KRM: Kamal Sayid Qadir has already become a
historical phenomenon: the voice that challenged and
overcome corrupt power. There is a lot that can be
said and written about this historical break in
Kurdish politics and thinking. It has shaken the
rotten foundations of illegitimate power in
Kurdistan, it has exposed the party-controlled
corrupt media and alleged free and independent
Kurdish media inside and outside Kurdistan, it has
laid bare those so-called writers and intellectuals
who have written millions of words about human
rights, civil society, justice and democracy but, in
order to protect their pockets and privileges,
failed to make even a feeble noise in defence of
free expression and defiance of despotic dynastic
power.
But the purpose of this article is not to analyse
the significance of Kamal Sayid Qadir’s phenomenon.
The story is not over yet and the historical
function of his timely intervention has just become
active. My purpose is to draw attention to the other
aspects of the break unleashed by Kamal’s saga:
hundreds of intellectuals, especially those in the
Diaspora, raising their voices in support of free
expression and against corrupt and criminal power
practices in Kurdistan. This has been unprecedented
in Kurdish history. Along with this, or may be
behind this, is the glorious and honourable role
played by Kamal Sayid Qadir’s two sisters in
Germany: Awaz and Galawej. It is thanks to them,
their courage, their deep intellectual approach,
sound political understanding and judgement and
cautious pro-active role that Kamal Sayid Qadir’s
case moved quickly to a sustainable campaign and
then a wide-ranging intellectual political movement
challenging all aspects of corruption and
criminality of the totalitarian primitive political
oligarchy in South Kurdistan. |
Dr Kamal Said Qadir, Austrian citizen, an
international legal expert, writer and human rights
activist |
|
Since the abduction and up to the arbitrary
conviction and its aftermath, the sisters remained
closely involved in their brother’s case; they have
become his true voice and the representative of his
true ideas and ideals. They single-handedly stood
against the mighty media power of the ruling parties
and their army of corrupt and subdued “writers,
journalists and intellectuals”. The parties’ media
and their paid subservient writers were quick to
portray Kamal Sayid Qadir as a no-body madman
suffering from severe mental disorder and thus he is
not even worth of punishment in spite of his
subversive “slander crimes.” He is someone deserving
mercy and sarcasm rather than listening and fair
trial. Others described him as a spy working to
undermine Kurdish power.
Tens of slanderous and abusive words that pen should
be ashamed of writing, have been written and
published on pro-KDP websites to insult, rubbish,
dehumanise and demonise Kamal Sayid Qadir. Even some
known writers showed the limits of their distance
with power and/or intellectual understanding by
reducing Kamal’s case to the issue of subjective
psychological problems or using bad language and
slander failing to realise that, since Socrates’
famous defence against punishing power, the question
of “definitions” of slander, justice, truth, public
interest, etc has been proved to be complex
philosophical and legal matters that can only be
probed by unbounded free-operating human reason and
independent fee fair justice system. On the other
hand, the role and multiple-faced function of power
in defining, imposing and operating ideological
concepts to perpetuate and reproduce its apparatuses
and interests, is too obvious to need arguing.
Socrates’ sacrifice was for a kind of truth with
universally-applicable standards of justice which
however will remain subject to human conscience and
challenge of human reason especially when the same
concept of truth is used to justify power and
corruption on the one hand and punish the innocent
people or subjugate free reasoning and dissent on
the other. Any prejudice and pre-judgement on Dr
Kamal because of his alleged use of slander or
mental attitude is no more than a contemptible cover
to compromise with and justify the illegitimacy of
power against the absolutely sole legitimate
standard of truth: freedom to use language to
express one’s conscientious feelings and
intellectual ideas.
The issue of the use of language and its relation to
power features in a very interesting way in Dr
Qadir’s case and we will deal with this in another
article.
But without Awaz and Galawej, probably Dr Kamal’s
case would have been submerged in the deluge of the
deafening silence or the disingenuous noise of
pro-power media and pro-parties’ artificial
intellectuals. But thanks to Awaz and Glawej,
another powerful front of courageous and
conscientious writers and intellectuals have been
established which has provided the most effective
historical challenge to the shallow intellectuality
of the discourse of power and the illegitimacy of
its despotic apparatuses.
