EU-Compliance Package” is a Sham!
In a press statement from 07.08.2002, the General secretary of the Socialist Party of Kurdistan (PSK), Kemal Burkay, has spoken out on the Turkish par-liament’s package of reforms and described it as a sham and as a deception to the public.
In his party’s view, political groups and the Turkish media have unjustly praised the “EU Compliance Package” - passed by the Turkish parliament at the beginning of August - as fulfilling the Copenhagen Criteria
According to the PSK the package neither reflected reality nor was it correct. Even if the legislative changes passed by parliament did have some posi-tive aspects they did not fulfill the Copenhagen Criteria and they could not be considered as serious progress towards solving the Kurdish question or towards the process of democratization.
The statement went on:
“For example, the law changes abolish the death penalty except in “states of war or imminent states of war”. Is there any day in which Turkey is not at war or on the verge of war? Turkey’s relations to its neighbors are always tense and Turkey is nearly always at a state of war with its Kurdish population. It would therefore never be a problem for this coun-try to justify using the death penalty.
“The question also has to be asked whether the death penalty in Turkey is the only method for the state to have people killed. Although the death penalty has not been carried out in this country since 1984, thousands of people have died under torture in prisons. People have been randomly exe-cuted on open streets and even in their own homes, in front of their partners and children. The corpses of political prisoners are daily being taken away from F-type prisons. Will such practices now come to an end?
“It is claimed that recent reforms will permit educa-tion and broadcasting in native languages. This is also untrue! The obstacles to native language education have not been removed. There has just been talk of tuition in native languages, which, if it ever happens, will only be available as extracurricular tuition in private courses.
“It is not clear as to how far these courses can be-come a reality. It should not be a surprise when even such courses are hindered through bureauc-racy or by the police.
“There was also a reform to lift the obstacles to broadcasting in native languages. Whoever assumes that Kurdish may now be freely broadcast on radio and TV is making a mistake! From the lengthy discussions on this issue, it is clear that the regime has no intention of doing so. Instead they plan to permit just a daily half hour broadcast, under strict state control, for the 20 million Kurds. It has been explicitly stated that there are no plans to permit private radio and TV stations which broadcast in Kurdish or any other language.
“Kurds will continue to be prohibited from forming their own political parties and organizations which can openly purport Kurdish identity. The ban on such a freedom is still in force today as it was yes-terday because it is seen as “separatism”. 
“The Turkish legal system is a labyrinth of traps and obstacles towards rights and freedom. This is mainly because of the 1982 constitution, a product of the junta.
“No serious progress can be made on democracy or fulfillment of the Copenhagen Criteria until this constitution and the entire legal system is democra-tized..
“The reluctant and hesitantly passed legislative reforms were just made with the aim of obtaining a date for EU entry negotiations. As always the Turk-ish government, parliament and political parties are trying to deceive the public at home and abroad..
“Apart from this it is doubtful whether the Turkish regime will anyway realize reforms which they accept on paper. Torture in this country is legally banned – it is even an offence – but torture contin-ues to be systematically perpetrated.
“But the Turkish regime cannot deceive the Kurd-ish people, whose numbers exceed 20 million alone within the borders of Turkey. 
“We will never accept slave status, oppression or such humiliating practices. 
“Like all people, the Kurdish people demand freedom! A priority is to replace the racist and militaristic constitution by one which is democratic, which acknowledges Kurdish identity. The Kurdish language, the native language of a third of the coun-try’s population, has to be recognized as an official language alongside Turkish.”.
In the press statement, the PSK demanded, amongst other things, the full acknowledgement of the Kurds’ cultural and political rights with Kurdish education being available from primary school through to university, all day radio and TV in Kurd-ish, free Kurdish political parties and organizations and a solution to the Kurdish issue based on  feder-alism and equality  (Source: Press Statement from the General Secretary of the PSK, 07.08.02)
 

Another Victim of the Death Fasts
Fatma Bilgin, who began a death fast 430 days ago in Malatya prison and had been taken to Numune hospital in Ankara, died on 10/08/2002. Seven years ago she had received a 12.5 year prison sen-tence for being a member of the DHKP/C. (Source: TIHV, 12.08.02)
 

