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THE SITUATION OF THE KURDISH PEPLE IN
THE EUROPEAN YEAR
-
- AGAINST RACISM
-
- The European Union has declared
1997 to be the Year Against Racism. This was a necessary and laudable
decision.
- Though half a century has passed
since the downfall of Fascism in Europe, currents of xenophobia
and primitive racism can still be felt here today - currents that
are a menace to public peace and civilization.
- Racism and xenophobia are sometimes
aimed at immigrants and people of a different color, and sometimes
at ethnic groups that speak another language or have another faith.
Sometimes these tendencies even help to determine the policies
of national states and thus lead to even greater social damage.
In such situations, democratic and peace-loving forces need to
be vigilant.
- If this resolution of the European
Union is not to remain a mere piece of paper, there must be an
intense campaign to inform the public about the consequences of
racism and xenophobia and a determined struggle to eradicate outmoded
practices and ways of thinking.
-
- On this occasion, we would like
to deal in some detail with the situation of the Kurdish people.
The Kurds are one of the peoples that have for centuries been
subjected to racism and xenophobic measures because of its origins,
language and culture. The worst conditions and the most blatantly
racist measures prevail in Turkey - a country that is a member
of the Council of Europe and the European Customs Union, and that
is seeking full membership in the European Union while these conditions
still prevail. Thus this problem also affects Europe; in effect,
it is an internal European problem.
-
- The Kurds are one of the most ancient
and numerous peoples in the Near East. In terms of territory,
our country Kurdistan is as large as France and is divided into
four parts among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. About 25 million
of the roughly 35 million Kurds still live today in their original
homeland of Kurdistan. As a result of expulsion, war, and migration,
most of the remaining 10 million Kurds live in other areas of
these four states, in neighboring countries, and in the diaspora,
which includes scattered groups of Kurds in Europe. Today an estimated
one million Kurds live as labor immigrants and refugees in Europe
alone.
-
- In no part of their homeland do
the Kurds enjoy freedom. Their right to self-determination - a
right that is claimed by all nations, large or small - is not
recognized. The states that are exploiting Kurdistan's mineral
wealth forbid the Kurds to speak their own language, practice
their culture, have Kurdish schools, newspapers, and television
broadcasts, or even to listen to their own music. These states
are pursuing the goal of assimilating the Kurds so that in Iraq
they become Arabs, in Iran Persians, and in Turkey Turks.
-
- The most massive repressive measures
against the Kurds prevail in Turkey. The history of the Turkish
Republic is the history of an extreme and merciless racism directed
against all nations and all ethnic groups except for the Turks.
-
- Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide
-
- The Ottoman Empire, which for centuries
ruled not only Anatolia but also the Balkan countries, Arabia,
and Kurdistan, crushed the resistance of all of these peoples
against oppression and colonialism and opposed their struggles
for independence. However, the Ottomans' policy was not inherently
racist. These peoples' existence was not denied, and their languages,
religions, and other specific characteristics were to a certain
extent respected. This situation changed when Turkish nationalism
began to emerge at the beginning of the twentieth century. The
Turkish nationalist forces that came to power during the final
phase of the Ottoman Empire and founded the Republic of Turkey
in 1923 began a large-scale program of "ethnic cleansing" against
other peoples. They even carried out pograms in order to make
the territory within the borders of the Republic entirely Turkish.
-
- The genocide of the Armenians during
World War I cost as many as one million people their lives. About
the same number were forcibly deported. After the war, the Armenians
constituted only a tiny minority, most of which lived in Istanbul.
The Greek communities in Istanbul and the western coastal
areas were decimated after the Turkish-Greek war that followed
World War I, because they were forced to leave Anatolia and Thrace.
The Greeks who remained in Istanbul were no longer able to resist
state repression and eventually left the country as well.
-
- Thus the Turkish government dealt
with the Armenian and Greek questions by means of extermination
and deportation. There remained the Kurds and Moslem minorities
such as the Lasians, Cherkassians and Arabs. The State initiated
a massive policy to assimilate these peoples. All languages and
cultures other than Turkish were banned, and a systematic policy
of "Turkification" became the state's declared aim.
