Kurdistan Information Package - February/March 1993 Index: 1) "May Too Much Blood Not Be Spilt" - Interview With ARGK Commander Osman Ocalan 2) Patriotic Women's Association Of Kurdistan (UK) 3) PKK Statement 4) Police Raid On Kurdish Newspaper Yeni Ulke 5) Another Journalist Killed In Turkey 6) Turkish State Terror Continues Unabated 7) Turkish Population Control In Kurdistan 8) Kurdish POW's Wounded In Diyarbakir Prison 1) "May Too Much Blood Not Be Spilt" An interview by the Turkish daily "Hurriyet" with Osman Ocalan, member of the Central Committee of the PKK and commander of the Zile camp, December 21-22/1992 Hurriyet went to the PKK's new camp in northern Iraq and spoke to Osman Ocalan. The PKK's Zile camp is situated near the Iranian border. In the evenings the Iranians carry out bombardments from the other side of the mountains. The PKK members say, "Iran wants to let us know it is here." Ocalan said their struggle continued but that "our preference is for the war to be concluded without the spilling of too much blood." PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan's brother Osman Ocalan frequently stressed the point that they were opposed to the oppressive policies of the Turkish state, not the Turkish people and that they wanted fraternity with the Turkish people. He said that they would fight against the state for as long as it persisted in its policy of annihilation. He said, "At the beginning of our struggle, Turkish comrades like Haki Karer and Kemal Pir played a central role." According to Ocalan, the Turkish state had, by constantly vilifying Apo, made him even more important in the eyes of the Kurdish people. In other words "Turkey created him..." Hurriyet: In Mehmet Ali Birand's "32nd Day" (a monthly current affairs programme on Show TV, a private TV channel - KR) you said that during the Turkish military operations you hadn't suffered a serious blow and that you had maintained your manpower and firepower and were continuing a normal life in the camps. After that you told Ozgur Gundem that your involvement in a frontal war was a mistake. We want to ask frankly, did you suffer a blow during the military operations or not? What is your balance sheet in terms of camps, manpower and weapons lost during these operations? Osman Ocalan: For both sides to suffer losses is the characteristic of war. Our losses were 150, as many again wounded and some loss of equipment. It may be a point of discussion whether or not this situation is a serious blow for us. We consider even these losses to be too high. In our statement to Ozgur Gundem, when we said, "A frontal type of war was not the kind of warfare we should have chosen, our main method should have been guerrilla warfare", it should not be implied that we came off worst in the engagements. What we meant was that if we had implemented a guerrilla form of warfare we could have inflicted a heavy defeat on the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Front alliance. Let me emphasize another point. To suffer losses in a war does not mean to suffer a heavy blow. In the first place the alliance was unable to achieve its aim. They wanted to destroy our forces on the north-south frontier. In this they were without doubt unsuccessful. Both the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Front forces suffered a loss of morale and courage. Recently both you and your older brother Abdullah Ocalan have been giving interviews to the local and foreign press. Previously you preferred to stay underground. Do these efforts to get onto the agenda of public opinion stem from a wish to be legalised? If this is the case how do you see this being realized? The question is not phrased correctly in that as far back as 1988 we have had contacts with the press. This has happened according to the development of the struggle. In 1988 our struggle achieved a mass dimension. In connection with this our movement wished to influence public opinion. From 1988 to 1991 we had a frequent, close dialogue with the press, both Turkish and foreign. However, the provocative attitude of the Turkish press, particulary its war-mongering approach, led to us freezing our relations with it. So it was not a case of us distancing ourselves from public opinion. This question should be directed to the Turkish press. It is trying to prevent the development of fraternity between the Kurdish and Turkish peoples. It incites war unilaterally. Therefore the statements we have made, mainly to the foreign press, have nothing to do with our wish to be legalised. We have never chosen war, it was a necessity that imposed itself on us. The Turkish state's refusal to recognise the fundamental human, democratic, political and national rights for the Kurdish people left us with no option than to choose and develop the armed struggle. It should be understood that if the opportunity had existed for political activity we wouldn't have opted for war. We would have preferred political struggle. However, Turkey's anti-democratic character, its oppressive measures and denial of the issue of Kurdistan and its efforts to destroy the national identity of the Kurdish people left us with no alternative. Today too, we have to continue the armed struggle as the Turkish state does not acknowledge any opportunity for the Kurdish people to gain their fundamental human and national rights through political struggle. Whenever the Turkish state shows respect for a