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Turkey's Kurds back ceasefire, call on
state to follow
30.10.2006 |
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DIYARBAKIR,
Turkey-Kurdistan, October 30, -- In the "Republic"
shanty town, children with toy guns play rebel
against soldier, but their parents hope a ceasefire
by separatist guerrillas will finally bring peace to
Turkey's southeast.
"We all pray the violence will stop," said Hasan
Cetin, 60, who like hundreds of Kurds here fled his
village to escape the pressures of a decades-old
conflict between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) and the army.
"They (the PKK) fight with the state and we, the
poor people, are always stuck in the middle," Cetin
said.
"If there is no more fighting the economy in the
southeast will improve and we will have jobs and be
able to leave these slums. But the state must do its
part to end the conflict."
The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by
Turkey, the United States and the European Union,
declared a unilateral ceasefire on Oct. 1. The move
was dismissed as a publicity stunt by the central
government and army.
But in the southeast's largest city Diyarbakir,
politicians, intellectuals and residents welcomed
the PKK action.
"This ceasefire is different because conditions on
the ground are different. I believe it can be
permanent and that guns can be finally put down,"
said Sezgin Tanrikulu, a leading human rights lawyer
and head of Diyarbakir's Bar Association.
Analysts have said the ceasefire offers an
opportunity to halt a 22-year-old conflict which has
killed more than 30,000 people but they have warned
that political steps must be taken to solve the
Kurdish problem.
Turkey is required by the European Union to improve
Kurdish rights as part of a membership process which
began a year ago. Brussels is expected to criticise
Ankara's action on this in a progress report on Nov.
8.
WEARY OF WAR
In the southeast, some observers say the ceasefire
shows Kurds are tired of violence.
"Kurds have been saying democracy must be pursued
and the PKK saw this and realised their position was
getting worse as the belief in democracy was getting
stronger," Abdurrahman Kurt, chairman of the ruling
AK Party in Diyarbakir province, said.
Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was captured
in 1999, called for a unilateral ceasefire in late
September.
Violence had largely subsided after he was detained,
but it flared again after the PKK called off another
unilateral ceasefire in 2004.
The latest truce came amid a diplomatic push by
Turkey to break up the PKK, and a military offensive
by the army, NATO's second largest, in the
southeast.
Hawkish Armed Forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit
has vowed to fight the PKK, which still has
considerable support in the southeast, until the
last guerrilla is eradicated.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is under pressure to
crack down on the PKK to stem rising nationalism
ahead of elections next year. His AK Party, which
has roots in political Islam, fears concessions on
Kurdish rights or looking soft on the PKK will
weaken the party at the ballot box next year.
"We (non governmental organisations, intellectuals,
local politicians) have to work to keep this
ceasefire in place until the elections, and then the
government will have a chance to work on it,"
Tanrikulu said.
Politicians in Diyarbakir say small steps have been
taken to meet Kurdish demands on rights, such as
allowing limited Kurdish television broadcasts and
teaching Kurdish in private classes.
But for many Kurds these changes have not addressed
the deeper disconnect they feel exists between the
southeast and Ankara, dating back to the foundation
of the Turkish republic on the ashes of the Ottoman
Empire.
"Whenever Kurds want to use their language, culture
or ask for more rights, Turks remember the Ottoman
story of losing their lands and then they panic,"
said Seyhmus Diken, a writer and adviser to
Diyarbakir's Metropolitan Municipality.
"Mentalities have to change," he told Reuters.
HEAL WOUNDS
The AK Party's Kurt says local politicians are
trying to mend fences between Turks and Kurds.
"Around 40,000 people have died so if you can't
repair their hearts now it will be even tougher in
the future," he said. "We must repair the mistakes.
If someone went to the mountains (to join the PKK)
their families should not be punished."
The government has pledged financial support for
families uprooted by the army's scorched-earth
campaign against villages seen as supporting the PKK
in the 1990s.
But those affected say little is being done on the
ground. Deep poverty has fuelled the conflict in a
region that has failed to attract investment despite
pledges by successive governments to boost
development.
"Families who had members jailed for being part of
the PKK are excluded from the state and from
benefits," said Aziz Aksahin, a 56-year-old
unemployed teacher who was released from prison last
year after serving 12 years for being a PKK member.
Rasit Tekdemir, whose six sons joined the PKK, is
sceptical anything will really change. The former
farmer now scrapes a living for his daughters and
wife as a fumigator.
"I had a house in Ergani. I left everything behind,
look now at the condition of this place," he said,
gesturing to his living room where the only piece of
value was a television set.
"If there is a good ceasefire followed by a general
amnesty then my sons can return home and help me
here but I doubt it. Only the EU can really pressure
the Turkish state," he said.
Reuters
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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