I cannot, in this article, include and analyse all
the effective opportune interventions made by the
two sisters since the start of the saga. I just
mention their latest intervention published on all
major Kurdish websites. In this intervention, three
important aspects of the way Kamal Sayid Qadir
phenomenon is turned into a political intellectual
movement thanks to them have become evident:
First: their unravelling of the myth of free media
in south Kurdistan.
Two: their continued exposition of pro-party
‘intellectuals’
Three: their determination that their brother and
his intellectual case are not misrepresented and
misused by power.
Their latest statement is entitled “a clarification
by the sisters of Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir which Hawlati
was expected to publish”. As it is clear from the
title is a double-clarification statement with
naturally double-function! It is a statement to
explain how Hawlati, supposedly a leading free
independent weekly paper in South Kurdistan, has
failed to publish a response by the sisters to an
item of news the newspaper itself had published
about DR Kamal’s case. Then the statement includes
the text of the statement which Hawlati had refused
to publish, to show how the supposedly independent
media and pro-party ‘writers’ collude in
marginalising and distorting the reality of Dr
Kamal’s case. Before commenting any more on these
issues, I will translate below the text of the
sisters’ statements as they have been published on
www.dengekan.com and www.kurdistannet.org
The statement of Dr Kamal’s sisters
A Statement by the sisters of Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir
which Hawlati was expected to publish”:
//Dengekan, independent Kurdish website, 22 January
2006//
With great sadness we declare that we did send the
clarification statement below through the three
different emails of Hawlati and twice each time to
Hawlati to publish. We waited two weeks for the date
of the publication of the newspaper. But [the
statement] was not published by them. We leave the
reason of its non-publication to intelligent
readers. There is only one thing which we need
mention: Have the previous staff of Hawlati resigned
for nothing? Have corruption and interference by
power reached this newspaper too? The previous
Hawlati had forbidden publishing for the emirs of
slander and those writers who were covering up for
power. But unfortunately the present Hawlati which
according to the moral principles of journalism
should have given us to the right and opportunity to
publish our clarification about scandalous lies made
in the name of our brother and published in this
[Hawlati] newspaper, denied us this opportunity. Is
it right for Hawlati to deprive two citizens like us
who are the sisters of Dr Kamal and closest people
to him, of our rights [to publish our views] and
instead publish the reports of the writers of power
and those who have sold their pens, about the case
of Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir?
The number 257 of Hawlati newspaper [18 January
2006] is so shy about this issue of Dr Kamal Sayid
Qadir which is at its hottest level of public
attention and chain of reactions, that , in order to
avoid the publication of our statement, has not even
published one word about this important issue. This
is a clear indication in the realm of journalism
about the way the newspaper unfairly treats the
issues of citizens and how they avoid facing the
truth in order to compromise with power and appease
those who distort the truth.
Sisters of Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir Awaz and Galawej, 22
January 2006-01-23
And the following is the precise text of the
statement we sent to Hawlati for publication:
A clarification statement by the sisters of Dr Kamal
Said Qadir:
In the Hawlati number 256, Mr Hamasaid Hassan has
published a statement about the case of Dr Kamal
Sayid Qadir. Unfortunately Mr Hamasaid tries to
forcibly distort the facts and interpret events the
way he fancies. Yes it is true that Dr Kamal, before
his return to Kurdistan, had, in an interview with
the [paltalk chatroom] Kurdistan United, apologized
to the public opinion and those persons whom he had
described in a harsh way. But he has not repented
for any facts which he has stated in his writings.
Unfortunately we view Mr Hamasaid as an accomplice
in this conflict, he is totally supportive of power
and even he was behind the first report which was
published about our brother which described him as
slanderer. Then 12 days after his abduction Mr
Hamasaid participated from his location in Hewler [Arbil]
in an interview with the radio Hawpishti in Sweden.
He could not conceal his delight [that Dr Qadir had
been kidnapped] and he was supporting those
officials who had charges against him. He was
speaking more faithfully and passionately than the
representative of Kurdistan regional government [in
Sweden] and other party people in his defence of
power. We greatly regret that Hamasaid Hassan wants
our brother to be treated with mercy and compassion.
He wrote in his Kurdistannet report: “It is worth
mentioning that in Kurdistan if a slanderer has a
sick psyche he will be beyond law.”
