A European Coordination Group for Kurds, in existence since Spring 2001 and made up of a variety of Kurdish political parties, civil organisations and initiatives by intellectuals and artists from northern Kurdistan, have had a number of political talks in Brussels regarding the constitutional reforms taking place in Turkey, and regarding a forthcoming progress report from an EU commission.

In talks with Ms. Renilde Loecks, Director for the Western European Office in the Belgian Foreign Ministry, Mr. Luc van den Brande, head of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Flemish Parliament and Ms. Anne van Lancker, member of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, the delegation made it clear that the reforms to the Turkish constitution in no way acknowledged the reality of the Kurds and represented no serious steps towards any political or democratic solution to the Kurdish question.

The Kurdish representatives pointed out the discrepancies which existed between the portrayal of the reforms at home and abroad. While there were attempts to present the reforms abroad as a democratisation package, including rights for the Kurds, the message given to Turkish nationalist forces is that there are absolutely no reforms regarding the Kurds.

Turkey has again failed to take the opportunity of making a serious step towards resolving the Kurdish question, banking on their renewed geostrategic significance since September 11^th on getting them through.

During the talks a Kurdish declaration was issued by the Kurdish groups, from whom the PKK are excluded. As well as an assessment of the current situation, the declaration also contains concrete measures which are necessary for any resolution to the Kurdish question.

The declaration calls on the EU to acknow-ledge its responsibilities: “If the European Union wishes to accept Turkey as a full member, then it must provide Turkey with a clear framework on how the Kurdish question is to be resolved. The door must then not be opened to Turkey until this has been fulfilled. The EU must request that Turkey follows international norms, and that it agrees to the Kurdish demand to participate on all international forums with its own representatives. As long as the basic rights of the Kurds are not recognised, and as long as our people are not able to determine their own future, the Kurdish question will not be resolved”.

Ms. Loecks, Mr. Van den Brande and Ms. Van Lancker, who are all very knowledgeable of the situation in Turkey, commented very critically on Turkey’s Kurdish and human rights policies and made it clear that the reform package was at best only a minor step in the right direction. It was important to critically monitor Turkey and to urge them towards making substantial changes. (Sources: IMK e.V., 15.10.01. The Kurdische Declaration can be found in both English and German on our Homepage www.kurden.de)

Half Yearly Report from IHD Reveals Dramatic Human Rights Situation

Hüsnü Öndül, head of the Turkish IHD, revealed at the release of the half yearly report for January – June 2001, that there had already been 21812 arrests and 435 allegations of torture in 2001, compared with 15980 arrests and 263 torture allegations for the whole of 2000. But according to Öndül, even this dramatic increase does not reflect the true extent of torture practices.

There was also an increase in convictions associated with freedom of opinion. In the first 6 months of 1999, prison sentences totalling 372.5 years had been called for. In 2000 the figure was 813 years, 8 months, and in the first 6 months of 2001 state prosecutors had applied for prison sentences totalling 3125 years and 4 months against 1519 people who had expressed undesirable opinions. (Source: Cumhuriyet, 16.10.01)

Legal Proceedings Dismissed Against Human Rights Organisation IHD

The Turkish judiciary have dismissed a case to ban the human rights organisation IHD. The head of the IHD, Hüsnü Öndül, revealed that a court in Ankara had rejected the case brought by the state prosecutor. The case was initiated by a report, later denied, by the semi-official Turkish news agency Anadolu in which it was claimed that the IHD had received a loan from Greece.

Another case against Öndül and 6 other leading IHD functionaries is to be proceeded with. The state prosecutor accuses the IHD and its leadership of aiding illegal organisations such as the PKK. The case is based on documents which were seized in a search of the IHD headquarters in Ankara in January. The state prosecutor is now willing to drop the case to ban the IHD and wants to concentrate of the criminal case against the leadership. Öndül and the other IHD representatives are liable to up to 71/2 years imprisonment. Öndül said, concerning the case, “It shows the kind of pressure under which human rights organisations in Turkey have to work”. (Source: afp, dpa, 22.10.01)

AI Urgent Action: Concern for the Safety of Adil Kilic, Leading Member of HADEP

Twenty-one members of the Kilic family have been arrested with Adil Kilic amongst them, a leading member of the HADEP political party. The 8 year old Savas Kilic was injured and the 18 year old Gurbet Kilic was killed along with 2 other persons whose names are unknown.

