Turkey: Kurdish rights are well protected by the Turkish constitution

Turkey: Rights Activists Criticize PM on Kurds

[15:52 , 23 Dec 2006]
Turkey,Kurds (BIA News Center)


PNA-PM Erdogan said "Kurds don't have rights related issues in
Turkey". Rights activists criticize him: Many face rights violations but
Kurds have distinct problems; notably on domains of cultural rights and
political representation. EU Report quotes some...

Istanbul, December 20,-- Rights activists criticize PM Recep Tayyip
Erdogan's words saying "Kurds in Turkey don't have any rights problems".

"Turkey have serious problems in the frame of minority rights and
Kurds are the mostly effected by those problems" said Husnu Ondul, former
chair of Human Rights Association (IHD).

PM Erdogan responded to a question on rights of Kurds by journalists
making reference to the rights of Turkish Cypriots during his visit to New
York, saying "They have the same rights as any other ethnic group living on
Turkish soil. There are more than Kurdish citizens in the parliament".


"Ethnical, regional, religious chauvinism must stop. We do this in
Turkey, if it realizes also in Cyprus, problems would cease there too".

"PM is confused"

"He acknowledges the Kurdish problem when he goes to Diyarbakir and he
forgets all about it in New York. He must resolve this contradiction first"
said Pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) vice chair Hasip Kaplan.

He noted that the Kurdish problem went onto international stage with
the Iraq's occupation and added that "maybe Erdogan doesn't have a problem
but the world does. 20 million Kurds face gigantic problems in cultural,
economical and political domains. It's political myopia not to see this
fact".

Problems on several domains

Husnu Ondul puts the accent on cultural rights and political
representation. He argues that there is a fear in Turkish society and
establishment towards recognizing minority rights amounting to paranoia.

Ondul once again emphasized that human rights problems are universal
but Kurds face distinct and more frequent violations. He summarized the
areas of problem as follows:

* Language and related rights: Language is the most important aspect
of being a distinct community. Kurds have problems protecting and developing
their language. There are no academic studies nor practical institutions on
Kurdish language.

* State's ignorance: As equal citizens, Kurds are pushed out of
constitutional protection. Public sources are devoted only to the Turkish
culture, all 26 other different ethnic groups lack public support that's
under constitutional protection. On the contrary, people that try to work on
those subjects are punished: Ismail Besikci is an example.

* Life under constant state of emergency: Especially in southeastern
Turkey, -where the Kurdish population is concentrated- people lived most of
the 80 years of the Republic under state of emergency. Military pressure is
pervasive and ever-lasting.

* Political representation: Everybody knows that the 10 percent
electoral barrier aims at keeping the Kurds out of the parliament. DTP's,
HADEP's votes go to the bin while people get elected by 2 thousand votes.

EU Report

Some quotes on the issue included in the the European Comission's 2006
Progress Report on Turkey are as follows:

"As regards cultural rights, permission was granted to two local TV
channels in Diyarbakir and to one radio in Sanliurfa to broadcast in
Kurdish. However, time restrictions apply, with the exception of films and
music programmes. All broadcasts, except songs, must be subtitled or
translated in Turkish, which makes live broadcasts technically cumbersome.
Educational programmes teaching the Kurdish language are not allowed. The
Turkish Public Television (TRT) has continued broadcasting in five languages
including Kurdish. However, the duration and scope of TRT's national
broadcasts in five languages is very limited. No private broadcaster at
national level has applied for broadcasting in languages other than Turkish
since the enactment of the 2004 legislation.

Children whose mother tongue is not Turkish cannot learn their mother
tongue in the Turkish public schooling system. Such education can only be
made by private education institutions. As concerns Kurdish all such courses
were closed down in 2004. Therefore, there are no possibilities to learn
Kurdish today in the public or private schooling system. Furthermore, there
are no measures taken to facilitate access to public services for those who
do not speak Turkish. As reported above, according to the Law on Political
Parties, the use of languages other than Turkish is illegal in political
life.

The court case against the Rights and Freedoms Party (HAK-PAR)
regarding a speech in Kurdish continues. As regards the situation in the
East and Southeast, progress has been made with regard to the compensation
of losses resulting from terrorist acts. The ECtHR ruled that the
compensation law allowed for the provision of adequate redress for persons
who were denied access to their possessions in their place of residence.

The situation in the South-East has deteriorated since the resumption
of violence by the PKK, which is on the EU list of terrorist organisations.
During the period between November 2005 and June 2006, there were 774
terrorist attacks reported, which led to 44 military, 5 police and 13
civilian casualties.

In the aftermath of the funerals of some PKK terrorists at the end of
March, riots took place in Diyarbakir and spread to other cities in the
region. Demonstrators attacked the police, civilian residents and shops. Ten
civilians were killed during clashes with the police and security forces,
including three children. Many civilians suffered bullet wounds.

There are widespread reports of excessive and arbitrary use of force
by the security forces, even against ambulances.

Investigations are ongoing to determine the causes of these deaths.
The violence triggered by the March riots had a negative impact on the human
rights situation. Over 700 people were detained and cases of ill treatment
were reported. A number of security measures have been reinstated as a
response to the escalation of terrorism, such as roadblocks and checkpoints
in some provinces of the Southeast. On the legislative side, amendments to
the anti-terror law were adopted in June 2006

The November 2005 Semdinli bombing, which killed one person and
injured others, also had a negative impact on the situation in the region. A
court in Van imposed heavy prison sanctions on two gendarmerie officers and
a former PKK member reported to work as a gendarmerie informer who were
found responsible for the bombing.

A Parliamentary Committee was established in November 2005 to
investigate the Semdinli events. The Committee has not published its report.

The overall socio-economic situation in the Southeast remains
difficult and there is no comprehensive plan to address this issue. The
positive statement of Prime Minister Erdogan in 2005 stressing the need to
resolve through democratic means what he called "the Kurdish issue" was not
followed up. There is almost no dialogue between the authorities and locally
elected politicians. Furthermore, many locally elected politicians face
court cases.

Moreover, the 10% threshold under the electoral law makes it difficult
for all but the nationwide largest parties to be represented in Parliament.

In spite of the ECtHR ruling in the Icyer vs.Turkey case of January
2006, the implementation of the Law on Compensation of Losses Resulting from
Terrorist Acts raises several concerns. Overall, there seems to be
divergences in the methods used by the compensation commissions. They have
large discretionary powers and procedures are often cumbersome.

As a result, the payment of the amounts due is slow. There are
concerns about the level of compensation. Furthermore, the conditions
attached to the eligibility for compensation could leave a large number of
potential beneficiaries outside the scope of the Law. There is also a heavy
burden of proof on applicants to provide documentation, including property
titles, which in many cases have never existed."

bianet org

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. The Kurds
have no rights in Turkey.

Others estimate as many as 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.

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"

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