From aforum at moose.uvm.edu Wed Oct 27 08:16:40 1993 From: aforum at moose.uvm.edu (aforum at moose.uvm.edu) Date: 27 Oct 1993 08:16:40 Subject: Kurdistan Info. Package #2 Message-ID: From: aforum at moose.uvm.edu (Arm The Spirit) Subject: Kurdistan Info. Package #2 Kurdistan Information Package #2 - Fall 1993 Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist organization that disseminates information on liberation struggles throughout the world. We have previously posted information about the Kurdish liberation struggle in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan to various Internet newsgroups and ftp sites, but we are now numbering and dating these packages as can be seen above. Previous info packages are still available from the E-mail address at the end of this file. Index: 1) Statement By The National Liberation Front Of Kurdistan (ERNK) 2) Kurdish Militants Attack Turkish Targets Across Europe 3) Statement From The ERNK European Section 4) Statement From The ERNK 5) "Liberation Is Not Far Away" - An Interview With PKK European Representative Kani Yilmaz 6) PKK/ARGK Denies Bahcesaray Incident 7) Turkey Buys U.S. Weapons To Massacre Kurds 8) People's Labour Party Banned By Turkish Government 9) Turkish Fascists Enlist In Turkey's New "Special" Army 10) Turkish Army Attack Kurdish Demonstrators 11) PKK Takes Tourists Into "Protective Custody" 12) Turkish State Terror: Kurdish M.P. Murdered 13) Civil Unrest In Ankara 14) Murdered M.P. Buried In Secret By The Turkish State 15) National Liberation Front Releases... 16) Report From Mucadele 17) ARGK Guerrillas Kill Turkish General 18) Kurds And Kurdistan: Facts And Figures 19) New Kurdish Publication In Canada 1) Statement By The National Liberation Front Of Kurdistan (ERNK) Turkey Must Bear The Responsibility For The Continuation Of The Dirty War And The Bloodshed In Kurdistan! At a press conference on June 8, 1993, Abdullah Oclaan, General Secretary of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), announced the ending of the cease-fire which had been unilaterally enforced by the PKK since March 17, 1993. The cease-fire and the subsequent resumption of the armed struggle by the PKK against the Turkish military marks another step in the long and bloody march of the Kurdish people - one of the oldest in the Middle East - towards their ultimate goal of national unity and self- determination and freedom from alien slavery. Arbitrarily partitioned and brutally occupied by Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran in the aftermath of the 1914-1918 war the Kurdish people have steadfastly resisted all attempts at assimiliation and fought with incredible tenacity and self- sacrifice to defend their ethnic and cultural identity. Of all the occupying oppressive powers none has acted with greater violence to destroy the language and culture of the Kurds than the Turkish state which, to this day, treats the Kurdish people as colonial slaves beyond the scope of international conventions and human rights legislation and subject to the most barbarous forms of coercion and deprivation. So great is its brutal repression of Kurds that the European community has, so far exlcuded Turkey from membership. Regardless of any western criticism however Turkish regimes - both civilian and military - have continued to repress, massacre and torture with impunity, while a terrorised media which has lost 14 journalists to death squad bullets, looks the other way. Several hundred villages have been forcibly evacuated and 8 million people were displaced. The PKK was formed in 1978. Because of the scope and intensity of Turkish state barbarity - which effectively precluded any form of constitutional protest and redress - the PKK was compelled to start the armed struggle on August 15, 1984. In March 1985 the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK) was formed to extend the political support and base of the military resistance. In nine years of severe and uninterrupted war successive Turkish regimes have flooded Kurdistan with thousands of police, troops, special elite commandos, death squads and so-called 'village guards' and, more importantly, abrogated the European Human Rights Convention publicly. Eleven out of 14 Kurdish provinces have been placed under the despotic control of a military governor who is not accountable to the Turkish parliament. His task is simple and explicit; to destroy all Kurdish resistance and rights. Hundreds of Kurds have been killed without even the formality of a judicial investigation and the victims often buried in unmarked mass graves. Rules of war are observed only in the breach. Kurdish MPs who dared to raise the question of human rights or to speak in Kurdish were charged with violating the Turkish constitution and spreading separtism - a charge which bears the death penalty. When the Demirel government came to power the Kurds were promised constitutional reforms but once in power Demirel immediately embarked on a policy of intensified terror without precedent in modern Turkish history. These repressive measures are not confined to Turkey but have been extended into south Kurdistan (Iraq). The approach of the Kurdish New Year (Newroz) 1993 brought with it the danger of a repetition of the previous massacres of Kurds by Turkish troops during Newroz 1992. To frustrate the anticipated Turkish preparations and to demonstrate its deep concern for the suffering civilian population the PKK declared a unilateral cease-fire as a first step to a political and peaceful solution of the Kurdish question. On April 17, 1993, Abdullah Ocalan, extened the cease-fire indefinitely. Among the conditions were: a) Immediate halt to Turkish military operations. b) Abolition of the regional governorship system. c) Constitutional recognition of the Kurdish identity. d) Creation of conditions conducive to the return of displaced Kurds to Kurdistan. e) Compensation for the loss of property. What was Demirel's response? While the PKK stuck scrupulously to the terms of the cease-fire even when deliberately provoked by the Turkish state, the Turkish armed forces, on the contrary, took advantage of the cease-fire to carry on with the military operations against Kurdish civilians and ARGK (People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan) guerrillas and to depopulate Kurdish areas, burning and looting, as they went, leaving a frightful toll of destruction behind. According to our sources, some 44 villages have been destroyed, 165 people killed and 3,500 people arrested without trial. Demirel's response was to demand an "honourable surrender" in exchange for a limited amnesty, conditions which were designed to prolong the war and undermine any negotiated solution and humiliate and destroy the PKK. In view of these events the General Secretary of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, announced the end of the cease-fire on the third press conference held on June 8, 1993, in the Lebanon. But he has not entirely ruled out the possibility of a new cease-fire if the Turkish government takes serious steps towards a dialogue and a political solution of the Kurdish question. Ocalan warned that the war would now spread throughout the whole of Kurdistan and also into Turkey itself and it will include operations aimed at economic targets which finance the war against the Kurds. Turkey, he said, was heading for "comprehensive war" and the responsibility lies entirely with the Turkish government. But the Kurdish people will not surrender. Preparations of all Kurdish organizations for the creation of a united front are also under way. The European governments have also not taken any serious steps towards a peaceful, political settlement. On the contrary by continuing to give economic, political and military aid to the Turkish state they have encouraged the Turkish state to continue unabated with its policy. We are again calling on the European governments and the international public to urge the Turkish government to end its war against the Kurdish people. We also call on the United Nations, the European Parliament and the CSCE to put the necessary pressure on Turkey and act as mediators between the two parties in the war. We also call on all those who aim to spend their holidays in Turkey to support our tourism boycott for the following reasons: it is not safe to travel to Turkey; and don't help finance the dirty war against the Kurdish people. Long Live Our Struggle For A Free Kurdistan! Stop All Military And Economic Aid To Turkey! Boycott Tourism In Turkey! June 12, 1993 - National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK) 2) Kurdish Militants Attack Turkish Targets Across Europe On June 24/93, Kurdish militants in several European countries carried out co-ordinated actions against Turkish interests including attacks on banks, travel agencies and other businesses as well as occupations and hostage-takings at consulates and embassies. In Germany alone there were actions in 16 different cities including Bremen, Berlin, Hanover, Frankfurt and Kln. In Munich, militants seized the Turkish consulate and held hostages