Socialist poet Kemal Burkay: Ergenekon trial
an opportunity to bring out the truth
 One
of the most illustrious figures of the Kurdish left, a poet
who has been in exile from his homeland since Turkey's most
violent coupd'état, has stated that the trial of Ergenekon,
a clandestine unitstructured inside the state and charged
with atrocious crimes committedfor the ultimate purpose of
triggering a coup d'état, is a historic opportunity for Turkey.
Kemal Burkay, a Kurdish writer and poet who had to
leave Turkey after the Sept. 12, 1980 coup, is known in Turkey
as the author of the lyrics topop music diva Sezen Aksu's
"Gülümse" (Smile) and also the song "MamakTürküsü,"
originally a poem written in his days at Ankara's Mamak Prison,
which was put to music by the band Yeni Türkü. After years
ofpolitical struggle in Turkey, Burkay is now in Stockholm,
where he has lived as a political refugee since 1980.
Speaking to Sunday's Zaman last week,
Burkay said the Ergenekon trial is a very important opportunity
for Turkey to "bring out the truth" and called on
the country's intellectuals to support the investigators.
Burkay describes Ergenekon as a "continuation
of the counter-guerilla organization." "In other
words, it is the continuation of allcounter-guerilla organizations
set up in the 1950s as a US-NATO initiative in all NATO countries.
This organization was used against democratic opposition,
particularly against leftist opposition. This was most prominent
in Italy. It was used in a number of agitating events. It
was used to prevent democratic development. But when the Soviet
Union collapsed, the counter-guerrilla became useless, and
it was eliminated in all NATO countries," he explained.
Burkay said eliminating the counter-guerilla network was hardest
in Italy, where a number of prosecutors, judges and police
officers trying to expose it were killed because the organization
was very well organized inside the police, the military, the
judiciary, the press, business and also politics. "However,
despite all this, it was eliminated in Italy. But it hasn't
been in Turkey. Turkey was the only country where they didn't
try to expose it."
According to Burkay, for a long time
the mainreason this organization was not exposed in Turkey
was that the state had started using it against the armed
violence of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). "And
so, instead of being eliminated, it grew even stronger in
the '90s. It grew more and more arms, just like anoctopus.
Both militarism and this organization grew stronger in Turkey,"
Burkay said.
Burkay believes that recent confessions
of PKK informant Abdülkadir Aygan about the atrocious crimes
of an illegal and clandestine unit in the gendarmerie forces
known as JİTEM are encouraging, adding that it would help
greatly if more informants spoke publicly. "He [Aygan]
worked for JİTEM, he was part of someincidents and murders.
This is why his confessions are very important. It would be
really good if others like Aygan could do the same. This is
a great opportunity for the general public to understand the
existence of JİTEM, its functions, the things it has done
and what those have cost the people and the country. Aygan
is not simply talking; he is giving names, locations and concrete
places where those killed were buried. Of course, what Aygan
speaks about is like a drop in the ocean-- merely a tiny piece
of thousands of murders. We know thousands were kidnapped
and killed, that their bodies were thrown somewhere. Somewere
thrown in acid wells, some burnt, some buried. We watched
this for years. Both the people of the region and everyone
in Turkey who was a journalist or a politician knew about
these. In other words, none of this was a secret," he
said.
According to Burkay, JİTEM is a cogin
this wheel "that plots illegal conspiracies, that terrorizes
and murders people." He explained that this same mechanism
also controlled the Turkish Hizbullah and shared his experience,
saying, "What's more,Hizbullah was actually trained in
JİTEM and gendarmerie facilities until they were no longer
needed."
