More than 30 people were arrested. The clashes were sparked after the police intervened in an argument between organizes and a 14-year-old teenager who tried to sneak into the event with the flag of a banned Kurdish organization. The situation spun out of control when Kurdish festival-goers started throwing bottles of water, stones, and other objects at security guards, who had been specifically hired to keep order during the event. About 2,500 Kurds were in an hours-long stand-off with 600 police officers, German Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported.
http://rt.com/news/kurdish-festival-clashes-germany-735/
17. PiK hosts a public meeting in response to KCK trials
11 September 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
The Peace in Kurdistan Campaign is holding a free public meeting next week about the KCK trials, to highlight the connections between the various mass trials of Kurds that have been taking place in Turkey over the last two years. The event will feature contributions from recent international observers of these hearings, such as Margaret Owen OBE; Ali Has, solicitor; Tony Simpson, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and Barry White, NUJ and EFJ. The title of the event is Mass political show trials in Turkey.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/pik-public-meeting-mass-political-show-trials-in-turkey/
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
18. The Kurdish Factor
10 September 2012 / The Weekly Standard
If Syria is a testing ground for the larger struggle of the American-led order in the Middle East against the Iranian-led resistance bloc, it’s also an example of the importance of the Kurds. An ethnic community with almost 30 million people spread across the Middle East—most densely in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria—the Kurds have become a major player in this larger struggle, with regional powers, like Turkey, Iran and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, courting various Kurdish parties and figures in order to advance their own interests.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/kurdish-factor_652129.html
19. Turkey’s War Against the Power of the Pen
10 September 2012 / Alliance for Kurdish Rights
The headlines out of Turkey today are dramatic. In what Reuters has called the “Biggest Media Case” ever in Turkey, 44 pro-Kurdish (whatever that means) journalists are on trial for charges of terrorism. Enough journalists are on trial today to create a moderately sized news agency of their own. In fact, the news agencies DIHA News, Özgür Gündem paper and Fırat News Agency were specifically targeted, although the journalists come from a broad range of liberal and Kurdish independent media.
http://kurdishrights.org/2012/09/11/turkeys-war-against-the-power-of-the-pen/
20. From Tansu Ciller to Tayyip Erdogan
10 September 2012 / Kurdish Matters
Today, the biggest court case against journalists in the history of the Turkish republic starts. No less than 44 Kurdish journalists are being tried for ‘membership of an illegal organisation’, namely the KCK, the Union of Communities in Kurdistan. To cut it short: they are not members of any group, there is no proof against them whatsoever, the indictments are full of nonsense. They are being put on trial just because of their writing about the Kurdish issue. The journalists were taken into custody on 20 December last year. Nine of them were released, but 35 have been in jail ever since without any charges being laid against them. Most of them work for Kurdish news agency DIHA (Dicle Haber Ajans), some write for daily papers Özgür Gündem and Kurdish language Azadiya Welat, some work for the company which distributes these media.
http://kurdishmatters.com/mother-tongue/from-tansu-ciller-to-tayyip-erdogan/
21. Turkey’s economy runs out of steam
10 September 2012 / Financial Times
Surveying rows of gleaming, unsold cars in his Ankara showroom, Ersan believes the Turkish economy is running low on fuel. His sales are down 10 to 15 per cent on last year – reflecting trends in the country rather than his ability to close a deal.
Turkey’s economy grew by just 2.9 per cent in the second quarter compared with a year before, data released on Monday revealed – a marked contrast with growth rates of more than 8 per cent in both 2010 and 2011. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. “In our showrooms you will see lots of people who look as if they are going to buy, but they only pass through and leave,” says Ersan, who has experience of many such disappointments. After the recent years of economic boom, many customers have already traded up their cars and increased their debts, he surmises.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9b49abc0-fb61-11e1-b5d0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz26Lis3TRn
22. Democratic Janissaries? Turkey’s Role in the Arab Spring
July August 2012 /New Left Review
The political upheavals of the Arab Spring and electoral victories of Islamist parties have brought a resurgence of talk about the ‘Turkish model’—a template that ‘effectively integrates Islam, democracy and vibrant economics’, according to a gushing New York Times article last year, which hailed Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as ‘perhaps the Middle East’s most influential figure’. White House officials stressed the positive example that Turkey could play, as a Muslim country that maintained diplomatic relations with Israel; in 2009 Obama hailed the Justice and Development Party (akp) government as a ‘model partner’ and pillar of the nato order on a much-trumpeted visit to Ankara. The International Crisis Group describes Turkey as ‘the envy of the Arab world’, delighting in ‘a robust democracy, a genuinely elected leader who seems to speak for the popular mood, products that are popular from Afghanistan to Morocco—including dozens of sitcoms dubbed into Arabic that are on tv sets everywhere—and an economy that is worth about half of the whole Arab world put together’.
The article as also available as a pdf.
http://newleftreview.org/II/76/cihan-tugal-democratic-janissaries
23. Rape, abortion and the fight for women's rights in Turkey
9 September 2012 / Guardian
In Turkey, outside big cities, social life concentrates on coffee houses, that is, if you are a man. This week, the customers of a coffee house in a village in the Mediterranean region saw a young woman carrying a bloody sack. Inside was a severed head. She hurled the sack towards them and said: "I saved my honour. Do not talk behind my back any more."
The woman was 26-year-old Nevin Yildirim, a mother of two. Her husband had been away working at a seasonal job in another town. In his absence Nurettin Gider, aged 35 and a father of two, had raped her repeatedly, taken photos of her naked, and blackmailed her. She had become pregnant. He had been boasting about his visits to her house to his drinking buddies, and there were people in the village who knew what was going on.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/09/reape-abortion-fight-womens-rights-turkey
24. PKK policies in Syria
11 September 2012 / Kurdistan Tribune
“A Kurdish youth kissed my hands when he saw pictures of Murat Karayilan in my camera,” a photojournalist told me in Hawler last week. We’d last met, two years ago, with the PKK’s acting leader Murat Karayilan in the Qandil Mountains. The photojournalist had recently been to Kurdistan of Syria. The next day, I went back to the Qandil Mountains and met several PKK politicians who were very much aware of the situation and latest developments in Syria. Since Syria’s Revolution began, many journalists and analysts have discussed and often distorted the PKK’s stance and politics on Syria. And many people have been influenced by the Turkish media’s allegations. Some Kurdish journalists and even politicians in the Kurdistan region of Iraq have misunderstood the PKK’s Syrian policies.
http://kurdistantribune.com/2012/pkk-policies-syria/
STATEMENTS
25. Doğan Özgüden: “A shameful press trial for Turkey as for Europe!”, 9 September 2012. http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/dogan-ozguden-a-shameful-press-trial-for-turkey-as-for-europe/
26. Reporters Without Borders statement: Authorities asked to stop criminalizing journalism as trial of 36 detained pro-Kurdish journalists gets under way, 10 September 2012.
http://en.rsf.org/turkey-authorities-asked-to-stop-10-09-2012,43358.html
27. YEK-KOM Press Release: Dialogue not violence: Lift the PKK ban now, 9 September 2012. http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/yek-kom-responds-to-police-violence-in-mannheim/
REPORTS
28. International Crisis Group Europe Report No. 219: Turkey: The PKK and a Kurdish Settlement. 11 September 2012.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/europe/turkey-cyprus/turkey/219-turkey-the-pkk-and-a-kurdish-settlement.aspx
ACTIONS
29. Appeal to delegates at the TUC Congress 2012, by Kurdistan National Congress, Kurdish Federation and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign. 11 September 2012. http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/appeal-to-delagates-at-the-tuc-congress-2012/
EVENTS
Tuesday 18 September, 6.30pm
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign Public Meeting: Mass Political Show Trials in Turkey
A panel discussion bringing together international observers of recent KCK trials in Turkey, to explore the connections between prosecutions of lawyers, journalists, elected officials, human rights activists and unionists and the impact of this repression and criminalisation. Chair: Bill Bowring. Confirmed speakers: Tony Simpson, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation; Margaret Owen OBE; Ali Has, Lawyer; Barry White, EFJ. Sponsored by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, Bar Human Rights Committee, and Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC).
