"Therefore I call upon everyone to print and hang to their wall the ‘language contract’ we have made and of which the download links for the Zazakî, Kurmancî and Soranî version are given beneath. This contract functions as a contract between the person signing and his or her conscious. In general, after signing the contract and hanging it to your wall, you promise to do anything in your power to ensure the existence of our language and to protect it."
Naomî, my inspiration and a CALL!* - By Sidar Bengin Epozdemir
In a time where it’s impossible not to use the Kurdish expression ‘I can’t scratch my head’, I lifted my foot of the brakes of live and found myself able to head for a country which is an extremely dangerous place to go to, when you’re not able to do all your travelling on the left side (yes, including walking through hallways in hotels): England.
Come to think of it, ‘being able’ implies that I actually had a free will. This would actually cover the rather undemocratic and Saddamistic approach my diary puts on me. No, no, let’s be honest, I didn’t have the time at all! My trip to tealand, gentlemenland and the-hell-with-you-I’m-proud-of-being-a-guard-and-I-won’t-move-a-muscle-until-you’ve-touched-me-land was in fact because of Kurdish traditions, but more important because of my love for my cousin Welat and the to that amount of love matching amount of excitement for his wedding.
Now us Kurds we often have a tendency to consider ourselves as either of the side of the groom, or the side the bride. But this wedding wasn’t like that. Both my brother Welat, as my sister Naomî I admire a great deal. Welat inspires me through his academic achievements, whereas Naomî gives me loads of joy every time she shows off with her sweet Kurdish tongue.
I still remember the day I met Naomî: she opened the door on me and greeted me with ‘Tu gelek bi xêr hatî’…
Four years and a handful of worn books later, Naomî speaks Kurdish at a very decent level and my heart was filled with joy when I heard my dear sister welcome everyone to the wedding in both English as in Kurdish…
I know it’s weird to say for us Kurds, but I even felt very proud of her…
Maybe also because there’s no doubt in my mind that Naomî and Welat’s children will learn both English and Kurdish and will along with these abilities live their live in a bicultural way. And even if their parents don’t succeed in teaching them Kurdish, I’m sure they will give them the strength to learn it on their own!
Everyone that reads this is my witness: I’m willing to bet on all of my student support for this.
Now why is Naomî’s story, a story of an English girl who’s learnt Kurdish all by herself so important to us?
First of all, because we are to be proud and honoured by the fact that our language, the 31st language of the world according to Le français dans le Monde, is interesting enough to be considered worth learning by someone who doesn’t have a Kurdish background.
But we should also be sad for the fact that Kurdistan’s enemies have affected the status and with that the amount of speakers of our sweet language in such a great way, that it’s now is indeed in an endangered position.
So what can we do? We can do a lot, obviously. The battle still hasn’t been lost and it doesn’t have to be either. TZP-Kurdî’s recent manifestation in Gever, which was attended by thousands of Kurdish loving people is therefore not worth underestimating. I hereby thank them for their efforts and hope they will carry on with making efforts to secure the existence of our language and consequently the existence of our identity…
A Call!
We can also do something. It doesn’t have to be, organising a great manifestation or shaking Ban-Ki-Moon’s hand on the Kurdish language. Let’s start by simply making a promise.
Therefore I call upon everyone to print and hang to their wall the ‘language contract’ we have made and of which the download links for the Zazakî, Kurmancî and Soranî version are given beneath. This contract functions as a contract between the person signing and his or her conscious. In general, after signing the contract and hanging it to your wall, you promise to do anything in your power to ensure the existence of our language and to protect it.
It’s the 21st century and the states that have left us in their shade have succesfully made us ‘the world’s greatest nation without an own state’.
Let’s not let them succeed in making us first ‘the world’s greatest nation that doesn’t speak their own language’ and then ‘the world’s greatest nation that has been vanished’.
WE (!) can do something about this. Naomî has shown us.
