HUMAN RIGHTS,THE KURDISH ISSUE AND TURKEY

HUMAN RIGHTS,THE KURDISH ISSUE AND TURKEY
November 2009

Introduction

Before getting into views regarding human rights violations experienced in southeastern Turkey, I’d like to mention the origin and source of these violations.  A large majority of them are rooted in the state’s hard attitude of denial toward the Kurds’ demand for ethnic identity.  So, what exactly is the issue of ethnic identity, and from where does it originate?

Throughout the twentieth century one of the most important problems facing the nation-state model had been the accomodation of ethnic communities within the basic structure and premises of democracy.  The fundamental starting point of the philosophy of the nation-state had been to ignore the concrete and factual reality of the existence of different cultures in the name of making forward progress. 

At the end of the 1980s, the collapse of the socialist system – which had secured political stability in an important part of Europe – led to the emergence of especially ethnic and religious conflicts. In western capitalist countries, a series of identity claims, migrations and unemployment problems mainly due to xenophobia had the effect of interrogating the fundamental legitimation of nation-states.  While similarities among human communities previously constituted the basis of collective life, in our day increasing emphasis has begun to be placed on differences. The whole issue lies here.  A culture of resistance had been created in response to the ignoring of differences.

In classical democracy the individual is perceived as the primary political subject in state-society relations, and therefore states tend to act without regard to ethnic identity.  The experience and articulation of ethnic identity has become increasingly prominent, and therefore the foundation of democracy has been forced to be re-examined.  

In our day one of the biggest problems facing liberal democracy is the recognition of different cultural identities.  Here the recogition of different identities means recognition in the public sphere.  The public sphere must be neutral.  We’ve been left face to face with the problem of recognition of ethic identity.  Our identity is formed to a large extent by its recognition or non-recognition.  Non-recognition means repression and coercion.  The concept of egalitarian democracy states that religious, linguistic and ethnic communities must have equal status.  We’ve begun to see that the democratic sphere is being tightened.  Discrimination can be seen in a wide variety of areas.  Through many regulations and legal arrangements, linguistic discrimination has been institutionalized in compulsory education.  In order to remove different languages from use in daily life, a strategy of compulsory education has begun to be embraced and applied.

The Turkish Republic was founded in 1923 upon the denial of differences.  By ignoring differences of religion, language, belief, and ethnicity, a single language, religion and ethnic identity were imposed.  Policies of assimilation were implemented against Kurds and Arabs, Greeks were ‘exchanged’, and Armenians were subjected to policies of deportation.  Laz, Alewites and Yazidis were completely ignored.  Repression, authority, and the denial of difference were brought into effect together.

The first years of the assimilation policies began with the children of Kurdish intellectuals being brought to Istanbul and placed in special boarding schools, for in those years there had been forward-moving families who had supported those who participated in the rebellions.  And, it was necessary to ‘straighten out’ their ‘confused heads’ with education.  After the 1990s we saw the opening of regional boarding schools in our region.  There used to be 5 years of compulsory education in Turkey, but now there are 8.

In the message that we take from EU member states there’s a perception that the Cyprus problem is ahead of the Kurdish one as far as priorities for a solution are concerned.  In Cyprus people aren’t permanently incapacitated, aren’t forced to migrate, and aren’t killed.  But in our region we hear news about death every day.  For that reason, in order to forestall violations of the right to life, we place the Kurdish issue ahead of the Cyprus one in terms of urgency. 

Former foreign minister İlter Türkmen has said that ‘the Kurdish problem is the Turkish Republic’s biggest failure.’ A big part of Turkey’s national energy has been squandered on this problem.  From the beginning the problem was given a false diagnosis.  They said they could solve the problem with assimilation, but it wasn’t so.  They saw the problem as a problem of terror.  They didn’t see its economic, social, cultural, or identity dimensions.  This negligence allowed the problem to develop to the extent that it did.  Kurdish parties were shut down one by one, and there was no benefit.  There was a quiet period from the time of Abdullah Öcalan’s capture in 1999 until the year 2005.  This couldn’t be evaluated well, although steps toward a solution could have been taken easily. The problem’s chief origin is inside Turkey.  Because Kurds are now more conscience of their own ethnic and cultural identity, the situation today is more complicated than it has been in the past. It’s been seen that the old policies of assimilation have no benefit.  An integration policy has to be produced and implemented without wasting time.  Acceptance of Kurdish identity, permitting the DTP to function, lifting all restrictions on the Kurdish language, permitting the broadcast of radio and television programs in Kurish, giving elective Kurdish courses in schools, opening Kurdology institutes at universities, and dramatically altering current approaches as well as our vision is necessary.

