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Outspoken Kurd is living on the Edge in
Turkey
30.5.2006
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BATMAN,
Kurdistan-Turkey , -- Huseyin Kalkan, the mayor of
Batman, pointed to the bullet holes in the
pale-yellow wall of his office, little indentations
just above the framed photograph of a lavender
cactus blossom.
"I'm always a target, especially when something goes
wrong," Kalkan said.
Undoubtedly, Kalkan has many enemies, and these
days, things are certainly going wrong.
The outspoken mayor of this oil town deep in
southeastern Turkey is one of more than 50 Kurds
elected to top municipal offices during a period of
political and cultural opening in the restive
region.
Now, however, he has become a lightning rod in a
conflict that is threatening to take Turkey's Kurds
back to dark, violent days of separatist terrorism
and military repression.
Kalkan, 42, is seen by many Kurds as a champion of
their rights, and by many Turks as a dangerous
provocateur. That is precisely the kind of
precarious position in which Kurdish politicians in
this region frequently find themselves.
Unabashedly sympathetic to Kurdish nationalists, he
has been shot at — by Turkish police, he contends —
and faces a dozen criminal complaints filed by
Turkish state prosecutors.
Among the charges pending against him are
association with and support for a terrorist group,
namely the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, the
guerrillas that since 1984 have fought for
independence from Turkey. The PKK, which declared a
cease-fire in 1999 but resumed attacks in 2004, is
regarded as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the
United States and the European Union.
Kalkan, a wiry man with thick salt-and-pepper hair
and mustache who speaks heavily accented Turkish,
could face an 18-year prison sentence if he is found
guilty.
Most recently, he was called in for questioning by
state prosecutors after signing a petition with
other Kurdish mayors in support of a Kurdish
television channel that broadcasts from Denmark. Roj
TV can be viewed by Kurds in Turkey with satellite
dishes, and it is wildly popular.
The Turkish government, however, sees the channel as
a mouthpiece for terrorists and has been lobbying
the Danes to shut it down. Turkey has accused Roj TV
of inciting violence during a recent wave of deadly
protests in predominantly Kurdish cities and points
to the channel's frequent airing of interviews with
PKK rebels as evidence of its complicity with the
outlawed group. Roj TV describes itself as
independent and said it is merely covering the news.
Kalkan and 55 other mayors with the Democratic
Society Party, the largest Kurdish political faction
in Turkey, wrote to Danish Prime Minister Anders
Fogh Rasmussen that closing Roj TV would harm "our
efforts to build a pluralistic and democratic
society in Turkey."
The mayors argued that Roj TV filled a void. Only
recently have Turkish authorities, in their push to
join the European Union, allowed limited
Kurdish-language broadcasting on state or private
TV; such broadcasts remain censored and restricted
to a few hours a week.
A father of six and the son of a shoeshine man,
Kalkan did a two-year stint in jail when he was 18,
accused of aiding and abetting a terrorist group. He
was eventually acquitted, he said. He was raised in
Batman and went to high school with quite a few
young men who went "to the mountains" to fight for
the PKK.
Although Kalkan could be described as overly
uncritical of the PKK, and doesn't hold the group
responsible for violence, he does advocate a
peaceful solution to Turkish-Kurdish differences.
The era of armed struggle is over, he said.
He and his party have drafted a 20-point plan, with
some demands that sound plausible, such as greater
cultural rights and election rules that would make
it easier for Kurdish parties to enter the national
parliament.
There are other stipulations the Turkish government
would find intolerable, such as an amnesty for PKK
fighters and freedom for PKK commander Abdullah
Ocalan, who was captured and jailed in 1999.
Kalkan acknowledges that there has been progress but
warns of more bloodshed, greater agitation for
independence and a new crop of PKK recruits if the
government does not entertain additional Kurdish
demands.
"Most Kurds are looking to Turkey and Europe," he
said. "But if the status quo persists, they will
start looking more and more to northern Iraq and
will want to separate and unite with the Kurds of
northern Iraq."
For Turkish leaders, that is a nightmare scenario.
Fears of such separatism are the motive behind
generations of government repression of Kurdish
cultural identity.
As for his own troubles, Kalkan said they come in
waves.
"When there is conflict and violence, the pressure
mounts," he said. "From 1999 to 2005, we didn't have
too many problems. Only in the last year and a half
have we had trouble.
"The tension is growing once again."
Latimes com
Southeastern Turkey: North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
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