We want to declare and confirm through Hawlati
newspaper [the statement was expected to be
published in Hawlati] that no one is entitled to
make any statement on behalf of Dr Kamal Sayid
Qadir, his relatives and his friends. Only we two
the sisters of DR Kamal in Germany Awaz and Glawej,
have this right. Because DR Kamal is in prison, he
is captive, and captives and prisoners are not free
to express their thoughts. Any confessions and
repentance statements which are forcibly taken from
Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir, we strongly condemn them and
we will not allow any person to act from the
barricade of power as the friend and fellow of Dr
Kamal and throw dust at people’s eyes.
No media spokesperson or people from security
agencies in whatever capacity they may act, can
represent Dr Kamal because Dr Kamal has been
stripped of his will and he is by no means free to
express his opinions. Any letter written by Dr Kamal
while he is in prison is done against his own will
and he is subjected to tens of physical,
psychological and political pressure. We will
neither allow any ‘emir of slander’ to call Dr Kamal
slanderer and to make gains for himself by
victimising him.
It is right to take this opportunity to express our
thanks and appreciation from the tribune of this
newspaper to tens of thousands of people who have
raised their voices and call for immediate release
of Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir. We hope that Hawlati will
publish this clarification by us.
With our greatest respect
Awaz and Galawez Sayid Qadir, 6 January 2006.
Comment:
This statement is a historical testimony to the
great intellectual ability and deep political
understanding of the two sisters of the main issues
embodied by Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir’s case. Contrary to
the approach of some power-appeasing and muddled
intellectuals, for his sisters Dr Kamal is one whole
human being that cannot be anatomised and fragmented
into Dr Kamal the slanderer, the mentally-ill Dr
Kamal, the coward and repentant Dr Kamal, the
prisoner in waiting for mercy Dr Kamal, etc. They
want to defend his mind, his soul and his heart as
one, only one Dr Kamal. They want to defend and
protect his intellectual stand, his free human will
and his personality. Character assassination,
humiliation and psychological subjugation are for a
free-thinking conscientious writer more repressive
and painful than actual physical death. Dr Kamal’s
sisters through their sisterly intuition and
intellectual insight know the real dangers that are
facing their brothers and they do not want any
person and power to be used to justify the character
assassination of their brother.
The crucial point in their understanding and the
right judgment based on it is their recognition that
their brother is a prisoner, a captive, and thus a
man who has been stripped of his free will and human
choice. On this basis they rightly assert that any
statement which contradicts his conscience and
previous stances which Dr Kamal might be forced to
make while he is in prison, is null and void.
And all those people who opportunistically use their
position as allies of power and exploit Dr Kamal’s
weakness as a captive without free will to pretend
that they are Dr Kamal’s friends and supporters and
thus can speak for him and on his behalf, they are
not entitled to do so. Dr Kamal’s sisters through
their understandable sensitivity and precise concern
about the real issues and the way power can
trivialise the truth and manipulate mean-minded
opportunistic writers, insist that they are the only
persons who can make statements about Dr Kamal. Even
he himself cannot do that because there is no
himself, no free self Dr Kamal, as long as he is
captive and denied free speech in compulsion-free
linguistic space. Of course, by doing so they
express the real wish of Dr Kamal himself.
Here I cannot resist the temptation of comparing
this attitude and sound judgment of Dr Kamal’s
sisters to that of PKK leadership after the
abduction and conviction of Abdullah Ocelan. Dr
Kamal’s sisters have rightly assessed the fact that
because Dr Kamal is captive and has no free will and
right of free expression then any thing said by him
which contradicts his beliefs or said on his behalf
is void and nil and cannot be projected as truth.
The same principle was right and should have been
applied in the case of Abdullah Ocelan. But PKK
leadership due to their own lack of free will and
the cult of leader worshipping failed to pay any
attention to this simple logical reality. They
continued to rule their party according to
statements made by a leader who was captive,
deprived of his free will, put under various
psychological pressures and probably the effect of
drugs. Most of the times the statements have been
made by his lawyers who have been allowed to go in
and under the continuous rigorous surveillance of
Turkish intelligence who obviously allowed Ocelan’s
real or alleged statements to go out only to control
PKK’s strategy through controlling the mind of their
leader and through it the engine of the party
leadership. How shameful that PKK leadership failed
to be as intelligent and careful as two proud
Kurdish women.
www.kurdistanreferendum.org
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