until they surrendered later that evening. Hostages were also taken at the consulate in Marseilles, France but they too were released when the Kurdish militants were allowed to make a statement to the media. The most tragic action took place outside the Turkish embassy in Bern, Switzerland when Turkish security police opened fire on Kurdish demonstrators, killing one and wounding 7 others. Attacks also took place in Zurich, Lyon, Copenhagen, Stockholm, London and other European cities. As a result of the numerous actions and confrontations, dozens of Kurds were arrested including 24 people in London, England who had attacked a Turkish bank. The 15 militants arrested for the Munich consulate action are facing kidnaping charges as well as the charge of "attempted coercion of the German government". They also face possible deportation to Turkey. As a result of the Kurdish actions the German government is now considering banning the PKK in Germany. This unprecedented series of actions in Europe by Kurds was a response to the intensified military operations carried out by Turkish armed forces against the Kurdish people and the refusal of the Turkish government to enter into political negotiations with the PKK (Workers' Party of Kurdistan). The PKK had recently announced on June 8/93 that it was ending its ceasefire that had been in effect since March 20/93 and would once again resume armed struggle within Turkish- occupied Kurdistan. There were also hints that attacks would occur elsewhere when PKK General Secretary Abdullah Ocalan told a German magazine that "The political phase is now over. A comprehensive development is to be expected, maybe an unprecedented wave of violence. Attacks in every area, in every region." The announcement of a temporary cease-fire on March 20/93 by the PKK was done so as a sign of good faith and to show its willingness to negotiate a political solution to the war in Kurdistan between the Turkish military and guerrillas from the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK). The Turkish military ignored this cease-fire and continued to carry out armed operations, killing dozens of Kurds during and after the Newroz celebrations. Despite this the PKK announced on April 16 that the temporary cease-fire would become indefinite and once again showed its willingness to enter into political negotiations with the Turkish government. Once again the Turkish state ignored the PKK and continued to pursue its genocidal policies in Kurdistan. Faced with this unwillingness on the part of the Turkish state to negotiate, the PKK and ARGK were forced to resume military actions as well as undertake new forms of resistance such as the June 24 European actions. Since then Kurdish people have continued to demonstrate outside Turkish consulates and embassies in countries around the world. Protests have continued in Germany including a blockade of the Turkish consulate in Karlsruhe on June 25 which saw the arrest of over 100 people after the demo was attacked by a group of Turks. Two dozen Kurdish demonstrators occupied a UN building in Sydney, Australia until they were removed by police on June 28. As well there was a demonstration in Ottawa, Canada outside the Turkish embassy where Kurdish protesters clashed with riot police. At the same time the ARGK has continued to carry out attacks against the Turkish military. On July 2, Turkey's new Prime Minister, Tansu Ciller announced that the armed forces would begin massive sweeps this summer to destroy the Kurdish insurgency. Nonentheless the Kurdish resistance continues and they will continue to, in the words of a PKK representative, to wage "total revolutionary war". Write to us for more information about the Kurdish struggle or for those in Canada contact the Kurdistan Committee of Canada, 2487 Kaladar Ave., Suite 203, Ottawa, Ont., K1V 8B9, Canada - Tel: 613 733 9634, Fax: 613 733 0090 or the Toronto Kurdistan Information Centre - Tel: 416 762 0455. 3) Statement By The ERNK European Section Kurdish People In Europe Appeal To Humanity The reaction of the Kurdish people in Europe to the Turkish state's bombardment and slaughter in Kurdistan is right and just and an appeal to humanity. The Kurdish people will continue to oppose the Turkish authorities' savage response to their desire for freedom and will do their utmost to draw the attention of the world to what is happening in Kurdistan. We, the ERNK section in Europe, fully support the demonstrations in Europe which are a legitimate reaction to the Turkish state terror in Kurdistan. These demonstrations have proved that Turkish embassies and consulates in Europe are nests of secret police. In Berne, Kurdish demonstrators are fired on. One, Semsettin Kurt, was killed and 5 were wounded. The people who fired from the embassy were photographed and these photos are now in the hands of the Swiss police. Photos of the killer should be given to the press and he should stand trial. Switzerland must not make the mistake of protecting murderers. Those who ignore a people's right to freedom at a time when such importance is attached to individual freedom and who remain silent towards their oppression must share responsibility for that oppression. We call on the United Nations, the Council of Europe and all other bodies to give urgent attention to the Kurdish question and listen to the Kurdish representatives. We also call on Kurdish people in Europe to continue their democratic protests without harming anyone and to draw attention to what is giong on in Kurdistan. We cannot remain silent while our country is being bombed and our people slaughtered. It is our most natural right to protest. Undoubtedly we are in favour of a political solution, not war, blood and pain. However, the Turkish state has rejected the ceasefire and proposals for a political solution put forward by the General Secretary of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan. The Turkish state wants to terrorise our people into submission but we will not give up our struggle to defend the existence of our people and to obtain our freedom. The march towards liberation in Kurdistan has begun. There is no turning back, it will continue until victory! ERNK (National Liberation Front of Kurdistan) European Section 26 June 1993 4) Statement By The ERNK Stop The Turkish State Terror In Kurdistan! Show Solidarity With The Resistance In Kurdistan! The Kurdish people, with the third largest population in the Middle East, has had all its national rights and freedoms taken away from it. In Turkey, particularly, the identity and cultural existance of over 20 million Kurdish people is denied. This policy has continued for decades. A dirty war is being perpetrated in our country, burning of villages, forced migration of the inhabitants, the destruction of the environment, mass arrests and death-squad killings have become a part of daily life. The Turkish state, which is responsible for this dirty war, pays absolutely no regard to the Geneva Conventions and slaughters civillians and captured guerrillas. In the last few weeks these violations have escalated. Turkey continued its attacks despite the unilateral ceasefire declared by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) in March. During the 83 days of the ceasefire nearly 250 people were killed and 44 villages burnt. This shows that Turkey intends to solve the Kurdish question through massacre, and does not want a political solution. Unfortunatly, the support of the Western powers for this policy of silence has served to further encourage Turkey. During the recent visit of German President Kohl to Turkey he labelled the Kurdish resistance movement as "terrorist". Military hardware supplied by Western countries is also being used against the Kurdish people. Therefore we appeal to public opinion in Europe, to governments and parties, to human rights organisations and the press: lobby your governments to put pressure on Turkey to stop the dirty war. - Boycott Tourism in Turkey - Send Letters of Protest to the Turkish Embassy - Stop Military Aid to Turkey We call on the Western press to write objectively on the subject of Kurdistan. ERNK (National Liberation Front of Kurdistan) 5) "Liberation Is Not Far Away" - An Interview With PKK European Representative Kani Yilmaz Since the termination of the cease-fire the Turkish state has been pouring entire armies and masses of equipment into Kurdistan with the publicly stated intention of 'wiping out' the PKK. It seems that the war has now entered a new and far bloodier stage than anything witnessed in the past nine years. Arguably, the Turkish state and government is prepared to sacrifice what little credibility it enjoys in Europe in order to destroy Kurdish lives and property and violate human rights on a huge scale. In your opinion what effect will this have on the fighting capacity of the ERNK-ARGK and the morale of the Kurdish people? Can the Turkish armed forces sustain such an offensive at present? It is true that the Turkish state has built up large concentrations of troops, saying it will wipe us out. Large scale military operations are underway