Human Rights Violations

When we look at the reports of the human rights organizations in Turkey, European Union progress reports, the USA’s human rights reports, Amnesty International’s and other human rights organizations’ reports we see that Turkey’s human rights report card is not very good.

The partially-positive initiatives that were taken in the area of human rights with the goal of harmonizing with European Union accession criteria came to a halt after 2005 and several subsequent legal measures have had the effect of rolling back reforms.  The 2005 adoption of Article 301 (including section 14) in the new Turkish Penal Code, the Anti-Terrorism Law accepted in 2006, and some articles of the Law on the Powers and Duties of the Police (PVSK) that were modified by Law 5681 in 2007 constitute the major examples of this.  The adoption of Law 5681 – done in great haste and without even applying the Turkish parliament’s own internal procedures and established practices – was accompanied by a serious increase in legal transgressions.  As a result of the police leaning on the power that was newly delegated to them, people who wanted to participate in the 2008 Newroz festival were attacked with panzers, 5 people were killed in various towns after being subjected to extreme violence, and 164 people were also seriously injured.  On 23 April in Hakkari, a child’s head was split when special teams beat his head with the butt of a rifle, and there was no explanation for this.  When we look at the applications we’ve received in our 13 branches and 2 representative offices in southeast Anatolia, we see that after 1999 human rights abuses decreased, climbed after 2003, increased sharply in 2007, and reached frightening dimensions in 2008.

Proven abuses in our region over the years

The following data concerns human rights abuses that were proven to have been carried out in our region over the last nine years:

Year	Proven human rights abuses
2000	4021
2001	4291
2002	4176
2003	6472
2004	7208
2005	7499
2006	7733
2007	18,479
2008	35,992

Regarding human rights abuses in Turkey, after Russia most applications to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) come from Turkey, and the majority are done from the Kurdish provinces.  When we look at the sentences given to and conclusions of cases pertaining to Turkey we see that Turkey continuously violates its own domestic constitution as well as international agreements that it has signed.

Religious and ethnic intolerance: Through influencing lower-middle class individuals, attacks on the right to life were carried out by retired military officers and the nationalist political parties and groups that move with them. The bloodthirsty killings of Rahip Santoro, Hrant Dink, and the three Christians in Malatya revealed that differences aren’t tolerated and also gave rise to anxiety and concern for the different religious groups in our region.

Lynchings: Premeditated lynchings and group attacks have been carried out against Kurds living in the western provinces of Turkey.  Local civil authorities don’t give permission for the giving of shelter to destitute Kurdish seasonal workers in the western provinces of Turkey; they drive them out.  One writing, news report, and broadcast after another claims that Kurds are trying to divide the country.  These developments have given rise to a weakening of sensitivity toward human rights.  The adoption of an authoritarian, racist and discriminatory mindset by a wide segment of the country’s official and civil society has developed into a suicidal menace to our entire democratic life.  In group lynchings carried out against Kurds living in Ayvalık district of Balıkesir province in September 2008, 2 lives were lost, 16 people were injured, 15 people were detained, and many houses were burned and destroyed.

The Kurdish issue: The Kurdish issue must be approached as a historical, social, political, and ethnic one, and these ethnic and political aspects must be discussed and resolved through democratic means. The first Kurdish rebellion took place in Mosul in 1806.  During the Ottoman period there were 13, and since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 there have been 16, bringing the total to 29 Kurdish rebellions experienced.  We believe that this historical period must be thoroughly examined and the reasons behind these rebellions revealed.  Attempts to solve the problem with violent methods and operations, and denying the Kurds’ existence, language and culture has brought two peoples living as siblings against each other.  The two most important factors behind the lack of a solution to the Kurdish question in the topic’s recent history are the military and the AKP government.  The military’s interference with the press, non-governmental organizations, intellectuals,  society’s daily life, and its tutelage over the political system, and the AKP government’s perspective of denial toward the Kurds and actions and polices that delegate jurisdiction over the Kurdish issue to the military, have deepened the country’s domestic chaos.  In the year 1984 the 29th rebellion, the PKK, began.  The PKK is a result of the lack of a solution to the Kurdish issue.  The failure to find a solution to the Kurdish question through peaceful and democratic means and renewed clashes and operations have created suitable conditions for the strengthening of Turkish nationalism and human rights abuses.

Cross-border operations: The cross-border operations carried out in 2008 ushered in a new period of anxiety for the region and country.  The operations resulted in serious human rights violations. Soldiers, village guards and special teams consisting of security forces indiscriminately fired on residential areas, mortar and artillery fire were deployed, and the lives of civilians were exposed to danger.  26 cross-border operations were carried out between 1985 and 2008.  But the Kurdish question was not resolved.  Given this result, I think the time has come to go back to the drawing board.

