OPEN LETTER CALLING
FOR EUROPEAN ACTION TO END HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TURKEY, INCLUDING A SEVEN
POINT PLAN FOR A CEASE-FIRE BETWEEN THE TURKISH ARMED FORCES AND THE KURDISTAN
WORKERS PARTY (PKK).
To: The Council of the
European Union The United Nations Security Council Kofi Annan,
Secretary-General of the United Nations Select Members of The United States
Congress
April 27, 1999
Dear ministers and officials,
We, the undersigned, call upon you to consider the full
facts of the case, and to deny Turkey arms, and membership into the European
Union until the Turkish government ceases to commit gross violations of human
rightsagainst Kurdish civilians and prisoners, and adopts a political
settlement to the civil war in Southeastern Turkey / Turkish Kurdistan.
Contents: Abdullah Ocalan's Capture The Impossibility of a
Fair Trial The Kurds: Self-Determination Denied Apartheid in Turkey: Mass
Arrests, the Torture of Children Kurdistan vs. Kosovo: Double Standards
Seven-Point Plan for a Cease-Fire
ABDULLAH OCALAN'S CAPTURE
On February 16, 1999, news broke out across the world that
Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, president of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
had been captured in Nairobi, Kenya and taken back to Turkey as a
prisoner. Late in 1998, Ocalan's
arrest and release in Italy had precipitated an international controversy, with
protests by Kurds across Europe, and a brief trade war against Italy by
Turkey. Upon news of Ocalan's
capture this February, 1999, Kurdish protests intensified. There was an
outpouring of outrage at Ocalan's capture, and a show of support for him as a
legitimate national leader in the eyes of millions of Kurdish people.
We are disturbed by the comments of US State Department
Spokesman James Rubin, who on December 1, 1998 told the press "We are
continuing to work with Turkey, Italy, Germany and the international community
to ensure that Ocalan is brought to justice for the terrorist crimes he is
accused" and calling this
"our first priority."
Ocalan is the leader of one faction in a civil war. To reduce the scope of this military
conflict to the crimes of one man is to deny justice to the millions of Kurdish
people living under harsh repression in Eastern Turkey. Abdullah Ocalan is the leader of an
organization claiming to represent 12 million Kurdish people living in eastern
Turkey. Kurds are the fourth most populous ethnic group in the Middle
East. Undoubtedly there have been
serious violations of human rights committed by the PKK against civilian and
official targets in Eastern Turkey.
We do not wish to suggest that these violations should be overlooked. We
submit, however, that the human rights violations of the Turkish state against
Kurds, PKK members, and other citizens of Turkey have been far greater. Repression of ethnic Kurds in Turkey by
Turkish security forces involves some of the most hideous brutality known on
the planet, as you will read below.
Today, Abdullah Ocalan is a prisoner on trial by his enemies
in war, and the outcome of this trial is certain to carry a death
sentence. History may come to
remember Abdullah Ocalan, however, as someone in the company of a long list of
one-time 'terrorists' who led military struggles for national liberation, such
as George Washington, Mao-Tse Dong, and more recently, Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years
in prison accused of being the leader of a "terrorist" organization,
the African National Congress, now the democratically elected ruling party of
South Africa. Mandela was arrested
using information supplied by the United States, and the US supported his
arrest. The United States also called for Abdullah Ocalan's arrest, and is
reported to have been involved in his capture. Both men, prior to and after arrest, were leaders of
military campaigns for national self-determination.
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF A FAIR TRIAL
Abdullah Ocalan is now on trial in Turkey, and the Turkish
government is disallowing any foreign journalists from attending the
trial. This, and the recent
decision by the British ITC authorities to close down and suspend the license
of MED-TV, a Kurdish station broadcasting from Britain, will have the combined
effect of imposing an international media blackout on the trial.
Abdullah Ocalan cannot receive a fair trial in Turkey. His lawyer Ahmet Zeki Okcuoglu reported
in February that "Even the minimum conditions for a defense do not exist. There exists no official post to appeal. The local authorities say they have no
connection with the trial, while little is known about the Crisis Management
Desk reportedly placed in charge of the procedure. I have no power to resist those forces, who have stripped my
client of his right to defend himself.
The only thing I can do is to make a statement in protest." The same lawyer reported on March 6,
1999 that he and Abdullah Ocalan's other lawyers were physically attacked in
public on February 23, 25 and 26, 1999.
