Oppression Provokes Resistance - Ro

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: Oppression Provokes Resistance - Roots Of The PKK's Armed Struggle

Oppression Provokes Resistance

Ismail Besicki assesses the initial conditions for the armed
struggle of the PKK.

     The start of the armed struggle of the PKK on August 15, 1984
is an important turning-point in the history of Kurdistan, Turkey
and the Middle East. The resistance struggle under the leadership
of the PKK is developing despite attempts to suppress and destroy
it. It is an uprising against barbarism and a state policy based on
assimilation, destruction, racism and exploitation. The state
attempts to obscure the basic dynamics of the Kurdish question
while hiding its chauvinistic, oppressive methods and denying the
legitimate basis of the August 15 armed struggle by depicting it as
"terrorism". The Turkish state denies the existence of the real
problems underlying that struggle. That is why we consider it
appropriate to deal with the political and social conditions which
led to the organisation of August 15, 1984 and the PKK.

The Situation Before The August 15 Offensive

     The central pillar of the Turkish state's Kurdish policy is
total assimilation. This policy was implemented in a most decisive
and systematic manner from the inception of the Republic. Concepts
like "Kurd", "Kurdistan" were banned. At the time of the one-party
system Kurdish-speaking people were penalised and sentenced to pay
fines. There are important documents in existence which bear
evidence of the decisions of the policy of assimilation and of
instructions to implement it.
     States like England and France and Iran who participated in
the carve-up of Kurdistan, carried out the same racist and
oppressive policies vis-a-vis the Kurds in their areas of
influence. These states too legitimised all means for the
realisation of the policy of assimilation. Iraq and Syria, after
achieving their independence from England and France, showed the
same enthusiasm in the use of their own racist and oppressive
policies in South Kurdistan and Southwest Kurdistan.
     In the 30's and 60's broad campaigns were started in which
Kurds were declared Turks and the Kurdish language as a dialect of
Turkish. In addition the national and social existence of the Kurds
was denied. All traces which could remind one of the Kurds, as for
example monuments, the Kurdish language and culture, were to be
destroyed. The Kurdish cultural heritage, like Kurdish traditional
dances, Kurdish songs and Kurdish melodies, were Turkified. If
there was any reference at all to the Kurds in magazines or some
research done on the Kurdish problem by university professors, they
all propagated the fiction that Kurds were Turks and the Kurdish
language a dialect of Turkish.
     At the end of the 60's the national consciousness of the Kurds
developed with the founding of Devrimci Dogu Kultur Ocakalri
(Revolutionary Culture Association of the East) and Dogu Mitingler
(Event about the East). To counter this development state terror
was intensified. Through "Commando unit" operations suppression and
torture was carried out systematically. One of the methods most
frequently employed was to force villagers to assemble in the
market square and humiliate and torture them. Sexual organs of the
men were tied with a string and the women instructed to pull the
men behind them as they were forced to walk them round the village.
Older men were pulled by their beards, thrown on the ground and
trampled on in front of their families. Women were also dragged by
their hair through the village. All these methods of torture were
justified under the pretext of searching for weapons and capture of
'criminal' fugitives. But the real reason was the emerging national
consciousness of the Kurds. The military coup of March 12, 1971 had
its origin in this situation.
     One of the most important reasons for the assumption of power
by the military was this development in Kurdistan. During this time
big trials were held against the "Revolutionary Associations of the
Eastern Culture" and the Democratic Party Turkey-Kurdistan.
     The indictments contained long and detailed analyses to prove
that the Kurds were Turks and, like them, came from Central Asia.
It was also stated that the Kurdish language did not exist but was
a primitive form of Turkish. Talking of the rights of the Kurds the
following arguments were adduced: "There is no indigenous Kurdish
people, therefore there was no Kurdish language and consequently no
rights for the Kurds". Because of the denial of the existence of
the Kurds by the Turkish state it was not prepared to even consider
discussing this problem. Therefore until the 70's all political
roads for independent political representation for the Kurds were
completely blocked. The narrow framework became even narrower. In
this situation the PKK succeeded in organising and developing
itself. Among the first recruits to the PKK in the 70's were many
youths. It was they who witnessed the torture of their fathers,
mothers, grandparents and brothers and sisters by the "Commando
units".
     The main reason for the military coup of 1980 was to
effectively counter the national and social awakening in Kurdistan.
During the military dictatorship Kurdistan experienced
indescribable atrocities. Torture, systematically implemented, was
an integral part of state policy and found its most intense
expression in the prisons. It is impossible to erase the traces of
torture from the memory of those who were imprisoned between 1981-
1985.
     In Diyarbakir alone over 40 people were murdered under
torture. There was only one reason for carrying out systematic
oppression and torture: to erase everything Kurdish from the memory
of the people and in that way force them to abandon their ideals.
     Therefore, the August 15 offensive in 1984 emerged from a
situation of unimaginable horror. Since then the resistance which
started with the attacks on Eruh and Semdinli, deepened and
intensified. The Turkish state, for the first time confronted with
actions of such magnitude, immediately labelled them as banditry
and terrorism. If someone says the PKK is a "terrorist
organisation" he is covering up for Turkish state terror because
this really means keeping silent about the political and social
conditions from which the PKK emerged. That the Turkish state is
pursuing this policy with success is well known. Turkey itself as
well as other western countries are bombarded with propaganda
material to such an extent that they associate the PKK
automatically with terrorism. The aim of this policy is to conceal
the brutal reality from the public as was done with the cruelties
committed in the prisons of Diyarbakir.
     Looking at the propaganda machinery of the Turkish state one
has to deal with the role that human beings play in this machinery.
They form an important part of the National Secret Service. Their
reports are written to conform with the security interests and
objectives of the Turkish state and never deviate from the
ideological framework and terminology of the Kemalist state. In
return the media are supported with huge credits by institutions
like the European Council, the European Parliament and
international governments. Even some human rights delegations and
democratic institutions who visit Turkey as observers, can
advisedly, be included within this category because they too,
invariably, join in the state-orchestrated chorus demonising the
PKK as a "terrorist organisation" outside the pale of political
collaboration which must be destroyed militarily as a precondition
for the recognition of Kurdish identity and culture and the
implementation of a political solution within the framework of the
unitary Turkish state.
     This attitude not only covers up for state terror, but it even
declares it non-existent. So who is actually starting the
confrontation, who carries it out? Who prepares the ground for the
conflicts? There has to be a new approach to this problem. It is
necessary to show this by way of an example.