Torture and Maltreatment: Torture has become an exceptional case; the political authorities who speak of a ‘zero tolerance for torture’ policy should be confronted with some numbers. We have some original data from applications in our region regarding torture and maltreatment:

Year	Number of complaints regarding torture and maltreatment in our region
2000	130
2001	539
2002	228
2003	489
2004	338
2005	284
2006	334
2007	232
2008	798

The year 2008 was a year in which human rights abuses from all directions reached their highest levels. Although there have been legally-required medical reports from government doctors, pictures, and images documenting torture, how many cases have been approached, investigated and prosecuted?  How many administrative investigations have been opened? According to the Interior Minister, 98% of administrative and judicial investigations opened against members of security forces accused of torture and maltreatment between 2003-2008 ended in acquittal or with judicial decisions to quash the proceedings. If a criminal complaint accusing a member of the security forces of using torture or maltreatment is filed, a medical report claiming that the victim resisted arrest and assaulted police officers is immediately taken from a doctor. According to regulations a tortured person can be punished but the one who tortures goes unpunished. There are a lot of cases like this.

Enforced disappearances: In our region, in the 1990s, nearly 1500 people were detained by the commissioned police, special teams, the gendarmerie, village guards, and JITEM members. These people disappeared and were never heard from again. There is no information concerning the location of their graves. Every week on Saturday at 12 o’clock we have a sit-down protest about this. There are also nearly 5000 people who have fallen victim to mystery murders. The perpetrators still haven’t been found.  Individuals such Levent Ersöz, Veli Küçük, and Arif Doğan who are being tried as part of the Ergenekon trial aren’t being judged due to their murders in the southeast.

The right to life: Cross-border clashes and operations are intensifying. During the skirmishes, soldiers, guerillas, policemen, special agents, and civilians lose their lives. The bodies of guerilla fighters who lose their lives during clashes, especially in the Şırnak region, are not being given to their families, results don’t come from the DNA tests carried out on blood and hair samples taken from their remains, sometimes their ears or heads are cut off, and soldiers often take their photographs with their feet on top of the corpses. 

The following statistics concern injuries and deaths sustained during clashes:

Year	Number of deaths / injuries
2000	98
2001	73
2002	14
2003	104 / 31
2004	219 / 126
2005	373 / 238
2006	294 / 303
2007	393 / 343
2008	378 / 352

Prisons: The existing problems in the prisons in Turkey are connected to armed clashes; if the clashes get worse, so do the problems in the prisons. Freedoms are constricted as tightly as possible and very basic human necessities such as dining, health and social needs are not met. The smallest reaction and requests are met with crackdowns. The following data concerns proven human rights violations carried out in prisons:

Year	Violations in prisons
2001	333
2002	158
2003	304
2004	266
2005	398
2006	165
2007	147
2008	799

Arrestees and inmates are intimidated, legal publications are not distributed, and Kurdish-language publications are refused on the basis that Turkish-language translations can’t be found. The situation amounts to a regime of a repression that is systematic, contrary to the law, politically-motivated and inhumane. A country’s mirror is its prisons.

By looking into a country’s prisons, we can have an idea about what situation the country’s democracy is in. The sending of Kurdish-language newspapers and books to prisons, and the meetings (whether open, closed, or conducted by telephone) of individuals who want to speak Kurdish with their families during the meetings are obstructed. When we applied to the Turkish parliament’s human rights commission about this matter, we were told, “If there’s a person who doesn’t speak any language other than Kurdish, this person must be researched by the police,” and then they can be permitted to speak Kurdish. Legislation on this issue has been put forward. Inmates who wish to write letters in Kurdish have to pay a translation fee, and then they are allowed to do so.

Prohibitions on the mother tongue: The AKP administration, progressing on the EU path with determination, says they will make positive laws and universal human rights dominant. The right to speak one’s own mother tongue is a fundamental human right, and on the one hand it’s important to eliminate all restrictions which constrain the use of the mother tongue in communal and public areas, but on the other hand bureaucratic practices and judicial investigations/lawsuits/punishments, which continue to generate human rights violations, are still being implemented. Prohibitions regarding requests for publications in mother tongues in schools and the giving of Kurdish names to children remain, lawsuits continue to be opened against municipalities for using the Kurdish language in brochures (about cleanliness, for example), invitations, and new year’s cards, political party representatives continue to face lawsuits for greeting party members in Kurdish, and the letters W, X, Q and î are still forbidden.

Freedom of thought and expression: It’s clear that existing legislation is being used to force investigations, open lawsuits and give punishments in this area. It can be seen that the judicial decision-making mechanism doesn’t have an independent and libertarian-minded conception of the law and that there is an issue of democratic culture. The following data concerns attacks on freedom of expression.