and, as you say, this will be the bloodiest stage of the war. The Turkish state will be responsible for this. We wished to prevent further bloodshed and destruction by initiating a ceasefire to open the way for a political solution. In the 84 days of the cease-fire, our guerrillas did not fire a single shot. Turkish forces claimed that we had announced a cease-fire because of weakness and responded by demanding our surrender. Anyone who knows the PKK would know that it was very disrespectful to the party to expect their guerrillas to surrender. As Turkey continued its military operations against the Kurdish civilian population, bombing in the mountains and using death squads to murder civilians, it was to expected that the PKK's response would be harsh. Since the end of the cease-fire, the war has escalated. There are bombings the length and breadth of Kurdistan and villagers are being shot out of hand to intimidate the people. The guerrillas have responded by attacking countless military posts and garrisons. The Turkish army is in a panic, its losses the past three weeks are perhaps higher than for the whole of last year. We can now see whether the PKK announced the cease- fire from a position of strength or of weakness. It is clear that an organization with the leadership, organisation, military power and international prestige of the PKK, a party with popular support involved in a legitimate struggle, can not be defeated or crushed. Ever since the cease-fire ended Turkey has been trying to conceal the massacres it is carrying out in Kurdistan. The state tradition in Turkey is one of intrigue and conspiracy. Although we have no proof, we think that recent arson attacks in Germany should be viewed with some suspicion. The death of President Ozal is also suspicious and there are questions being asked about the circumstances in which he died. Because of these massacres in Kurdistan, Turkey will lose whatever credibility it has in Europe, but like a dying man lashing out. In the end it will lose the war as well as its credibility. The PKK has started to mobilise all of the forces at the disposal of the ARGK and the ERNK and the guerrillas are waging an even stronger war against the Turkish army. Now I come to the last part of the question. Can the Turkish forces sustain such an offensive? We believe they cannot. They cannot take on the guerrillas, they can only bomb villages or shoot people on the street corners or in the village squares. We do not believe Turkey will be able to continue the war for a long period. Neither its economy nor its international reputation will allow it. At the present time it is using chauvinism in an attempt to form a national consensus in parliament to enable it to continue military operations. It is my opinion that these maniacal attacks are an expression of the end of the Turkish Republic. The Human Rights Conference in Vienna - predictably - never discussed the Kurdish question or any other national question such as Kashmir and Tamil Eelam, the Basques and Northern Ireland. Despite the differences between the pro-US and the anti- US power blocs they both shared a moral hostility to the exercise of the right to self-determination. This is the essence of the New World Order envisaged by Clinton and Major. How does the PKK view this? Can any reliance be placed in the UN's ability to resist the old morality of imperialism and its client states in its new camouflage? The new world order was, in my view, to be seen at the recent human rights conference in Vienna. In fact it is a new world disorder. Following the collapse of 'state socialism' due to a false interpretation of socialism, imperialist states have been attempting to set up a new world order to consolidate their hegemony. The collapse of the socialist system has meant has meant imperialism having to face up to its own problems and contradictions. It can no longer blame them on the socialist bloc. The new world order is partly about resolving these problems. After the cold war ended the imperialists used various methods to perpetuate their domination. For instance, in the Middle East they have experimented with all kinds of weaponry on the people. At the same time, behind a humanitarian mask, they have intervened in Somalia, succeeding only in worsening the situation there. It is a case of the imperialists looking to gain new territories. It stems in part from the internal contradictions of imperialism. In fact the new world order is an attempt on the part of the imperialists to enslave the peoples of the world again with more sophisticated methods and to suppress their struggles for freedom. At the conference in Vienna the right of self-determination was supposedly discussed but not one representative of peoples fighting for that right was admitted to the conference to present their case. In fact the conference took care to shield colonialist states like Turkey, India and others from any adverse publicity. The conference ended by taking decisions that had already been agreed to behind the scenes. But one should ask: is it possible for the UN to resolve problems without the participation of the people concerned? It is nothing but hypocrisy to claim to solve problems on behalf of people while ignoring and repressing the will of those people. The people in question will resolve their own problems by assessing their conditions and the global situation. Eritrea is a good example of this today. As long as the United NAtions refuses to consider the will of the people, as long as it remains undemocratic, it will be unable to resolve problems but will instead make matters worse and lose credibility. this has already happened, oppresses people have last confidence in the UN. As Lord Avebury says, it would be possible to establish a forum for representation of oppressed nations to be heard. You cite the example of Eritrea which fought for 31 years and it has been said that if there had been different mechanisms for representation there might not have been so much bloodshed. Of course people do not want to fight, they want their freedom. If better mechanisms were in place then it might reduce bloodshed, but we must be realistic. The countries which would set up such mechanisms would be the very countries that enslave people in the first place. Would these countries allow these mechanisms to be effective? This is the root of the problem. In reality what happens is that people organise themselves, set up fighting forces and bring their struggle to the attention of the world and get results. However, the setting up of these mechanisms could be a positive thing, opening up debate and bringing questions into the public arena. But I said before, I do not believe that this would be allowed. If ineffective mechanisms were set up this would only serve to complicate matters. The occupation of Turkish embassies and other European-wide actions by Kurds in Europe on 24 June will go down in the annals of Kurdish history as an unforgettable and remarkable event, ingenious in its conception and brilliantly executed. It has demonstrated the power and influence of the PKK within the Kurdish immigrant and exile communities and, more importantly, the potency of a developing nationalist consciousness. Kurds are no longer prepared to tolerate cultural servitude and Turkish patronage and terror. How do you see the reaction to this event Turkey. The protests of 24 June were an historic occasion which showed the strength of the PKK in Europe, the extent of support for the national liberation movement, what the Kurds are capable of and how close they are to freedom. It also showed how angry our people are at the destruction of Kurdistan by the Turkish state. It is true that the protests were well organised and it is clear that the Kurds will not remain silent about what is going on in their country. I must stress that during these protests the Kurdish people did not resort to any terrorist methods. On the contrary it has become clear that Turkish embassies and consulate in Europe have been turned into arsenals and MIT (National Intelligence Organization) headquarters. As you know, in Berne shots were fired from the embassy, killing a Kurdish demonstrator and wounding several others. I want to say to European countries that there is no need for them to be worried about the Kurdish people in their countries. If they are concerned about the plight of the Kurds, if they have any sense of historical responsibility towards them they should do something to resolve the problems of a nation numbering 30 million people who have had all their rights taken away from them. I would like to congratulate the Kurdish people in Europe for their protest actions and say that we support them fully. One of the historic achievements of the PKK was the election of members to the National Parliament in North-West Kurdistan. The election of Kurdish MPs, was I believe, part of a wider struggle to form a provisional government in Turkish occupied Kurdistan. The national elections not only helped to increase the credibility of the PKK and gave an added legitimacy to the armed struggle but it also