Abdullah Öcalan today has been sentenced to death.
The Human Rights Association (HRA) is against death penalty in principle. There has been 4 Laws in the Turkish Legislation and 41 articles of these Laws that provide death penalty. HRA claims for the removal of these articles from the Laws and wants Turkey to adopt the 6th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The HRA does not only concerned about this issue as being opposed-to death in principle but also takes into consideration in terms of the future of Turkey’s community. Our society needs peace. We should not experience new societal troubles and injuries. We should realize sufferings and feelings of every individual. But such feelings should not lead community of Turkey to plan its future accordingly, because the future of societies is planned through wisdom and science.
We are concerned about the statements made by the political parties represented in the Turkish Parliament. We, therefore, want public opinion to consider the trial process and the question of the possibility execution of the sentence both in terms of being against to death penalty and considering the future of the society.
As we mentioned in our press statement of yesterday, Umberto Eco states: State cannot kill people to -show that killing of people is a wrong act.” Albert Camus also states “No noble feelings exist in round of gallows.” We share these views.
Turkey’s community should announce to the entire world that they are living in peace. The way of living in peace is to recognize and to implement international human rights and democratic standards. Therefore, we should urgently solve our democratization problems and Kurdish problem which is the most important point of democratization issue. The society cannot gain anything positive by the execution(s) of the sentence(s). On the contrary, we can gain the respect of the world through making reforms for the establishment of peace and democracy.
We call on everybody to act in a commonsensical and imperturbable manner and to avoid using inciting and humiliating expressions and to show their respect to the relations among people that based on peaceful and fraternal feelings.
Hüsnü Öndül
President