Turkish state information and the Turkish media have
demonized Abdullah Ocalan in the eyes of the Turkish population to such an
extent that he too would be certainly be attacked if he were to appear in
public. Indeed, in the April 1999
elections, many candidates openly called for Ocalan's execution, thus presuming
his guilt.
Turkish prisons are well known for their use of torture
against political prisoners and there is no reason to expect that Mr. Ocalan
will be spared such violations of his rights and his dignity. Indeed, given his knowledge of PKK
military information, we can hardly expect the Turkish authorities to make an
exception in his case, and forego the opportunity to attempt extracting such
information under the pain of torture.
These are precisely the sorts of human rights violations the Geneva
Convention was designed to prevent: torture, mock justice covering for war
reprisals, and death sentences for political prisoners and prisoners of
war. Article 17 reads: "No
physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on
prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever."
Abdullah Ocalan and the PKK have repeatedly called for a
political settlement to the Civil War in Turkish Kurdistan. The Turkish government has responded by
stepping up its campaign of terror against the Kurdish people, using military
arms supplied by the United States, and with the tacit approval of the European
community. Thus the involvement of
the United States in supporting the Turkish government in this war makes its
call for Ocalan's arrest not a call for justice per se, but a partisan call for
vengeance against the enemy of its Turkish ally.
Given the civil war in Turkey, Abdullah Ocalan's capture and
detention qualify him as a prisoner of war. Under the terms of the Geneva Convention relative to the
Treatment of Prisoners of War, 75 U.N.T.S. 135, entered into force on October
21, 1950, Article 4, section 2, a prisoner of war is someone who has "fallen
into the power of the enemy" including "Members of other militias and
members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance
movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside
their own territory". This
definition stipulates the provisions that the militia in question have a
structure of command, that it carries arms openly and uses a designated sign,
and that its operations are "in accordance with the laws and customs of
war". This language presumes
that the detaining party itself is in compliance with "the laws and
customs of war". But Turkey
clearly violates these laws and customs in its harsh repression of the Kurds
under Turkish governance. For its
part, the PKK has publicly stated its intent to comply with the terms of the
Geneva Convention. Both sides must
be held accountable to their stated commitments of abiding by international
law.
We know that Abdullah Ocalan is being held in detention on
Imrali Island, in the Sea of Marmara, south of Istanbul, where he is the sole
prisoner on the island, and is thus singled out as a very special prisoner
indeed. Article 16 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of
Prisoners of War states that "all prisoners of war shall be treated alike
by the Detaining Power, without any adverse distinction based on race,
nationality, religious belief or political opinions." As a professed supporter of Kurdish
national self-determination, Ocalan is clearly distinguished by his race,
nationality and political beliefs, and his special treatment by the Turkish authorities
runs directly counter to this article of the Geneva Convention. Article 22 of the convention reads:
"The Detaining Power shall assemble prisoners of war in camps or camp
compounds according to their nationality, language and customs, provided that
such prisoners shall not be separated from prisoners of war belonging to the
armed forces with which they were serving at the time of their capture, except
with their consent." Here
again, Ocalan's treatment by the Turkish authorities runs directly counter to
the letter of this document, as he is being kept in isolation from his fellow
prisoners of war. The Turkish
government may seek to escape such provisions by simply denying that Ocalan is
Kurdish, and declaring him an equal Turkish citizen before the law. This is consistent with the negation of
Kurdish identity, the source of the conflict, and it violates the rights of
Kurdish people to express and choose their national identity. Turkey also seeks to circumvent the
Geneva Convention by denying that it is engaged in a war, and branding its
military opponents "terrorists." Should any state be allowed to brand its enemies
"terrorists" and thereby escape its responsibilities as a signatory
of the Geneva Convention?
THE KURDS: SELF-DETERMINATION DENIED
Under the Treaty of Sevres (August 10, 1920) the Kurds were
to be given their own state out of the dismantled Ottoman Empire. Instead the majority became subjects of
the new Turkey under the Treaty of Lausanne (June 23, 1923), as the Imperial
powers France and Iraq were unimpressed with the Kurds' bloody uprisings for
independence, and parceled the would-be Kurdistan between Turkey, Syria and
Iraq. A Kurdish Autonomous
Province ("Red Kurdistan") existed in Soviet Azerbaijan from the
early 1920s until 1929. In 1945,
Kurds set up a Kurdish republic at Mahabad in Soviet-occupied Iran, which
lasted only one year. Since World
War I, Kurds who have dared to express their cultural heritage have been
imprisoned, tortured and even executed.
The Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein launched a campaign
of terror against the Kurds in Northern Iraq between 1983 and 1987, razing
thousands of villages, and killing hundreds of thousands. Since 1991, Iraqi Kurds have
suffered from famines as a result of the sanctions imposed against the Iraqi
government. From 1992-1994 the fledgling Armenian Republic effectively annexed
the former "Red Kurdistan" territory that forms the land bridge
between Armenia proper and the Armenian enclave Nogorno-Karabakh; Kurds were
the victims of the "ethnic cleansing" campaign that accompanied this
annexation. Numbering 25 million, Kurds are the largest ethnicity in the world
without a state of their own. Today, the Kurdish homeland is administered by
six sovereign states: Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan. They
are almost universally despised for asserting their national identity, and face
harsh governmental repression under each of these regimes, most of which rank
among the most repressive regimes on the planet.
Since 1984, the PKK has waged an armed struggle for national
autonomy and self-determination in Turkish Kurdistan. Turkey now spends US $6 billion per year fighting the PKK,
and has at times stationed over 200,000 troops in the area. Yet the Turkish government refuses to
recognize this conflict as a war, and talks only of the 'terrorism' practised
by the PKK. The United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
declares that every people has the right to pursue their self-determination,
and their economic, social and cultural development (article 1), and to freely
dispose of the natural wealth and resources at their disposal (article 2). Article 3 of this document obliges
states like Turkey which sign the covenant and which are responsible for the administration
of Non-Self-Governing Territories, like Kurdistan, to "promote the
realization of the right of self-determination". But Turkey's brutal suppression of all Kurdish organizations
promoting greater self-determination for Kurds runs directly counter to Article
3 of the Covenant.
The PKK is not the only organization pursuing the goal of
greater freedom and autonomy for the Kurds. Numerous political parties have championed the cause of
Kurdish autonomy. The People's
Labour Party (HEP) was shut down by Turkish authorities in 1993 for advocating
'separatism'. The Democracy Party
(DEP) was shut down in 1994, again for ostensibly adovocating 'separatism',
though its leaders claimed that it was a party which sought to improve
relations between Kurds and Turks and lobby the state for better treatment of
Kurds in Turkey. DEP's successor,
the People's Democracy Party (HADEP), is still legal in Turkey, and opposes
political violence. Since 1991,
more than 160 officials and members of HEP, DEP and HADEP have been shot dead,
'disappeared' or tortured to death in police custody.
Today in Turkey, Kurdish language cannot be taught under the
law. Expressions of Kurdish national identity are often translated into acts
which advocate 'separatism' by the courts, under the draconian Anti-Terrorism
Law. The suppression of Kurdish
language and Kurdish national identity violates the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. The Universal Declaration states that:
"Everyone has the right to a nationality" and that "No one shall
be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change
[their] nationality" (Article 15).
Further, Article 22 of the Universal Declaration enshrines the right of
all human beings to social security and the realization of "the economic,
social and cultural rights indispensable for [their] dignity and the free
development of [their] personality".
The Official Turkish state policy denies that Kurdish language and
culture are suppressed. The
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) writes: "Contrary to the
allegations of some biased quarters, there is no restriction on the use of
languages in Turkey." The MFA also attempts to
dispute the status of 'Kurdish' as a language, citing the variety of Kurdish
dialects. It upholds that Turkish
is the official language in Turkey, and adds that "Though it is possible
to help promote them, it is neither
realistic nor feasible to make local tongues official languages of the
State." Leyla Zana is a
Kurdish parliamentary deputy and peace activist in Turkey who bears the scars
of her 1988 torture at the hands of Turkish authorities. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1995. At her December
1994 trial, not only was her use of Kurdish in the courtroom not recorded into
the minutes of the session, but the language she spoke was not even identified
as Kurdish. It was simply noted that she said something in 'an incomprehensible
dialect.'