provided the opportunity for the PKK to declare a cease-fire without prejudice to its legitimate rights of self-determination. The cease-fire created the conditions for the drawing up of a united front agreement between the PKK, PSK and Hevgertin-PDK and others based on the call for a peaceful and democratic solution of the Kurdish question but not excluding the continuation of the armed struggle. This opened the road for the development of a national front of all political organisations in North-West Kurdistan. What is your conception of the further development of the process not only in North-West Kurdistan but in the other parts of Kurdistan as well? The history of the PKK is one of continuous renewal and development. The role of the PKK leadership in our struggle is that of an engine. It has always played a productive role and has opposed the status quo and reaction. It is the PKK's great dynamism and spirit that is responsible for its development. The elections to the National Parliament are an example of this spirit. The PKK took this step in response to the needs of the Kurdish National Liberation Struggle for its own institutions. These institutions are needed so that the national will can be expressed and also so that an army can be set up. This parliament is of very great importance to us. The PKK has never acted in the narrow interests of the organisation, it ha always acted in the broad interests of the nation and has endeavoured to express the people's will. Of course the cease-fire and the agreements signed with the other organisations have added momentum to our struggle. They were an expression of the self-confidence of a growing movement. The ground has now been prepared for unity with other national forces in Kurdistan. Practical steps have been taken. This has enabled the movement to call on the ruling class in Turkey for a political solution. The process towards unity was taken a step further with a meeting of 11 organisations from North Kurdistan on 18-20 June. At this meeting, decisions were taken to begin preparations for the establishment of a national front. This national front may call a national congress in North Kurdistan and the congress may then merge with the national parliament. In this way the national will can find expression. Of course these developments frighten the enemy. They open the way for better relations with the other parts of Kurdistan and with the revolutionary democratic movement in Turkey. They provide new possibilities and are a great morale booster. The unity being established in Kurdistan will provide great support to the revolutionary movement in Turkey. From now on, the national liberation movement in Kurdistan will go from strength to strength. It will not regress. The PKK will be the main force in this struggle but other forces will also play their part. Whatever the Turkish state does, it will not be able to prevent our victory. I see the emerging national unity as the crowning achievement of the Kurdish people's historical meeting with freedom. I believe that liberation is not very far away. There is evidently a politicisation taking place in Turkey,although at a rather moderate pace. The worker's organisations are fighting back against wage cuts, unemployment, sackings and closures. The development of the European and world economic recession is bound to intensify the economic, political, social and ethnic contradictions. Do you see any basis for the development of unity between Kurdish and Turkish workers and farmers and also for the development of an international united front of solidarity? As you say there are signs of opposition in Turkey, but it is necessary to realize how anti-Kurd chauvinism influences all sections of Turkish society including opposition forces. This is why the opposition has not been able to exert very much influence. However, as the world economic crisis now begins to make itself felt in Turkey, this chauvinism will be neglected as social problems come to the fore. The deepening social problems caused by this economic crisis will further develop the existing solidarity between the Turkish and Kurdish peoples. In fact, only recently a united front was declared by the PKK and the Turkish revolutionary democratic organisations. This front will develop a programme with aims and objectives to be achieved in Turkey and Kurdistan. Up until now the Turkish people have not shown much solidarity with the national liberation struggle in north Kurdistan, due to the chauvinism that I mentioned before. I believe that this will change. This will find expression in people refusing to send their sons to do military service and in other ways. The Kurdish people in their struggle have demonstrated the best possible form of international solidarity by inflicting serious blows on the Turkish state. We accept the problems of the Turkish people as our own problems. We are prepared to share our potential with them and to develop unity. I believe the Turkish people will move rapidly towards democracy as the people of Kurdistan achieve their freedom. The German ruling class in extremely nervous about the development of the Kurdish struggle and the ominous implications it has for German investments, military aid and tourists. The German State as well as Turkey have already suffered a setback at the hands of the Serbs and its foreign policy adventure in Bosnia has become counter-productive. The indications are that Kohl's government will outlaw the PKK, impose heavy sentences on those arrested in the embassy occupations and create frictions between the Kurds and Turks in Germany with the intention of deporting Kurds to Turkey and forcing others to leave Germany. What can we do to stop it? It is well known that Germany is Turkey's closest ally and the state that offers it most support. In fact it is not rational or logical for the German government to see the national liberation struggle of the Kurdish people or the PKK as a threat. Germany should realise that the struggle cannot be defeated and that to persevere with the current policy will jeopardise their interests. In fact the PKK does not want any form of conflict with Germany. It is Germany which is preparing the ground for this conflict without reason. Actually, we should be asking the German government what right it has to oppose the legitimate struggle of the Kurdish people and side with the bloody Turkish regime. Ever since Kohl came to power relations with Turkey have been even closer than before. Turkey has great trust in Germany. After recent demonstrations in Europe they have been talking about talking about banning the PKK but the PKK does not exist in Germany. I do not think that it is in Germany's interests to act in a hostile manner towards the PKK. It is possible that they will try to create friction between the Kurds and Turks in Europe but they will not be able to succeed in this. The Kurdish and Turkish peoples have achieved a certain maturity. I repeat that we do not want conflict with Germany. We want to resolve our problems in a democratic way. We are opposed to anything that might have a negative effect on the people. We try to prevent such things but while Kurdistan is being bombed and villages destroyed, it is not possible for Kurdish people to remain silent. It would be the ultimate disrespect to expect the Kurdish people not to protest. In fact, instead of confusing people and encouraging them to oppose our legitimate demands, they should be on our side as they claim to be democratic. If they insist on cracking down on the Kurdish people and its organisations they will lose a lot and our people will resist all the more and become more determined. I want to call on the people of Germany and the rest of Europe to support the oppressed Kurdish people who want nothing more than their rights and to help expose the bloody face of the Turkish state. I have a message for the British public in general. The Kurdish people are one of the most ancient peoples in the world. All of their rights have been denied. They cannot use their language or express their national identity. This is an appalling state of affairs in this day and age. Just think, if you were unable to use your own language or express your identity, if you were unable to listen to your own music, develop your own culture or express your wishes politically, what would your reaction be? This is the situation the Kurdish people find themselves in. The Turkish state's response to the legitimate demands of the Kurdish people is to use bloody oppression. For this reason I call on you to show your solidarity with the Kurdish people by forming links with the Kurdish people's representatives, the PKK and the ERNK and offer your support. I Make this appeal to you on behalf of the Kurdish people. (Kurdistan Report #15 - July/August 1993) 6) PKK/ARGK Denies Bahcesaray Incident - 19.07.1993 Van/Dusseldorf (KURD-HA): An unknown force today attacked Kurdish people who were grazing their lifestock in Sunduz Yayla (Sunduz Plateau) in Bahcesary district in Van, killing 23 civilians. Turkish authorities and Anatolian News Agency reported the incident as the doing of the ARGK (Peoples Liberation Army of Kurdistan) guerrillas. We spoke to the Serhat Region Headquarter spokesperson who has denied the Bahcesary-incident at 6:30pm today. The spokesman said: "The people of the Sunduz Plateau had nothing against us and our forces who were aware their existence, had good relations with the people. We had no reason to kill those people. We want to send a message to the press that our forces did not conduct this incident and is not responsible for the killing of these people. We heard that Turkish authorities blame us for the incident. We believe that this incident is a work of the contra-guerrilla which functions under Turkish state control." 