Dear friends,
As you know, 700 Kurdish political prisoners are currently on hunger strike in Turkey, with some of them now having refused food for 49 days. The situation is reaching a crisis point, and now around the world people are beginning to show their support for the strikers and their demands.
A petition has been initiated by a group of social scientists at Change.org which calls for more supporters for the hunger strikers. The petition can be reached online here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/hunger-strikers-in-turkish-prisons-engage-in-constructive-dialogue-with-prisoners#
Please sign your name and show your support! You can see a list of first signatories below.
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PRESS BRIEF:
An international group of social scientists with research interests in the Kurdish issue launched a petition campaign calling on the Turkish government to address the demands of the Kurdish political prisoners whose hunger strike protests have entered a critical phase.
Over 700 Kurdish prisoners are on the 49th day of a hunger strike as of October 30, 2012, for the right to defense in their mother tongue and the ending of solitary confinement of Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK’s imprisoned leader. Medical experts confirm that the 40th day is a threshold in hunger strikes where physical and mental dysfunctions commence, as well as cases of death begin to occur.
Petitioners declare their full support to the Kurdish political prisoners’ demands, which, they believe, are among fundamental human rights. The petition emphasizes that the international community’s opinion on Turkey will be strongly shaped by the way the present hunger strikes are handled and reminds the addressees, including the President, Prime Minister and Justice Minister of Turkey, that they will be personally responsible should this protest end in a human tragedy. Recalling the devastating cost of the prison operations of the year 2000, the petitioners warn the Turkish government that any attempt at forceful intervention would cause irreparable harm and destroy the already dim democratic ground for a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish issue.
The petition has received great interest and support from academic circles around the world, reaching over one thousand signatures on its first day. Some internationally renowned social scientists sent support messages to the campaign. Professor Michael Taussig of Columbia University, an international authority in anthropology, signed the petition with the following note: ‘To the Turkish State: please attend immediately to the welfare of these courageous prisoners’. The preeminent feminist theorist Professor Judith Butler of University of California, Berkeley, wrote: “Turkish government must enter into serious dialogue with these prisoners, who now risk their lives to expose the injustice under which they live.” And Noam Chomsky stated: “Elementary humanity requires that the just and desperate plea of these prisoners for dialogue should be answered quickly and appropriately, without delay.”
The campaign initiators state that they were inspired by Turkey’s great novelist Yasar Kemal’s recent statement on hunger strikes: ‘Watching death is ill-suited to humanity’.
The list of Initiators
Can Ağar, Translator, İstanbul, Turkey
Ahmet Hamdi Akkaya, Ghent University, Belgium
Emek Alici, University of London, UK
Ahmet Alış, Bogaziçi University, Turkey
Seda Altug, Bogazici University, Turkey
Shiler Amini, University of Exeter, UK
Mizgin Müjde Arslan, Bahçeşehir University, Turkey
Dr Mehmet Asutay, Durham University, UK
Ebru Avci, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Dr. Bilgin Ayata, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
U. Rezan Azizoğlu, Ankara University, Turkey
Hanifi Barış, University of Aberdeen, UK
Luqman Barwari, president, Kurdish National Congress-North America (KNC-NA)
Oyman Basaran, The University of Massachusetts, USA
Dr. Bahar Başer, University of Warwick, UK
Dr. Derya Bayır, University of London , UK
Fırat Bozçalı, Stanford University, USA
Dr. Katharina Brizić, Linguist, Austria
Adnan Çelik, EHESS, Paris, France
Umit Cetin, University of Essex, UK
Cuma Cicek, Paris Institute of Political Studies, France
Ozgur Cicek, Binghamton University, NY, USA
Ayca Ciftci, University of London, UK
Deniz Cifci, Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey
Dr Barzoo Eliassi, Lund University, Sweden
Secil Dagtas, University of Toronto, Canada
Engin Emre Değer, Istanbul Şehir University, Turkey
Esin Düzel, UCSD, USA
Burcu Ege, Independent Researcher, Turkey
Delal Aydin Elhuseyni, Binghamton University, NY, USA
Muhammed Mesud Fırat, Bilgi University. Turkey
Bahar Şahin Fırat, Boğaziçi University, Turkey
Özlem Galip, University of Exeter, UK
Başak Gemici, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
Frangis Ghaderi, University of Exeter, UK
Onur Gunay, Princeton University, USA
Azat Z. Gundogan, Binghamton University, NY, USA
Saed Kakei, Nova Southeastern University, USA
Fethi Karakecili, York University, Canada
Maryam Kashani, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Dr Janroj Keles , London Metropolitan University, UK
Yeşim Mutlu, METU, Turkey
Dr. Nilay Ozok-Gundogan, Denison University, USA
Dr. Cengiz Güneş, The Open University, UK
Serra Hakyemez, Johns Hopkins University, USA
Wendy Hamelink, Leiden University, Netherlands
Murat Issı, University of Panteion, Greece
Mithat Ishakoglu, University of Exeter, UK
Erkan Karaçay, University of Exeter, UK
Elif İnal, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
Dr. Iclal Ayşe Küçükkırca, Mardin Artuklu University, Turkey
Dr. Kamran Matin, Sussex University, UK
Caroline McKusick, University of California Davis, USA
Dilan Okçuoğlu, Queens University, Canada
Ergin Opengin, Paris 3, Paris, France
Omer Ozcan, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Dr. Hisyar Ozsoy, University of Michigan-Flint, USA
Prof. Dr. H.Neşe Özgen, Ege University, Turkey
Erlend Paashe, Peace Research Institute, Oslo, Norway
Berivan Sarikaya, York University, UK
Dr. Besime Şen, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Turkey
Dr. Birgül Açıkyıldız-Şengül, Harvard University, USA
Ruken Sengul, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Dr. Serdar Şengül, Harvard University, USA
Dr. Prakash Shah, University of London, UK
Christian Sinclair, University of Arizona, USA
Prof. Dr. Nükhet Sirman, Boğaziçi University, Turkey
Ülker Sözen, Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Turkey
Marcin Starzewski, Sabanci University, Turkey
Kelly Stuart, Columbia University, USA
Dr. Engin Sustam, EHESS, Paris, france
Dr. Raja Swamy, The University of Arkansas, USA
Mohammedali Yaseen Taha, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Dr. Latif Tas, Humbolt University, Berlin, Germany
Salima Tasdemir, University of Exeter, UK
Omer Tekdemir, Durham University, UK
Dr. Sebahattin Topçuoğlu, Hamburg, Germany
Dr. Nazan Üstündağ, Bogazici University, Turkey
Dr. Kamala Visweswaran, The University of Texas At Austin, USA
Muge Yamanyilmaz, Bilgi University, Turkey
Serkan Yaralı, EHESS, Paris, France
Güllistan Yarkın, Binghamton University, USA
Prof. Dr. Mesut Yeğen, Istanbul Şehir University, Turkey
İsmail Hakkı Yiğit, Fatih University, Turkey
Dilan Yildirim, Harvard University, USA
Emrah Yıldız, Harvard University, USA
Cagri Yoltar, Duke University, USA
Dr. Zafer Yörük, Izmir University of Economics, Turkey
Ayse Seda Yuksel, Central European University, Hungary
Dr Welat Zeydanlioglu, Kurdish Studies Network, Sweden
Max Zirngast, University of Vienna, Austria
Friday, 2 November 2012
PIK & CAMPACC Press freedom crushed by Anti-terror laws in Europe, Statement in defence of Roj TV
PEACE IN KURDISTAN CAMPAIGN
& CAMPAIGN AGAINST CRIMINALISING COMMUNITIES (CAMPACC)
Statement in defence of Roj TV 28, October 2012
Press freedom crushed by Anti-terror laws in Europe
In January this year, the City Court of Copenhagen ruled that Kurdish satellite station Roj TV was promoting terrorism through its coverage. An appeal has been made against the decision and this will be heard on 29 October.
