I got an e-mail from Van University Student Association YÖDER:
"Some 40 students, members of Van 100th Year University Students' Association (YÖDER), were detained during house raids conducted on 5 March in Van..... Van Security Director Mehmet Salih Kesmez announced that the students were detained for throwing molotov cocktail to a shop."
2004 YÖDER started a campaign to improve the position of Kurdish language in Turkey. Since that more than two thousand students have been target for police investigation because of "separatism". 700 of them have been punished. 135 of them got YÖK-punishment (Yüksek Ögretim Kurulu, the Higher Committee for Education) which means that they are thrown away from Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi in Van and they can never apply to any university in Turkey, not even to the private ones.
Students in Van urgently need contacts abroad to other student associations. If any reader of this blog can help YÖDER, please write to me and I forward the message to them. You can write also in English, there are people in YÖDER who can English. If you read this later than spring 2007 (when I write this message) it is still important to get in touch with YÖDER.
My e-mail address is: k_kristiina@hotmail.com
Such false prosecutions are not a new thing in Turkey. For example DIHA (Dicle Haber Ajansi) correspondent Rodja Kizgin was arrested in Bingöl due to similar claims. After being many months in prison she was released. Some activists told me last time when I was in Turkey that they look all time carefully after their bags. They are afraid that Jitem agents will secretly place some weapons to their bags and then call for police.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Thanks from your message. I live now in South Kurdistan and I have only very little possibilities to follow the situation in North Kurdistan. How ever, You find information about it from many other internet pages. The situation in Turkey is very difficult now, let's hope it will turn better soon!
Post a Comment