At this trial Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan
Dogan, all deputies in the Turkish parliament, were convicted of being members
of the PKK, an organization banned under Article 168/1 of the Turkish Penal
Code. Each is presently serving out a sentence of 15 years' imprisonment. The evidence used to prove their
membership in the PKK included the colors of their clothing, their use of the
Kurdish language, a 1992 public statement they made to the UN calling for
investigations of the killings of civilians, and accusations extracted from
witnesses under interrogation involving torture--accusations which were later retracted
or discredited. Amnesty International considers these four deputies prisoners
of conscience. It finds no
evidence to confirm the allegation that any of them belong to the PKK, and
finds that none of the four were ever so much as accused of acts of violence or
its advocacy. One commonality
between the deputies is that they do repeatedly assert that the Kurdish
minority have a distinct identity. In November of 1997 the European Court of
Human rights ruled that the four deputies' incommunicado detention was unlawful
and breached Turkey's commitments under Article 5 of the European Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and ordered Turkey
to pay nearly $50,000 in compensation to the deputies, who remain in prison.
(Amnesty International Report -EUR 44/85/97, December 1997, "Turkey: The
Colours of Their Clothes").
As regards to nationality and culture, the MFA writes:
"The state does
not categorize its citizens
along ethnic lines nor does it impose an ethnic
identity on them.
Population censuses in Turkey never
count people on the basis of their ethnic origins."
Yet expressions of Kurdish national identity or heritage are
precisely what was used as evidence to 'prove' that the four deputies were
outlaws. In some cases, merely stating that one is Kurdish results in
imprisonment.
APARTHEID IN TURKEY: MASS ARRESTS, THE TORTURE OF CHILDREN
Arbitrary arrests in Turkey range in the hundreds per
year. Torture is systematic in
Turkish prisons, police stations and gendarmeries. Amnesty International reported over 25 deaths in custody for
1996 in Turkey, and at least 6 in 1997; and over 32 'disappearances' in these
two years. Extrajudicial killings by the Turkish authorities are common;
Amnesty reported "scores" of extrajudicial killings by Turkish
authorities in 1996 "in the mainly Kurdish southeastern provinces in
circumstances suggesting they had been extrajudicially executed by members of
the security forces", and evidence for over 20 cases 1997 (AI Report 1997:
Turkey; AI Report 1998: Turkey).
Children as young as 12 have reportedly been subject to torture,
including electric shocks to all parts of the body, hosing with cold water, and
beating. This contravenes the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 37 (a). Male prisoners of all ages consistently
report having their testicles twisted.
Some report having had electric shock applied to their sexual organs, as
well as having been raped by security officers. Male and female prisoners report being hung naked and hosed
with cold water, this often in conjunction with electric shock. While Turkish
law could afford effective protection against such abuses if observed, in
practice due process under the law is routinely ignored. (Amnesty International
Report -EUR 44/144/96, December 1997, "Turkey: Children at Risk of
Torture, Death in Custody and 'Disappearance'"). In April of 1998, 2 year
old Azat Tokmak and his mother, Fatma Tokmak, were subjected to psychiatric and
physical torture by Turkish security forces. The child was burned with cigarettes in an effort to get his
mother to confess to being a member of the PKK.
In Turkey, hundreds of arbitrary arrests of political
activists and journalists take place each year with no due process before the
law. Ragip Duran, a prominent journalists who has worked for several Turkish
newspapers and the BBC, was sentenced to two months in prison in 1998 for
describing Abdullah Ocalan in print as a thoughtful figure who "cites
Zarathustra or Freud" and "gives a lot of importance to equality and
fraternity." This contradicts
the official view which the Turkish state upholds of Abdullah Ocalan as a
ruthless terrorist without redeeming qualities. State censorship of the media in Turkey is perhaps the
harshest in Europe, particularly in relation to the civil war in Turkish
Kurdistan.
Upon Ocalan's arrest, over 2,000 people were arbitrarily
arrested, accused of being PKK supporters. Many were subject to torture. Leading up to the April 18, 1999 elections in Turkey,
thousands of arrests were made in Turkish Kurdistan. Campaign rallies were disrupted. HADEP, the only legal Kurdish-based party remaining in
Turkey, had dozens of its party headquarters raided. More than 5,000 HADEP members were detained for over a week,
without trial. A suit was filed
against the party in January to prevent it from participating in the elections,
but was overturned by a judge on April 14, four days before the balloting. Other suits seeking to deligitimate
HADEP are pending. Campaign equipment was seized by security forces, and HADEP
was effectively prevented from engaging in any meaningful campaigning
activities: HADEP election bureaus were shut down; party flags were banned;
pennants and posters were panned, announcements from mobile vehicles were
banned; HADEP party observers were
denied their legal right to be present at the polling sites or to send
observers to the vote tallying, voters in many Kurdish localities were forced
to cast open ballots. The security forces threatened many of these voters with
burning down their villages if they were to vote for HADEP. Scores of ballots went missing, and
many were later found in dumpsters.
