Turkish Intellectuals Support Kurdi

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Turkish Intellectuals Support Kurdish Parliament

Statement From The Federation Of Turkish Intellectuals In Europe To The 
Kurdish Parliament In Exile

Dear representatives of the Kurdish people,

	The organization of Turkish intellectuals in Europe welcomes the 
founding of the Kurdish Parliament in Exile as a legitimate expression of 
the will of the Kurdish people for human rights and national 
self-determination. We support your initiatives and greet your intentions 
to seek a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem. Convinced that we 
represent the opinions of a large sector of the Turkish population, we 
wish you all the best in your efforts to spread this just idea.
	Your struggle is your inalienable right. Your struggle is also 
our struggle. It is an indivisible part of the struggle by Turkish 
intellectuals to seek guarantees for basic human rights and freedoms in 
Turkey and for its future as a democratic European state. A just solution 
to the Kurdish problem would be the best way to preserve the 
democratization of our state.
	True to democratic principles, we, Turkish intellectuals, support 
your demands for the right to use and be educated in your native 
language, as well as for administrative and cultural autonomy within the 
Turkish state. We are convinced that such is the only proper solution to 
the Kurdish question. That's why we warmly welcome Abdullah Ocalan's 
offer to lay down the weapons and pursue a peaceful solution as a sign of 
wisdom and political maturity. We offer our solidarity with the statement 
from your Parliament and we call on Turkey to recognize these demands and 
to be ready to sit down at the bargaining table.
	We condemn the Turkish government's refusal to engage in a 
political dialogue concerning the southeast. We oppose the conduct of the 
Turkish army: ethnic cleansing, violence, and terror against a part of 
the state's own population. On the one hand, the government claims that 
it wishes to protect the Muslims in the Balkans and it condemns the acts 
of the Bosnian Serbs, on the other hand it has launched its own form of 
military extinction of the Muslim Kurdish people, both here at home as 
well as in neighbouring Iraq.
	To carry out such policies will be disastrous for the future of 
our state. These policies only serve the interests of a 
military-bureaucratic clique, the real rulers of the state hiding behind 
the mask of a "lady", people unwilling to abandon their Ottoman illusions 
and ambitions.
	Such policies shake the very foundations of the state, wasting 
its potential in a civil war between brothers which will only to lead to 
division and catastrophe. These politics have no respect for democracy or 
for Ataturk's promise to grant the Kurds autonomy. These politics ignore 
the public's voice. Turkish intellectuals and representatives of public 
life who appeal for a just solution to the Kurdish question are also 
victimized by these policies. Scientists, authors, journalists, and 
popular representatives are persecuted, brought to court, and even 
killed, simply because they recognize that the Kurds have a right to 
self-determination.
	The politics put forward by Ankara are deadly for both the 
Kurdish and the Turkish peoples. The fate of both our peoples are closely 
tied together. To stand the test of time together, both peoples bear the 
burdens of this civil war, because it is carried out against their will. 
Our past and our future require us to go forward together, so that we 
might leave behind an honorable and democratic state for coming generations.
	United in our efforts, let us resist the policies of Ankara and 
toss the final militarist remains of the Ottoman Empire on the dust heap 
of history!
	Let us work together to build a democratic and progressive 
Turkish-Kurdish state!

Vienna, October 1995



 ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
   ++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++
     ++++ see http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++

+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist collective based
in Toronto, Canada. Our focus includes a wide variety of
material, including political prisoners, national liberation
struggles, armed communist resistance, anti-fascism, the fight
against patriarchy, and more. We regularly publish our writings,
research, and translation materials in our magazine and bulletins
called Arm The Spirit. For more information, contact:

Arm The Spirit
P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1P7 Canada

E-mail: ats at etext.org
WWW: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/Politics/Arm.The.Spirit
+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++===+++==