Venue: Garden Court Chambers, 57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LJ. Free entry, all welcome. Further information available here <http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/pik-public-meeting-mass-political-show-trials-in-turkey/> .
Thursday 20 September 2012, 9am-7pm
Inside Syria: 18 months on
An all day conference 18 months since the public demonstrations first began in Syria, in which four panels will explore the key forces influencing the struggle. Featuring a keynote speech from former Syrian National Council chairman and Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle Professor Burhan Ghalioun.
Venue: The London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Organised by the LSE Middle East Centre. Registration essential. To register and view the programme, visit the LSE Middle East Centre <http://www2.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/Events/events2012/Inside-Syria-18-Months-On.aspx> .
Thursday 4th October, 7-8:30pm
Discussion about The Oil Road, by Platform London
James Marriott & Emma Hughes of Platform in conversation with Paul Mason of Newsnight & Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions.
Venue: London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place London WC1A 2JL. Tickets £7. Organised by Platform London <http://platformlondon.org/> .
Friday 19 October 2012, 6.30pm
Turkey’s evolving relationship with the Kurdish Regional Government of northern Iraq
A lecture by Mr Bill Park, Senior Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at Kings College London. The talk will explore the Turkey’s changing relationship with the KRG in light of the deteriorating relationship between Ankara and Baghdad and developments in Syria.
Venue: Wolfson Auditorium, British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y 5AH. Organised by the British Institute at Ankara <http://www.biaa.ac.uk/home/> . Please contact Claire McCafferty at biaa@britac.ac.uk or 020 7969 5204 to make a reservation.
Monday 22 October 2012, 6.30-9.30pm
Book launch: Borderline Justice: the fight for refugee and migrant rights
Francis Webber, immigration barrister and vice-chair of the Institute of Race Relations, will launch her new book Borderline Justice, which describes the exclusionary policies, inhumane decisions and obstacles to justice for refugees and migrants in the current legal system. There will be speeches by Alison Harvey (ILPA), Liz Fekete, (IRR), Helen Bamber, and Francis Webber.
Venue: Garden Court Chambers, 57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LJ. Hosted by the ILPA, the IRR and Pluto Press. RSVP essential. To reserve a place, contact events@plutobooks.com.
10 September 2012 / Reuters
Forty-four pro-Kurdish journalists went on trial in Turkey on Monday, charged with belonging to an armed rebellion in the country's largest media case, intensifying concerns about press and political freedoms.
Thousands of pro-Kurdish trade unionists, politicians, academics and journalists have been jailed since 2009, accused of links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 28-year campaign against Turkey.
"The clampdown on the Kurdish press ... raises major concerns about the treatment of minorities and minority opinion," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE88917C20120910
2. Keskin, Peache in press conference in front of court
10 September 2012 / ANF
In a press conference in front of the Çağlayan Court in Istanbul, chief editor of Özgür Gündem newspaper Eren Keskin said that the repression against the Kurdish press has been the symbol of the repression against the freedom of thought in Turkey. Referring to the bombing events and journalist killings that the Kurdish press has faced so far, Keskin noted that; “Today also, they force us to make a choice between death and imprisonment.” Keskin’s statement was followed by that of UN law expert and former Parliamentarian and journalist Norman Peache who, speaking on behalf of the German delegation in Istanbul to follow the trial, voiced deep concerns over the recent developments in Turkey and pointed to the removal of the principle of separation of powers in the country.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5117
3. Dozens of Kurdish journalists face terrorism charges in Turkey
11 September 2012 / Guardian
The biggest media trial in Turkey's history has begun in what human rights groups say is an attempt by the government to intimidate the press and punish pro-Kurdish activists.
A total of 44 Kurdish journalists appeared in court in Istanbul on various terrorism charges, including accusations that they have supported the KCK, an illegal pan-Kurdish movement that includes the PKK, the armed Kurdistan Workers' party. Of those, 36 have been in pre-trial detention since December.
The hearing was delayed after the defendants made an attempt to defend themselves in Kurdish, their mother language, a request denied by the judge. Twelve of the defendants are said to have led a terrorist organisation and 32 are accused of being members of a terrorist organisation. Prosecutors have demanded prison sentences ranging from seven and a half to 22 and a half years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/10/kurdish-journalists-terrorism-charges-turkey
4. Judge Censures Defense Lawyers’ Pleas in Press Suit
12 September 2012 / Bianet
The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial of 44 journalists kicked off on Monday at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court in an electric atmosphere with Chief Justice Ali Alçık and defense lawyers exchanging angry words, while the judge also refused to enter the defense lawyers' pleas into the court records on Tuesday and filed a complaint against the court audience who applauded him in protest of his refusal to allow lawyers to speak. Judge Alçık announced a recess even before the trial began during the first hearing on Monday following a spat with the defense lawyers. He also demanded that the audience leave the courtroom, but the suspects' families and others observing the trial refused to comply with his request. The court accepted the defendants' response "Ez li virim" ("I am here" in Kurdish) during the initial roll call. http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/140832-judge-censures-defense-lawyers-pleas-in-press-suit
5. Journalists tied mouth with black band in protest
12 September 2012 / ANF
The third day of the trial against 44 Kurdish journalists (36 have been in detention since December 2011) has witnessed loud protests as lawyers left the hearing room and journalists tied their mouths with black band to condemn the court board’s denial to self-defense in the Kurdish language. The court board adjourned the trial to 12 November and ordered the next hearings to be held at the Silivri Court in Istanbul. The detention of journalists will be evaluated after taking the prosecutor’s opinion on their situation. The court board also rejected the request by lawyer Ümit Sisligün to be part of the defense on the grounds of his being tried in the scope of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) case against lawyers.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5125
6. Fourteen Eğitim Sen members arrested in Diyarbakır
11 September 2012 / ANF
Nine members of education union Eğitim-Sen were taken into custody on Tuesday as a result of police attack on a group of union members staging a protest against the recently approved 4+4+4 law on national education. Speaking before the police intervention in the protest march of unionists, Eğitim-Sen Diyarbakır branch chair Kasım Birtek said that protest demonstrations aren’t allowed in Diyarbakır and asked “Is there a special law in Diyarbakır and for Kurds?”. The police attack against the group ended up with the detention of nine unionists including Birtek himself and Branch Secretary Ramazan Kaval.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5122
7. Woman prisoner in death fast for Öcalan
07 September 2012 / ANF
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) prisoner Gönül Erdoğan started a hunger strike to demand an end to the isolation of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. Erdoğan is in Bakırköy Women’s Prison and said she would not give up her act until Öcalan is provided with the right to self-defense, healthcare and freedom. Striker Erdoğan said the followings in the Kurdish petition she sent to the Ministry of Justice about her action which she reportedly started on 1 September World Peace Day: “The inhuman treatment Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has been subjected to for the last 13 years and the aggravated isolation he and his other five prison-mates are subjected to for the last one year, as well as the denial of meetings with his family and lawyers constitute an obstacle to the resolution of the Kurdish problem and an end of the war in the country…”
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5107
8. “The Government Has Taken Over the Judiciary and Parliament”
8 September 2012 / Bianet
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent comments on the encounter between BDP members and militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Aug. 17 demonstrated how far the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) had gone to concentrate all the power in their own hands. "We spoke to the judiciary. They have initiated the relevant procedures. We are also going to follow this through in Parliament," Prime Minister Erdoğan said in relation to the encounter between PKK members and BDP deputies in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Aug. 17, once more raising the specter of abolishing the parliamentary immunities of BDP members. Those comments constitute the gravest profanity against the independence of the judiciary, according to Ertuğrul Kürkçü, a BDP deputy from the southern province of Mersin. "These remarks by Erdoğan are striking words that illustrate how far the government has gone with respect to the separation of powers in Turkey, the independence of the judiciary and to construe a dictatorship, independently of what [they] want to do to the BDP," Kürkçü said.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140771-the-government-has-taken-over-the-judiciary-and-parliament
