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Kurds march in London for Ocalan and Peace
18.2.2008 |
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Kurds
mark 9th anniversary of Ocalan's Kidnapping
February
18, 2008
London, UK, -- Roughly a thousand Kurds took
part in a march in North London on Friday 15th Feb,
calling for the release of the Kurdish leader
Abdullah Ocalan and for peace in Kurdistan. The
march marked the 9th anniversary of his illegal
kidnapping in Kenya.
Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK, (Partiya
Karkeren Kurdistan - the Kurdish Workers Party) was
kidnapped in Nairobi on 15 Feb 1999 in an operation
involving the CIA, the Turkish intelligence agency
(and possibly the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad,)
and flown back to Turkey where he was sentenced to
death (later commuted to life imprisonment) in a
military trial.
Since then he has been in solitary confinement, the
only prisoner on Imrali, an island in the Sea of
Marmara, guarded by over a thousand soldiers.
Although the PKK is listed by many countries as a
'terrorist' organisation, and over 37,000 are
thought to have died in the conflict between them
and the Turkish authorities, since his arrest Ocalan
has called for an end to military operations by the
PKK and a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem
in Turkey.
As one of the banners from the FED-BiR (Kurdish
Federation) put it: "Abdullah Ocalan is the
Political Will of the Kurdish People." Many of the
demonstrators wore T-shirts with his picture and the
message "Free Ocalan - Peace in Kurdistan" and some
carried banners and flags with his image on them and
one man a large framed portrait of him.
Since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule
in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise
with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds'
identity in its constitution and of their language
as a native language along with Turkish in the
country's Kurdish areas,
the party also demanded
an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and
constitution against Kurds, ranting them full
political freedoms.
The march went through areas of north London with a
strong Turkish presence and the police were
obviously worried at the possibility of conflict,
providing a strong presence.
I only went with them for the first mile or so of
the march from Dalston to a rally in Wood Green, and
although some Turks on the street stopped to watch I
heard no comments. Last November there was a large
march in Central London by the Turkish community
calling for an end to support for the PKK from
groups aided by the British government. |
Kurds march in London for Ocalan and Peace
There were plenty of police on hand for the march,
which went through areas with many Turkish residents
Freedom for Ocalan. Peace in Kurdistan read the
T-shirts and this banner.
more pictures |
The Kurds came close to
an independent Kurdistan - although one without the
Kurdish areas of Iraq, Syria and Iran - at the end
of the First World War, when the Ottoman Empire was
defeated, but it didn't suit the political purposes
of the victorious powers, and the proposal made at
Sevres was later withdrawn. But it is hard to see
how the conflict can eventually be resolved without
some re-drawing of boundaries in the area and at
least a degree of autonomy to a Kurdish state,
incorporating parts of north Iraq, Turkey and Iran.
Information for this report was provided by |
indymedia org.uk, mylondondiary co.uk and Agencies
**
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 25 million ethnic Kurds, a
large Turkey's Kurdish community 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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