Her bijî zimanê kurdî…Long live the Kurdish language…
Sidar Bengin Epozdemir
sidaro4@hotmail.com
http://www.cakbini.com/
----------------------------------
DOWNLOAD THE LANGUAGE CONTRACT:
Kurmancî: www.rojnamenus.eu/kurmanci.pdf
Soranî: www.rojnamenus.eu/sorani.pdf
Zazakî: www.rojnamenus.eu/zazaki.pdf
(Note: in order to download the contract it may very well be that it will not suffice that you simply click on it. Click on the right button of your mouse and select ‘Save Target As’/’Doel Opslaan Als’/’Farkli Kaydet’ and there shouldn’t be a problem.)
For more information on this project visit www.cakbini.com or the special English page that has been set up there at: http://cakbini.blogspot.com/2008/06/selfcontract-kurdish-language.html
Because of the importance of the project I send the different versions of this article, Kurmancî-Kurdish, Soranî-Kurdish, English, Turkish and Dutch to various Kurdish websites. It’s contrary to what my principles are, but for this time I will have to share the idea with all of the Kurdish media in order to it a chance to show their support to this idea. In addition, everyone is free to use the material (the contracts) and actively execute this project. I myself have already printed the contract and have hung it on my wall) With many thanks to Roşan Lezgîn and Hemen Abdullah for their help with the Zazakî and Soranî-versions of the contract.
Sidar Bengin Epozdemir is a young Kurdish journalist and writer from the Netherlands. He runs a weblog for young Kurdish writers by the name of Çakbînî (optimism in Kurdish) and writes and has written in Dutch, English and Kurdish for various journals and online-newspapers such as Netkurd.com, Avestakurd.net, Rizgari.com, KurdishMedia.com, Azady.nl and Cakbini.com.
This article has also been published on websites like AvestaKurd in Kurdish and it will be published in various languages on other websites.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Naomî, my inspiration and a CALL!*
Friday, June 6, 2008
Kirkuk out of content and character! “ No referendum, but a solution!”
By: Ara Alan
According to Reuters news agency Tuesday June 3rd 2008 KRG’s prime minster announced in
by: Ara Alan
According to Reuters news agency Tuesday June 3rd 2008 KRG’s prime minster announced in
One can wonder when was this authority given to a prime minister to denounce article 140? Such a statement undermines
It is not the first time this has happened. We already seen this back in January 08, when in a similar move, the government not the people decided to delay article 140. The delaying of the article was suddenly announced to Kurdistan National assembly and people of
Completely denouncing 140 or exchanging it for some new deal; will not be accepted nor tolerated by people of
Without Article 140, Kurds would never have accepted and voted for Iraqi constitution. At that time, the constitution already lacked the vote and support of the Sunnis in
Kurdish government at all times must represent its people and not to cave into pressure from outside. They must serve as messengers of the people of
We have already made many compromises with federal
Most recent highlight of our forfeits with federal
As we grow to be a nation, it is vital that we maintain the proper role of government and its duties, the role of national assembly and its duties and the role of us as their constituents and also our duties. Executive branch, must execute orders or deals made by the National assembly and not the other way around. Kurdish government must maintain its role as representative of
Monday, May 5, 2008
Let the world recognize Anfal as a genocide
For more pictures please visit KYC
In remembrance of the Anfal campaign Kurdish Youth Club held two seminars on this subject. The seminars were held at two Prominent Atlanta universities: Georgia State University on April 24 2008 and Emory University on April 25 2008. Both seminars were attended largely by students and faculty of the schools. The audience ranged from, undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, journalist, war veterans, lawyers and other citizens.
The seminar at Georgia State University
At both events the seminars started with a video from National Geographic that showed an over view of life under Saddam. At Gorgia State the event was hosted by Brett Duval and at Emory University it was hosted by Goran Sabir. Professor Benjamin from Kennesaw University started the seminar by giving an over view of who the Kurds are. Ara Alan then presented a power point based on Human Rights watch publication. In the presentation he explain why Anfal is considered as Genocide by international standards. The seminar also emphasized that Anfal thus must be recognized by the world countries as an act of Genocide.
