Kirkuk photo exhibition in Finland

I have visited Kirkuk almost twenty times since spring 2008.

During these journeys I have taken hundreads of photos. I choose best of them to a photo exhibition in Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

The exhibition is open two weeks from Monday, the 16th August, in STOA, a cultural centre of City of Helsinki. Later the photos will be shown in other places and in Kurdish cultural events.


The exhibition consists of seventeen large pictures.

The name of the exhibition is ”Everyday life in Kirkuk in the shadow of war” (in Finnish language the name is much shorter).

Many people have asked what I want to say with my photos.

The news about Kirkuk in international mass media tell about bomb explosions, war and other problems.

I have seen another Kirkuk. Despite fear and tension the brave Kirkuk people try to make best of their every day life and look forward for a better future.


Many people have helped me in Kirkuk to collect information about the town. With this exhibition I want to express my gratitude for them.

Many people in Kirkuk have repeated the same thing: the problems of Kirkuk are organized from outside Kirkuk, from the neighbouring countries. Kirkuk has been centuries a multicultural city. Various ethnic groups have lived there in peace and harmony with each others.

So should be also the future of Kirkuk! With my pictures I want to show Finnish people a glimpse of optimism about Kirkuk.

On Monday the 16th August fifty people participated the opening party of the exhibition. There were Kurdish people residing in Finland and their Finnish friends.

The Kurdish community in Finland has good relationship with Finnish people. They make together both cultural and political activities.

I will continue blogging

If there happens still to be some one checking what Sahmaran thinks: I have not given up blogging.

But during this summer I have had more problems with lap top than all together during ten years. Now I learn how to use new Windows programme, new photo editing programme and new Power Point programme. I published a new book in Finnish language, it took VERY MUCH TIME to complete it, and now I have spent hours with Finnish journalists interviewing me (not to say anything about being in front of the camera lens instead of being behind it....)

I am still in Finland on so called holidays. I will return to Kurdistan after Eid al-Fitr.

Congratulations, Martti Ahtisaari!

Martti Ahtisaari, the former President of Finland, has got the Nobel Peace Price 2008. Congratulations!

Martti Ahtisaari has done good work for example in Aceh in Indonesia, and in Kosova. I wrote last March in Sahmaran about Ahtisaari and Kosova peace process.

Mr. Ahtisaari, also Kurdish people need your skills and experience in peace negotiations!

Culture Minister Falakaddin Kakeyi in Finland

I (left) and Culture Minister Falakaddin Kakeyi.

Falakaddin Kakeyi, Culture Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government, is now in Finland. I met him on Wednesday the 29th July 2008 in Helsinki.

Pashay Gawra, a music team of sixteen members, is expected to come Finland from Rawanduz, South Kurdistan. They should play on Saturday the 2st August on Faces Etnofestival in Karjaa. But due to problems and delays in getting visa it is not yet sure whether they will come here.

Finnish and Kurdish demilitarized zones

In Turkey people have been made to believe that the country is surrounded by enemies. And because of this the army must be strong. But Turkey has never had a war against its neighbour countries during the 85 years of independence. Turkish army has been fighting only against its own people. Even in North Iraq army's target has been Kurds who are Turkish citizens.
Looking from an European perspective Turkey's neighbours are not too aggressive. But Turkey has the fifth biggest army in the world.

The situation of Kurdish Autonomous Area is opposite to that. It is really surrounded by enemies. And the situation is opposite to Turkey even so that peshmergas do not have other weapons than kalashnikovs, and some old panzers taken from the escaping Saddam soldiers in 1991.

This lack of heavy arms surprised me when I visited North Iraq in spring. In Turkey I have got used of seeing panzers and hearing the sound of military airplanes and helicopters all the time. Kurdish autonomous area has became a demilitarized zone without any one planning is purposefully.

Maybe the Kurdish leaders hope to buy F 16 -aeroplanes and Cobra helicopters and put peshmergas to pilot school as soon as possible. I am not a military expert but my suggestion is that why not keep North Iraq a demilitarized zone also in the future? And make it a real demilitarized area where security is not based even on kalashnikovs. At least it would be cheaper than buying expensive military technology. With the exemption that a good radar system is a necessity.

