Kurdish News Briefs

[DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org]

## Original in: /HRNET/EUROPE&MIDEAST
## author     : ats at etext.org
## date       : 08.07.94

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kurdish News Briefs

50,000 Kurds Demonstrate In Germany

     On Saturday, June 25, more than 50,000 Kurds (some
     estimates put the number as high as 100,000) held a
     massive demonstration in the West German city of
     Frankfurt. The 9km march was one of the biggest
     demonstrations in that city's history. More than 3000
     riot police, some wearing fire extinguishers on their
     backs, accompanied the demonstration, but no serious
     confrontations took place.

     The Kurds called for an end to German arms sales to
     Turkey, and they demanded that a peaceful and
     democratic political solution be reached to end the
     conflict in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan. The
     demonstrators also demanded that the PKK be given a key
     role in this process. Speakers at a massive rally at
     the end of the demonstration repeatedly called on the
     German government to lift its ban on the Kurdistan
     Workers' Party (PKK), and the 35 other Kurdish
     organizations which were banned in November 1993.
     Despite this ban, Saturday's procession was filled with
     flags of the ERNK (Kurdistan National Liberation
     Front), as well as t-shirts and banners proclaiming
     support for the PKK.

     Germany greatly increased its border security prior to
     Saturday's demonstration in Frankfurt. More than 2000
     Kurds were turned away by German border police and not
     allowed to enter the country to attend the
     demonstration. To protest this, Kurds briefly blockaded
     highways at three border crossings, but then dispersed
     without incident.

Kurdish Youth Murdered By German Police

    Close to midnight on Thursday, June 30, a 15-year old
    Kurdish asylum-seeker was shot in the back and killed by
    a plainclothes police officer in the German city of
    Hannover. The youth, Halim Deren (Ayhan Eser), was out
    with five friends hanging ERNK (National Liberation
    Front of Kurdistan) posters. When a police car passed
    by, the youths split up. Once the car was out of sight,
    Halim and a friend continued postering. Then, two
    plainclothes officers surprised the boys and attempted
    to arrest them, but both were able to flee. Seconds
    later, a shot rang out, and Halim was dead with a bullet
    in his back. The police are calling this murder "an
    accident".

     Halim and his family had only arrived in Germany six
     weeks before, at the end of May, after fleeing from the
     Kurdish village of Parcuk in the province of Bingol.
     The village of Parcuk, like so many others in
     Kurdistan, had been de-populated and then destroyed by
     the Turkish army.

     On the Saturday following Halim's murder, spontaneous
     demonstrations were held in several German cities. In
     Hannover, more than 1,000 people held a march to
     protest Halim's murder. Marchers carried photos of
     Halim, as well as flags and posters of the ERNK, an
     organization which was outlawed in Germany along with
     the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) and more than 30
     other Kurdish organizations in November 1993. The
     marchers also demanded the resignation of German
     interior minister Kanther who was responsible for the
     banning of the PKK/ERNK. Later Saturday night, police
     vehicals and police stations in Hannover, Osnabrueck,
     Oldenburg, and Braunscheig were attacked with stones
     and molotov cocktails. In Berlin, a Turkish travel
     agency was fire bombed, and more that two dozen stores
     in different parts of the city had their windows
     smashed.

     On Monday, July 4, close to 1,500 people held a
     demonstration in Berlin to protest Halim's murder.
     Police threatened to attack the demonstration at
     several points, because marchers were carrying ERNK
     posters (the same poster Halim was hanging when he was
     murdered). But the demonstrators continued to wave the
     ERNK posters and chant slogans in support of the
     outlawed PKK and were able to complete the demo route
     unhindered. After the demonstration had ended, however,
     riot police changed groups of people as they attempted
     to board subways trains. Several people were injured.
     In Kiel, Kurds drove a convoy of approximatley 20 cars
     through the city streets waving PKK flags and
     denouncing the police murder of Halim Deren. Police
     arrested 11 Kurds during this action. Other actions and
     demonstrations were held in Hamburg and several other
     cities as well.

     Also on July 4, approximately 50 ERNK supporters
     occupied the German embassy in Athens, Greece, to
     protest Halim's murder. After about two hours, the
     demonstrators left the embassy. There were no arrests.
     A nation-wide demonstration to protest the murder of
     Halim Deren and in support of the national liberation
     struggle in Kurdistan will be held in Hannover on
     Saturday, July 9.

     The ERNK has issued a statement calling on the German
     police to issue a full and uncondition apology for
     Halim's murder, otherwise the Kurdish resistance will
     be forced to respond with "similar means".

*****************************************************************
Arm The Spirit
P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
Toronto, Ont.
M5W 1P7
Canada                                      E-Mail: ats at etext.org
*****************************************************************