9. CHP Objects to Resolution on Kurds
11 September 2012 / Journal of Turkish Weekly
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) has publicly registered its reservations with a Socialist International (SI) resolution that recommended creating a special working group on the Kurdish question, noting that the platform had originally only agreed to form a committee on the matter. The CHP conveyed its reservations and its objections to the General Assembly, the president and the secretary-general of the SI, CHP Deputy Chair Umut Oran said yesterday in a written statement. “The Congress of the Socialist International has decided to re-establish a Special Working Group on the Kurdish Question with the aim to advance and protect the rights, the security and the improvement of the living conditions of the Kurdish people in accordance with international law,” SI said in its resolution adopted at its 24th Congress held in Cape Town between Aug. 30 and Sept. 1.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/141696/chp-objects-to-resolution-on-kurds.html
10. Diversion of Tigris river completed, construction of actual dam starting
13 September 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
A new construction phase was celebrated at the Ilisu dam site with a big ceremony last week: The Tigris river has been diverted at the construction site now flowing through three big tunnels. This diversion will be maintained for several years. Now the construction of the actual dam in the dry river bed begins. The Turkish Minister of the Environment Veysel Eroglu called the Ilisu dam an "important strategic and economic project". He stated that the project will be finished in summer 2014. After that it will take one more year to flood the reservoir.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/diversion-of-tigris-river-completed-construction-of-actual-dam-starting/
11. General Staff: 88 Troops, 373 PKK Militants Die in 2012
13 September 2012 / Bianet
The Turkish General Staff announced that 373 militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had died as a consequence of military operations during the past six months, while 88 troops had also lost their lives in the last nine months, 54 of them being professional military personnel. The General Staff said the announcement was a response to claims that appeared in the media which suggested that the losses were due to inadequate intelligence, unpreparedness, late arrival of reinforcements in outposts that came under attack and lack of sufficient military training. Such claims lead to the misinformation of the public, the military's announcement said. Allegations that the troops who lost their lives were mainly draftees with limited training are untrue, as 54 of the 88 troops who died as of Sept. 6, 2012 were professionals, according to the General Staff.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140839-general-staff-88-troops-373-pkk-militants-die-in-2012
12. Turkey ramps up war threats against Syria
11 September 2012 / World Socialist Website
Turkey has dramatically escalated its war rhetoric against Syria, placing itself at the forefront of any military intervention to depose the regime of Bashar al-Assad. On September 4, at a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Syria as a “terrorist state.” He complained that the “massacres in Syria” had gained strength “from the international community's indifference... The regime in Syria has now become a terrorist state. We do not have the luxury to be indifferent to what is happening there.”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/sep2012/syri-s11.shtml
13. News briefing from the PYD Foreign Affairs Office
11 September 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
The People’s Council of Western Kurdistan condemning the brutal massacre in Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood, Kurdish populated area in Aleppo.
The People’s council of Western Kurdistan condemned the massacre on 6 September 2012 committed by Syrian brutal air craft bombardment and shelling the Kurdish populated Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood in Aleppo targeting civilians Kurdish people resulting in killings of 21 civilians and more than 45 civilians wounded, among them children and women most of the victims were from Afrin, where the victims were buried in a mass demonstration condemning the killings and chanted to protect the Kurdish region from the violence.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/news-briefing-from-the-pyd-foreign-affairs-office-2/#more-1762
14. Plans to Unite Kurdish Armed Forces in Syria
12 September 2012 / Rudaw
The Kurdish Supreme Council in Syria is planning to establish a military force that would include armed groups from all parties in Syrian Kurdistan.
The move follows an announcement by some deserters of President Bashar al-Assad’s army of the creation of a force known as the Syrian National Army (SNA).
The SNA has apparently called on Kurds to join them. “We are trying to establish an army for Syrian Kurdistan and are seriously working toward that end,” said Ismael Hama, a member of the Kurdish Supreme Council. The Supreme Council was formed in July after an agreement between various Syrian Kurdish groups was made in Erbil. The dominant force in Syrian Kurdistan is now the Democratic Union Party (PYD) who politically and militarily controls the Kurdish areas which Assad’s forces have retreated from to fight rebels in Aleppo and other areas of Syria’s Sunni Arab heartland.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/5189.html
15. Demands for referendum on self-determination in East Kurdistan
10 September 2012 / Roj Helat
A group of Kurdish academics, artists, journalists and civil activists have declared in a statement that they demand a referendum to be implemented in East Kurdistan to decide the future administration of Kurdish people in this part of Kurdistan. In response to the antagonistic statement of the Iranian opposition group against the agreement reached by two Kurdish political parties to launch a unified front, a number of Kurdish academics, journalists and activists demand a referendum to be conducted in East Kurdistan on self-determination of the Kurds.
http://www.rojhelat.info/english/taybet/2552-demands-for-referendum-on-self-determination-in-east-kurdistan
16. VIDEO: 80 policemen injured, 31 detained in Kurdish festival clashes
10 September 2012 / Russia Today
At least eighty police officers sustained injuries after violence erupted during a Kurdish cultural festival in the southwest Germany city of Mannheim. More than 30 people were arrested. The clashes were sparked after the police intervened in an argument between organizes and a 14-year-old teenager who tried to sneak into the event with the flag of a banned Kurdish organization. The situation spun out of control when Kurdish festival-goers started throwing bottles of water, stones, and other objects at security guards, who had been specifically hired to keep order during the event. About 2,500 Kurds were in an hours-long stand-off with 600 police officers, German Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported.
http://rt.com/news/kurdish-festival-clashes-germany-735/
17. PiK hosts a public meeting in response to KCK trials
11 September 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
The Peace in Kurdistan Campaign is holding a free public meeting next week about the KCK trials, to highlight the connections between the various mass trials of Kurds that have been taking place in Turkey over the last two years. The event will feature contributions from recent international observers of these hearings, such as Margaret Owen OBE; Ali Has, solicitor; Tony Simpson, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and Barry White, NUJ and EFJ. The title of the event is Mass political show trials in Turkey.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/pik-public-meeting-mass-political-show-trials-in-turkey/
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
18. The Kurdish Factor
10 September 2012 / The Weekly Standard
If Syria is a testing ground for the larger struggle of the American-led order in the Middle East against the Iranian-led resistance bloc, it’s also an example of the importance of the Kurds. An ethnic community with almost 30 million people spread across the Middle East—most densely in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria—the Kurds have become a major player in this larger struggle, with regional powers, like Turkey, Iran and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, courting various Kurdish parties and figures in order to advance their own interests.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/kurdish-factor_652129.html
19. Turkey’s War Against the Power of the Pen
10 September 2012 / Alliance for Kurdish Rights
The headlines out of Turkey today are dramatic. In what Reuters has called the “Biggest Media Case” ever in Turkey, 44 pro-Kurdish (whatever that means) journalists are on trial for charges of terrorism. Enough journalists are on trial today to create a moderately sized news agency of their own. In fact, the news agencies DIHA News, Özgür Gündem paper and Fırat News Agency were specifically targeted, although the journalists come from a broad range of liberal and Kurdish independent media.