This came to my mind because my country, Finland, has a demilitarized zone, Aland Islands. They are located between Finland and Sweden. Aland is nearer to Sweden.
30 000 people, who live there, speak Swedish. There was a referendum in 1921 where the people could decide whether they want to be part of Sweden or Finland. They choose autonomy in Finland.

One part of the autonomy plan made by the League of Nations in was that the islands are a demilitarized zone. The area was strategically important especially at those days when St. Petersburg was the Russian capital. It lies by the Baltic Sea. Aland Islands lie in the same sea and who controls them has good possibility to control all boat traffic to St. Petersburg. The decision made whole the sea more peaceful.

Despite times are now different than during the days of the first world war, Kurds should study the autonomy of Aland islands. Maybe there are aspects which are useful for them. Also in other issues Kurds look now at decisions made at those days.

The autonomy and demilitarization of Aland has been successful because it was guaranteed by the international community. An area without arms can live in peace only if demilitarization is made with strong enough international quarantine. When Western countries now desperately want to remove their troops from Iraq maybe a demilitarized buffer zone in the north would be a acceptable solution even for them. International agreements would only legalize the situation which de facto already exists.

This text is published in Gulan, it is in Kurdish here.

Finnish report about North Iraq

This text about a report of North Iraq was published in Xebat the 24th June 2008. It can be read in Kurdish here.

Finnish Immigration Service has made a report about North Iraq and put it to internet. The 42 pages long report is made by a fact finding team of three people. They collected information from various sources, like UNAMI and other international organisations. They also made a six days long journey to Iraqi Kurdistan Region last October.

Finnish Immigration Service is making decisions to asylum applications and information has been collected mainly for this purpose. As there is common information about KRG Region in the report, it can be used also by people who are interested in North Iraq for other reasons.

The report gives mainly a positive picture about life in KRG Region, especially it pays attention to the good security situation.

During the spring there has been in Europe quite lot criticism about the situation of Assyrians and other Christian minorities in Iraq. For example in the International Compact with Iraq Conference in Stockholm at the end of May some Assyrians raised their voices.

The Finnish team found the situation of Christian minorities to be normal in KRG Region. The report says:

"Due to the stable situation the three northern governorates have become a safe haven for internally displaced persons, for instance Christians, who told the fact finding team that the situation of Christians resembles something like a normal life in the KRG region. Christians have been welcomed by the local population in the three northern governorates. They have had a good relationship and are respected by their moderate Muslim neighbours, but consider radical Islamists a threat."

The team noticed last October that the Christians were worried about the PKK conflict, which touches areas near the border where Christian people are settled, and where shelling has occurred.

“Some informants pointed out, that the Turkish army has already for years had several outposts inside the KRG region, at least in Bamarne and Zakho districts of Dohuk governorate“, says the report.

The Finnish team did not visit Kirkuk last October as they found it too dangerous. They write that the security situation in Kirkuk was bad and say:

“Some informants thought that the resolving of the Kirkuk issue would take a long time. Ownership issues remain a large problem, as lost property such as houses have been sold several times over, and may have many claims of ownership by different people.”

The report draws a potential link between the increase of Islamic terrorism and the situation of Kurdish youth:

“During the fact-finding journey, no terror attacks were reported in KRG Region. Some informants mentioned that the youth in Kurdistan is at a critical stage, due to economic hardships, unemployment and the lack of meaningful activities. Due to these circumstances, some join mosques and become extremists. Youth care is needed, and informants suggested that the West help to set up activities such as youth centres.”

In the human rights situation the report does not find too many causes for criticism. Any way, the long waiting times for some detained persons before trial is not acceptable according to international standards. The report says:

"Pretrial detaining periods are long. There are some detainees who are from Mosul or Kirkuk. KRG courts claim that they have no jurisdiction to try them. These people are therefore in a legal limbo. They have been detained, but have not been charged of any crime, and there is no apparent solution to their cases."

The team found problems also with the trial process:

“Most of the detainees are not satisfied with the trial process, often they have no information on the appeals’ process, and many have had no access to a lawyer”, says the report.