7) Turkey Buys US Weapons To Massacre Kurds According to the latest UN Conventional Arms Register, Turkey was one of the biggest purchasers of arms from the United States. In 1992, the US exported the following arms to Turkey: 577 battle tanks, 220 armored combat vehicles, 75 large-caliber artillery systems, 29 combat aircraft, 6 attack helicopters, and 1164 missile launchers. Obviously, a majority of these arms will be used against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), who are waging a national-liberation struggle in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan. And one Turkish military official, Lt.Col. Erenoglu, recently stated at a press conference that NATO has not established any limitations on the use of Turkey's weapons. Thus, the Turkish armed forces have been given total freedom to continue their village-bombings in Kurdistan. Against NATO's dirty war in Kurdistan! Stop all arms sales to Turkey! For a free and independent Kurdistan! July 1993 8) People's Labour Party Banned By Turkish Government Dusseldorf (KURD-HA - 93/07/15): Following a decision of the Constitutional Court on July 14/93, Turkish authorities closed down the People's Labour Party (HEP). We spoke to the European representative of the ERNK (National Liberation Front of Kurdistan), Kani Yilmaz, who made the following statement: "On July 14, 1993, Turkey's Constitutional Court took a decision to close down the HEP and banned some of its members from political activity. This decision is an example of democracy and justice as practised by the Turkish state. "The HEP voiced the simple demands of the Kurdish people and the Turkish state could not even tolerate the existence of such a party. Before this decision, 48 members of the HEP were assassinated and there is evidence that these murders were carried out at the instigation of the Turkish state, whose aim it was to intimidate and limit the growth of the HEP. These actions show the hypocrisy of the Turkish state when it talks about Kurdish identity, culture and language. "We now also heard that the daily newspaper, Ozgur Gundem, was prevented from publishing yesterday by the Turkish authorities on the pretext that the editor had not provided them with his new address. The Turkish state thus tries to hide its dirty war on the Kurdish people. "At a meeting between Prime Minister Tansu Ciller, the National Security Council (MGK) and the media, an all-out war on the Kurdish people was declared. This national consensus is a further indication that the war against the Kurds is to be intensified. The closure of the HEP and Ozgur Gundem are but the first steps in a campaign to silence those who were prepared to voice the aspirations of the Kurdish people. "This latest decision is typical of the state's approach to the Kurdish people and we call on the press and public to speak out against it and to put pressure on Turkey. "We also call on the European Parliament, the United Nations, the CSCE and all human rights organizations to voice their protests. We await with interest the reaction of those who have described as terrorist our calls for justice and our fight against Turkish state terrorism." (Newsdesk Amsterdam) 9) Turkish Fascists Enlist In Turkey's New "Special" Army (Sabah - 93/07/28) Prime Minister Tansu Ciller signed a decree that will enable the formation of a professional and better-trained army to fight against the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK). Initially, this special force will consist of 10,000 troops and be extended to 70,000 over several years. (Hurriyet 08/06/93) So far over 5000 "Grey Wolves" have applied for enlistment. Ortadogu, newspaper of the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), reported that a lot of young Grey Wolves applied for the new Special Army Force. The government made propaganda in Tokat Corum Yozgat, a city well-known for it's nationalistic inhabitants. The governor from the area which encloses Turkish-occupied Kurdistan said: "We pay them 20,000,000 Tl ($5,400), and if they kill a Kurdish rebel they receive an extra 38.000.000 Tl ($13,000)". The Special Army Force will go into the mountains and live just like the PKK. The Grey Wolves are a fascist, nationalistic and pro-Ataturk-organisation. They are reported to be active in Europe as well and spy on the Turkish community. As well in Europe - as in Turkey - they act as an extension for the MIT (Turkish Secret Service). Usually, the members of the Grey Wolves are members of the MHP. The "secret"-agenda for the MHP in forming this army is to increase their legal power in Turkey. Grey Wolves always wear a ring with 3 moons on it and a locket with the head of a wolf on it. The DEP, the successor from the HEP which was banned in July/93, stated: "This special army will cause trouble also for the Turkish government. This step leads the people into an escalating war. More and more the situation will turn into a nation-wide Turkish-Kurdish war". The fascist-nationalist party stated: "Yes, we are happy, it was our idea to build an army like this. The government accepted this idea now." (Newsdesk Amsterdam) 10) Turkish Army Attacks Kurdish Demonstrators Kurdish demonstrators celebrating 9 years of armed struggle by the PKK/ARGK (Kurdistan Workers Party/National Liberation Army of Kurdistan) were shot at by Turkish soldiers in the town of Malazgirt on August 15. The Kurdish news agency Kurd-Ha reported that at least 50 Kurds were shot, with another 400 people arrested. It was also reported that Turkish government forces prevented scores of wounded demonstrators from being taken to hospital. The French news agency AFP reported "at least 20" deaths in Malazgirt. The day before, 10 Kurdish demonstrators were shot and killed in the town of Digor. Confrontations broke out between Kurdish demonstrators and Turkish government troops in several regions in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, and in Istanbul, 100 people were arrested at a pro-PKK demonstration. (Adapted from TAZ - 93/08/17) 11) PKK Takes Tourists Into "Protective Custody" In other news, the PKK recently took three foreign tourists (two Germans and one New Zealander) into protective custody. The PKK is demanding that the German foreign ministry enter into direct negotiations with the PKK to secure the release of the detained German citizens. According to the PKK, the two men were taken into protective custody, as they were travelling in a region of Kurdistan which is unsafe for foreign travellers due to the dirty war being waged by the Turkish state (with NATO's military aid) against the Kurdish peoples. The PKK stated that the Turkish government has no authority to negotiate the release of the tourists, for they were taken into custody in Kurdistan and the PKK is the only legitimate party in the region with which the German state can negotiate their release. 12) Turkish State Terror: Kurdish M.P. Murdered (Kurdish News Agency, 93/09/05 - Batman) A member of the Democracy Party in Turkey, Mehmet Sincar was killed September 4, 1993, at about 6 p.m. in Batman. Mr. Sincar was in the city offering his condolences for another member of the party killed earlier the week. Also injured was Nizamettin Toguc, another deputy of the same party. Mr. Toguc was hit in the shoulder and taken to the hospital. Metin Ozdemir, a local member of the party, lost his life at the scene of the deadly attack as well. Prominent Kurdish woman deputy, Leyla Zana, was targeted but escaped uninjured. The Democracy Party is a legal party in the Turkish National Assembly dedicated to advocating the rights of the Kurds though parliamentary elections and the democratic process. We received a press release from the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK) which blames the Turkish state forces. It notes: "This clearly is the work of the Turkish police. The order, we believe, came from the highest authority in the land, the President of Turkey, Mr. Demirel. At the opening session of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, he accused the members of the Democracy Party of being supporters of the Kurdish cause and 'killers' of the Turkish Security Forces in the south-east. We hold President Demirel, Prime Minister Ciller and the governor of the Kurdish provinces Unal Erkan responsible for the killing of Mr. Sincar who, like other Kurdish deputies, always dared the Turkish politicians to practise real democracy. Instead, the