News From Kurdistan Rundbrief 16/95

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: kcc at magi.com (Kurdistan Committee of Canada)

News Translated From Kurdistan Rundbrief 16/95

- ERNK Not Responsible For The Attacks
- Constitutional Reform? A Charade!
- PDS Calls For PKK Ban To Be Lifted

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In a statement delivered to the KURD-A news agency on July 29,
the European spokesperson for the ERNK, Ali Sapan, denied that
the ERNK/PKK were behind the recent series of firebomb attacks in
Germany.

ERNK Not Responsible For The Attacks

     Especially now, at a time when the Turkish state is
experiencing a serious crisis, the position of German government
officials and their policies are difficult to comprehend. Germany
is developing a campaign of lies and denunciations with respect
to the PKK. The recent pronouncements about the PKK from the
Office to Protect the Constitution [Verfassungsschutz] do not
reflect the truth, rather they are distortions. We have nothing
to do with the events of the past few days. After a series of
attacks in several parts of Germany, the German government is
doing its best to make us appear responsible. Germany has lots of
prejudices concerning the PKK, and this has lead to a new
campaign aimed at discrediting us. In particular, the Office to
Protect the Constitution is trying to look as though it knew
about the attacks beforehand in order to legitimize its own
inhumane attacks on completely democratic and peaceful
hungerstrikes. Upon closer inspection, the following is made
clear: The statements about us made by German Interior Minister
Kanther are exact copies of those by Turkey's Interior Minister,
Mentese.
     Despite the bans, the repression, and the anti-democratic
logic of the German state, the support by the Kurdish people for
the PKK continues to grow. Germany's inhumane and anti-democratic
praxis has lead to even greater support for the PKK from our
people. The anti-democratic logic of the German state, which will
not even permit a peaceful and legal hungerstrike, is forcing the
Kurdish people to voice its protest via other means. The PKK is
fighting with determination and perseverance for a political
solution. Germany should abandon its support for the military
option, should cease with its lust for war, and should accept the
political-democratic proposed solutions from the PKK.
     In the past few days, the German government has brought its
collaboration with Turkey against our people to a climax. During
a recent visit to Ankara by a state secretary from the German
Interior Ministry, a statement was made that the two countries'
security agencies would work in closer cooperation in order to
combat Kurdish people living in Germany who are connected to our
party, the PKK, and our front organization, the ERNK. There is to
be an intensive exchange of information between Germany and
Turkey in order to prevent PKK activities and to increase
bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Furthermore,
Germany promised to give the Turkish police the necessary
training and modernization to carry out this task.
     All of this clear shows that Germany plans to further
strengthen its hostile and destructive attitude towards our
people in the name of "security", and it has once again placed
itself firmly on the side of the dirty war and state terrorism
carried out by the Turkish Republic against our people.
     We call on all democratic and progressive forces to expose
the fascistic policies carried out by Germany against our people
and to stand against such policies. 

Ali Sapan,
ERNK European Representative

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Constitutional Reform? A Charade!

