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Turkey: 10 years in prison for a private
letter!!!
7.4.2008
By Eziz Bawermend
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April
7, 2008
Turkish sociologist Dr Ismail Besikci is a social
scientist. He has made scientific observations and
reached certain conclusions that contradict the
official teachings of the Turkish state ideology,
Kemalism. For his scholarly research, Dr Besikci has
spent around 20 years in Turkish prisons.
He received a ten-year prison sentence for the
following, then private, letter which is reproduced
on the occasion of the author’s 70th birthday. He
wrote the letter when he was in prison.
The full text of the letter, which was sent to
Madame Boulanger, then Chairman of the Swiss Union
of Writers, on 14/8/1980 follows:
“The official ideology in Turkey continues to
maintain in an insistent and obstinate manner that
there are no people known as Kurds and no language
known as Kurdish. One of the primary aspects of this
ideology,www.ekurd.net
which we can call Kemalism for short, is
its being downright anti-Kurdish. It is racist and
colonialist. And the Turkish university, the Turkish
judiciary, the Turkish political parties and mass
media such as the press, radio, and television have
been made to accept this official ideology. And in
this process, the State's every kind of ideological
instruments of oppression and coercive instruments
of repression have been and are being used.
The universities, which are claimed to be
autonomous, the judiciary which is alleged to be
independent, mass media, which are said to be free
and the institutions which are pointed out as
particularly democratic have accepted that ideology
without any discussion. These organizations have
gradually become the builders and propagators of the
ideology, which is based on lies. They have become
the most important institutions of the ideology
based on lies. . The Turkish Writers' Union, of
which I am a member, is also a democratic
organization. But, it advances tendencies in line
with the official ideology.
From this point of view, the Turkish thinking
develops along a double standard. The Turkish
writers, who are alleged to uphold democratic
ideals, even the communists think along a double
standard. They enthusiastically support liberation
movements in any part of the world. They praise
these movements. They express their solidarity. But,
they adopt a hostile attitude to liberation
movements in any part of Kurdistan. They belittle
them. They look down on them as imperialism's
stir-ups.
In Turkey, there are centers doing work for human
rights, associations to protect and develop human
rights. But up to now, they have not taken an
interest in the question of Kurdistan and the human
rights of the Kurds. They vehemently avoid saying
anything which might be in favor of the Kurds. Yet
they generously praise the official ideology. Such
organizations are in the midst of a determined and
systematic struggle not to see the Kurdish plight.
And under such conditions, the Turkish state is
easily maintaining its racist and colonialist
oppression in Kurdistan. It has turned this racist
and colonialist oppression into a day-to-day affair.
In spite of this racist and colonialist policy, the
Turkish state is able to claim that it respects
human rights. Indeed, it is able to boast about
being one of the rare few countries in the world
that respect human rights. On this matter, there is
benefit in dwelling on two events that have
developed in most recent days.
Amnesty International has issued a report concerning
torture and violation of human rights in Turkey. The
Turkish state officials are rejecting the
allegations by Amnesty International. For example,
Mr Mustafa Gulcugil , Minister for Internal Affairs,
is able to say ‘Turkey is one of the rare few
countries which respect human rights.’ (Ref. Turkish
newspapers dated 18/6/1980). Mr Hayrettin Erkmen,
Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the other hand, was
able to assert the same things in an article for
which he paid Newsweek to print on 23/6/1980. But
the Turkish press has remained indifferent to the
report by Amnesty International. The Turkish
newspapers are not making an issue of assertions the
State officials advance despite the question of
Kurdistan and despite the question of Kurds’ human
rights.
University circles, political parties, unions,
associations, mass media etc never touch on the
Kurdish question. The subjects such as the division
of Kurdistan the application of the ‘divide and
rule’ principle after World War I, particularly
between 1919 and 1923 are the subjects that the
Turkish academics, Turkish thinkers make special
efforts not to see, not to study. The Turkish press
is extremely indifferent to the subject of
Kurdistan. But, this indifference is a premeditated,
calculated and rational option. The aim is to
dismiss those who have an interest in the question
of Kurdistan. To work for decimating the impact of
their thoughts on this matter. For example, the
letter of protest your organization sent to
President Fahri Koruturk and Prime Minister Suleyman
Demirel on 8/11/1979 did not appear in the Turkish
press for a long time. It appeared only in the
15/5/1980 issue of the Democrat newspaper as a short
news item. Again, the notices that were written to
the same officials on 10/11/1979 expressing the
oppression of the Kurdish people to be in violation
of human rights did not appear in the Turkish press
at all. The Turkish press, no doubt, is not so
indifferent to other matters.
There is no doubt that the repressive measures
perpetrated by the State constitutes a big obstacle
in the development of thought and science. The
indifference of the institutions such as the
universities, the press, the unions and furthermore
their attitude of tacit approval are intensifying
the repressive measures even more. This, too, is an
important fact.
All these show the real issue to be one that comes
well before the question of freedom for a writer.
The question is that of freedom for the Kurdish
people. And today, Kurdistan in the centers of the
Middle East is an international colony that has been
divided and severed and whose national and
democratic rights have been confiscated. The Kurdish
people are a nation partitioned by barbed wires and
minefields, with ongoing efforts to completely cut
off the parts from one another. Under these
conditions, the political status of the Kurdish
people is even lower than that of a colony. Because,
for example, in Turkey even their existence is not
accepted. The Kurds in Turkey can have rights only
to the extent of becoming Turks. The alternative is
repression, cruelty, prisons…
In view of these and in the face of such issues,
there is great benefit in placing the question of
freedom for a nation rather than that of a writer
under the spotlight. I wish to express therefore
that your organization’s letters are greatly
appreciated.
Furthermore, Madame Chairman, for the special
interest you have taken in myself I send you and all
the members of your organization my regards and
greetings. I wish you good health, happiness and
success.”
So what has changed since 14/8/1980?! Kurdistan
remains a nightmare for the Turkish establishment!
Copyright, respective author or news agency Eziz
Bawermend
** 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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