Year	Number of people investigated, prosecuted, or punished because of their speech
2002	101
2003	1199
2004	2642
2005	3152
2006	1777
2007	2974
2008	5315

The 2007 EU progress report stresses that obstacles to freedom of expression are increasing.

Women’s suicides: There is a serious upward trend concerning women’s suicides. The following table contains some data about suicides in general, but most were committed by women.

Year	Suicides
2001	97
2002	140
2003	146
2004	131
2005	365
2006	180
2007	189

In 2008 184 women committed suicide. It is obvious that the suicides are connected to clashes; they rise in parallel with each other. Additionally, in the first six months of 2008, five women lost their lives during 227 incidents of violence, harassment, and rape in the social field.  Positive legal changes made in favor of women in recent years haven’t been able to prevent violations against them, and furthermore, it has become clear that serious administrative measures and a cultural shift are needed.

Children: Children of families who had to migrate to big cities as a result of the forced depopulation of villages in the 1990s are deprived of basic needs, including education, health, and shelter.  This is a big problem.  The matter of children living and working in the streets since the 1990s remains a central and crucial one. 

Our most important problem now is the issue of the children who, as a result of throwing stones at policemen, face jail sentences betwen 23 and 40 years and spend quite a long time under arrest. Almost all of these children are Kurds. Between 2006 and 2007, as a result of violations of the Anti-Terror Law and articles 220 and 314 of the Turkish Penal Code, 1572 children were tried in adult courts. 

Almost all children who are detained assert that they’re tortured and exposed to maltreatment. The medical reports also confirm their assertions. Criminal complaints have been lodged.  What’s happened? Simply nothing.

Forest fires: The following table measures forest fires experienced in our region in recent years:

Year	Forest Fires
2001	8
2004	8
2005	3
2006	20
2007	55
2008	58

Complaints about forest fires are usually that security forces start them after clashes or operations.  While the world’s agenda is busy with environmental destruction and its consequences, and while the AKP government and the authorities announce mobilizations against forest fires in Turkey’s western provinces, the truth that nothing is done about those in the Kurdish provinces is not understood.

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

1. No state can try to vindicate human rights abuses, nor can they hide behind any justification. Human rights are legitimated by the state’s compliance with them.  The anti-democratic Anti-Terror Law and article 220 of the Turkish Penal Code as well as other anti-democratic laws and regulations must be changed, and the way to a sensible change and transformation must be opened.  We recommend that the state initiate an effective project with the goal of developing human rights culture and that an active inquiry about security forces who don’t comply with human rights be opened.

2. Operations must be stopped urgently, the guns must be silenced, and the democratic opening and dialogue period brought to the agenda and initiated by the AKP in Parliament on November 13 must be developed.  Instead of a few insignificant steps taken for show, brave and concrete ones must be taken.  We recommend that the approach to solving the Kurdish issue with security policies be renounced, that the fomenting of nationalism by the CHP and MHP be stopped, that peaceful and dialogue-based methods be brought to the table, and that the AKP government and the military produce peaceful solutions to create will for coexistence between two peoples.

3. We recommend that all laws and regulations since 1923 regarding the refusal and denial of the Kurds and the imposition of one language and one culture be lifted, as should all laws and regulations used as an obstacle in front of the naming of villages, hamlets, mountains, fields, children, and the Kurdish language and culture in general.

4. We recommend the abolition of the temporary village guard system, the faciliatation of returns to villages, and compensation for those who have endured losses as a result of involuntary migration.

5. We recommend the proclamation of a comprehensive and unconditional amnesty for the members of the organization who are in the mountains, prisons, and other countries and that an atmosphere suitable for mutual forgiveness be constituted.

6. Closing the DTP means obstructing the political will of the Kurds and this would increase violence.

7. We recommend the immediate release of the 450 DTP leaders arrested since 14 April 2009 and that repression of the party be ceased immediately.

8. We recommend the abolition of the 1982 constitution – a product of the 12 September military coup – and the creation of a new one in which a sense of belonging for different cultures can be seen and in which the definition of citizenship is reconstituted.

9. We recommend that the 10% election threshold be scaled back to the EU standard of 5%.  This threshold is an obstruction of the political will of the Kurds.  We recommend that it be lifted.

10. Facing the Past: In order to expose what has happened over the last 25 years, we recommend a truth research and justice commission with wide participation from intellectuals and non-governmental organizatons.  We recommend that enforced disappearances and murders carried out by unknown perpetrators be researched.

11. We recomend the empowerment of local administration and the institution of administrative reform through the transfer of powers from the central government to local institituions.

“Hoping for a world where all people live freely and without abuses…”

Muharrem Erbey, Attorney at Law
President of the Diyarbakır Branch of the Human Rights Association
Human Rights Association Vice President