Furthermore, eight people have been arrested during police investigations into Roj TV for allegedly providing financial assistance to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Meanwhile, the Danish Radio and Television Board cancelled Roj TV’s broadcasting licence in September for two months, claiming that documents and videos requested from Roj TV for the board's own investigation were not provided.
These events are part of a blatant attack on Kurdish media and unashamed political manoeuvring by the Turkish government, which sought assurances from the former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen that he would close down the Roj TV in return for support for his bid to become NATO secretary general. There is clear evidence from Wikileaks embassy cables, as well as statements by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and former Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi to the press, revealing these backhand deals.
This is yet another example European anti-terrorism laws placing whole Kurdish community under suspicion of association with terrorism. The blacklisting of Kurdish organisations, the stop and searches, the raiding of premises, the attempts to extradite Kurds, the stops at ports of entry, the intimidation of charities and community centres are countless ways in which European countries have criminalised the Kurdish communities.
The action by the Danish courts is inseparable from the continued and pervasive criminalisation of the Kurds by Turkish authorities. Police operations nominally against the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) have resulted in thousands of arrests since 2009, with trade unionists, journalists, human rights advocates, lawyers and even elected politicians being imprisoned under the anti-terror laws.
Furthermore, Turkey has been an open violator of international norms of press freedom with seemingly little challenge from the international community, for some time. Turkey has just under 100 journalists currently in prison in Turkey, more than Two thirds of those are Kurdish, and the majority of them are being tried for ‘spreading terrorist propaganda’, being seen by the government and the courts as no different from armed PKK fighters.
Anti-terror legislation is being used as a tool to silence the critical Kurdish media and deny tens of millions of Kurds across the Middle East and Europe the right to information, and the right to have their views, culture and language accessible through their own media outlet.
Suppressing the rights of Kurds is certainly not going to solve the Kurdish question. Providing Turkey with immunity against violating fundamental human rights undermines the claims of European governments that they uphold these rights. The victimisation of Kurdish community is a shameful and cheap foreign policy to support a NATO ally.
The governments of Europe and Turkey must begin to disentangle the issue of ‘terrorism’ from legitimate demands of the Kurdish people for recognition, human and political rights and self-determination.
We demand that the Danish government halts all proceedings against Roj TV.
We demand that the Danish Radio and Television Board reinstate Roj TV’s licence to broadcast.
& CAMPAIGN AGAINST CRIMINALISING COMMUNITIES (CAMPACC)
Statement in defence of Roj TV 28, October 2012
Press freedom crushed by Anti-terror laws in Europe
In January this year, the City Court of Copenhagen ruled that Kurdish satellite station Roj TV was promoting terrorism through its coverage. An appeal has been made against the decision and this will be heard on 29 October.
Furthermore, eight people have been arrested during police investigations into Roj TV for allegedly providing financial assistance to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Meanwhile, the Danish Radio and Television Board cancelled Roj TV’s broadcasting licence in September for two months, claiming that documents and videos requested from Roj TV for the board's own investigation were not provided.
These events are part of a blatant attack on Kurdish media and unashamed political manoeuvring by the Turkish government, which sought assurances from the former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen that he would close down the Roj TV in return for support for his bid to become NATO secretary general. There is clear evidence from Wikileaks embassy cables, as well as statements by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and former Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi to the press, revealing these backhand deals.
This is yet another example European anti-terrorism laws placing whole Kurdish community under suspicion of association with terrorism. The blacklisting of Kurdish organisations, the stop and searches, the raiding of premises, the attempts to extradite Kurds, the stops at ports of entry, the intimidation of charities and community centres are countless ways in which European countries have criminalised the Kurdish communities.
The action by the Danish courts is inseparable from the continued and pervasive criminalisation of the Kurds by Turkish authorities. Police operations nominally against the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) have resulted in thousands of arrests since 2009, with trade unionists, journalists, human rights advocates, lawyers and even elected politicians being imprisoned under the anti-terror laws.
Furthermore, Turkey has been an open violator of international norms of press freedom with seemingly little challenge from the international community, for some time. Turkey has just under 100 journalists currently in prison in Turkey, more than Two thirds of those are Kurdish, and the majority of them are being tried for ‘spreading terrorist propaganda’, being seen by the government and the courts as no different from armed PKK fighters.
Anti-terror legislation is being used as a tool to silence the critical Kurdish media and deny tens of millions of Kurds across the Middle East and Europe the right to information, and the right to have their views, culture and language accessible through their own media outlet.
Suppressing the rights of Kurds is certainly not going to solve the Kurdish question. Providing Turkey with immunity against violating fundamental human rights undermines the claims of European governments that they uphold these rights. The victimisation of Kurdish community is a shameful and cheap foreign policy to support a NATO ally.
The governments of Europe and Turkey must begin to disentangle the issue of ‘terrorism’ from legitimate demands of the Kurdish people for recognition, human and political rights and self-determination.
We demand that the Danish government halts all proceedings against Roj TV.
We demand that the Danish Radio and Television Board reinstate Roj TV’s licence to broadcast.
Sit-in action in front of the EP in support of Kurdish political prisoners in Turkey
Sit-in action in front of the European Parliament
ANF - Brussels- A sit-in has begun in front of the European Parliament in support of hunger strikes by Kurdish political prisoners in Turkey. Since it began in September, more than 700 people in Turkish prisons have joined the hunger strike.
The president of KONGRA GEL Remzi Kartal; lawyer Mahmut Sakar; artist Jawad Marwanid; Germany Left Party deputies Cansu Ozdemir and Ali Dağdeviren; author Mustafa Pekoz; Nuce TV’s Erdal Er, Ferda Çetin, and journalists; as well as many Kurdish politicians, journalists and intellectuals launched a sit-in in front of the European Parliament building in Brussels.
Kurdish people living in Belgium have came out to support the sit-in at the European Parliament.
The activists made the following appeal
"URGENT APPEAL TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
STOP THE DEATHS IN TURKEY’S PRISONS IMMEDIATELY, ACCEPT THE PRISONERS` DEMANDS!
680 political prisoners in 58 Turkey prisons have started an irreversible and indefinite hunger strike since 12 September 2012. On the other hand, the numbers of new participants to the strike have increased with each passing day. At the current moment many prisoners are approached the critical point of death.