political solution and shows that it is ready for that, then we will prefer the political struggle to the armed struggle. Recently a group of journalists that wanted to interview you were not accepted into your camp. You turned them away. What was the reason for that? Those 27 journalists were sent by the state. It was a response of the General Staff to the 32nd Day programme. They wanted to neutralize the effect of that programme. Thus it was organised with the Kurdistan Front. It was an imposition, that is why we rejected it. The press is inciting the people and the army. This is not in the interests of either the Turkish or Kurdish peoples. But with the 32nd Day programme if the press cleans up its act then perhaps we'll be able to have better contacts with the media. Under what conditions would you accept a ceasefire? War costs human life and material damage and military spending in Kurdistan is the most important factor in Turkey's high inflation rate. The longer the war goes on the lower the people's standard of living will get. The great loss of life cause by the conflict and the other factors mean that we would prefer an alternative. If the Turkish state would abandon its policy of denial of the Kurdish people and its efforts to destroy them, and instead accept the principle of the fraternal co- existence of the Turkish and Kurdish people and look for a political solution, then a ceasefire and subsequently a political solution would be possible. What is the position of relations between you and the peshmerga forces. The Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq say you are prisoners, whereas you say that you are not. What is the real situation? The war on the borders between north and south set things out clearly. The KDP and PUK are not forces that act of their own free will. They act according to the initiative of the Turkish state and various western powers, chiefly the U.S. This is why the conflict began. The policies followed subsequently are also on this basis. Turkey wants the Kurdistan Front to approach things in this way whereas we have a different perspective. We are working within a framework in which to prevent the Kurdish people being pitted one against the other, we will not use south Kurdistan as a base to launch attacks on Turkey. In other words we no longer want to use the south as a base area for the armed struggle in the north. This is the essence of the problem. So we have changed the disposition of our forces on the border. We have moved one part of those forces to what we call the border of south-east Kurdistan, to Zile camp, here. We are in our own country. Amongst our own people and in our own country there is no question of being prisoners. Time will show this more clearly. What is the PKK's political and military position at the moment? Was it your aim to end up in the cramped camp in northern Iraq? The claim that we are stranded in a camp is put out by those opposed to us. They often make claims that even they do not believe. In the last 4 years they have claimed many times that "the PKK is cornered", "the PKK is finished", etc. These claims reflect their intentions not reality. In fact we are not stranded here, we are amongst our people more than ever before and in a position to make our contribution to our liberation struggle. In most western countries you are being labelled as "terrorist". Increasingly a thick line is being drawn between the Kurdish people and the PKK. This being the case, you still expect results from the armed struggle? When we began the armed struggle the West, like the Turkish state, didn't accept the reality of the Kurds and Kurdistan let alone offer any support. The socialist block which existed at that time also showed no interest in the Kurdish people. We developed our struggle, step by step. We are not concerned as to whether the West is positive or negative about us. From the very beginning we have been self-reliant. We believe that the strength of our people will be able to realise its liberation and we are waging our struggle on this basis. What will happen in 1993, what will the PKK's position be? The Turkish state will be on the retreat, both militarily and politically. In 1993 the state will lose all its authority in the rural areas and suffer a weakening of its authority in the towns. Finally I would like to say that war will never bring a solution for the Turkish state. History will not repeat itself. We would prefer to find a political solution without more bloodshed. If the state insists on war then our people will intensify the struggle under the leadership of our party. (From Kurdistan Report #13 - February/March 1993) 2) Patriotic Women's Association Of Kurdistan (UK) The Kurds who number about 30 million are the largest ethnic group in the world denied recognition as a nation and deprived of a territorial state. Instead, as a result of western diplomacy after the First World War, their territory was divided and colonised by Turkey, Iran Iraq, and Syria. Defying this division and oppression, the Kurds have fought consistently for their national self-determination and unity. This historic aim is to reclaim their heritage and preserve their identity by abolishing their arbitrary frontiers, throwing off their foreign shackles and establishing an independent Kurdistan. To achieve this historic task the Kurdish people have embarked on a national liberation struggle led by the PKK-ERNK and