a From Lausanne to Brussel, Turkey as a European state, its treatment of Kurds By: Adil Al-Baghdadi London 2005 In Memory of Ugur Kaymaz

After long decades of utter neglect, deafening silence on gross human right violations and abuses against Turkey’s second largest nation, the Kurds, EU’s Noah Arc like ship has finally reached the Kurds to save them from the world most systematic and brutal campaign of cultural genocide.

No wonder Turkey's move towards Europe and its accession has been greatly welcomed and supported by the country’s 20 million plus Kurds.

Never in history of ethnic conflict and survival has any indigenous nation been subjected to more than 80 years campaign of unrelenting cultural annihilation, brutal denial of existence and systematic assimilation as the Kurds have to endure at the hands of successive Turkish military and military-controlled civilian governments.

Turkey in its quest to build a pure race has enshrined in its constitution ultra-nationalist and supremacist notions which described every one who lives in Turkey is Turkish by race and language.

And any suggestion that contradicts this feverishly defended belief has always been considered as the most serious crime against the state and treason aimed at dividing the country, according to Turkish penal code.

This ultimately meant capital punishment and other severe penalties, which thanks to pressure from Europe have now been reluctantly modified by Turkey to long term imprisonment.

This undemocratic and seriously inequitable constitution and penal code, which both have been modelled on German constitution of the twenties of last century, have largely remained unchanged to this day.

The two formed the bases for an absolute denial of any basic and natural human right that is the right to speak one’s own language, as well as the right to belong and associate, or even celebrate, one’s own culture or tradition.

This ban was also extended to other natural human activity, that is the right to sing or play music in God’s given or nature given language.

These rights have only just been relaxed recently, however, many restrictions are still in place for example Turkish government and military institutions still view with suspicion any broadcast and publications in Kurdish.

What’s more, Turkish constitution and penal code, have been

the tools and basis for killing and banishing hundreds of thousands of Kurds for demanding basic cultural and political rights as well as destroying thousands of villages and livelihood of many citizens of Northern Kurdistan.

The most famous case which invoked the infamous section of an article in the Turkish Penal Code which reads: Seeking to Divide the Turkish Nation, was that of Leyla Zana.

The then newly elected deputy for Diyarbakir was sentenced for 15 years in prison for speaking Kurdish in the Turkish parliament during the oath ceremony in which she called for peace and fraternity between the two nations.

Other testimonies of the result of decades of Turkish state sponsored policy of oppression can be read from many cases that have been tried in European court of Human Rights, which frequently finds Turkey guilty of violating basic human rights of its Kurdish citizens.

However, the most recent case of anti-Kurdish sentiment, which sadly is still rife in many circles within the country, especially in Turkish armed forces, police and security, is the case of killing of the 12 years old boy Ugur Kaymaz and his father outside their home in Kiziltepe town in the Kurdish province of Mardin.

The killing came only days before a crucial meeting by EU to discuss Turkey’s membership.

The young boy and his father were brutally killed from a point blank range and then weapons were planted next to their bullet riddled bodies

- both were shot with more then two dozens of bullets -  in order to prove that they were ‘terrorists’ planning an attack on the town’s police station.

The police version of events was immediately supported by the governor of the province, who put out two official statements in which he insisted and wanted to convince the world that the 12 years old boy who was wearing slippers with his father were in fact members of the PKK.

The most surprising aspect of this tragedy is that Turkish dailies have completely ignored the brutal killing and did not report the tragic killing until Agence France Press, the AFP, published after it was informed by human rights organizations, which in turn were alerted by the distraught mother who witnessed the execution style killing.

This is why the Kurds feel justice has finally come and that accession to EU would be their opportunity to exert more pressure on Turkey to gain more human, legitimate political and cultural rights, similar to any other multiethnic member states, such as Belgium, Britain and Spain and others.

However, it should be noted that Turkey is resisting any move by Europe to give full recognition to Kurds in fact Turkey has watered down and loosely applied EU adaptation packages, especially as regards basic cultural rights for the Kurds.

Yet Turkey’s lukewarm move to redress the wounds of the past, which it inflicted on Kurdish people since when it signed the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 and was entrusted to protect, has been hailed in major European capitals as serious steps towards recognizing the rights of Kurds.

The treaty outlined Turkey’s responsibilities towards many of the ethnic groups who were unfortunate enough to remain incarcerated within the newly found Turkish state.

An excerpted passage from Article 39 of the treaty spoke about many rights, which the Kurds should have enjoyed, it read as follows:

No restrictions shall be imposed on the free use by any Turkish national of any language in private intercourse, in commerce, religion, in the press, or in publications of any kind or at public meetings.

Notwithstanding the existence of the official language, adequate facilities shall be given to Turkish nationals of non-Turkish speech for the oral use of their own language before the Courts.

This is why it is important to understand that Turkey’s EU bid is born out of economic necessity rather than a genuine desire to embrace real democratic norms which most European countries have been founded on and adhere to.

EU should be much strict when it asks Turkey EU to implement adaptation laws and it should carry out more stringent checks to insure that gross human rights violations, which invariably involve the rights of Kurds, will not occur every now and then.

Turkey have always found unique unrivalled role to play within world politics, as during the cold war it was a trusted Nato frontline country against the former Soviet Union.

Now in the era of war on terror, which mainly comes from Islamic countries, Turkey has found another niche role for itself, the so-called only Democratic Muslim country in the heart of Europe.

This newly found role, however, should not outweigh its responsibilities towards the Kurdish nation in northern Kurdistan, as it used to be the case in the past.

Indeed, the Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan would not have suffered so much because of their identity had European powers at the time been more forceful in their demand that Turkey protect ethnic groups within its domain.

Isn’t it time for EU and the world at large to impose more conditions on Turkey to protect the Kurdish nation in Northern Kurdistan?

The tragedy of the killing of Ugur and his father would not have happened had the UN, US and EU been more vigilant about Turkey’s obsessive behaviour and disregard towards Kurds.