In pursuit of their demands of providing health, security and freedom conditions for Mr. Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish Leader who is jailed in solitary confinement; recognition of the use of the Kurdish native language in education and during defence in courts, the hunger strikes have already arrived at a critical moment. The prisoners have stated in all their press releases that they are quite determined to struggle until the end unless their demands are met. We have been considering the demands of the strikers who are at death’s door at the moment, within the context of finding a solution of the Kurdish question and thus leading to an improvement of democracy and the human rights conditions in Turkey.
We, the Kurds in Kurdistan, Europe and friends of the Kurds, have had grave concerns that the prisoners have already arrived at death`s door and their demands have not been accepted yet. Under these conditions of human and conscious deterioration, the Kurds are about to express waves of indignation.
The AKP government’s approach to the hunger strikes is quite superficial and callous. Thus, the government has ignored the prospect of a crisis in Turkey which will soon be caused as a result of the hundreds of political prisoners’ hunger strike. The AKP government has obligations to carry out regarding to law, human rights and democracy in the context of the EU Accession Process. However, these obligations have not been performed for Kurds so far. In addition, it has increased the level of inhuman actions and torture against the rights of prisoners to resist. The strikers have been confined to their cells forcibly and faced torture and mistreatment. In this case, International Amnesty has criticized the AKP government and reminded it of international law. Unfortunately, the government has carried on its policy of denying and annihilating the Kurds.
The EU Parliament stated in its last progress report that the AKP government had not performed its duties and obligations towards human rights, democracy and rule of law in the context of negotiation regarding the accession process. If any international institutions or communities have tolerated in any way the AKP government, they will directly be signaling approval to the deaths of political prisoners. We, as Kurdish politicians, journalists, authors, artists and soon all representatives of Kurdish society, call on the EU Parliament and the EU Commission to take action immediately by adopting political and diplomatic sanctions in order to force the AKP Government to stop its genocidal politics against Kurds.
We demand the urgent release of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan and all political prisoners for the permanent solution of the Kurdish question and the democratization of Turkey.
We regard the ongoing hunger strikes in Turkish jails as part of our people's struggle for freedom and democracy and identifies with the prisoners' demands. We therefore demand the urgent release of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan and all political prisoners, because of their struggle for democracy in Turkey and lasting peace in the Kurdish issue.
We call the EU Parliament to send two ad hoc parliamentary delegations to Turkey. One delegation should visit the Kurdish People’s Leader Mr. Abdullah Ocalan. Mr. Ocalan is since 15 months under solitude confinement. The second delegation is for visiting the hunger strikers in Turkish prisons. We are going to continue our sitting protest until our demands are going to be carried out.
Solidarity with Hunger Strikes in Turkey , Kurdish people Initiative. "
29.10.2012
ANF - Brussels- A sit-in has begun in front of the European Parliament in support of hunger strikes by Kurdish political prisoners in Turkey. Since it began in September, more than 700 people in Turkish prisons have joined the hunger strike.
The president of KONGRA GEL Remzi Kartal; lawyer Mahmut Sakar; artist Jawad Marwanid; Germany Left Party deputies Cansu Ozdemir and Ali Dağdeviren; author Mustafa Pekoz; Nuce TV’s Erdal Er, Ferda Çetin, and journalists; as well as many Kurdish politicians, journalists and intellectuals launched a sit-in in front of the European Parliament building in Brussels.
Kurdish people living in Belgium have came out to support the sit-in at the European Parliament.
The activists made the following appeal
"URGENT APPEAL TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
STOP THE DEATHS IN TURKEY’S PRISONS IMMEDIATELY, ACCEPT THE PRISONERS` DEMANDS!
680 political prisoners in 58 Turkey prisons have started an irreversible and indefinite hunger strike since 12 September 2012. On the other hand, the numbers of new participants to the strike have increased with each passing day. At the current moment many prisoners are approached the critical point of death.
In pursuit of their demands of providing health, security and freedom conditions for Mr. Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish Leader who is jailed in solitary confinement; recognition of the use of the Kurdish native language in education and during defence in courts, the hunger strikes have already arrived at a critical moment. The prisoners have stated in all their press releases that they are quite determined to struggle until the end unless their demands are met. We have been considering the demands of the strikers who are at death’s door at the moment, within the context of finding a solution of the Kurdish question and thus leading to an improvement of democracy and the human rights conditions in Turkey.
We, the Kurds in Kurdistan, Europe and friends of the Kurds, have had grave concerns that the prisoners have already arrived at death`s door and their demands have not been accepted yet. Under these conditions of human and conscious deterioration, the Kurds are about to express waves of indignation.
The AKP government’s approach to the hunger strikes is quite superficial and callous. Thus, the government has ignored the prospect of a crisis in Turkey which will soon be caused as a result of the hundreds of political prisoners’ hunger strike. The AKP government has obligations to carry out regarding to law, human rights and democracy in the context of the EU Accession Process. However, these obligations have not been performed for Kurds so far. In addition, it has increased the level of inhuman actions and torture against the rights of prisoners to resist. The strikers have been confined to their cells forcibly and faced torture and mistreatment. In this case, International Amnesty has criticized the AKP government and reminded it of international law. Unfortunately, the government has carried on its policy of denying and annihilating the Kurds.
The EU Parliament stated in its last progress report that the AKP government had not performed its duties and obligations towards human rights, democracy and rule of law in the context of negotiation regarding the accession process. If any international institutions or communities have tolerated in any way the AKP government, they will directly be signaling approval to the deaths of political prisoners. We, as Kurdish politicians, journalists, authors, artists and soon all representatives of Kurdish society, call on the EU Parliament and the EU Commission to take action immediately by adopting political and diplomatic sanctions in order to force the AKP Government to stop its genocidal politics against Kurds.
We demand the urgent release of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan and all political prisoners for the permanent solution of the Kurdish question and the democratization of Turkey.
We regard the ongoing hunger strikes in Turkish jails as part of our people's struggle for freedom and democracy and identifies with the prisoners' demands. We therefore demand the urgent release of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan and all political prisoners, because of their struggle for democracy in Turkey and lasting peace in the Kurdish issue.
We call the EU Parliament to send two ad hoc parliamentary delegations to Turkey. One delegation should visit the Kurdish People’s Leader Mr. Abdullah Ocalan. Mr. Ocalan is since 15 months under solitude confinement. The second delegation is for visiting the hunger strikers in Turkish prisons. We are going to continue our sitting protest until our demands are going to be carried out.