According to reports, gendarmes arrested them during a raid in south-eastern Turkey on 17.10.2001. Because the location of those arrested is unknown, there is a risk that they may be tortured. During the raid in Silvan in the province of Diyarbakir, 3 people were killed. The operation was aimed against the illegal armed opposition group, the PKK. The authorities have issued a statement in which they claim that 2 of the dead were PKK members. According to information available, the 18 year old Gurbet Kilic had no contact to the PKK. The 8 year old Savas Kilic was severely wounded by gun fire  and had to be taken to hospital. Two soldiers were also apparently injured. (Sources: UA 260/01, ai-Index: EUR 44/075/2001, 17.10.01 – bs;

(The complete Urgent action can be found at our Homepage at www.kurds.de)

HADEP Mayor of Diyarbakir Rejects Kurdish Pluralism

In an interview with Derya Sazak, a reporter with Milliyet, the HADEP mayor of Diyarbakir, Feridun Celiki, said, “The reality is that the PKK have a foothold in the region, part of which is in HADEP. While this foothold is associated with the political aspect of HADEP, they receive sympathy….”.

On the new Kurdish political developments concerning the Kurdish leaders Kemal Burkay, Melik Firat and Serafettin Elci, Celik stated, “These people have tried this before. HADEP will not allow any restructuring in the region. The basis has been set. The state have to understand the following: HADEP is a risk but not a danger. HADEP is the cement for Turkey’s unity. HADEP is its security”. (Source: Milliyet, 24.09.01)

Ankara’s Fear of a Kurdish State in Northern Iraq

The Turkish army are transferring additional troops to the borders with its southern neighbours and are establishing camps for further reinforcements. With reconnaissance aircraft and helicopters, the Turks are patrolling the airspace in northern Iraq under the control of Kurdish political parties. According to MENL, army units in the region have been placed on high alert.

Strategic plans concerning a new order in the region in the event of a western attack on Iraq, have also begun in Ankara. Insiders reckon with Turkey taking over control of northern Iraq to prevent any establishment of a Kurdish state, and that this would be tolerated by the west.

Turkey have not only already discussed this possibility with the US government - for example during the visit to Washington by the Turkish foreign minister Ismail Cem. They are also sounding out a future protecting role in the region with leading Kurdish politicians from northern Iraq. According to reports, the rival power centres there, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), showed themselves to be pragmatic in talks. According to the Kurds, the power vacuum that would come about from a US attack on Iraq and the toppling of Hussein would be filled by one of its neighbours, i.e. Iran or Turkey. Given the choice, they would prefer Turkey providing they found a way to recognise Kurdish rights in the region. (Source: Tagesspiegel, 20.10.01)

Compulsory Transfer of Doctors

Ten doctors, mainly Kurds, who were forced to transfer from Mersin, have taken up their posts in their new locations. At a meeting of the Icel’s Doctors Association, 34 organisations requested Ankara to end compulsory transfers. They complained that the forced transfer of state employees, such as doctors and teachers, were attacks against democracy, human rights, families and social life.

The 10 ten doctors were compulsorily transferred to various villages in Kütahya, Afyon and Isparta following a request to the Health Ministry from the Interior Ministry. (Source: Milliyet, 16.10.01)

Ethnic Cleansing Increases within Kurdish Regions in Iraq

It appears as if the Iraqi regime has decided to intensify ethnic cleansing in the Kurdish regions while the rest of the world is busy in the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan.

The regime is aggressively pursuing its offensive on the demographic make up of Kurdish regions under its control. It is doing this despite public warnings from the USA not to use the present situation to be aggressive to its neighbouring states and the Kurdish regions.

Iraqi authorities built 500 houses (250 in Gurgayee and 250 in Sheikhan, Altun Kopri) which were then handed over cost-free to Arab settlers. It is planned to resettle 2000 Arab families from Mosul to Kirkuk as part of the Arabisation programme.

The Iraqi secret services recently arrested, amongst others, Ms. Suhaila Taha and Ms. Rabi’a Hama Hassan, along with their families, as a first step towards deporting them from their homes. They confiscated the homes of 2 families and used them as offices for the Baath Party. Iraqi governmental employees have begun to distribute land on the outskirts of Kirkuk to Arab settlers. They are building new housing complexes in Doz-Khumatu to accommodate 200 new Arab settlers. They have also distributed land to Arab families in the Zab district of Haweeja. The Iraqis have armed new settlers in Salai to acquire auxiliary troops for the Iraqi army. They received 15-days of military training in the military camp at Siqizlee. (Sources: Kurdistan Newsline, 14.10.2001)

Persistent Arabisation in Hawler (Arbil)

In order to bring Iraqi army positions closer to the liberated Kurdish regions, an Iraqi military commander recently ordered the evacuation of all Kurdish families from the village of Saadawa, located around 10km south of Hawler (Arbil). Thirty families from the Arab clan of Al-Hadeedain replaced the Kurdish inhabitants. The commander also put the inhabitants from 7 villages on a list for evacuation. This year, the Iraqi army have already forcibly evacuated 30 villages located on the border to the liberated Kurdish regions, south of Hawler. Another tactic being used by Iraqi units is to use villages as targets for artillery bombardments in order to displace the inhabitants and to replace them with Arab settlers.