Turkey's Role In Kurdistan

     A mere description of the violence cannot convey enough
information for a full understanding of the problem. Without
examining the effects and goals of state terrorism, it would be
false to define the war being waged by the guerrilla as terrorist.
It should be stressed that the use of violence by the guerrilla is
in reaction to state terrorism. The increase in state terrorism is
designed to prop up the state's illegal and anachronistic official
ideology.
     The guerrilla united itself within a short time with the
Kurdish population at large. The national consciousness then
developed very quickly. Within Kurdish society, a very significant
social and political change took place; the cultural-political and
global-political outlook changed. Kurdish women began to take on
active roles within the guerrilla struggle. All classes of Kurdish
society became politicised. The Turkish state, on the other hand,
tried to stop and oppress these increasingly stronger political and
social developments by means of an unchanging official ideology.
State terrorism is an important means of halting these developments
and maintaining the status quo. To do this, an entire war machine
was mobilised. Despite this reality, the situation is not described
as a war, rather as a mobilisation to weaken and destroy a small
group of bandits. But when has a group of bandits ever demanded
such things as autonomy or federation from a government? It should
also be noted that army units of between 20,000-30,000 men are in
operation against the guerrilla in the regions of Dersim, Agri,
Kulp and Gabar. Even the Turkish media itself stated that a 50,000-
strong army unit was in operation in Dersim. A situation where a
state utilises tanks, cannon, military aircraft, Super Cobra
helicopters, Sikorskys and units of 30,000-50,000 soldiers should
by all rights be defined as a war. But still, the official line is
that the government is 'fighting against a small group of bandits'.
     It would be pure self-deception to describe an organisation
which can field more than 20,000 guerrillas, more than 60,000
militia members and tens of thousands of sympathizers as a mere
terrorist group of bandits. This mass movement can be seen today in
the hunger strikes in prisons and in the broad support for the
hunger strikes from relatives of the prisoners. Tens of thousands
of people both inside and outside of the prisons have tried to win
their political demands by means of an indefinite hunger strike.
     As a part of the war of destruction being waged by the Turkish
state within its 'own' borders, from time to time operations have
gone well beyond the political borders of Turkey. Operations are
often carried out in South Kurdistan. The March 20, 1995 invasion
into South Kurdistan of an army unit of more than 35,000 men led by
heavy artillery, was lauded by the Turkish press. The same was true
of the failed operation in March 1994 in South Kurdistan against
the PKK camp in Zele, which involved 52 military aircraft. These
operations affected international relations with regard to Turkey
and its neighbours. Currently every country is developing its own
Kurdish policy. The fact that Kurdistan and the Kurdish people are
divided means that the Kurdish problem is by definition an
international question. The operations which the Turkish state
carries out in Kurdistan are designed to destroy the Kurdish
people, who are very close to the guerrilla and from whom the
guerrilla arise, and thereby to overcome the popular dynamic of the
Kurdish problem. As a result of this policy, the people whose
villages and homes are destroyed are forced to flee from their
homeland.
     These refugees are spread out across all of Kurdistan and
Turkey. Many people who end up in Police custody are found dead
days later. Such murders, which number in the thousands, are
officially described as 'murders perpetrated by unknown persons',
but those responsible are known to the state. In some places people
are burned to death in their homes along with their livestock. All
property is then confiscated. The fields are set on fire. Animals
needed for survival are killed. The number of destroyed villages is
well over 2,000. In many areas, agriculture and livestock have been
wiped out. The representatives of the state ideology are trying to
make the region uninhabitable and as depopulated as possible.
Burning forests is another part of Turkey's systematic policy. The
government, which affects concern about the burning of forests in
western Turkey, at the same time encourages the burning of forests
in Kurdistan. By doing this they hope to deny living space for the
guerrillas. We know that the destruction of villages has forced
millions of people to flee. What does it mean when women and