http://kurdishrights.org/2012/09/11/turkeys-war-against-the-power-of-the-pen/
20. From Tansu Ciller to Tayyip Erdogan
10 September 2012 / Kurdish Matters
Today, the biggest court case against journalists in the history of the Turkish republic starts. No less than 44 Kurdish journalists are being tried for ‘membership of an illegal organisation’, namely the KCK, the Union of Communities in Kurdistan. To cut it short: they are not members of any group, there is no proof against them whatsoever, the indictments are full of nonsense. They are being put on trial just because of their writing about the Kurdish issue. The journalists were taken into custody on 20 December last year. Nine of them were released, but 35 have been in jail ever since without any charges being laid against them. Most of them work for Kurdish news agency DIHA (Dicle Haber Ajans), some write for daily papers Özgür Gündem and Kurdish language Azadiya Welat, some work for the company which distributes these media.
http://kurdishmatters.com/mother-tongue/from-tansu-ciller-to-tayyip-erdogan/
21. Turkey’s economy runs out of steam
10 September 2012 / Financial Times
Surveying rows of gleaming, unsold cars in his Ankara showroom, Ersan believes the Turkish economy is running low on fuel. His sales are down 10 to 15 per cent on last year – reflecting trends in the country rather than his ability to close a deal.
Turkey’s economy grew by just 2.9 per cent in the second quarter compared with a year before, data released on Monday revealed – a marked contrast with growth rates of more than 8 per cent in both 2010 and 2011. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. “In our showrooms you will see lots of people who look as if they are going to buy, but they only pass through and leave,” says Ersan, who has experience of many such disappointments. After the recent years of economic boom, many customers have already traded up their cars and increased their debts, he surmises.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9b49abc0-fb61-11e1-b5d0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz26Lis3TRn
22. Democratic Janissaries? Turkey’s Role in the Arab Spring
July August 2012 /New Left Review
The political upheavals of the Arab Spring and electoral victories of Islamist parties have brought a resurgence of talk about the ‘Turkish model’—a template that ‘effectively integrates Islam, democracy and vibrant economics’, according to a gushing New York Times article last year, which hailed Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as ‘perhaps the Middle East’s most influential figure’. White House officials stressed the positive example that Turkey could play, as a Muslim country that maintained diplomatic relations with Israel; in 2009 Obama hailed the Justice and Development Party (akp) government as a ‘model partner’ and pillar of the nato order on a much-trumpeted visit to Ankara. The International Crisis Group describes Turkey as ‘the envy of the Arab world’, delighting in ‘a robust democracy, a genuinely elected leader who seems to speak for the popular mood, products that are popular from Afghanistan to Morocco—including dozens of sitcoms dubbed into Arabic that are on tv sets everywhere—and an economy that is worth about half of the whole Arab world put together’.
The article as also available as a pdf.
http://newleftreview.org/II/76/cihan-tugal-democratic-janissaries
23. Rape, abortion and the fight for women's rights in Turkey
9 September 2012 / Guardian
In Turkey, outside big cities, social life concentrates on coffee houses, that is, if you are a man. This week, the customers of a coffee house in a village in the Mediterranean region saw a young woman carrying a bloody sack. Inside was a severed head. She hurled the sack towards them and said: "I saved my honour. Do not talk behind my back any more."
The woman was 26-year-old Nevin Yildirim, a mother of two. Her husband had been away working at a seasonal job in another town. In his absence Nurettin Gider, aged 35 and a father of two, had raped her repeatedly, taken photos of her naked, and blackmailed her. She had become pregnant. He had been boasting about his visits to her house to his drinking buddies, and there were people in the village who knew what was going on.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/09/reape-abortion-fight-womens-rights-turkey
24. PKK policies in Syria
11 September 2012 / Kurdistan Tribune
“A Kurdish youth kissed my hands when he saw pictures of Murat Karayilan in my camera,” a photojournalist told me in Hawler last week. We’d last met, two years ago, with the PKK’s acting leader Murat Karayilan in the Qandil Mountains. The photojournalist had recently been to Kurdistan of Syria. The next day, I went back to the Qandil Mountains and met several PKK politicians who were very much aware of the situation and latest developments in Syria. Since Syria’s Revolution began, many journalists and analysts have discussed and often distorted the PKK’s stance and politics on Syria. And many people have been influenced by the Turkish media’s allegations. Some Kurdish journalists and even politicians in the Kurdistan region of Iraq have misunderstood the PKK’s Syrian policies.
http://kurdistantribune.com/2012/pkk-policies-syria/
STATEMENTS
25. Doğan Özgüden: “A shameful press trial for Turkey as for Europe!”, 9 September 2012. http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/dogan-ozguden-a-shameful-press-trial-for-turkey-as-for-europe/
26. Reporters Without Borders statement: Authorities asked to stop criminalizing journalism as trial of 36 detained pro-Kurdish journalists gets under way, 10 September 2012.
http://en.rsf.org/turkey-authorities-asked-to-stop-10-09-2012,43358.html
27. YEK-KOM Press Release: Dialogue not violence: Lift the PKK ban now, 9 September 2012. http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/yek-kom-responds-to-police-violence-in-mannheim/
REPORTS
28. International Crisis Group Europe Report No. 219: Turkey: The PKK and a Kurdish Settlement. 11 September 2012.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/europe/turkey-cyprus/turkey/219-turkey-the-pkk-and-a-kurdish-settlement.aspx
ACTIONS
29. Appeal to delegates at the TUC Congress 2012, by Kurdistan National Congress, Kurdish Federation and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign. 11 September 2012. http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/appeal-to-delagates-at-the-tuc-congress-2012/
EVENTS
Tuesday 18 September, 6.30pm
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign Public Meeting: Mass Political Show Trials in Turkey
A panel discussion bringing together international observers of recent KCK trials in Turkey, to explore the connections between prosecutions of lawyers, journalists, elected officials, human rights activists and unionists and the impact of this repression and criminalisation. Chair: Bill Bowring. Confirmed speakers: Tony Simpson, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation; Margaret Owen OBE; Ali Has, Lawyer; Barry White, EFJ. Sponsored by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, Bar Human Rights Committee, and Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC).
Venue: Garden Court Chambers, 57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LJ. Free entry, all welcome. Further information available here <http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/pik-public-meeting-mass-political-show-trials-in-turkey/> .
Thursday 20 September 2012, 9am-7pm
Inside Syria: 18 months on
An all day conference 18 months since the public demonstrations first began in Syria, in which four panels will explore the key forces influencing the struggle. Featuring a keynote speech from former Syrian National Council chairman and Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle Professor Burhan Ghalioun.
Venue: The London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Organised by the LSE Middle East Centre. Registration essential. To register and view the programme, visit the LSE Middle East Centre <http://www2.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/Events/events2012/Inside-Syria-18-Months-On.aspx> .
Thursday 4th October, 7-8:30pm
Discussion about The Oil Road, by Platform London
James Marriott & Emma Hughes of Platform in conversation with Paul Mason of Newsnight & Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions.
Venue: London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place London WC1A 2JL. Tickets £7. Organised by Platform London <http://platformlondon.org/> .