It also states that according to UNAMI, prison conditions do not meet international standards.

One area of criticism is the situation of women. The report mentions that it is bad in many rural areas. The situation of honour related violence is very alarming. The amount of women’s suicides has doubled between 2002 and 2007.

“An important factor in the increase of honour related violence is the increasing use of mobile phones, as SMS-messages and the saved phone numbers of men reveal unacceptable relationships”, says the report. But it continues:

“At the same time, awareness of the situation has increased. Women today seek help against domestic violence more readily than before. However, available shelters are full, and women cannot often return from the shelters to their families. Some women have been killed after they have returned to their families.”

The report pays mainly attention to problems where improvement is necessary. But it says about mass media that there exists some degree of freedom of expression. Journals have been able to criticise the administration and to write articles on corruption, without having been charged.

It also says that the civil society in KRG Region is active.

The report gives detailed information about the health care and problems in it. When thinking about them it should be kept in mind that the problems are caused by the international sanctions which hindered development of health care system.

It is noteworthy that there exists no public psychological treatment in KRG Region. There are no government programmes for the treatment of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This is a big problem when keeping in mind in how much Kurds have suffered for decades because of wars, Anfal and other Saddam’s atrocities. NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are too busy with helping internally displaced persons with basic necessities such as water and sanitation to concentrate on mental care issues.

The report tells about the housing problems in KRG Region. The number of internally displaced families is about 100 000 – 150 000. The future of displacement depends on the outcome of the Iraqi war. The report pays attention that Kurdish families flee violence to KRG Region from Mosul but not from Kirkuk.

The report is available in English language in internet here.

World Village Festival in Helsinki

World Village Festival was celebrated this week-end (24.-25.5.2008) in Helsinki down town in bright sunshine.

Here Hasan Dohogu and I speak about the Kurds.

Kosovo Guidelines for Independence

Martti Ahtisaari.

FIIA's seminar was in the Parliament building in Helsinki.

Pictures by Kristiina Koivunen

Xebat published this text the 13th March 2008. It is in Kurdish here. (It is at the bottom of the page.)

Kosovo declared independence the 17th February this year. Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland, negotiated the peace process. Kosovo crisis is just one episode in the Balkan crisis which has lasted already two decades.

The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) arranged in Helsinki the 7th March a seminar about the Kosovo situation. Mr Ahtisaari was the keynote speaker. He told his experiences about the birth process of a new state. Dr Tanja Tamminen had returned from Kosovo three days before the seminar. She told about the feelings in Kosovo: the happiness caused by the independence could still be seen there. People were smiling in the streets of Pristina.

As United Nations Special Envoy for the Kosovo status process. Mr Ahtisaari led the negotiations. He has done a paper called "Guiding principles of the Contact Group for a settlement of the status of Kosovo" (here is a link to it). This paper consists of ten principles which should be followed when the administration of independent Kosovo is created.

Ahtisaari described the Kosovo situation to be a sui general:

"I do not know any other crisis situation with a similar history. Belgrad (the government of Serbia) knew already 2006 what would be the conclusion of the negotiations", he explained. "United Nations should have given an order to the Serbian authorities that you have some years time to arrange a functioning administration in Kosovo."

The Guiding principles of the Contact group demands that in Kosovo "a negotiated solution should be an international priority. Once the process has started, it cannot be blocked and must be brought to a conclusion."

THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

The Guiding principles for a settlement of the status of Kosovo consists of ten important aspects which should be followed when creating the constitution and other laws in the independent state of Kosovo.

First, the settlement of the Kosovo issue should be compatible with international standards of human rights and international law.

Secondly, as Kosovo is an European country, it's system of law should conform with democratic values and European standards.

Thirdly, the settlement should ensure multi ethnicity. It should provide effective constitutional guarantees and appropriate mechanisms to ensure human rights for all citizens in Kosovo, including the right of refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes in safety.

Also, the settlement should provide mechanisms to ensure the participation of all Kosovo communities in government, both on the central and on the local level. Effective structures of local self government should be established through decentralization keeping in mind the coexistence of different communities.