Anfal Survivor Yunis Haji left, Ara Alan Right
Mr. Yunis Haji an eye wittiness in Saddam Hussein's Anfal trial and a survivor of a massgrave execution by the Baath government Shared his story of the Genocide. Yunis had testified against Saddam for the torture and summary execution that he faced. Captured while injured during the Anfal campaign and after questioning Yunis and his cell mates were taken to a remote land outside of Kirkuk to be executed. The prisoners with Yunis were not shot but they were all hit on their head to loose conscious to be buried alive. Yunis woke up in the massgrave as they were being covered by dirt. Story of Yunis is a story of Resistance, and resilience of man when all odds are against him. The seminars were sponsored by Kurdish Youth Club, Amnesty International, at Emory and Georgia State, and MEPSA.
Yunis Haji Sharing his story
Kurdish Youth Club, is making a pledge to work for recognition of Anfal as a genocide in USA. We would also like to extend an invitation to all other Kurdish Organizations or capable individuals in USA to be involved in this historical event. Let us get organized and busy so that we can put our efforts to honor the Anfal victims. Let us Honor them through recognition of Anfal as a major crime of twentieth century and as an act of Genocide against the Kurdish people.
Other Media Coverage
www.Emorywheel.com
Survivor Shares Genocide Tale
By Nina Dutton Posted: 04/28/2008
Yunis Haji Haji, a survivor of the late 1980s Anfal genocide in Iraq who testified at Saddam Hussein’s trial, told his story of brutal treatment and a narrow escape on Friday evening.
The event, held at the Rollins School of Public Health and sponsored by Human Rights Action at Emory and the Kurdish Youth Club of Atlanta, began with an introduction to the Anfal campaign against the Kurds.
Jesse Benjamin, a sociology professor at Kennesaw State University, introduced the Kurdish people as “a nation without a nation.” An estimated 40 million Kurds live in the Middle East, mainly in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, while 30 million more have dispersed around the world, he said. After World War I, the Ottoman Empire was divided along ethnically arbitrary lines, splitting the Kurdish population into minorities in different countries, though Woodrow Wilson had promised the Kurds their own state, Benjamin said.
Ara Alan, a co-founder of many Kurdish Youth organizations, said that in 1970, the ruling Ba’ath party allowed the Kurds an autonomous region without lucrative oil fields. The Ba’ath party pushed Kurds out of oil-producing areas by luring poor Arabs there with cheap housing. The peshmerga — fighters for Kurdish independence — made an alliance with Tehran and in the early 1980s, the Ba’ath party started to move against the Kurds. The Anfal campaign took shape in the mid-1980s, peaking in 1988.
The American government ignored the genocide as it took place, Benjamin said.
“It is very rare that the world likes to acknowledge that a genocide is a genocide, even after the fact,” Benjamin said. This lack of recognition of the Anfal campaign as genocide was a common theme throughout the event.
An eight-stage Iraqi military operation against the peshmerga and Kurdish civilians, the Anfal campaign was characterized by the government’s widespread use of chemical warfare against its own people, the systematic destruction of about 2,000 Kurdish villages, the arbitrary arrests and forced displacement, executions and disappearances of tens of thousands of civilians of all ages, Alan said. In some phases, men were specifically targeted, killing all men found aged 15 to 70.
Alan passed photographs around the room, showing mass graves and the skeletons of Anfal’s victims. Some bones still bore clothing, a shoe or a wristwatch.
Haji then relayed his story, with Alan as interpreter, to the crowd of 80 listeners.
“I don’t remember the Kurds ever disturbing the peace of our neighbors or other countries of the world,” Haji said. The Iraqi government responded to attempted negotiations with “displacement of the Kurds, annihilation of the Kurds, killing of the Kurds.”
“They did not care if you were a pershmerga or not. They took everybody,” he said.
In 1988, Haji was a 19-year-old peshmerga. His arm was injured in fighting, so he was told to take refuge in the mountains. The other injured peshmergas with him went their own ways to find protection, so Haji contacted his family and found a place to hide. Haji found his way to the home of someone in the Iraqi regime, who betrayed Haji and sent him to jail.