Friday 19 October 2012, 6.30pm
Turkey’s evolving relationship with the Kurdish Regional Government of northern Iraq
A lecture by Mr Bill Park, Senior Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at Kings College London. The talk will explore the Turkey’s changing relationship with the KRG in light of the deteriorating relationship between Ankara and Baghdad and developments in Syria.
Venue: Wolfson Auditorium, British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y 5AH. Organised by the British Institute at Ankara <http://www.biaa.ac.uk/home/> . Please contact Claire McCafferty at biaa@britac.ac.uk or 020 7969 5204 to make a reservation.
Monday 22 October 2012, 6.30-9.30pm
Book launch: Borderline Justice: the fight for refugee and migrant rights
Francis Webber, immigration barrister and vice-chair of the Institute of Race Relations, will launch her new book Borderline Justice, which describes the exclusionary policies, inhumane decisions and obstacles to justice for refugees and migrants in the current legal system. There will be speeches by Alison Harvey (ILPA), Liz Fekete, (IRR), Helen Bamber, and Francis Webber.
Venue: Garden Court Chambers, 57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3LJ. Hosted by the ILPA, the IRR and Pluto Press. RSVP essential. To reserve a place, contact events@plutobooks.com.
Dialogue not violence: Lift the PKK ban now, YEK-KOM Press Release, 9 September 2012
YEK-KOM – Federation of Kurdish Associations in Germany
PRESS RELEASE
9 September 2012
Dialogue not violence: Lift the PKK ban now
We regret the violent clashes between the police and some Kurdish youths so close to our 20th International Kurdish Culture Festival. In the one-sided coverage, what was not mentioned was the fact that approximately one hundred visitors to the event were injured by police batons and tear gas. Our sympathy goes out to those injured on both sides and we wish them a speedy recovery.
Yesterday, on Saturday, tens of thousands of Kurds from Germany and other European countries celebrated peacefully, together with international guests, a gathering under the motto “Freedom for Ocalan – a status for Kurdistan”.
The responsibility for the outbreak of violence must go primarily to the police, who in the days before bullied and attempted to provoke the Kurdish youths. The Turkish Entrepreneurs Association in Mannheim claimed, in the run-up to the event, that PKK attacks were planned on Turkish institutions. The police also alleged beforehand that those Kurdish participants to the event would be extremely violent and a security problem. Due to the disinformation on the part of the Turkish lobby the security situation was purposely endangered and criminalised.
On Friday, the police in Mannheim disbanded a march involving around 100 Kurdish youths, which began in Strasbourg and which was repeatedly the target of fascist Turkish attacks. According to the most recent information, at least two Kurdish youths were victims of brutal mistreatment in police custody. In one case, the police officer beat the prisoner with a baton on the head and back, as well as punching him in the face. After his release, the youth had to remain immobile until midday on Saturday in hospital. The second prisoner suffered from bruises on his ankles. The officers released the injured youths from France, despite the demand to call an ambulance.
A trigger for the clashes on Saturday was the attempt by police to take away a flag with a Kurdish symbol banned in Germany from a 12 year old child. The child was treated harshly and ran into the crowd out of fear. Three policemen tried to grab the child and were held back by other participants.
Prior to this, at around 14.30, Kurdish security forces for the event organisers were forced by the police to get away from the entrance area. Therefore the security plans for the entrance, which were worked out and up till this point had guaranteed a peaceful event, were deliberately sabotaged by the police. Then, due to the heat and the clashes with police, thousands of participants tried to leave the compound. This led to an enormous mass of people at the entrance. The participants felt as if they were surrounded and wanted to get away from the area. Numerous participants were injured in the end and could not be treated.
One visitor, Berivan O, said yesterday: “We fled from the Turkish police. Here, in Germany, it should be different. There should be a difference between the German and Turkish police. This was not evident yesterday. When it is a matter of Kurds, the police all act the same.”
For millions of Kurds, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK, is a legitimate representative for their democratic rights, which leads a fair fight against war and oppression. For this reason, the Kurdish people do not allow PKK symbols to be banned in public and they admit it. As this case also shows, no peaceful co-existence is possible through bans, violence, seizure and arrests.
Instead of like the “Arab Spring”, where the international legitimacy of resistance against long-standing injustice was recognized, such resistance, in the case of the PKK, is arbitrarily defamed as terrorism and criminalised by the German government. The state's prohibitive policies and the police security measures are, most of all for the third generation Kurdish migrants in Europe, unreasonable and incomprehensible. This always leads to such clashes like those in Mannheim, which we as organisers regret.
We condemn the demands of the Baden-Württemburg interior minister Gall and the police union to further restrict the freedom of assembly for Kurds. A further restriction of the democratic rights of the Kurdish population is unacceptable. At the – up till now predominant – event peacefully held in North Rhine-Westphalia, there were no riots like in Mannheim. In contrast to the police, the work with the city of Mannheim was extremely cooperative prior to the event.
As organisers, YEK-KOM demand, as a consequence of the events that occurred at the margins of our celebration, that the PKK ban be lifted, and that the state repression and criminalisation against politically active Kurds be stopped.
The German government must retract their support for the Turkish government, as long as it continues to wage war, implement bans and mass arrests against the Kurdish opposition.
PRESS RELEASE
9 September 2012
Dialogue not violence: Lift the PKK ban now
We regret the violent clashes between the police and some Kurdish youths so close to our 20th International Kurdish Culture Festival. In the one-sided coverage, what was not mentioned was the fact that approximately one hundred visitors to the event were injured by police batons and tear gas. Our sympathy goes out to those injured on both sides and we wish them a speedy recovery.
Yesterday, on Saturday, tens of thousands of Kurds from Germany and other European countries celebrated peacefully, together with international guests, a gathering under the motto “Freedom for Ocalan – a status for Kurdistan”.
The responsibility for the outbreak of violence must go primarily to the police, who in the days before bullied and attempted to provoke the Kurdish youths. The Turkish Entrepreneurs Association in Mannheim claimed, in the run-up to the event, that PKK attacks were planned on Turkish institutions. The police also alleged beforehand that those Kurdish participants to the event would be extremely violent and a security problem. Due to the disinformation on the part of the Turkish lobby the security situation was purposely endangered and criminalised.
On Friday, the police in Mannheim disbanded a march involving around 100 Kurdish youths, which began in Strasbourg and which was repeatedly the target of fascist Turkish attacks. According to the most recent information, at least two Kurdish youths were victims of brutal mistreatment in police custody. In one case, the police officer beat the prisoner with a baton on the head and back, as well as punching him in the face. After his release, the youth had to remain immobile until midday on Saturday in hospital. The second prisoner suffered from bruises on his ankles. The officers released the injured youths from France, despite the demand to call an ambulance.
A trigger for the clashes on Saturday was the attempt by police to take away a flag with a Kurdish symbol banned in Germany from a 12 year old child. The child was treated harshly and ran into the crowd out of fear. Three policemen tried to grab the child and were held back by other participants.
Prior to this, at around 14.30, Kurdish security forces for the event organisers were forced by the police to get away from the entrance area. Therefore the security plans for the entrance, which were worked out and up till this point had guaranteed a peaceful event, were deliberately sabotaged by the police. Then, due to the heat and the clashes with police, thousands of participants tried to leave the compound. This led to an enormous mass of people at the entrance. The participants felt as if they were surrounded and wanted to get away from the area. Numerous participants were injured in the end and could not be treated.