Solidarity with Hunger Strikes in Turkey , Kurdish people Initiative. "
29.10.2012
Kurdish News Weekly Briefing, 19-25 October 2012
1. Turkish minister calls on prisoners to end hunger strikes
24 October 2012 / Hurriyet
Turkish Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin met with prisoners in Sincan Prison who have entered the 43rd day of a hunger strike today. Turkey's justice minister urged hundreds of hunger-striking prisoners today to end their protest, but did not comment on the strikers' demands, AFP reported. "For the well-being of your body, your health, your families: give up this action," Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said in front of reporters after a visit to the prison of Sincan on the outskirts of Ankara, where he held his first meeting with the strikers.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-minister-calls-on-prisoners-to-end-hunger-strikes.aspx?pageID=238&nID=33138&NewsCatID=338
2. Prisoners’ Health Deteriorating in Hunger Strikes
24 October 2012 / Bianet
The Peace and Democracy Party's (BDP) Mersin Deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü drew attention to the insanitary conditions and prisoners' lack of access to clean water at the Karataş Women's Closed Prison in the southern province of Adana where inmates joined in a country-wide hunger strike across Turkey's jails over a month ago. The hunger strikes began in protest of the continued isolation of Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK,) and the obstacles that lie before the use of the Kurdish language in Turkey. Lawyer Cemil Özen also told bianet that his client Tayyip Temel had also begun to encounter serious health problems. "[Authorities] have moved the women on hunger strike at the Karataş prison to a separate ward. The strikers are not receiving visits. They have not been placed under any isolation in this region's prisons, as far as we have heard. They have someone keeping them company," Deputy Kürkçü said.
http://www.bianet.org/english/human-rights/141640-prisoners-health-deteriorating-in-hunger-strikes
3. "No turning back till our demands are met", say prisoners on hunger strike
23 October 2012 / ANF
We publish an interview with a prisoner called Önder who has been on hunger strike for 42 days. The interview was conducted by a group of prisoners and then sent out to DIHA (Dicle News Agency):
Could you tell us about yourself? Why and when have you been jailed and what would you say as to the reason for your taking part in this action?
I was born in Van’s Başkale district in 1981. I was arrested in February 2010 and put in Amed Prison as a result of a political operation against Kurds as I had been taking part in a youth movement before my arrest. The political approach which brought along my arrest continued during my trial. I was denied the right to self-defense in mother language during my trial which ended up with my being sentenced to 24 years in prison. The Kurdish problem has today reached a climax and dozens of people are dying every day. This situation has reached a point of non return.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5261
4. Hunger strike in prison getting to a point of no return
22 October 2012 / ANF
Speaking about the ongoing hunger strike carried out by Kurdish political prisoners in Turkey, film maker and journalist Şehbal Şenyurt pointed out that the AKP government is not taking any positive and permanent steps for a solution and added that; “Prisoners on hunger strike are using their bodies to create a solution despite the AKP government's attempt to hide the truth of what is going on in this country.”
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5258
5. Journalist Temel on hunger strike for 41 days
22 October 2012 / ANF
Jailed journalist Tayyip Temel can't write nor read as a result of the hunger strike he is carrying out for 41 days. Temel sent a message through his lawyer saying that “We will not end our action unless our demands are met.” Tayyip Temel, former chief editor of Azadiya Welat daily paper, has joined the hunger strike on 12 September asking for free, healthy and safe conditions for PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan and for the recognition of the right to use one's mother language in courts. Lawyer Cemil Özen stated after the meeting with his client in Diyarbakır D Type Prison earlier this morning that Temel’s health condition has been deteriorating as he complains of headaches, stomach upset, weakness in sensing, diarrhea, muscle and joint pain. Özkan noted that Temel also has difficulties in reading and writing as well as in speaking.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5259
6. Set journalists free in Turkey: EFJ campaign update
25 October 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
The latest news from the EFJ’s Set Journalists Free in Turkey campaign
http://wp.me/p1UMS4-vg
7. Free press in crisis in Turkey, CPJ says
22 October 2012 / Hurriyet
Turkey’s press freedom situation has reached a crisis point, with the country assuming the world’s top spot for the number of journalists imprisoned in its jails, a new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has shown. “The Turkish government is engaging in a broad offensive to silence critical journalists through imprisonment, legal prosecution and official intimidation,” the report said. CPJ has identified 76 journalists imprisoned in Turkey as of Aug. 1, 2012. Following a case-by-case review, the CPJ concluded that at least 61 journalists were being held in direct relation to their work or newsgathering activities, the highest global figure in the last decade.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/free-press-in-crisis-in-turkey-cpj-says.aspx?PageID=238&NID=32939&NewsCatID=339
8. Watchdog Slams Turkey’s Press Freedom
22 October 2012 / Wall Street Journal
Another month, another damning report on press freedom in Turkey. Ankara on Monday received the latest in an increasingly long line of critical reports lambasting the country’s poor press freedom record; this time by the New York–based media watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists. In the report, the CPJ concluded that Turkey’s press freedom is “in crisis” after waging one of the world’s heaviest crackdowns on free media in recent years. The committee found 76 journalists were languishing in Turkish prisons as of the beginning of August, marking a higher total than some of the world’s most dictatorial regimes. “Today, Turkey’s imprisonments surpass the next most-repressive nations, including Iran, Eritrea and China,” the report said.
http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2012/10/22/watchdog-slams-turkeys-press-freedom/
9. BDP Leaders: Convention Was to Substitute Imprisoned Members
21 October 2012 / Rudaw
The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) held a party convention in Ankara last week. Dozens of foreign ambassadors, Turkish politicians as well representatives of political parties from the Kurdistan Region attended the convention. But members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) did not deliver a speech at the convention. An MP from the BDP said representatives of the Kurdish parties competed over who delivers a speech first. However, a KDP official rejected that claim and said it was owing to “technical issues.” Organizers of the convention said in a statement that the party did not hold the convention to announce any changes to its policies, rather it was to fill the vacant seats of more than 50 high ranking party officials arrested by the Turkish police in the past few years and currently serving jail time.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/turkey/5338.html
10. Violence will come to countries supporting PKK: Turkish PM
20 October 2012 / Hurriyet
Countries directly or indirectly supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will "face that very gun themselves one day," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said during a speech he gave at the opening of a terminal building in Elazığ Airport. "The countries that directly or indirectly support the terrorist organization's acts will one day face that gun themselves," he said.He also stated that no demand would ever be achieved through guns and violence.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/violence-will-come-to-countries-supporting-pkk-turkish-pm.aspx?pageID=238&nID=32866&NewsCatID=338
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
10. “A Scream of Self-Inflicted Pain”
22 October 2012 / Bianet
As hundreds of inmates in Turkey's prisons entered their 41st day of hunger strikes today, human rights activist Metin Bakkalcı emphasized the need to question the circumstances that have led them to resort to such an act. "People are causing direct injury to themselves while we all bear witness to it. Hunger strikes are a process that directly concerns all of us. The bottom line is not about whether hunger strikes are right or wrong. It follows that such circumstances are in place that a person feels that all avenues to express him or herself have been shut and lets out a scream by inflicting injury on his or her body as a means of self-expression," Metin Bakkalcı, the head of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV,) told bianet.
http://www.bianet.org/english/human-rights/141611-a-scream-of-self-inflicted-pain
11. The Kurds’ starvation
19 October 2012 / Now Lebanon
Kurds are a forgotten people. Called the largest nation without a state, they have been fighting for social, cultural and, at times, national rights for decades. But most of the time, nobody cared. Recently the Kurdish Worker’s Party’s (PKK) renewed war against the Turkish government has made headlines. What bleeds, as journalists say, leads. But the more subtle, often invisible human rights abuses against them, carried out by Turkish security forces in remote areas, in police stations and prisons, too often go unreported. So does the current hunger strike of hundreds of Kurds in Turkish prisons.
http://www.nowlebanon.com/BlogDetails.aspx?TID=2724&FID=6
12. Turkey's War on Journalists
24 October 2012 / The Atlantic
The October 22 report on Turkey issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) is getting lots of attention, and rightly so. Amid the growing clamor over Turkey's media crackdown, the CPJ slammed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government for jailing (by its count) 76 journalists, 61 of whom are in prison as a direct result of their writing or reporting, mainly on Kurdish issues. The CPJ stated what many seasoned Turkey observers have known for awhile, which is that Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have used overly expansive terrorism laws to staunch criticism of the government and intimidate the press into self-censorship.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/turkeys-war-on-journalists/264049/
13. Turkish press freedom crisis
23 October 2012 / Guardian
Turkey's press freedom situation has reached a crisis point, with the country assuming the world's top spot for the number of imprisoned journalists, says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "The Turkish government is engaging in a broad offensive to silence critical journalists through imprisonment, legal prosecution and official intimidation," says a special report by the New York-based press freedom watchdog.
