"Remembering Leyla Zana" And Other

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.cic.net>
Subject: "Remembering Leyla Zana" And Other Kurdish News

Remembering Leyla Zana

December 8, 1996 will mark the second anniversary of Leyla Zana's formal
imprisonment in Turkey's Ankara Closed Prison.  She was arrested by police
in the Turkish parliament on March 5, 1994, after her mostly Turkish
colleagues voted to lift her parliamentary immunity and that of several
other Kurdish deputies.

Leyla Zana was the first Kurdish woman ever to serve in the Turkish
parliament.  She was elected to serve the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir by an
overwhelming margin on October 20, 1991.  She had run a campaign of
validating the civil rights of the Kurds.

In Diyarbakir, Ankara, Paris, Bonn, London and Washington or for that
matter wherever she went, she advocated an end to the civil war raging in
southeast Turkey.  On May 17, 1993, she was invited to Washington together
with Ahmet Turk, another Kurdish parliamentarian, to brief the members of
the United States Congress at the Helsinki Commission.  The day after, at
another briefing, this time at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, Mr. Morton Abramowitz, the former United States Ambassador to
Ankara, asked his guests what they meant when they said at the commission
briefing: "[We are] dedicated to advocating the rights of the Kurds by
political means?"

Mr. Turk noted the existence of the Kurds in Turkey as an historical truism
and the absence of their rights in the present Turkish constitution.  He
went on,  "Some 15 million Kurds live in Turkey that has a population of 58
million people, but they are deprived of their most basic human rights.
Their very identity is not recognized; the Kurdish language is banned.  We
seek to get back these political rights of ours through our political
work."

Leyla Zana said that in Turkish Kurdistan the international codes are
suspended to keep the struggle of the Kurds for political rights at bay.
"In Batman, [a Kurdish city in Turkish Kurdistan] the police have changed
the traffic lights combination from the standard, red, yellow and green at
the city streets to red, yellow and blue.  The red, yellow and green happen
to be Kurdish national colors; by changing the color green to blue, the
Turkish authorities hope to suppress the Kurdish yearnings for rights.  We
want the Kurdish colors and we want the International standards too."

The speeches Leyla gave in Washington were used against her in the State
Security Court in Ankara in her sentencing on December 8, 1994.  To be
sure, there were other charges, but all stemming from her desire to make
the lot of the Kurds better.  The 16 page indictment cited, a speech here,
a speech there and another one somewhere else. The panel of Turkish civil
and military judges decided Leyla had spoken too much.  She was given a
fifteen year sentence.

Last year, the Norwegian parliament nominated Leyla Zana for the Nobel
Peace prize.  Her name reportedly was among the last five finalists.  This
year, the European Parliament awarded her with the 1995 Sakharov Freedom
award.  Dr. Klaus Hansch, the President of the European Parliament,
speaking for the 15 country European union, had this to say: "In awarding
the prize to Leyla Zana, we are honoring a woman of exceptional courage,
dynamism, intelligence and fortitude."  The city of Rome recently chose her
as its honorary citizen.

The former first lady of France, Madame Daniel Mitterand, has kept a steady
correspondence with the imprisoned Kurdish parliamentarian as have her two
children who now live in exile in Europe.  Prominent visitors are barred
from visiting her, though the Turkish authorities could not refuse John
Shattuck, the U. S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights.

Last month, in a news-hour interview on PBS, this year's Nobel peace
laureate, Jose Ramos-Horta, was asked how he felt about receiving such a
high honor.  Expressing his gratitude for the award, he added, he could
think of others who were worthy of the award that had just been given to
him and he cited, "Leyla Zana from Kurdistan who is now in jail," as one of
his choices.

In the United States Congress, on May 17, 1993, addressing the members of
the Helsinki Commission, Mrs. Zana had described the Kurdish question in
words that were troubling then as they are today.  "To have you glimpse at
the toll, the Kurds have suffered, just last year alone, reminds one of Eli
Wiesel and his reflections on the Jewish Holocaust.  300 villages have been
burnt.  ..."  Today, the number of destroyed villages has risen to 3,134,
according to figures by the respected Turkish Human Rights Foundation.