One visitor, Berivan O, said yesterday: “We fled from the Turkish police. Here, in Germany, it should be different. There should be a difference between the German and Turkish police. This was not evident yesterday. When it is a matter of Kurds, the police all act the same.”
For millions of Kurds, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK, is a legitimate representative for their democratic rights, which leads a fair fight against war and oppression. For this reason, the Kurdish people do not allow PKK symbols to be banned in public and they admit it. As this case also shows, no peaceful co-existence is possible through bans, violence, seizure and arrests.
Instead of like the “Arab Spring”, where the international legitimacy of resistance against long-standing injustice was recognized, such resistance, in the case of the PKK, is arbitrarily defamed as terrorism and criminalised by the German government. The state's prohibitive policies and the police security measures are, most of all for the third generation Kurdish migrants in Europe, unreasonable and incomprehensible. This always leads to such clashes like those in Mannheim, which we as organisers regret.
We condemn the demands of the Baden-Württemburg interior minister Gall and the police union to further restrict the freedom of assembly for Kurds. A further restriction of the democratic rights of the Kurdish population is unacceptable. At the – up till now predominant – event peacefully held in North Rhine-Westphalia, there were no riots like in Mannheim. In contrast to the police, the work with the city of Mannheim was extremely cooperative prior to the event.
As organisers, YEK-KOM demand, as a consequence of the events that occurred at the margins of our celebration, that the PKK ban be lifted, and that the state repression and criminalisation against politically active Kurds be stopped.
The German government must retract their support for the Turkish government, as long as it continues to wage war, implement bans and mass arrests against the Kurdish opposition.
KCK Trial News Update: Judge Censures Defense Lawyers¹ Pleas in Press Suit
Judge Censures Defense Lawyers’ Pleas in Press Suit
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/140832-judge-censures-defense-lawyers-pleas-in-press-suit
Ayça SÖYLEMEZ / ayca@bianet.org
Istanbul - BIA News Center / 12 September 2012, Wednesday
Demands for pleading in Kurdish marked the first hearing of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial of 44 journalists on Monday. Chief Justice Ali Alçık also filed a complaint against the court audience during the second hearing on Tuesday and refused to enter the defense lawyers’ pleas into the court records.
The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial of 44 journalists kicked off on Monday at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court in an electric atmosphere with Chief Justice Ali Alçık and defense lawyers exchanging angry words, while the judge also refused to enter the defense lawyers' pleas into the court records on Tuesday and filed a complaint against the court audience who applauded him in protest of his refusal to allow lawyers to speak.
Judge Alçık announced a recess even before the trial began during the first hearing on Monday following a spat with the defense lawyers. He also demanded that the audience leave the courtroom, but the suspects' families and others observing the trial refused to comply with his request.
The court accepted the defendants' response "Ez li virim" ("I am here" in Kurdish) during the initial roll call.
"Specially authorized courts were abolished following the ratification of the Third Judicial Reform Package. These courts are temporary. The reasoning cited in the reform package was that these courts cannot conduct a fair trial. This court has no warrant to proceed," lawyer Baran Doğan told the judge at the beginning of the trial.
Chief Justice Alçık then lashed out at the defense lawyers who were speaking among themselves and denied suspect journalist Ertuş Bozkurt his request to issue his plea in Kurdish.
"Are you going to speak in Kurdish? Why should we grant you the right to speak then? If there is anyone willing to speak in Turkish, we are going to let them talk," Judge Alçık said in response to Bozkurt.
"We are not making a demand for a right. Speaking in one's mother tounge is like breathing. Have you ever heard of anyone making a request to breathe? If you deny the right to plead in one's mother tounge, then your court will regress back to the time of the Sept. 12, [1980 coup,]" said suspect Yüksel Genç.
"We are under more different circumstances than in 2001. There is a television channel broadcasting in Kurdish 24 hours a day. The state accepted the Kurds' existence, universities opened up Kurdish language departments. The introduction of elective Kurdish courses is on the table. Denying the right to plead in their mother tounge violates the journalists' right to defense. A translator should be assigned to them. The Mardin Artuklu University or TRT Şeş (state-owned Kurdish broadcasting channel) could provide a translator," lawyer Deniz Çelik also told the court.
The defense lawyers questioned why the court did not record the trial with a sound device and requested to sit next to the suspects.
News reports turn into criminal activities
Some 44 journalists are currently facing charges in the case, 36 of them arrested pending trial on Dec. 24, 2011.
Suspects Nurettin Fırat, Ertuş Bozkurt, Mazlum Özdemir, Turabi Kışın, Ramazan Pekgöz, Şeyhmus Fidan, Hüseyin Deniz, Yüksel Genç, Nevin Erdemir, Semiha Alankuş, Davut Uçar and Kenan Kırkaya are charged with "being the manager of the KCK/PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party)" in accordance with the fifth article of the Anti-Terror Law and article 314/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK.)
Sibel Güler, Mehmet Emin Yıldırım, Zuhal Tekiner, İrfan Bilgiç, Ömer Çelenk, Haydar Tekin, Ömer Çiftçi, Selahattin Aslan, Dilek Demiral, Nahide Ermiş, Çağdaş Kaplan, Nilgün Yıldız, Çiğdem Aslan, Cihan Albay, Sadık Topaloğlu, Ayşe Oyman, İsmail Yıldız, Fatma Koçak, Oktay Candemir, Pervin Yerlikaya Babir, Çağdaş Ulus, Zeynep Kuray, Şerafettin Sürmeli, Eylem Sürmeli, Sultan Güneş Ünsal, Murat Eroğlu, Evrim Kepenek, Hamza Sürmeli and Arzu Demir are also facing the charge of "being a member of a terrorist organization" in accordance with the fifth article of the Anti-Terror Law and article 314/1 of the TCK.
Ziya Çiçekçi, Saffet Orman and Enis Yalçın are also charged with being members of a terrorist organization through the same articles, as well as violating article 33/1 of the Law of Assembly and Demonstration.
The journalists waited for eight months before the first hearing took place. The 800 pages long indictment is mostly composed of news reports and telephone conversations made for journalistic purposes.
"Courts will accept Kurdish pleas in the near future"
"It was the morning of Sept. 12, [1980,] and I was a child. Soldiers kept coming to our home. I did not understand what was going on. I did not know any Turkish, and I was five years old. 30 years have passed by, but there are still [security] operations, the children still do not speak any Turkish, and they get beaten up by soldiers whose language they do not understand," lawyer İnan Poyraz told the judge in Kurdish and then proceeded to translate his own remarks into Turkish.
"Turkey is not even abiding by the international treaties that it signed. If the Treaty of Lausanne [of 1923] is to be accepted, then Kurds must be allowed to express themselves in their native tounge in all courts and state offices," he said.
Meral Danış Beştaş also said the repression of the press had reached alarming levels during the reign of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP.)
Lawyer Abdülbaki Boğa further added that the refusal of specially authorized courts to recognize the right to plead in one's native language constituted an act of crime that went against the constitution.
Lawyer Boğa said independent courts were committing this crime without shame, while Chief Justice Alçık responded that it was the people uttering these comments in court who should be ashamed instead.
"I learned that Kurds were living in this country during my college years. It was forbidden to speak Kurdish during the 1980s, but another struggle came about, leading to a [hefty] price. Nobody is discussing about the existence of the Kurdish language anymore today. I served for three years in jail on the grounds that I had called a group of people 'Kurds.' You would also reject such an indictment if it had arrived before you now. Life is changing," said Eşber Yağmurdereli.
"I also participated in the KCK trial in [the southeastern province of] Diyarbakır two years ago, and there was a problem about pleading in one's native language there, too. The court delegation there referred to Kurdish as an 'unknown language.' You have now used the words 'Kurd' and 'Kurdish' here, and you are still using them," he said.
