YEK- KOM
Fšderation kurdischer Vereine in Deutschland
31 MARCH 2006

In recent days violent confrontations and clashes between Kurdish citizens and the Turkish army and authorities have erupted in several Kurdish and Turkish cities including Diyarbakir, Batman, Siirt, Mardin, Kiziltepe, Istanbul and YŸksekova. Turkish police and military have attacked Kurdish civilians using tear gas, batons, firearms and tanks. The results are terrifying and alarming: seven civilians killed, hundreds seriously injured, hundreds of people were arrested the majority of which are minors.

The names of the Kurds shot by Turkish police and military are as follows: Fatih Tekin (three years old), Enes Ata (six years), Abdullah Duru (nine years), Mehmet Akbulut (18 years), Mehmet Isikci (19 years), Tarik Atakaya (22 years) and Mustafa Eryilmaz (26 years).

Preceding these murders were the peaceful funeral and mourning processions for members of the Kurdish Peoples Defence Forces (HPG) who were killed with poison gas by the Turkish army during one of its most recent military operations in the region of Mus-Bingšl. Just days before these attacks, the Kurdish guerrilla forces announced another unilateral truce to ensure peaceful celebrations of the Kurdish New Year, Newroz.

In addition to these developments, it is alarming to see the Turkish state's response to legitimate demands and democratic actions of the Kurdish people. On the one hand special fighting units of the Turkish army are increasingly deployed in the Kurdish regions in order to crush the people's protest and uprising. On the other, attacks on Kurdish institutions, organisations and politicians are intensifying. Blaming the Kurdish TV-station ROJ-TV for the current developments and events, Turkish political and military authorities now try to achieve their long-standing goal of closing down the popular Kurdish TV-station. The repression of Kurdish political representatives is taken to another level as Turkey is threatening legal action and court cases as well as open violence against Kurdish mayors and parties such as the Party for a Democratic Society (DTP).

All this illustrates vividly the extent to which the Turkish state understands the Kurdish people as part of its own citizenship. That is, Kurds are still perceived and treated as 'terrorists, trouble makers and traitors'. Equally, reforms of linguistic, cultural and political rights of the Kurds, which were introduced hesitantly, were subsequently declared invalid by the Turkish authorities. Again, the Turkish government of minister president Erdogan demonstrates that so-called reforms and declarations of intent are a sole masquerade.

Responding to the recent events, Erdogan issued a statement in which there was not a single word lost about the murdered children and adolescents. The police and military forces responsible for the murders do not have to fear any legal or disciplinary consequences. On the contrary, the Turkish minister president said the following: 'Our security forces will use the necessary force and intervene against anybody who agrees to be a tool of terror, including children and women. I want this to be clearly understood.' This statement amounts to a licence to kill, the green light for more massacres on the Kurdish civilian population. According to Erdogan's reasoning, murdering children is part of necessary intervention by the state in agreement with Turkish political authorities. With his words and actions Erdogan makes himself personally and politically fully responsible for the massacres of Kurdish civilians.

These most recent events clearly demonstrate that Turkey is still a long way from democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It is highly questionable whether the current developments in Turkey can be squared with aspirations for membership of the European Union. All member states of the EU are called upon to intervene strongly against these forms of state terrorism practiced by Turkey. If Turkey's policies and attitudes do not change the prospect of EU-membership can not be upheld any longer.