The CPJ has identified 76 journalists imprisoned in Turkey as of 1 August this year. At least 61 of them were being held in direct relation to their work or news-gathering activities, the highest global figure in the last decade.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/oct/23/press-freedom-turkey
14. Turkey Can’t Have it Both Ways
17 October 2012 / Al-Akhbar English
Despite claiming to be a democratic model for the Islamic world – and being held up by the US as the exemplary Israel-friendly Muslim state which the “Arab Winter” countries should emulate – Turkey has a bleak history with its ethnic minorities. In the 20th century it committed massacres against the Armenians, killing a million people, and the Assyrians, whose civilization had survived for more than two thousand years in Mardin, Kilis, Nuseybin and Antep. They were expelled or murdered, and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee to Syria and Lebanon. There are still elderly Assyrians living in Canada today who can give credible eyewitness accounts of the horrors inflicted on the areas of southern Turkey they used to inhabit.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/12999/
15. Kurds the Key for Syrian Opposition
24 October 2012 / Voice of America
Kurdish reluctance is frustrating efforts by opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to form some kind of transitional administration that could win support from foreign governments. Syrian Kurds have walked out on several attempts to form a unified opposition, complaining that expatriate politicians don’t adequately recognize their status as a people, or their long-standing demands for autonomy. Some opposition leaders are saying the Kurds won’t sufficiently commit to a unified post-Assad Syria.
“It is absolutely the case that the relationship between the mainstream opposition in exile and Syria’s Kurds has been largely antagonistic and very, very tense,” says Steve Heydemann, senior advisor for Middle East Initiatives at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “That gets back to the question of this mutual lack of trust.”
http://blogs.voanews.com/state-department-news/2012/10/24/kurds-the-key-for-syrian-opposition/
16. Haytham Manna: Violence and Democratic Perspectives in Syria
23 October 2012 / Support Kurds in Syria
“I hate the Alawites and the Shiites. We are going to kill them with our knives, just like they kill us”(1). When I read this sentence in the very professional newspaper “International Herald Tribune” in an article about al Zaatari camp in Jordan, I asked 3 of my friends to ask 60 children in the same camp what is the name of three Shiites families in Daraa. After 20 days not one of the children asked had an answer! How can you hate an enemy who you cannot personalize in your city? Has this child an ideologically advanced approach to identifying his enemy on a sectarian basis? What happened and why was a political pacifist movement for freedom and dignity transformed in less than one year into a dirty war?
http://supportkurds.org/reports/haytham-manna-violence-and-democratic-perspectives-in-syria/
17. South by south-east
20 October 2012 / The Economist
A GIANT Kurdish flag undulating atop a raised plateau inside Syria faces the town of Senyurt in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish south-east. At the local headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, a grey slab engraved with Ataturk’s aphorism “Happy is he who calls himself a Turk” gathers dust under a stairwell. Across the street at the gendarmerie, another slogan—“Loyalty to the army is our honour”—glints through barbed wire.
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21564870-fiercely-anti-assad-stance-turkey-taking-syria-aggravating-long-running-troubles
18. Photograph links Germans to 1915 Armenia genocide
21 October 2012 / The Independent
The photograph – never published before – was apparently taken in the summer of 1915. Human skulls are scattered over the earth. They are all that remain of a handful of Armenians slaughtered by the Ottoman Turks during the First World War. Behind the skulls, posing for the camera, are three Turkish officers in tall, soft hats and a man, on the far right, who is dressed in Kurdish clothes. But the two other men are Germans, both dressed in the military flat caps, belts and tunics of the Kaiserreichsheer, the Imperial German Army. It is an atrocity snapshot – just like those pictures the Nazis took of their soldiers posing before Jewish Holocaust victims a quarter of a century later.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/photograph-links-germans-to-1915-armenia-genocide-8219537.html <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/photograph-links-germans-to-1915-armenia-genocide-8219537.html>
New EDM tabled in Parliament in support of Kurdish hunger strike
Dear friends,
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO WRITE TO MP REGARDING EDM 628. You can find out who you’re MP is here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
Jeremy Corbyn MP, who supported yesterday’s demonstration outside Downing Street in central London, has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament on the ongoing hunger strike by Kurdish political prisoners in Turkey, entitled: EDM 628: Kurdish Hunger Strikes (below).
The hunger strike began on the 12 September, and since then, 776 have joined in, demanding the right to education and legal defense in mother tongue, and an end to Abdulah Ocalan’s isolation in Imrali Prison, so that he can be part of negotiations to end the Kurdish conflict as he should.
EDM’s are a very useful way of gathering support in Parliament. When an MP signs an EDM, they are registering their support for a specific issue. On rare occasions, when an EDM has enough signatories, it is also debated on the floor of the House of Commons. In this way, it is a mechanism to get an issue that is often overlooked discussed in Parliament.
What can you do?
Contact your MP and urge them to sign the motion! Your local MP can be found here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com The attached model letter will give you an idea of what you could write, but remember individual letters make much more of an impact. If you have time, why not arrange to visit your MP at their constituency office and discuss it with them in person?
For background information on this EDM and other Parliamentary lobbying, the BDP, the ongoing KCK trials and other news and politics from Turkey, visit: www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com
Thank you,
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk <mailto:estella24@tiscali.co.uk>
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Sirinathsingh - Tel: 020 7272 7890
Patrons: Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hywel Williams MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, John Austin, Bruce Kent, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, John Berger, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Prof Mary Davis, Mark Thomas
Early day motion 628: KURDISH HUNGER STRIKES
Session: 2012-13
Date tabled: 24.10.2012
Primary sponsor: Corbyn, Jeremy
Sponsors: Bottomley, Peter; Russell, Bob
That this House notes that on 25 October 2012 the Kurdish hunger strike in Turkey reached its
43rd day; further notes that 63 Kurdish political prisoners have been on hunger strike for the
whole of this time and have now been joined by several hundred more; observes that the demands
of the strikers include the release of Abdula Ocalan in order to negotiate a political settlement of
the Kurdish question in Turkey and that Kurdish language rights in the public sphere be
recognised; further notes that a letter has been sent to the Prime Minister on behalf of the Kurdish
Federation of the UK asking the Government to do everything in its power to apply political
pressure on the Turkish government to solve the Kurdish question; further notes that the Turkish
Minister of Justice is reported to have met some of the hunger strikers and hopes that this
significant move is a step towards meeting the fundamental rights of Kurdish people by the
Turkish government; and calls on the Government to do all it can to support the rights of Kurdish
people in Turkey.