“I did not come here to serve the Iraqi army,” Haji said he told the authorities.
At this refusal, Haji was tortured there and at a jail in Kirkuk. One day he and some fellow prisoners were blindfolded, hands tied, and loaded into a truck. They were told they were being taken to Baghdad’s Iraqi Revolutionary Court.
But when Haji felt a dirt road beneath the truck rather than the paved road to Baghdad, he realized they were “actually heading to death.”
Haji untied his hands and loosened the blindfold, offering to do the same for the other prisoners so they could attack the guard at the next chance. The other prisoners refused the help, believing they were on the way to Baghdad.
“They would not let me open their hands,” Haji said. He thought it better to take that chance than not at all, positing that “even if we would die, we would die a better death.”
When the truck stopped and a guard checked on the prisoners, the guard yanked on Haji’s arm. Discovering Haji’s hands loose, the guard forced Haji to his knees at the edge of a ditch like a long, narrow grave. The guard struck Haji in the head and Haji fell into the ditch, realizing that he was about to be buried alive when he awoke. The dust cloud from his fall provided Haji with enough cover to escape, he said.
“Thirst was really breaking me down,” Haji said, describing his walk across desert and farmland to find a highway and cars to take him to a city.
Haji stopped the second car he saw, which contained a man in an Iraqi Populist Uniform and a mullah. The mullah’s presence, as a religious figure, put Haji somewhat at ease, he said, and as he couldn’t run away, Haji told all. The uniformed man turned out to be a Kurd too, and sympathized with Haji. Haji spent the night at the man’s home, and the next day the man gave him a pair of shoes, directing Haji to a bus to flee.
To cross the next checkpoint, Haji rode in a car, which was not inspected at all, to Haji’s great relief, he said.
“I felt like the pedal and the clutch under the driver’s feet were under my feet,” Haji said, noting the freedom he felt as it seemed like he was the one accelerating the car away from the checkpoint.
His family tried to find someone to hide him again, but Haji told them he did not trust anyone and wanted to leave the country. He returned to the Iran border, continuing to fight as a peshmerga until an uprising in Iraq in 1991.
Haji eventually told his story to an American human rights organization. He accepted their offer to help him leave Iraq.
In the question-and-answer session, Haji was asked if he approves of the current war in Iraq and he said he wished the invasion happened in 1991 instead. The speech also prompted an Armenian, an Iraqi and a Kurd from Turkey in the audience to discuss the necessity, or lack thereof, of recognizing genocide as such.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Kurdish Youth stand trial in Turkey for singing a song
As the world turns, injustice continues. And as injustice continues, the Kurds continue to be without a voice...
Last year, a group by the name of The Children’s Voices of Diyarbakir that consists of Kurdish youth aged 8 to 16 years of age, many who are orphaned, received a rare opportunity to participate in a World Music Festival in California. The kids put on a wonderful performance that could - and perhaps did - even put tears of joy to the eyes of non-Kurdish attendees as much as they did for Kurdish attendees.
This Kurdish youth group is composed of mostly orphans and was put together through a program initiated by Kurds in Turkey to help get the youth off the streets by engaging them in positive activities. At the festival in California, the kids sang a wide range of traditional Kurdish folk songs, played instruments, and even danced for the audience.
Now, back in Turkey, a few of them are facing charges by Turkish prosecutors for singing these songs in California...3 Kurdish teenagers could stand trial for singing rebel song in US
The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey: A lawyer says three Kurdish teenagers could stand trial for allegedly singing a Kurdish rebel song under rebel flags during a music festival in the United States in October.
Defense lawyer Baran Pamuk says the teenagers were part of a 15-member chorus that allegedly sang a song called “Enemy” during a tour of San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He says an indictment demands their prosecution on charges of spreading the separatist propaganda of the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is fighting the Turkish state.
Pamuk said Tuesday a court will decide whether to hear the case. The three are aged between 16 and 17.