These shenanigans by Turkish security forces amount to an
all-out campaign to silence the voters among the Kurdish minority in Turkey,
and to quash their desperate hopes for greater autonomy for Kurdistan. The
Turkish state achieved is principal goal: HADEP failed to win 10% of the
popular vote, the threshold for sending deputies to the parliament. HADEP
claims that in a truly free and fair election, they would have easily reached
this goal. In spite of the Turkish
state's campaign to subvert the democratic route to Kurdish self-determination,
HADEP expects to reach over 5% of the popular vote in Turkey after all recounts
are settled, and won 38 mayorships outright. How could a party whose party president, secretary general,
deputy presidents and central administrators have all been in jail since
November of 1998 (accused of being PKK sympathizers) fare so well in such a
crooked election unless it enjoyed enormous support and legitimacy within the
Kurdish community? Candidates like Cihan Sincar, whose husband was shot in the
back of the head by security forces in 1993, exemplify the bravery of people
holding onto a faith in the democratic process in the midst of a war of ethnic
oppression.
In the civil war,
over 3,000 Kurdish villages have been destroyed by Turkish militia, over
3 million Kurds have been dislocated from their homes, and over 20,000 Kurds
have lost their lives. Turkish officials and soldiers have also suffered
casualties in the thousands. This violence and bloodshed must cease!
KURDISTAN VS. KOSOVO: DOUBLE STANDARDS
In late March of 1999, the United States led a NATO attack
on Serbia on the grounds that it is seeking to protect ethnic Albanians in the
province of Kosovo from another 'ethnic cleansing' campaign by Serbia. For reasons that are now being widely
discussed, this is a very delicate and complex situation. If NATO's action were to set a new
precedent of military action against sovereign states which repress their own
citizens, then there are ample causes which could justify similar foreign
intervention to protect an ethnic minority from state repression, among which
Tibetans, Palestinians and Kurds could be included. Turkey, however, is a member of NATO, and while the human
tragedy inflicted upon the Kurdish population by the Turkish government is far
worse than the Serbian attack on Kosovans in terms of numbers, NATO brokers no
disagreement with Turkish repression of Kurds. Indeed, NATO helps arm and
protect the Turkish state, and NATO members supply military training to help
Turkey fight the PKK. The United
States Government has acknowledged its role in supporting Turkish repression. In
a 1997 report by the U.S. State Department, "U.S. military Equipment and
Human Rights Violations" (S. Rep. No. 104-295, 1997), the role of the
United States in supplying the Turkish military with the majority of its
inventory, including weapons that have been used in human rights abuses against
the PKK and Kurdish peoples, is acknowledged. The report cites findings by Amnesty International that U.S.
built helicopters have been used in raids against Kurdish villages. Similar
findings have been published by other human rights groups.
In a hearing of the House Committee on International
Relation to discuss "Developments in Kosovo and the U.S. Role in Resolving
the Conflict" (February 10, 1999), U.S. Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA)
asked Thomas Pickering, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs:
"I wonder why dozens of brutal murders in Kosovo have
inspired such an outpouring of American concern and the threat of military
action, whereas hundreds of thousands of dead civilians of oppression, of
murders on a much larger scale in Kurdistan have not? ...we're certainly not threatening to bomb Turkey over this,
nor would I suggest that. But why
is the administration willing to risk American lives to stop the deaths of
civilians in Kosovo, and yet unwilling to even risk American words to stop the
deaths of Kurds also in the NATO area, under very similar circumstances?"
In his response, Mr. Pickering acknowledged that this was an
"important question" and vaguely cited "significant
progress" that the United States has made in recent years on the issue,
but admitted that the steps taken had not been perfect. No factual detail was offered. Indeed, there is no factual record to
establish that the human rights situation in Turkey has improved at all in the
last 1-2 years.
On April 20, 1999, Amnesty Intrenational issued a report
entitled "Turkey: Time to End Impunity". The report cites a series of cases of serious human rights
violations which have not been pursued by the competent authorities in Turkey.
"The bland complacency shown by successive Turkish governments in the face
of torture, ill-treatment, death in custody and 'disappearance' at the hands of
law-enforcement officers is staggering," according to the report. The report cites the continued practice
of torturing children, and harassment and torture of human rights activists and
of family members of the 'disappeared' seeking police investigations into the
whereabouts of their loved ones. This report can scarcely be said to
corroborate the claim that "significant progress" has been made on
the issue of human rights in Turkish Kurdistan.