"There is only one threshold we need to pass. Nothing could be more natural for the suspects to plead in Kurdish since they are from the Kurdish media. For as long as Turkey's Kurdish problem continues to persist, and their most natural rights are criminalized, then we have reached a threshold. I do not think that the refusal in these trials to allow for pleading in Kurdish will last that long. Courts will begin to accept pleas in people's mother tounges in the near future," he added.
International support for the arrested journalists
The Peace and Democracy Party's (BDP) co-chair Gültan Kışanak, BDP deputy leader Meral Danış Beştaş, Prof. Büşra Ersanlı, the BDP's Şırnak Deputy Hasip Kaplan, Mersin Deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Istanbul Deputies Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Levent Tüzel and Sebahat Tuncel, Van Independent Deputy Aysel Tuğluk, The People's Republican Party's (CHP) Denizli Deputy İlhan Cihaner, Istanbul Deputies Melda Onur and Oktay Ekşi, Istanbul Deputy Provincial Head Zeynep Altıok, Hakan Tahmaz from the Peace Council, Gençay Gürsoy from the People's Democratic Congress (HDK,) lawyer Eşber Yağmurdereli, as well as journalists Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Yıldırım Türker, Ahmet Şık, Nuray Mert, Nazım Alpman, Hayko Bağdat, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Oktay Ekşi, Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Berrin Karakaş, Kadri Gürsel, Erol Önderoğlu, Rober Koptaş and Tuğçe Tatari were all present in the trial.
Delegations from Europe also arrived to observe the suit:
International legal expert and former deputy Prof. Norman Paech, DIE LINKE Hessen Parliamentary Group President Willi Van Ooyen, Neues Deutschland's Editor in Chief Jürgen Reents, Joachim Legatis and Michael Backmund from the Union of German Journalists (DJU,) Hessen Rosa Luxemburg Foundation's manager Murat Çakır, human rights defender Wolfgang Kanz, journalists Edgar Auth, Dinah Riese and Benjamin Hiller, as well as representatives from the International Press Institute also attended the hearing.
Lawyers' pleas go unrecorded
Lawyer Hüseyin Boğatekin said the case file contained evidence that was in violation of the laws and requested the suspects' acquittal during the second hearing of the trial on Tuesday. Hundreds have been arrested in similar cases based on the testimonies of secret witnesses, he added.
"Trials of this kind prove that [they] want a 'state press.' This was what had happened in the time of the Nazis, too. This indictment is a political and conjectural document that needs to be retracted. The mindset that dominates this indictment regards news reports about democratic autonomy, hydroelectric dams and peace as criminal activies. While news stories about the civilian [protests in Friday prayers] do not constitute a crime [when presented] in mainstream media, they are regarded as organizational activities for the Kurdish press," lawyer Ercan Kanar said, adding that the trial represented a dark spot in the history of journalism.
"[They] are also preventing the right of the Turkish public to receive news. The prosecutor is mocking and belittling the people by using such terms as 'so-called Kurdistan,' 'so-called opposition,' 'the so-called future of the Kurdish people' in the indictment. Everything that is regarded as acceptable for mainstream media turns into a crime when the Kurdish press [reports it.] I demand the rejection of this indictment on the grounds that it is chauvinistic, discriminatory and politically-motivated. These are suits filed against peaceful methods to solve the Kurdish problem. Would these trials have come about if the Oslo process was still intact?" he asked.
Lawyer Eren Keskin also noted that news reports about the Pozantı Prison and the Roboski massacre were first penned down by the journalists now standing trial in the court, and that these issues were later debated throughout the entire media establishment in Turkey. "News reports made not with great money but with great courage," he also referred to the press stories mentioned in the indictment.
Chief Justice Alçık did not allow lawyer Baran Doğan to speak, however.
"[You] do not get the floor 10 times over. I already let you speak on the same issue twice over," Judge Alçık said.
When Doğan said he was going to talk about another matter pertaining to procedures, Judge Alçık once more denied his request to speak.
Lawyer Davut Erkan then broke into the conversation and said they had enacted a division of labor whereby Doğan would speak about matters of procedure.
"We have already made a decision. You can leave [the courtroom] if you have any objections. We will go into recess unless you comply with the order in court," Justice Alçık responded.
Chief Justice Alçık also refused to enter the lawyers' statements into the court records and ruled to continue the trial without any audience on the grounds that they had protested the court delegation by applauding. He also decided to file a criminal complaint against the audience by identifying them through camera records in the court.
The hearing is set to continue today. (AS/EKN)
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/140832-judge-censures-defense-lawyers-pleas-in-press-suit
Ayça SÖYLEMEZ / ayca@bianet.org
Istanbul - BIA News Center / 12 September 2012, Wednesday
Demands for pleading in Kurdish marked the first hearing of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial of 44 journalists on Monday. Chief Justice Ali Alçık also filed a complaint against the court audience during the second hearing on Tuesday and refused to enter the defense lawyers’ pleas into the court records.
The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial of 44 journalists kicked off on Monday at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court in an electric atmosphere with Chief Justice Ali Alçık and defense lawyers exchanging angry words, while the judge also refused to enter the defense lawyers' pleas into the court records on Tuesday and filed a complaint against the court audience who applauded him in protest of his refusal to allow lawyers to speak.
Judge Alçık announced a recess even before the trial began during the first hearing on Monday following a spat with the defense lawyers. He also demanded that the audience leave the courtroom, but the suspects' families and others observing the trial refused to comply with his request.
The court accepted the defendants' response "Ez li virim" ("I am here" in Kurdish) during the initial roll call.
"Specially authorized courts were abolished following the ratification of the Third Judicial Reform Package. These courts are temporary. The reasoning cited in the reform package was that these courts cannot conduct a fair trial. This court has no warrant to proceed," lawyer Baran Doğan told the judge at the beginning of the trial.
Chief Justice Alçık then lashed out at the defense lawyers who were speaking among themselves and denied suspect journalist Ertuş Bozkurt his request to issue his plea in Kurdish.
"Are you going to speak in Kurdish? Why should we grant you the right to speak then? If there is anyone willing to speak in Turkish, we are going to let them talk," Judge Alçık said in response to Bozkurt.
"We are not making a demand for a right. Speaking in one's mother tounge is like breathing. Have you ever heard of anyone making a request to breathe? If you deny the right to plead in one's mother tounge, then your court will regress back to the time of the Sept. 12, [1980 coup,]" said suspect Yüksel Genç.
"We are under more different circumstances than in 2001. There is a television channel broadcasting in Kurdish 24 hours a day. The state accepted the Kurds' existence, universities opened up Kurdish language departments. The introduction of elective Kurdish courses is on the table. Denying the right to plead in their mother tounge violates the journalists' right to defense. A translator should be assigned to them. The Mardin Artuklu University or TRT Şeş (state-owned Kurdish broadcasting channel) could provide a translator," lawyer Deniz Çelik also told the court.
The defense lawyers questioned why the court did not record the trial with a sound device and requested to sit next to the suspects.
News reports turn into criminal activities
Some 44 journalists are currently facing charges in the case, 36 of them arrested pending trial on Dec. 24, 2011.
Suspects Nurettin Fırat, Ertuş Bozkurt, Mazlum Özdemir, Turabi Kışın, Ramazan Pekgöz, Şeyhmus Fidan, Hüseyin Deniz, Yüksel Genç, Nevin Erdemir, Semiha Alankuş, Davut Uçar and Kenan Kırkaya are charged with "being the manager of the KCK/PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party)" in accordance with the fifth article of the Anti-Terror Law and article 314/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK.)