IHD Calls for Action from the Justice Ministry
Hüsnü Öndül, head of the IHD, has called on the new Justice Minister Aysel Çelikel to take action on the death fasts and the F-type prisons. To date the Ministry has only reacted with the remark that the prisoners have isolated themselves. This means in effect that they just look on while people are dying. According to information from the IHD the follow-ing 22 prisoners are still on death fasts: in Ankara’s Numune hospital: Serdar Karabulut, Tanju Mete, Talat Sanli, Birsen Hosver and Feride Harman; in Sincan’s F-Type prison: Yusuf Araci and Erkan Koncuk; in Bayrampasa’s hospital: Zeliha Ertürk, Hamide Öztürk, Imdat Bulut, Berkan Abatay and Mehmet Kahraman; in Kütahya’s hospital: Fatma Köse, Gülnihal Yilmaz and Özlem Türk; in Tekirdag F-type prison: Bülent Özdemir, Nihat Palabiyik, Yavuz Ates, Mesut Akbulut, Ali Sahin, Sinan Akbayir and Sengül Arslan. (Source: Cumhuriyet, 13.08.02)
 

Investigation into the IHD
The state prosecutor in Ankara has begun investiga-tions into the leadership of the IHD. On 11.02.2002, the organization had written to the Ministry of the Interior regarding allegations of torture in the prov-ince of Bingöl. General secretary Selahattin Esme signed the letter but a statement has been taken first from IHD head Hüsnü Öndül. (Source: Evrensel, 14.08.02)
 

Teachers Before Court 
On 14/08/2002 a hearing took place in No. 4 court of the state security courts in Istanbul against 12 teachers and functionaries from the trade union Egitim-Sen. They were accused of giving talks at various trade union congresses between 2-13th Feb-ruary on the right to native language tuition and had therefore given support to the PKK. The defendants deny the charges. Those charged are the union’s head, Alaattin Dinçer, as well as Ali Riza Aydin, Musa Biçer, Hasan Toprak, Muhammet Ekber Isik, Ahmet Korkmaz, Necdet Uygun, Özgür Müftüoglu, Emin Ekinci, Kemal Yüksel, Veysel Akdenizli and Agah Tuncay.(Source: Evrensel, 15.08.02)
 

Campaign for Education in Kurdish
A case has been heard in 8th chamber of the state security courts in Istanbul against eight students who had handed over a petition for Kurdish to be made a subject choice, to their University rector. The judge would not permit entry to the court of the armed gendarmes and 7 of the accompanying de-fendants from Bayrampasa prison. The soldiers then declared that they should number at least half the number of defendants in the court. The case was then adjourned for another 2 months. The defendants Sahin Tücer, Ali Dogan, Nurettin Firat, Serhat Azizoglu, Mürsel Sargut, Ali Turgay and Hasim Gülen must remain in prison until then because they have not yet been questioned before a court. The detainee Ruken Buket Isik was also not released, although she had been brought to the court from Brkirköy prison for women and children. (Source: Evrensel, 15.08.02)
 

KESK-Protest March to Ankara
Members of the KESK trade union (for public ser-vants) held a press conference before their offices prior to a protest march to Ankara. The march was to take place from 13-17 August and was to receive support from Istanbul, Gebze, Izmit, Bursa, Esk-iseir, Bolu, Zonguldak and Ankara.
Demands:
An adequate wage for a decent life, democratization of working life, pay out of money from compulsory saving schemes, occupying empty posts, shortening of working hours, extension of maternity leave, adequate number of day care places for children.
(Özgür Politika, 13.08.02)
 

Egitim-Sen: Increased State
Persecution Over the Past Year
Egitim-Sen (teachers’ trade union) has a total of 98 branches and 350 agencies with around 180,000 members. Their main activity is to care for and acquire new members. Over the past year the union has been subjected to increased state persecution. In the district of Van 19 people have been compulsorily transferred over the past 3 months, in the district of Mersin 38 people in the past 5 months and in the district of Diyarbakir 186 people since the 1990s. In Diyarbakir, there was no way of appealing against the transfers during the state of emergency. That is why in 2001 17 compulsorily transferred people have made complaints to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. So far in 2002 there have been 5 similar complaints. No judgments have yet been made. (Özgür Politika, 12.08.2002)
 