Continuing his questioning, Representative Sherman
interrupted Mr. Pickering to say:
"...clearly the number of troops sent by the Turkish
government to Kurdistan, much larger than Milosevic has sent to Kosovo. The number of dead civilians in
Kurdistan, much larger than Kosovo [sic]. I would hope that the American
government would be willing to take a more public and more strident approach
toward protecting the Kurds, and we shouldn't take the view that oppression is
to be viewed differently in the NATO area and if it's done by a NATO country as
opposed to being done by a country that's outside of NATO."
The same comparison is being drawn by many intellectuals and
political actors today. Yet in
general the media maintains a virtual code of silence on the Kurdish issue, and
the public is left knowing that Ocalan is considered a terrorist and has been
captured to be tried for his crimes, but very little indeed about the human
rights abuses committed by the Turkish state.
During the U.S. military actions against Iraq in 1991, much
was made of saving the Kurds from Saddam Hussein's military. Hussein's earlier assaults on Kurdish
villages using chemical weapons was used to justify the no fly zone in northern
Iraq, which still holds. Recently,
the US Congress has voted to spend nearly $100 million to assist opposition
forces in Iraq, among them Kurdish organizations, to overthrow the Hussein
regime. But the Kurds of Turkey
are left at the mercy of the Turkish military pursuing PKK forces throughout
Turkish Kurdistan and deep into Iraqi territory. What kind of policy is it that
purports to protect a people from one brutal overlord but supports another
brutal overlord's war against them?
SEVEN POINT PLAN FOR A CEASE-FIRE
If international law is to have any meaning whatsoever, then
it must first be followed, and secondly, it must be applied fairly and
equally. Great powers like the
United States must practise impartiality, and recognize the several ways in
which Turkey's suppression of Kurdish nationalism violates the UN Charter, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the terms of the Geneva Convention, and
a host of other international human rights legislation.
The civil war in eastern Turkish Kurdistan will continue
whether or not Abdullah Ocalan is found guilty, and whether or not he is
executed. So will the daily human
rights abuses suffered by the Kurdish population at the hands of the Turkish military. Where is the outcry against such abuses? Only the Kurdish people themselves, at
home and in exile, have dared to speak out against their own oppression. So desperate have some felt their
plight that they have mutilated themselves in public to gain international
attention.
Europe has an historic opportunity to help turn this great
evil into a great good. Turkey desperately wants to join the European Union
(EU), and the EU stands to benefit from Turkey's membership. Since 1923, Europe has turned its back
on the Kurds. This can change.
Europe can use Turkey's desire to gain EU membership to force a
political situation to the civil war in Turkish Kurdistan. The United States
can choose to cut off the supply of arms to Turkey until such time as Turkey
complies with international law.
The United Nations can call for a general arms embargo against Turkey,
and can offer to mediate peace negotiations. Ocalan and the PKK have
consistently supported a cease-fire agreement and a negotiated political
settlement, specifically on September 1, 1998 and in a statement to the press
by Ocalan on March 19, 1999.
We call upon you to use your authority to pressure the
Turkish government to comply with international law, to end its human rights
abuses committed against the people of Kurdistan, and to seek a political
solution to the war in Turkish Kurdistan!
In light of the foregoing, we the undersigned urge the
international community to join our call for:
1. An immediate cease-fire by both parties in the civil war
in Turkish Kurdistan.
2. Mutual dialogue involving both parties in the civil war,
under third party supervision, aimed at bringing a lasting resolution to the
conflict.
3. Recognition of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan's rights to
humane treatment and protection from acts of mutilation, medical or scientific
experiments of any kind, violence, intimidation, insults, public curiosity and
measures of reprisal--rights which the Geneva Convention Relative to the
Treatment of Prisoners of War, Article 13, grants to prisoners of war.
4. The release of all political prisoners and prisoners of
conscience held by the Turkish government, including Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle,
Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan, as
well as any political prisoners held by the PKK.
5. The lifting of any ban on political associations
representing the aspirations of the Kurdish population.
6. Denial of Turkish membership in the EU until Turkey meets
the above five points.
7. An emergency conference of the members of the European
Union to address the war in Turkish Kurdistan, to seek a European consensus
condemning the broad scale human rights abuses committed by Turkish forces
against Kurds and others supporting the right to Kurdish self-determination as
guaranteed under international law.