-
- The Lasians, Cherkassians, and
Arabs lived scattered in various settlement areas and constituted
only a tiny minority in these areas. Thus they were unable to
resist the policy of assimilation. However, the Kurds constituted
the overwhelming majority in their ancient homeland of Kurdistan,
and the Turkish part of Kurdistan made up about one-third of the
state territory of Turkey. Moreover, the Kurds were a defiant
people who had attained an ethnic identity. Under the Ottoman
Empire in the nineteenth century, the Kurds waged a ceaseless
battle for their independence. Simultaneously cornered by the
Ottomans and the Iranians, they suffered repeated defeats. After
the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, the Kurds continued
to resist the Turkish policy of assimilation and demanded their
national rights. To this end, more than twenty spontaneous Kurdish
uprisings took place after the founding of the Republic. The first,
and one of the greatest, was the uprising of Sheik Said in 1925,
in which the Kurds reaffirmed their will to independence. But
all of these rebellions were bloodily repressed by the Turkish
military forces. Without outside support, the Kurds, surrounded
by the hostile states that had carved up their country among themselves,
had no chance. Thus they were defeated every time. The same conditions
prevailed in the Iraqi and Iranian parts of Kurdistan. But the
Kurdish people's rebelliousness has not disappeared, and continues
to the present day in these three countries.
-
-
- Turkey Is Flouting the Treaty
of Lausanne
-
- This policy of assimilation and
denial of the Kurds' existence also violates the Treaty of Lausanne
of July 24, 1923, which is the foundation of the Republic of Turkey.
The representatives of Turkey at the Conference of Lausanne did
not deny the Kurds' existence. On the contrary, the chief negotiator
of the Turkish delegation, Ismet Inönü, stated that
""the Kurds are not a minority, and therefore they, like the Turks,
are a major component of the Republic. For this reason, the government
in Ankara is the government of the Turks and also of the Kurds."
Here the Kurds were still being treated as the equals of the Turks
and regarded as an independent nation; but later on, not even
their rights as a minority were recognized. Moreover, Paragraph
39 of the Treaty of Lausanne, which guarantees all ethnic minorities
the free use of their own languages in all areas of social life,
was ignored: not only the Kurdish language but also the languages
of other minorities such as the Lasians, Cherkassians, and Arabs
were comprehensively banned.
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- The Republic of Turkey Was Established
on the Ground work of a Racist Ideology
-
- The Turkish state was established
on a racist foundation both ideologically and with respect to
its educational system. The implementation of this groundwork
was begun by the states founder Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk).
-
- Many of Atatürk's speeches
and texts are racist in nature, including his motto "Happy is
the man who can say: I am a Turk!" This motto is still inscribed
above all school entrances in Turkey, especially in Kurdistan,
and is even written in enormous letters on the hillsides. Another
frequently quoted saying of Atatürk's is: "One Turk is worth
as much as the whole rest of the world!"
-
- Atatürk's famous "Legacy to
Youth" begins: "O Turkish youth" and ends with the sentence: "The
omnipotence that you need exists in the noble blood that flows
in your veins!" The superiority of the Turkish race and the nobility
of Turkish blood are frequently mentioned in Turkish literature
and everyday discourse. For example, members of the left, the
political opposition, etc. who advocate opinions different from
the so-called "national" policy are often called "bloodless ones"
or "people of degenerate blood".
-
- For decades, pupils in all primary
schools in the country have had to swear an oath, in chorus, every
morning before their lessons begin. This oath begins: "I am a
Turk, decent and industrious" and ends with the sentence, "My
life is dedicated to Turkishness!"
-
- In the primary and secondary schools,
the schoolbooks are full of sentences and poems that are racist
in nature. Poems of this kind are performed on radio and television
as part of all national ceremonies. One of them begins: "I am
a Turk, my religion and my race are sublime!"
-
- Racist characteristics can be seen
even in the Turkish national anthem, which speaks of "my victorious
(heroic) race".
-
- With unbelievable exaggeration,
Turkish racism declares that the Turks are a superior race, while
at the same time denigrating other peoples and representing them
as enemies. When the Kurdish rebellion of Ararat was defeated
in 1930, the Minister of Justice at that time, Mahmut Esat Bozkurt,
said at a public rally concerning the rebellion: "This is a war
between two races, and it is neither the first nor the last one."
He continued: "We live in the freest land in the world, that is,
in Turkey. The Turk is the sole ruler and owner of this country.
Those who are not members of the pure Turkish race have merely
the right to live as servants and slaves. Let this fact be known
by both our friends and our enemies, even by the very mountains!"