Kurdish deputies more often received threats which this time culminated in the deaths of several Kurds. "In the near future, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Mrs. Ciller is scheduled to visit several Western capitals. We call on the democratically elected governments to cancel their invitations to mrs. Ciller as long as her government uses violence to suppress Kurdish democratic aspirations in Turkey. Let it be clear: violence only engenders more violence. Turkey will have to either accommodate the Kurds or it will not enjoy the fruits of democracy: stability and security at home and in the region." (Kurdish News Vol. 1, No. 3 - October 6, 1993) 13) Civil Unrest In Ankara (Kurdish News Agency, 93/09/08 - Ankara) Thousands of Turkish Kurds battled police in Ankara on September 8, 1993, to protest the death of Mehmet Sincar, a Kurdish member of parliament who was gunned down on September 4, 1993 in Batman while addressing his constituency. the Kurdish groups are said to have headed towards the headquarters of the Democracy Party, the only parliamentary group representing the rights of Kurds. The police asked the people to disperse and in the ensuing confrontation, many people were injured. The governor of Ankara urged the people and union members not to participate in the procession. But the Kurds from all over the country - from the Kurdish east as well as the Turkish west - have taken to the roads to pay their respects to their fallen representative, Mr. Sincar, and show their solidarity with the leadership of the Democracy Party. Police have prevented buses carrying thousands of protesters from places as far as Agri, Cizre, Hakkari and Adiyaman in the east, Izmir, Bursa and Istanbul and many other cities in the west - from entering the city. There were also reports that police had put Kurds gathering in the offices of the Democracy Party around the country under surveillance. In Istanbul, there were reports of thousands of Kurds being apprehended because of their dark complexion. To a lesser degree, the Kurds of Ankara have had a similar problem with the police as well. The protesters shouted slogans accusing the Turkish state forces of murdering Mehmet Sincar and warning that the Kurdish martyrs never die in vain. (Kurdish News Vol. 1, No. 3 - Octber 6, 1993) 14) Murdered M.P. Buried In Secret By The Turkish State (Kurdish News Agency, 93/09/09 - Ankara) This Turkish capital city in the heart of Anatolia has been the scene of much unrest since the Democracy Party deputy, Mehmet Sincar, was gunned down in Batman on September 4, 1993. Yesterday and the day before, the Turkish state forces clashed with mourners in the city when the governor of Ankara cancelled the planned funeral ceremony for the murdered M.P. Turkish government officials secretly whisked away the body from the morgue and buried it in the deputy's birth place, Kiziltepe, Mardin. The Deputy General Secretary of the Democracy Party, Kemal Okutan, made the following statement: "Since the coalition government of the True Path party and the Social Democratic Populist Party came to power in November of 1991, over 700 Kurdish citizens, among them 54 members of our own party have been assassinated by allegedly "unidentified murderers". To this list, we now add, in sorrow, the name of our friend, Mehmet Sincar, the elected deputy of Mardin province. "I say, in sorrow, for his death bodes ill for the future of democracy in Turkey. So long as the existence of the Kurds is denied, to speak of democracy in this country is a blasphemy. In the troubled south-east, this government is in retreat and has abdicated its role to the military. "A caller to the major Turkish dailies has claimed responsibility in the "Turkish Revenge Squads". He added that their target was Mrs. Leyla Zana, another Kurdish M.P., of the Diyarbakir province. "The Turkish government officials in the city have, as usual, attributed the crime to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) operatives. Then they changed their mind and named a new culprit, the Party of God - Hizbullah. Another Democracy Party deputy, Hatip Dicle, who was with the slain leader in the city, accuses the police of complicity and claims that, the Turkish police officers who were supposed to be guarding them were off on the day of the murder. "The funeral ceremony for the fallen leader was scheduled to take place in Ankara on September 8, 1993. Because of the Turkish government's possible complicity, we refused to have the customary ceremony at the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Instead, we opted for a civil ceremony at out party headquarters. We made our arrangements to this effect and received the necessary legal approval from the office of the President, Suleyman Demirel, and the office of the Prime Minister, Tansu Ciller. On September 7, 1993, when we went to the morgue to get the body of Mr. Sincar for the religious and civil ceremony, we discovered, to our dismay, that the Governor of Ankara had decided not to allow a civil ceremony and not to release Mr. Sincar's body to us. "When the news came out, both the Kurds and the Turks flocked to the party headquarters. The police, in the meantime, had surrounded the party building and urged the mourners to disperse. When the people refused, the police attacked the crowd with knives and sticks. Eleven people were injured. Five are in critical conditions. After the brutal attack, the Ankara police took to the streets and shouted anti-Kurdish slogans. Later in the day, we received a letter from the office of the Governor informing us that a civil ceremony involving the people would not be allowed at this time and that if we wanted to, we could only have a religious ceremony for the deputy. We refused to accept the conditions set forth by the Governor. Today, we found out that the body of Mr. Sincar was taken to Kiziltepe, Mardin, and buried, without his loved ones present, by a couple of Turkish soldiers. "We call on all democratic institutions to protest this treatment of our dead by the Turkish government officials. We especially call on the foreign Embassy officials to register their indignation with the proper authorities." (Kurdish News Vol. 1, No. 3 - October 6, 1993) 15) National Liberation Front Releases... (Kurdish News Agency, 93/09/13 - Rome) On September 9, 1993, a representative of the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK), Kani Yilmaz, made a statement to the press in Vienna that he was ready to facilitate the release of the tourists who have been in the custody of the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK) since August 19, 1993. He noted that the tourists were held because they had entered a war zone in Kurdistan without a valid Kurdish permit. He urged tourists not to visit Turkey because their dollars are subsidizing a dirty war and their presence is tacit approval of the Turkish army's treatment of the Kurds. The problem is a moral one, he said. Conscientious people would take a position against this war. Lacking that, they would not support it with their dollars, he added. He urged non- partisan third parties to contact the Kurdish representatives abroad for the release of tourists. Since then a delegation of European parliamentarians and some members of the European press have left for north-west Kurdistan to get the tourists released. Ali Sapan, a spokesperson for the ERNK updated us on the situation from Rome: "Two Italians, two Swiss and one person from New Zealand have been in our custody since August 19, 1993,. Our intention is not and never will be to hold them against their will, but to release them through third parties after reminding them that they had violated our authority in north-west Kurdistan. "We understand that on September 11, 1993, a group of seven M.P.s and ten journalists left for the city of Van to get the tourists back. "While we welcome this initiative on their part to meet with us to get their loved ones back, we condemn the intensified Turkish aerial attacks in Serhat Province meant to derail our efforts to release the tourists to the European delegation. "We have received reports that large numbers of armoured vehicles, about 80 tanks, a number of F-16 fighter planes and about 5000 soldiers have moved to the area and that many of the area villages have been bombarded and the forests are set on fire to hamper the release of the tourists. "We condemn this premeditated Turkish attack on the civilian Kurdish population. To facilitate the release of the tourists, we urge the Western governments to demand that Turkey cease its scorched earth policy in north-west Kurdistan." Note: In a September 15, 1993 Reuter release one of the Italian tourists remarked "I recommend 'Hotel Kurd' for those who want an unusual vacation, for the weight-loss diet and for the gentleness of the treatment." (Kurdish News Vol. 1, No. 3 - October 6, 1993) 16) Report From Mucadele Note: Mucadele is Turkish-Kurdish socialist newspaper that experiences much repression from the Turkish state. The following reports on Kurdistan come from the September 25, 1993 issue. Bombing Of Kurdish Villages In The Ovacik Region (Mucadele 25-08-93) The Turkish state is in a crisis because of the revolutionary resistance is growing and the struggle for an independent Kurdistan has increased. That's why they have ordered the bombing of villages in Kurdistan and the burning of forests. This is a part of a policy of depopulation of Kurdistan. After attacks from the PKK against some army patrols, the Turkish state started a big operation from the air and from the ground. First the village Yesilyaz was bombed completely. Furthermore the military burned 11 vehicles owned by locals. 