Well, the song that was actually sung by these children is entitled, “Ey Reqîb”, which is translated to “Hey Guard”. The song comes from a poem written by a late Kurdish political prisoner from Iraqi Kurdistan named Dildar (1917-1948) who wrote the poem in prison, hence the name.
Nowadays, people tend to translate the title of the song to “Hey Enemy”, as the prosecution did. The song is familiar to Kurds all over the world and has become known as the Kurdish national anthem.
Apparently singing this old piece from 1938 is considered a crime in Turkey, as are the so-called rebel flags that these kids were singing in front of. (The “rebel flags” were actually the Kurdish flag, and not exactly the flag of any particular rebel group or party.) The flag has become the official flag of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, as has the anthem.
News of these children appeared in the Turkish media first in order to rile up the Turkish public by claiming the children were spreading “separatist propaganda” like the AP article states above. Now the Turkish prosecution is working hard to put these children in prison… sadly, we all know what happens to Kurdish children in the custody of officers. (See the video of the Turkish officer breaking a 15-year-old’s arm in front of the camera here.)
By the way, in case you are wondering what happened to the 15-year-old in that video, Progressive Historians summed up a sequence of events on their site about his situation... he is in jail. For a few days, his father had been worried sick about his whereabouts until he saw the video of his son’s arm being broken on Kurdish TV. It was then his father, who can hardly afford it, set out to hire lawyers to defend his son from charges that Turkish prosecutors are planning on pressing against him. (Shouldn’t the officers torturing him be the ones on trial?)
According to the Hakkari Bar Association in Turkey, his arm was indeed broken (despite denials by the Turkish police) and lawyers who were able to visit the boy said his arm is wrapped in bandages.
There is no news as to whether he will be released.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The Ramblings of Mr.Viglen
Hello all, I am Mr.Viglen
I am quite glad that I was invited to join this blog...I am slightly surprised considering I never thought of myself as a writer. I always imagined being a "Writer" would involve a big typewriter and funky glasses. I do find myself occasionaly tapping the keyboard to the right to recreate that feel of a typewriter.
All silliness aside, I am Mr.Viglen and these are my ramblings.
Although I much rather preferred to start my first post with my own thoughts...But I did recently come across an article that has indeed captured my attention and I am currently trying my best to spread this brilliant writing by a brilliant man.
The article in question comes from Dr.Rashid Karadaghi (You will recognize the name of the man , he wrote the very well written Azadi English-Kurdish dictionary) and is titled "Are we angry enough" published in kurdmedia
The amount of awesomness written so coherently and beautifully in a single article exceeds the imagination...Obviously the whole article together makes this an awesomtastic endaveour by Dr.Rashid, however these are my favourite quotes and through my multiple read throughs have begun to memorize these lines :It is time that we Kurds stopped living, thinking, acting, reacting, and speaking in a way that perpetuates the tyrannical rule of the occupier and demeans us as a people. It is high time that we freed ourselves from the ridiculous notion, which some of the defeatists among us have brain-washed us with, that we were dealt an unfair hand by history and fate and there is no escaping it. We must stop behaving like victims and, instead, become masters of our destiny. We must free ourselves from the mindset created by the occupiers that is plaguing us and preventing us from thinking and behaving like a free people. We must take down the prison walls in our mind before we can take them down in the world without."
As the world has become aware of the injustice Kurds have gone through, have us Kurds done anything to correct this? We know that the occupiers seperated us, but have we fought them psychologically as much as we have physically? By this I mean rejecting the notion that we are meant to be relegated to a second ethnicity in a country dominated by an alien ethnicity? Is our victory simply a country recognizing our language? This right can be easily taken away, but a defined border can not.
Through my time debating with people who belong to the colonial nations where Kurdistan resides, the term "blood borders" has been thrown about many a time to legitimize the current sitation. And I do find myslef agreeing with them, to their surprise I do believe that they are indeed blood borders it is because of these borders that we have lost our culture, it is because of these man made borders that we have lost our unity, it is because of these borders that we have become the oppressed.