(quoted from the daily newspaper Milliyet, September 19, 1930)
-
- The Prime Minister at the time,
who was later to be Atatürk's successor and second President
of Turkey, Ismet Inönü, said in a speech he gave to
inaugurate a railroad line in Sivas province, referring to the
Kurdish rebellion: "In this country, only the Turkish nation,
and nobody else, has the right to claim ethnic and racial rights."
(Milliyet, August 31, 1930)
-
- Many more examples of this kind
could be cited. "Scientific" investigations of the Turkish race
were carried out on the personal orders of Mustafa Kemal. During
the Third Reich, in which the National Socialists wielded power,
instruments for measuring the human skull were brought in from
Germany. Following directives from above, men who had received
the title of Professor in short order were kept busy inventing
a series of fictions concerning the typical characteristics of
Turks, such as the color of the eyes, the shape of the skull,
blood group, etc.
-
- In their turn, "scholars" of Turkish
history and the Turkish language formulated, in accordance with
Atatürk's specific directives, quaint theses about "the Turkish
theory of history" and "the theory of a Sun Language". According
to these theories, all peoples originated from the Turks and all
languages originated from Turkish. These empty and hare-brained
theses were defended for decades in Turkish historiography and
cultural research.
-
-
- The Constitution of 1982
-
- The Turkish legal system and Turkish
policy were developed for decades on the basis of these chauvinist
and racist foundations.
-
- The Preamble of the Constitution
of 1982 begins with the following sentences:
-
- "This Constitution, which establishes
the eternally enduring existence of the Turkish fatherland and
the Turkish people, and determines the indivisible unity of the
highly exalted Turkish state... according to the understanding
of nationalism developed by the founder of the Republic of Turkey,
the undying leader and incomparable hero Atatürk, and his
revolution and principles..."
-
- It continues: "No opinion or world-view
that contradicts the history of Turkishness and its moral values,
and the nationalism established by Atatürk, may be advocated.
Nor may such opinions enjoy any protection."
-
- The examples cited above will have
shown clearly enough what fanatical racism and chauvinism are
concealed behind "Atatürk's nationalism". Today's Constitution
openly acknowledges that it safeguards this attitude and permits
no other "opinion or world-view.
-
- It is obvious that freedom of opinion
and belief cannot exist in this kind of country, and that all
ways of thinking that deviate from the permitted direction are
persecuted and destroyed in the name of "Kemalism and nationalism".
This has been standard practice for years. Currently, about 170
writers, journalists, and scholars are incarcerated in Turkish
prisons. Legal proceedings are under way against hundreds more,
and these people must reckon with severe sentences. These are
concrete examples of Turkish policy today.
-
- The oath that must be sworn in
accordance with Paragraph 81 of the Turkish Constitution by newly-elected
members of the Turkish Parliament is also inherently racist and
anti-democratic. As part of this oath, the MPs must say: "I swear
by my honor before the great Turkish nation that I will remain
true to the principles and revolution of Atatürk!"
-
- Like all the other MPs, Kurdish
MPs too must swear this oath. Thus they must publicly declare
their adherence to an ideology that is based on hostility to the
Kurds, and to the "great Turkish nation". In 1991, the newly-elected
Kurdish MP Leyla Zana was cursed as a traitor by the indignant
majority of the MPs present at the time, because during her swearing-in
ceremony she had spoken of friendship between the two peoples.
For this reason among others, Ms. Zana, together with other newly-elected
Kurdish MPs, was later put into prison directly from Parliament
and sentenced to a long prison term. She is still serving this
sentence today.
-
-
- A System That Denies the Existence
of the Kurds, Their Language, Culture, and History
-
- Kurdish society is still subject
today to various measures that embody Turkish racism. The Kurdish
language and culture is under a comprehensive ban. According to
official Turkish ideology, there is no people that bears the name
of "Kurds"! Consequently, the Kurds have no history either! In
the view of the Turkish regime, there is no Kurdish language,
although the Kurdish language has survived until the present day
despite all of the unbelievable repressive measures against it.
In spite of the countless artifacts of a rich folklore and a wide
spectrum of written literature in Kurdish, the Turkish regime
continues to maintain that this language does not exist.
