Infodesk Statement #9

[kurd-l at burn.UCSD.EDU]

Reply-To: kurd-l at burn.UCSD.EDU
From: Kurdistan Committee of Canada <kcc at magi.com>
Subject: Infodesk Statement #9

Information Desk - The Turkish Invasion of South Kurdistan
Tel: +32-2-230-9233
Fax: +32-2-230-9208

Press Release #9

March 28, 1995

Some 300 Kurds have occupied the United Nations building in Geneva,
Switzerland to draw the members' attention to the Turkish war in
their homeland. We received the following fax from their
representatives which was submitted to UN officials:

                  To The Members Of The United Nations

     On March 20, 1995, some 70,000 Turkish troops with their
armoured vehicles, tanks, and fighter planes invaded northern Iraq,
South Kurdistan. Nine days have passed and neither the
international press nor foreign observers have been allowed into
the actual site of the war. There is only one reason for that:
Turkey wants to hide the ugly truth from the international public,
namely the villages that have been bombed by its air force and the
civilians that have been murdered by its ground troops.
     On the face of it, the Turkish state has indicated that its
invasion was prompted by the presence of Kurdish guerrilla
fighters. This is simply falsifying the true nature of its
intentions. In essence, the operation, which violates international
law, is designed to silence the Kurds once and for all.
     This is not a secret. Many international organizations,
including the United Nations, have remained silent regarding the
Kurdish question. Yet, in many other parts of the world, upheavals
much smaller in scale have attracted the intervention of the United
Nations. And much has been done to secure peace.
     The situation of the Kurds has been a source of instability
for a long time now. In Turkish Kurdistan, for the last 15 years,
the Turkish army has declared a war on the Kurds. This is because
the very laws of the land make them persona non grata as Kurds in
their own land. It is a policy that has led to the destruction of
more than 2,200 Kurdish villages. 5 million Kurds have been
deprived of their homes and livelihood. 3 million of them have
migrated to western Turkish cities.
     Seeing that nothing is uttered in the international community
relative to its campaign of subjecting the Kurds to utter pain and
suffering, the emboldened Turkish state has this time attacked the
Federated Kurdish State in order to strangle it.
     It behooves the United Nations to stand against these racist
and militarist policies of the Turkish government. Left alone, this
problem has the potential to turn the whole region into a source of
instability. For these reasons, we ask that:

1. The Security Council convene immediately to consider ways of
ending the military occupation by the Turkish armed forces and seek
a political solution to the problems of the Kurds;

2. The United Nations pass a resolution condemning this Turkish
incursion and urging the government of Turkey to retreat from
northern Iraq, South Kurdistan;

3. The United Nations send a fact-finding delegation to the war
scene to account for the civilians casualties and damage inflicted
on their property;

4. The United Nations impose economic sanctions and an arms embargo
on Turkey until it agrees to seek a political solution to the
Kurdish question.

The Kurdish Community of Europe