ARGK. Women play an important and indispensable role in every aspect of this struggle for national and social liberation, establishing their equality both in the political and military fields by their skill and courage. Today, 40% of the PKK guerrilla armed wing (ARGK) are young women. YJWK Women are also in the forefront of popular demonstrations, hungerstrikes and every other form of protest. The Patriotic Women's Association of Kurdistan (YJWK) was formed in 1987 to educate Kurdish women about their rights, raise their political consciousness, eradicate illiteracy and ignorance about Kurdish history and Turkish oppression and equip women for the tasks of a people's war as well as the political and social responsibilities imposed by a liberated society with will inevitably follow. The YJWK strives for nothing less than the full and voluntary participation of Kurdish women in the struggle for a free Kurdistan, for the maximum utilisation of all the talent, courage, perception and organisational prowess of Kurdish women in the cause of national and social liberation. Above all this means an undeviating struggle to combat the pernicious influence of the reactionary semi-feudal tribal society with its heavy emphasis on the patriarchal family and the social inferiority and oppression of women. The YJWK has branches in most European countries as well as in Kurdistan. The UK branch was set up in 1991 and is supported by the majority of Kurdish women in Britain. Aims and Objectives - Organise Kurdish women in the UK in support of the national liberation struggle and encourage their active involvement in this struggle; - Fight every form of oppressive discrimination and division and semi-feudal tribal customs of traditional Kurdish society; - Eliminate all discrimination against Kurdish women and secure social, political and economic equality; - Encourage interest among women's groups in the UK in the history and culture of Kurdistan and the role of women in Kurdish society. Activities - Organise maximum support for women prisoners of war, political prisoners in prisons in all parts of Kurdistan and Turkey, for Kurdish women on hunger strikes and any other campaigns organised; - Promote understanding and organise support and solidarity among women in Britain for the national liberation struggle of Kurdistan and the struggle of Kurdish women for women's rights; - Forge close links with women's groups in the UK including women from other national liberation movements, trade unions, human rights and other progressive organisations; - Hold regular meetings and seminars and organise and participate in cultural functions in the UK: - Organise special functions jointly with women's groups in the UK; - Publish booklets, statements etc. publicising the Kurdish struggle, Kurdish history and culture from all parts of Kurdistan and the struggle of women in Kurdish society; - Encourage active support and solidarity among Kurdish women for the struggle of women, workers and trade unionists in the UK by participating in meetings, conferences, demonstrations, pickets, etc; - Expose and fight all violations of democratic and human rights and all forms of racism and discrimination against the Kurdish people, in particular of Kurdish women, in Britain; - Organise regular events on March 8 - International Women's Day. For Information Contact: Patriotic Women's Association of Kurdistan 11 Portland Gardens London N41 1HU Tel O81-880 1759 Kurdistan Solidarity Committee 44 Ainger Road London NW3 3AT Tel: 071-58 5892 3) Press Statement To World Public Opinion Statement given to KURD-HA newsagency, Germany, by the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK) - Middle East representative The PKK Has Decided To Undertake General Action Against The Tourist Economy In Turkey. The Kurdish people are fighting for their freedom under the leadership of the PKK. Before the eyes of the whole world the Turkish regime is waging a dirty war against the Kurdish people. In this barbaric war the regime has not shrunk from any inhuman, illegal act. Throughout its history the Turkish state has brought nothing to its own people and neighbouring peoples but murder, torture, oppression and pain. Any demand the Kurdish people make for respect for human rights, or for the most everyday rights and freedoms is bloodily crushed. Thousands of civilians are locked up in jail, denied any right to human dignity. Whole cities are burned down and villages bombed with no consideration for the lives of women and children. Every day innocent people are killed by the contra guerrilla, or Hizbi-contra (government-backed counter insurgency force). At this moment when the Kurdish people have never been closer to achieving their freedom, the Turkish state could so easily bring them to total destruction. A dictatorship which has initiated such inhumane measures thinks nothing of taking advantage of the world-wide silence on the suffering of the Kurds to impose its policy in the most barbaric way. Faced with this, the Kurdish people, who demand to decide freely on their own future, are confronted with a question of their own vital interest - to stay alive or to be wiped out. The Kurdish people under the leadership of the PKK will take whatever steps are necessary to resist destruction and to defend their existence. Kurdistan and the whole of Turkey are caught up in this all- out war. In 1993 the war will intensify to an unimaginable