-
- Although about one-third of the
inhabitants of Turkey, i.e. more than twenty million, are Kurds,
there is not a single school that offers instruction in Kurdish.
The use of the Kurdish language in the educational system is forbidden.
Not long ago the KÜRT-KAV foundation (Foundation for Kurdish
Culture and Scholarship), which was established by Kurds, took
the initiative of offering courses in Kurdish. Despite a positive
ruling by the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Education refuses
to permit these courses.
-
- This year the Turkish Minister
of the Interior Meral Aksener sent out a memo marked "very confidential"
to all district administrations, provincial police headquarters,
and gendarmerie command centers, in which she ordered them to
"initiate administrative and legal measures against persons who
offer literacy courses in Kurdish and carry out investigations
whose aim is to expand the use of the Kurdish language and develop
it into a written language". (weekly newspaper Hevi, Istanbul,
March 8, 1997)
-
-
- Kurdish Broadcasts and Kurdish
Music Are Forbidden
-
- Television and radio broadcasts
in the Kurdish language are forbidden. The use of the Kurdish
language at political rallies is forbidden and is punished as
a crime.
-
- The production of tapes of Kurdish
music was permitted pro forma about five or six years ago. But
in effect, the ban continues. Nearly every music tape is confiscated
immediately after its production, or it is arbitrarily "taken
into custody" by the police. Very seldom do music groups and musicians
who play Kurdish music receive permission to give a concert.
-
- The publication of journals and
newspapers in Kurdish has been banned for decades. If a person
is detained with a book that is written in Kurdish or deals with
the Kurds, he may face a death sentence. In recent years, Kurdish
intellectuals have waged a difficult struggle against these state
measures. Pressure put on the Turkish government by Europe has
also led to a relaxation of governmental restrictions, so that
at present Kurdish newspapers, journals, and books can be published.
However, the government is still trying by every means in its
power to prevent the sale and distribution of these publications.
Newspapers, journals, and books that are written entirely or partially
in Kurdish, which can be published in a metropolis like Istanbul
under very difficult conditions, are confiscated either immediately
after publication or while they are still at the printer's. Distributing
these publications in Kurdistan or bringing them there is almost
more dangerous than transporting bombs. The authors and publishers
of these publications are sentenced to severe prison terms and
astronomical fines. In recent years, numerous journalists have
been murdered and newspaper offices have been raided, burned down,
and destroyed.
-
- Turkish intellectuals and writers
who criticize these practices are also subjected to massive persecution.
-
- Even Concepts Such as "Kurd" or
"Kurdistan" Are Forbidder
-
- The regime which established itself
within the state and its culture after the foundation of the republic,
and which is exclusively oriented toward the Turkish ethnic group,
banned not only the Kurdish language and Kurdish culture but also
the use of the concepts "Kurd/Kurdish" and "Kurdistan" in order
to deny the Kurd's very existence. These concepts were removed
from books and dictionaries. Even the famous specialty "Kurdish
pastry" was re-named "Turkish pastry".
-
- To the present day, the use of
the concepts "Kurd/Kurdish" and "Kurdistan" in published texts,
political articles, novels, or poems is a criminal act and is
categorized as a terrorist crime. It does not matter whether the
statement itself concerns nature or love. The use of these terms
is considered a sufficient reason to confiscate newspapers, journals,
and books and to prosecute people in court. In this respect, the
Turkish legal system and its system of higher education do not
differ from the corresponding structures of the Inquisition of
the Middle Ages.
-
- In its efforts to destroy Kurdish
culture and history, the regime has destroyed numerous valuable
literary works of earlier times and many important historical
works. Rare historical inscriptions have been defaced to make
them illegible. By present-day standards, these are acts of unconscionable
vandalism.
-
-
- Kurdish Geographical Terms and
Kurdish Names Are Forbidden
-
- The regime has given new Turkish
names to all Kurdish villages and large and small towns. Many
of the Kurdish names have a long history. This has led to considerable
insecurity and confusion among the Kurdish population of these
places. It is difficult for these people to remember these new
names of neighboring settlements, or in many cases even of the
places where they live.
-
- But even this has not been enough
for the regime. It has even forbidden the Kurds to give their
children Kurdish names. Names that have already been given are
often changed by court order and by putting pressure on the parents.
Moreover, this practice has been extended to Europe as well.
-
- In Europe Too...