New Iraqi measures of Arabisation and ethnic cleansing include the banning of photographing from residential areas and markets within the town of Kirkuk. The regime have ordered all Kurdish, Turkmenish and Assyrian street and square names to be replaced by Arab names. (Source: Kurdistan Newsline, 14.10.01)

Ban on Kurdish Language in Makhmor

At a recent meeting in the town of Makhmor, under the control of the Iraqi central government, the Iraqi General Director for Education and Training in Nineveh (Mosul), informed members of the education system that all lessons in Kurdish would from now on be forbidden in all schools in the town. The Iraqi regime have already transferred 75 Kurdish teachers to other regions, replacing them with Arabic teachers. Such measures are not only against the cultural rights of the Kurds but also contravene international obligations of the Iraqi state made in 1932 on its founding as an independent state. (Source: Kurdistan Newsline, 17.10.2001)

IOM: At Least 370 Dead in Ship Catastrophe Before Java

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), at least 370 people died when a refugee ship sank before the Indonesian island of Java. A spokesperson for the aid organisation said in Genf that the ship foundered with 421 immigrants aboard, most of them illegal. Forty-four people, an amongst them 8-year-old child, could be rescued from the mainly Iraqis, Iranians, Afghans, Pakistanis and Algerians on board. The ship’s captain had ordered the passengers to bail water from the ship. The ship then sunk 10 minutes later. Those rescued are now in Bodor on Java, being cared for by a team from the aid organisation. They apparently were aiming to get to Australia. (Source: afp, 22.10.01)

280 Illegal Immigrants Apprehended in Greece

Greek coastguards recently discovered a total of 280 illegal immigrants in various parts of the Aegean. According to Greek radio, a cutter with around 100 illegal immigrants of unknown origin aboard, was discovered near the harbour town of Lavrion.

Coastguards had earlier arrested 11 illegal Afghan immigrants on the eastern Aegean island of Chios. They had arrived in three rubber dinghies from Turkey. Coastguards had also arrested 164 illegal immigrants and 2 suspected traffickers on the Cycladean island of Tinos. They were aboard a 22 metre cutter and originated from Asia and a variety of Middle Eastern countries.

According to Greek radio, the 2 suspected traffickers were Romanians. They allegedly brought the illegal immigrants from Turkey to Greece. Official information reveals that alone in this year, more than 4881 illegal immigrants and 99 traffickers have been apprehended in the Aegean. (Source: dpa, 21.10.01)

“A Time for Drunken Horses” Now on Release in Germany

For his first feature length film, the Kurdish Iranian film director Bahman Ghobadi, won a special prize at the Cannes 2000 Film Festival. He tells the story of 5 siblings from the Iranian part of Kurdistan who loose their father through a mine explosion. They are forced to cope for themselves and are prepared to make many compromises to help each other.

The Kurdish boy Ayub (Ayub Ahmadi) and his little brother Madi (Mehdi Ekhtiardini) and their brothers and sisters have to get by alone. Roijne marries the well off Iraqi, who in turn is willing to pay for an operation for her brother. The film powerfully conveys the siblings’ fight to survive, and the film’s use of lay-actors lends it a documentary character. (A Time for Drunken Horses, Iran 2000, 79 Min., from Bahman Ghobadi, with the siblings Ekhtar-Dini).

The film is now on release in Germany. (Source: dpa, 22.10.01, IMK e.V

Dear Readers

A one year-long hunger strike and death fast has claimed 41 dead. The F-type prisons are “in service”. They have received transfers of thousands of prisoners. Allegations of torture surrounding the transfers remain uninvestigated. While public attention is waning, the drama continues.

The hunger strikers are determined to continue their protests both within and outside the prisons. The government is determined to continue with its harsh and inflexible stance and is not willing to give way. To save on costs and effort, they release hunger strikers who are so weak they hardly have any chance of survival, and allow them to die outside of prison.

Solidarity protests outside the prisons and concentrated in the Istanbul district of Armutlu, are a thorn in the side of the Turkish regime. Under police occupation, people are living and dying there who are not willing to accept the repression taking place within the prisons.

This tragedy is a disgrace to Turkey and a disgrace to Europe. By taking the stance it does, Turkey wishes to demonstrate its power, but she only reveals her weaknesses. A truely strong and powerful state is one which is willing to join the road of compromise and seek an end to this drama.

Visit our Homepage at www.kurden.de. We have again made interesting articles available to you there.