extent. This is inevitable for several reasons. War is the only means by which we can liberate ourselves from this bloody dictatorship which intends our total destruction. Several European countries have made proposals aimed at bringing about a ceasefire and a political solution. The PKK welcomes these proposals. In spite of this the Turkish state has rejected all proposals and maintains that military repression is the only solution. For all the reasons set out, the PKK will consider any means of legitimate self-defence of our people, whom the Turkish state wants to destroy. The PKK has decided that this year all means will be used to hit those economic targets that enrich the Turkish state. We know that the tourist economy in particular provides the finance for a great proportion of the war against the people of Kurdistan, and so the tourist infrastructure is high on the list of economic targets. We have plans for actions against all parts of the tourist economy in the regions of the Aegean, the Mediterranean and the sea of Marmara, and in Kurdistan. This includes tourist areas, hotels, beaches and other facilities. We must make it quite clear that the lives of persons from all over the world, and especially the greater numbers who come from Europe to visit Turkey as tourists, will be in danger. The Turkish government, and some travel agents, will promote an active propaganda campaign to hide the facts and deny that there is any danger. We can be sure that Turkish travel agencies will put their own economic interests before everything else. However, we want to warn people from Europe and the rest of the world who intend to visit Turkey that a brutal war is going on which directly endangers them. After these warnings, the PKK accepts no responsibility for the damage caused by actions against tourist targets, bombing raids, arson and so on. Nor will it accept responsibility for loss of life as a result of these activities." February 22, 1993 Workers' Party Of Kurdistan (PKK) - Middle East representative 4) Kurdistan Information Centre Press Statement The head offices of the Kurdish paper Yeni Ulke (New Land) in Istanbul were raided today by 15-20 Turkish special police armed with machine guns. The police searched the premises and abused the workers, calling them terrorists. The new editor, Cedil Sener, has been detained. No reason has been given for his arrest. Yesterday 4 journalists were arrested as they were leaving the Yeni Ulke office at about 7 pm. They were Imran Kolayci, Muslum Yucel, Seval Sabanoglu, and the editor of Kurdish newspaper Welat, Masar Gunbat. They were released earlier today. In a telephone conversation with Yeni Ulke, they said that this was a continuation of the "internal operations" which the Turkish state has been waging against the Kurdish people in Kurdistan and democratic institutions in Turkey. It is also a continuation of the campaign against newspaper coverage which speaks out about the policies of the Turkish state. 12 journalists died in 1992, killed by "persons unknown". Yeni Ulke's foreign editor Kadir Ogman is missing and has not been heard of for the last two days. Staff at the paper are greatly concerned for his safety. There was a total city shutdown in Diyarbakir today in protest against continued army and state repression in the area. Shops and schools were shut and no-one appeared on the streets. The call for the day of action was made by the ARGK (People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan). Students held illegal demonstrations in support of the day of action in the afternoon. February 10/1993 Kurdistan Information Centre 5) Kurdistan Information Centre Press Statement Another Journalist Killed In Turkey Kemal Kilic, the Urfa correspondent of the Ozgur Gundem (Free Agenda) daily newspaper, which recently temporarily suspended publication after a systematic campaign by the security forces to hinder distribution, was shot dead yesterday evening (February 18/93) while on his way home to his village. Kemal Kilic left the Ozgur Gundem office in Urfa city centre at 5:30 pm and boarded a bus going to Akcakale. He alighted at the junction leading to his village of Kulunce. After he had been walking for a while a white Renault car containing 4 persons reportedly tried to abkuct Kilic. After a struggle he tried to run off in the direction of his village but he was killed by two shots to the head. The attackers got back in the vehicle and drove off. The duty public prosecutor said the murder was by unknown persons. On January 18, 1993, Kemal Kilic had been arrested for making a statement accusing the Urfa governate and police headquarters of ignoring the obstruction of distribution of Ozgur Gundem. Since then he had again been detained by police for 15 hours. Kemal Kilic was born in Kulunce village, Urfa, in 1964. He began his career as a journalist with Yeni Ulke in 1990. He was also a member of the management committee of Urfa Human Rights Organisation. 