Turkish Military:
No Occupation in Northern Iraq
The Turkish general staff head has denied reports that troops have occupied an airport in northern Iraq. 
Hüseyin Kivrikoglu said that media reports were wrong on the alleged taking of the northern Iraqi airport of Bamami by Turkish troops.
The Online service “Turkish Daily News” quoted a statement from Kivrikoglu which also claimed that the report was wrong concerning the sending of 5000 troops and supplies. The airport in Bamami had been destroyed during the Gulf War and had not been in use since then.
The Turkish press, referring to the northern Iraqi Kurdish leader, reported that the Turkish army had occupied the airport. This was seen as an indication that Ankara was involved in preparations to attack Iraq. The newspaper “Hürriyet” wrote that the whole region could be controlled from Bamami.
Talabani is the head of the Patriotic Union of Kur-distan (PUK) who, since the 1991 Gulf War, have controlled northern Iraq in alliance with a rival Kurdish organization, the KDP (nz) (Source: Netzei-tung, 13. 08. 2002)
 

Parliament in Arbil Confirm Ending of “Honorable Murder” Legislation
The legislation which made “Honorable Murder” lawful has been unanimously abolished by parlia-ment. Following long discussions with various parliamentary committees, women and human rights organizations and religious bodies, parlia-ment submitted new versions of articles to replace the old paragraph no. 111 from 1969. 
Parliamentary president Dr. Rowsch Nouri Sha-ways said, during the extraordinary meeting, “To kill women in the name of religion and tradition undermines all religions and can not in any way be tolerated. In fact, it contradicts the teachings of Islam”. He claimed further that nobody had the right to take the law into their own hands.
In the past, many innocent women were killed by their husbands, brothers, fathers and other relatives because of alleged infidelity.
Nachirvan Barzani, KRG, welcomed the law change as important progress in a re-evaluation of women’s status. (Source: Kurdistan Today , 13. 08.02)
 

Iran Frees 2 Journalists
Two Iranian journalists, who had received jail sen-tences of several years, were recently released on bail. As the journalist Issa Sahar-Khis told AFP, his reformist colleagues, Akbar Gandschi and Emaded-din Bagi, imprisoned for the past 27 months, have been freed for a week on bail of 25,000 Euros each. Gandschi had been sentenced to 6 years imprison-ment for “endangering national security” because of his participation in April 2000 in a conference on Iran by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. He made associ-ates of ex-president of state Ali Akbar Rafsandjani responsible for the 1998 murders of members of the opposition. 
Bagi is serving a 3 year sentence for “anti-government propaganda”. (Source: taz, 19.8.02)
 

Iran to Free Translator Khalil Rostamkhani
The German branch of PEN has appealed to the Iranian government to pardon the translator Khalil Rostamkhani and to allow him to travel to Ger-many. Rostamkhani’s wife, who lives in Germany with their son, has a brain tumor and needs her husband’s support. The 49 year old Khalil Rostam-khani and his wife Roshanak Daryoush participated in the conference on Iran by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in April 2000 in Berlin. (Source: FR, 16.08.2002)
 

Ankara Intends Setting up Refugee Camps in Northern Iraq
Turkey are planning to set up refugee camps in northern Iraq so that the country is ready in case of a US attack against its neighbor. The regional head of the aid organization “Red Half Moon” in the town of Diyarbakir said, “Our priority is to estab-lish a 15km wide buffer zone in northern Iraq to enable the uptake of refugees”. In an initial phase, 5 camps using tents are to be built on Iraqi territory which would be capable of accommodating 2000 refugee families: "We have tents, blankets and stores of food and medicines”. 
In 1991, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds fled from Baghdad troops over the mountains and into Turkey. Turkish troops tried to hold them back but then had to give in to the mass of people coming over the border. (Source: FR, 21.08.02)
 