It is high time we lose the mentality of the defeated who can not arise victorious, we must become the masters of our own destiny as Dr.Rashid calls upon us to do. We are no different and no less human than the nations who occupy us, if anything we have shown that we are a compassionate people despite the massive injustices. However compassion should not become naiivety.
I shall conclude my first post with the words of Ibrahim Ahmed in his well known anthem "Har Kurd Ebin"Dawaya Wilatee Kas Nakam
Pinja Komafee Kas Nabam
Bo Mafee Gel u Xakam
Hata Mawim...Xabatakam !
I am not asking for anyone's Land
I am not trespassing on Anyone's territory
For the Rights of My Land and its People
Until I am Alive....I will fight"
Har Bijit Kak Karadaghi and Har Bijit Geli Kurd.
Cheers for listening to my ramblings,
Mr.Viglen
Monday, April 7, 2008
40th anniversary of Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
I went to the 40th anniversary of Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK). I went to pay respect to this great man. As a non-violent peace advocator, he strived and gave his life for the betterment of his people. Through out the history of
Blacks were freed from slavery based on the
They fought for freedom as the war propaganda and their generals advertised it. At the end of the war, they came back as Heroes who has put their lives at risk to grant the French freedom! Once back in US they faced prosecution and racism. An awakening movement started during this era. As the highlight of the movement, MLK in the sixties preached a struggle of non-violence from 
MLK's resting place and remembrance service
Remembrance of his assassination 40 years later in 
Joe and my friend Ariel Santiago
The most important lesson from visiting MLK’s gravesite, hearing the 40th remembrance ceremony and talking to different people wasn’t from the dignitaries nor the keynote speakers. The lesson I got was from a nice and elderly man. This man in name of Joe was either homeless or close to be homeless. Clearly, he was a man forgotten by the system and society.
Joe has lived on the same street as we met him two blocks down from MLK center for the past 60 years. MLK’s church, house, and barbershop are all on the same street. Joe told us about the difficult days in the 60s. Those days that they could not go to
In middle of his talk, Joe was complaining about today’s attitude. Joe said, “Young Niggas today just wanna jump on top of the table and get all they want! They don’t realize that they have to start with cleaning the bottom first then work their way up to the top”! Joe made the comment based on his own experience and a group of people and a struggle that he is a part of. His comment actually is universal. It is for all people who were oppressed and now have some rights. What Joe said; applies to Kurds 100%.
Same pattern can be seen in our community and among our own young. With southern
To bring
Friday, April 4, 2008
Reaction to EU's PKK Ruling
Just as the Turkish forces have yet again resumed bombing Southern Kurdistan (N. Iraq) to allegedly root out PKK rebel cells, the European Union has annulled its ruling to have PKK on its list of terrorist organizations. According to the BBC, the Court of First Instance (CFI), EU's second-highest court, said that decisions made by EU governments in 2002 and 2004 to blacklist the PKK and freeze its assets was illegal under EU law, ruling that the decision to place the PKK or their aliases on the proscribed E.U. list was "lacking an adequate statement of reason."
The EU court affirmed that the autonomy-seeking PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, and its political wing, known as KONGRA-GEL, were not in positions "to understand, clearly and unequivocally, the reasoning" what led EU governments to add them to the terror list.
The PKK was added to the list in 2002, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Its political wing, KONGRA-GEL, was added in 2004. The United States and Turkey also list the PKK as a terrorist organization. The register was drawn up to respect a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks which demanded that countries crack down on "terror" financing.
But an EU official said a new list of terrorist organizations had been drawn up in December 2007, including the PKK again, which took into account the views of the court in similar cases in the past. The PKK won an appeal last year giving it a right to a hearing and a new case to get it removed from the EU list. According to the Associated Press, Europe's human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, has said the EU's anti-terror rules violated democratic principles. EU states decided in April 2007 to inform groups and individuals when they are placed on the EU terror list. Those listed will now be able to ask why they were put on the list and why their assets are frozen. But there are still no procedures for an independent review and for compensation for possible human rights breaches. The Turkish government blames the PKK for allegedly being responsible for 37,000 deaths since the group launched an armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in the Kurdish populated southeast Turkey in 1984. However, most would argue that the disparity and repression against Kurds led to the formation of the armed separatist movement in 1984.