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO WRITE TO MP REGARDING EDM 628. You can find out who you’re MP is here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
Jeremy Corbyn MP, who supported yesterday’s demonstration outside Downing Street in central London, has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament on the ongoing hunger strike by Kurdish political prisoners in Turkey, entitled: EDM 628: Kurdish Hunger Strikes (below).
The hunger strike began on the 12 September, and since then, 776 have joined in, demanding the right to education and legal defense in mother tongue, and an end to Abdulah Ocalan’s isolation in Imrali Prison, so that he can be part of negotiations to end the Kurdish conflict as he should.
EDM’s are a very useful way of gathering support in Parliament. When an MP signs an EDM, they are registering their support for a specific issue. On rare occasions, when an EDM has enough signatories, it is also debated on the floor of the House of Commons. In this way, it is a mechanism to get an issue that is often overlooked discussed in Parliament.
What can you do?
Contact your MP and urge them to sign the motion! Your local MP can be found here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com The attached model letter will give you an idea of what you could write, but remember individual letters make much more of an impact. If you have time, why not arrange to visit your MP at their constituency office and discuss it with them in person?
For background information on this EDM and other Parliamentary lobbying, the BDP, the ongoing KCK trials and other news and politics from Turkey, visit: www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com
Thank you,
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk <mailto:estella24@tiscali.co.uk>
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Sirinathsingh - Tel: 020 7272 7890
Patrons: Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hywel Williams MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, John Austin, Bruce Kent, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, John Berger, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Prof Mary Davis, Mark Thomas
Early day motion 628: KURDISH HUNGER STRIKES
Session: 2012-13
Date tabled: 24.10.2012
Primary sponsor: Corbyn, Jeremy
Sponsors: Bottomley, Peter; Russell, Bob
That this House notes that on 25 October 2012 the Kurdish hunger strike in Turkey reached its
43rd day; further notes that 63 Kurdish political prisoners have been on hunger strike for the
whole of this time and have now been joined by several hundred more; observes that the demands
of the strikers include the release of Abdula Ocalan in order to negotiate a political settlement of
the Kurdish question in Turkey and that Kurdish language rights in the public sphere be
recognised; further notes that a letter has been sent to the Prime Minister on behalf of the Kurdish
Federation of the UK asking the Government to do everything in its power to apply political
pressure on the Turkish government to solve the Kurdish question; further notes that the Turkish
Minister of Justice is reported to have met some of the hunger strikers and hopes that this
significant move is a step towards meeting the fundamental rights of Kurdish people by the
Turkish government; and calls on the Government to do all it can to support the rights of Kurdish
people in Turkey.
BDP appeals for support for hunger strikes
24 October 2012
Dear Sir/Madam
Today, it has been 43 days since Kurdish political prisoners in the Turkish prisons began an indefinite hunger strikes on September 12, 2012. At this moment, health status of prisoners on hunger strike are severely impaired and came to a very critical stage. We are writing this letter in order to inform you that we are extremely concerned that loss of life may be imminent and ask your support to prevent it.
We would like to give some brief information in this regard to begin with: On September 12, 2012; 63 Kurdish political prisoners have started an indefinite and irreversible hunger strike in 7 Prisons in Turkey.
On 22 September 2012, ten days later 79 more prisoners joined the hunger strikes. With new participants these numbers have been continuously increasing. At this time, 776 Kurdish political prisoners and convicts in prisons are on an indefinite hunger strike in 58 prisons. Imprisoned members of parliament, Mr. Faysal Sarıyıldız, Mrs. Gülseren Yıldırım and Mayor of Van, Mr. Bekir Kaya are also participating to this hunger strike.
Specifically, the health status of 142 political prisoners that began the hunger strike with the first two groups are severely impaired and their life are under extreme danger and at great risk.
In a press release to the public, political prisoners on a hunger strikes have made two specific demands and stated that they will not reverse their decision unless their demands are meet. These demands are:
1- The right to education and legal defense in mother tongue.
2- Ending the isolation of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali prison, create the conditions for dialogue and negotiation.
You may also agree that these demands are supported by many from all segments of the society in Turkey who are supporting a peace and a democratic solution for the conflict. As BDP we also believe that the Kurdish Issue can only be solved true dialog and negotiations as we find these demands rightful as well as realistic.
Today, there are increasingly more people in Turkey supporting a decision to remove obstacles and barriers that are preventing an education in mother tongue.
Those who are supporting peace and democratic resolution for the Kurdish conflict are also agree that Mr. Öcalan is an important figure and asking that the isolation must end, the dialogue and negotiations should start to end the Kurdish Issue.
Mr. Öcalan is being held in a single cell for past 13 years in the island of Imrali and he have been subjected to an strict isolation for the past 14 months. While the isolation of a political prisoner is a violation of a basic human rights and against the law, It is also culminating a difficulty to find a solution for the Kurdish conflict. This is because there are an important portion of the Kurdish people are considering Mr. Öcalan as the national leader.
We have to underline that even looking at these demands from a perspectives of the AKP government, it can be seen that these two demands can be met easily. Because the AKP government have also made promises both in Europe and Turkey, to the public that they will make great change in policy to "reform and solve the Kurdish Conflict". In addition, it is well known that negotiations have been taken place between Mr. Öcalan and the state / government officials, previously. Prime Minister Himself says that they would "meet with Mr. Öcalan again if they find it necessary". Then further steps should be taken as soon as possible. What else do they wait for.
Operations to detain and arrest Kurdish politicians and supporters of Kurdish demand for a peaceful and democratic solution started in 2009 have been continuing without interruption. BDP mayors, municipal councilors, managers of party offices, trade unionists, human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, students, those who are defending fundamental rights and freedoms of the Kurdish people, have all been arrested and placed in prisons. There are currently, about 8 thousand Kurdish political prisoners in Turkish prisons including 6 elected members of parliament from Peace and Democracy Party. They are waiting for a Justice to be served. Unfortunately, They even lack the right to defend themselves in their native language in the courts of law. The courts do not accept a defense in Kurdish. This is a tyranny.
776 Kurdish political prisoners are on hunger strike "for the right to defend themselves in mother tongue, for peace, for a solution, for a dialogue and negotiation". This number is growing steadily. Those prisoners who were in the first group to begin a hunger strikes, come to a brink of enduring death. This hunger strike is a scream of nation and this scream says "hear our voice, to stop the persecution and death".
Tomorrow may be too late to prevent loss lives.
It is our hope that the International public opinion and decision-makers such as you; would respond and answer the call of Kurdish political prisoners on a hunger-strikes and Kurdish people. Formation of an international awareness, would encourage the AKP government to take steps towards a peaceful and democratic solution. We would like to underline that at this very critical moment in Turkey, in particular and the Middle East, In general, your contribution towards a solution for the Kurdish conflict and peace would have a historic significance.
We respectfully salute you, with hopes that you would support these two very reasonable basic demands of a nation.
Gültan KIŞANAK, Co-Chair of Peace & Democracy Party
Selahattin DEMİRTAŞ, Co-Chair of Peace & Democracy Party
Contact: Barış Manço Cad. 1388.Sok. No: 37 BALGAT / ANKARA Tel: (+90) 312 220 19 50 Fax: (+90)312 220 19 77
Foreign Affairs Department: diplo.bdp@hotmail.com
Dear Sir/Madam
Today, it has been 43 days since Kurdish political prisoners in the Turkish prisons began an indefinite hunger strikes on September 12, 2012. At this moment, health status of prisoners on hunger strike are severely impaired and came to a very critical stage. We are writing this letter in order to inform you that we are extremely concerned that loss of life may be imminent and ask your support to prevent it.
We would like to give some brief information in this regard to begin with: On September 12, 2012; 63 Kurdish political prisoners have started an indefinite and irreversible hunger strike in 7 Prisons in Turkey.
On 22 September 2012, ten days later 79 more prisoners joined the hunger strikes. With new participants these numbers have been continuously increasing. At this time, 776 Kurdish political prisoners and convicts in prisons are on an indefinite hunger strike in 58 prisons. Imprisoned members of parliament, Mr. Faysal Sarıyıldız, Mrs. Gülseren Yıldırım and Mayor of Van, Mr. Bekir Kaya are also participating to this hunger strike.
Specifically, the health status of 142 political prisoners that began the hunger strike with the first two groups are severely impaired and their life are under extreme danger and at great risk.
In a press release to the public, political prisoners on a hunger strikes have made two specific demands and stated that they will not reverse their decision unless their demands are meet. These demands are:
1- The right to education and legal defense in mother tongue.
2- Ending the isolation of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali prison, create the conditions for dialogue and negotiation.
You may also agree that these demands are supported by many from all segments of the society in Turkey who are supporting a peace and a democratic solution for the conflict. As BDP we also believe that the Kurdish Issue can only be solved true dialog and negotiations as we find these demands rightful as well as realistic.
Today, there are increasingly more people in Turkey supporting a decision to remove obstacles and barriers that are preventing an education in mother tongue.
Those who are supporting peace and democratic resolution for the Kurdish conflict are also agree that Mr. Öcalan is an important figure and asking that the isolation must end, the dialogue and negotiations should start to end the Kurdish Issue.
Mr. Öcalan is being held in a single cell for past 13 years in the island of Imrali and he have been subjected to an strict isolation for the past 14 months. While the isolation of a political prisoner is a violation of a basic human rights and against the law, It is also culminating a difficulty to find a solution for the Kurdish conflict. This is because there are an important portion of the Kurdish people are considering Mr. Öcalan as the national leader.
We have to underline that even looking at these demands from a perspectives of the AKP government, it can be seen that these two demands can be met easily. Because the AKP government have also made promises both in Europe and Turkey, to the public that they will make great change in policy to "reform and solve the Kurdish Conflict". In addition, it is well known that negotiations have been taken place between Mr. Öcalan and the state / government officials, previously. Prime Minister Himself says that they would "meet with Mr. Öcalan again if they find it necessary". Then further steps should be taken as soon as possible. What else do they wait for.
Operations to detain and arrest Kurdish politicians and supporters of Kurdish demand for a peaceful and democratic solution started in 2009 have been continuing without interruption. BDP mayors, municipal councilors, managers of party offices, trade unionists, human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, students, those who are defending fundamental rights and freedoms of the Kurdish people, have all been arrested and placed in prisons. There are currently, about 8 thousand Kurdish political prisoners in Turkish prisons including 6 elected members of parliament from Peace and Democracy Party. They are waiting for a Justice to be served. Unfortunately, They even lack the right to defend themselves in their native language in the courts of law. The courts do not accept a defense in Kurdish. This is a tyranny.
776 Kurdish political prisoners are on hunger strike "for the right to defend themselves in mother tongue, for peace, for a solution, for a dialogue and negotiation". This number is growing steadily. Those prisoners who were in the first group to begin a hunger strikes, come to a brink of enduring death. This hunger strike is a scream of nation and this scream says "hear our voice, to stop the persecution and death".
Tomorrow may be too late to prevent loss lives.
It is our hope that the International public opinion and decision-makers such as you; would respond and answer the call of Kurdish political prisoners on a hunger-strikes and Kurdish people. Formation of an international awareness, would encourage the AKP government to take steps towards a peaceful and democratic solution. We would like to underline that at this very critical moment in Turkey, in particular and the Middle East, In general, your contribution towards a solution for the Kurdish conflict and peace would have a historic significance.
We respectfully salute you, with hopes that you would support these two very reasonable basic demands of a nation.
Gültan KIŞANAK, Co-Chair of Peace & Democracy Party
Selahattin DEMİRTAŞ, Co-Chair of Peace & Democracy Party
Contact: Barış Manço Cad. 1388.Sok. No: 37 BALGAT / ANKARA Tel: (+90) 312 220 19 50 Fax: (+90)312 220 19 77
Foreign Affairs Department: diplo.bdp@hotmail.com
KNK Press Release: "Turkish government must accept the hunger strikers' demands"
KNK PRESS RELEASE
As it is known on 12th September 2012, led by nine Kurdish women prisoners in Diyarbakir E type prison an indefinite and non-alternate hunger strike started. This strike has increased to almost all prisons in Turkey. Right now, there are 63 Kurdish prisoners who have been on hunger fast for 42 days. The strike has included 380 political prisoners of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and PAJK (Kurdistan Women’s Liberation Party) in 39 prisons since 15 October.
12th September, a black day in Turkey’s political history, is the date that the military coup d”etat took place in 1980. Turkey’s opposition forces have had to suffer cruelly at the hands of the state. The 1980 military coup detained over a million people, imprisoned and tortured tens of thousands, carried out capital punishment on hundreds and enshrouded the whole of the country in darkness. The leading victims of these inhumane practices were the Kurdish and leftists demanding freedom, democracy and liberty just like in the current day.
The aim of the military coup was to silence the opposition and create a monolithic society in Turkey and Kurdistan using any means necessary; and the state was almost successful if it hadn’t been for the resistance of the Kurdish and Turkish cadres of the modern Kurdish Freedom Movement which in those days had recently been founded. It is an irony that these cadres were also imprisoned in Diyarbakir prison when on 14th July 1982 they began what is now termed as the ‘Great Death Fast Resistance’ in protest against the prevention of the right to defence, torture and inhumane prison conditions. The leaders of that ‘death fast’; Kemal Pir, M. Hayri Durmus, Ali Cicek and Akif Yilmaz all lost their lives. But this single event stoked the fire that had been lit by the likes of Mazlum Dogan. Necmi Oner, Ferhat Kurtay, Esref Anyik and Mahmut Zengin who had immolated themselves, and burnt to smithereens the shroud that had been pulled over the people, raising the Kurdish resistance against the Turkish state.
Today’s conditions are very similar to those of the 12 September 1980 coup times. The AKP regime, like its military counterpart, has detained tens of thousands of Kurdish politicians, journalists, health workers, lawyers, human rights activists and children, imprisoning almost ten thousand since 2009, when the witch-hunt known as the KCK (The Union of Communities in Kurdistan) trials began. It is not insignificant that almost all these people are members of the legal Peace & Democracy Party (BDP), the AKP’s most fierce and only opposition in the Kurdish areas of Turkey. And that not a single fire-arm, weapon or anything pertaining to terrorist activity was found or discovered about these people who have been in prison for almost four years without sentencing is further proof that the AKP is behind the ‘hostage’ situation.