-
- For years, the registry offices
in various European states have been provided with lists of names
by the Turkish consulates. Turkish citizens are required to choose
a name from these official lists when naming their newborn children.
What is interesting is that the European countries have actually
adopted this practice, and that in so doing they have let themselves
be used by Turkey as an instrument of its racist and anti-democratic
policy.
-
- Another anti-democratic practice
of European countries with regard to the Kurds concerns television
and radio broadcasts in Kurdish and education using Kurdish as
the mother tongue. In general, the largest migrant groups are
able to receive daily or weekly broadcasts in their mother tongues
on public radio and television. Although Kurds constitute a numerically
large migrant group in a number of European countries, they are
denied this right on the grounds that they have no state of their
own. This is unacceptable, because this right pertains to people
rather than states. For migrant groups that have a state of their
own there is no urgent necessity for such broadcasts. In an age
of technical revolution, most of these migrant groups that have
states of their own are able to regularly receive several channels
from their homelands via satellite. But the Kurds do not even
have this possibility. For this reason, they need broadcasts in
their mother tongue even more than do other migrant groups.
-
- Furthermore, European countries
offer other migrant groups the possibility of receiving instruction
in their mother tongues in the public schools. But with few exceptions,
this right is still denied to the Kurds.
-
- As though the bans and repressive
measures of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria were not enough, Western
countries also use similar practices to implement a negative attitude,
thus sharing the responsibility for this injustice.
-
-
- The Kurdish National Colors
Are Forbidden
-
- The Turkish government has even
forbidden the Kurdish national colors of green, yellow, and red.
It is riduculous but true that in some Kurdish cities, for example
Batman and Van, the color green in traffic lights was for a time
replaced with the color blue. Recently these colors have been
"rediscovered" as being the Turkish national colors, and during
the New Year's celebrations of Newroz 1997 they were displayed
as part of a massive state propaganda campaign.
-
- Political Parties and Organizations
with Kurdish Sympathies <R>Are Forbidden
-
- In view of the fact that Kurds
are forbidden to use their language and have their own names,
it is self-evident that their cultural and political organizations,
through which they would like to put pressure behind their demands
for their rights, are also forbidden. Moreover, such initiatives
have been defined in Turkish criminal law as severely punishable
acts of separatism which serve "to divide the fatherland and the
nation". In the past, even the cultural associations established
by the Kurds have been banned and their members have been subjected
to massive persecution and sentenced to severe punishments.
-
- Criticism of the policy toward
the Kurds to date, demands for cultural rights for the Kurds,
and the claim that other cultures also exist in Turkey besides
Turkish culture - all these can lead to the banning of a political
party. In the past, numerous political parties have been banned
in this manner. Paragraph 81 of the Turkish Law on Political Parties
reads as follows:
-
-
- Political parties
-
- a) may not claim that minorities
exist within the state territory of the Republic of Turkey whose
characteristics are based on national and religious culture or
race or language;
-
- b) may not create minorities
within the state territory of the Republic of Turkey by preserving,
developing, or disseminating a language and culture that is different
from the Turkish language and culture, in order to pursue the
goal of destroying the nation's unity or developing activities
in this direction;
-
- c) may not use a language
different from Turkish when recording and publishing their bylaws
and programs, in their party congresses, their gatherings in the
open air or in closed rooms, their rallies, and their propaganda;
may not use or distribute any banners, placards, records, tapes,
video cassettes, brochures, or other communications in a language
that is different from Turkish; an may not remain inactive if
such actions and procedures are perceived by other persons. It
is, however, possible to translate their bylaws and programs into
a foreign language that is not forbidden by law."
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- "Languages Forbidden by Law"
-
- As we see, this paragraph speaks
of "languages forbidden by law". The reference is to Paragraphs
26 and 28 of the Turkish Constitution. Paragraph 26 of the Constitution
reads: "In the expression and dissemination of opinions a language
that is forbidden by law may not be used."
-
- Paragraph 28 reads: "No publications
can be made in a language that is forbidden by law."
-
- Later on, a complementary law was
passed, and in order not to mention the Kurdish language by name
the "forbidden language" was referred to via the following circumlocution:
"Languages that are not the first official language of a country...
Kurdish was the second official language in Iraq. For this reason
the term the first official language" was hit upon.