Kurds, PKK, and Turkey
The Kurdish issue with respect to Turkey is a very deep and complex matter. While the majority of Turkey's Kurds do not openly support separatism from the Turkish state, many do support the PKK, as the only force fighting for broader Kurdish cultural, economic and political rights. For many years, the Turkish government had denied the existence of a Kurdish identity. For decades, the Kurds have experienced both linguistic and cultural persecution. Due to the large number of Kurds in Turkey, successive governments have viewed the expression of a Kurdish identity as a potential threat to Turkish unity as well as its national security. Turkey operates as a democratic country when one considers its representation process in terms of voting, it does not however share the same moral values as other democracies in the world. It has taken advantage of the U.S. and EU's "war on terror" to severely increase Turkish military activity on the Kurdish people, claiming to be wiping out terrorism.
The European Union defines terrorism as:"Certain criminal offenses set out in a list comprised largely of serious offenses against persons and property which as given their nature or context, may seriously damage a country or an international organization where committed with the aim of: seriously intimidating a population; or unduly compelling a Government or international organization to perform or abstain from performing any act; or seriously destabilizing or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or an international organization."
Although there is no unanimous definition for terrorism, what the EU fails to mention is the fact that it has only applied terrorism to organizations (and not states). If we were to follow the ICC model of universal rights and added rough states to such an equations as well, we would find that Turkey's military activity against the Kurds in Southeast Turkey and Northern Iraq can be viewed as state sponsored terrorism.
Turkey's violation of human rights stem from the its rather archaic political system which believes that democracy could not survive in the face of “ethnic divisions”. The government should be built on the idea that everyone should be treated the same, hence, denying the Kurds minority status or rights in Turkey. The Turkish Constitution bans the formation of political parties on an ethnic basis. Several Kurdish political parties have been shut down by the Turkish Constitutional Court for links to the PKK, and some party members were imprisoned. Despite Turkey’s unwillingness to a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue, the PKK has declared a ceasefire for disarmament numerous times and in 2006, the PKK signed the "Geneva Call Deed of Commitment" stating their willingness to commit a total ban on antipersonnel mines. PKK's call for a unilateral ceasefire in the past was on the following basis: the acknowledgment of the Kurdish identity, language, culture, politics organization, freedom of thought and expression, social development, removal of Turkish forces in the Kurdistan region, as well as the gradual disarmament and legal participation into the democratic social life.
Considering PKK demands, one should note that their demands are in line with a rather just resolution of the Kurdish question through democratic means. To note further, most of their demands are in agreement with the requirements of Turkey for EU membership. However, for critics, Turkey's reluctance to consider these demands shows they have much more a desire to continue their conflict with the PKK than to resolve it and achieve peace.
Turkish Reaction
The Turkish officials' reaction to the EU court ruling is not surprising. In Turkey, skepticism and anger are fueling among the Turkish public concerning EU’s stance on the PKK. Turkey claims that the European court undermines anti-terror efforts. Likewise, Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Erdoğan harshly criticized the member states for assuming what he termed a non-principled and insincere approach towards the issue of terrorism, accusing certain EU members of overlooking terrorists' activities in their countries by using the independence of the judiciary as an excuse.Nonetheless, it should be mentioned again that according to EarthTimes.org, the EU Council in Brussels stressed the listing would continue and PKK assets would remain frozen despite the European Court of First Instance ruling in Luxembourg earlier in the day. On the other hand, perhaps EU's ruling will re-examine Turkey's human rights violations and thus put an end to all forms of terrorism and intimidation where the international community can put pressure on Turkey as well as the PKK to rely on diplomacy and dialog vis-a-vis military forces.
Archives
Random Pictures