The settlement should safeguard the protection of the cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo.

And the settlement of Kosovo’s status should strengthen regional security and stability. There should be no changes in the current area of Kosovo.

The seventh principle is the security of Kosovo. The new country should not pose a military or security threat to its neighbours.

And, the settlement of Kosovo’s status should promote effective mechanisms to strengthen Kosovo’s ability to enforce the rule of law, to fight organized crime and terrorism and safeguard the multiethnic character of the police and the judiciary.

It is also important that Kosovo can develop in a sustainable way both economically and politically and that it can cooperate effectively with international organizations and international financial institutions.

The last principle states that for some time Kosovo needs international civilian and military presence to ensure security and especially protection for minorities. There is also a need to monitor and support the administration.

KOSOVOAN PEOPLE CELEBRATE STILL INDEPENDENCE

The other speakers in the seminar were Professor Judy Batt and Dr Tanja Tamminen.

Like Ahtisaari also Batt claimed that Serbian authorities knew that Kosovo’s separation would happen but they did not prepare themselves to adjust for that. Batt gave a good description for the word “self determination”. It is people’s right to live under a government which represents them.

Tamminen had arrived from Kosovo three days before the seminar. She said the atmosphere there was still quite unbelievable and independence celebrations continued. In the Albanian part of the country people did not seem to worry about the reactions in the Serbian parts of Kosovo. People were just happy that the independence was finally achieved.

Anyway, the future problems are big. Kosovo is a poor country. It has the youngest population in Europe: 70 per cent of the people are under 35 years old.

“The biggest problems of Kosovo are corruption and organized crime. Now the most important things are to create a functioning administration and economical growth”, she said.

“People believe that law is the source for peace. But it is politics,” explained Judy Batt. She believes that Serbia will continue to finance some parallel administration in Kosovo but they should not finance parallel police forces.

All the speakers believed that there is need for donor money from abroad as Kosovo is a post war society. Ahtisaari said that custom duties are very important and they should be established quickly.

UN COULD NOT SOLVE KOSOVO CRISIS

Martti Ahtisaari was president of Finland 1994-2000. After that he has been the chairman in Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) which is dealing with international crisis and conflict resolution. 2005 Ahtisaari led peace negotiations between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government.

At the beginning of September 2007 CMI arranged a seminar in Helsinki for representatives of various Iraqi groups. Ahtisaari was the chairman of this meeting but all details of it were kept secret.

Martti Ahtisaari is a respected person but there is also criticism against his decisions. Some people claim that Kosovo's independence declaration was done in too big hurry. It would have been better to let United Nations to solve the crisis. If the rights of the Serbian minority in Kosovo are not quarantined now there will be new ethnic problems in the future. Russia does not accept the independence of Kosovo. Ahtisaari answered this criticism in Helsinki:

“The war in Kosovo ended already 1999. UN and Security Council have been unable to deal with the issue.” He added that Kosovo has developed these years towards independency. This is a fact which international community must accept now.

Daily newspaper Xebat published in Hewler The Guiding principles for a settlement of the status of Kosovo, they are in Kurdish here.

London yesterday, Helsinki today

London, the 19 th February 2008

Helsinki the 20th February 2008

Sahmaran has been quiet for some time. Unfortunately I have been so busy with other things that I have not had time to write posts here. In the future I try write here once in a week, but let’s see if I can keep this promise as I try to write also other things ....

I just came home from London, here are some pictures. I was planning to visit London in April or May to enjoy the beautiful English spring. But there is no need to make another journey, just look at the pictures! (It would be interesting to know how the climate change is affecting Kurdistan!)

Remembering Hrant Dink

Thirty people gathered today outside the Turkish embassy in Helsinki to remember Hrant Dink and to put there candles for him.

The weather was as bad as last year. It was stormy, rainy and wind was 21 meter per second. All pictures which I took are bad. But this picture which a friend took of me is good.


LIKE publishing house remembered Hrant Dink by keeping his picture is the sale desk in their book shops in Helsinki. This picture is from their shop in Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.

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.

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!

