KurdistanObserver.com

Kurdish Intellectuals Face Three Years Prison

Solidarity Inititative for Kurdish Activists in Europe
June 5, 2006

Don’t leave them alone!

Three Kurdish activists and politicians, including Ibrahim Guclu and Zeynel Abidin Ozalp, with dual Turkish-Swedish citizenship risk up to three years in Turkish jail over a press statement denouncing Turkish military build-up in Northern Kurdistan.

A prosecutor of Diyarbakir Criminal Court No4 accused Ibrahim Guclu, Zeynel Abidin Ozalp and Sedat Ogur of “spreading propaganda” for the outlawed PKK in a May 2 press statement. The trial is expected to start on the 8th of June.

Mr Guclu , Ozalp and Ogur were leading members of Kurdish Association (Kurd-Kom) which was banned by Turkish authorities in April because its statutes called for the use of the Kurdish language in its activities.

The charge is ironic and absurd, since Ibrahim Guclu has frequently and publicly condemned PKK’s violence.

Three Kurdish activists denounced army deployment in the Kurdish region and claimed that a recent build-up in the Iraqi Kurdistan border targeted the entire Kurdish people.

Turkish anti-terror teams roughly detained Guclu, Ozalp and Ogur on 2nd May as they prepared to peacefully to show their concern at recent killings of Kurdish civilians including children at the hands of Turkish security forces, as well as Turkish state’s occupation plan of Kurdish federal region in Northern Iraq, by walking to the border with Iraqi Kurdistan.

Guclu, Ozalp and Ogur held overnight for questioning, and formally arrested the following day under Anti-Terror Law. They will appear on June 8 at Diyarbakir Criminal Court No 4.

Their imprisonment is in violation of Article 10 and 11 of the European Human Rights Convention, which safeguard freedom of expression and assembly respectively.

Mr Sabahattin Korkmaz, defence lawyer for Kurdish men said that about 40 lawyer from different Kurdish Lawyer Bar’s prepared to defend Ibrahim Guclu, Zeynel Abidin Ozalp and Sedat Ogur on 8th June.
Ibrahim Guclu, Zeynel Abidin Ozalp and Sedat Ogur decided to put joint written defence before Turkish court in Kurdish and Turkish.

Marching toward Iraqi Kurdistan

Mr Guclu, Mr Ozalp and Mr Ogur had decided to protest Turkey’s treatment of Kurds within its own borders, and its stance with regard to South Kurdistan, by marching from Diyarbakir via Silopi to the Habur border crossing with northern Iraq. They hoped that this gesture would bring the Turkish state’s unlawful plans and projects – and especially the army’s recent moves to steer the country politically - to attention of the international community and European Union.

They drew attention to recent violations against Kurdish civilians in Northern Kurdistan, and were wearing vest slogans saying, in Kurdish and Turkish, “Don’t enter South Kurdistan, the North will be annoyed,’ “The PKK is just an excuse, the main target is Kurdish people and Kurdistan,’ ’Kurdistan is home to the Kurds, Soldiers go home,’ ‘Kurds want to rule themselves.’

As the three Kurdish activists started to move towards starting point of their march, anti-terror teams stopped them and detained them violently. Mr Guclu, Mr Ozalp and Mr Ogur were interrogated overnight in the anti-terror branch of Diyarbakir’s security directorate and the following day they were formally arrested by the criminal court and committed to prison. Although it is well known by the public and state authorities that these men have no involvement whatsoever with the PKK, they were accused and charged with ‘serving a terror organisation’s aims and spreading separatism.’

Background information

In a press statement Mr Guclu and Mr Ozalp had warned that Turkey is resisting democratic change in the region, and especially improvements in freedoms for Kurds. They called upon Turkey, Iran and Syria to change their traditional policy, and claimed that Turkey is trying to play the same game that Saddam Hussein played with the USA and its allies over the past two and a half decades.

The Kurdish activists asserted that the Turkish state is establishing a buffer zone in Semdinli, Hakkari province, as a jumping-off point for action against South Kurdistan, and has also deliberately provoked disturbances in Diyarbakir, Batman, Nusaybin and Siirt. The Turkish state’s apparent intention to occupy South Kurdistan would be a breach of international law. Mr Guclu, Mr Ozalp and Mr Ogur’s statement expressed concern over Turkish and Iranian troop concentrations on the Iraqi Kurdistan borders, and demanded the Turkish army’s withdrawal from the region.

They wanted to alert public opinion that the Turkish government has suspended its reform program and is now introducing new anti-terror law measures.

On 31 March 2006 the Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan publicly affirmed the right of police to shoot Kurds, including children, if they participate in marches against state terrorism.

After the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein by the USA and the United Kingdom, democracy and freedom have flourished in self-ruled Kurdish region of northern Iraq. These positive developments have annoyed the state authorities in both Turkey and Iran who fear that it may set a precedent for their ‘own’ Kurds. Turkey and Iran seem to have been coordinating their activities against Kurdish nation by using PKK as its tool. The Turkish state is exploiting PKK incursions as an excuse to hit back at northern Iraq, and warn Iraqi Kurds that Turkey will not tolerate similar ambitions in its occupied territory. The Turkish deployment has boosted an already large garrison in the Kurdish region of Turkey (North Kurdistan) to what some estimate to be a force of 250,000 soldiers. Iranian troops recently fired artillery shells across the border north of Suleymaniyah and claimed that it was a response to ‘incursions’ by PKK.

We strongly condemn the imprisonment of the three Kurdish activists and urge international community and EU to take appropriate measures to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Ogur, Mr Ozalp and Mr Guclu, who were exercising their right to peaceful expression.

Solidarity Inititative for Kurdish Activists in Europe

5th June 2006

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