-
- Thus Turkey is the first, and only,
country in the world to forbid the use of a language. It is clear
to see how far the state and the society have been led astray
by this policy of exterminating the Kurdish people.
-
-
- "Mountain Turks" and Genocide
-
- The Turkish state invented the
concepts "mountain Turks" and "mountain Turkish" so as not to
have to use the concepts "Kurds" and "Kurdish". (The play "The
Mountain Language" by the famous English playwright Harold Pinter
deals with this theme.) But it has been impossible even for "mountain
Turks" to evade the violence of the Turkish regime. General Cemal
Gürsel, who came to power in 1960 through a military coup
and then became the fourth President of the Turkish Republic,
said: "If the mountain Turks give us no peace, the army will not
hesitate to bombard and destroy their cities and villages. There
will be a bloodbath of such dimensions that they and their country
will no longer exist." (the Swedish newspaper "Dagens Nyheter",
November 16, 1960)
-
- This is exactly what the Turkish
state has been trying to do for many years in Kurdistan.
-
- It was unavoidable that this incredibly
despotic policy would lead to a reaction and resistance on the
part of the Kurdish people. The policy of repression and violence
has led inevitably to a counterattack, and for this reason Turkey
has for years been waging a war against Kurds who are waging a
partisan struggle.
-
- In this war, Turkey too has violated
the laws of war and committed severe crimes against the Kurdish
people and against humanity as a whole. Turkey has attacked Kurdish
villages, cities, and other settlements using tanks and artillery,
bombed them from warplanes, burned them down and destroyed them.
About four thousand Kurdish settlements have been leveled to the
ground. Four million people have been driven out of their homeland.
People who have lost everything they owned now live in extreme
poverty, without work or a future, in the slums of the large cities.
Forests have been burned to the ground; even chemical weapons
have been used. Turkish soldiers in the frenzy of victory have
been photographed posing with the headless bodies of partisans.
Women have been raped, and children have been subjected to the
cruelest forms of torture. Prisoners have been massacred. State-controlled
death squads have thousands of human lives on their consciences,
but the murderers always remain "unidentified". In order to finance
its dirty war against the Kurds, Turkey has transformed itself
into a state-created and state-controlled paradise of gambling
and drug smuggling.
-
- The Iraqi government under Saddam
Hussein carried out a similar campaign of destruction and expulsion
against the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan, and this was condemned -
though fairly late - by the international community as genocide.
But in the face of everything that Turkey is doing, the international
community remains silent. Just what still has to happen in order
to move the international community to action? Another invasion
of Kuwait this time by Turkey?
-
-
- The Report of the National Security
Council: Unprecedented Racism
-
- But it does not look as though
the Turkish state will stop there. Not long ago, a shocking report
of the National Security Council came to public attention. In
this report, the growing number of Kurds in Turkey is termed dangerous,
and it is pointed out that in the year 2010 the Kurds will make
up 40% of the total population of Turkey. In the year 2025, the
percentage will rise to 50%. Under these circumstances, the Kurds
will gain a parliamentary majority. According to the report, this
danger must be taken into account and "radical measures" against
it must be taken. One possible measure proposed is the introduction
of taxes on newborn children, i.e. a kind of fine.
-
- In the same report, it is pointed
out that 90% of workers in the religious sector, 80% of prison
guards, and 43% of teachers are of Kurdish origin. This too is
viewed as a danger, and the government is requested to take countermeasures.
-
- It is not news that the Turkish
government does not want to employ any Kurds as civil servants
in the Kurdish regions. But it has had no success in pursuing
this policy, because Turkish civil servants do not want to work
there on account of the difficult living conditions. For most
Turks, the Kurdish regions are a territory of exile. The Turkish
state has never complained about the increase in the Turkish population,
yet it has tried for years to prevent the Kurdish population from
increasing. Many measures have been taken to reach this aim, including
the distribution of contraceptive spirals to Kurdish women and
free condoms to Kurdish men. It is obvious that all of these measures,
the expulsion of millions of Kurds, and even mass murder have
not sufficed to achieve the Turkish government's aims, so that
more radical measures are being called for. What measures, one
wonders, are being considered today?
-
- The Turkish government defends
the dirty war it has waged for years against the Kurdish people
by arguing that it is fighting terrorism. However, the report
of the National Security Council once again makes it very clear
that what is being called terrorism is a product of the Turkish
state's policy and a pretext for its policy of oppression. The
true aim of the Turkish state is to exterminate Kurdish identity
and thus the 20 million Kurds who live within its state territory.