With only small changes in the constitution the AKP could bring an end to the unnecessary suffering of these people and their families. However, while this grave injustice hangs over the nation like a dark cloud Turkey’s Prime Minister has made ‘one language, one state, one nation’ his favourite slogan, saying that there is no longer a Kurdish issue in Turkey. The AKP-dominated Turkish media has followed suit and is not even reporting the clashes between the PKK and Turkish army anymore. Furthermore and to the utter horror of Kurds and democratic circles there is yet to be even a single news item about the ‘death fast’ on mainstream Turkish TV. There is a total black-out regarding all matters Kurdish.
The hunger strikers have three demands to be realized for ending their action. Firstly, the demands of the strikers are, first of all, to arrange conditions of health-security and freedom for Mr Abdullah Ocalan, Leader of Kurdish People held in total isolation for 13 years, and who has not meet with his lawyers since 27 July 2011. For Mr Abdullah Ocalan is the only person who can carry out an enduring peace to the Kurdish conflict, the AKP Goverment must end the illegitimate isolation against him and start renegotiations and a peace talks process with Mr Ocalan as soon as possible.
Secondly, the prisoners demand to recognition of Kurdish as a language in use in education and the public sphere. Thirdly and in conjuction with the second demand, they have underlined that they will speak Kurdish in courts and the judges must accept their defence in Kurdish.
İn summary, the demands are to open the way to having the right to use their Kurdish mother tongue in the public sphere, including courts and the removal of obstacles preventing imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan from negotiating in peace talks with the Turkish state. These three demands are all about preparing a base upon which a peaceful period can be built. Without realisation of these conditions, the deadlock of politics in Turkey can not be opened and the conflictual process can intensify and deepen into an unsustainable mode by Turkish state.
We call on democratic institutions and international public audience to heed these demands of the prisoners and criticize Turkish goverment and exert pressure on the AKP regime to make a start to the way of peaceful process by accepting these demands.
It is the death limit and urgency degree. We have grave concerns that news of deaths may at any time appear.
Kongra Netewiya Kurdistan
Kurdistan National Congress
Congrès National du Kurdistan
Rue Jean Stas 41 1060 Bruxelles
tel: 00 32 2 647 30 84
fax: 00 32 2 647 68 49
Homepage: www.kongrakurdistan.net
e-mail: kongrakurdistan@gmail.com
As it is known on 12th September 2012, led by nine Kurdish women prisoners in Diyarbakir E type prison an indefinite and non-alternate hunger strike started. This strike has increased to almost all prisons in Turkey. Right now, there are 63 Kurdish prisoners who have been on hunger fast for 42 days. The strike has included 380 political prisoners of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and PAJK (Kurdistan Women’s Liberation Party) in 39 prisons since 15 October.
12th September, a black day in Turkey’s political history, is the date that the military coup d”etat took place in 1980. Turkey’s opposition forces have had to suffer cruelly at the hands of the state. The 1980 military coup detained over a million people, imprisoned and tortured tens of thousands, carried out capital punishment on hundreds and enshrouded the whole of the country in darkness. The leading victims of these inhumane practices were the Kurdish and leftists demanding freedom, democracy and liberty just like in the current day.
The aim of the military coup was to silence the opposition and create a monolithic society in Turkey and Kurdistan using any means necessary; and the state was almost successful if it hadn’t been for the resistance of the Kurdish and Turkish cadres of the modern Kurdish Freedom Movement which in those days had recently been founded. It is an irony that these cadres were also imprisoned in Diyarbakir prison when on 14th July 1982 they began what is now termed as the ‘Great Death Fast Resistance’ in protest against the prevention of the right to defence, torture and inhumane prison conditions. The leaders of that ‘death fast’; Kemal Pir, M. Hayri Durmus, Ali Cicek and Akif Yilmaz all lost their lives. But this single event stoked the fire that had been lit by the likes of Mazlum Dogan. Necmi Oner, Ferhat Kurtay, Esref Anyik and Mahmut Zengin who had immolated themselves, and burnt to smithereens the shroud that had been pulled over the people, raising the Kurdish resistance against the Turkish state.
Today’s conditions are very similar to those of the 12 September 1980 coup times. The AKP regime, like its military counterpart, has detained tens of thousands of Kurdish politicians, journalists, health workers, lawyers, human rights activists and children, imprisoning almost ten thousand since 2009, when the witch-hunt known as the KCK (The Union of Communities in Kurdistan) trials began. It is not insignificant that almost all these people are members of the legal Peace & Democracy Party (BDP), the AKP’s most fierce and only opposition in the Kurdish areas of Turkey. And that not a single fire-arm, weapon or anything pertaining to terrorist activity was found or discovered about these people who have been in prison for almost four years without sentencing is further proof that the AKP is behind the ‘hostage’ situation.
With only small changes in the constitution the AKP could bring an end to the unnecessary suffering of these people and their families. However, while this grave injustice hangs over the nation like a dark cloud Turkey’s Prime Minister has made ‘one language, one state, one nation’ his favourite slogan, saying that there is no longer a Kurdish issue in Turkey. The AKP-dominated Turkish media has followed suit and is not even reporting the clashes between the PKK and Turkish army anymore. Furthermore and to the utter horror of Kurds and democratic circles there is yet to be even a single news item about the ‘death fast’ on mainstream Turkish TV. There is a total black-out regarding all matters Kurdish.
The hunger strikers have three demands to be realized for ending their action. Firstly, the demands of the strikers are, first of all, to arrange conditions of health-security and freedom for Mr Abdullah Ocalan, Leader of Kurdish People held in total isolation for 13 years, and who has not meet with his lawyers since 27 July 2011. For Mr Abdullah Ocalan is the only person who can carry out an enduring peace to the Kurdish conflict, the AKP Goverment must end the illegitimate isolation against him and start renegotiations and a peace talks process with Mr Ocalan as soon as possible.
Secondly, the prisoners demand to recognition of Kurdish as a language in use in education and the public sphere. Thirdly and in conjuction with the second demand, they have underlined that they will speak Kurdish in courts and the judges must accept their defence in Kurdish.
İn summary, the demands are to open the way to having the right to use their Kurdish mother tongue in the public sphere, including courts and the removal of obstacles preventing imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan from negotiating in peace talks with the Turkish state. These three demands are all about preparing a base upon which a peaceful period can be built. Without realisation of these conditions, the deadlock of politics in Turkey can not be opened and the conflictual process can intensify and deepen into an unsustainable mode by Turkish state.
We call on democratic institutions and international public audience to heed these demands of the prisoners and criticize Turkish goverment and exert pressure on the AKP regime to make a start to the way of peaceful process by accepting these demands.
It is the death limit and urgency degree. We have grave concerns that news of deaths may at any time appear.
Kongra Netewiya Kurdistan
Kurdistan National Congress
Congrès National du Kurdistan
Rue Jean Stas 41 1060 Bruxelles
tel: 00 32 2 647 30 84
fax: 00 32 2 647 68 49
Homepage: www.kongrakurdistan.net
e-mail: kongrakurdistan@gmail.com
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