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US: Armenian and Kurdish Youth to Protest
Turkish Human Rights Abuses
20.3.2010 |
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March
20, 2010
LOS ANGELES, CA,— A coalition of human rights
activists will mobilize at the Turkish Consulate in
Los Angeles (6300
Wilshire blvd.
Los Angeles, 90048) on March 24 to demand the
release of a 15 year-old Kurdish girl jailed in
Turkey for 8 years on charges of terrorism.
The demonstration, set to begin at 2pm, is being
organized by the United Human Rights Council in
conjunction with the Armenian Youth Federation, ARF
Shant Student Association, American Kurdish
Information Network, Kurdish American Youth
Organization and Kurdish Community of Southern
California.
“Turkey’s Kurds today are experiencing the same
oppression, subjugation and mistreatment that the
Armenians faced a century ago under Ottoman rule,”
explained Shirnian. “We have built a strong
coalition with Armenian and Kurdish youth groups
throughout the country and are standing united
against Turkey’s human rights violations, especially
the political repression and imprisonment of
innocent children.”
Berivan was
found guilty of “crimes on behalf of an illegal
organization” after prosecutors alleged she had
hurled stones and shouted slogans at a demonstration
in the south-eastern city of Batman in October 2009. |
An annual demonstration at the Turkish consulate in
Los Angeles on April 24, 2009, where thousands
gathered to protest the ongoing denial of the
Armenian Genocide by Ankara. |
She is among a growing
number of Kurdish youth being tried and jailed in
Turkey on charges of terrorism. The prosecutions
come amid increased political tension in the Muslim
country as it faces a fierce backlash from an
impoverished Kurdish minority outraged over
government sponsored terror and oppression.
“With over 2,600 minors serving time in Turkish
prisons, the recent arrest of Berivan comes as no
surprise,” said UHRC chairperson Sanan Shirinian.
“Kurdish children are being systematically
imprisoned for merely singing their native songs,
peacefully voicing concerns within their communities
or simply being at the wrong place at the wrong
time.”
Though the Kurds represent the largest linguistic
minority in Turkey, comprising approximately 20% of
the population, they have been subject to methodical
oppression since the 1920’s.
“The Turkish government and military have been
oppressing the Kurdish minority for decades,
subjecting them to poverty, denying them their human
rights, banning their political parties,www.ekurd.netand
waging a brutal war on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK),” said Shirinian. ”These injustices should not
go unnoticed and the perpetrators should be made to
account for their repressive policies.”
The PKK has been fighting for equal rights and
liberation in the southeast of Turkey since 1984.
Turkey characterizes their struggle for freedom as
terrorism and has dealt with it as such, clamping
down on the country’s Turkish population and using
military force and counter-insurgency techniques to
destroy the organization.
The government recently announced steps to reconcile
with Kurds by expanding greater cultural rights in
an effort to end the conflict that has led to the
disappearance and death of thousands of Kurds. Those
steps, which include cosmetic reforms and pledges
for equality, have been criticized by Turkey’s Kurds
as hollow.
“Berivan’s arrest and prosecution come as a direct
result of those hollow reforms,” said UHRC activist
Nora Kayserian, noting that her arrest came at a
demonstration against a government ban in December
of the only Kurdish political party in the country,
the Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP).
The forced closure of the party and the subsequent
late-night arrest of some 60 Kurdish political
leaders sent shock-waves throughout the country,
sparking weeks of demonstrations and violent clashes
across Turkey.
“Turkey claims to be a country devoted to democracy,
yet principles of democracy are not implemented,”
added Kayserian. “The cycle of oppression committed
against the Kurds is clear evidence that Turkey is
far from being a democratic state..”
The United Human Rights Council (UHRC) is a
committee of the Armenian Youth Federation. By means
of action on a grassroots level the UHRC works
toward exposing and correcting human rights
violations of governments worldwide, and aims to
foster dialogue and collaboration between peoples
who share this common vision. More information can
be obtained by emailing: uhrc@ayfwest.org
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author or news agency,
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