19 February 1993 (News from KURD-HA News Agency) 6) Kurdistan Information Centre Press Statement Turkish State Terror Continues Unabated On February 9/1993, a shopkeeper, Kenan Ozgen, was killed by contraguerrillas at about 8:30 am, walking from his home to his shop in Diyarbakir. A single Takarof cartridge was found near the body. The killers got away without any police interference. Kenan Ozgen was 29 years old, married, and a well respected Kurdish patriot and member of the community. Also on February 9, a bus was stopped by two people posing as passengers on the road between Cizre and Nusaybin. After getting into the coach, they pulled out pistols and machine guns and took all the valuables of the passengers, who were forced into the road. Another two armed men were at the side of the road. They shot and killed the coach driver, Ismail, and set the coach on fire. They escaped in a white Renault Toros car. Eyewitnesses claim that the gangsters were well-known members of the special counter-insurgency unit. On February 5/1993 two young men, Mehmet Aksoy (19) and M. Faith Aydin were killed by Turkish troops in the town of Kiziltepe in Mardin province. The Turkish authorities claimed they were PKK/ARGK guerrillas to legitimise the deaths. On January 30/1993, 4,000 Turkish troops surrounded Girmeli village near Nusaybin, in Mardin province, for 48 Hours. 4 houses were burnt. 3 anti-tank mines were placed under the house of Cuci Kaplan and the house blown up. Mr Cuci Kaplan made the following statement: "About 4,000 soldiers came to the village. They started searching the houses in the village. The military told me that I had an underground shelter under my house, and they were going to search the house. During that time they laid 3 anti-tank mines. They forced us to leave the house, but they kept my son M. Emin Kaplan indoors. We argued with them, until finally they let him come out as well. We wanted to remove some of our belongings. We were refused access to the house. The house was blown up, and four houses in the street were destroyed. The military also took 9.5 million Turkish lira. There are 24 of us in the family, including the grandchildren, and we are now living on the other villagers. My son Mehmet Kaplan is in a coma after being beaten by the military. He has been unable to eat since the beating. My other son Naif has a broken arm after a beating and my son Mehmet Serif was detained. We haven't heard anything since. This state claims to be democratic and to respect human rights, and that everyone living in it is equal. I want to say that these claims are not true in the least. I would call on the international community and public not to keep silent over these atrocities." February 10/1993 Kurdistan Information Centre 7) Kurdistan Information Centre Press Statement Turkish Population Control In Kurdistan According to a report headed "Birth Control" on the front page of the Turkish daily "Hurriyet" 23/2/93, a meeting of the Co-ordination Council of the State of Emergency Region (ie. north Kurdistan) last week decided to "speed up population planning". The view was expressed that "the population balance of the country had been upset". Villages that are not "easily controllable and may become targets or bases for the PKK will be centralised" (ie. small villages, seen as inaccessible to the State, will be emptied and the population distributed amongst larger settlements, a policy similar to that employed by Saddam Hussein in south Kurdistan in the late eighties). Children of primary school age will be sent to new boarding schools "so that they are not deprived of eduction." A policy of removing Kurdish children from their families and sending them to Turkish speaking schools as part of the process of assimilation began in the forties and fifties. This method of assimilation was also widely used on Christian children under the Ottoman Empire. It was stated that while "population control" activities had been successful in other regions of Turkey, in the south-east the rise in population was continuing. This rise "had a negative influence and made it impossible to improve services in health, education and sport and culture and led to a serious rise in unemployment in the region." Further details of plans to reduce the population have yet to be revealed, but it is clear that Turkey is continuing its policy of forced assimilation of the Kurdish people and is not afraid to use the emotive term "population control". The National Security Council took up the matter at their meeting earlier in the week. Other measures discussed at the meeting included the building of a new large secure prison in Diyarbakir "since all existing prisons in the region under emergency law are full", and to build a second State Security Court to cope with the volume of political cases. A road along the Turkey-Iran border will also be built to provide security for military border posts. February 24/1993 Kurdistan Information Centre 8) 202 Prisoners Of War And A German Journalist Wounded By Soldiers In The Diyarbakir Prison In Turkish-Occupied Kurdistan The Kurdish Press-agency Kurd-ha reported on Feb. 12 that on Feb. 4 and Feb. 9 in the prison from Diyarbakir, 202 Kurdish prisoners of war were injured by soldiers. Amongst them are 69 heavily injured. The german journalist Stephan Waldberg, who is detained in this prison, was also heavily wounded. In the Dutch press there was no information about this "incident". There apeared only a short message in the "NRC" (a so-called quality paper here) that because of recent escapes from prisoners, recent incidents in the prison from Diyarbakir (without mentioning the number of wounded) Turkey applied for a subsidy from the EC from 78 million dollars for making their prisons more secure.(!) If there's a need we have a list of 139 names of prioners who are wounded. 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