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Leyla Zana's speech at the 4th
International Conference on EU, Turkey and the Kurds
5.12.2007
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December
5, 2007
Fourth international conference on EU, Turkey and
the Kurds. European Parliament, Brussels
3/4 December 2007
Esteemed Friends, dear participants,
Firstly, I would like to thank everyone in the
organising bodies for their contributions to this
conference. As it is known, internal peace in Turkey
is the greatest guarantee for peace in Europe, the
Middle East and the world. I would like to reiterate
that I find such events, where the Kurdish issue is
analysed extensively, and in which all parties’
different components can participate with original
views and proposals, valuable.
My last visit to the European Parliament was on the
occasion of the Sakharov Prize award ceremony. On
that day, I had started my speech in the brother
language Turkish and had continued in Kurdish where
I wanted to once again underscore the brotherhood of
peoples, languages and cultures. Today I want to
speak to you in Kurdish only. |
Turkey's outspoken
Kurdish rights advocate Leyla Zana, Former Kurdish
MP in Turkey Zana spent a decade behind bars in
Turkey for speaking Kurdish in the Turkish
Parliament after taking her parliamentary oath. She
was the first Kurdish woman to be elected to
Turkey's parliament |
This time, it is not
because I do not want to emphasise brotherhood among
peoples, but because I want to draw your attention
once more to efforts of resurrecting the fear of
mother tongue. In fact, I find it a matter of
embarrassment for Turkey that people are still being
tried in courts for speaking in their mother tongue.
I believe that this emphasis I am making on the
Kurdish language at a time when a democratic and
civil constitution is under debate will be evaluated
by you not as an important detail but as a primary
request.
During the intervening time period many conferences
were held both within the European Parliament and
also in Turkey on the issues of EU, Turkey and the
Kurds. As these meetings on the themes of peace and
solutions were held, various and original
initiatives by the intellectuals were undertaken,
signature campaigns were launched and press
declarations were made, all these turned into a
common agenda of all those whose hearts were beating
for an honourable, just and lasting peace with the
aim of putting an end to deaths. However, sufficient
honesty and sincerity could not be demonstrated for
ending deaths.
The lock is there, the key is known but the door
just won’t open. It is high time the door is opened.
The important thing is to place the key in the lock
properly. Everything hinges on an issue which I
reminded you of just recently with insistence and
emphasis but something that I have frankly got tired
of reminding everyone...The key issue has to do with
how the issue is defined, the approach and outlook
to the issue. The issue does not stem from any
problem of public order, security, hunger or
socio-economic backwardness. Everything you try to
strip of its identity is doomed to become more
painful and complex as examples demonstrate in other
countries. Unless we are able to debate the very
name of the issue correctly, the multifaceted crisis
of identity and social crisis will drown us all in
an ocean of stalemates. If the Kurdish issue were
solely an issue of poverty and security, wouldn’t
the methods that have been tried for over half a
century been not only decisive but would also have
lead to results? Haven’t all methods including
beatings, detentions, torture,www.ekurd.net
executions, forced
migrations, sending to forced exile, extra judicial
killings, village evacuations, village guards,
release based on confessions, pardon based on
apology been tried? These are indeed only those
methods that are known and explained in a loud and
clear manner by the highest authorities. What about
methods that not known or disclosed? I believe my
memory which is writhing and reeling in pain will
not allow me to remember and recount all of the ones
that have been tried.
Despite all these denials, this treatment with
contempt, debasement and even being expelled from
their land, Kurds did not get cross. They were
heartbroken but believed it was a virtue not to
complain about it. They were beaten but instead of
taking revenge by beating back they insisted on a
country where all existing differences would
survive. They did not hold one blood more supreme
than the other, one language superior to the other,
one colour better than the other. They were not on
the side of those who thrived on conflict and
bloodshed between peoples. On the contrary, when the
ringleaders were yelling and shouting to arouse,
they maintained their modesty by remaining silent.
They yearned and are still yearning for a policy of
sensitivity and stability where common values are
symbolised in an honourable, just and lasting
solution.
Destruction, denial must not be the only way.
Then, it is not possible to change the issue by
taking its causes and effects separately and
independently from each other. Instead of dividing,
pulling into pieces or scattering it, we should set
off primarily by defining it correctly. We should
reach an agreement that we cannot solve the problem
through clichés, a policy of condemnation and
damnation, by closing political parties, by
increasing the number of investigations and arrests,
by preventing civil politics, by raising the bar
even higher on bans and prohibitions and more
importantly, by regarding deaths of people as mere
statistical data. Otherwise our losses will not
decrease but will unfortunately increase. In fact,
even the developments experienced in the specific
context of Kurds in Turkey and legal politics are
enough to demonstrate this.
Along this direction, the number of our duties and
responsibilities are on the increase. In addition to
Kurds, the responsibility of the European Union and
the Turkish Government cannot be underestimated. But
the unison of discourse between the EU and the
Turkish government spokespersons aggravate the issue
rather than alleviating it. On the contrary, what is
expected is to remind Turkey of its responsibilities
concerning the Kurdish issue and ensuring that this
should not remain at the level of a reminder alone.