     The change of a few points of the Turkish Constitution has
been celebrated for several days now in the Turkish media as a
major victory for democratization and sold as such to the world
public opinion. They are making it seem as though a new
Constitution had been drafted, as though all bans had been
lifted, as if all problems had been solved. In reality, only the
first few sections of Articles 12 and 177 and some of
Transitional Articles 16 and 17 have been affected. In other
words, only a small part of the Constitution drafted by the
September 12 junta has been changed. The core of the military
junta's Constitution remains untouched, it has just been given a
minor facade.
     The biggest impediment to democracy in Turkey is the Kurdish
question. As long as no humane and just solution to this problem
is found, democratization in Turkey will be impossible. The most
important aspect of the Turkish Constitution is its denial of the
existence of the Kurds and the ban on all forms of Kurdish
expression. This Constitution is racist, militarist, repressive,
blind, and destructive. The changes recently made to the
Constitution did not affect any of these aspects, in fact the
changes made in the introductory paragraphs pushed this even more
to the forefront.
     Not a single problematic Article was changed. The
unimpeachable nature of the September 12 junta is proclaimed.
Social and political life is buried under soldiers' boots.
Thought is made a crime, and there are more than 15,000 people in
prison for political reasons. The Kurdish reality is denied,
contradicted, destroyed. The destruction of villages,
contra-guerrilla attacks, murders by "unknown persons" (organized
by the state), bombardments and war in Kurdistan, all of the
shedding of blood continues unabated.
     The problems in Turkey cannot be solved by increasing the
number of MPs in Parliament from 450 to 550, nor by lowering the
voting age to 18, nor by granting MPs the right to switch parties
after their election, nor by granting civil servants the right to
organize in a union and engage in collective bargaining, but
without granting them the right to strike, nor by allowing
members of high school corps to join political parties, nor by
giving the right to vote to Turkish citizens living abroad, nor
by giving youth and women's groups the right to organize from
within political parties.
     These are not the Articles which form the basis of the
problems which have led to bloodshed and which are the causes of
the war, which have caused tens of thousands of people to be
tortured, which have sent people to jail for voicing opinions,
which have plunged the country into chaos.
     The changes made to the Constitution are a charade which
only serve to hide reality. They are not a sign of good will, but
rather of the desire to conceal the truth. This is not
democratization, rather quite the contrary, this is a new means
of hiding their anti- democratic methods.
     These changes to the Constitution do not serve the cause of
peace, rather they will just prolong the dirty war and the
genocide.
     Our people don't want deception, they desire true democracy.
Our people don't want war, rather they desire peace and a truly
democratic Constitution. They are sick of empty promises. Sooner
or later, our people will realize their desire for true
democracy, peace, and understanding between peoples.

The Kurdistan Parliament in Exile
July 27, 1995

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In a joint statement issued on July 18, members of the Berlin
state legislature from the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS),
including representative Sigrun Steinborn and PDS fraction leader
Dr. Zotl, called on Germany's Interior Minister Manfred Kanther
to lift the ban against the PKK. 

PDS Calls For PKK Ban To Be Lifted

     You and the federal government keep justifying the
repression against the Kurds here out of supposed concern for the
German population. The federal government says it does not want
the conflict in Turkey to be exported to Germany. That's why they
banned all activities by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and
the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK) in Germany. At
least, that's what we keep hearing from the Interior Ministry.
     Violent raids on private homes and the offices of
organizations and associations, surveillance, the closing down of
the Agri-Verlag publishing house and the confiscation of 15 tons
of books, and other repressive measures have become almost daily
occurrences.
      We, the undersigned, are convinced that this
form of repressive domestic politics does not "only" affect the
Kurds. On the basis of our daily experiences, we have come to the
conclusion that the German state's monopoly on violence has been
enforced with rigid and even undemocratic means against all those
who do not submit to the state's desires. At the moment, it is
ethnic and social minorities who are being most repressed, but
the state's violence monopoly is increasingly being used against
disadvantaged people, non-conformists, and political leftists as
well.
     We must ask ourselves, how long will it be before the
present minority of right-wing extremists becomes the unmolested
majority? That's why we call on you to: 

- lift the information and association ban, as well as the ban on
political activity, for Kurds living in Germany, regardless of
any supposed connection to the PKK and the ERNK; 

- have the federal government recognize the Kurdistan Parliament
in Exile! 

     The PKK and the ERNK are seen by many Kurds are the
legitimate representatives of the Kurdish people, that's why it's
about time the federal government stops to think about how long
it wishes and can afford to support the narrow policies of the
Turkish government. 

PDS-Berlin

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Kurdistan Committee of Canada		Tel: (613) 733-9634
2487 Kaladar Ave. Suite 203		Fax: (613) 733-0090
Ottawa, Ontario, K1V 8B9		E-mail: kcc at magi.com
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