Top Issue 1-2024

18 February 1999 Edition

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Kurdish leader faces death penalty in Turkey

Hundreds of Kurdish refugees occupied diplomatic missions around the world this week in protest at the detention of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, by the Turkish secret services in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Kurdish protesters stormed Greek embassies in the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Russia, France, Britain, Austria and Switzerland.

Other groups occupied the UN headquarters in Geneva and a UN mission in Yerevan, Armenia. Several Kurdish people set themselves on fire as a way to express their protest against the detention of the most representative figure of the Kurdish cause. Latest reports say that one of them has died as result of his injuries.

The role of the Greek authorities in Ocalan's detention by the Turkish is not clear, but a spokesperson from the PKK pointed out that two days before his arrest Ocalan had expressed concerns in relation to his safety and about the possibility of the Greeks handing him over to the Turkish government.

Now, Ocalan will face the death penalty for his leadership of the armed struggle against the Turkish State. He has been charged with terrorism. The definition of terrorism is so broad under Turkish legislation that it includes almost all Kurdish opposition or reference to the Kurdish Nation. The lawyers sent to represent Ocalan were sent back by the Turkish authorities.

Ocalan arrived in Turkey early on Tuesday morning. The Turkish prime minister Bulent Ecevit announced his detention as the result of an operation by the Turkish Secret Services and the army, ignoring some reports that pointed out the involvement of the US CIA or the Israeli Mossad. Ecevit said that Ocalan ``will have to pay for what he has done and what he made people do''. The current civil conflict has caused 30,000 deaths and the Turkish government considers Ocalan as the main person responsible for those deaths.


Kurdish Parliament to meet in the Basque Country




The Basque Autonomous parliament has passed a motion that will allow the 63 members of the Kurdish parliament-in-exile to meet in the Basque Country. The vote was passed with the support of the nationalist parties (PNV, EA, HB) and the left-wing coalition IU and was opposed by the Socialist party and the Popular Party. The Spanish government has warned that they will use all resources available to prevent the entry of the Kurdish delegation to the Basque Country. The Spanish state makes huge profits from the sale of arms to the Turkish state, without taking into account the human rights abuses of Turkey, most of them carried out against the Kurdish population.

Anne McCluskey is a member of Kurdistan Solidarity Ireland, a group that has organised the visit to the country of some of the leading members of the Kurdish Parliament on the Exile.


An Phoblacht.- What is the situation for Kurdish people in Turkey?

A. The situation is very bad for the Kurdish people in Turkey and

continues to deteriorate... No Kurdish opposition is allowed to exist, neither moderate, nor radical. The main Kurdish Democracy Party has been prosecuted and at this moment most of its leaders are under arrest. Also, Amnesty International recently brought forward the case of the prosecution of human rights defenders in Turkey - that is the Turkish human rights association that has highlighted cases of prosecution, torture and discrimination against the Kurds and they have been put under arrest.

Ten of them are due to go to trial next month, so there is no possibility for any Kurdish opposition to exist in Turkey. There is no democracy, there is no right to broadcast or publish in their own language.

 


AP.- What has been the reaction of the international community?

A.- I think Turkey is crucial for the West, for the West's interest in the region. So Turkey is allowed to be anti-democratic because the West relies on Turkey to maintain its interest in security in the region.

 


AP.- What is the situation of the Kurdish opposition in Turkey?

A.- The People's Democracy Party is the successor of the Democracy Party. The Kurdish response to prosecution has always been to recreate a new party as soon as one is banned and this has been the latest manifestation of that.

The People's Democracy would be considered a moderate party, but a party that insists on its right to say that it is a Kurdish party and represents Kurdish people. In the last elections they won a considerable majority in the Kurdish region, but because it did not achieve 10% of the national vote, they were not allowed to have any parliamentarians. So, at the moment 47 leaders of this party have been imprisoned and they have been charged with treason and threatening the security of the state. In Turkey it is very easy to charge somebody with treason. Making a statement such as `I am Kurdish' or `Kurdistan exists' is considered treason in Turkey.

 


AP.- Leila Zana is a Kurdish woman member of the Turkish parliament and she was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment because she wanted to use the Kurdish language in the parliament. Zana was a 1995 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. What is her situation now?

A.- In 1994, [a number of] MPs, members of the Democracy Party, were imprisoned and given 17 year sentences for treason and this was basically for insisting on speaking Kurdish or claiming there was a Kurdish problem within Turkey. Six MPs fled and are in exile in Europe and they form part of the Parliament-in-Exile. Leila Zana was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, she achieved the Sajarov Peace Prize last year. The Turkish government have offered to reduce her sentence if she renounces her Kurdish claims, but she refuses to do that. She will not accept any compromise on the Kurdish issue and she remains in prison.

 


AP.- When was the Parliament in the exile formed?

A.- It was formed in 1995. It was set up in the Hague, in Holland as a way to respond to the Kurdish persecution in Turkey and the lack of recognition of the Kurdish Problem in the western media. They had elections the following year. It represents a broad spectrum of groups within the Kurdish resistance movement, some of whom have connections with the PKK. Most are lawyers and human rights activists.

 


AP.- The Kurdish Parliament has met before in different European countries, and this year they have been granted permission by the Basque autonomous government to meet in the Basque Autonomous Parliament building. What is your opinion of the attitude of the Spanish Administration to the meeting?

A.- I think it is indicative of the Spanish government's attitude to the Basque region. I think they see this as a threat which comes not just from the Kurds, but from the Basques and they will be probably under pressure from Turkey and Turkey's allies to suppress this meeting. But obviously, the democratic forces in the Basque Country have insisted on being allowed to hold this meeting there and I think it is very important that the meeting goes ahead. It is very important that progressive and democratic regimes insist on the right of the Kurds to represent themselves, to hold meetings and present their case internationally.

The Turkish parliament have promoted internationally that the Kurds are terrorists... When the German government criticised Turkey's Kurdish policy, Turkey threatened to stop buying arms from Germany. And Germany soon after declared the Kurdish flag illegal and said that many of the Kurdish groups in Germany were terrorist groups. This claim of terrorism is one that has become meaningless because anybody who present any resistance to the Turkish government is considered a terrorist. I want also to point out that the Turkish armed forces pension fund has recently opened a bank account in Ireland, and this is seen as acceptable now in Ireland, as part of Ireland's Celtic Tiger, as part of Ireland economic expansion. I think it is unacceptable to put economic interest before human rights.

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland