MP Sebahat Tuncel in British Parliament

MP Sebahat Tuncel was one of the speakers in a meeting which was held in in the British Parliament, House of Commons, in London on Monday the 17th December 2007. The meeting was hosted by MP Simon Hughes.

Sebahat Tuncel told that DTP is calling Turkey to stop its attacks against Kurds in North Iraq.
”Kurds are not demanding anything special, only the right to use their own language. They want to have education and mass media in Kurdish”, she told. DTP wants also more power to the local authorities.

Sebahat Tuncel was elected last summer to Turkish Parliament by 300 000 votes from Istanbul. This is the biggest amount of votes any candidate has got in parliamentary elections during the history of the republic of Turkey. Ms. Tuncel believes also Turks have voted her.

MP Simon Hughes expressed many times during his speech that now it is time to look for practical steps to achieve peace.

”There must be cultural and linguistic diversity, it is the word of the day”, said Mr. Hughes who visited Turkey October 2007.

Lawyer Mark Muller said that Turkey’s biggest problem is that it has not been able to move towards democracy. Kurdish issue is only one reflection of this.

”There has been a belief for example in the EU that economical reforms in the Southeast and some changes in the constitution would solve the problems. But now we know that this is not the case”, he said.

Professor Michael M. Günter was thinking the same way when he explained that solving Kurdish question would open road to full democratization in Turkey.

His experience from Diyarbakir was that despite PKK is labelled as a terrorist organization it is difficult to find Kurds who want to criticize it.

Journalist Jonathan Fryer pointed out that Turkey is denying its multicultural roots.

There were many interesting points in public discussion. Some one said AKP got so many votes during last elections because it opposed military and the war in North Iraq. But if there would be elections now, it would not got so many votes in the Southeast.

Some one else complained that Turkish generals visit US and EU as if they were politicians. This must change, military must stay away from politics!

Pictures: on the top: Big Ben in Westminster, London, in the Christmas lights. The meeting was hold in Committee Room 6 in the House of Commons. In the middle the chairman of the meeting, MP Simon Hughes. MP Sebahat Tuncel sits next to him. Pictures: Kristiina Koivunen

This was a good meeting, especially because of the practical attitude of Simon Hughes. Now is is time to think how the war could be avoided, we have heard hundreads of times what the problems are.

It would benefit also the Turks if there would be more autonomy for the local authorities. It is needed as well in Western Turkey as in Southeast Turkey.

Final resolutions of EUTCC conference which was held in Brussels at the beginning of December 2007 describe the main issues of peace and political solution for the Kurdish question in Turkey.

EUTCC Conference in Brussels: Turkey must put its promises into action!

The European Parliament in Brussels.

Leyla Zana.

Some days ago, the 3.-4. December, there was an important conference about the future of the Kurds. It was arranged by a NGO, EU Turkey Civic Commission. The conference was held in the European Parliament in Brussels.

This conference was a forum for discussion. It reflected the atmosphere in Kurdistan and feelings of the Kurds. And how is the Kurdish atmosphere now? Courageous and optimistic. Recent news from Turkey show that common awareness is increasing about the Kurdish question. More and more Turkish people understand that this problem is endemic source for instability in Turkey and a solution must be found.

This conference was arranged for the fourth time, but for me it was the first time I attended it. The people who had been there earlier said this was the best of the four EUTCC conferences.
Turkish Kurds run now a campaign called "Edi bes e" - It is enough! These words describe well the atmosphere of the conference. One of the speakers, Dutch green MEP Joost Lagendijk, put it this way: "Now the situation is that EU criticises and Turkey promises to make changes but in practise nothing happens." This must change! This demand was repeated by speaker after each other, for example by Leyla Zana, Ahmet Türk, Akin Birdal and Nurettin Demirtas.

It depends on the political development during the next five months whether there will be war or peace. British lawyer Mark Muller talked about the need for a new way of thinking. "In peace negotiations it is question about what helps, not about what is right or wrong", he explained. Muller did not believe that there would be any purely political or military solution to the problem. A twin approach is needed because there are many military and geopolitical aspects.

Mr Muller spoke about the historical responsibility of his country Britain. He said also that Britain has lots of knowledge in peace processes due its experience of creating peace in North Ireland.

Like many other speakers, Mark Muller wanted EU to be more active in demanding change in Turkey. Some other speakers demanded EU to make time table for Turkey in the democracy process.

Next year will be the fifth anniversary of EU Turkey Civic Commission and it already plans a big new conference. There are many ideas for it, for example that there should be participants also from South Kurdistan, despite the topic will be the Turkish part of Kurdistan. There were some Iranian Kurds already in the conference of 2007. One of them was psychiatrist Kamal H. Artin, who come to Brussels from California, American west coast. He was critical on Nurettin Demirtas who demanded democratic autonomy. Artin wants the Kurdish target to be an independent state.

Kamal H. Artin had sat twenty hours in aeroplane travelling to Brussels. The next day after the conference he returned to California. "It was boring to travel so long time but it was worth of it to get the opportunity to say my opinion", he told.

Mark Muller and Joost Lagendijk.

Ahmet Türk and Nurettin Demirtas.

Rewbar Fatah and Kamal H. Artin.

Akin Birdal.

Akin Birdal, Dogu Ergil and Ahmet Türk.

Pictures: Kristiina Koivunen.

Fourth International Conference on EU, Turkey and the Kurds

Ahmet Türk, I and Nurettin Demirtas.

Greetings from Brussel where the fourth International Conference on EU, Turkey and the Kurds is just over. It was held in the European Parliament.

This is my favourite picture from it, despite the light is not enough.

I write more about the conference when I get back to Finland. Now I write with a computer that has French system and it is very slowly to write.

Kurdish possibilities: the collapse of Ottoman Empire and the collapse of Iraq

Kurdistan is now in the turning point of its history. During the First World War, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Kurds could not use that historical opportunity to gain their rights. Now another country, Iraq, is breaking down and the Kurdish leaders use cleverly the situation for the benefit of the Kurds.

Many decisions which were made at the beginning of last century have turned out to be wrong. Nations have arranged better solutions with bitter wars or at other heavy cost. Do you remember countries like Soviet Union and Yugoslavia? They had their roots in times of the first world war. Also the present division of Kurdistan was made at the same time.

The problem of Kurds is their inability to make cooperation with each others. Because of this their enemies have been able to control Kurds with the policy of "divide and rule". This situation will continue as long time as the Kurds can not negotiate with each others about their common targets and the Kurdish benefits.

If the partition process of Iraq continues there will independent state Kurdistan. This is frightening scenario for Turkey which has twenty million Kurdish citizens. When they compare their own situation to the conditions of free Kurds, is there anything good they can say about their own country?

World is not the same any more as it was ninety years ago. Nations should learn from mistakes made by other nations. Kurds have suffered too much as there has been many wars. And also their enemies have suffered. Everyone would benefit about a political solution to this problem. Now it is time to use diplomacy instead of weapons. England and France, who won the First World War, must carry their responsibility in solving problems which are caused by their wrong decisions at that time.

A mediator is necessary in solving difficult armed conflicts and threats of them. There are international organizations capable of arranging peace negotiations. One of them is Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It is active also outside Europe, for example in Afghanistan. Next year my country Finland will be the chairman of OSCE. Despite Finland is a small country with a population of five million people, it has lots of experience in peace negotiating activities and other diplomatic work under difficult conditions.

The second division of Kurdistan?

The European Commission made its 2007 progress report public through a press release on 6th November. The first Kurdish comments are very critical. It is not a surprise that the European Commission neglects the problems of the Kurds. Its attitude has been all the time during Turkey's EU membership negotiations to close the eyes from the Kurdish question.

This attitude is just a continuation of the Lausanne Treaty where many European countries participated. In this Treaty Kurdistan was divided by four countries. Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria (or the colonies which are nowadays independent countries) took each a piece of Kurdistan. England and France accepted this. Now they want to sharpen the division of Kurdistan by putting the boarder of EU in the middle of Kurdistan.

Kurds have been controlled by the principle of "divide and rule" for centuries. If the northern part of Kurdistan would be inside EU and other parts outside it, this would be one more method of foreign rule in Kurdistan. One new strategy to hinder the cooperation between the Kurds.

But this strategy does not work any more. At the end of last century Kurds in Turkey had great hopes for EU but in vain. After understanding the disappointment they looked for cooperation to the south instead of the west. Also cooperation with Kurds and South Kurdistan instead of EU. This has already benefited Kurds in both parts of Kurdistan.

If EU would pay attention to the Kurdish question and the Kurdish upraising EU would benefit also itself. European Union needs Turkey as its member. The population in EU countries is getting older and there is need for new labour. Turkey is an answer for Europe's needs, a reservoir of labour. EU will miss this possibility if Turkey's membership negotiations fail. And this will happen if Turkey becomes more unstable country.

The Kurdish question is the biggest problem in Turkey but EU refuses to see it. If there will be no peaceful solution to the Kurdish question, it is not only a question whether Turkey will be member in EU or not. But EU will have in its neighbourhood an unstable and dangerous country.

European mass media has started to write more and better articles about the Kurds. Still there is no understanding how complicated the situation is and how dangerous it would be even for EU countries if there will be a war between Turkey and South Kurdistan or a full scale civil war in Turkey.

European people seem to believe still that if Turkey's membership negotiations do not lead to a good direction the situation will remain as it is now. Let's hope they understand the situation before it is too late. The refusal of EU to see the Kurdish question is based on a false imagine that there would be time for ever to wait that Turkey voluntarily starts solving its problems.

Turkish embassy in Helsinki today (the 13th November 2007)

The red point behind the tree is Turkish flag. Turkish embassy is on the second floor of this building.

There has been reports of riots between Kurdish and Turkish demonstrators in various European cities. In Helsinki the demonstration was peaceful. There are almost no Turkish immigrants in Finland, only some Turkish men who have married a Finnish lady and assimilated to the Finnish society. The Kurdish community is active and makes good cooperation with police who are always ready to make the necessary traffic arrangements when it is time to use the freedom of expression by arranging a demonstration.

Yes we do have snow in Helsinki, today is the first day it came. The weather was also horribly windy which can not be seen from these pictures. It was fun for the kids who used their time by making snowballs in the park in front of the Turkish embassy.

Most of the Kurdish men work in pizza restaurants in Helsinki. As it was still lunch time during this demonstration they sent their wives and children to the demonstration.

Greetings from a marginal country

The internationally recognised image of Turkey is one of touristic indulgences, whirling dervishes and successful secularism. Within this idealised representation the status of the Kurds is lost. This is not only the case in the international version but also extends to the representation of Kurds in Turkey. In modern Turkey, Kurdish civil society is developing rapidly. Kurds are becoming increasing politically aware and organized in order to solve their problems of recognition. Yet the Kurdish voice is silenced, sometimes brutally.

The eerie silence of the Kurdish voice extends also to Europe. Social activism is described as terrorism. The old adage of one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist fits appropriately in the case of the Kurds in Turkey.

Despite the mass symbolic gagging of the Kurdish voice news trickles through. The atrocities against Kurds in the Southeast of Turkey received limited coverage. This is in part related to the difficulties in getting news out of the country. No news agency has a permanent correspondent in Turkey in a location further east than Ankara. They are instead reliant on Turkish mass media for their news. This poses a serious threat to objectivity as the Turkish media is heavily censored by the authorities. Official censorship impacts profoundly on the representation of Kurds in the international community.

The public opinion and sympathy usually lies with the victims of armed conflicts. But in the case of the Kurds in Turkey it is the opposite with the international community siding with the Turkish state. Due partly to the lack of the Kurdish voice and flows of information from Kurdish areas but more significantly to the fact that Turkey has forced itself into a powerful lobbying position within the discourse of the War on Terror and counts among its friends America and the United Kingdom.

FINLAND, A SUPERPOWER IN DIPLOMACY

I have followed the situation of the Kurds for more than ten years. I have seen the huge problems but also the national awakening and rapid development of the liberation movement. Kurdish associations both in Kurdistan and in Europe are flexible and adopt all the time new methods when it is question about organising the Kurds. But these abilities disappear strangely when they should make contacts with European organisations.

I hope my readers understand that my critique is not intended to add to the negative representation of the Kurds, but instead it is intended to aid understanding of the problem. I have become very frustrated many times as I have felt the problems could be solved when working with other methods and other attitudes.

I am from Finland. Finland is located between East and West, it is a neighbour country of the former Soviet Union and present Russia with more than one thousand kilometres of land boarder. Since it became independent 1917 the main principle of Finnish foreign policy has been to balance with this neighbour. Finland is a small country in the amount of population (five million people) but a super power in diplomacy. Surviving with our big neighbour has taught Finnish diplomats to be very skilful. It is not a coincidence that in EU the commissioner for enlargement is from Finland. Finnish people are specialists in difficult diplomacy.

Olli Rehn is just one example. Other ones are Martti Ahtisaari, Harri Holkeri, Elisabeth Rehn, Helena Ranta and late Matti Wuori. Green MP Pekka Haavisto is one of the very few people who developed and maintained a personal relationship with the leaders of all parties in the Darfour crisis.

KURDI-KURDI -DIPLOMACY IS NOT ENOUGH

When looking at Finland from the Kurdish perspective there is one thing which makes it different to other Western European countries. The Turkish lobby is very weak in Finland. There are no Turkish immigrants except some Turkish men who have met a Finnish lady in Antalya beach and followed her to Finland.

But there are thousands of Kurdish refugees in my country, and compared to other European countries, the Kurdish plight receives sympathy from the general public. Finland and Kurdistan shared certain historical similarities. Finland was part of Russia until the First World War and during the period of 1939-1944 we had two wars against Soviet Union. We know what is to fight against an enormous enemy!

When campaigning for a political solution for the Kurdish question, what conclusions these facts bring to your mind: a country which is super power in diplomacy having sympathy for the Kurds, with no Turkish lobby?

Well, I have explained these facts during last ten years for many Kurdish activists. Their reaction has always been the same: Finland is marginal country which is not important for the Kurdish movement because the Kurdish community in Finland is small, only some thousand people.

Until now I have not met even one Kurd who would understand the special character of Finland's history. Or who would be at least interested in it, not even among the ones who have lived a long time in Finland. It is difficult to make cooperation with someone if you are interested only about yourself and do not want to know your partner.

It has surprised me that many Kurds know the battle of Raatteentie of January 1940 where 17 500 Soviet soldiers died (compared to the fallen 900 Finnish soldiers). Kurds respect how Finns won the battle by using methods which would nowadays be described as guerrilla warfare. But they do not know the meaning of this single battle in the whole war - not even to speak about the reflects of the war to the present foreign policy in Finland.

TIME TO LEARN NEW SKILS

The reasons behind the problems in Kurdish diplomacy are clear. For decades it has been forbidden for them for them to study their own culture and history. When there are finally some possibilities for that - at least in the Diaspora community - it is understandable that people spent all their time in doing it. But it would be so much easier to learn from others' mistakes instead of experiencing same mistakes by oneself and learning by this rocky road!
Also there is huge lack of activists. 30 000 PKK guerrillas have died in the war. There are thousands Kurdish politicians in Turkish prisons, and thousands others have been forced to escape to Europe where they face other problems. There is huge amount of Kurds who have mental or physical problems caused by torture, deportation, political violence on their family members etc. I do not even try to estimate their numbers. Each story of the victims - the fallen guerrillas, the disappeared, the injured, the prisoners, the refugees - is a human tragedy.
But these atrocities have also the practical consequence that there is lack of huge amount of people who could have developed the Kurdish movement if the conditions would have been different. The target of the Turkish state was to destroy the Kurdish movement when it targeted individual members of it. Also the problems of the Kurdish diplomacy is a result of this.
Despite all these problems, the only way to solve the Kurdish question is that Kurds learn to make international cooperation. We, the foreign friends of Kurds, can assist in this. But Kurdish diplomacy can be done only by the Kurds themselves.

Trials in Turkey this week

I friend sent this information from Turkey, thanks! I forward it to Sahmaran's readers.

As more than 100 people have been on trial under TPC article 301 since 1 June 2005, 22 people have been on trial during July-September 2007 period. Among them the late chief editor of AGOS weekly Hrant Dink who was assasinated, and Nobel winner Orhan Pamuk, and many other journalist, writer and academic.

This week's '301' victims are journalist Hacı Boğatekin, publisher Ahmet Önal and writer Murat Çoskun. Boğatekin is charged over his article published in "Fırat Gerger" newspaper, Önal and Coşkun are charged over the book "Language of Suffering".

"Freedom of Expression" Trials of this week:

Accused : Haci Bogatekin
Court and Date of Hearing : Gerger Criminal Court of First Instance, 06 November 2007 at 10:00 am
Introduction : Journalist Boğatekin is charged with ¨openly insulting the state¨ over and anonymous article published ¨Gerger Fırat Newspaper¨. The article wrote ¨State made a mistake. Where and When?. Yesterday in the East and South East, and then in İstanbul. In Maraş and Sivas. Today in Trabzon, Mersin and the south east.

Accused : Muzaffer Erdogdu on behalf of Pencere Publishers, Ahmet Guner, Taner Akcam
Court and Date of Hearing : Ankara 6th Legal Court of First Instance, 08 November 2007 at 09:35 am
Introduction : Republic People Party (CHP) MP Şükrü Elekdağ opened a case over the book “Treatment of Armenians in Ottoman Empire, 95-96” against the publisher Muzaffer Erdogdu, the translator Ahmet Guner and the historian Taner Akçam whose article was published in the book. Elekdağ claimed 20.000 Turkish Liras of compensation.

Accused : Ahmet Onal, Murat Coskun
Court and Date of Hearing : Beyoglu 2nd. Criminal Court of First İnstance, 08 November 2007 at 10:15 am
Introduction : Writer Murat Coskun and owner of Peri publishing house Ahmet Onal stand trial for Murat Coskun´s book ¨The language of suffering: Woman¨

Europe sees the crisis but does not understand it

This post I write in England. The tension on the Iraqi-Turkish boarder has been one of the main news in the European mass media. But here is not much understanding about the complexity of the Kurdish question.

The news concentrate on PKK. Before I came to London some journalists called me from the Finnish Broadcasting Company. It was easy to understand from their questions that they did not understand much about the problem. Their main interest was to know how many Kurds support PKK.

Some journalists write that if Turkey attacks North Iraq it might have also some other purposes than the destruction of PKK. They understand that Turkey would like to occupy North Iraq to prevent Kurdistan Regional Government to give independence declaration. But these news do not have any details. For example they do not tell about the Kerkuk referendum and Article 140.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in London on Tuesday the 23rd October. His program was kept secret opposite to what is the normal practice during such visits. Also the British government was afraid for demonstrations against his visit. And for good reason. The Kurdish community is preparing demonstrations against the war.

If Turkey really starts the war the demonstrations might became massive. In Europe there is strong peace movement and it has lots of experience in arranging protests against the Iraq war.

In Turkey the self censorship of mass media is reaching an alarming level. Whole the world is against Turkey's war plans but Turkish people do not know it. Instead television programmes tell them that Turks are now as strong than during the Ottoman times. Well, every one outside Turkey knows the truth.

On Sunday one week ago PKK captured eight soldiers in Hakkari. When it gave their pictures to the publicity, Turkish TV channels did not showe these pictures and only very Turkish news papers printed them.

One of the few Turkish journalists who has critised the war plans is Lale Sariibrahimoglu. She is columnist in Today's Zaman and correspondent of Jane's Defence Weekly's. It is one of the leading magazines in the world about military issues. Mrs. Sariibrahimoglu has been writing to it sixteen years. She says about Turkey's war plans that Turkey is shooting itself to the foot.

Last week Mrs. Sariibrahimoglu had a trial in Istanbul. The prosecutor claims that she has insulted the military by one of her articles. According to the Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code this is a crime.

Winter is coming but Turkey's army wants to send its sons to the Kurdish mountains. If the war really starts how the Turkish people feel when they learn the truth only by bitter experience? That the Ottoman time is over.

Whole the world speaks now about negotiations and a peaceful solution to this crisis. Turkish people should listen to these speeches. Also they would benefit if there would be political solution to the Kurdish question. Peace is not a defeat for Turkey.

Happy Bayram to journalists in Turkey!

Bayramı Kutlu Olsun!

Twenty three journalists celebrate Bayram in Turkish prisons. The journalists are:

1- İbrahim Çiçek (Atılım Gazetesi), Tekirdağ No 2 F Type Prison
2- Sedat Şenoğlu (Atılım Gazetesi), Edirne No 1 F Type Prison
3- Füsun Erdoğan (Özgür Radyo), Gebze Special Type Prison, Gebze/Kocaeli
4- Hasan Coşar (Atılım Gazetesi), Sincan F Type Prison, Ankara
5- Ziya Ulusoy (Atılım Gazetesi), Tekirdağ No 1 F Type Prison
6- Bayram Namaz (Atılım Gazetesi), Edirne No 1 F Type Prison
7- Hatice Duman (Atılım Gazetesi), Gebze Special Type Prison, Gebze/Kocaeli
8- Suat Kolca (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Edirne F Type Special Prison
9- Yaşar Duman (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Edirne F Type Closed Prison
10- Selahattin Sumeli (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Edirne F Type Closed Prison
11- Mahmut Bozdağ (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Edirne F Type Closed Prison
12- Cem Şahin (Özgür Halk ve Genç Bakış), Tekirdağ No 2 F Type Prison
13- Kemal Aydeniz (Odak Dergisi), Bayrampaşa Prison
14- Erol Zavar (Odak Dergisi), Sincan F Type Prison, Ankara
15- Mustafa Gök (Ekmek ve Adalet Dergisi), Sincan F Type Prison, Ankara
16- Barış Açıkel (İşçi Köylü Gazetesi), Kandıra No 1 F Type Prison, Kocaeli
17- Behdin Tunç (DİHA), Diyarbakır D Type Prison
18- Faysal Tunç (DİHA), Diyarbakır D Type Prison
19- Sabri Adanır (Gündem Gazetesi), Diyarbakır E Type Prison
20- Mehmet Karaaslan (Gündem Gazetesi), Mersin E Type Prison
21- Ali Buluş (DİHA), Mersin E Type Prison
22- Sami Gök (Alınteri Gazetesi), Sincan F Type Prison, Ankara
23- Hüseyin Habip Taşkın (Güney Dergisi, Sosyalist Mezopotamya dergisi and Çoban Ateşi gazetesi), Manisa Prison

Counter insurgency, Kirkuk and Beytüssebap

The text in Kurdish.

I follow news from Kurdistan via internet. Some web pages are made by Kurds from North Kurdistan, some others are made in South Kurdistan. From there I follow mainly the English pages of News agency Peyamner.

When the tension on the boarder between Turkey and South Kurdistan increases, all Kurdish web pages follow the situation closely. Kurds recognize important news on the other side of the boarder but they concentrate mainly on their own area. In Peymner's internet page there are almost daily news about the problems of Kirkuk. In recent days Kurds in North Kurdistan have admired who did the attack in Beytüssebap. Thirteen people were shot dead there the 29th September. Since PKK announced that it did not do this atrocity Kurds assume that it was counter insurgency made by JITEM, the intelligence service of the gendarmerie. Like the bomb attack in Semdinli November 2005.

Kurds have been ruled for centuries by "divide and rule" principle. Now this is changing as the Kurds do not let it any more to continue. There are many small examples of the change.
One example is from the internet page of Peyamner. It puts the news in various categories, for example "national", "Iraq" and "articles". It is interesting that in the category of "national" there are also news from Kirkuk and North Kurdistan. They are not under the control of KRG but they are Kurdish area. But Peyamner does not publish much information about the problems in the north. And the same way the web pages of Turkish Kurds do not tell much about Kirkuk. This is understandable. There are so much local problems in each part of Kurdistan that it takes all the attention of the people. But if Kurds would know better the situation of other Kurds they would understand how similar their problems are.

Last February Ibrahim Aydogdu, the DTP chairman in Diyarbakir, said that any attack to Kirkuk is like one to Diyarbakir. Now there is a big or small attack in Kirkuk almost every day. There are also diplomatic attacks by Turkey to post pone the referendum. Are the northern Kurds doing something?

Here are many types of war. The traditional war starts by a war declaration. Nowadays low intensity war is much more common. Turkey can not attack Kirkuk by aeroplanes and infantry forces. It would spoil its EU negotiations and tourism business. But there are other warfare methods. Counter insurgency which spoils little by little the daily life in the target areas. Black operations.

At the end of September retired Turkish colonel Erdal Sarizeybek published a book entitled "I Have Seen Betrayal", which tells of his time in Hakkari province. Colonel Sarizeybek writes of how the army created "bearded teams", dressed them in PKK uniforms and sent them ahead to secure roads.

If Turkish army can not reach its targets in Kirkuk by other methods there is danger that JITEM will bring to South Kurdistan similar black operations what it is running now in North Kurdistan.

Remembering Anna Politkovskaja

Yesterday was the birthday of Vladimir Putin. Maybe you remember what birthday present he got last year....

Journalist Anna Politkovskaja was murdered in Moscow the 7th October 2006.

The Finnish PEN arranged a candle ceremony in front on the Russian Embassy in Helsinki on Sunday the 7th October 2007. These pictures are from there. (Last February we left candles in front of the Turkish Embassy for the memory of Hrant Dink.)

The Russian Embassy in Helsinki. We had to stay on the other side of the street like in February when we met outside the Turkish Embassy.

The woman holding Anna's picture is MP Heidi Hautala.

Demonstration of Umbrellas in Brussels

Thousands of Kurds gathered in Brussels on Saturday the 29th September 2007. They demanded to get information about the health check up which was made to Abdullah Öcalan in the summer. Really, the doctors must have found something special in their survey as it takes so long time to write the report!

Unfortenately the weather was rainy but it didn't seem to disturb the people who marched kilometres through the down town and listened after that Kurdish music in open air. For me this was a good sight seing tour in Brussels. Just look how attractive statues there are in Brussels!

Pictures by Kristiina Koivunen.

Business is not separate from politics

Turkish newspaper The New Anatolian wrote the 18th September about the difficulties what Turkish companies have in South Kurdistan as the tension between Turkey and the Kurdish Regional Government increases. According to the newspaper Turkish companies do not have difficulties with the government officials of Nechirvan Barzani but the lower echelons of the Kurdish bureaucracy put up meaningless obstacles for them.

Turkish businessmen should target their complains to their own government and demand it to find a political solution to the Kurdish question. This would benefit them much more than blaming local Kurdish administration.

The New Anatolian represents the Turkish perspective. Kurdish news agency Peyamner had Kurdish view when it quoted Eurasia Daily Monitor the 15th September. According to its analysis the situation of Turkish businessmen has become more difficult because the Turkish government refuses to engage politically with the Kurdish leadership. During the last six months around ten countries have opened a consulate in Hewler but the sole Turkish diplomat operates from a hotel room.

The problems of Turkish companies with Kurdish administration on the local level would be solved if there would be better cooperation on the higher political level. For example Turkish oil company Petoil could export oil if Turkey would sign an agreement about the use of the Kirkuk-Yumutarlik oil pipeline. But according to Eurasia Daily Monitor Turkey does not want to do it because it fears that it would be a de facto recognition of the Kurdish political entity in North Iraq.

There are tens of thousands of Turkish soldiers on the boarder ready to occupy Kirkuk. How Turkish people can expect to be treated friendly in Kurdistan when their army threatens Kurdish political leaders? I give again an example from my country Finland. More than sixty years ago there was a war between Finland and Soviet Union, which is nowadays Russia. This war still affects the public opinion in Finland. People do not have a warm attitude towards Russia. Finland buys oil and gas from Russia, and Finnish construction companies build houses in Russia. But it is not many Russian companies which operate in Finland. No one would buy their products.

Good economical cooperation is based on other good relationships. Turkish companies made a good start in South Kurdistan when the UN sanctions ended. Now they are losing their positions because of the aggressive opinions of the Turkish government and army. The base of the economical structure in the Kurdish autonomous area is designed now for the coming decades. Due to the UN sanctions there was absence of normal infrastructure, many things are being built almost from point zero. If the Turkish companies leave now South Kurdistan companies from other countries take their place. They invest for the future and make later good profits.

Kurdistan will be a rich country when Kirkuk will join the Kurdish area. If Turkish companies lose now their positions in South Kurdistan they will not be able to get them back in the future.

Semdinli trial. Once again.

Advocate Murat Timur in Semdinli with local kids. October 2005. Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

So TSK has got its will through. The Semdlinli bomb attack will be investigated in a military court instead of the Van 3rd Penal Court.

Here is picture of Murat Timur whom Bianet interviewed the 17th September. He is one of the victims’ advocates. I took the picture about two weeks before the bomb attack.

So on the other side there are young but very talented Kurds. On the other side there are retired Turkish generals and other people near the retirement age. Funny isn’t it? No, it is not funny. It is very sad. Not only for the sake of the Kurds but also because of the Turks. It is also their right to know what happened in Semdinli the 9th November 2005.
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There are now some technical problems in blogspot so I can not add a link. But you find Bianet's information about Semdinli trial here:
http://www.bianet.org/english/kategori/english/101806/semdinli-trial-in-military-court

Busy week at Turkish courts

Trials against journalists and writers and other issues related to freedom of expression. Thanks for the friends who sent me this information from Turkey.
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Accused :Erdal Dogan

Court and Date of Hearing : Beyoglu 4th Legal Court of First Instance – 18 September 2007 at 09:37 am

Introduction : Retired general Veli Küçük filed a suit against the lawyer of Hrant Dink over him saying ¨Hrant was feeling nerves about Küçük¨. Küçük, claime 10 thousand lira compansation. The case is handled by Beyoğlu primary court.
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Accused : Umur Hozatli

Court and Date of Hearing : Beyoglu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, 19 September 2007 at 09:00 am

Introduction : The case is against writer and director Umur Hozatlı over his article published in ¨Ülkede Özgür Gündem¨ daily. Hozatlı wrote ¨Turkish Police Organisation has a reputation of intimidating people without distinguishing between criminals and the innocent, working for petty personal interest¨. Hozatlı is charged with ¨insulting the police¨.
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Accused : Umur Hozatli, Nurettin Akalp

Court and Date of Hearing : Beyoğlu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, 19 September 2007 at 09:00 am

Introduction : 12 September is a good day to kill a boy in Diyarbakır (meaning Fevzi Abık). Good kids of 12 September coup have become known under the names of ¨TİT¨, ¨JİT¨ or JİTEM¨. Hozatlı is charged with insulting the security forces.
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Accused : Yilmaz Celik

Court and Date of Hearing : Ankara 11th High Criminal Court, 19 September 2007 at 09:15 am

Introduction : The case is opened against Yılmaz Çelik, Hizb-ut Tahrir´s Turkey rep. with the charge of ¨being an executive member of a terrorist organisation¨. Despite the fact that in the records of the security department there has not been any violent act by the organisation, prosecution defined the organisation as a terrorist group. Çelik´s sending postcards to some people with that signature during Ramadan was one of the justifications of the charge.
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Accused : Siman Kara

Court and Date of Hearing : Beyoglu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, 19 September 2007 at 09:30 am

Introduction : The case is against journalist Sinan Kara over his report criticising the army published in ¨Ülkede Özgür Gündem¨ daily. He is charged with ¨insulting the military organisation of the state through press¨.
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Accused : Ahmet Alper Gormus

Court and Date of Hearing : Bakırköy 2nd Criminal Court of Fisrt Instance, 19 September 2007 at 09:30 am

Introduction : A case was opened against the chief editor of Nokta magazine Alper Görmüş with the charge of insulting and slandering against the former commander of the Navy Özden Örnek. Nokta published diaries claimed to belong to Örnek. Magazine reports qouting the diaries argued that there were military coup plans in 2004. Görmüş faces imprionment upto 6 years and 8 months.
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Accused : Ahmet Onal

Court and Date of Hearing : İstanbul 11th High Criminal Court, 19 September 2007 at 09:50 am

Introduction : Istanbul 11th High Criminal Court referred the case to Kadikoy
Criminal Court of First Instance. The case against Onal under TPC article 220 will be continued under Fighting Terror Law article 7. Article 7 carries 5 years prison sentence and fines for “propagandating terrorism.”
* * *
Accused : Halil Savda

Court and Date of Hearing : Istanbul 1st Criminal Court of First Instance, 19 September 2007 at 10:00 am

Introduction : Savda has been charged with “alieanating people from military service” over reading out a press release insupport of the two Israeli soldiers Amir Paster and Itzik Shabbat who were imprisoned for 28 days over refusing to take part in operations against civilians in Lebanon.
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Accused : Irfan Ucar, Hasan Bayar

Court and Date of Hearing : Beyoglu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, 19 September 2007 at 10:00 am

Introduction : The case was opened against journalists İrfan Uçar and the responsible editor of Gündem daily Hasan Bayar over an article ¨number 301¨ by Uçar published on 13 December 2005 dated issue of the paper. The complainant is Ministry of Justice. Uçar and Bayar are charged with humiliating the government, the justice system, police and the military forces of the state.
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Accused : Sinan Kara

Court and Date of Hearing : Beyoglu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, 19 September 2007 at 10:00 am

Introduction : The case is over an article by Sinan Kara published in the website www.memleketinsesi.com on 25 January 2005. Kara wrote Datça´s district administrator (kaymakam) Savaş Tuncer turned a blind eye to and favoured the smuggling of historical artifacts.
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Accused : Serpil Koksal, Ibrahim Kizartici, Sevket Murat Dusen

Court and Date of Hearing : Ankara 4th Criminal Court of First Instance, 20 September 2007 at 09:45 am

Introduction : Serpil Köksal from Conscientious Objection Working Group, İbrahim Kızartıcı carrying a placard “Don’t be a soldier” and Şevket Murat were arrested as they demonstrated in front of Human Rights Statue on 12 April 2007 demanding the release of conscientious objector Halil Savda. Ankara Security Department filed a complaints against them which led to a case. They are charged with “alienating people from military service.
* * *
Accused : İbrahim Guclu, Neval Barlas, Enis Mazhar Tayman

Court and Date of Hearing : Bagcilar 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, 20 September 2007 at 10:25 am

Introduction : The case is against reporter of Tempo magazine Enis Mazhar Tayman and responsibe editor Neval Barlas over an interview with former vice president of Rights and Freedoms Party (Hak-Par) İbrahim Güçlü who is also the spokeperson of Diyarbakır KURD-DER association.

Gulan: Holidays in Kurdistan

The text in Kurdish.

Usva Auer, a young Finnish woman, travelled to Kurdistan last March. Her travel experiences were published some weeks ago in Voima -magazine. This magazine is very popular among young people in Finland. It is published 60 000 copies, which makes it a big magazine in Finland where population is five million. The story has ten pictures. There are pictures of a restaurant, mountain landscapes, Kurdish flag and teenagers playing foot boll.

How did Usva Auer experience Kurdistan? Travel guide books and the internet page of Finnish Foreign Ministry tell people to stay away from Iraq. She did not know what to expect - at least not people who speak Finnish language! Some refugees had returned from Finland back to their home country. Everything was easier than she had expected, no need even to get a visa. She did not feel that she was in Iraq - she did not even see the flags of Iraq.Auer visited Hewler, Lalesh and Sulaymania. The conclusion of her journey is that Kurds are the most friendly people in the world. The places she visited were like any other towns in the Middle East. It was difficult to believe that the war was so near by. She warmly recommends also other people to spend their holidays in Kurdistan.

She believes that Kurdistan will be soon a popular target for young backpackers who want to experience some adventures. Unfortunately the situation has changed in half a year. There has been problems with flights to Hewler. Many people travel to South Kurdistan via Turkey. But this means that they must meet the unfriendly Turkish customs officers who check their luggage at the boarder. But hopefully the problems with flights will be soon over.

Another thing what makes it difficult to travel to South Kurdistan is that ordinary travel insurances are not valid in Iraq. Insurance companies consider Iraq to be in the highest war risk category so the travel insurance costs about 500 euro per month. Despite South Kurdistan is peaceful compared to other parts of Iraq, the price is the same for every part of the country. Usva Auer thinks that the most difficult thing in travelling in Kurdistan is to get information about it. She had found some information in internet and printed it.

I have written a travel guide book about North Kurdistan in Finnish language. It was published last year. I and the publishing company LIKE agree that when this book is sold out and it is time to make a new edition, there will be information also about South Kurdistan. I am sure soon there will be travel guide books also in English.

Malia Group and Rotana Hotels plan to build a five star hotel in Hewler. I hope that also backpackers are welcome to Kurdistan. They do not bring so much money but some of them will help Kurdistan in other ways.I myself visited North Kurdistan with a small budget the first time in newroz 1997 and lost my heart to the country. After that I have written four books about Kurdistan.

* * * * * *
This is column which I wrote to Gulan . I wanted to add that despite I hope that young backpackers are welcome to South Kurdistan, I also hope that it will not turn to a Middle East version of Goa. But as most of the readers most probably do not know what is Goa and what things are not so good in Goa tourism, I should have explained also this back ground. And the space is limited (little bit more than 500 words). Now the most important thing was to inform Kurds how a Finnish tourist has experienced their country. But this is important topic which needs more attention.

Gulan: Jitem in South Kurdistan and Iraqi delegations in Finland

Because of some technical reasons my last week’s post about Jitem in South Kurdistan was published in Gulan only this week.

The text is in Kurdish here.

As the publishing was delayed I edited a little bit the end of the text. There was new information about the closed seminar for Iraqi delegation in Helsinki:

At the beginning of this month the former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, hold a meeting for representatives of various Iraqi groups. All the details of the meeting were kept secret. Mass media found out only that some Iraqi people arrived to Helsinki on Friday the 30th August by a private aeroplane from Jordan. But no one knows who they were and whether there was also representatives of Kurdistan Regional Government.

It was a good starting point if they came in the same aeroplane. Also in Turkey there is a need for peace negotiations and political solution to the crisis. But no one knows when it will be reality. At the moment I doubt if any aeroplane would be big enough for the Turkish negotiators to travel with the PKK negotiators. So hopefully the Iraqi negotiators used also the flying time for discussions.

When the seminar was over on Monday the 3rd September the office of Martti Ahtisaari gave a press release. According to it the people who participated the seminar agreed about a set of recommendations to start negotiations to reach national reconciliation. They agreed of principles of power-sharing and a commitment to stop use of violence.

But what is the value of these words if we do not know who agreed about the targets? Anyway, let's hope there will be good news about peace negotiations, not bad news about Jitem's operations in South Kurdistan!

Appeal by four NGOs on the Military Coup Anniversary

Association of Armenian Democrats in Belgium, Associations of Assyrians in Belgium, Kurdish Institute of Brussels and Info-Türk Foundation gave this appeal:

The New Parliament Should Eradicate All Remnants of the Military Regime

Communiqué by four organizations issued from political emigration coming from Turkey:

September 12, 2007 is the 27th dark anniversary of the 1980 Military Coup.

For 27 years, despite all protests and demands of democratic forces, parliamentary powers have always passed under silence this criminal putsch committed by the commanders of the Turkish Army. The constitution imposed by the Junta has remained in force. Successive governments have ruled the country always under the threats and blackmails of the military hierarchy.

The elections of July 22, 2007 created an exceptional chance to break this yoke and to eradicate all the remnants of the repressive regime founded by the military.In fact, for the first time in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the Turkish Army and its militarist allies in the political world underwent a heavy defeat at the legislative elections in spite of the threats, pressures, obstructions and blackmails exerted for months.Today, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), issued from Islamist movement, is the only power holder of the country after the election of its N°2, Abdullah Gül, to the presidency of the Republic. There are no more excuses to justify delays in fulfilling the promises for a true democratization in this country waiting at anti-chambre of the European Union.

Moreover, despite all obstructions set up unanimously by the non-Kurdish political parties represented at the preceding National Assembly, 20 Kurdish deputies entered this Parliament and set up a political group of the Party for a Democratic Society (DTP).Having so a legitimate Kurdish interlocutor, the current power composed of a President of the Republic, a single-party government and a parliamentary majority has now a historical chance to find a peaceful and honorable solution for a friendly coexistence and solidarity with the Kurdish people and with all the ethnic and religious minorities of the country.

In spite of this progress favorable to democratization, the illegal and provocative declarations of the chiefs of the Army continue. This is an inadmissible interference in the political life.This is why the new Parliament must immediately make null and void the constitution imposed in 1982 by the military junta and adopt a new constitution worthy of the universal and European democratic standards.

One of the first things to be made in the process of demilitarization is to subject the chief of staff to the authority of the Minister for national defense, to cut off the excessive authorities of the National Security Council (MGK) and the Higher Military Council (YAS).It is also vital to decrease considerably the budget of military expenditures used to oppress the Kurdish people and to threaten the neighboring countries, in particular Cyprus, Iraq, Syria, Armenia and Iran.

Black balance-sheet of the 1980 Military Coup

Today, at the 27th anniversary of the September 12, 1980 Military Coup, it is necessary to recall once more the crimes committed by the putschists who still remain untouched and unpunished:

- The coup d'etat of September 12, 1980 was the second phase of a process of militarization in al fields of the country. Previously, the coup d'état of March 12, 1971 already had abolished or destroyed many democratic rights and institutions by the application of a repression without precedent.

- The Constitution imposed in 1982 by the military junta abolished the last remnants of the freedoms recognized by the Constitution of 1961. The 1982 Constitution denies the basic rights of the Kurdish people and the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek minorities of Turkey. Articles 3, 42 and 66 preach the superiority and the monopoly of the Turkish race and language. Article 4 declares that Article 3 can never be modified, even the modification of this article can never be proposed.

- The Army's domination on the country's political, economic and social life was guaranteed by the privileges recognized by this constitution to the National Security Council (MGK).

- Within two years, more than 650,000 people were taken into custody and subjected to torture.

- Thousands of people were left disabled.

- 210,000 political cases were opened in military courts.

- A total of 98,404 people were tried because of their "thoughts."

- 6,353 people were tried under the menace of capital punishment.

- 21,764 people were sentenced to heavy prison terms.

- Fifty people were executed at the end of political trials.

- Many convicts lost their lives in prison due to maltreatment and hunger strikes to protest this maltreatment.

- Files were opened on 1,683,000 people.

- Universities were placed under the discipline of the Higher Education Council (YOK), depended on political power.

- 15,509 people were ousted from their university posts under Law No. 1402.

- 18,000 public servants, 2,000 judges and prosecutors, 4,000 police officers, 2,000 army officers and 5,000 teachers were forced to resign.

- All political parties were closed down.

- The activities of 23,667 associations were halted.

- The press was censored.