-
- When this report was presented
to the government, one minister of Kurdish ancestry lost his self-control
and said he would not sign it because the report itself was "separatist".
-
-
- Discrimination Against the Kurds
in Employment and the Professions
-
- As one can easily imagine, a Kurd
can become a member of a political party that is loyal to the
system, a Member of Parliament, or a Minister, only if he completely
supports the repressive, anti-democratic, and racist system that
is is power and opposes the Kurdish people. The oppression of,
and contempt for, the Kurdish people, at times reaches a point
that is too much for even such opportunistic Kurds to bear.
-
- When Turkey is criticized because
of this practice, representatives of the Turkish state claim that
Kurds too can participate in political life, that they have the
right to vote and be elected, to be Members of Parliament, and
even to be appointed Ministers. This is correct, but only within
the limits set by the system - meaning, on the condition that
one submits to the oppressive regime, accepts the injustice, and
denies one's own identity. What violent regime does not accept
this kind of submission?
-
- But in spite of such submission,
even the Kurds who are collaborators are unable to move into politically
sensitive positions within the state apparatus. No Kurds are accepted
to the officers' schools and academies. High positions in the
administration of foreign policy are closed to Kurds. In recent
years, this practice has also been instituted in police administration.
For patriotic and intellectual Kurds who are not prepared to deny
their identity, appointment to the civil service is totally impossible.
For them it is very difficult even to find work in the private
sector. In general, job seekers require a certificate issued by
the police stating that the holder has no criminal record - and
the attitude of the police towards the Kurds is obvious.
-
-
- Newroz, the Kurds Traditional
New Year's Festival, Is Forbidden Too
-
- It would probably be a surprise
if such a regime of injustice did not forbid the Kurds to celebrate
their traditional New Year's festival, Newroz. The Turkish state
has taken every conceivable measure and shed a great deal of blood
to prevent the Kurds from celebrating Newroz on March 21 - just
as they have done regarding the Day of Labor on May 1. On March
21, 1992 the Turkish military forces and police opened fire on
crowds of people who were peacefully thronging the streets in
their traditional festive clothes - including many women and children.
In Kurdish cities such as Cizre, Nusaybin, and Sirnak more than
one hundred people were murdered and hundreds more were wounded
in such attacks. Today the observation of Newroz is being interfered
with in another way. The regime has realized that it cannot totally
prevent Newroz celebrations, and that this traditional festival
has become a symbol of resistance for the Kurds. Now the regime
is trying to co-opt this festival and empty it of its true meaning.
Not long ago, the Turkish state declared Newroz to be a Turkish
festival, arguing that it originated in the racist myth of the
Gray Wolf (according to this myth, the Turks are the descendants
of a gray wolf). Accordingly, Newroz is now being celebrated as
a Turkish popular festival by members of the government, party
functinaries, governors, police presidents, and generals in official
ceremonies that have racist characteristics, while Kurds are still
prevented from celebrating it.
-
- It is a remarkable coincidence
that Newroz coincides with the International Day Against Racism
on March 21. On this day, the Kurds express with great passion
their longing for peace and freedom.
-
-
- The Silence Cannot Continue
-
- In view of the dramatic present
situation of national oppression and racist discrimination, we
can say that the Kurds are one of the most persecuted peoples
on this earth. And one of the countries that pursue this policy
against the Kurds is Turkey, a member of the Council of Europe
and the OSCE. Thus Turkey is flagrantly violating international
law and the international obligations to which it has committed
itself. Through this policy it is guilty of grave crimes against
mankind.
-
- The European Union, which has declared
1997 to be the Year Against Racism, must not remain silent in
the face of the Kurds' present crisis and Turkey's severe violations
of human rights and racist practices.
-
- The Kurdish people need international
support.
-
- All of the member states of the
European Union should make use of their right to apply sanctions
against Turkey, a right that is based on international conventions.
They should recognize the identity of the Kurdish immigrants who
live in their countries and grant them equal treatment with other
immigrant groups by giving them the right to receive radio and
television broadcasts in their mother tongue and providing their
children with instruction in Kurdish. By taking these measures
they can eliminate the injustice that exists in their own countries.
-
- Socialist Party of Kurdistan
- June 1997
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