American Kurdish Information Network
December 5, 1996

-----

Headline: Economics and image building on Islamic agenda
Wire Service: RTna (Reuters North America)
Date: Sat, Dec 7, 1996
 Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole
or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    By Ian MacKenzie
     JAKARTA, Dec 8 (Reuter) - Moslem nations, holding their annual meeting
of foreign ministers this week, will seek to increase economic cooperation
and counteract what they see as Western misconceptions too often linking
Islam with violence and terrorism, officials said.
     Indonesia, hosting the ministerial meeting of the Organisation of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) for the first time, is eager to promote economic
cooperation and development among its 53 member states.
     "The OIC ought to spend more time and focus...on economic cooperation
among member states to enhance the economic welfare of its members,"
Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told a news briefing ahead of the
five-day meeting which starts on Monday.
     He said OIC members were also conscious of the need to boost their
image in a world in which Islam has too frequently been equated with
violence and terrorism.
     "We are trying to develop a cultural information programme to combat
this," he said, adding that "fundamentalism" was not synonymous with
"extremism."
     Alatas said it was Indonesia's long-standing policy to promote
economic cooperation, but this did not mean that important political topics
should be pushed to the side.
     Diplomatic sources said key issues on the political agenda included
Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process and Bosnia.
     Another likely topic was "extraterritorial applications of domestic
law," a reference to U.S. sanctions against countries such as Iran and
Libya.
     Kuwait was expected to introduce a draft resolution covering its
confrontation with Iraq, which diplomatic sources said would be
unacceptable to Baghdad.
     Sources said Turkey was likely to raise the issue of the Moslem
minority in Bulgaria, and of divided Cyprus.
     Afghanistan will not be represented at the meeting.
     Senior officials who met to set the agenda at IOC headquarters in
Jeddah last month decided not to invite a delegation from Kabul because no
one could agree on who should represent Afghanistan.
     The hardline Islamic Taleban militia seized Kabul on September 27.
Forces loyal to ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani and ethnic Uzbek
leader Rashid Dostum are trying to retake the city.
     "The ministerial conference will try to find a way out of this
problem," Indonesia's Alatas said.
     The ministers will also have to find a successor to the OIC's current
secretary-general, Hamid Algabid of Niger, whose time expires at the end of
the year. He has been nominated as a candidate for the job of U.N.
secretary-general.
     The OIC gathering has been preceded by the first International Islamic
Conference for Science, Technology and Human Resource Development.
     Indonesia's President Suharto, who will formally open the IOC meeting
on Monday, told 400 Islamic leaders and intellectuals at the start of the
science and technology conference that Moslems must seek a common vision,
resolve conflicts and improve political stability to face the challenges of
the future.
 REUTER

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Headline: Kurdish rebels kill two in Turkish southeast
Wire Service: RTw (Reuters World Report)
Date: Sun, Dec 8, 1996
 Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole
or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    TUNCELI, Turkey, Dec 8 (Reuter) - A soldier and a member of an
anti-guerrilla village militia were killed on Saturday in clashes in
Turkey's southeastern province of Tunceli, a military official said on
Sunday.
     The men were taking part in a large military operation in the area
against guerillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Another soldier was
injured in the clashes.
     In a separate incident, a police station near a dam construction
project 10 km (six miles) from the provincial capital, was fired upon and a
lorry set on fire, the official said.
     More than 21,000 people have been killed in the 12-year-old conflict
between the Turkish security forces and the PKK who are fighting for
independence or autonomy in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
  REUTE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Headline: Turkish rights group wins international award
Wire Service: RTna (Reuters North America)
Date: Sun, Dec 8, 1996
 Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole
or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    BERLIN, Dec 8 (Reuter) - A women's human rights group which holds
weekly vigils in Istanbul to campaign against torture, extrajudicial
killings and "disappearances" of political dissidents in Turkey, won an
award in Berlin on Sunday.
     "Saturday's Women," comprised mostly of wives and mothers of victims
of human rights abuses in Turkey, holds vigils every Saturday to protest
against the rights record of the Turkish government and raise worldwide
public awareness.
     Two of the organisation's members, Nimet Tanrikulu and a woman
identified as Yelda, accepted the International League for Human Rights
medal in Berlin on behalf of the group.
     The medal is named after German journalist Carl von Ossietzsky who
fought against fascism and won the Nobel peace prize in 1935. He was
interned in a concentration camp during World War Two and died in 1938.
     The Paris-based International League for Human Rights has bestowed the
medal annually since 1962 on persons or groups fighting against
state-sponsored oppression.
     "This award is a warm greeting across the borders," Tanrikulu said as
she accepted it, speaking in Turkish through a translator. "It has granted
our voice a voice."
     According to "Saturday's Women," at least 827 people have been
reported missing after being seized by police in Turkey since 1990. Human
rights organisations list such cases as "disappearances."
     Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union by 2000, has faced
heavy criticism of its human rights record from the 15-nation body.
     The awards ceremony launched a week-long programme of human rights
demonstrations and seminars by Berlin human rights organisations, including
Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
 REUTER


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Headline: U.N. oil experts leave for northern Iraq
Wire Service: RTw (Reuters World Report)
Date: Sun, Dec 8, 1996
 Copyright 1996 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole
or in part, without the prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.

    BAGHDAD, Dec 8 (Reuter) - A small team of U.N. experts went to northern
Iraq on Sunday to supervise Iraq's resumption of limited oil exports for
the first time since sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990.
     A U.N. source said four of the 10 experts who arrived in Baghdad on
Saturday left to take up position at the metering station of Zakho on the
Iraqi-Turkish twin pipeline close to the border with Turkey.
     The other six, the source said, would leave for southern Iraq to
inspect the export terminal of Mina al-Bakr on the Gulf on Monday.
     Iraq last month agreed to U.N. conditions on partial exports of $2
billion in six months to help it buy food and medicine to alleviate
suffering of its sanctions-hit population.
     The deal had been delayed by fighting in northern Iraq which erupted
in August when Baghdad's army joined forces with one Kurdish faction
against another.
     Oil Minister Amir Muhammad Rasheed said on Friday he expected Iraqi
oil exports to resume early on Tuesday. But U.N. spokeswoman Sylvana Foa
doubted that would be the case.
     The experts are led by Briton Paul Edward and they have to be in
position before Iraq resumes exports.
     Under the deal Iraq has to pump the bulk of its partial exports via
Turkey and the rest through Mina al-Bakr. Iraq intends to use both outlets
simultaneously.

----
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----

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Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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