In addition:
As regards the violence of the civil war, we look to the
recent examples of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the
similar Historical Clarification Commission in Guatemala for guidance, as
valuable yet imperfect instruments of dealing with the difficult matter of
different peoples living harmoniously in the aftermath of civil war and ethnic
violence. On March 10, 1999, US
President Bill Clinton told a gathering in Guatemala: "For the United
States, it is important that I state clearly that support for military forces
and intelligence units which engaged in violence and widespread repression was
wrong and the United States must not repeat that mistake." But the United States IS repeating that
mistake: in Turkish Kurdistan, as the evidence shows. In Guatemala, the Historical Clarification found that over
93% of the killings, variously estimated at over 200,000 persons, were carried
out be state security forces.
Given what we already know about Turkey's violent repression of Kurds in
Turkish Kurdistan, why should we have to wait ten years for another American
President to apologize for the United States' role in arming and assisting
governments engaging in brutal campaigns of ethnic repression? Why not stop it now?
And finally:
We recognize the Kurdish peoples' rights to
self-determination, as enshrined in the
UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the UN Charter,
up to and including: an independent Kurdistan, an autonomous Kurdish region in
Turkey, or whatever political solution satisfying the aspirations of national
self- determination is clearly favoured by the majority of the Kurdish
population, as can be determined
under fair, legal and democratic decision-making structures.
Signed,
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ADDRESSEES:
(Institutions and individuals to whom this letter is to be
sent):
OFFICES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION:
The Council of the European Union:
Members for Austria (4)
Members for Belgium (5)
Members for Denmark (3)
Members for Finland (3)
Members for France (10)
Members for Germany (10)
Members for Greece (5)
Members for Ireland (3)
Members for Italy (10)
Members for Luxembourg (2)
Members for the Netherlands (5)
Members for Portugal (5)
Members for Spain (8)
Members for Sweden (4)
Members for the United Kingdom (10)
rue de la Loi 175, B-1048 Brussels
Tel: (32 2) 285 61 11
Fax: (32 2) 285 73 97/73 81
European Commission
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200
B-1049 Brussels
European Commission
Batiment Jean Monnet
Rue Alcide De Gasperi
L-2920 Luxembourg
European Parliament
Rue Wiertz, 43
1047 Bruxelles
Belgien
OFFICES OF THE UNITED NATIONS:
SECRETARY-GENERAL
Kofi Annan
UN Secretary General
UN Headquarters
New York, NY 10017
UN SECURITY COUNCIL
PERMANENT MEMBERS:
H.E. Mr. Qin Huasun
Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the
UN
155 West 66th Street
New York, NY
10023
H.E. M. Alain Dejammet
Permanent Mission of France to the UN
One Dah Hammerkjold Plaza, 245 East 47th St.
44th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Mr. Sergey V. Lavrov
Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN
136 East 67th Street
New York, NY
10021
H.E. Sir John Weston, KCMG
Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the UN
One Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, 885 Second Ave.
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Mr. Bill Richardson
United States Mission to the UN
799 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY
10017-3505
CURRENT ROTATING (TWO-YEAR) MEMBERS:
H.E. Dr. Emilio J. Cardenas
Permanent Mission of Argentina to the UN
One United Nations Plaza, 25th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Mr. Jassim Mohammed Buallay
Permanent Mission of the State of Bahrain to the UN
Two United Nations Plaza, 25th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Mr. Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim
Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN
747 Third Ave., 9th Floor
New York, NY 10017
H.E. Mr. Robert R. Fowler
Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN
1 Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, 885 Second Ave., 14th Floor
New York, NY 10017
H.E. M. Denis Dangue Rewaka
Permanent Mission of the Gabonese Republic to the UN
18 East 41st Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Mr. Momodou Kebba Jallow
Permanent Mission of Gambia to the UN 820 Second Avenue, 9th
Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Mr. Razali Ismail
Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the UN
313 East 43rd Street
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Dr. Tunguru Huaraka
Permanant Mission to the Republic of Namibia to the UN
135 East 36th Street
New York, NY 10016
H.E. Dr. Nicolaas H. Biegman
Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the
UN
235 East 45th Street, 16th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Dr. Danilo Turk
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Slovenia to the UN
600 Third Ave., 24th Floor
New York, NY
10016
UN MISSIONS OF OTHER EU MEMBERS:
H.E. Dr. Ernst Sucharipa
Permanent Mission of Austria to the UN
809 United Nations Plaza, 7th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. M. Alex Reyn
Permanent Mission of Belgium to the UN
823 United Nations Plaza, 4th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Mr. Benny Kimberg
Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN
One Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, 885 Second Avenue, 18th Floor
New York, NY
10017-2201