Undoubtedly, the solution to the Kurdish issue
should be specific to Turkey. But during the process
of finding a solution not everything should be
expected of Turkey and the existing inner dynamics
in Turkey. The aim should not be putting pressure
but creating synergies by offering a contribution.
Contribution to Turkey could not be through the
unison created in discourse. It should be known that
an “EU Member Turkey”, which will have solved the
Kurdish issue in a manner that is in congruence with
contemporary civilisations and the new world order
will not only remain as a rising star but it will
also be transformed into a facilitating force in the
realisation of world peace.
What are these responsibilities then? Despite all
these adverse developments, I believe the historic
opportunity that was seized in 1999 for a democratic
and peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue is still
there. The world should stop avoiding the
recognition of political, social and cultural
democratic rights of Kurds whose population is over
40 million. Instead of a definition of citizenship
which defines everyone as Turkish, the existing
phobia against placing under legal protection all
natural rights emanating from peoples’ original
characteristics. Instead of focusing on denigrating
concepts such as “pardon based on apology”, amnesty,
pardon or the like, we should be speaking about
quality and comprehensive projects with content.www.ekurd.net
Enabling political
detainees, intellectuals, writers and politicians
who have been relegated to forced or voluntary exile
to participate in the political life should be
regarded as a step to facilitate a solution. Radical
reforms in Turkey’s political and administrative
structure will accelerate and strengthen the process
of democratisation. For ways to be developed in
finding solutions to problems, enhancement of local
administrations will ease the process.
Values that Kurds as a people do not hesitate to
emphasise out loud or even regard as untouchable
even if the price they have to pay is heavy should
never be ignored. This is because the primary duty
of politicians and those who give direction to
politics is not merely to listen to the values and
requests of the people. Being able to be the tongue
and voice of the people requires that the
untouchable values of the people are expressed
clearly and honestly. In this process which is
evolving towards a solution, the Kurdish people find
the role of Mr Öcalan extremely important and
effective within the framework of social peace and
the togetherness of peoples. In fact, this is not
expressed by Kurds alone. Prominent writers in
Turkey draw attention to the fact that “the first
radical step in seeking a solution would be a
comprehensive agreement with Öcalan”.
It is time we started talking about our problems by
doing away with our taboos. Regarding that the
sensitivities of people are noteworthy makes a
lasting peace possible. What is expected of the
world is to respect this will and exclude it from
bargaining issues in international relationships.
Unless the issue is approached from a human
perspective and from a perspective of conscience, it
will continue to be a potential risk threatening
regional and world peace. It is for this reason that
the policy of “good Kurds-bad Kurds” that has been
tried for some time has gone bankrupt. What befits a
modern country is to hand over a tradition of
tolerance that will strengthen diplomatic, cultural,
economic and social relations to the future rather
than escalating tensions across borders and
countries.
Dear friends,
The ties of citizenship are not only established
through laws. Those who are considered as ‘so
called’ citizens, but who are in fact real citizens
in essence, despite the fact that they are tied to
their through their hearts, may really become ‘so
called’ citizens tomorrow. In a world where borders
have lost their meaning, real division and
separation is that which happens in the hearts and
minds. Bringing the heart and mind together
necessitates patience, fortitude, stamina,
experience and maturity. I believe we have gone over
the threshold of endurance. Just as we cannot build
tomorrow by nurturing the pains of yesterday,www.ekurd.net
it is not possible to
find a solution by multiplying the pains of today
either.
Just as Emin Maalouf has said, “My identity is what
makes me unique and unlike any other. Killing a
person’s identity is a murder that is graver than
killing him.” Every identity that is killed is in
fact a loss for humanity. We should therefore
capture the pluralism that will nurture those
differences. It should be known that every identity
that is murdered is our own murder regardless of
what our language, religion or identity might be.
Believing that you will approach the problem with
sensitivity I extend my love to you...
Leyla Zana
Fourth international conference on EU, Turkey and
the Kurds. European Parliament, Brussels. 3/4
December 2007 - In memory of the Kurdish Writer
Mehmed Uzun. Leyla Zana, EP Sakharov Prize for
Freedom of Thought & the Rafto Prize, Turkey
** Zana and her colleagues were first sentenced to
15 years in jail in 1994 for membership of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has
been fighting a 22-year bloody campaign for Kurdish
self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.
Zana spent a decade behind bars in Turkey for
alleged links with Kurdish armed rebels
Zana, the first Kurdish woman to be elected to
Turkey's parliament, , who was imprisoned for
speaking Kurdish in the Turkish Parliament after
taking her parliamentary oath and for her political
actions which were considered against the unity of
Turkey. She was awarded the 1995 Sakharov Prize by
the European Parliament, but was unable to collect
it until her release in 2004.
In March 2003, Zana and her co-defendants were
allowed a retrial after their original conviction
was condemned as unfair by the European Court of
Human Rights in 2001.
** More
about Kurdish Activist Leyla
Zana
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
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" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 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.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
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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