- 4,509 people were sent into exile by the martial law

- 113,607 books were burned.

- 39 tons of books, magazines and newspapers were destroyed by the State's paper mills.

- 937 movies were banned.

- 2,792 authors, translators and journalists were tried.

- Journalists and writers were sentenced to a total imprisonment of 3,315 years and three months.

For a true democratization worthy of European standardsIn spite of the return to the parliamentary system, the violations of the humans right continue, intellectuals and defenders of the human rights are always subjected to the threats of legal proceedings, physical aggressions and death.

Even after the last elections, the new Kurdish members of Parliament and the mayors of the Kurdish cities undergo political lawsuits one after other. Provocations and attempts multiply in order to prevent them from exerting their functions.

This is why, at the time of the 27th anniversary of the 1980 coup d'état, we call the current political power with its three components (Parliament, President of the Republic and Government) to eradicate all the remnants of the militarist regime by adopting the following measures:

1. Full modification of the current constitution imposed by the military; suppression of Articles 3, 4, 42 and 66 preaching the superiority and the monopoly of the Turkish race and language.

2. The electoral system imposing a national threshold of 10% to the detriment of the political parties representing different opinions, in particular Kurdish and left-wing, must be radically modified.

3. The persons responsible for the coups d'état in the past should be brought in front of the justice for having committed crimes against humanity.

4. The interference of the military in the political, social and cultural life of the country must be definitively prohibited, the commanders continuing their threats and provocations must be ousted from their posts.

5. A general amnesty must be declared for all political prisoners or detainees.

6. Not only Article 301 but also all undemocratic articles of the Turkish Penal Code, the Anti-Terror Law and other laws must be abolished; the legal proceedings against journalists, writers, artists, and teachers must be stopped.

7. The fundamental rights of the Kurdish people and the Assyrian, Armenian, Greek minorities must be recognized without exception and restriction.

8. The genocide committed at the beginning of the century against Armenians and Assyrians must be recognized by the Turkish State.

9. Any interference of Ankara in the political and social life of the countries hosting Turkish nationals must be stopped.

If the AKP power, as it did in the past, remains satisfied with certain cosmetic reforms without carrying out above-mentioned major changes, it will be impossible to talk of a true democratization in Turkey.

Brussels, September 12, 2007

Association of Armenian Democrats in Belgium
Associations of Assyrians in Belgium
Kurdish Institute of Brussels
Info-Türk Foundation

More information:http://www.info-turk.be
http://www.kurdishinstitute.be

Time to open Kurdology Institute in Turkey

Kurdish-info.net quotes to Sabah and tells about a discussion about opening a Kurdology Institute in Turkey. According to Kurdish-info.net the chairman of the Turkish History Institute Yusuf Halaçoğlu stated that out of the country's 80 universities, it is necessary to establish a Kurdology Institute and an Armenian Research Institute amongst them.

Yes, there is a need for a Kurdology Institute - one in each town of the Southeast. And also to open many new universities there. For example in Batman there is no university. As Batman is the centre of oil production in Turkey it would a perfect place for a technical university.

There is neither any university in Dogubayazit. The first Kurdology Institute should be opened in Dogubayazit as Ehmede-i Xani, the first Kurdolog, lived there.

The foreign policy of Jitem?

Foreign minister Abdullah Gül visited Finland November 2006.
Photo: Kristiina Koivunen

During recent days there has been shocking rumours that Turkish intelligence agencies were involved in the bomb attacks in Sinjar. I do not know whether this is true or not but it would be interesting to know what the staff of seventy people is doing in the Turkish consulate in Mosul.

If the Turkish Deep State network is involved in the bombings against Yezidis it would be an international version of its atrocities in Southeast Turkey. While the government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken about a political solution to the Kurdish question, Jitem, the intelligence service of the gendarmerie, has run its own policy. For example Jitem arranged the the Semdinli bomb attack November 2005. As prime minister Erdogan and AK party have not accepted to attack South Kurdistan, the Deep State might have started its own foreign policy behind the back of Erdogan's government.

If the Deep State is involved in the Sinjar bomb attack the timing is not a coincidence. Already before Abdullah Gül was chosen Turkey's new president it was clear that the army can not hinder it. After the parliament elections last July the generals have understood that they can not any more force the government to act according the will of the army.

A few days before Gül was chosen to be the president eleven PKK guerrillas were killed in Uludere. Pro-Kurdish newspaper Gündem accuses that the army used chemical weapons. Why these news sound familiar? When there were similar news? March 2006, three days after newroz, fourteen PKK guerrillas died in Bingöl, and also at that time there were claims about chemical weapons. March 2006 the funerals of the guerrillas turned into violent riots in Southeast Turkey and almost twenty people died. One consequence was that the reform law proposals which Erdogan planned to give to the parliament turned into the opposite, the strengthening of the anti-terror law 3713. Now nothing like that has happened.

When I write this post in Helsinki, our former president Martti Ahtisaari holds a seminar for representatives of various Iraqi groups. All the details of the meeting are kept secret. Mass media has found out only that some Iraqi people arrived here in the night between Friday and Saturday by a private aeroplane from Jordan. But no one knows who are these people and whether there are also representatives of KRG.

It is a good starting point if they came in the same aeroplane. Also in Turkey there is a need for peace negotiations and political solution to the crisis. But no one knows when it will be reality. At the moment I doubt if any aeroplane would be big enough for the Turkish negotiators to travel with the PKK negotiators.

So hopefully the Iraqi negotiators have used also the flying time for discussions. Hopefully there is soon more information about the Helsinki meeting. Let's hope there will be good news about peace negotiations, not bad news about Jitem's operations in South Kurdistan!

Speech at the demonstration of the Yezidi-Kurds in Berlin the 28th August 2007

Tilman Zülch, President of Society for Threatened Peoples International, held this speech at the demonstration of the Yezidi-Kurds in Berlin on August 28, 2007.

Today we gathered here and mourn about the 500, maybe even 600 children, women and men – Yezidi from the Sinjar area at the border to Syria. So far we do not know for sure who the murderers were. But we have the impression that there are forces all around this area that try to destroy and drive away the thousands of years old community of the Yezidi, and thus have the goal to erase a very old culture and religion. Many of the victims are still hospitalized in Kurdistan, struggling to survive. Our thoughts are now with them.

The Sinjar area is an obstacle for terrorist, fundamentalist or chauvinist movements which have been active ever since the invasion of US troops in southern and middle Iraq. Some of them are Al-Qaeda, forces of the former Baath regime, Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists, and probably also terrorist groups that are supported from Syria, Turkey or Iran.

The Yezidi religious community experienced many persecutions – during the Ottoman times, during the Saddam regime. So far no one knows the exact number of how many Yezidi were killed under Hussein. Tens of thousands of them were deported and forcibly settled in camp-like ghettos.

Society for Threatened Peoples still remembers the expulsion of the Yezidi from Turkey in the 1980s very vividly. Thousands of them fled to Central Europe, especially to former West Germany. Here these refugees were supposed to be deported. Together with the evangelical churches and the support by Prof. Gernot Wiesner and his wife Irina – both long standing members of our human rights organization – we managed to achieve the recognition of the Yezidi as collectively persecuted religious refugees. Regarding this achievement, we will never forget the support of the Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Dr. Herbert Schoor. Back then we published a whole series of documentations, articles, appeals, flyers and special editions of our journal "Pogrom".