Conflict Between Turkey and KDP President Barzani
In view of the possible US attack against Iraq, tension has intensified between Turkey and the Kurdish leadership in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq) which have increasingly taken on war-like tones. KDP-president Massud Barzani has now responded to Turkish provocation and threats of occupation with a counter threat of digging “a grave” for the Turkish forces if they intervene in northern Iraq..
What has happened?
Since US president George W. Bush began making intensive efforts to include Kurdish opposition parties, mainly the Iraqi KDP and PUK, in his plans to topple Saddam Hussein, suspicion has been growing within US-NATO partner Turkey. Ankara can live with a change of regime in Baghdad. How-ever, the Turkish government are making support for a US attack dependent on the prevention of a Kurdish state being established in northern Iraq.
After Turkey overcame initial doubts that a military intervention in Iraq could destabilize the whole region and push the already shaky Turkish econ-omy into ruin, it is now prepared for a US strike. Prime minister Bülent Ecevit said recently that “We are achieving our political and military targets”. The “strategic partnership” with the USA was too important for Turkey. 
The first signs of tension between Turkey and Massud Barzani surfaced when Bush invited the northern Iraqi opposition groups to Washington at the beginning of August. The Turkish media claim that Ankara withdrew Barzani’s diplomatic passport so that somebody else had to represent him instead.
More importantly, Ankara does not really believe Barzani’s claim that northern Iraqi Kurds do not want their own state. The Turkish media have been reporting that Barzani’s Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP-Iraq) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan under Jalal Talabani, who have shared power in autonomous northern Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, have agreed on the further strengthening of state-type structures The final straw was a map drawn up by Barzani, which labeled the town of Mossul as a "Kurdish" town. This reminded Turk-ish nationalists of the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century..
"Mossul und Kirkuk is Turkmen territory. It would be intolerable if somebody had their eyes on it”, said defense minister Cakmakoglu from the Party of National Movement (MHP). The area around Mossul where, according to the press, around 400,000 of the 3 million Iraqi Turkmen live, was at that time a bone of contention – mainly because of its oil reserves. Only after pressure from Britain did the Turks give in and acknowledge the 1926 Iraqi border. (Source: dpa,22.08 02
 

Refugees Rescued Off Sicily
Italian coast guards have rescued 151 refugees, mainly Kurds and Africans, south of Sicily. Their ship was leaking and was in danger of sinking. (Source: FR, 20.8.02)

Prohibitive Mentality of Turkish State 
Continues to Silence the Kurdish Press
Serbesti, an intellectual review which is independent from any political party line and which covers only those articles with a scientific and intellectual value about Kurds and Kurdistan, continues to suffer from the oppression of Turkish State Security Court (DGM). Virtually all previous issues of Serbesti published up to now, had been confiscated and many court cases were brought against Serbesti’s chief editor, Mr. Ahmet Zeki Okçuo?lu. As a direct consequence of these confiscations and obstacles imposed on its distribution and sale, Serbesti had been obliged to stop its publication for a long time.

Serbesti’s 8th issue,  the Fall 2002 issue, which after a long silence appeared just a couple of days ago, has also been confiscated. According to the Turkish State Security Court’s now-standardized usual pretext, Serbesti had conducted a separatist propaganda which damaged national unity and integrity of the country. 

Turkish officials on one hand shine before the world public opinion that the Turkish parliament made various legal adjustments towards democratization, while on the other hand they paralyze the publication of reviews such as Serbesti and thus conduct a measureless trick. This prohibitive mentality considers the expressions like “Kurdish” and “Kurdistan” as a threat against the “country’s indivisible integrity with its nation.”

Whatever may be the case, there is, with all its problems, a geography called Kurdistan, on which Kurds live and over which sun rises every morning. Ignoring such a basic fact can not be fitted into any kind of scientific, ethical, religious or legal context in the world of today.

We condemn this prohibitive mentality of Turkish state and call all democratic world to be sensitive against such oppressive policies. 

Serbesti Review Editorial Board
August 28th 2002, Istanbul 

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Regards, The Editorial Team

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