[lg policy] Kurdish anger turns into protests over Turkish court case

Fri Nov 12 20:47:14 UTC 2010

 Kurdish anger turns into protests over Turkish court case

A controversial court case, in which defendants have been barred from
speaking Kurdish, reflects deeper tensions as Turkey tries to
reconcile with a restive minority.

By Scott Peterson, Staff writer
posted November 12, 2010 at 10:34 am EST
Diyarbakir, Turkey —

The words rang out from a rally bus, as thousands of ethnic Kurds
gathered in protest against still-limited freedoms in Turkey. “Join
us, friends, we are walking for our mother tongue!” came the
announcement, as local Kurdish politicians locked arms in defiance.
“We walk for Kurdish to be spoken in parliament! For our [jailed]
friends, who are victims of politics!” Protests by Turkey’s Kurdish
minority over a controversial court case are tapping into much deeper
disappointment over a stalled government initiative to bring peace
after decades of bloodshed between the state and Kurds demanding
long-denied political and cultural freedoms.

Instead of reconciliation, however, 153 Kurdish politicians and
activists – among them 12 sitting elected mayors – are on trial in
Diyarbakir. Just over 100 of those are imprisoned – and constitute a
fraction of the 1,500 Kurds behind bars across southeast Turkey held
on similar recent charges of illegal political activities. For many of
the thousands who took to the streets Thursday, the government’s much
heralded “Kurdish Opening” launched last year – including a state
television channel in the long-banned Kurdish language, TRT6 – has
proven insincere.

“Nothing changed, nothing happened – it’s just talk,” says Ali, a
middle-aged protester who would only give his first name. “They opened
TRT6, but if you write something [in Kurdish] on your shop window,
it’s still illegal.”  Riot police with plastic armor, shields, and
long batons had initially blocked roads, but then after negotiations
with the protesters allowed the long column to snake its way inside
the ancient black basalt walls of the old city, before reemerging and
stopping near the municipality and courthouse complex.

“Either [the Kurdish] people will be recognized … so that we may all
live together in this country, or the mentality that has denied
Kurdish people [their rights] for 80 years will be revealed one more
time,” said Selahattin Demirtas, the head of the pro-Kurdish Peace and
Democracy Party (BDP), who addressed the crowd when it arrived in
front of the courthouse building. “Do you still not understand that
you can’t make this society slaves?”

Mixed results of government reconciliation attempts

After decades of conflict between the Turkish military and rebels of
the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that left nearly 40,000 dead, 3,000
villages destroyed, and millions displaced in the 1980s and 1990s, the
government last year launched an initiative aimed at improving the
lives of ordinary Kurds. The main PKK rebel group, which is based in
northern Iraq, maintains it has adhered to a unilateral cease-fire.
But a breakaway faction of Kurdish militants have kept up attacks –
including one in Istanbul two weeks ago that targeted police but
wounded more civilians instead.

And Kurds here note that the Turkish military has also continued
strikes at PKK targets in Iraq and in the southeast of the country.
Turkey, the US, and the European Union consider the PKK a “terrorist”
group, though in this region it still has much support. Results of the
government’s initiative have been mixed. The latest review of Turkey’s
adherence to criterion for joining the European Union, released last
Tuesday, noted that the “democratic opening, aimed notably at
addressing the Kurdish issue, did not yet meet ... expectations.”

The assessment from Brussels also found that “anti-terror legislation
needs to be amended to avoid undue restrictions on the exercise of
fundamental rights.” And while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been criticized by
Kurds for their handling of the issue, the backlash from nationalist
Turks against the AKP has been severe. The Constitutional Court –
which has also targeted the AKP – ruled to shut down the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society Party (DTP), the predecessor of the BDP, which has
helped sabotage government reconciliation efforts.

Rallying around the PKK

Opposition parties accuse the AKP of negotiating with the “enemy” PKK,
and of dangerously compromising the principles of the Turkish state.
Many Turks were taken aback by the scenes of jubilation in October
2009 when the government allowed back 34 PKK fighters and supporters
from northern Iraq. The returned fighters and sympathizers were
treated as heroes in triumphalist scenes by thousands of Kurds who
traveled to the border to welcome the so-called "peace group." Though
the border crossover had official sanction, a number were quickly
arrested by the government. Nearly all have now returned to northern
Iraq.

“They [the government] have cheated us,” says protester Mehmet, who
wore dark green Kurdish trousers. “The PKK side made a step with the
peace group, but they were all arrested…. Erdogan does his best to
make other countries put the PKK on the terrorist list, but how is it
possible to call … million[s of] Kurds terrorists?”  “If they are
truly sincere, we can shake [the government’s] hand,” says Emine, a
protesting mother. “Erdogan says, ‘The Kurdish issue is my issue,’ but
nothing has changed.”

At the march, slogans for more rights turned more stridently pro-PKK
when protesters were along narrower side roads difficult to access by
the police. “PKK is society, and society is here!” they chanted. “No
life without Ocalan!” was another chant, referring to PKK leader
Abdullah Ocalan, who has been jailed since 1999. In front of the
municipality buildings, a bright red PKK flag was hung from a tree,
and a couple posed before a large poster of Mr. Ocalan. Among the
people who took part in traditional Kurdish dancing were several young
women dressed in the green military clothes of the outlawed rebels.

Suspects' defense scorned for being delivered in Kurdish

The trial of the 153 Kurdish politicians and activists has drawn
regular street protests – sometimes violent – since it began Oct. 18.
In the Diyarbakir courtroom Thursday, a judge ordered the microphone
turned off when the first defendant began to speak in Kurdish. Earlier
a note had been put on the case file, saying that “suspects offered
defense in an incomprehensible language.” Some 250 defense lawyers are
working on the case, and on Thursday judges ruled that proceedings
would not resume until Jan. 13 – and that those now in prison would
remain there.

“We want an amnesty [for Kurdish rebels and activists]; we want our
language,” says Emine, the protesting mother, who does not speak
Turkish. “God created each person with their own language. What can we
do?”

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/1112/Kurdish-anger-turns-into-protests-over-Turkish-court-case
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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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