H.E. Mr. Fredrik Wilhellm Breitenstein
Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN
866 United Nations Plaza, 2nd Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Prof. Tono Eitel
Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN
600 Third Avenue, 41st Floor
New York, NY
10016
H.E. Mr. Christos Zacharakis
Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN
733 Third Avenue, 23rd Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Mr. John H.F. Campbell
Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN
One Dag Hammerkjold Plaza, 885 Second Ave., 19th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. M. Francesco Paolo Fulci
Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN
2 United Nations Plaza, 24th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. M. Jean-Louis Wolzfeld
Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the UN
17 Beekman Place
New York, NY
10022
H.E. M. Pedro Catarino
Permanent Mission of Portugal to the UN
777 Third Ave., 27th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Sr. Inocencio F. Arias
Permanent Mission of Spain to the UN
809 United Nations Plaza, 6th Floor
New York, NY
10017
H.E. Mr. Hans Dahlgren
Permanent Mission of Sweden to the UN
One Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, 885 Second Ave., 46th Floor
New York, NY
10017-2201
OFFICES OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS:
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Rep. Doug Bereuter, Chair (R, 1st, NE)
2184 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D, 5th, NY)
2243 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Howard L. Berman (D, 26th, CA)
2330 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Sherrod Brown (D, 13th, OH)
201 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Richard M. Burr (R, 5th, NC)
1513 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. John C. Cooksey (R, 5th, LA)
317 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Jim Davis (D, 11th, FL)
418 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Eni F. H. Faleomavaega (D, DE)
2422 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Paul E. Gillmour (R, 5th, OH)
1203 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D, 23rd, FL)
2235 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Peter King (R, 3rd, NY)
403 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Tom Lantos (D, 12th, CA)
2217 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Jim Leach (R, 1st, IA)
2186 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Donald Manzullo (R, 16th, IL)
409 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D, 31st, CA)
2269 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. John McHugh (R, 24th, NY)
2441 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (ND)
1533 Longworth, H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R, 45th, CA)
2338 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Edward Royce (R, 39th, CA)
1133 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Matt Salmon (R, 1st AZ)
115 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Brad Sherman (D, 24th, CA)
1524 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
Rep. Mark Sanford Jr. (R, 1st, SC)
1233 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC
20515
SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
Sen. Richard G. Lugar, Chair (R, IN)
306 Hart S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. John Ashcroft (R, MO)*
316 Hart S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D, DE)
221 Russell S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Paul D. Coverdell (R, GA)
200 Russell S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D, CT)*
444 Russell S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R, NE)
346 Russell S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D, MD)*
309 Hart S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Paul David Wellstone (D, MN)*
136 Hart S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
* = On Both Subcommittees
SUBCOMMITTEE ON NEAR EASTERN AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS
Ashcroft, Chair; Dodd; Sarbanes; Wellstone
Sen. Sam Brownback (R, KS)
303 Hart S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Rodney D. Grams (R, MN)
257 Dirksen S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Gordon Smith (R, OR)
359 Dirksen S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Robert G. Torricelli (D, NJ)
113 Dirksen S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Sen. Craig Thomas (R, WY)
109 Hart S.O.B.
Washington, DC
20510
Offices the letter will be cc'd to:
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit
T.C. Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 90-312-212 41 88
The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN)
2623 Connecticut Avenue NW # 1
Washington, DC 20008-1522
Tel: 202.483.6444
Fax: 202.483.6476
www: kurdistan.org
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton St.
London WC1X8DJ /
322 8th Ave. New York,
NY 10001 USA
Human Rights Watch, Belgium
Rue Van Campenhout
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Human Rights Watch, California
333 S. Grand Ave., Ste. 430
Los Angeles, CA
90071-1508
Human Rights Watch, London
33 Islington High Street
N1 9LH London,
UK
Human Rights Watch, New York
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY
10118-3299
Human Rights Watch, Washington, DC
1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500
Washington, DC
20009
Washington Kurdish Institute
605 G Street, SW
Washington, DC
20024
tel: (202) 484-0140
Fax: (202) 484-0142
www: kurd.org.kurd