Helsinki Summer University distributes false information about Turkish language

Text on the top of the mountain tells Kurds of Wan that they are happy when they speak Turkish. Unfortenately the picture is not very clear.

Helsinki Summer University arranges August 2007 a course in Turkish language. They claim in their internet page that 70 million people speak Turkish as their mother language.

From where Helsinki Summer University has taken the number? The Turkish national censuses stopped collecting data on the basis ethnicity after 1965. Before that, people were asked about their mother tongue (source: Kirisci, Kemal and Winrow, Gareth M.: The Kurdish Question and Turkey: An Example of Trans-State Ethnic Conflict. Frank Cass. London 1997. pages 119-120). So at the moment no one knows how many people in Turkey speak Turkish as mother language.

There are 71 million people in Turkey. Even when remembering that there are native Turkish speakers in Bulgaria, North Cyprus and Europe the claim of Helsinki Summer University can be understood only in one way: that most Kurds in Turkey speak Turkish as their mother language. This is one example how the linguicial (=linguistic genocidal) policy of the Republic of Turkey is distributed also abroad.

Last year a Turkish language course of Helsinki Summer University was cancelled due to lack of participants. If the language training in the course is in the same level than the it’s presentation in the internet, it is no wonder that people do not go there.

The immigrant policy in Finland - 1

There is new government in Finland. One day before Easter, during the last days of the old government two young Kurdish women were arrested and now they wait deportation in the closed refugee centre in Helsinki. The father of the girls is Finnish citizen. He has a restaurant where is work for both of her daughters.

What is the effect of this kind of policy? Finland is not any dream country for immigrants. Not even for asylum seekers.

Like in other European countries, the population is getting older in Finland. Our country needs immigrants. Until now, the immigrant policy has been among the strictest in Europe. Now this must change. It was target also of the old government to create new immigrant policy. Finland needs immigrants - but not who ever. People from the neighbour countries - like Russia and Baltic countries - are welcome.

Of course, it is another question if there are people in these countries willing to come to Finland. The population gets older also in these countries.

This kind of policy makes the image of Finland even darker among immigrant candidates. While the ministry of labour tries to find new ways to attract immigrants to Finland the ministry of interior affairs sends away young people whose biggest dream is to live and work in Finland.

Here are the mother and father of the Kurdish women. Some days ago they went to receive papers from interior ministry and about fifty Kurds accompanied them. Mother of the girls will have a medical operation after one week and their grandmother died two months ago. So, welcome to work and live in Finland!

Van Bostaniçi Mayor Gülcihan Simşek in Helsinki

Bostaniçi Mayor Gülcihan Simşek came yesterday the 2nd April for a short visit to Helsinki. She came from Sweden where she had raised funds for projects of her town.

She came to Finland for three days to meet the Kurdish community in Helsinki. She had also a short meeting with Pekka Sauri, Helsinki Mayor for Public Works and Environmental Affairs. Mr Sauri is on left in this picture.

Here is Gülcihan in front of the Helsinki main cathedral.

Bostaniçi is a suburb of Van. You can call it a gecekondu. One of the poorest towns in Turkey, maybe the number one in this list. Most of people who live in Bostanici moved there last decade from villages which Turkish army burnt. They are from seventeen clans. Bostanici is a big refugee camp.

Gülcihan didn’t have any good news from Turkey. Almost 500 DTP members have been arrested during recent weeks, including the chairman of DTP in Diyarbakir, Van and Batman. Cizre Mayor Aydin Budak was arrested yesterday.

Gülcihan had one important message: lots of observes should come to Turkey during the elections. I think that election observation should be going on already now because also the campaigning should be free. When hundreds of politicians are behind the bars how the elections could be free?

Newroz in Helsinki

Kurds from whole Finland gathered in Helsinki to celebrate newroz

But not for one newroz party. Like earlier, Kurds from Turkey had one party and Kurds from Iran and Iraq had another party.

I went to both of them. Also some young Kurdish people enjoyed the possibility to listen good music and dance and went to both newroz celebrations.

These pictures are taken yesterday (the 24th March 2007) in the South Kurdish newroz party. Left on my side is Weeja who makes Kurdish programs in Helsinki local radio.