children are driven from their homes? How does a woman feel when
she sees her house and her animals burned, her entire life
destroyed? How does it feel to be driven from your homeland? Is it
possible to understand the feelings of people who have no idea
where to go, where they can live, what they will eat and drink, how
they will protect themselves from the cold and the heat? Can a
seemingly sensitive state, which cries crocodile tears following a
PKK attack on a village guard family ('...so many women and
children...'), feel what a woman feels when she has seen her house
burned to the ground, her son and husband murdered and her daughter
arrested? Does the Turkish state understand the feelings of
children whose fathers, mothers and grandparents have been tortured
and whose siblings have been thrown into prison? How does it feel
to live as a person driven into exile? What do the children feel,
whose homes have been burned, whose sheep and lambs have been
killed?
     For as long as the war in Bosnia rages on, the Turkish state
tries to divert the world's attention away from its own operations
in Kurdistan. But it is no longer possible to classify the military
operations which Turkey is systematically waging against the
Kurdish people as mere human rights violations. Human rights
violations are committed by a state against its citizens and the
state is viewed as guilty. But the operations described above are
not being carried out by a state against its citizens, but rather
against an enemy. The Turkish state treats the Kurds as an enemy
and yet not a single member of the armed forces who has murdered
Kurds in the most brutal manner has ever been brought to justice.
In fact, it is not even correct to classify the Turkish state's
conduct as one being waged against an enemy, for the Turkish
state's conduct against the Kurds does not adhere to any standards
whatsoever.
     It is also well known that the daily newspapers Ozgur Gundem
and Ozgur Ulke, which reported on the state's operations despite
the tense conditions in Kurdistan, were subjected to fierce
repression. The daily paper which now appears is always censored.
The result: When democratic channels are blocked, the weapon
becomes the only form of expression.
     It is important to evaluate the relationship between the
action and the reaction of the guerrilla and the state. The state's
blocking of all democratic paths has provided the starting point
and legitimacy for the guerrilla. Therefore it is incorrect to term
the PKK as a terrorist organisation. The PKK is an organisation
which is leading a national and social liberation struggle. It is
an organisation which is fighting for the equal rights and the
values of a people who have been robbed of their national and
democratic rights. It is a democratic organisation with an organic
relationship to a broad mass of people. Above, we have outlined the
politics of the Turkish ruling class and the function of the
political system against the Kurds. Within this mechanism, the
political parties, the government and the Turkish Grand National
Assembly have no meaning whatsoever. All power, ideology and
politics is decided by the generals and the ideology of the army is
unquestioned within the National Security Council, The government's
only function is to put the policies of the National Security
Council into practice. The parliament does not have a say in
discussions on security matters. This body is heavily influenced by
the military's ideology. The authorities named above exercise great
control over all institutions and it is the Kurdish dynamic which
has exposed this mechanism.
     Today, the state in both its domestic and its foreign policy
is entirely directed against the PKK. In order to destroy the PKK,
the state will resort to any means necessary. But in spite of this,
the PKK has been able to develop itself through the channels open
to it. It is trying to further develop its relations with the
Kurdish people. It is also starting to strengthen its international
relations. By means of its struggle both political and cultural
institutions are being created. The Kurdistan Parliament in Exile
is one example of this. These institutions are proof of the
strength of the PKK and of the influence of the Kurdish dynamic in
social and political affairs. This is the level which the guerrilla
movement has reached after 11 years of struggle.

(The Turkish sociologist and author Ismail Besikci has been
sentenced to a total of 211 years in jail for more than one hundred
"separatist propaganda" cases opened against him mainly under
Article 8. The above article was translated from German and was
written in 1995.)

(Source: Kurdistan Report #23 (Special Issue), March-May 1996)

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