15 people were arrested. After 3 more attacks from the Kurdish freedom fighters on army-patrols in Karatas, Cevizlidere and Topuzlu, the military operations were extended to these areas. These three villages were destroyed. Also the forests which surround these villages were burned to the ground. The soldiers closed all the shops in the villages and established a curfew. The people who live here are depending on the grass that's growing in this part of Kurdistan because they raise sheep. With the burning of the environs and the forests, the Turkish state makes survival in this part of Kurdistan impossible. A Turkish army general recently stated: "We dry out the sea, so no fish can swim there." That's what behind these actions. The people who live in this area are called Savak. They later stated that in the last year the Turkish soldiers bombed and burned their villages. Furthermore they destroyed all the forests and the grassy areas. "We depend very much on these green part. The soldiers said we are supporting terrorists and that's why they are going to destroy us." On September 17, 1993, the Turkish state started bombing Celtek Yaylasi. In this area the Payamduzu-people are living. The soldiers used Cobra and Sikorsky helicopters. The tents in the village were burned. Two people, Bezar Dogan and Yeter Guler, died and 4 people were wounded, two of them seriously. Mucadele spoke with the people there. They stated: "The government sent these helicopters directly to our village to bomb it. The state wants to kill the Kurdish people. They do these horrible things with full awareness [of what they are doing -ed.] The patrols that were attacked were not in our neighbourhood. A lot of our cattle were killed and wounded." Mucadele also spoke with other villagers who escaped the bombing. They said: "The state is in a crisis about the guerrillas. Every day they bomb villages. They kill the people. Our lives are not safe. The state wants to block the grassy areas for us, so we can not go there with our cattle. They want us to sell the cattle and leave the area. They want to force our migration to the city." The Turkish government is now increasingly practising this policy everywhere in Kurdistan. Special "Anti-Terror" Unit In Dogubeyazit On September 15, 1993, a Turkish military vehicle spread terror in the city-centre of Dogubeyazit. It started with a fight between two persons. The crew in the armoured car noticed this and started to open fire. The streets were very crowded and the people tried to escape from the bullets by going inside the shops and houses. The armoured car drove through the front of a pharmacy. One person was killed after getting caught under the wheels of the vehicle. Afterwards the vehicle went into the streets again and started to fire around again. Then, a horsecar-driver got killed. A lot of windows and fronts from houses were destroyed. Mucadele spoke with people living in Dogubeyazit. They said: "The anti-terror unit is terror itself, they opened fire for very stupid reasons. They want to scare the people because they want to break the resistance by intimidating the people" The next day the people in the village had a protest. They kept their shops closed and the car available for public use was not to be used that day. The State Tried To Massacre The People From Hozat (Mucadele in Elazig) The Turkish "dirty war" state policy continues in the whole region of Turkish Kurdistan. They tried, once again, to massacre Kurdish people. One of the most recent attempts was in the village of Hozat. On September 15, 1993 Turkish soldiers placed a bomb beside the road near the village of Caytasi, a suburb of Hozat. A young person found this bomb and took it with him. He wanted to show the object to one of his relatives. At that time the bomb exploded. Both of them were killed. After this incident the soldiers lied to the villagers, stating that the guerrilla organisation Devrimci Sol was responsible for this accident. This is because they hate the fact that people are sympathetic to Devrimci Sol. They did not succeed in this because the people know who their enemies are. They do not believe these kinds of lies. 17) ARGK Guerrillas Kill Turkish General Guerrilla units of the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK) killed a high-ranking Turkish brigadier general in the province of Diyarbakir on Friday, October 23, 1993. Bahtiyar Aydin was the highest-ranking military official to be killed by guerrillas so far in the 9-year Kurdish national liberation struggle which is being waged by the PKK. Another 24 Turkish soldiers and officers were killed in a separate PKK raid on an outpost in Derince village in the Siirt province on Thursday night. 18) Kurds And Kurdistan: Facts And Figures Land and Ecology: The vast Kurdish homeland of about 230,000 square miles is about the areas of Germany and Britain combined, or roughly equal to France or Texas. Kurdistan consists basically of the mountainous areas of the central and northern Zagros, the eastern one-third of the Taurus and Pontus, and the northern half of the Amanus ranges. The symbiosis between the Kurds and their mountains has been so strong that they have become synonymous: Kurds home ends where the mountains end. Kurds as a distinct people have survived only when living in the mountains. The highest points in the land now are respectively Mt. Alvand of southern Kurdistan in Iran at 11,745 feet, Mt. Halgurd in central Kurdistan in Iraq at 12,249 feet, Mt. Munzur at 12,600 feet in western Kurdistan and Mt. Ararat at 16,946 feet in northern Kurdistan, both in Turkey. There are also two large Kurdish enclaves in central and north central Anatolia in Turkey and in the province of Khurasan in northeast Iran. The mean annual precipitation is 60-80 inches per year in the central regions and 20-40 inches on the descent to the lower elevations. Most precipitation is in form of snow, which can fall for six months of the year, becoming the resource for many rivers like the Tigris and the Euphrates in an otherwise arid Middle East. The overall mean annual temperature is 55-65 degrees Fahrenheit, getting cooler as one ascends the central massifs. The land, once almost totally forested, has been massively cleared, especially in this century, with inevitable soil erosion and parched landscape. Contrary to the heavy damage sustained by the woodlands, the pasture lands remain in reasonably good condition and continue to be a productive to a nomadic herding economy alongside the basic agriculture. Despite its mountainous nature, Kurdistan has more arable land proportionately than most Middle Eastern countries. Expansive river valleys create a fertile lattice work in Kurdistan. This may well explain the fact that the very invention of agriculture took place primarily in Kurdistan around 12,000 years ago, precipitating the speedy domestication of almost all basic cereals and livestock in the region (with the notable exception of cows and rice). Race: Kurds are now predominantly of Mediterranean racial stock, resembling southern Europeans and the Levantines in skin, general coloring and physiology. There is yet a persistent recurrence of two racial substrata: a darker aboriginal Palaeo-Caucasian element, and more localized occurrence of blondism of the Alpine type in the heartland of Kurdistan. The "Aryanization" of the aboriginal Palaeo-Caucasian Kurds, linguistically, culturally and racially, seems to have begun by the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, with the continuous immigration and settlement of Indo-European-speaking tribes, such as the Hittites, Mitannis, Haigs, Medes, Persians, Scythians, and Alans. This process was more or less complete by the beginning of the Christian era, by which time the Kurds had absorbed enough Iranic blood and culture, particularly Median and Alan, to form the basis physical typology and cultural identity. Geopolitics: Since the end of World War I, Kurdistan has been administered by five sovereign states, with the largest portions of the land being respectively in Turkey (43%), Iran (31%), Iraq (18%), Syria (6%) and the former Soviet Union (2%). The Iranian Kurds have lived under that state's jurisdiction since 1514 and the Battle of Chaldiran. The other three quarters of the Kurds lived in the Ottoman Empire from that date until its break-up following WWI. The French Mandate of Syria received a piece, and the British incorporated central Kurdistan, or the "Mosul Vilayet" and its oil fields at Kirkuk, into their recently created