Kurds demonstrated also in Helsinki

During recent days Kurds have been protesting in many countries due to claims that Abdullah Öcalan is being poisoned. They marched the 8th March through Helsinki down town from Parliament House to Foreingn Ministry. There was about 350 people which is big proportion of the Kurdish community in Helsinki.

Here are some pictures from the demonstration:

The demonstration was very similar than many other Kurdish demonstrations. Only children have grown bigger and new babies and asylum seekers have arrived. This is really frustrating! Despite so many efforts by the Kurds their situation has not improved in eight years either in Turkey or in the diaspora communities in Europe.

For the memory of Hrant Dink

Some dozens of people gathered today the 19th February in Helsinki in front of the embassy of Turkey. The meeting was arranged by the Finnish PEN and some Finnish peace associations.

The meeting was arranged for the memory of Hrant Dink who was murdered one month ago. Also we wanted to express our solidarity for the Turkish people in their campaign to abandon article 301.

The weather was terrible. Temperature was -9 degrees and there was heavy wind from the sea. Here are some pictures from the meeting. As I was one of the people who arranged the meeting I went there good time in advance. When other people arrived I was freezing so much that it was almost impossible to take any pictures.

Gulan 5th February 2007: Living in a bilingual country

http://www.gulan-media.com/h621/g31.pdf

Why Turkey is so afraid of having many cultures and languages? It is a fortune not a threat! I invite Turkish politicians to come to Finland to observe our bilingual country.

There are five million people in Finland. Most of them, 4 700 000 people, speak Finnish as mother language. 300 000 are Swedish speakers. Most of them live in the southwest coast.
I tell sometimes to Turks that we have a well functioning bilingual administration in Finland. They reply to me that Finland is a rich country so it can afford such a thing but Turkey can not. Now Finland is rich but it was not so ninety years ago when it became independent. That was during the first world war.

Since that time Finland has had bilingual administration. It was not expensive decision: each town and village has only one language according to what language the people speak. Only capital Helsinki and some other towns have officially two languages.

Swedish minority has their own mass media, theatre and libraries. Their children have all education in Swedish up to university studies. There is compulsory military service in Finland. Swedish speaking young men do their service in units where the only language is Swedish.
It is compulsory to study both languages in the school. Also the children of the majority must learn the language of the minority. Most people in the young generation speak fluently both languages.

There is also third language in Finland: Saami (*). It is spoken in northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Saami people make co-operation with each others across the boarders.

In Finland there are seven thousands Saami people. They were earlier nomads who lived by raising reindeers. They did not have private land ownership. Saami people still have their unique culture which reflects their close connection with the arctic nature. The Saami language does not have the word ”war”.

Saami people have similar linguistic rights in northern Finland than the Swedish speakers in southwest Finland. Saami children study in Saami and learn Finnish as a foreign language. But Finnish children do not learn their language.

I interviewed last October Mehmet Vecdi Gönül, the Turkish minister of defence. I told him about language policy in Finland. Our Swedish and Lappish people live in peace with the state instead of rebelling against it. I asked Mr. Gönül why Turkey is not trying the same policy with Kurds. He answered:

”In Finland the situation is easy because you have only three languages. Turkey has 28 languages so it is impossible to arrange education in so many languages.”

I hope also Kurdish people in South Kurdistan remember the rights of the minority when their position has changed from minority in Iraq to majority in the area of Kurdistan Regional Government. The rights of Arabic speakers must be protected there the same way as rights Kurdish people in other countries.

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(*) In the Kurdish translation I have used word "Lappish" instead of word Saami (sometimes written Sámi) because "Damascus" is in Kurdish "Sam". When I have tried to tell Kurdish people about the unique culture of Saami people they have always been confused about the word and thought that Saami people have some connections to Damascus. I am aware that Saami people do not accept the term "Lappish" but in a short column for people who know absolutely nothing about Finland it is too difficult to explain that Saami people live in north of the arctic circle, not in some suburb of Damascus. Easiest would have been to write nothing about the Saami people. But for Kurds - "the fighting nation" - it is very important information that there is a language where the word "war" does not exist.