It is also a fact that inTurkey, some
segments of society are suspicious about the Ergenekon trial,
fearing it might be part of a witch-hunt for the Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) to crush its rivals. Burkay does
not agree. "It is not important during which party's
term this trial started. What's important is that this trial
was launched. If the government is not preventing such a case
from opening, and to the contrary encouraging it, that is
a positive note on the part of that government. So in that
sense, it is a positive situation that this can take place
under AK Party rule. But it is not necessary to be suspicious
of the case. You know, Susurluk was an opportunity. It was
covered up, unfortunately. I wish at that time Susurluk had
been solved; I wish that the government of the time could
have shown that courage. Now, society has a new opportunity,"
he stated.
Recalling that the AK Party was not courageous
enough to try all those involved in the bookstore bombing
of 2005 in the southeastern township of Shemdinli, when the
bombers captured by the locals turned out to be two noncommissioned
officers and a former PKK member and informant – many of whom
are frequently hired by JİTEM after leaving PKK -- he said
a very important opportunity was missed. The prosecutor on
the case was disbarred while a military court hijacked the
trial of the three bombers from a civilian court. But he also
noted that Turkey now has a new chance. "In Shemdinli,
the locals through their own initiative caught JİTEM red-handed.
However, at the time that was covered up. But in spite of
all of that, the Ergenekon trial has begun. Imagine, earlier,
even a noncommissioned officer could not beheld responsible.
Now senior generals are under arrest. People like Veli Küçük,
Levent Ersöz, who played a very important role in JİTEM, are
answering for their actions. This is a very important step,"
he said.
This is why Burkay believes, instead
of being suspicious because the trial began during the term
of AK Party, that the process should be supported, especially,
Burkay noted, given that a not insignificant number of circles
are trying to block the case.
"Public support is needed for this
case to be concluded successfully, for the elimination of
this gang and for the state and society to become transparent.
We can't just stand there and watch. The intellectuals of
the country, all of its democratic people, those who claim
to be leftist or liberal, I say, should put in their support,"
Burkay said, appealing to the country's democrats.
Who is Kemal Burkay?
Burkay was born in Tunceli in 1937. He
went to school in his own village, where his father was a
teacher. He graduated from a teacher's college in Diyarbakır
and became a teacher in 1955. He enrolled at the Ankara University
School of Law, where he finished his studies in 1960. After
completing his military service in Erzurum, he briefly worked
as akaymakam (district governor) in Osmaniye. In 1964, he
began practicing as an independent attorney. Later, he moved
to Tunceli. He wrote poems and stories during his years as
a teacher at the village school. His first novel was printed
in daily excerpts in the Vatan newspaper. His first collection
of poems, "Prangalar" (Shackles), was published
in1967. In 1965 he published the Chira (Tinder) literary magazine.
He has authored a large number of books on literature and
politics.
Burkay joined the Turkey Workers' Party
(TİP) in 1965. He was actively involved in the organization
of the party's Elazig, Tunceli, Bingöl and Erzincan branches.
In 1965, he ran for Parliament as a deputy from Bingöl. In
1968, he was elected to the General Council and then to the
Executive Steering Committee of TİP. He went abroad after
the March 12,1971 military intervention. In 1974, he came
back under an amnesty lawand started working as an independent
lawyer in Ankara. In the same year, along with some of his
friends, he established the outlawed Turkey's Kurdistan Socialist
Party (PSK), where he was elected the secretary-general. Burkay
and his friends published the Özgürlük Yolu(The Way to Freedom)
journal in 1975 and the bi-weekly Roja Welat (Land of the
Sun in Kurdish) newspaper in 1977. The PSK won the mayoral
office in Diyarbakır and in Agrı in 1977 with their independent
candidates. In March 1980, he went abroad. Burkay, who was
granted political asylum in Sweden, continued his activism
there. Burkay, one of the most important figures in Kurdish
politics, has always stood apart from the PKK with his stance
against armed struggle. Burkay, who married twice, is a father
of five.
He has published 13 literary works, four
translations and 10 books on politics. His most well-known
poem in Turkey is Gülümse (Smile), which was popularized in
a song by Turkish diva Sezen Aksu.
01.02.2009
News
RAMAZAN KERPETEN
|