Mandate of Iraq. Northern and western Kurdistan were to be given choice of independence by the Treaty of Sevres (August 10, 1920) which dismantled the defunct Ottoman Empire, but instead they were awarded to the newly established Republic of Turkey under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne (June 24, 1923). The Russian/Soviet Kurds had passed into their sphere in the course of the 19th century when territories were ceded by Persia/Iran. The Kurds remained the only ethnic group in the world with indigenous representatives in three world geopolitical blocs: the Arab World (in Iraq and Syria), NATO (in Turkey), the South Asian-Central Asian bloc (in Iran and Turkmenistan), and, until recently, the Soviet bloc (in the Caucasus, now Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia). As a matter fact, until the end of the Cold War, the Kurds, along with the Germans, were the only people in the world with their home territories used as a front line of fire by both NATO and Warsaw Pact forces. Society: The most important single feature of Kurdish society since the end of medieval times has been its strong tribal organization, with independence or autonomy being the political status of the land. The society's process of developing the next stage of societal convergence - and the creation of a political culture of interset in a pan-Kurdish polity - was well under way in Kurdistan when it was decisively aborted with the parcelling out of the country at the end of the First World War. Tribal confederacies thus remain the highest form of social organization, while the political process and the elite remain, to a large degree, tribal. Today, in the absence of a national Kurdish state and government, tribes serve as the highest native source of authority in which people place their allegiance. Population: Kurdish lands, rich in natural resources, have always sustained and promoted a large population. While registering modest gains since the late 19th century, but particularly in the first decade of the 20th, Kurds lost demographic ground relative to neighboring ethnic groups. This was due as much to their less developed economy and health care system as it was to direct massacres, deportations, famines, etc. The total number of Kurds actually decreased in this period, while every other major ethnic group in the area boomed. Since the middle of the 1960s, this negative demographic trend has reversed, and Kurds are steadily regaining the demographic position of importance that they traditionally held, representing 15% of the over-all population of the Middle East in Asia - a phenomenon common since at least the 4th millennium BC. Today, Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East, after the Arabs, Persians, and Turks. Their largest concentrations are now respectively in Turkey (approx. 52% of all Kurds), Iran(25.5%), Iraq (16%), Syria (5%), and the CIS (1.5%). Barring a catastrophe, Kurds will become the third most populous ethnic group in the Middle East by the year 2000, displacing the Turks. Furthermore, if present demographic trends hold, as they are likely to, in about fifty years, Kurds will also replace the Turks as the majority ethnic group in Turkey itself. There is one Kurdish city with a population of nearly a million (Kirminshah), two with over half a million (Diyarbekir, Kirkuk), five between a quarter and half a million (Antep, Arbil, Hamadan, Malatya, Sulaymania), and quarter of a million people (Adiyaman, Dersim [Tunceli], Dohuk, Elazig [Kharput], Haymana, Khanaqin, Mardin Qamishli, Qochan, Sanandaj, Shahabad, Siirt and Urfa) in many others. Language: Kurds are speakers of Kurdish, a member of the northwestern subdivision of the Iranic branch of the Indo-Europian family of languages, which is akin to Persian, and by extension to other European languages. It is fundamentally different from Semetic Arabic and Altaic Turkish. Modern Kurdish divides into two major groups: 1) the Kurmanji group and, 2) the Dimili-Gurani group. These are supplemented by scores of sub-dialects as well. The most popular vernacular is that of Kurmanji (or Kirmancha), spoken by about three-quarters of the Kurds today. Kurmanji is divided into North Kurmanji (also called Bahdinani, with around 15 million speakers, primarily in Turkey, Syria, and the former Soviet Union) and South Kurmanji (also called Sorani, with around 6 million speakers, primarily in Iraq and Iran). To the far north of Kurdistan along the Kizil Irmak and Murat rivers in Turkey, the Dimili (less accurately but more commonly known as Zaza) dialect is spoken by about 4 million Kurds. There are small pockets of this language spoken in various croners of Anatolia, northern Iraq, northern Iran and the Caucasus as well. In the far south of Kurdistan, both in Iraq and Iran, the Gurani dialect is spoken by about 3 million Kurds. Gurani, along with its two major subdivisions, Laki and Awramani, merits special attention for its wealth of sacred and secular literature stretching over a millennium. In Iraq and Iran a modified version of the Perso-Arabic alphabet has been adapted to South Kurmani (Sorani). The Kurds of Turkey have recently embarked on an extensive campaign of publication in the North Kurmanji dialect of Kurmaji (Bahdinani) from their publishing houses in Europe. These employed a modified form of the Latin alphabet. The Kurds of the former Soviet Union first began writing Kurdish in the Armenian alphabet in the 1920s, followed by latin in 1927, then Cyrillic in 1945, and now in both Cyrilic and Latin. Gurani dialects continue to employ the Persian alphabet without any change. Dimili now uses the same modified Latin alphabet as North Kurmanji for print. Religion: Nearly three fifths of the Kurds, almost all Kurmanji-speakers, are today at least nominally Sunni Muslims of Shafiite rite. There are also some followers of mainstream Shiite Islam among the Kurds, particularly in and around the cities of Kirmanshah, Hamadan, and Bijar in southern and eastern Kurdistan and the Khurasan. These Shiite Kurds number around half a million. The overwhelming majority of Muslim Kurds are followers of one several mystic Sufi orders, most importantly the Bektashi order of the northwest Kurdistan, the Naqshbandi order in the west and north, Qadiri orders of east and central Kurdistan, and Nurbakhshi of the south. The rest of the Kurds are followers of several indigenous Kurdish faiths of great antiquity and originality, which are variations on and permutations of an ancient religion that can be reasonably but loosely labeled as Yardanism or the "Cult of Angels." The three surviving major divisions of this religion are Yezidism (in west and west-central Kurdistan, approx. 2% of all Kurds), Yarsanism or the Ahl-i Haqq (in southern Kurdistan, approx. 13% of all Kurds), and Alevism or Kizil Nash (in western Kurdistan and the Khurasan, approx. 20%). Minor communities of Kurdish Jews, Christians, and Baha'is are found in various corners of Kurdistan. The ancient Jewish community has progressively emigrated to Israel, while the Christian community is merging their identity with that of the Assyrians. PRESENT AND NEAR FUTURE DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS (in millions) State Turkey Iran Iraq Syria CIS 1990 Total 56.7 55.6 18.8 12.6 ? pop. Total 13.7 6.6 4.4 1.3 0.3 Kurds % Kurdish 24.1 12.4 23.5 9.2 ? Total Kurds (in all countries): 26.3 2000 Total 65.9 73.9 26.5 17.2 ? pop. Total 18.7 9.0 6.4 1.6 0.5 Kurds % Kurdish 28.4 12.6 24 9.2 ? Total Kurds (in all countries): 36.2 2020 Total 87.5 130.6 44.8 28 ? pop. Total 32.3 16.2 10.9 2.7 0.9 Kurds % Kurdish 36.9 12 24.5 9.8 ? Total Kurds(in all countries): 63.0 2050 Total 105.8 192.5 62.2 33.7 ? pop. Total 47.0 23.1 15.0 3.9 1.1 Kurds % Kurdish 44.4 12.1 25 11 ? Total Kurds (in all countries): 90.2 Kurdish Studies, An International Journal The Kurdish Library, Vol. 5, Numbers 1 & 2 - Spring-Fall 1992.0 Kurdish Studies published semi-annually by the Kurdish Library Subscription rates: $30 individual, $50 institutions. Overseas add $10 for air postage. The Kurdish Heritage Foundation of America 345 Park Place Brooklyn NY 11238 Telephone (718) 783-7930 Telefax (718) 398-4365 (via Newsdesk Amsterdam) 19) New Kurdish Publication In Canada The recently formed Kurdistan Committee of Canada has started to publish an english-language newsletter called "Kurdish News" (some articles in this info package have been taken from their most recent issue). Copies are available from: Kurdistan Committee of Canada, 2487 Kaladar Ave., Suite 203, Ottawa, Ont. K1V 8B9 Canada. Tel: 613 733 9634. Fax: 613 733 0090. Copies are also available from us at the two Arm The Spirit addresses below. For A Free And Independent Kurdistan!! Arm The Spirit - October 1993 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arm The Spirit Arm The Spirit PO Box 6326, Stn. A c/o Autonome Forum Toronto, Ontario PO Box 1242 M5W 1P7 CANADA Burlington, Vermont 05402-1242 USA FAX for Canadian address: 416 516 4847 E-mail for U.S. address: aforum at moose.uvm.edu -----------------------------------------------------------------------------