Together with the Organization of the Yezidi in Germany we organized a rally at the former concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, which initially had been prohibited. This rally, the demonstration in front of the Ministry of the Interior of NRW, our Yezidi-Congress in Hannover on the very day of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, and the book "The Kurdish Yezidi – A People on the Way to Ruin", had led to the final breakthrough. Today, there are about 60,000 Yezidi living in Germany. Here they have found a new home.

„The Way to Ruin" is now threatening the Yezidi of the Sinjar area. What can we do about this in Germany? Our possibilities are very limited. Even the German government, would it be willing to help, would have only little influence in Iraq. We have already asked the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the one for Economic Co-operation and Development for urgent help for the people in Sinjar. But protection for the people in the Sinjar area can probably only come from within Iraq.

The Yezidi speak Kurdish, and the majority considers itself being part of the Kurdish people. Already in 2003, before the beginning of the American-Iraqi War, representatives of Yezidi organizations gathered at Society for Threatened Peoples in Göttingen, after an initiative by Malah Izdian in Oldenburg. Their resolution demanded for a self-governed Sinjar territory as part of the Iraqi state of Kurdistan. Two Yezidi ministers belonged to this government. From this government, help was sent to the injured. From there police forces were delegated to protect the inhabitants of Sinjar. The Yezidi in Sinjar have a right to self-government. This right is guaranteed by Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution. Let us hope that the mostly peaceful situation in the Iraqi state of Kurdistan will have a positive impact on the region of Sinjar, as well. Let us hope that that was the last terrorist attack. The Sinjar region has a right to unite with the Iraqi state of Kurdistan – as an autonomous, self-governed region. This will provide protection for the Yezidi religious community.

Gulan: Women writers conference

Dalmira Tilepbergenova (left) and Bahtinisa Abdurehim. Dalmira is the chairman of The Central Asian PEN.

The text in Kurdish.

The PEN of Finland arranged one week ago in Helsinki a conference for Central Asian women writers. When I started writing columns to Gulan I decided to write about different topics. But during the summer I have written only about the political situation. When I plan to write something else there is always an acute crisis which needs to be commented immediately. But this time I decided to tell about culture and the Central Asian literature conference.

There were eight women artists from Kyrgystan and Kazakstan. Some other participants told for example about the situation in Tibet and East Turkmenistan. Both Tibetan and Uyghur people suffer under the Chinese rule in a same way as Kurds in Turkey. Even their language is threatened.

Unfortunately there were no Kurdish writers in the conference. It would have been interesting for them to hear the experiences of other writers. There is one thing which connects Central Asia, Kurdistan, Tibet, East Turkmenistan and many other countries: the Silk Road. Lots of items has been transported via it from east to west. But the travellers have transported also stories, legends, oral and written culture. The culture around the Silk Road has been especially rich for centuries. And Silk Road is not only history, there is much traffic even nowadays.

In the films of Dalmira Tilepbergenova from Kyrgystan the traditions are very strong. Traditional culture and history of own nation are sources of strength when the people search new values in the Post Soviet society. Islam and even Islamic extremism replace the communist values after the collapse of Soviet Union. What it means for women writers? They stay at home and tell fairy tales to their children instead of writing for a bigger audience. The strengthening of Islamic values means for many women writers that their husbands do not like that their wives get attention from other people. Not even comments to a written story. Of course telling fairy tales to children is very important. It is the way how the oral traditions have been transformed for the next generation for centuries. But why not do both: tell fairy tales at home and write them down?

After the cultural week-end it was quite a shock for me to open internet and look what is going on Kurdistan: Turkey and Iran plan a joint military attack to South Kurdistan. Turkish Daily News writes that Masoud Barzani accuses Turkey being engaged in intelligence activities via its Consulate in Mosul. And according to The New Anatolian KDP claims that Turkish and Syrian intelligence services were involved in the bomb attacks against Yezidi Kurds in Sinjar. So I was wrong last week when I wondered whether al Qaeda was behind this atrocity. But al Qaeda has been active in Iraq in other places even during last days.

So next week I return to political issues. It takes lots of time to understand what is going on. And when it will be peace in Kurdistan - Kurdish writers will write big epics about this war.

*****

Antology of the seminar Kyltymätön uuni - naiskirjailijat ja sensuuri is published by LIKE and The PEN of Finland. It is both in Finnish and in English, and can be ordered from LIKE also to abroad. The title means An oven which is always hungry - women writers and cencorship.

LIKE is also my publisher. We are now making the lay out of my next book Serhildan.

By the way, the name LIKE has nothing to do the English word like. First the name of publishing house was Lieke, which is old Finnish language and means fire. There happened to be one family whose name is Lieke and for some reason they did not like the publishing house to have same name as they have. So the company took one letter away from the name and became LIKE.

Gulan: The arrival of al Qaeda to Iraq after US army

The text in Kurdish.

When I write these lines it is not yet clear which group is behind last week's suicide bomb attack against the Kurdish Yazidi community in Gir Uzeir and Siba Sheikh Khidir. There are rumours about al Qaeda, others speak about Syrian involvement in the attack and some others connect it to Kerkuk, article 140 and the fact that there is not so much time left to the 31st December of this year.

I consider now the first possibility, al Qaeda. Despite there is no evidence that it was behind this attack, its influence is growing in Iraq. I repeat that with this analysis I do not claim that al Qaeda was behind the attack against the Yazidis.

The Iraq war is everyday in the headlines of European newspapers but most people have forgotten why it started. President George W. Bush was sure Saddam Hussein's army has weapons for mass destructions despite the UN survey team Unmovic led by Hans Blix did not find any evidence of them in spring 2003. Also President Bush claimed that Saddam had been some how involved in the September 11th attacks in US.

During the last four years American soldiers have not found any biological, chemical or other mass destruction weapons. Also it has became clear that al Qaeda did not exist in Iraq. I mean, before the American army entered there. After the arrival of Americans also al Qaeda started building its networks in Iraq. Now it makes its invisible strongholds stronger day by day. There is a real danger that when American soldiers one day return home their inheritance in Iraq will be al Qaeda.

When the soft partition of Iraq continues the Shiia South and the Kurdish North have clear perspective. The identity of the people in these areas is based on religion or ethnicity. And the economy is in order thanks to oil. For them autonomy or independence is a step to a better future.

But in the middle, in the Sunni Arab areas, the situation is different. Their previous well being was based on the oppression of the north and the south. What is left when it is taken away? Frustration, lack of oil and poverty. Good basis for al Qaeda type bitterness. Remember the Taleban movement was not built on Afghan traditions despite it describes itself as a religious movement. Maybe the Sunni Arab area will turn into a similar area controlled by hate, fear and self-made interpretations of Islam.

If anything positive can be said in connection to last week's horrible attack, it is that happened outside the KRG area. The Kurdish autonomous area is peaceful and the regional government is working hard to hinder terrorism arriving there. So it is easy to guess how the people of Kerkuk and the near by areas will vote in the referendum.

Two weeks ago Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went to Ankara. According to the media in his meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayipp Erdogan the main topic was PKK. It should have been al Qaeda which is the real danger to both the countries. Iraq and Turkey and whole the world should make cooperation against this threat.