Sibel Güler, Mehmet Emin Yıldırım, Zuhal Tekiner, İrfan Bilgiç, Ömer Çelenk, Haydar Tekin, Ömer Çiftçi, Selahattin Aslan, Dilek Demiral, Nahide Ermiş, Çağdaş Kaplan, Nilgün Yıldız, Çiğdem Aslan, Cihan Albay, Sadık Topaloğlu, Ayşe Oyman, İsmail Yıldız, Fatma Koçak, Oktay Candemir, Pervin Yerlikaya Babir, Çağdaş Ulus, Zeynep Kuray, Şerafettin Sürmeli, Eylem Sürmeli, Sultan Güneş Ünsal, Murat Eroğlu, Evrim Kepenek, Hamza Sürmeli and Arzu Demir are also facing the charge of "being a member of a terrorist organization" in accordance with the fifth article of the Anti-Terror Law and article 314/1 of the TCK.
Ziya Çiçekçi, Saffet Orman and Enis Yalçın are also charged with being members of a terrorist organization through the same articles, as well as violating article 33/1 of the Law of Assembly and Demonstration.
The journalists waited for eight months before the first hearing took place. The 800 pages long indictment is mostly composed of news reports and telephone conversations made for journalistic purposes.
"Courts will accept Kurdish pleas in the near future"
"It was the morning of Sept. 12, [1980,] and I was a child. Soldiers kept coming to our home. I did not understand what was going on. I did not know any Turkish, and I was five years old. 30 years have passed by, but there are still [security] operations, the children still do not speak any Turkish, and they get beaten up by soldiers whose language they do not understand," lawyer İnan Poyraz told the judge in Kurdish and then proceeded to translate his own remarks into Turkish.
"Turkey is not even abiding by the international treaties that it signed. If the Treaty of Lausanne [of 1923] is to be accepted, then Kurds must be allowed to express themselves in their native tounge in all courts and state offices," he said.
Meral Danış Beştaş also said the repression of the press had reached alarming levels during the reign of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP.)
Lawyer Abdülbaki Boğa further added that the refusal of specially authorized courts to recognize the right to plead in one's native language constituted an act of crime that went against the constitution.
Lawyer Boğa said independent courts were committing this crime without shame, while Chief Justice Alçık responded that it was the people uttering these comments in court who should be ashamed instead.
"I learned that Kurds were living in this country during my college years. It was forbidden to speak Kurdish during the 1980s, but another struggle came about, leading to a [hefty] price. Nobody is discussing about the existence of the Kurdish language anymore today. I served for three years in jail on the grounds that I had called a group of people 'Kurds.' You would also reject such an indictment if it had arrived before you now. Life is changing," said Eşber Yağmurdereli.
"I also participated in the KCK trial in [the southeastern province of] Diyarbakır two years ago, and there was a problem about pleading in one's native language there, too. The court delegation there referred to Kurdish as an 'unknown language.' You have now used the words 'Kurd' and 'Kurdish' here, and you are still using them," he said.
"There is only one threshold we need to pass. Nothing could be more natural for the suspects to plead in Kurdish since they are from the Kurdish media. For as long as Turkey's Kurdish problem continues to persist, and their most natural rights are criminalized, then we have reached a threshold. I do not think that the refusal in these trials to allow for pleading in Kurdish will last that long. Courts will begin to accept pleas in people's mother tounges in the near future," he added.
International support for the arrested journalists
The Peace and Democracy Party's (BDP) co-chair Gültan Kışanak, BDP deputy leader Meral Danış Beştaş, Prof. Büşra Ersanlı, the BDP's Şırnak Deputy Hasip Kaplan, Mersin Deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Istanbul Deputies Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Levent Tüzel and Sebahat Tuncel, Van Independent Deputy Aysel Tuğluk, The People's Republican Party's (CHP) Denizli Deputy İlhan Cihaner, Istanbul Deputies Melda Onur and Oktay Ekşi, Istanbul Deputy Provincial Head Zeynep Altıok, Hakan Tahmaz from the Peace Council, Gençay Gürsoy from the People's Democratic Congress (HDK,) lawyer Eşber Yağmurdereli, as well as journalists Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Yıldırım Türker, Ahmet Şık, Nuray Mert, Nazım Alpman, Hayko Bağdat, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Oktay Ekşi, Hilmi Hacaloğlu, Berrin Karakaş, Kadri Gürsel, Erol Önderoğlu, Rober Koptaş and Tuğçe Tatari were all present in the trial.
Delegations from Europe also arrived to observe the suit:
International legal expert and former deputy Prof. Norman Paech, DIE LINKE Hessen Parliamentary Group President Willi Van Ooyen, Neues Deutschland's Editor in Chief Jürgen Reents, Joachim Legatis and Michael Backmund from the Union of German Journalists (DJU,) Hessen Rosa Luxemburg Foundation's manager Murat Çakır, human rights defender Wolfgang Kanz, journalists Edgar Auth, Dinah Riese and Benjamin Hiller, as well as representatives from the International Press Institute also attended the hearing.
Lawyers' pleas go unrecorded
Lawyer Hüseyin Boğatekin said the case file contained evidence that was in violation of the laws and requested the suspects' acquittal during the second hearing of the trial on Tuesday. Hundreds have been arrested in similar cases based on the testimonies of secret witnesses, he added.
"Trials of this kind prove that [they] want a 'state press.' This was what had happened in the time of the Nazis, too. This indictment is a political and conjectural document that needs to be retracted. The mindset that dominates this indictment regards news reports about democratic autonomy, hydroelectric dams and peace as criminal activies. While news stories about the civilian [protests in Friday prayers] do not constitute a crime [when presented] in mainstream media, they are regarded as organizational activities for the Kurdish press," lawyer Ercan Kanar said, adding that the trial represented a dark spot in the history of journalism.
"[They] are also preventing the right of the Turkish public to receive news. The prosecutor is mocking and belittling the people by using such terms as 'so-called Kurdistan,' 'so-called opposition,' 'the so-called future of the Kurdish people' in the indictment. Everything that is regarded as acceptable for mainstream media turns into a crime when the Kurdish press [reports it.] I demand the rejection of this indictment on the grounds that it is chauvinistic, discriminatory and politically-motivated. These are suits filed against peaceful methods to solve the Kurdish problem. Would these trials have come about if the Oslo process was still intact?" he asked.
Lawyer Eren Keskin also noted that news reports about the Pozantı Prison and the Roboski massacre were first penned down by the journalists now standing trial in the court, and that these issues were later debated throughout the entire media establishment in Turkey. "News reports made not with great money but with great courage," he also referred to the press stories mentioned in the indictment.
Chief Justice Alçık did not allow lawyer Baran Doğan to speak, however.
"[You] do not get the floor 10 times over. I already let you speak on the same issue twice over," Judge Alçık said.
When Doğan said he was going to talk about another matter pertaining to procedures, Judge Alçık once more denied his request to speak.
Lawyer Davut Erkan then broke into the conversation and said they had enacted a division of labor whereby Doğan would speak about matters of procedure.
"We have already made a decision. You can leave [the courtroom] if you have any objections. We will go into recess unless you comply with the order in court," Justice Alçık responded.
Chief Justice Alçık also refused to enter the lawyers' statements into the court records and ruled to continue the trial without any audience on the grounds that they had protested the court delegation by applauding. He also decided to file a criminal complaint against the audience by identifying them through camera records in the court.
The hearing is set to continue today. (AS/EKN)
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